The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-10-10

of the Greenback Leaders.
Colonel Blanton Duncan sends to the PRESS
the following open letter to Mr.. Benjamin
Bunker Of the late Greenback movement in
Maine. 1t is cruel Of Colonel Duncan to kick
corpse; but that is his affair:
THE LETTER.
Mr. BENJAMIN BUNKER: My poiteness in
| duces me to answer long confusion of words,
| without comma or period, commencement
or ending of sentences, ostensibly signed by
you, for Judging from your efforO education
and common sense have been wanting in your
composition up to the present day.
My soiourn in Maine was that OF q private
citizen, free to go and come as / listed. My
trip cost me iRdicidudlly over 500, which you
will no doubt be gratifed to learn, as none OF
the expenses came out of the pockets of your
| self or of your associates. You use the words
| ''fiight from Maine" in connection with me.
| Flight is to secure ones safety from pursuers,
or to avoid punishment for crime. Neither of
these would be opposite, rs reasons Tor my
leaving Maine, as did so leisurely at my own
appointed time. Therefore you show in that
and in several other phrases an imbecility
which accounts for much of your conduct, and
| emphasizes the error of the Greenbackers i'll
| placing youiin any position of responsibility.
| My simile about the Lions and the Jackasses
| seems to have made its mark upon you. But
the effort to use it on your part is supremely
silly, as it has no application in respect to the
''Yazoo Bourbons' and myself. 1 do not as
pire to lead them, and l have just as openly
| and boldly denounced them and their action in
| the South, before audiences as high as 5000
| in number, as l condemned them in Maine
| Men of sincere principles are not afraid to
speak the truth everywhere, and they do not
stop to consider whether it is policy in winning
votes. An honest man should pursue the role
of the politician in the true acceptation of the
term, zone versed in the science of govern
ment'' and with q proper sense of duty, he
| should hide nothing from the people whom he
seeks to convince of the justice and truth of the
cause he advocates. You and others, unfortu-
nately, for the sake of temporary success
would commit that basest method of false
| hood Suppressio UeIt, and your conception of
| politician is that other version which Webster
| gives, ''a man of artifice and deep contri-
vance,"
1t is equally silly on your part to write of the
| Republicans importing horde Of mercenary
traitors like yourself" My political life has
shown me in the opposition, consistently, and
against those who welded the purse strings
and the official plunder. Tens of thousands OF
dollars have been contributed by me to legiti-
mate party expenses, with my own time and
| services given gratis year after year; and not a
| dollar eUer lCds receiced back from any source
| IN repayment. This is so well known. that
even your associates on the Democratic side, or
| the Republicans themselves could have told
! you so.
What you have been in the past, politically,
| do not know; but you were certainly in one
of the old political parties, while was fighting
them both in 1872 and later on when | was
struggling with gallant minority in 1876 to
open the eyes of the public, yours were
closed in stolid partisanship. 1t was only
after my efforts to secure the meeting
| in convention at Toledo in 1878, which
1 organized and labored for months
| to accomplish, that this movement took solid
shape, and attracted such as you, in the hope
thai success would give prominence to some of
| the foam, which floats upon the surface Of swol-
| len waters. And now you would thrust me
down ev en- from this modest position, where
| sit in the synagogue, in your attempt to reach
| the front seat.
AS your attack upon Hon. C. A. White and
the charge that he aided Mr.. Blaine, it would
be more manly, if you should make it openly
| in Maine, and not send libel, behind his back,
| to me thousand miles away. Your opinion
| betrays the narrow mind of one who con-
ceives of no friendship which should stand
| against partisanshp. If, as old college friend
| of Mr.. Blaine with whom have had neither
| personal nor written communication for many
| months) l had been seen to ''lock arms with
| j. G. Blaine and wander over the country
as you describe Mr.. White, it would have been
proof positive to a brain like yours, that was
his emissary and not his personal friend.
Your denial of favoring fusion or that you held
communication with Democrats is rather thin,
in opposition to concurrent testimony and be-
lief throughout Maine. You permitted one
The Democratic organ, Portland Argus at
tackled me tiercely after my Rockland speech,
| and took you and your committee under its
| protecting wings; doing more by that simple
| act to demoraliZe and defeat the Greenback
| party, than even your follies accomplished.
| The Argus said, 1--WE now learn from the
| GreeRback State Committee &C."
| And its attack was concluded in behalf of
the Democratic or Greenback Committee,
| ''We are authorized so to announce" Sothere
| is ''lie out" somewhere; and leave you and
| the Democrats to settle it. You did not pub
licly deny this public statement of your cordial
| intereommunication and your authority to the
| Democratic organ to represent you; and there
by you and your Committee thoroughly assented
to the Argus statement.
You ask, care you notsproud of your work
in Portland?'' Most aSsuredly am, if the re-
suits can be attributable to me. We had, in
1878, 491 Greenback votes for Smith; in 1879,
1881. If l contributed to gaining $40 votes in
one short month to the Greenback cause, 1
can justly be proud of it. But your derisive
bitterness perhaps takes root elsewhere. / dis
cover that Garcelon had 2351 votes in 1878 and
| only 1904 in 1879; just Si7 less. 1t might seem
| that my cogent appeal to Democrats was lis
| tened to, and that $40 voted for Smith, and
| hard-money copperheads slid over to Davis
| There will be nothing left for the leaders to
| trade upon if such business goes ON another
year, and if the respectable Democrats unite
unchangingly with the Greenbackers! Is that
| your meaning?
1
| My personal friends, not in the Blaine Ring
| informed me- the first week spent in Maine,
| that there were about 600 votes in 1878, not
| cast in Portland, nearly all of whom had pre-
| viously steadfastly voted the Republican tick
| ct. And they expected them to do so in 1879.
| Their information and their Judgment proved
| correct. do not think that these gentlemen
| derived any strength from me in inducing all
| these Republicans to visit the polls.
| 1 have also examined ''cdrefulLy the returns
| from Augusta, where you were not ALLOWED
TO SPEAK"
The Augusta people will be gratifed to
know from your language that you are the Die
| tator, and not James G. Blaine, as to what per-
| some are allowed to speak Perhaps ii had
| spoken there, the Greenback party might have
| done even better than to gain 7O7 from last
| year. who evidently were Democrats, because
| the Republicans brought out u reserve of 80;
and Garcelon only retained 81 out of his last
| years force of GO You did not strive to turn
| that Democratic vote to Smith, as / did; but
| the voters were sensible enough to see it them
| Selves in spite of the protest made by the Ar
| gus in behalf of both the Democratic and
| Greenback Committee
You saw how well Knox County stood up
| against the wiles of 'mercenary traitors like
| myself, and increased llo4 votes, ana MAORI
| ty of all; the only County in Maine which can
| boast of such honors. Do you propose to run
| a candidate against Murch and so defeat him?
| | Judge so from your remarks.
| .'I am happy to hear from you that T. NJ.
|
| be loyal to him another year. II lcW not be
| necessary to ask a Democrat to step aside that
| he may slide IN! You doubtless receive much
reliable information from him. The Commit
tee are indebted to him for nothing unless it be
| the many demands for assistance"
| AS priUdte indiUidudl you may aid in Great
| ing diversion there to send a Republican to
| Congress. But with your covert threat ex-
| posed, and the Greenbackers satisfied to release
| you from future official duties, don't think
| you will have the power or the influence to
damage my friend Murch to any extent great
er than that which will be made anyhow by
the so-called Democrats in Rockland and Knox
| who have repeatedly joined with Republicans
| to defeat the Greenbackers.
| You saw how Bath voted, where L spoke ON
the special inritdtjon Of the hdlyd-money Demo
| crdts We reversed last years position, and
| the Greenbackers were second, gaining Il9,
| while Garcelon lost 10l. | spoke also at Nor
| way. and your stalwart champion, the Rev.
| Seitz. desired me to act a lie, by suppressing
| truth in my discourse. The sincere Green
hackers assured me my remarks were just the
| thing and they gained IL votes. But aasl L
perceive that mans depravity continues, and
| - fr lc o,,1