Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-04-14
Some Personal Matters.

luis paper. MI 1hit rtplies ~ nAS A'
friend Lucius Bigelow, Esq, in two col
umns of seurrilous personal yituperation,
from which We extract single paragraph
Suppose the State Committee should state that
two Years ago "6ren " Benedict solicited. as
favor his pa per. that he should be wen tar cal
for the Stste Convention in advance OF the otheI
State newspapers. and that having been gratlheu
in this way and furnished an important item q
/ state news TO the exclusion the rest OF
the State press, who were Obliged 20 CODY
/ from the FREK Pass. "6ren" Benedict then
sent in large bill for printing the same 70 the
State Committee. Suppose that the stAie
/ Commift4e Justly indignant st having been
obliged %, for the punishment Of the call ich
! 'sGrsu' B,nod ct had asked anu BLAMED a. q IatV
ara Mt sou ht an advertisement, and whleh WAS
! a henrf. /, his paper in that il was news in ad-
vance co. his State an expression
Of special consideration On the part o. the state
| Csmn tiee. suppose we say. that the COMM
! should now announce that. having this year hrst
] even III. call 10 the Montpelier Freeman, where II
| was tuhl she'd without charge and from when II
was cegiel hy the FREg Press, they are again 20
da, 1n e,eipt o. bill from the FREE fkEss lor
! It's l1h. cation Suppose the State Committee
! should further state That "Gren Benedict IN
~ alter pretending turn in his bill Tor PRINT
lng notices 81 Republican city and ward lneetnssi
csucuses etc etc . his subscrip tlOn TO the party
csmp4 "A Yenses. Afterwards presented this sa4e
j hill 10 lie state Committee hr whom IL was paid
This l. bot the first case on record of an
ATTEMPT to clean one mans character by
shutting thai " ~ another man. Now
it would not help Mr. Taft's case if the
editor Of lbs raTcr was proved to be miser-
" and mean But. though disliking ex-
trcmely to parade purely personal na:ters
before our readers. nd filling to see what
all this has to do with the question whether
the State Convention had fit and proper
pre,iieut. We are still very glad Of the op-
portunity thus given to nail some petty
ISLANDERS. which harr Rad active pri-
yate circulation The facts in re
/ gard 10 tie matters thus alluded TO
are-that the editor Of this paper did not,
two wears ago, or at any other time, so far
as be can recollect, solicit that the call for
State Convention should be given to the FREE
Pass. The call, two years ago, was sent,
unsolicited. to this Office, with IN order to
print considerable number Of extra copies
| and send them to the press, committee men.
| etc, throughout the State. This was done ard
in due time the business manager Of the
! FEu PAS Association rendered 10 the
| state Committee small bill, intended 10
cover The actual cost of the composition,
white paper covered by the call, and cost Of
mailing. Ii was gersr pad The matter
entirely passed out Of our recollection, and
We could not have told, when our recent al
/ la,ions to the STATE Committee were written,
whether bin was ever rendered or not, or
whether il was paid OF not. To tel the
whole story. We ought to add that Sqce the
appearance Of oar article on the State Con
yenti1n portion, amounting TO a little more
than half, Of thar old bill Of two years ago
ha, been pal We have not, and never
had, any quarrel or controversy with the
state Committee over that account. The
FREE Pass Association expects no pay for
publishing the call tiis year. But We NAV
say tina; almost every editor and newspaper
Publisher in attendance on the State C0nyen-
ton expressed the opinion that tie bare cost
at lea-, of publishing the calls for conyen-
ti4n> ua-bt % be reimbursed 10 the newspa-
per- Why not2 The committees would
not think of asking tie booksellers to furnish
them >ta;i1uery free gratis. Why should
they ezItc, the printers, who commonly
elntr.a-te. literally in other ways to the cost
Of The political campaigns, to give in addition
Advertising, the setting OF every letter of
which costs them money In other States.
tie PARTY Committee, pay regularly, and
often largely, fr such advertising Why
shy-lJ no; they repay tile actual outlay Of
the publishers 10 this STATE Is to the mat
ter alluded 70 in the last sentence Of the
above paragraph, the facts are that the en-
tire bill for tie camraisD printing Of the
Grant and Wilson Club of this city, amount
in- u os. pHa-ed qsd 5o-fg odd dollars.
was paid by Mr.. Benedict individually.
Learning, after the campaign was over, that
tie state Committee was still in funds. he
,wiihout making any demand on them
simply Submitted the question whether II
WAS quite the thing that sin.. i individual /
should be compelled Z, shoulder the whole /
Of such bin, including votes, posters
Tor campaign meeting, not only outside Of
Burlinct ID but outside Of ChHtenden County,
and other items which it might be consider
ei within the province Of the state Commit
tee ic pay for The Committee therenpon
refunded ons-AaT tie bin to Mr.. Benedict,
and expressed themselves satisfied to DO 50.
The other half he paid, out Of bis own
pocket. The statement elsewhere made,
tina; Mr.. Benedict ever pleaded assessments
rom Washington, as a reason why he should
be excused IRON paving bis local political
assessments in Vermont, j. simple false
looi, on; Of whole cloth. Mr.. Benedict j.
.erY willing to have hi contributions to par
v expenses, as an individual, compared with
hose Of other persons Of no greater means
n This community, and his contributions
Ehen he was Federal ofice-lolier compared
With those Of the other Federal ofice-holders
q Vermont. Il. would not be the one that
would suffer by the comparison
To suppose, then, that the State Com
nittee should state these things, i to insult
hem iy surprising that they are liars and
ianlerer-. They are gentlemen Of high
.onor. and cannot and would not state any
hing Of the kind Nor have We "impeached .
he integrity and high-mindedness Of the
Committee Most Of the members Of the
ommit,ee are gentlemen whom We know
veil AMI esteem highly. But they are NOR
ais and liable to make mistakes They made
ne, when they selected the chairman Of the
Convention. They saw it themselves, every
nan Of then, within ten minutes after he
ook the chair, as dil the mas Of the con-
entioI. The committees first selection, .
%. Proctor, was an admirable one Their I
acond choice, Mr.. Munson, Of Manchester, J
-ouid have made an excellent President, had {
e been willing to accept the position. Now n
Re have given the committee the benefit Of t
he suggestion that their third, and less b
Apply choice, was made late az night after n
roioused labor, and consequent, 40 almost n
haste. 10 TIL, and in all q
e have said, we have not intended to ~ay o
j unkind word about the comm ittee, as we NJ
I've not an unkind feeling towards a man t.
them. Need We say more, so far a. they {
e concerned. W "
Mr.. Taft must take hi- champions praise If
him with the qualification that the same Of
n, within a week. has charged him with 81
her want Of intelligence or want of truth. "a
4 has characterized his speech at the con- to
ntion a. d" untimey and Aatulent gush" tn
? sDrh a. IL i Mr. Taft l. IN