Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-01-13
SECRET LETTER SHOWS PLOT
OF REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE
PROVES SECOND
EXTRA SESSION
PROMISE BUNK
Admits Party in No Condition
to Attempt Change in Laws
at This Time.
FEAR INSPIRES LEADERS


The Indiana republican committee
is responsible for the scheme to gag
the legislature at a one-day session
for the ratification of the suffrage
amendment and the Indiana repub-
Hcan committee has no intention Of
bringing about a subsequent special
session of the legislature for the
transaction of other business, unless
the appellate court ruling on the tax
levy is such as to compel such action.
The proof of this statement is con-
tanned in a second, and a secret let
ter, which has been sent by the COM
mittee to members of the legislature
who have not yet pledged themselves
to a one-day session of the general
assembly.
This letter, which was framed by Chair
man Wasmuth in response TO a demand
from officers Of the franchise league
that he make plain to legislators that
the one-day session did not originate
in their council. is an open admission,
not only that the committee framed the
one-day session plan, but that the re-
publican party is in such a condition
today that it can not attempt to change
existing legislation and should only hold
itself in readiness TO change existing
legislation "if the decision of the courts
requires it."
LETTER PROVES SCHEME
ALREADY MATCHED
In other words it is the expressed in
tention Of the republican organization
in this state to dispose Of the wome3s
suffrage pressure at a special one-day
session of the legislature and then faiI
to call another session unless the appel
late court so interprets the tax law as
to make such step necessary to the sue
cess of the party next fall.
In the light Of this letter, copies Of
which are being zealously guarded from
the public press, It is very evident that
all promises now being made Of second
special session of the legislature are bunk
designed to bring about the first spe
ciaI session of conditions favorable TO
the republican party.
Wasmuth's secret letter to legislators
establishes that before Fred Shortemeier
gathered members of the Franchise
league together and took them to the
statehouse to hear Gov. Goodrich's con
ditlons for calling a special session, the
republican state committee had framed
the whole nefarious scheme. The letter
says:
1--WE want to assure you that this
ouestion was given careful attention
and much thought by the state COM
mittee and we recommend this special
session to In this way dispose of the
question of ratification OF the suffrage
amendment"
There was meeting of the state COM
mittee at which careful attention" could
have been given to this one-day special
session plan between the time the gov
ernor proposed it to members of the
Franchise league and Jan. s, the date Of
this letter.
Therefore, the careful attention" given
to the plan by the state committee must
have been given to it prior to the time
Mr.. Shortemeier staged his visit with
Helen Benbridge of the Franchise league
and Miss Betsy Edwards and Mrs.
Charles A. Butler, both paid employees
of the republican organization, to the
office of Gov. Goodrich.
GOODRICH THEN
UNFURLED PLAN.
At this meeting Goodrich unfurled the
plan to gag the legislature. Helen Ben
bridge declares she never heard of il
prior to that meeting She says she
took pains to express to the represen-
tatives of the republican presses in In
dtanapolis the fact that the proposal
was made by Gov. Goodrich to the men,
bers of the Franchise League and not
- AJ,n II
But the state committee, loath to ac-
cept responsibility for the scheme, ano
the governor. anxious to make It ap-
pear as movement from the women
of the state, are now attempting TO
place the credit, or discredit of hav-
ing originated the unconstitutional plan
Of limiting the legislative session on
some one else's shoulders than its origi-
nators. The letter Mr.. Wasmuth caused
to be sent out also says:
'"The woman's Franchise League OF
Indiana is writing you requesting you
TO indorse the plan for a oRe-day ses-
sion Of the legislature to ratify the
federal suffrage amendment. This plan
has been approved by the governor as
the most satisfactory under the existing
situation,
The existing situation" to which Mr..
Wasmuth refers, and which shows be-
yond doubt the bad faith that attaches
to promises now being made of a "sec.
ond special session" arc described in tho
body of this secret letter, which says:
1--WE seem no nearer ready today to
take up any other questions of impor-
tance that might be considered by a spe,
rial session. 1t is very apparent that
we should not attempt to change laws
at this time, and indeed that we should
hold ourselves in readiness to make
changes If tho decision of the courts
requires it."
HAYS HARMONY
PURELY MYTHICAL.
In other words, there is so little of the
harmony, for which VIII Hays Is noted,
in the ranks of the republican party to-
day that it is not ready to attempt a
change of the obnoxious laws enacted by
the Goodrich legislature Of 191S-1919 and
that these laws must not be changed un-
less the courts decide that they can not
be enforced a they now stand.
Consequently, in its secret councils, the
state committee has com
mitted itself to the enforcement of the
tax law as it was enacted by the lask
CONTINUED on Fago Elsven1