The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02
ON TIE LIKENESS or INDIANA
TO NEW YORK.

INDIANAPOLIS, July 8 .-There is q flavor
Of Fourteenth street. o Of Man
haitian, about tho Hoosier public life that
Is almost as welcome TO the exile from New
York al the proverbial sight Of Broadway.
1t Is oomprehended in this alluring intro
duotion TO the local situation:
mo, there are no morals In 1ndiana-jus
politics. like New York.
The Indiana idea." too, alone among the
Ideas would pass current easily In the
Bowery quite as easily as In the land OF the
Hoosier. Tho reader Of these letters 10
familiar with the Wisconsin idea and Its
moral tang, and with the "Ioway idea and
Its swelling note OF the political evangelist;
but the Indiana idea 10 simpler. II IL
In q word this:
Morals are good-but organization rs
better" It Is manifest that In Indiana
politics one Is done with the Latter Day
Saint n has only TO deal with the every
day sinner.
In Iowa the aroused citizen talks about
sthe interests 'the ~reactionary' and the
progressive propaganda In Indiana the
sophisticated citizen talks about graft not
as q muck raker' but merely as an expert.
For one State offioial has recently exchanged
the support Of the taxpayers in the State
administration for q moro complete sup
port in the penitentiary. Several Others
resigned and made restitution only just in
time. Even in this county there are trials
and Investigations pending which may send
still, other Republican officials into quieter
walks Of life.
There is. then, something deliciously
h,tpaan anI fOattn. AL@.A 49, I~Ata~a
political problem-something 90 honelike
withal for the ~TammanyiSed New Yorker
that he thinks Of Coney Island just by
mere sequence OF thought. Here no one
talks about my policies" with bated breath.
The truth Is that the policy Of the late
AL Adams Is better understood. and Tom
Tsggart is q real State institution. There
10 no olamor In the street cars over the all
absorbing question OF whether Mr.. Taft lie
q reaotionary-even your barber discusses
the ball game.
1t may seem frivolous to dwell on this
aspect Of a tense political s~ituation-snd
no one questionable fact that the situation
Is tense In Indiana-but 1t really sheds
illumination upon the conditions Of the
campaign. Somehow the moral meian-
oholia seems to have stopped at the Missis-
sippi. To be sure. there are some thought
full. middle aged gentlemen who stll talk
about tho tarif-a few not with anything
Of the passionate frenzy Of the votary Of
tho Ioway idea but with the old fash
toned academic phrase Of the ante-Bryan
dispensation.
Even the Roosevelt Juror seems to be
milder here. There are Republicans in
deed who question his infallibility; more
than that. a few who throw doubts on his
ultimate sanity. Popular the President Is.
oven In Indiana. but 1t Is the difference
between Jersey lightning and pink lemon
ade. this distinction between the Roose-
welt popularity in the middle West and In
Indiana.
we don't like Taft because he Ia q mans
man, 10 TO be heard again in Indiana az In
New York. In Kansas. by contrast, MIR.
Taft was "a Teddy bear OF nothing"
After all. In Indiana there comes to the
surface the good old fashioned slogan: Turn
the rascals outi' This 10 the best, the
Invest. the most potent issue in Indiana
and the Republicans are "in.- Even Mr..
Kern--and here at last you discover that
Mr.. Bryan has Q running mate-with his
Hoosier connections and eloquent whiskers,
offers NO such issue as this. He has his
friends, has Honest JOHN q good many
Of them-if only Tom Taggart were not
one Of them 1t might be better. But there
is no frenzy Of enthusiasm about Mr.. Kern.
Perhaps 1t Is the hong persistence Of Mr..
Fairbanks that has cooled the ardor and
eliminated the temperature In Indiana
politics.
OF course, there are moral issues In In
hdians. The Hoosier State Is 10 yet recre-
ant to the trust it's novelists have put in II
not forgetting also that the great Robert
Hunter originated here. Somewhat ap-
palled by the indictments and other handi-
caps placed upon it by State and county OH
cials. the Republican party has declared
in its State platform for a local option which
Is neither local nor option. They are driv-
ing full tilt at the Demon Rum In this State,
these Republicans. Naturally they wink
a. they mention the fact. and tho New
Yorker recognizes the wink. "A platform
10 only q PLATFORM hat wink suggests; but
the temperance societies take 1t seriously,
and that helps.
There Is no oppressive prosperity In
Indiana either. That too stopped az the
Mississippi River. There are genuine hard
times. half time and no time In many Of
tHo inOtoiioo' oihpty otVHibCnb anu 8OLu0-
what inflamed minds. As usual. moreover,
the hungry are crying for a change. The
sfuIl dinner pail will still be an issue Id
Indiana. and h real problem to be solved
10 whose issue it win be this year.
There Is no insult OF a deadly sort implied
in calling q man a 'r~eaotionary' In Indiana,
and that also il q relief. The proletariat ID
not q radical. either by education or hall cd
ucation-not in the least; be Ia just q com
mon politician, and admits It oheerfuIfy.
Politics are for him neither q crusade mon
. heaven sent mission; on the whole. they
are a habit. He plays them as an Eas,
Slider plays pinoohle; enjoys the art and
the game and makes no profound pretence
to any more moral purpose than to wfn-to
win the money as well as the game.
It will be possible. then, to weigh the con.
ditions and prospects in Indiana In the
familiar New York fashion. which implies
q careful examination Of the scales In ad.