The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-18
WHY 1T HAPPENED.
gu. l.. Sees" Opinions Concerning the
Recent Defeat of the Republicans.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
Promising, first, that no sane man will
dogmatically assert that the defeat of Mr..
Harding was owing to this or that, or even
to any certain combination of causes; and,
secondly, that his defeat was in no sense
whatever q declaration against Republic
anism though q most disastrous defeat of
the local party and its policy in local af-
fairs / wish to state my conviction as to
the chief, if not the only cause promising,
further, that it may be wise, sometimes,
for party leaders to listen occasionally to
humble privates; and that it is always wise
TO look stubborn facts and figures square
in the face and to adjust ourselves to
them or be sure we can overcome them.
Here we have first, Mr.. Taggart one Of
our wealthest citizens, a success in his pri-
vate business and man of pleasing adj
dress, who had by lavish expenditure of
public money, ingratiated himself into the
favor of the ruling class, the nontaxpay ers,
and who, himself the partial proprietor of
one of the most aristocratic and therefore
one of the most dangerous saloons in the
city, had made all saloondom his fast friend
by his wide-open policy; appointing a
man chief of police who demeaned himself
publicly so disgracefully that he had to he
dismissed from the service for the temper
airy good of the party. Though elected two
years ago under the most solemn and re-
peated pledges that he would enforce the
law against gamblers and all Offenders, he
had, from the beginning, so connived at all
oftenses that professional gamblers go I'M
molested and the closing OF saloons on the
inhibited days and hours is hardly thought
of; and there never has been many muir
ders and other crimes which grow out of
saloon patronage To meet this dSgraceful
condition the Republicans nominated a very
worthy man, though comparatively poor,
and a good worker in machine politics, and
put him on a, platform in which there Was
a tame, not to say ambiguous, alluslon TO
enforcing the law, and there all that part
of the campaign ended. After months of
silence on the part of the Republicans, in
which Mr.. Taggart was getting in his work
with the ruling class by employing them in
work not needed and with the saloons by
opening the city wider than ever, the cam
paign was opened by a vigorous attack
upon the park business, a scheme which
was SO far advanced when Mr.. Taggart
took the office that he could not have ma
terially changed its trend If he had wanted
to. and for which leading men of both par
ties were equally responsible. That some
uglv things were unearthed is true, but they
ali related to dollars and cents, and the
campaign proceeded upon the theory that
the voters Of Indianapolis were blind to the
ten times greater peeuniary burden the sa-
loon was in1icting upon them, not to men
ton the moral desolat1on 1t was causing,
for not one bold, heroic word was spoken
against the great crime of Mr.. Taggart' s
administration. and all attempts of the class
of Republicans who oppose the saloon to
turn the campaign in that direction were
treated with contempt because the saloon
element must be placated.
To a humble private it seems strange that
Republican managers of q campaign should
ever court the saloon influence. That, by
tradition. if not by nature, belongs to the
Democratic party and never has been df-
verted from it, in indianapolis a least, and
never can be- They seem to forget that
there are III Christian Endeavor and SINH
lar societies in the city, every one of which
is anti-saloon and 149 Protestant congre-
cations and every one but two or three
is pronounced against the saloon. and there
in the Catholic Church known as the
Knights of Father Mathew, and there are
ten Catholic congregations whose pastors,
in the main, echo the sentiment of Arch
bishop Ireland as given out only a few
days ago: IF l had the power 1 would close
the door Of every saloon, of every distillery,
Of every brewery, until the accursed traffic
should be wiped from the face of the
earth.
If did not want to be courteous I would
say the Republican manager who attempts
to barter this influence for the mere pottage
he may get from the saloon influence is a
fool and having said ii / would stick to it.
Look at a few facts bearing upon this sub
iect We have had seven municipal cleo
tons in the last fourteen years. In three
of them the platform pronounced emphati-
cally against the saloons disregard of the
law and the nominee stood with both feet
on the platform, and In his speeches he
was as relentless against the saloon the
late candidate was as to Mr.. Taggarts bog,
through which the city might Jose $i5 900.
But he was elected every time, largely by
Democratic votes; for there are thousands
of Democrats belonging to the Christian
EndeaVor and similar associations and the
churches who may be depended upon to
vote every time against the saloon when
such brave defiant appeals are made 20