The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-03-25
SENATOR GORMANS STATEMENT.

George Alfred Townsend's interview
with Senator German, which was first
printed last Sunday in the New York
Sun, created much comment. Besides
giving a sketch of the life and political
career of the distinguished Maryland
Senator from the time he left the Sen
ate as a page until he returned to it
us a Senator, it purports to give MIR.
Germans opinion of his political OPP
ponents, and presents him in very
unamiable light. Mr.. German denies,
in the following card, the statements
put into his mouth by Cath -
1.-The article published by Mr. George Alfred
Townsend headed s'Mr. German Talks" was
not written nor dictated by me, nor did l see
it until it appeared in the public prints. My
only relation with it is that some time since
Mr. Townsend spent an hour or two with me.
We talked of various personal and political
affairs. 1t was only an ordinary converse
ton not note was taken.
.sMr. Townsend evidently wrote this article
from recollection so far as his talk with me is
concerned, and from his own knowledge of
Maryland affairs. l am confident that there
is no intention to attribute statements to me
that did not make, but the article does me
great injustice. Were it not that am made
to criticize others, when had no such inten-
ton, and did not do SO, l would not attempt
to correct it. Mr.. Townsend is now out of
the country, otherwise l am confident he
would take great pleasure in saying that he is
responsible for many Of the statements attrib-
uted to me. A. 7. GoRMAN."
Mr. Townsend is very smart, but
persons familiar with his sketches and
interviews know that in reading
them it is difficult to tell where fact
ends and fiction begins. The two are
so blended that the original coloring
disappears, leaving only the hue pre-
ferred by Mr.. Townsend. AS was sus-
pected by those who know Senator
German and Mr.. Townsend, there
was slight foundation in fact, but
the superstructure is Mr.. Townsend's,
not Mr.. Germans.
The contest in the Legislature
over the assessment bill, we fear, may
result in failure to pass any bill what
ever The contention is mostly
whether there shall or shall not be an
annual listing of personal property by
taxpayers themselves. The House OPP
poses this feature while the Senate
favors it. There surely ought to be Il
sufficient amount of wisdom in the
Legislature to make compromise
which, if it does not ensure perfect
equality of taxation, will at least come
nearer to it than the condition which
now exists. An obstinate determine
ton of each side to have its own way,
if it should cause the defeat of a new
assessment bill, will evoke the censure
of farmers, who are now bearing more
than their share of the burden of
taxation.
Franklin Pierce and His Admin
stration'' is the title of a pamphlet
published by D. Appleton & Co., New
York, containing a sketch of the life
and public services of Franklin Pierce,
| together with a sharp criticism of
Schouler's History of the United States
under the Constitution-by Mr.. Sid
ney Webster The writer shows that
apart from the enlargement of our
national domain by the purchase OF
| Alaska under President johnson in
1867 all the other acquisitions of tenn
tory, either by conquest, or cession,
or annexation, have been made under
Democratic auspices. The pamphlet
is valuable to the student of political
history in giving an impartial and fair
account of the politics of the United
| States from 1874 tn 1887