The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1900-03-02
The Kentucky Situation.

lhS heHtuGhJ oIludtlOH.
Louisville Conrer-Journal:
Snow that William Goebel has gone
To his account, the newspapers which in
life did not hesitate. without evidence,
or even investigation, to accuse him of
every crime, are turning upon the Flee
ton Law that bears his name, and
through it, are endeavoring TO visit upon
him post-mortem dlmnation hitherto
unknown in Che annals OF the bitte-est
partisan warfare. 1t used to be that
when the man was dead there was an
end: when he no longer blocked the way
of his rivals, or further INSTRUCTED the
organized interests he had in life OPP
posed and offended, they let him rest in
his grave; the more surely when that
grave had been made for him by conspi-
racy, employing the agencies Of murder
TO send him thjther before his time
But the Yellow Journal, subsistlng u
the hired assassin Of the modern corpor.
alton, had not then become factor in
affairs.
at is only fair to say that Mr.. Goebel
was not the author of the act that bears
his name. He was much too clear
headed a man not to see the objections
to it that showed upon it's face, to say
nothing of those that lurked beneath its
surface He did not embrace it at once
or with ardor, but hesitated long before
becoming its sponsor. He might have
opposed and beaten it. But the effort
would have cost him his leadership. He
was young man. He was an ambi-
tious man. His experience was limited
to State affairs. The times we're out of
joint. The passions of the hour were
destructive. He thought it test to ride
these passions and to hum)r the mood
of his excited fellows. And-the Goebel
bill became the Goebel law.
"The Courier-Journal accepted the
Democratic ticket in spite of som, OF :
iertions to the circumstances of its
nomination plainly and fully specified
| at the time-anu in the face of mar Y
disagreements with the platform upon
which it stood. satisfied that we should
have a better administration of our
State affairs under the Democratic
party, however wrong headed, than ur-
der the Republican party, both wrong
headed and bad hearted. We wanted
nothing except gocd government. We
ticket, headed by Mr.. Goebel, or the
Republican ticket, headed by Mr.. Tay-
lor, the Brown ticket being obviously a
fake ticket. We did not hesitate. The
Courier-JournaI is a Democrat, not a
Republican. That would nave been,
and was, reason sufficient; but we
thought then, as we know now. that
there existed exceptional and additional
reasons why we should under no cir
cumstancas either by omission or com
mission give aid and comfort TO a ticket
representing an omnium gathering oil
Federal Office hol ers and office-brokers
owing a divided allegiance to an outside
political oligarchy on the one hand, anc
to a corporation of foreign capitalists or
the other hand. All that has happened
confirms the wisdom of our choice.
''As the day of election approached
and the conspiracy between the foreign
corporation and the local factions t.
carry the peoples fortress of the ballot
box BY storm ripened and matured. i
appeared that the most ingenious device,
ever ascribed to the Goebel law had beer
quite overmatched. The public mine
had been artfully and systematicall,
prenared for the policy of forcibe as
sault by bloody minded newspaper arti
Giles and blood curdling speeches from
the organs and orators of the Railwa,
Political Combine. 1t is not true to sa7
that these were answered bycounter anC
kindred incendiarism. Not word o
reprisal was uttered by any Democratic
speaker. Not line of threat wa
printed in these editorial columns. TIL,
subsequent appearance of the Republi
can Governor here, and his ostentatiou
display of troops and Gating guns; tn
lawiess proceeding of a local Judge is
SUNG mandatory iniunctions to the off
GERS of election afterward thrown dow
by the Court of Appeals; even the men
ace of personal violence and the destruc
ton of our property urged by two of tn
organs of the Combine we're met by Vi
with nothing more than their republina
ton along with an indignant protest
We sought only to reach the sober sens
of thinking men.
''But these things We're as nothing b.
comparison with what came after. Tn
Democratic Election Commissioners O
this city and county have testified tina
they were in peril of their lives excep
that they did as the Combine required
The Democratic Election Commission
ers Of the State are prepared to testif
the same thing We now know tina
+ their danger was real and not the off
: spring of unmanly fear. The orde
from the Combine had gone forth t