The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1908-09-26
Mr.. Marshall May Be Known
By The Company He Keeps

Politicians must be estimated by the
company they keep. AS a rule a man
in office is just about as good as his
party, and no better. Only in rare in
stances do we find a public man with
strength enough to rise above the in
huences of his party surroundings.
This being true, it is perfectly legiti-
mate in this campaign to examine in
to the character of the men who will
surround the democratic candidate for
governor if he shall be successful in,
this campaign. Some of the demo-
Gratis Indignantly resent the imputation
that democratic governor and leg
islature will be under the influences
of the Indiana liquor interests. But it
is hard for one who has made a study
of the situation to find a way whereby
the democrats in state Offices can es-
cape their political environment
The most conspicuous figure on the
democratic side in state politics, of
course, is Mr.. Kern, the candidate for
vice president. While we freely con-
cede the high standard of Mr.. Kern's
personal character, it must be admitted
that his political history proves his
close association with the element in
this state now arrayed against the re-
publican party on account of the fight
for an improvement in the temperance
laws. Mr.. Kern was in the state SEN
ate four years, and while there. he
was recognized as one of the friends
of the liquor interests of thine state
He was a member of the senate in
1895 when the Nicholson bill, the first
of the latter-day temperance meas
ures, was considered, and it was in it's
time much more progressive advance
in temperance legislation than is pro-
posed now through the county local op-
tfon law. Both branches of the legis-
lature that year were republican, and
as the leader of the democratic minor
ity in the senate, Mr.. Kern employed
all his shrewdness to embarrass the
republican majority in its attempt to
consider the Nicholson bill, and on the
final passage of the bill Mr.. Kern's
vote was recorded just as the Indiana
brewers wanted it set down, against
the Nicholson law. The excuse can
not be made for Mr. Kern that he was
following a specific declaration of his
party in refusing to support this bill
for 1T was not a party measure in the
of the republicans voted for it and
nearly all the democrats against it.
But the question had not been an is
sue in the previous campign, nor had
it been mentioned in either of the
party platforms.
Another man whose power is shap-
ing legislation in this state. in the
event of the success of the democratic
ticket, is Mr.. Taggart Not only is he
the leader of the Indiana local organi-
zation, having 1T practically in his own
hands, but he is the Indiana member
of the national democratic committee.
likewise one of the prominent mem
bers of the democratic national execu-
tive committee. Should his party carry
Indiana and the Nation it stands to
reason that no other man would be
as influential in this state in the dis
tribution of patronage which would
come with the change in administra-
ton. The democratic state chairman
is Taggarts creature. In business. in
politics and in social intercourse, Tag
CART and Crawford Fairbanks. the king
of the brewery combine, are as closely
associated as 1t is possible for men to
be.
John E. Lamb of Terre Haute is an
other man who will be potent in the
political affairs of the state if his
party succeeds. Mr.. Lamb is con-
nected intimately with the democratic
national campaign, he having, it is |
said, been chosen for the place he
occupies by Mr.. Bryan himself. Mr.. |
Lamb is Crawford Fairbanks's personal |
attorney and is the chief attorney for |
the Terre Haute Brewing company
The leader of the brewery lobby in |
Indiana is a law office associate of |
John w. Kern, the democratic candi-
date for vice president. This man.
who marshals the forces against tenn /
perance legislation of all kinds in this
state. is Joseph E. Bell, the we'll
known lobbyist
Thomas r. Marshall the democratic
candidate for governor, himself is not
free from attachment to these brewing
interests over and beyond his associa-
ton with them on the democratic state
ticket. His law firm in Columbia City
has been the attorneys for the brewery
in that town for many years.
Even in the nominations for CON
gress in the state we find the plain
evidence of the operation of this al
lance of liquor interests Charles A.
Korbly Jr., the democratic nominee for
from the seventh district
obtained his nomination largely