USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922, Vol II > Part 37
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The campaign of 1916 started with the primary election held March 7. This was the first state pri- mary and politicians watched its results with keen interest. The preliminary campaign among the Re- publicans had been waged with energy, especially were the contests between James P. Goodrich and Warren T. McCray for the gubernatorial nomination and that between Harry S. New and James E. Wat- son for the United States senatorial nomination spir- ited. The Democratic nominations of J. A. M. Adair for governor and B. F. Shively for re-election as senator were not seriously contested, though Leon- ard Clore for governor received a substantial vote.
18 Official Report, Sec. of State, 1916.
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PROGRESSIVES
The results of the Republican primary favored Gov- ernor Goodrich and Captain New, however. A short time later the death of Senator Shively necessitated the election of a successor for which the Republicans nominated James E. Watson and the Democrats Thomas Taggart. J. Frank Hanly was nominated on the Progressive ticket but when it was ascertained that that party was not supporting him he withdrew.
The Republicans in national convention at Chi- cago, June 8, nominated Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana for the vice-presidency and the Democrats at St. Louis one week later extended a like recogni- tion to Thomas R. Marshall, thus making it certain that an Indianian would be vice-president.
The great problem of the campaign was the for- mer Progressive vote. The state platforms of the two old parties covered substantially the demands of the former Progressives, except the initiative and referendum, and as the campaign wore along most of the Progressives returned whence they came and the campaign settled down to the tariff and the foreign policy of the national government.
The state issues were the calling of a constitu- tional convention, woman suffrage, prohibition and a new tax law. The contest was close but the result showed small Republican pluralities on both state and national tickets. On the national ticket the Re- publicans received 341,005 votes, the Democrats 334,- 063, the Progressives 3,898, the Prohibitionists 16,- 368, and the combined Socialists 23,514. The Repub- lican candidates for United States senators, and on the state ticket were all elected by larger pluralities, Governor Goodrich leading with 337,831 votes or a plurality of 12,771. Indiana thus filled out its cen- tury almost equally divided politically. Governor Goodrich's plurality was far less than two per cent. of all the voters and yet in Indiana it was counted
1066
HISTORY OF INDIANA
an emphatic victory, carrying the General Assembly and nine of the thirteen congressmen.19
. There was considerable dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war and this had to be borne by the party in power. The Republicans virtually repudi- ated their governor and the Democrats their presi- dent. Since the war overshadowed everything else, the Democrats had to bear the heavy burden. In 1918 the Republicans elected a solid delegation to congress and carried the state by a plurality of near 50,000.
The presidential year of 1920 again found the Republican party united. In the primary, May 4, 1920, Gen. Leonard Wood carried the state by a small plurality over Hiram Johnson, Warren G. Harding being fourth and last in a field of four. Warren T. McCray won the nomination for the governorship over James W. Fesler and Edward Toner. The Democrats nominated Carlton B. McCulloch. James E. Watson, Republican, and Thomas Taggart, Dem- ocrat, were the candidates for the U. S. senate.
The campaign was without distinctive state issues. The Republicans centered their attack on President Wilson and the League of Nations. The ebb after the war had set in and the Democrats were caught in the undertow. The state went Republican by the unprecedented plurality of 185,006 on the na-
19 This chapter has been written from the newspapers, from campaign documents, from a great number of political speeches in pamphlet form, from a few collected works and blographies and some personal recollections. The safest guide, it seems, is the concurrent testimony of three or four newspapers of different politics. The most dangerous materials are personal reminis- cences and political speeches. What we need most in Indiana, for our political history, are collections of the speeches of our leading men. Such collections as we have were selected rather to build up a reputation for the subject than to illustrate the history of the times or give a fair impression of the man.
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POLITICAL PROGRESS
tional and 168,000 on the state ticket. The congres- sional delegation remained solidly Republican and the General Assembly was almost so.
§ 198 POLITICAL PROGRESS
The Sim Coy forgeries, the Dudley letter and the conduct of national committeemen in Indiana during the seventies and eighties aroused the people to a sense of the dangers they were in. It was doubtful if the verdict at the polls on election day even approxi- mated the wish of the voters. By the method of vot- ing then in use any one might easily know how any one else voted. For this reason it was felt there was a lack of independence, especially was intimida- tion practiced among employees. With this experi- ence in mind the General Assembly of 1889 enacted the present Australian Ballot law under which the state now holds its elections. The one purpose of the long law is to preserve secrecy of the ballot. If the law is honestly administered there is no possible way for any one to know how or for whom any indi- vidual has voted.20
Previous to 1915, for twenty-five years, there had been insistent demand for a primary election law. It was urged that it availed little to be able to cast an honest ballot at the election if you were required to choose between two rascals of equal notoriety. All parties had come to favor a primary election law and the General Assembly of 1915 mustered courage suf- ficient to enact the law. The statute provides for a state-wide primary election, to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March on election years. At this primary election the committeemen and other party officers are to be elected, besides
20 Laws of Indiana, 1889, ch. LXXXVII. It is a long statute of sixty-seven sections, but one may see the essential parts of it posted near the voting booths on election day.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
candidates for president, vice-president, governor, United States senator, congressmen, members of the state legislature, judges, county and township offi- cers ; also delegates to the national and state conven- tions. Practically the same precautions, pains and penalties for violation are attached as to the election laws.21
During this period, from 1870 to 1910, it was a common opinion throughout the United States that public, official morality was at a low ebb. Grafting, a term appropriated to the special duty of conveying the idea of official peculation, was thought to be the common thing in township, town, city, county, state and nation. The muck-raking magazines featured this kind of news. The penitentiaries received a goodly number of public officers overtaken by the law in their dishonesty. In an attempt to end this period of low moral pressure, the General Assembly of 1909 enacted the Public Accounting law. A state board of accountants, consisting of the governor, auditor and a state examiner, appointed by the governor, was constituted, whose business it is to prescribe uni- form methods of bookkeeping throughout the state and then by means of two deputy examiners and as many field examiners as the board deems necessary, to see that the offices of the state from governor down to township justice of the peace are administered honestly.22
In an effort to improve further the morale of the officeholders the General Assembly of 1911 enacted the Corrupt Practices law. The purpose was to elim-
21 Laws of Indiana, 1915, ch. CV. First and second choice candidates are designated. Platforms are made at conventions by delegates chosen at the primary.
22 Laws of Indiana, 1909, ch. LV. The law has had a sober- ing effect on office holders. The culprits frequently escape through the connivance of friends on the bench or in the prosecutor's office.
1
1069
POLITICAL PROGRESS
inate from the election, and from the campaign pre- ceding the election, all influences that hinder a fair expression of the popular will. Solicitation of cam- paign funds was prohibited and a careful account was required of all money used in the campaign.23
Finally the General Assembly of 1917 provided for calling a constitutional convention, enfranchised women, so far as it could under the constitution, and enacted a state-wide prohibition law. How far the supreme court will hinder the program remains to be seen. The act calling a constitutional convention has been set aside as unconstitutional, and on Oc- tober 26, 1917, the court continued its attack by hold- ing the Woman Suffrage act invalid.
23 Laws of Indiana, 1911, ch. CXXI.
CHAPTER XXXVII
MILITARY HISTORY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR
- § 199 AFTER THE CIVIL WAR
During the Civil war practically all the able- bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty- five were connected with the militia. As noted in Chapter XXVI, during the latter half of 1863 all such men were ordered to close their places of business or quit their ordinary work for a few hours each after- noon, and join the training camps. No accurate rec- ords of these men were kept. It was the duty of the captains to keep a roster of the men and report to their superior officers, but hundreds of captains neg- lected to comply. Along the southern border the regiments of the Loyal Legion were often called to arms to repel actual or threatened invasion, and dur- ing Morgan's raid about 65,000 men from all parts of the state were under arms. Records of these men were kept and most all returned, at least to the pay- master. But in the great majority of cases the sol- diers who enlisted had first been members of the home guards or Loyal Legion though no official rec- ords of such service have been preserved.1 As soon
1 In the case of the Fifth regiment, Indiana Legion, the records were kept for nearly fifty years in the home of their colonel, Charles Fournier, but finally were destroyed by fire when his house was burned. The Valleen Guards without organization and without written orders from anyone joined in the pursuit of Hines and Morgan. When the pursuit was over they returned directly home. No official records were kept at that time. These cases are merely typical.
1071
AFTER THE CIVIL WAR
as the war closed, all interest in the militia ceased. The men had had more than enough of war. For four or five years what little activity remained was confined to perfecting the individual records of the volunteers. Many men were at home on furlough when the war closed, others were so anxious to get home that they deserted their regiments and re- turned and so were marked deserters when the regi- ment was mustered out. Every effort was made by the government, both national and state, to find these men and discharge them honorably. The task was not easy because many of them feared they would be punished for desertion, and as no payment of money was due them, they saw no reason why they should take any risk in securing a piece of paper which had no apparent value.
There were many thousands of home guards who had spent several days chasing Hines and Morgan and felt there was some pay due them, which the gov- ernment was prepared to pay if proper vouchers and certificates could be had from the commanding officers.
Another long list of soldiers was returned as "missing." Some had deserted, some had died in battle, some in remote, improvised hospitals, and many in rebel prisons, justice to whom and their fam- ilies required that the facts be ascertained and the record completed. A large number of soldiers avail- ed themselves of the provisions of the Homestead law, many of whom required the assistance of the ad- jutant general in perfecting their claims.
Aside from this clerical work there was no mili- tary activity in the state. No official report was made by the adjutants general after the Civil war till 1870. The state had at that time about enough arms and ammunition to equip two regiments. The small arms consisted of 1,579 rifled Springfield muskets,
1072
HISTORY OF INDIANA
500 Enfield rifles and 716 carbines. The thirteen six- pounder cannons had been loaned out to cities to fire salutes. There were organized in 1870 four compa- nies of guards, but they were not strictly state mili- tia, though the state loaned them guns with which to drill.2 During the next two years thirteen independ- ent rifle companies organized and received arms from the state, but no attempt to organize the militia was made.8
§ 200 MILITIA AND STRIKERS
During the seventies there was considerable trouble in Indiana between employers and laborers. On several occasions the governor found it necessary to send state troops to preserve the peace. The first instance seems to have been at Knightsville and Brazil.
Trouble arose when, February 20, 1873, the coal operators of the Brazil field formed an organization and reduced the price of mining coal to $1.00 per ton, whereupon the miners quit. The operators imported colored miners and proceeded to work. On the even- ing of April 15, some drunk miners attacked the col- ored men and in a short time the village of Knights- ville was in terror. From Knightsville the trouble
2 Report of Adjutant General, 1870.
3 Report of Adjutant General, 1872. "The militia of this state is wholly unorganized, and it has not been deemed expedient to attempt the organization of any part of the militia under the present defective law upon the subject. The most of the states of the union, as in Indiana, have a militia law, and it Is, with one or two exceptions, in all the states inoperative. The principai defect appears to be the want of compulsatory measures to enforce service, and next they all fail in the most essential feature, in that they do not provide for adequate compensation of those upon whom duties are imposed by the law. Whether It would be wise for the General Assembly to inquire into the expediency of a new and effective militia law, I leave that body to determine."
1073
MILITIA AND STRIKERS
spread to Brazil. Governor Hendricks, on appeal from the civil authorities of Clay county, sent what few soldiers he could find, the Emmit guards under Captain Barry and General Dan Macaulay, with a detachment of Indianapolis police. These reached the scene of the rioting at 5 o'clock a. m., April 16. Order was soon restored.+
About the first of December, 1873, the Pennsyl- vania railroad cut the wages of its employees ten per cent. and the engineers and firemen went out on a strike. There was trouble on all lines in the state belonging to that company but the most threatening was in Logansport, a division headquarters and the location of the company's shops. About noon, De- cember 27, the sheriff of Cass county telegraphed the governor that the mob was rapidly getting beyond control. Because Indianapolis was full of strikers and their sympathiers, a detachment of troops com- posed of the College guards and the Emmit guards under the command of General Macaulay entrained at the Massachusetts Avenue station. They were only sixty-six in number but experienced no difficulty in keeping order in Logansport; in fact there was little disorder there aside from that caused by a few drunken men.5 A small force was also dispatched during the year to Wayne county where the chronic courthouse fight had developed more than the usual amount of friction.
In 1874, October 19, a company of 100 men with a Gatling gun, was sent to Porter county to enforce the law. The trouble arose over the demand of the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Chicago railroad to cross the tracks of the Michigan Central at Miller's sta- tion. Having lost its case in the courts, the Michigan Central stationed a double line of freight cars across
4 Indianapolis Journal, April 16, 17 and 18, 1873.
5 Indianapolis Journal, December 29, 1873.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
the tracks of the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Chicago at the intersection and garrisoned the fortification with 500 workmen, mostly Swedes, from the shops at Niles and Michigan City. Capt. T. B. Wightman, of the Indiana guards, placed his Gatling gun on a plat- form car ahead of the locomotive on the Baltimore road and moved on the works of the mob. The work- men stood bravely behind the freight cars, "armed with clubs and villainous looks" until they were sur- rounded and captured. The sheriff then took charge, the workmen returned home and the soldiers to In- dianapolis.6
During the summer of 1876 there was a threat of serious disturbance on the Baltimore and Ohio rail- road. Strikers interrupted the freight service at dif- ferent times, defying the civil authorities. At one time the situation at Vincennes was such that the county sheriff asked aid from the governor. There being no troops available companies from Logans- port, Peru, and Indianapolis were ordered to rendez- vous at the capital. By the time the expedition was ready the situation in Knox county was such that the troops were not sent.7
The repeated calls for state troops to enforce the peace caused the new adjutant general in 1877 to try
6 Report of Adjutant General, 1874; Indianapolis Journal, Oct. 23, 1874.
7 Report of Adjutant General, 1876: "The routine of office business remains about the same as in former years. Applications from all parts of the United States, where Indiana soldiers have emigrated, are daily received for certified copies of their records to supply the place of lost discharges. Many of the counties in this state are still paying local bounties to volunteers, and cer- tificates of enlistments and credits are almost daily demanded by the applicants or by county authorities." p. 4.
6 Adjutant General's Report, 1878; Indianapolis Sentinel, April 27, 1878; Indianapolis Journal, April 20, 1878; Terre Haute Gazette, April 26, 1878.
1075
MILITIA AND STRIKERS
to put the service on a better footing. He, accord- ingly, during the year, organized twenty-three com- panies which he enrolled in the Indiana Legion. Throughout the entire year of 1877 the laborers were restless. All the important railroads of the state at one time or another were tied up. In July, 1877, it seemed that serious rioting could not be avoided. All the independent military companies in the state were placed under arms and held in constant readiness. The Montgomery guards, of Crawfordsville, under Gen. Lew Wallace, marched to the capital and ten- dered their services to the governor. A call for vol- unteers was issued by the governor under which eleven companies at Indianapolis were organized by Gen. Dan Macaulay. Fortunately, these companies were commanded by men who had seen service in the Civil war and no collision took place with the strik- ers. The strikers on their part conducted themselves with commendable moderation.
More serious difficulty arose at Coal Creek, in Fountain county. For a year or so preceding April, 1878, the mine owners in the Coal Creek neighbor- hood had been running their mines with cheap col- ored labor. The former miners, most of whom lived in the neighborhood, had quit on a strike. An armed truce had been in existence during the time. In No- vember, 1877, a military company had been organ- ized, partly among the strikers and armed from the state arsenal. On the evening of April 18, after the militia had been training, a number of the soldiers stopped in a saloon to drink. A fight followed in which three negroes were killed, and a large number driven from their homes. Adjutant General George W. Russ arrived, April 19, and soon had affairs in hand. Severe criticism was made of the policy of the state arming volunteer companies over whom it had no control. Thirty-seven of the strikers at Coal
1076
HISTORY OF INDIANA
Creek who had joined the military company the adju- tant general dismissed. The trouble was chronic in this vicinity, however, and June 19, following, the Indianapolis Light infantry and the Lane guards of Crawfordsville had to be sent to preserve order, re- maining there on patrol duty till July 3.8ª
These experiences made it clear to the state gov- ernment that it needed a better militia system, if it were to preserve order by that means. Yet at this time nothing was done to meet the difficulty. There were in existence during the time from twenty to fifty independent military companies. Many good companies disbanded on account of the expense nec- essary in renting and caring for armories, all of which expense had to be borne by the companies and usually by the officers.
§ 201 THE NEW LEGION
Although a law of 1881 attempted the reorganiza- tion of the state military forces little was ever accom- plished under it. In 1889 it was amended so that forty-eight companies of the Indiana Legion might be organized and armed. The Legion was defined as the active militia, those men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, physically fit, who had sub- scribed to an oath of allegiance to the state. The members of these organized companies were exam- ined by the adjutant general and when once mustered in were subject to strict discipline. Arms and equip- ments were supplied by the state and the soldiers were required to meet and drill at least once every two weeks. A state encampment of not more than a week's duration was provided for at the expense of the state. Twelve companies were placed together to make a regiment, there thus being four full regi-
8ª Adjutant General's Report, 1878.
:
1077
THE NATIONAL GUARD
ments in the New Legion.º The annual encampments came to be events of considerable importance. The same drill regulations were used as in the regular army and many of the companies reached a good de- gree of efficiency in military maneuvers. It was con- fidently reported by the officers in charge that under this system in five years the state would have at its disposal or subject to its call 6,000 men who had had some military training.
§ 202 THE NATIONAL GUARD
The General Assembly of 1895 again rewrote the militia law. The active militia, consisting of all the able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five who should enroll, was divided into forty- eight companies of infantry, three batteries, one sig- nal corps, one hospital corps, and one band for each regiment. This state army was rechristened the Na- tional guard. A military fund was set aside sufficient to arm and equip this body of troops and provide for an annual encampment of six days. The organiza- tion was similar to that of the Legion. The com- panies might be enlarged to seventy-two privates, making the total National guard somewhat larger than the Legion had been.1º The law of 1895 is much more elaborate than that of 1889, having been worked out in detail by officers of the militia in consultation with similar officers in other states. Brigadier Gen- eral W. J. McKee, then in command of the Legion, also prepared a volume of rules and regulations for the use of all guardsmen.11
As stated above, a company was composed of from forty to seventy-two privates, a captain, first and second lieutenants, five sergeants, four corporals
9 Laws of Indiana, 1889, ch. CLXXVII.
10 Laws of Indiana, 1895, ch. LIII.
11 Adjutant General's Report, 1895-6, p. 6.
1078
HISTORY OF INDIANA
and a company clerk. Half a company was called a platoon. Four companies constituted a battalion, three battalions a regiment and the entire guard, or- dinarily four regiments, a brigade. The highest of- ficer under the governor was the brigadier general, appointed by the governor. The governor also ap- pointed an adjutant general, a quartermaster gen- eral, a brigadier general with a staff consisting of an assistant adjutant general, assistant inspector gen- eral, chief medical officer, quartermaster, commis- sary, judge advocate, signal and engineer officers, chief of ordnance, three aides-de-camp; a personal staff who were honorary members of the guard; a regimental staff, a colonel and lieutenant colonel for each regiment, and a major for each battalion. There were also brigade, regimental, and battalion staffs, with corresponding non-commissioned staffs for each. Uniforms, drill, physical examinations and most other regulations and activities were made to correspond as nearly as possible to those of similar grade in the regular army. It was a great step in advance and there was a corresponding interest shown throughout the state. The adjutant general, in his report for 1895, stated that he could easily have organized fifty more companies.
§ 203 SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
The National guard had no more than time for sufficient drill until it was called into national service. At the beginning of 1898 there were forty-one com- panies of infantry and three batteries in condition for active service. They numbered officers, rank and file, 2,822. As the national horizon became clouded in the spring of 1898, the officers of the guard were instructed to recruit their companies to maximum strength.
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