The Indianapolis journal., 1903-11-13

A Republican member OF the Indiana
delegation at Washington is quoted as say
ing: Some OF these days Indiana's rep
resentatives in Congress will awake to the
fact that they are not the Republican
our members were learning that they are
merely the servants of the people, the
creatures of the party. The people at home
are not going to take kindly to any effort
to fix up party schemes and policies here
at the national capital" The remark was
doubtless suggested by recent rumors re-
garding alleged attempts to pack commit
tees and to ''fx" things in the interest of
particular candidates for local, county.
State or national Offices. Probably these
rumors had very little foundation. but they
were sufficient to elicit the remark above
quoted. and 1t is true enough to have been
made by the oldest and wisest member of
the Indiana delegation in Congress.
The practice of trying to run" State
politics from the capital of the State or
the Nation is of modern growth. For OBJ
vious reasons it could not exist before the
days of railroad travel and telegraphic
communication. In the days of stage
coach or horseback travel a member of
Congress could not run home every now
and then to look after his fences or attend
convention. nor could he by telegraph
keep in daily touch with what was going
on in every county of his district. In those
| days a State officer at Indianapolis could
not slip away and visit the most distant
county seat in the State, returning the
Public officials were more distinctly public
servants and less inclined to fix and run
things than they are now. They depended
more on their good records and service,
and less on the machine than they do now.
Rapid transit and telegraph communica-
ton have tended to centralize politics and
party control. The tendency is not a
healthy one, and should be discouraged.
Party management and control, like po-
litical power, should rest in the hands of
| the people. The nearer party organization
| is to the people the stronger the party.
| And this is argument against the prac-
| tice, which has caused trouble in some
States, of organizing committees in the
interest of particular party leaders instead
of in that OF the party at large. Such a
course tends inevitably to foment personal
rivalries and cause factional trouble and
party disaster. The real strength of a
| party lies with the masses who do not
| seek any Office and who care more for the
success of the party than they do for that
1 of s,,1i rorH xxyitl, lie
favor the idea of packing committees or
of organizing the party in the interest of
individuals rather than of party success.
They do not regard it as fair play or hon
est politics-and they are right
The Journal believes the Republicans of
attempted dictation than those of most
other States. They are very independent
lot of people, capable of doing their own
thinking and determined to do it. They
know what they want, and they will not
have anything else If they can help it, and
generally they can help it. They do not
relish cut-and-dried programmes. and they
do not want dictation from Washington or
Indianapolis, nor political committees or
ganized in the special interest of any
| candidate set of candidates. That rep
resentative at Washington was right when
he said 1.-The people at home are not going
to take kindly to any effort to fix up party
schemes and policies here at the national
capital Recent rumors. groundless as
they were, have been userul in calling out
such an expression as this.