Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-11-16
upheavaI in Indiana Leaves Senator
With Job Lot of Political Assets
and Notwithstanding to Assume
Responsibility For Division Of spoils
Situation in Hoosier State Unusual.
Especial corresnondence7

indiana has fifteen members OF COM
gress and in patronage matters Mr.
Beveridge is thirteen of them.
There is not another member of con-
gress, in either house, whose patronage
power approxinlates to that of Mr..
Beveridge. His situation is UNIQUE. In
diana has eleven democratic congress
men and one democratic senator; it
has two republican congressman and
one republican senator. The national
administration being republican, the
republican senator controls the patron
age from all the congressional districts
which are represented by democrats,
and also holds in his hand the entire
statewide patronage which commonly
IS divided between the two senators
when they are of the same party.
There are a number cs precedents for
senator controlling such volume of
patronage, but they are few; there is
no parallel at this time.
Along with such a commanding pow
er goes of necessity huge responsible
lty and vast amount of work The
average congressman has all the
trouble he really cares to digest look
ing after the postoffces and rural
carriers in a district Senator Beyer-
idge alone has more of these than an
average state contains, all to receive
personal attention; and on top of this
ne mas the general patronage of a state
An Asset and Liability.
Patronage, as every politician knows.
Is both an asset and a liability. Some
times the account balances, sometimes
the resultant is written in red; oc-
casionally it is a credit account. Post
Offices have cost more congressman
their seats than party policies ever did
put there never was a politician who
didn't want all the patronage power he
could muster, just the same. For il
ne doesn't get it, he is blamed for being
inefficient; if he does get it, he is likely
to be blamed for being injudicious in
passing it, for rewarding his enemies
instead Of his friends. and all the stock
offences that a politician may be
charged with.
Senator Beveridge, who has not for
some time past been charged with be-
ing an amateur politician, knows all
about those things. Time was. not so
long ago, when he had to fight pretty
much upon the whole Indiana republi-
can machine for his poor share of the
patronage. 1t was one of the highest
machines in the country, in those DAYS.
and 1t looked upon Beverage as a good
deal of an interloper. He got about
what he could extort, but he kept right
on fighting for recognition and his due
share in the direction of state politics:
and one way and another, he com
monty got more than the organizati ton
had designed to give him.
And then came the revolution in In
diana. Indiana didn't win the presi-
Dental nomination at the Chicago con-
ventlon last year, which was a hard
blow for the machine. Then came cleo
ton. and the democrats carried thirteen
of the fifteen congressional districts,
and with them the legislature. AS the
machine had lost Fairbanks at the ma
tlonal convention, so it lost Hemenway
when the legislature went democratic:
and overnight Beverage rose from
being the fighting minority in Indiana
republicanism, to being the entire
thing. He was literally all there was
left of it. Hemenway, Fairbanks, Wat
son, the Landises, Overstreet and the
rest of them suddenly found them
selves out in the cold world, while Bev-
eridge sat alone at the warm and
grateful fireside of party control, with
all the patronage fuel piled neatly
about to get it blazing.
He lost no time selling the oppor-
tunity thus afforded. The legislature
which must be chosen next year will
elect the successor to Senator Beveridge.
Twenty-Five state senators chosen last
year will be members of that legisla-
ture, seventeen of them are democrats
and only eight republicans; which on
its face puts a considerable handicap
on Beverage. AZ even hundred mem
bers of the lower house, and twenty
five members of the senate are to he
elected next year.
Beveridse Busy on the Job.
Senator Beverage just now is devot-
ing attention to the patronage business
He has forgotten the tariff commission
for the nonce, and every forenoon sits
at his Indianapolis office as a patron
age commission. He makes appoint
ments weeks ahead, to receive and hear
delegations from all over the state.
with postoffice and other patronage
troubles. He listens to all sides, learns
the merits, and decides. A long list of
the most important postofaces in the
state are about falling in, and Senator
Beyeridge must make recommendation
for them. 1t is understood that he is
preparing himself early, in order that
prompt action may be taken in all
cases and long drawn controversies
| avoided.
| There was expectation that the city
elections of Nov. 2 would prove some
sort of index of the political tendencies
IN the state, and show whether, since
the presidential election, the drift has
been democratic or republican. But
the results were SO hopelessly mixed
that nothing of the kind happened. The
state is as uncertain as before The
liquor question may be injected into
the situation in a fashion which will
add to the uncertainties of the con-
test. Former Governor I Frank Han
ly, republican, is reported to have sem
atorial ambitions, directed especially
toward the ,Beveridge succession; and
1.-THE story goes that his supporters may