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The patriotism of peace. Hanly, J. Frank (James Frank), 1863–1920. 
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The
Patriotism of Peace
PUBLIC ADDRESSES
AND STATE PAPERS OF

GOVERNOR J. FRANK HANLY
OF INDIANA

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Compiled by
GEORGE B. LOCKWOOD

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MARION, INDIANA:
TEACHERS JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY
1906

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COPYRIGHTED, 1906
BY TEACHERS JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY

Monotyped and Printed by
TEACHERS JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY
MARION, INDIANA

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INTRODUCTORY

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THE public addresses and State papers incorporated in this volume are not the pyrotechnics of a mere rhetorician; they are, rather, sparks from the anvil of a strong man arduously at work: and in this, forceful as the subject matter is in form and content, lies its chief value and interest. The doctrines enunciated are not new: in large part these papers and addresses are only the eloquent re-statement of the fundamental principles underlying free government: but they are vitalized by the fact that they represent the practical application of these principles to the problems which have confronted a public official charged with important executive responsibilities, involving the welfare of all the people of a great commonwealth.

The change which has come over the people in recent years,-- it might also be said in recent months,-- in their attitude toward questions of public policy, is due not to the sudden birth of new ideals, but to an awakened conscience exerted in behalf of old ideals which hitherto have had a more active realization on the printed page and in the spoken word than in the every day lives of the people and in the official acts of their servants in authority. What has so recently happened in politics long ago worked a transformation, for instance, in science and in religion. The abstractions of science, once considered sufficient in themselves, have almost altogether ceased to interest except in their relation to the problems of civilization which scientific discoveries are serving to solve; the technical points of theology, which were once not only the subjects of debate but the rallying cries of warfare, are more and more forgotten while in mutual good-will the churches multiply their practical activities for the uplift of humanity; and, at last, politics is being practicalized in the best sense of that word; we are exalting in public life the homely fireside virtues,-- and rallying to the support of those who best exemplify them in their public service. This does not mean the dissolution of party organizations, which in a republic afford the only means of responsible government, but page: iv[View Page iv] it does involve their regeneration and dedication to a higher form of public service than that of continual contending over traditional political principles which do not vitally affect the permanent well being of the people.

In the career of J. Frank Hanly as Governor of Indiana, theory and practice have been one and the same: the deed has squared with the word. Believing with all publicists that under a republican form of government, especially, the laws of the State, which are the will of the people expressed through their representatives, are made to be enforced; that under his oath as Governor no alternative is presented as against the enforcement of any and every law found upon the statute books of the commonwealth, Governor Hanly, to quote his own language, has "insisted that all laws should be obeyed by all citizens everywhere." Under the Constitution of the State of Indiana, the first duty of the Governor of the State is "to take care that the laws be faithfully enforced." The authority conferred upon the chief executive in this respect is not commensurate with the responsibility. The immediate jurisdiction of the Governor extends only to the executive departments, and to certain localities covered by the provisions of the metropolitan police law. Beyond these limits the influence of the executive may be exerted only by example and exhortation, except when acting as commander-in-chief of the military forces of the State called into service to suppress riot or insurrection. A number of the public addresses included in this volume were called forth by the Governor's desire to arouse the people to the supreme importance of the policy of law enforcement in every community of the State. During the first year of Governor Hanly's administration he traveled seventeen thousand miles, making one hundred addresses, much of the travel being at night, going to very many places without compensation, and even paying his own expenses. The purpose of this was to stir the public conscience and arouse the public thought, so that the policy of the administration, having in view the just and impartial enforcement of the law, might have the support of the people. The impression thus effected upon the people of the State has been deep and lasting, the words of the Governor having carried with them the weight that accompanies the preaching of a man who is earnestly endeavoring to live his own gospel.

No more forceful presentation of the work of the administration page: v[View Page v] could be made than is contained in Governor Hanly's speech at the Republican State Convention on April 11, 1906, which appears in this volume. A comparison of the Inaugural address of Governor Hanly with the published Acts of the General Assembly of 1905, will show that a large number of its recommendations were adopted by the Legislature either in part or in their entirety. The institutional affairs of the State received a large measure of attention in this address, and several important enactments were the result. By reason of this legislation a system of trade schools has been established in the State Reformatory, and a binder twine plant has been placed in successful operation in the State Prison, the object in each case being to save the inmates of these two institutions from the blighting effects of idleness and at the same time to minimize their competition with free labor. Several new institutions were authorized by the General Assembly of 1905, involving heavy responsibilities upon the Governor, which have been discharged with all the dispatch consistent with mature consideration. The Girls' Industrial School is well under way and will be completed during the summer of 1906. The Southeastern Hospital for the Insane, authorized for the purpose of relieving the pressure upon the four existing hospitals for the insane, has been located, and the contract for its construction will soon be let. The Institution for the Deaf and Dumb has been relocated, and construction will be well under way during the present year. The Village for Epileptics has been located, and a superintendent selected. Each of these purchases has been made with care and without the suggestion of scandal. The administration of institutional affairs has been absolutely non-partisan, and has been maintained upon a plane unsurpassed in any other State of the Union.

In other important particulars the General Assembly responded to the recommendations of the Governor, notably in the enactment of the bill providing for the establishment of a Railroad Commission, with power to protect the shipper and the public generally from unjust discrimination in transportation rates, and the Moore amendment to the Nicholson Law permitting the people to remonstrate against the saloon business in their several wards and townships, where before the right was limited in its application to a remonstrance against the individual seeking a liquor license. The Railroad Commission created under the new statute has already succeeded in checking and correcting page: vi[View Page vi] some of the unjust practices which created a demand for the establishment of the tribunal, and the salutary effect of the law has been felt to an extent not indicated by the number or importance of the cases actually brought to its attention. The effect of the Moore amendment has been to relieve the people of many communities of the State from the annoyance incident to repeating their remonstrances at each monthly meeting of their County Board of Commissioners, and to wipe out a large number of saloons hitherto existing in defiance of local public opinion.

While Governor Hanly has been most of all concerned with moral issues, his has been a business administration in the best sense of that term,-- in the sense which implies the same careful scrutiny and jealous care which the conscientious man of business applies to his private affairs. The State debt has been reduced $407,000,-- all that can be paid upon it without going into the market and buying bonds until 1910, when the State's next option to buy matures. To meet the expenses incurred by the construction of the new State institutions, the three cent State debt sinking fund levy was by the last General Assembly transferred to the general fund for 1906 and 1907. This will provide for the construction of all the new State institutions authorized without incurring a dollar of State indebtedness. The restoration of the State debt sinking fund levy in 1908 and 1909 will in these two years produce a fund sufficient to pay all of the State debt that it is possible to pay the moment the State's option matures, and five years before these bonds are due. Indiana is one of the few States in which the tax levy for State purposes has remained at practically the same figure for a decade, despite a constantly increasing population, and a still more greatly increased demand upon the institutional system of the State. The amount of new institutional construction now under way is almost unprecedented in the history of the State, which renders more conspicuous the success of the administration in keeping within the appropriations.

The official statement of the Governor with reference to the case of State Auditor Sherrick is so clear and convincing that it leaves little to be said on this subject. The service which Governor Hanly has rendered the State in uprooting the vicious precedents which have resulted in the downfall of scores of men in county, township and State office, and in the diversion of thousands upon thousands of dollars of the people's money to page: vii[View Page vii] private coffers, if it were the only important act of his administration would in itself constitute a lasting claim upon the gratitude of the people of Indiana. Of this service the recovery of $164,000 to the public treasury of the State, and the prospective recovery of many thousands more by reason of suits pending, is the smallest part, though this in itself is more than enough to pay the total expense of an entire session of the General Assembly. If Governor Hanly, in the several cases in which he has been compelled to take action at the sacrifice of his own personal sympathies, has made public the disgrace of some men, he has saved many another official from the same disgrace, and the people of the State from the demoralization and reproach arising from the misdeeds of unfaithful public servants.

The veto messages of Governor Hanly, a number of which are presented in this volume, indicate the careful consideration which the Governor, in the midst of the great pressure of public duties incident to a legislative session, gave to the bills laid upon his table. Every act of the last General Assembly was personally read and considered by the Governor, and every one either signed or vetoed; none became a law without his signature. Thirty bills were vetoed, and no bill was passed over the veto, although, under the Constitution of the State, only a majority vote is required to attain this end. By the exercise of the veto power Governor Hanly halted the practice of refunding to public officers by legislative enactment public funds lost by them through the failure of banking institutions in which these funds had been deposited, clearly establishing the principle that this amounted to an appropriation of public revenues to private purposes.

This volume takes its name not simply from the public address which appears first upon its pages, but from the motive which had inspired the public acts and utterances of an executive whose place in the history of the State is already that of a war governor in time of peace,-a motive which Governor Hanly, himself,,has well described as "a passion which preserves and perpetuates that which the patriotism of war has created and established; and which, originating in love of country, impels obedience to its laws and a desire for the promotion of its welfare and for the maintenance of peace and order and the repose of society throughout its borders ; an every day passion continuing and eduring; the basis of all true citizenship, upon which page: viii[View Page viii] civic worth is founded, and from which springs every service of real and permanent value to the State,-- the patriotism of peace." By all those who, in Indiana, and everywhere throughout all the States, are in accord with the truer spirit of patriotism which is beginning to possess the people, these papers and addresses, having in them the ring of battle for a better political and social order, will be read with quickening pulses and a strengthened determination to play a brave part in the country-wide campaign now on for the establishment of the old ideals of the republic in private and public life.

GEORGE B. LOCKWOOD.

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CONTENTS.

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