The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-06-06
CORRUPTION IN
C. 0. P. ASSAILED
BY KEYNOTER
Honesty in Government Is
SimmS' Cry at Democrat
Convention.

Honesty in government" was the
battle cry sounded for Indiana DEM
ocrats today, when Dan w. Simms,
Lafayette attorney, as keynote
speaker at the Democratic State
convention in CadIe Tabernacle, ap-
piled all the adjectives in his ex-
tensive vocabulary to denunciatior
Of Republican corruption in office.
There is an issue confronting the
voters of Indiana in this campaign"
he said, $50 inSidious in its char
acter; so malevolent in its purpose;
so revolving and shocking to the
decency and the conscience of men
and women of both parties; so vile
and slanderous to the good name
and honor of the State and its citi-
zens, that it must be met with and
disposed of at once and forever.
Meanwhile, the divergent opin-
ions that separate the parties must
be held in allegiance until this foul
issue of fate is determined by the
voters at the polls
Praises Democratic Policies
Simms arraignment of corruption
after a long eulogy of Democratic
principles and policies, in which ne
attacked both the national and
State administrations and picked to
pieces the keynote address delivered
by George M. Barnard at the Re
publican State convention.
The chief issue, he said, "ariseS
~
upon one hand and the great voting
strength of the Republican party
upon the other. The cleavage is
drawn clear and sharp between the
present false and unauthorized
leadership Of the Republican party
upon the one hand and the great
heart of Hoosierdom upon the
other"
Questions rendered by the issue
of corruption, he said, include:
Shall the leaders who speak and
act for a great political party be
honest or dishonest?
Assails Corruption
"Shall the men chosen to execute
and administer the laws be required
faithfully to discharge the duties of
their trust, or shall they be per-
mitted to capitalize the honor con-
ferred in confidence upon them,
prostitute the position they hold by
grace, and drag the proud name OF
the State and of its people through
the slime of diShonor and disgrace?
Shall bribery and embezzlenent
and forgery and perjury or murder
by those who speak and act with au-
thority for the State or political
party be condoned, excused or toll
erated?"
Simms referred scathingly to the
leadership of Chairman Walb, of
George Coffin. Of D. c. Stephenson,
of John Duvall, William Buser, Roy
Crouch, Richard Sipe, Ray Albert
son, Earl Garrett and Governor
jackson"
He asked if Coffin, who resigned
as Marion County Republican
chairman, "as a gesture toward
housekeeping" md who then was
elected Republican Seventh district
chairman, shall "be commissioned
anew to carry on the orgy of the
last eight years?"
Jackson Is Denounced
Governor Jackson came in for
harsh denunciation as "the only
Governor, living or dead, who was
indicted and tried by a jury of his
peers for the crime of attempting
to bribe his predecessor in Office and
who escaped conviction because the
evidence that the statute of linita-
tons had expired before the State
learned of the crime and the State
was unable to prove concealment."
Democrats and Republicans hon
estly may disagree upon matters
based on opinion Simms concluded,
"but the absolute necessity for COM
mon honesty, for sterling integrity
on the part of those men whom we
trust and honor with leadership in
the public service, lies far beyond