Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1888 — AN HONORABLE WITNESS. [ARTICLE]

AN HONORABLE WITNESS.

HE DENIES THE MALICIOUS ONE-DOL-LAR-A-DAY LIE. A Relative of the late Vice President Hendriekc, Mr. WlllUm Henderson. Bellevee lu Being Honorable Eyeii in Politic*. : L : We publish the following article taken, from The Ansonia Sentinel ot Connecti'CUtr _— A.—.. When R. C. J. Pendleton, of Indiana, spoke at the Ansonia opeYa house, he revived that old canard aliout Gen. Harrison having said that a dollar a day was good enough for a workingman, and testified his belief in it. After reading the report of the speech in The "Sentinel, Dickerman M. Bassett, of Birmingham, wrote a letter to his friend in Indianapolis, William Henderson, and t o reply is printed below. Mr. Henderson Is a Democrat of prominence in Indiana, a leading member of the Indianapolis bar, and a relative of the late Vice-President Hendricks. He was the most promimmt tnemlwr of the committee of one hundred who brought the ballot-l>ox conspirators of his state to trial and punislkment, and it was largely through his influence that Allen G. Thurman was made the vice presidential candidate with Cleveland. What Mr. Henderson, therefore, says about the matter is the expression of a Democrat of ability and prominence, and flatly gives the Ue to the statement With which Mr. Pendleton undertook to delude the Democrats, of Derby. Follow ing is the correspondence: ’•William Hen ’erson. Esq., Indianapolis Ind.: “My Deai- Sir—Mr. Pendleton, of your city, addressed a Democratic rally in this town (Derby) last Saturday evening. He spoke very highly of Gen. It rrison, but at the close of his address said he never believed Gen. Harrison had said a dollar a day was enough for a workingman until he obtained an affidavit signed by twelve prominent citizens of Indianapolis who swore that they had heard him utter the words. Having seen the statement in Democratic papers ami its contradiction from Indianapolis papers, I did not suppose any speaker would repeat it in a town like Derby. “Last summer I showed you from Connecticut Democratic papers telegraphed, from Indiana about the Republwan nominee for governor, Gen. Hovey. You answered thpt they were campaign lies sent east for effect. “Is not the statement about Gen. Harrison of the same nature? “Can the twelve, prominent citizens be found? “Wp do not believe any of this talk, but thought we would inquire about it, “We received The Indianapolis Journal of Sept. 27, giving an account of the call made upon Gen. Harrison by veterans of the campaign of 1840, for which please accept thanks. We mail you a copy of The Ansonia (Derby) Sentinel of Oct. 1, containing a portion of Mr. Pendleton’s speech. lam yours truly, “D. M. Bassett.” To this letter Mr. Ba 1 sett received the following reply: “Indianapolis, lud., Oct. 6, 1888. “D. M. Bassett, Esq., Birmingham, Conn.: “Dear Sir —I am in receipt of your letter of the 2d inst,, statingin snbstartce that Mr. Pendleton, pf this city, addressed a Democratic meeting in your town last Saturday, in which he said he never believed, Gen. Harrison said that a dollar a day was enough for a workingman until he obtained an affidavit signed by twelve prominent citizens of Imlianapolis, *who swore they heard him utter the words. “I have to reply to this that I am not a supporter of Gen. Harri on or a defender oi- aiK>logist-tor what he has said or done; but having lived in the same town with him for thirty-five years, and during all that time never heard him accused of a mean act or an unkind word being called onlby you for the fact of this utterance, I would be doing him great injustice if I were to decline to answer your respectful letter. That he ever uttered such a word is not believed by a single respectable Democrat in the state of Indiana. “•I have been engaged in active business in this city for about thirty-eight years, and have known and now know, all the prominent men of the city, and do not know of a single one of the socalled prominent meh referred to by Mr. Pendleton. This thing is a silly falsehood gotten up for influencing voters abroad, and not at home. Tlie thing is so basely false that the Democratic state committee and the county committee of this county refuse to give it counte“On tfie U 'aficT* H. S. New, as you will see by the two copies of The Indianapolis News this day mailed you, ofiere.l a reward of $2,000 to any respectable citizen who would make oath to it and placed a certified check forthat sum in the hands of Hon. W. H. English, and up to this time no one has appeared to claim the reward. So you can set it down as a campaign lie intended to injure a good citizen away from his home. “Yours truly, ’’William Henderson.” Democratic Know-Nothingism. Hop. John Finerty, in a speech delivered in New York a few days ago, said: “When vou come right down to the Know-nothing business vou will find on inspection that the weight of the Knownothing cry was always raised south of the Ohio and west of the Potomac rivers, right in the southern states themselves, and the places in which the grossest outrages u’ere committed upon foreigners and Catholics were the three Democratic cities of Baltimore, Louisville and New Orleans.” He was right. -These are historical facts known to everybody, or at least accessible to all who desire to know the facts. The Know-nothing party had its greatest strength in Democratic states. The great Know-nothing riots occurred in Democratic cities. The bulk of the Know-notliing vote went to the Democratic party. The idea of proscribing any race, color, nationality, , or religion has never found any footing or favor in the Republican party. The Democratic party is the party of’ proscription. A Danger Signal—Democracy Means Free Trade. Judged by the Executive message of December last, by the Mills bill, by the debates in Congress, and by the St. Louis platform, the Democratic party will, if supported by the country, place the tarifi’ laws upon a purely revenue basis,This w practical free trade—free trade »h the English sense, the. legend upon the banner may. not he "firee. tradej” itmafibe Wi more obscure motto, “ Tariff but neither the banner nor the inscription is conclusive, nor, indeed, very im.portant. The assault itself is the import