The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-03-10
TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

bI"Co rJAtC SVAN060s
Editor OF The Palladium and Sun
Telegram:
Personalities should have no place
In the present local option campaign
In which the voters are asked to pass
Judgment upon the saloon as an in
stitution rather than upon the saloon
keepers and their paid agents as men
or as citizens. Nevertheless, the Of
fort to make one mans record and
personal influence an important ele-
ment In the campaign creates a situa-
ton that requires passing notice.
1t may have been sheer desperation
that led the saloon men to bring ].
Bennett Gordon to assist them In the
campaign. The way drowning men
grasp at straws Is proverbial. But II
1t was not desperation over a losing
cause that led to their selection OF
a publicity agent, 1t demonstrates
curious ignorance OF the way times
have changed since the local option
election of 1909. The things that gave
Mr.. Gordon an influence then are
lacking today. He was then rising,
II somewhat eccentric young man.
held in esteem by the faculty and
alumni of Earlham college. He was
known as a good fellow In local club
life. His fearless advocacy of moral
and civic reforms had won him the
respect and confidence of the friends
Of social and civic Righteousness. He
was rising figure in local politics.
Most Of all. he was editor OF an es-
tablished newspaper, in which Will
liam Dudley Foulke, an influential cit
tZen and political reformer, was sup
posed to have a controlling interest.
The saloon champions must be des-
parate or blind, indeed, not to recog-
niZe that with regard to Mr.. Gordon's
position, times have changed. 1t is
q far cry from the editor Of an in
dependent paper reputed to be de-
voted to the city's welfare, to one who
returns as the hired advocate OF the
saloon interests and is forced to buy
advertising space in order to get his
stuff before the eyes Of the Richmond
public. His advocacy of the wet"
cause in 1909 deprived the Evening
Item Of large part Of it's best pat
ronage It lost him the respect Of
the temperance element without gain
ing for him the confidence Of the sa-
loon forces. They could not forget his
editorial on "A He'll of Parade" He
ran a poor third as candidate for
mayor of the city the next year. His
policy wrecked his paper financially
He lost his position as editor, and
finally left the city in debt and further
discredited by a street brawl. The
liquor men will find that in depending
upon MI Gordon, deprived OF his
former position and handicapped by
his more recent record they are lean
ing upon bruised reed, for times have
changed.
Mr.. Gordon's first effort indicates
An SrIy
the same as it WAS in 1909. He does
not seem to know that in this respect,
too, times have changed. In 1903 his
apparent influence on the result Of
the election was largely due to con-
ditions in Richmond and the country
at large that have since passed away.
At that time the temperance forces
here were largely divided as to the
expediency Of an election just
them Many Democrats regard
ed the county local option
law. forced through an extra
session of the legislature by Governor
Hanly. as political measure. and
they looked upon the attempt to vote
the counties dry in hurry as Re-
publican trick to profit by the tenn
perance sentiment of the state. This
feeling was intensified in many minds
by the conviction that Governor Han
ly had proven his insincecity by his
Interference with our Police Commits
sioners At that time we had failed
to convict three notorious blind tigers,
and many believed that we should
wait until the law against blind tigers
was strengthened before voting out
the saloons. At that time, too, no
large cities Of Indiana had had
enough dry experience to demon
strate conclusively that the closing of
the saloons would not hurt business
or raise taxes. The business men and
manufa cturers held back, fearing
financial loss or increased taxes, and
even many Of those opposed to the
saloons would not openly espouse the
dry" cause.
Now any one who has not been
blind or deaf to what has been going
on for five years knows that in every
one of these respects times have
changed. The temperance people are
no longer divided. The present To-
cal option lava modification of the
Hanly law by a Democratic legisla-