The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-19
INDIANA OF The HOOSIER
1T Is NOT WHAT is PORTRAYED IN
SENSATIONAL PLAYS.
state Of Leadership I'm Art, Science.
Letters and Politics-Natural and
Acquired Pre-Emfnence.

Richmond tInd-) Item
Not content with The Vinegar Buyer"
two more alleged amusement companies are
on the road presenting shows advertised
as typical of Indiana" On Of them has
a sawmill scene with the usual rescue while
the other has a stage locomotive madly
rushing through a raging fire of stage TIM
Der. Each of the three plays has an
abundance of raw talk supposed to be typi-
cal of the Hoosier. This feature in itself
is not bad. The evil of il all Is the wrong
impression these plays give the general run
of people. Nobody living in indian Is
ashamed of 1t; quite the contrary. The
name Hoosier is synonymous with culture.
refinement. intelligence and achievement
But it is gross libeling of the name that
loyal Indianian. His position is the same
as that of a man who sees his good name
smirched by envious rivals. or a woman
who hears her name rolled on the gossips'
tongue out of pure jealousy. The name
Hoosier is never spoken with the accom-
paniment of a sheer or with the infection
of sarcasm except by the enviouS or the
stupidity ignorant.
No man can be familiar at all with the
history of his times and not accord to In
Of Ameri mu npogrsss be bs that nroeress in
any field of activity. Science. art. litera-
ture. politics. industry, charity-all have
been enriched and ennobled by the contri-
buttons of the Hoosier. The splendid rec
ord of Indiana furnishes an inexhaustible
supply OF material for the Hoosier TO d.
late upon and a magnificent excuse for his
reasonable pride. 1t is not necessary to
begin at the beginning and depict the i'm
portant and determining part Indiana
played in the history of the Nation prior
to the civil war, because that is supposed
to be a part of the general
which every person posing as educated
should possess. But commencing at the
civil war, when our war Governor. Oliver
p. Morton. was ''the strong right arm of
Lincoln" and saved the cause of the Union
by his wise counsels and decisive actions,
up to the present time. Indiana has held not
a PROMINENT but a pivotal position in the
civil war the first question asked in the
political world has been. What will In
diana dor The marshaled hosts of either
party have waited until they saw where on
the field the plume and standard of Indiana
statesmen were displayed, and there they
fought. No student of American history
can can describe an epochal event that has not
OF some Hoosier; he cannot name a piece
of constructive craftsmanship without con-
nected with 1t are the names of Lane. or
Whitcomb, or Clark, or Morton, or Hen
bricks. or Mcdonald, or Hay, or Harrison.
A LITERARY CENTER.
The one who poses as intelligent and at
the same time laughs at the literary cru
dity of the Hoosier makes himself a pitiable
spectacle. Indiana to-day is the literary
center of the country, not only in quantity
Of literary productions. but in quality.
And his is true because ii is in accord
with the universal law of literature that
the finest and maturest literature of any
people is written during the period of their
travail and sturdy growth. OF poets we
have a host, few of them possessed of a
national reputation. but the proportion so
fortunate to the whole Is as great as any
other State. while those who do possess
a reputation beyond the borders of their
own State lead the list. One needs only
to mention James whitcomb Riley. who is
the acknowledged dean of living poets, the
poet OF the common people because he
sings of the flowers and birds. and SUM-
shine. and open air, and the simple things
of life; where can his equal be found?
And then there is the more piquant verse
of Maurice Thompson. whose main claim
erary criticism and other prose produc-
lions. Turning to the prosaic division of
literature, Indiana is so far in the lead
of other States that there can be no COM
parison. Lew Wallace. with his three
master productions; Maurice Thompson,
Charles Major, Mary Catherwood, Meredith
Nicholson; Booth Harrington. Barr Nc
Robert johnson in literary criticism; Rid
path. English, Dunn and Foulke in the
field OF the historian; i'm short, everything
prominent in literature from the most pol
AIDE Look over the reports of booksellers
and Indiana productions lead; pick up
metropolitan newspapers and Indiana
stories are widely advertised as the serial
to be. found elsewhere in their columns.
Five Indiana stories have been dramatized
In the past two years n the plays staged
such as Richard Mansfield. Virginia
Harmed. Julia Marlowe and Otis Skinner;
yet when some ten-twenty-and-thirty COM
pany with a leading lady possessed of dol
lar-a-Dottle hair puts on some barn-storm-
Ing play alleged to be typical of In
diana" the metropolitan press and the
smart set in society assume a patronizing
diana!" Well, thank God. the viriIe pen
of Henry Watterson finds no subject mat
ter In Indiana morals. nor do the plays
that are even a travesty. on Indiana Gus
able righteousness in them.
ART AND SCIENCE.
Indiana artists, from Amelia Kussner. the
most noted miniature portrait painter in
the world. down to M~cCutcheon, whose
newspaper cartoons excited the admiration
and laughter of two continents and which
were sought for by the Emperor of Ger
many, are in the lead. Their canvases are
on exhibition ard in eager demand in the
best galleries of this Nation. indianapolis
and Richmond have art exhibits every year
that even the art magazines say are su.
perior to anything the East, even Boston,
can produce.
And so the list can be extended. In
science we nave produced the men who
built the first gunboats, the first jetties
and the first practical long-span bridge,
men who classified the fauna and flora
west of the Mississippi river; men who are
authority on their particular branch OF
science; the Eads, the Coulters and the
Jordans of the scientific world. Indiana's
public school system is the best in the
children better educated, but her adults are
better posted, the postal service showing
this Gfafa 70 he tho greatest raadfno Qtatr