USA > Indiana > Lake County > The First Hundred Years (1938) > Part 17
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political philosophy is-never to let himself be caught in a mi- nority.
"He has a great natural gift for making friends, and it is almost impossible not to like him. As a handshaker, Jim comes pretty near to being the world's champion. He loves it. He nev- er wearies of it. It is as natural to him as breathing. When he sees a man whose face he knows, his hand goes out automatically and without thought. With his first election to congress Jim was really launched. He came down to Washington and in an amaz- ing brief period, through his exhilarating personality, was one of the most popular men in the house. More than that, in a short time he was one of the little circle that 'run things'. He was a good companion, could tell a good story, played a good game of poker, and enjoyed a drink.
"Renominated and elected for five consecutive terms, Jim began to branch out in Indiana, and became a recognized factor in the state organization popular. Useful and available, in 1908 he had no great trouble in getting the republican nomination for governor, but he was beaten by the late Tom Marshall. Out of office, Jim did not stay out of Washington. On the contrary, the following April he appeared in the capitol as the paid repre- sentative of certain subsidiaries of the American Manufacturers Association, for which Michael Martin Mulhall was chief lobby- ist. Mulhall hired Watson to advocate the insertion of a tariff commission proposal in the Payne-Aldrich bill. And this turned out to be one of the first of the various not entirely creditable spots in his career.
"The short of it is: a congressional committee began an in- vestigation of lobbying and they questioned the propriety of one who had been a member of congress and was having influ- ence in pressing legislative proposals for hire. This was rather severe on Jim, and one would think it would have damaged him politically in Indiana politics. It might have damaged some other man, but not Jim. A curious thing about him is that mat- ters such as these, showing him in what may be mildly called an unfavorable light-and in the course of his more than a quarter century of active politics (he has had quite a few such) never seems to do Jim any particular harm. For one thing, he just laughs them off. For another, there is so clear an understanding of the man, that these things do not seem incongruous or shock- ing when revealed.
"Take, for example, the most recent disclosure. A few months ago a senate committee declared that Jim, in 1929, had se- cured from a sugar lobbyist, interest in the sugar rates of the
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Hawley-Smoot tariff bill-a block of stock in the sugar com- pany of which the lobbyist was the head. Jim had given for this stock his unsecured, unendorsed, non-interest bearing note, which had been returned to him with the stock. In other words, Jim got the stock without paying a nickel, and later voted for the sugar rates. When the facts came out, Jim laughed loudly and said, "There isn't anything in it. The stock is no good, and my note is no good-so the score is 0 to 0, with no hits, no runs and two errors. The first error was in my taking the stock, the sec- ond in them taking my note.'"
Speaking of holding his seat in the senate: "He has had to run and dodge and shift and fight and forgive and hedge and de- fend and laugh and work and talk more than most men to keep his seat. But there he is, and still there unless his luck leaves him this fall he will stay, for he is sure of unopposed nomination this summer. The seniority rule of the senate made him the re- publican floor leader in 1929, and his control of his party organization in Indiana since 1922 has been practically undis- puted and complete. Today he is not only unbeatable in Indiana, but so far as the republicans are concerned, is the dictator of the state, without whose support no man can be nominated for a state-wide office."
Where Jim gets his powerful influence is through patronage -largely federal patronage. In every state the republican ma- chine is built up around federal officeholders. To a remarkable extent they are the state machine. Through them is achieved control of the primary gate, through which all aspirants to elec- tive office must first pass. Control of the primaries is control of the party.
You see, you free born Americans, let Jim Watson hog tie, bind and gag you from Washington. You not only submit to it, but seem to like it. And then we wonder why our taxes are so high ,and why we do not have an honest government, when it is our own making, in allowing others to do our business for us. According to Mr. Kent, standing for a principle has never entered Jim's mind. What will win politically governs his actions, and has all through his long political career.
So this Gary Post-Tribune correspondent knew what he was talking about. It is not who the people of Indiana or the 1,451 delegates to the state convention want, but what Jim Watson wants and the thing will go the way Jim nods.
-S. B. W.
Here, Miss Editor, is a letter from a man in San Diego, Cali- fornia, who expresses himself pretty forcibly, and I believe it is
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an indication of what other folks are thinking about the con- ditions of things at this time.
* *
"You asked for my views upon current events. Man, it would take a book to tell you all I think about them and the men who seek to guide our destiny. I don't expect to live to see the harvest from the seed sown during the past thirty years-but it will come none the less. Privileged groups (and that includes the agriculturists as well as the manufacturers) have sought the state and federal governments to do for them what they should have done for themselves. Governmental paternalism has run wild. Even in our education system we have gone to extremes, until education is no longer prized and sought after. Cities, counties and states have mortgaged themselves to the hilt and, with interest charges, are in many cases paying twice over what was borrowed. All with claims, and many without just cause, are hanging onto the government's teats and now holler because the treasury is dry. Taxes are burdensome because the govern- ments are called upon to do all these things and more, and you and I, under our political method of doing governmental busi- ness, can do nothing but grin and bear it.
"Now, what is the harvest to be from all this? Socialism pure and simple. Today one in every ten of working men and women are employees of, and in, some form of government. How long are the nine going to bear the burden of mismanagement? And what are they going to do? More and more the nine will be called upon to provide the means to do this, that and the next. And the more they provide the fewer their numbers will become, but the number of tax-eaters will be increased and then will come the day when what is left of the nine will toss what they have left into the common pot and say, 'Let me also be a ward of the nation and work for the nation.' Do you like the picture? Of course, you don't. But cheer up, it won't come in your life, but it will be in full blast during the lives of our grandchildren, and so we may cheerfully pass the problem on to them for so- lution.
"I could write of more cheerful things, such as our beautiful Easter, spring, the mountain sides, covered with wild flowers, and the valleys, full of growing vegetation. On every hillside dairy cows are to be seen. And, while butter is not much more expensive than axle grease, yet milk remains the same high price. Is it any wonder that the poor man with the large family -many mouths and little work-should say : 'They are pouring milk into the sewer and my babes are going hungry. Me for the
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socialistic ticket! They can't be any worse than the republi- cans and democrats.'
"Sam, the older I grow, the more convinced I am that the only form of government which will do the most good for, and to, the greater number will be that form which removes tempta- tion to hoard and possess from men, but at the same time as- sures to all the full enjoyment of the fruits of the earth and of man's labor. What this form of government should be I am not prepared to say, but this I do know-we haven't got it .- Ed. Cermack."
April, 1932
CHANGE WANTED IN COURT PROCEDURE
The alienists (they are the fellows who decide whether or not a person is crazy when he commits some terrible crime) are getting in their work in the Massie trial now being held at Hono- lulu-and their decisions are, as usual, in favor of those who pay them for it, i. e., the very scientific and learned alienist always decides that the prosecution is not crazy, and for the defense, the same scientific and learned alienist decides that the prosecution is insane. It was so in the Leopold-Loeb case, and every other case of which we know anything, where these noted alienists were employed.
We are hardly surprised, for it is in line with our other learned and scientific court procedures, out of which are supposed to come justice, but too often something else is dealt. And gen- erally it costs us (the public) ten times what it should to carry on our courts.
We, the people of Indiana, should demand of our representa- tives a change in our laws governing court procedure, which would make a saving of millions of dollars and bring about swift justice, which would be a great influence toward the lessen- ing of crime.
We are all burdened with the back breaking load of taxa- tion, and yet we continue to vote for representatives and sena- tors, to go down to Indianapolis to make our laws, who are in- fluenced more by the tax spenders than they are by the tax- payers. Our judge Martin J. Smith, of the criminal court is do- ing his best for justice, considering the laws with which he has to work. And he is trying to get the laws affecting court procedure changed, so that the criminal does not have all the advantages in the court.
The State Farm Bureau and the Better Government Asso-
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ciation of Lake county are working to get Judge Smith's plan for operation of courts enacted into law. Now, if the people in general will become interested in a change in court procedure, and demand of our candidates for the legislature that they do a good job in this matter, they will be forced to do something. If the people do not demand it, it will not be done, for the average lawyer is not concerned about swift justice. He is only inter- ested to get all the money he can out of a case, and the longer the case lasts the more he can get out of it. The same searching investigation should be made of all of our candidates, especially the candidates who would represent us in congress and help to make our federal laws, which determine tremendously the poli- cies of our government, which (of course) means much toward the success and happiness of the people.
So just now, before the primary and until the election next fall, it behooves us to awaken and take a vital interest in public affairs. Then, when we have done all in our power to select good, honest, capable public servants for our public offices, we shall not need to mourn.
PARTY HARMONY MEETINGS
Now that the two great harmony meetings of the two great parties in Lake county are things of the past, it is fitting for an honest newspaper to tell the simple truth about those two meet- ings of "fair women and brave men."
According to newspaper reports there were between six and seven thousand good and faithful democrats who met at Lassen's Resort and had a good time. They did not even have to make an effort to think and were not bothered by having to listen to somebody make a speech. We have heard of Nero fiddling while Rome burned, and these happy democrats could dance, eat, drink, and be merry while this country, on its last legs, as some think, is struggling for its existence.
As Oscar Ahlgren, candidate for congress on the republican ticket, said, "After democracy, what?" He said to the people gathered at the fair grounds for the Memorial Day exercises, "It is up to you, men and women, whether we maintain the standard set by our forefathers." And, of course, it is. But the joy crowd at Cedar Lake did not seem to be worrying about that. And we suppose that is one reason our "house of lords" at Wash- ington are not taking things more seriously.
On Saturday evening, June 4, between seven hundred and a thousand republicans met in a get-together meeting at the Ma-
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sonic temple in Hammond. There was plenty to eat, after a wait of an hour or more for the waitresses to put it on the table, and some got ice cream and some did not. But they tried to feed the soul and mind as well as the body.
After introducing the candidates on the republican ticket, John Scott, district chairman, Judge Noel Neil of Indianapolis, and Oscar Ahlgren each gave us a speech. In the opening of Mr. Neil's speech he said Lake county was a republican county rightfully since Bartlett Woods organized the first republican party over 70 years ago, in those days when it meant something to be a republican.
It was very thrilling to me to have that brought up, as Bartlett Woods was my father and was one of the foremost ones in the formation of the republican party. I was mighty glad to have a man from Indianapolis tell the people of Lake county that fact. And I can add this: If the republican party had main- tained the high principles, integrity, justice and economy that Bartlett Woods stood for in the party, the republicans in the last election would not have voted the democratic ticket as the speak- er of the evening complained they had done. If Bartlett Woods were alive and active today there would be something doing to better conditions in this time of depression.
The rest of Mr. Neil's talk was a lot of ballyhoo about what the republican party has done, but not a word about what they are going to do to lift us out of the slough of despond. He talked about the beauties of the tariff, when most sensible people that I know think that the tariff was the darned thing that busted us. To the speaker Jim Watson is the great, inspiring hope of the nation and, according to a well written article in the Atlantic Monthly, which is a responsible magazine, Watson is a man without perfection or principle and one who shows great agility in always getting on the side that has the majority.
If Judge Neil is a great orator, as the paper stated, he is not up-to-date. He is one of those has-beens and is not awake to the needs of the hour.
Mr. Ahlgren made a short speech in which he said the G. O. P. was all right, and, of course, he said he expected to be suc- cessful next fall. He did not have time to tell that evening what he expected to do when he gets to be congressman, but we hope he will find time before election to inform us. For these are mighty serious times, and if a man is big enough to be con- gressman he should be big enough to lead us. But if the people as a whole do not show more concern for the welfare of our country, can we expect much from a congressman?
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July, 1932
THE TARIFF WALL
The selfish greed of the American manufacturers who furn- ished the campaign fund for the Republican party had Congress put the tariff wall up so high that most other countries retaliated. As a consequence we stopped business, the high tariff wall being one of the main causes of our slump. Here is what one professor thinks about it.
Dr. Robert McElroy, formerly of Princeton and now profes- sor of American history in Oxford university, charged that the United States had forced Great Britain to adopt her present tar- iff policy, which, if carried to success by the Ottawa conference, will serve further to injure America's foreign trade.
"In view of the fact that we have lost 60 per cent of our foreign trade by virtue of tariff barriers, and seem likely to lose another 40 per cent if no remedy appears, it would have been the part of wisdom for one or both political parties to have an- nounced a program for lower tariffs," he said. "Acting together these two leading industrial nations might have shortened the process of breaking down barriers which have throttled trade."
The Imperial Conference at Ottawa, Canada, that Mr. McEl- roy speaks about is in session right now. The delegates to this meeting represent nearly one-fourth of the world's area and al- most a half a billion of the world's inhabitants. Its object is to weld the British Empire into an economic unit.
Canada had been buying 856 million dollars worth of United States commodities, taking practically one-fourth of the Ameri- can exports. Then, without warning or negotiation, came the Fordney-McCumber tariff. Its effect was that in one year our trade with Canada fell off to the amount of 250 million dollars. They (American manufacturers and Congress) were not satisfied with that and we got the Hawley-Smoot Act which put up more tariff walls and made them so high that England and all her do- minions propose to do business among themselves and quit trad- ing with the United States.
It looks as if we, in trying to hog the whole world, had over done it and this is one of the main causes of the depression. We got high-hatted and big-headed and if we do not get off our high horse it is going to be a mighty serious condition for this coun- try. We have been saying we could live within ourselves and it. begins to look as if we would have to.
July, 1932
LET THE BIG INTERESTS TAKE CARE OF THEM
There are some things about this panie (some call it a de- pression) that are worth thinking about. It is said that there are:
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ten thousand families or about fifty thousand people in Lake county that need help, and most of them are depending for a livelihood on protected industries. That is, manufacturing in- dustries that asked and secured from our government laws pro- hibiting like goods from coming into this country without pay- ing a big duty.
The claim of these manufacturers was that the American workman should not have to compete with the pauper labor of Europe. But here they are by the thousands with nothing to do and the public has to take care of them. The protected inter- ests, when things are booming, get foreigners from all over the world and negroes from the south so that they can get cheap la- bor and declare big dividends. But, when the slump comes, they throw the workmen on the mercy of the public. They will not start their mills unless they can figure a profit, while the farmer has been feeding the world for the last ten years without a profit in his business.
Drive through the country if you will and you find the farm- er and his family working whether it pays or not-15 cents for oats, 10 cents for eggs, and everything else in proportion, while the miners were offered $5.00 per day to go to work and they would not do it for that money. The vets congregate at Wash- ington and the men out of work storm the state house at In- dianapolis, making more trouble and expense, when most of them, if they had the will to do it, could make a living at home. There is a certain class of men that will do only certain things and want big money or they won't work.
What are we going to do about it? As far as I am concern- ed, I do not see much encouragement to work industriously and save to get property and then be taxed beyond the capacity to pay, in order to support a lot of people out of work. If the big, protected industries get these people into Lake county in boom times, let them take care of them in bum times. We thought in the boom days that we were very fortunate to have these big industries come into Lake county, but with the accompanying burden of building million and a half dollar court houses and all the dependents to take care of we begin to feel that it is not such a blessing.
SCORE CARDS
You know we have score cards for judging or comparing the farmer's products. There are score cards for seed corn, butter and cheese, for horses, for dairy and beef cattle, and fruit, etc. Mr. Henry Black in the Christian Century proposes we have "a
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score card for candidates for office." He, like President Wilson, has 14 points to size his candidates up on the more important questions of the day. We think we would make the score card more simple and direct :
Is he honest and conscientious ?- 50 per cent.
Has he good horse sense and business judgment ?- 50 per cent.
That would make a one hundred per cent officer from the president of the United States to a township trustee. At least, there are qualities there that some of the candidates do not seem to possess.
August, 1932
PAYING TOO MUCH FOR EDUCATION
In times past the hackneyed saying, "You can't pay too much for education," has been heard on every hand. And it seemed that our state board of education and all the powers that be clear down the line to our township trustee had no idea of economy in our public schools. They added frills and furbelows -ball parks, gymnasium, domestic science, manual training, commercial department, social science, general science, art, music, et cetera, et cetera-until we have got the cost so high with the other high costs of government that we can't pay for it.
This is true not only of Lake county, Indiana, but conditions are pretty much the same over the whole state and over the whole United States. Tuesday morning's papers carried the news that Mayor Cermak of Chicago assured the bankers that the school board would cut the expense of running the schools of Chicago at least 15 million dollars a year. And that seems to be the gen- eral idea the country over-we have to lessen the cost of our schools to the capacity of the taxpayers to pay for them.
For the last 50 years at least, this country has spent a tre- mendous amount of money for the education of our youth. What have we got for it? Where are the results? Where does it show up in the citizenship of this nation? Where is the high standard of leadership and statesmanship that this education should have produced? Do you see it very much in evidence ?
About one-half of the people of the United States who have been educated at public expense do not take enough interest in our government to go to the polls to vote. And, if they did go to vote, many of them are so ignorant they could not vote intel- ligently for the best interest of the country. And is not the idea of our free school system to make good, intelligent citizens? Could not a lot of expense be cut out of the schools without any
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ultimate great loss? And could not some things be added to our young people's education that would be of lasting benefit? For instance, the science of government. Educate the young people to understand the seriousness of being a citizen of the United States.
There is one thing sure-we are running to seed on athletics. The whole spirit and enthusiasm of the school seem to be over a ball game or some other line of sport and there are whole fami- lies of school children that are out every night looking for a thrill. They could not for the life of them sit down at home and read a good magazine or book. If they should grab up a newspaper it is only to see the sport page. If one of the most noted men of the nation should come to our town to talk on some subject of national interest and there was a basket ball game on the same evening, there would be 300 to see the ball game and perhaps 30 at the lecture. Our education has produced that at- titude.
In Denmark, Sweden and Norway the whole spirit and in- tent of their schools is to make good, industrious citizens and when a boy or girl is through school he has the education and the desire with it to go at some useful occupation. But in this country, when a boy or girl is through with their education he is at a loss to know what to do unless the "old man" has plenty of money and will furnish a good machine and plenty of gas. Some of them are not so fortunate, so they enter the hold up profes- sion for easy money. Very few of our educated youths are hank- ering after hard work. Since work is the only thing that pro- duces real wealth, who are going to be the future taxpayers who will pay for education ?
September, 1932
POLITICS
What a different meaning this word has to different peo- ple. To the bum element it means power and graft. To the timid good people it means treading on dangerous ground as far as their morals and soul are concerned. And to the strong good person it means a channel through which he ean work for the good of the government and the benefit of its citizens.
There is no higher service possible for man or woman than to get into politics and work for clean, honest, just government. It would be funny, if it were not so ridiculous, the attitude some people take toward politics. In our Farm Bureau we have heard the remark, "We must not get into politics." We answered them: "We must get into politics and stay there until we get
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justice." We asked the man who made the above remark what he thought polities was and his reply was, "Dirty business."
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