The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-18
WHAT MIR. TAGGART STANDS FOR.


While it is true that the present city cam
paign is being conducted, as it should be,
on purely local and municipal issues, it is
nevertheless true that Mr.. Taggart repre-
sents the only attempt that has been made
TO introduce national politics into the cam
paign. The platform on which he was nom
mated and on which he is running, contains
the following:
We take this opportunity the first which
has offered itself since the presidential cleo
ton of 1896, to reafiirm and emphasize the
declaration of the last national Democratic
convention in favor of the free and unlim-
tied coinage of silver at the historic ratio
of IS to l. without waiting the aid or consent
of any other nation on earth upon which
that great statesman William j. Bryan
made his memorable campaign for the pres
idency.
This is not only an insulting fling at the
sound-money Democrats who last year re-
fused to support Mr. Bryan, but is an en-
phatic Endorsement of the free-silver 16-to-1
heresy which was repudiated by the coun-
try. Not content with this plunge into ma
tional politics Mr. Taggarts platform says,
further
We condemn the Republican party for it's
failure to open the mills, as it promised to
do If restored to power, for its enactment
OF a tarlI law imposing new anu OppTSS-
sive taxes upon an already overburdened
people for the sole benefit of the great
trusts and monopolies to whose power and
wealth 1t owes its present ascendency IN
the government, and for perpetuating the
business prostration and industrial par
alysis from which the country has been suf-
fering for years by persisting in the mis-
taken financial policy to which these con-
ditionS are due
There is not an intelligent voter in the
city who does not know that there has been
a great Improvement in the business situa-
ton since the election of Mckinley, and
that two of the most potent factors in the
Improvement have been the Dingley tariff
and the establishment of a sound money
policy. Whatever Mr.. Taggart's personal
views may be on these questions, If he has
any, he is running on a platform which
denounces the two policies which everybody
knows have been mainly instrumental in
restoring confidence and prosperity. His
organ omits no opportunity TO emphasize
these views. 1t continually refers to the
sound-money Democrats, whose support
Mr. Taggart is seeking. as ''gold bugs" and
for every line it prints in defense of Mr..
Taggarts business administration it
prints a hundred defending the free-silver
16-to-1 policy, decrying Republican prosper
ity and pointing out the benefits that would
have followed the election of Bryan. 1t is
plain, therefore, that Mr.. Taggart's friends,
his platform makers, party leaders, person
al followers and his organ have done and
are doing all in their power to give the
city campaign national aspect. Everybody
knows that Mr.. Taggart himself has no
Ill i
question of national policy, but in so far as
his platform and party friends can speak
for him he represents the views above eS-
pressed and is responsible for the intro
duction of these issues into the campaign.
If he should be elected it would be heralded
as a free-silver 16-to-1 victory and worked
for all it was worth in reviving the Bryan
movement in this State. Under the circum-
stances it is entirely legitimate to appeal
to all who believe in sound money and the
gold standard, to all who recognize the
fact that the country is far more prosper
Gus now than it was a year ago, to all
who believe that the situation is vastly
better than it would have been if Bryan
had been elected-in short to all who last
year were opposed to Bryan and Organism,
to vote against Mr.. Taggart If the policy
which he now represents had been success
full last fall the country would now be in
the midst of a commercial panic far more
disastrous than that of the last three years,
the park bonds would not have been sal
able at any price factories would have been
closing instead of opening, and the army Of
unemployed, instead of growing smaller
every day, would have been receiving large
additions. Mr. Taggart should be defeated
for what he stands for in national politics
as well as for the weakness, extravaganza,
partisanship, favoritism and jobbery of his
city administration.