Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1874-10-17
DcnisOn, or Whom?


approaching when the Freemen OF
the Second Congressional District
OF this State are again to cast their
votes for ~ representative to Con
gress, and the question now is, tor
whom shall the Republican voters
cast their ballots.
The regular Republican nominee
of the District Convention has with
drawn from the contest, and no one
is before the people by any regular
nomination.
Mr.. Denison, by his card to the
Freemen of this district, has finally
announced himself as u candidate,
by, as he terms it. accepting the
nomination extended to him through
the ballot box by the people of the
district; and this nomination was
made. as he claims, by u large ma
jority of the votes cast by the Re
publican party.
This last expression in Mr.. Den
isOn's letter is the only one in the
whole production that in any way
tends to show that he processes to
be q candidate of the Republican
party. His letter is not addressed
to Republicans, his nomination was
brought about, as he says, by the
people. Now whose candidate does
Mr.. Denison claim to be; that of
the Republicans or Democrats Or
is his letter of acceptance thus in.
generously wOrded to deceive both
parties, and thus gain support fiom
both
1t seems to me that Republicans
should have Republican candi-
date, and one who is willing to an.
nOunce himself as the candidate of
the Republican party; for the word
"peOple" is very broad in it's signi
ficatiOn, and in the mouth of willy
politician means all things to all
men. But perhaps Mr.. Denison
accepts the nomination extended to
him by the "people''-that is, by
the boiling Republicans and Demo
crats-in order that his letter Of &C
ceptance may, in terms, correspond
with the facts in the case. If Mr..
DenisOn should announce himself
as a candidate of the Republican
party, then his opponents might
well ask the question, why he did
not as well claim to be a candidate
Of the Democracy. Perhaps Den
ison's friends would object to this
statement, but the facts would war
rant the inquiry. Take the town of
Bradford as all instance. Every
one who was present at the polls at
the last Freeman's meeting, knows
how zealously the Democrats work
ed for Denison, and how, almost to
a man, they voted for him; giving
him without doubt more than one
hundred and fifty votes. Go still
further and take Orange County as
an instance. DenisOn, in this coun-
ty received $3.50 votes; Poland
1902; Davenport 4O1 and Mead 6.
Peck, Republican candidate for
Governor, received 26OS votes and
Bingham, Democratic candidate,
1437. From these figures it appears;
that Bingham received 1886 more
votes for Governor than Davenport
did for Representative to Congress.
The whole number of votes cast in
Orange County, by both parties.
for Governor was 4O45; and the
whole number for Representative to
Congress was 1859. So it cannot
well be claimed tnat more votes
were cast for Governor than for
Congressman in this county. The
above figures show that more than
one thousand Democrats in Orange
County I.voted for Denison, and
this county does not cast One.tOurth
of the votes in the district. Even
Brattleboro-.D avenport's own home
did not cast single vote for hi IN
but the whole Democratic vote was
cast for Denison and it is report
ed upon good authority that Da-
venport, himself, was an earnest
of Denison.
From these facts and figuras, has
any candid man any doubt that at
least 5000 of the 7O3S votes which
Denison received in this district
were cast by Democrats ? If this
is correct it is well that
he should claim to be a candidate
of the people, and not distinctively
of the Republican party. Still fur.
Their; prior to the last election every
paper and leader in
the district was urging the abandon
ment of their candidate, and urging
the "unterrified"to vote for Denison.
If anything more is needed to
show that Denison is Just as much
a candidate of the Democrats as of
the Republicans, I would say that
it is well known that DenisOn's
chief managers were consulting
with the Democrats previous
10 the Democratic District Con-
1ention, and were urging his nomi-
nation at their hands. 1t can be
proved that one of DenisOn's man.
lgers, claiming to represent Den
son, sent a letter to White Rriver
Junction at the time the DemOcra t.
C convention was held, saying in
substance that Mr.. DenisOn would
,ccept their nomination, but did not
Ike to receive so many letters from
lis friends requiring replies.
Now then. what do Mr.. Denison's
friends claim for him, or why should
vote for him in prefer.