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Page 26
What would Indiana or Indiana people have got out of this all-
summer cavalcade for the use of its highways, or for the
sustenance of its citizens? Unless there had been a breakdown too
serious for roadside repairs, or a truck had accidentally run out
of oil or gas, or some driver had seen fit to buy a Babe Ruth for
his sweet tooth, Indiana and Indiana people would not have
received a damn cent for the use of their $60,000 per mile
concrete highways.
Now what would the Monon--the largest purely Indiana Railroad
have received, or paid, or how would it have fared in the deal?
It would not have received the job of hauling that stone because
its rate was fixed by law and it couldn't hack prices; it would
have continued paying its men, upkeep, expenses and taxes just
the same. . . It owns and maintains its own right of way; also
all rolling stock and equipment of all kinds and character, and
pays taxes on same--regularly. It stands there ready and anxious
to receive all business it can get, not only for today but for
tomorrow, next month and next year. It can't crank up, call the
dog and leave jurisdiction and unpaid debts at 3:01 a.m. on any
given day. It does not ask a monopoly. It only asks fair
treatment, and that bus and truck competitors be put on a
competitive basis by being required to pay a fair return for the
use of the public highways, or else buy, build, and maintain
those of their own; that they shall maintain regular scheduled
routes, rates, and service in winter and summer, sunshine and
rain, fog and clear weather; and otherwise submit and qualify for
regular continuing business, just as railroads are now required
to submit and qualify.
Now, in return for this splendid thesis, I want to ask my
Congressman some favors. Will you please look into bills now
pending before you on this subject, and tell me wherein you favor
or disfavor them--and why? Perhaps I am wrong in the attitude I
take. If I am, I want to get right, and I know of no one better
able, or more willing, to inform me than my own Congressman.
Respectfully,
WET, DRY OR MOIST?
Greencastle, Indiana
April 11, 1932
Mr. James G. Smith
Alamo, Indiana
My dear Mr. Smith:
I have your inquiry about Court Gillen, and I shall answer to the
best of my ability . . . . He is a man of ability, a lawyer, a
decent man and surely is entitled to another chance in Congress.
. . I do not know that he is particularly dry. I do not know that
he is particularly wet. . . He may be a trifle moist, and he may
not be. He has never been known as a radical on anything, within
my knowledge. I have heard some criticism against him on his
so-called dry vote, but I have also heard that anyone with any
sense, under the same circumstance, would have voted exactly as
he did.
For that matter, he will not be beaten by the "lady candidate".
If my information is correct, she got into this race simply and
solely on account of the one vote Gillen made on the Prohibition
question. . . Now, if that is the case, she might be
characterized as a radical "wet", obsessed on that one question,
and forgetful and more or less incompetent on everything else.
And I am saying to you right here and now that there are other
important questions pending except "wet" and "dry". . .
You know, it is a very easy thing to sit or stand around and
"cuss" those in a legislative body for what they did or did not
do. . . If everybody had all the information, and had given a
question the same study and attention as the one who did the
voting, there would be less criticism than there is. . .
Let me illustrate how these things go. I was nominated as
Representative from Putnam County in 1912. I was young and
inexperienced. A day or two after my nomination, Colonel Matson,
who had been in Congress for years, and was a lawyer here at the
time and almost retired, gave me some advice: "Find out where the
coat racks are, where your seat is, and when the Legislature
assembles take your seat and keep still. There will be times when
you will think that you have the exact solution for whatever is
being debated. When you feel this coming on you, get up and get
your hat and walk around the State House, then come back and sit
down and keep still. If you will do that, they will not find out
how ignorant you are. . . I don't want to hear of you taking any
part in the debates your whole first term, I don't want you to
introduce any bills. I just want you to be on the job every day
and every hour, and attend your Committees, and above all else,
keep still."
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