Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-11-15
STRUGGLING IN THE Tolls.

A
from the public indignation
and contempt which their dishonesty + ,as
exposed them to, these men resort t.. fur.
Their falsehood and evasion, thus me .kino II
plain that they dare not tell T. se truth.
and that in fact there is no W Aid defense
for what they have done. 1Iheir attempt
to make it appear that tb .ey were not ac-
completes in the forgery involves them in a
new charge of willful and shameless falsi-
fication. They asse TT that they purchased
the plates of the forged letter and distrib-
uted them, first because General Garfield
had not denie'l the genuineness of the let
ter, and sec ,ond, because they did not be-
heve his denial when he made it. It is
perfect clear that one of these assertions
must be untrue, and it does not matter
wb-lch one is the lie. 1t is, however, a
gratuitous falsehood to say that General
Garfield had not denied the authority of
the letter when they purchased the plates,
for the very issue of Truth which
they declare to have been the first
they saw. contained reference to
that denial, and a ruffianly charge
OF mendacity against General Garfield.
The truth is that an authorized denial
was published the same day that the letter
appeared, and this Barnum and his fellow
criminals knew perfectly well. The
stupidity of their defense is in fact only
equalled by its impudence. 1t shows con-
clusively that the men who did this deed
are scoundrels, and that there is nothing
surprising in their completely in SO in
famous fraud. If Barnum and his gang
fancy that their lying and shutting will
extricate them from the disgrace into which
they have plunged themselves, they will
soon discover their mistake. The develop
ments already made prove that the Demo
cratic National Committee fairly jumped
at the opportunity presented to them OF
circulating an injurious document of whose
utter falsity they could have had no doubt.
1t is in evidence that they took steps to
bolster up the forgery with perjured testi-
mony that they kept the suborned wit
nesses at their own headquarters that
after General Garfield had denied the letter
in the most emphatic and indignant terrns,
Barnum himself sent long dispatch
to this coast, prepaid and addressed to
all the journals of the Associated Press as
well as to the Democratic papers not be-
longing to the Association, in which he
attempted to maintain the commences Of
the forgery, and in which he appeared
as the advocate and indorser of every lie
and calumny printed by the vile gutter
sheet called Truth. This dispatch OF
Barnums to the Pacific coast may well be
set against the latest statements of his
committee, for it convicts the latter of
fresh falsehood of the most reckless and
fatuous kind. As to Hewitt, the rebuke
administered to him by Judge Davis re-
quires no supplement. He has destroyed
his own reputation, nor can he re-estab-
fish it by adopting Barnum's evasive and
disingenuous tactics. His case indeed is
worse than Barnums, for whereas the lat
ter had bad reputation before, Hewitt
has hitherto been regarded as man of up
rightness and integrity.
1t is needless to say that henceforth he
can never be so regarded. He it was who
gave stability to the forgery by pronounc-
ing it genuine, and SO determined was he
that whatever weight went with his
character should be thrown on the side of
the fraud, that he came forward at pub
lie meeting and solemnly declared his be-
lief that General Garfield wrote the letter
Yet when he did this he had absolutely
no evidence to go upon. Those who have
compared the fac-similes of the forgery
with genuine letters of General Garfield
know that the difference in the writing is
so great as to make it impossible that any
intelligent observer could fail to dis
tinguish between them. Mr.. Hewitt is
certainly not wanting in intelligence, and
therefore it can only be concluded that he
is wanting in honesty. The National
Democratic Committee has not helped
itself by its latest manifesto, and
when all the facts are before the public it
will be seen how vain were its efforts to
wriggle out of the responsibility for what a
New York journal justly terms the most
infamous disclosure in recent partisan poll
tics. Perhaps it is not surprising that
men capable of using a forged letter in a
Presidential campaign should try to lie
themselves out OF it afterwards, but it is
surprising that they should think it pos
sible to exculpate themselves by such
methods. They have disgraced not only
themselves but their party, and the latter,
if it has any further ambition or any regard
for the esteem of decent men, should lose
no time in repudiating its disreputable
agents. So far, it is necessary to point
out, nothing of the kind has been done.
On the contrary, at meeting in New York
the other night, complimentary resolution
was voted to Chairman Barnum for the
manner in which he conducted the cam
paign. Now this is not our affair particu-
larly. If the Democratic party really
approves the methods of Barnum and his
associates it is right in saying so. But
assuredly if it does approve those methods
the country has fresh reason for congratu-
lating itself ON the escape it has had from
control by such party, and it is equally
certain that no such party can hope in any
given period to regain the confidence and
esteem of the people. The Democratic
managers have not shown any realizing
sense Of the nature of public opinion in the
past, and they are evidently as much at
sea in that respect as ever. But if they do
not speedily reach an apprehension. of the
fact that the American people are outraged
and disguised by the infamous forgery
now being investigated, it will be quite
useless for them to think of making
preparations for another campaign.