The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-18

While there are few Democratic papers
in Indiana which are edited with intelli-
gence, those who examine score of them
will find more evidences of stupidity and
malignity IN their editorial columns than of
intelligence and candor. The following ex-
tracts go to prove this assertion:
The administration has Brigader General
Lee securely bottled up at Tampa. He is
no doubt kept there for fear that another
brilliant victory might perch upon the
shoulders of our Democratic leaders.
The writer means Major General Lee, in
stead of brigadier general. He is not at
Tampa, but Jacksonville, in charge of an
army believed to be in preparation for the
capture of Havana. All other major gen.
erals except Merritt and Shafter are in
charge of rendezvous like that at Jackson
vile. General Merritt is a Democrat, though
probably opposed to the heresy of is to l.
1t may be. asked since when has General
Lee been regarded as Democratic leader?
Soon after he returned from Cuba the
Bryan leaders turned their backs upon him,
and after he advised Congress against the
recognition of the Republic of Cuba the
Democratic party in that body, with the
exception of a few members, ignored that
advice The next editorial paragraph is as
follows:
The time for selling the product of the
harvest will soon be here and the farmer
must take the ordinary market price for his
wheat as usual. The Letters always, go
busted" before harvest time after they nave
beaten the poor consumers out of millions
and, with a very few exceptions, not made
the farmers cent.
1t will be news to the friends of Mr.. Lett
er that he has beaten the poor consumers of
wheat out of millions. For weeks the father
of the man who failed for millions has been
disposing of half his large estate to pay off
the losses and liabilities of the son. How
could Mr.. Letter purchase all the real wheat
put upon the market for weeks and not
purchase it of the farmers who raised it?
Everybody with any intelligence knows that
wheat was high last year, not because of
Mr.. Letter, but because of a short crop the
world over. Everybody with any inteli-
gence knows that the crop all over the
world this year is one of unusual abund-
ance, and that the lower prices are due to
that abundance. 1t was the prospect of this
unusual supply that overwhelmed young
Mr.. Letter. Why does the Democratic editor
ignore these plain facts? Is it because he is
stupid or dishonest? Another of these edi-
tors says:
The decision of the Indiana Supreme
Court in the township trustee case is but
another one of those steps toward estab-
fishing government by courts and which
bring courts into disrepute among the peo-
pie.
Did the author of the foregoing paragraph
ever read the Constitution of the State of
Indiana? If he has, he must have skipped
the sections creating the Supreme Court
and defining its powers, one of which is that
1T shall have jurisdiction in appeals The
constitutionality of the law relating to the
length of the terms of office of township
trustees was assailed and appeal was taken
to the Supreme Court. That tribunal held
that the law is constitutional, and now this
ignoramus, who has heard some one assail
the courts for granting injunctions, charges
the Supreme Court of Indiana with ''estab
fishing government by courts" when it
discharges a duty imposed upon it by the
Constitution.
There are great many intelligent men in
the Democratic party in Indiana-why can
not they devise some plan by which the
party can be saved from the odium attached
TO having party papers edited by persons
who are ignorant and malicious?