The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1901-11-21

is worth its cost. Many an Indiana
editor has grayely put forth the i'm
practical proposition to increase the
intervals between sessions. But sell
dom do we hear word calculated to
inspire confidence in the body to
whose wisdom and faithfulness are en-
trusted our dearest political affairs.
And yet it is entirely erroneous to re-
gard the Indiana general assembly.
taken as a whole, as bad body at any
session, or to think that the bad men,
bers ever really outnumber the good.
The bad members are more active and
noisy than the good ones and the bad
acts are more conspicuous and more
talked about than the others; the per-
spective is thus destroyed and the bad,
being always in the foreground, over
laps and hides the meritorious. In
any question of right and wrong, pre-
sented clearly and distinguished from
other issues, there would never be a
doubt as to the result of vote in any
Indiana legislature.
1t is great thing to represent
thirty or forty thousand people in a
delegate body. a member of the
British parliament does no more. The
popular fancy, as rule, fails to rem
der justice to the loyal work done by
Indiana assembly men in shaping the
affairs of state and in directing the
vast and complex institutions that go
to make up great commonwealth.
But let hundred and fifty men of di-
vers occupations. most of them in
need OF money, many of them not
scrupulously honest. all of them elected
by constituents too Indifferent to hold
them to strict responsibility for their
votes. be put into position of great
temporary power, where their actions
affect the rights and welfare of great
corporations and wealthy individuals,
where the chances for corruption are
great and where the temptation is
strong and constant to raise partisan
politics above the general welfare.
and there will be inevitably much
viciouSness, moral cowardice, personal
and political dishonesty. actual bribery
and disregard of official oaths, even in
session of two months.
The adverse impression created by
the general suspicion of such things is
infinitely intensified when some men,
Der returns to his constituents and
proceeds to erect buildings that he
could not have dreamed of owning
prior to his sixty-one days at the cap
ital at six dollars per day and pay his
own board, o. when some other men,
Der places his partisan zeal above his
oath of office anG obstructS the putlic
business (at great expense to the tax
payers) by withdrawing i'm order to
break a quorum. Such acts are treas
enable, for they lessen the confidence
OF the people in their government and
to that extent weaken the republic
and give comfort to its enemies. The
fact that another member comes back
poorer in purse than when he went
away. or that still another scorns the
lash and votes against measure of
his own party because his conscience
will not permit him tosupport it under
his oath, can never counterbalance the
harm that is done by the wicked con-
duct of the venal and INSCRIPTIONS.
1t is the purpose of this paper, and
of those that may. perhaps, follow, to
comment in a general way upon the
inner workings of the Indiana legis-
lature as seen during several sessions.
1t is not intended to paint the picture
any darker than truthfulness requires,
nor is it expected to accomplish any
great reforms. however much reform
may be needed. The fact is recog-
nized that the standard of legislative
morals is higher as the years goby and
the prospect is that it will keep pace
with the gradual awakening of the
public mind to the necessity of having
wise and faithful representatives.