The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-16

The address of William L. Taylor, as
chairman of the Republican convention on
Saturday shows that he has a thorough
knowledge of the administration of Mayor
Taggart That knowledge enabled Mr.. Tay-
Tor to make very bad showing for a
man who is held up by indiscreet friends
as 1.-The best mayor Indianapolis has ever
had" Nor will it do to attempt TO meet
Mr. Taylor's statements with the simple
assertion that no heed should be given
them because it is the speech of a par
tisan. The statements are absolutely true
For instance, what Mr.. Taylor said of the
park fiasco is true. If they are open to
any criticism whatever it is that the state
ments do not adequately set forth the de-
plorable tangle and confusion into which
the mayor and his friends have got the af-
fairs of the proposed park improvement.
They were the friends of the mayor who
insisted on the purchase of two tracts of
land not connected with the park system
1t was wholly in the interest of the mayors
party friends that land was purchased
which was not necessary for the proposed
parks. By such purchases the money was
so exhausted that there was none left with
which to purchase land northeast of the
city, the most suitable for the purpose and
essential to such system of parks as
has been contemplated. 1t can make no
difference now that the whole amount Of
money borrowed for the purchase of land
has been hung up, but the divestipg of $780,
900 of the money needed for Improvement
before even a plan had been made was d
disgusting piece of demagogism.
The Taggart administration has been in
charge of the scheme to create an extern
sive park system more than twenty months,
1t had clear track and popular sentiment
was iii favor of it. What PROGRESS has it
made? 1t Is committed to the purchase of
tracts of Land at high prices in localities
not desirable and it has failed to secure
the needed lands northeast of the city 1t
has negotiated $4,000 of bonds, the pro-
ceeds of which have been idle for months
and are likely to continue So chiefly be-
cause the mayors friends came to a crisis
in the affairs of the park where they dare
not go ahead. The mayors party has made
an assessment on the territory in the vicin-
ity of the proposed park for it's improve
ment which has caused so vehement pro-
test that the collection of it has been
stopped under pretense of a defect in the
charter And now the mayor proposes to
annul this expensive assessment and to
resort to the negotiation of low rate, long
time bond to obtain money for the improve
ment Of the land which the city must pay
for And this is the result of twenty months
of the efforts of the Taggart administration
with the park problem Could it have made
a more lamentable failure?
1t may be said in extenuation of the UNI
satisfactory situation that it is not fair to
assert that the mayor has been at work
nearly two years when as matter of fact
little or nothing was done until less than
a year ago. Why was it not? Be-
cause the party of Mr.. Taggart had
the country in such a condition that in
Indianapolis bonds bearing any reasonable
rate of interest could not have been sold
To that same insane heresy Mayor Taggart
now stands pledged. If there were any dan
ger of its success he could not sell bond
to obtain money for the improvement OF
the land.