The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-09-02
SOME CAMPAIGN LIES NAILED.

SOME CAMPAIGN LIES NAILED.
A string of misstatements, falsehoods
and fallacies were printed recently in
the Montpelier Argus and Patriot under
the head of 1.-The Favored Few" 1t was
an attempt to make ignorant voters be-
lieve that the government of our State, is
administered, not for the good of the
people, but for the benefit of few. APP
pearing rs it did in that paper, nobody
paid any particular attention to it, for
no intelligent person takes anything for
truth that is said by the Argus, unless 1t
is corroberated in some way. The arti-
Gle, however, has been printed-we sup
pose, by some Democratic committee
as a campaign tract; and as this does not
bear the name of the Argus and Patriot,
some persons who are not aware Of its
source may believe some of its state
ments. 1t may, therefore, be well to no.
tice some of these.
The document begins by an attempt to
arraign the Republican party of Yer
mont, for betrayal of Trust"-this
is the heading in large black letters of
the tract-in its disposition of the Hunt
ington fund.
The story of that fund is simple one.
Araunah-not ATnuah, as the ArquS in
its natural ignorance both of scripture
names and of the man calls him-Hunt-
ington died in Canada, leaving by his
will some 100000 to the State of Yer
mont. He coupled with the bequest GER
tain suggestions, not conditions, as to
the disposition to be made of the fund:
as that it be used to establish Yer
mont District School Bank''-and that
when the money and accrued profits OF
among the counties, etc., 9ltt54.o 10000 that
c was sseoutiy contested in the Canadian
n nouleS,Ithe fnal DECISION ,7sod -
should see tit. The Legislature accept
ed the money, put it into the State treas
ury and the interest on it is used for the
benefit of the common schools. The
whole transaction was perfectly above
board, and the course of the Legislature
ON 1t was sanctioned by the people. 1.-THE
Democratic party" says this foolish
tract, has pledged itself to repeal this
present law, and to carry out the intent
of the will" Very well if the Demo-
Gratis wish to go into the election on that
issue, let them do so. Let them tell the
voters that every Democrat elected to
the Legislature will try to have $4,000
raised by direct tax, the money to be
used to establish State bank, and kept
till it amounts to S1,40O,00O and then
distributed in such way that Grand
Isle county, with its hundreds of chill
dren, shall receive as much as Rutland
with as may thousands of children of
school age-and see where they come
out.
A page of the tract is next devoted to
the State History of Vermont in the Civ
IL war. This contains the unblushing
ont hot C4oIo
printing of the history; that the State
received only 100 copies of the work.
which went to the State library and that
leach vOlumne thus cost the state nearly
$6Or'
The writer of the article. if he knew
anything about the matter, knew better
than this. He knew that the State did
not pay for the printing of that history.
The State, by a statute which stands
upon the statute book, open to every
voter, took 500 copies of the work, at
the same price that was paid by every
private purchaser-these copies being
distributed, one copy to every town, to |
be kept in the town clerks Office. and
the rest to public Libraries and Grand
Army posts. The Volumes cost the |
State, not sixty dollars apiece. but t,vo
dollars and a hdG each. This purchase |
and distribution of these copies by the |
State,-as every publisher knows, and |
every man of sense can see, was not a |
matter of profit to the publishers of the |
work. The placing of these copies in |
every town clerks Office, accessible to |
all readers, afforded to thousands the
free reading and consultation of the |
history. Every copy so placed, at a
small estimate, cost the publishers six |
subscribers to the work, lessening by
thousands of copies the sale of the his
tory. The people benefited by the ar
rangement, but the profits of the pub
lishers-which were very moderate at
best-were seriously lessened by it.
This sample shows what Reliability is
to be attached to the article as a whole.
The Argus and Patriot never liked the
soldiers. Its Office, if we recollect Alright,
was once raided by some of the veterans
IN the government hospital at Montpe-
lier, during the war, because they did
not care to be stabbed in the back bv
a sympathsizer with the rebellion in
fighting which they had received their
wounds in front. The Argls would have
been glad, if it could have prevented the
writing of any history of the war. or the
war, or the payment of dollar of pen
sion money to any soldier of the Union.
But the war was fought through, to the
overthrow of the rebellion and the dis
,omfiture of the copperheads. The
proud part taken by Vermontis on rec
ord. The value and accuracy of the
State History has been attested by too
many of Vermont's be soldier to be now
jailed in question by any anonymous
oenny-a-liner or pamphleteeT. 1t cost
his State much less than any similar
|