Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-07-18

cured, and upon the Republican party
Of the state, fraud which yitiates a
contract and all its provisions.
He said that this charge of bribery
had been made and substantiated by af-
fidavits for more than a month, but
had never been denied by General Nc
Cullough, though, if untrue, easily
proved so. by his silence, the truth
Of the indictment is forced upon the Re
publicans of Vermont, and it is with
shame that | stand here as a Republi-
can and say that candidate for the
highest Office within the gift of the peo-
pie of the state, has procured his nomi-
nation by bribery. Vermont
has been state more than 100 years
without having seen the necessity of a
law governing caucuses. II remained
for this man. thank God, we can say
that he is not Eermonter, and his
methods are not Vermont methods, it
remained for him to establish the ne
cessity of such law. He came from
foreign state and brought the methods
with him which are to-day a shame
and disgrace to every honest Vermont
er of every political creed. "
/ The fact that the Montpelier conyen-
tion adopted the caucus reform plank
without one word of protest from the
bribers or the bribed and then placed
at the head of its ticket the man of all
men who is responsible for this shame
proves, he held, that that convention
issued a counterfeit certificate of nom
ination to General Mccullough. He
denounced the party leaders as insin-
cere and claimed that they recognized
license and adopted the local option
plank as a measure of safety to the ma
chine. not because they wanted it.
The only way to settle the question,
he believed, was to appeal directly to
the voters, the source of all power in the
commonwealth, and to them, he said,
we do appeal "They call me bolter
So long as God gives me breath hope
| shall never fail to bolt such meth
ods and such men. You will
remember that part of the license 10
cal option delegates withdrew from
the convention after they had tried for /
10 or IL minutes to secure a hearing
and had been howled down. McCul- |
loughs leaders had been previously /
informed that we had knowledge of I
his attempt. to purchase votes of dele !
gates, and that we proposed TO bring /
this charge before the convention. /
W
from the chair they knew for what pur- !
pose and that is the reason they Great
ed the disturbance. x No one |
glories in the record of the Repuhli
can party more than | do. 1t has
been the party which has stood for
liberty as against oppression: the par
ty of progress and for the most of the
time during the last 10 years it has
been in power. 1t is the par
ty of high ideal and noble effort In
its membership are enrolled Lincoln,
Grant, Garfield, Harrison, Mckinley
and Roosevelt But tell me where has
it ever been disgraced as it is in Yer
mont by the ring today: Shall we re
pudiate bribery and cast out the bribe
giver. or shall we condone the offence? /
Shall We purge our party of corrup-
ton and live or shall we purchase
peace at the price of death?
The only issues before the voters of
Vermont today are license as against
the corrupt use of money in caucus
elections, and such a reduction of
state expenses as may be made with |
out injury to the efficiency of the ser
vice * The Republican ma !
chine has shown itself to be rotten.
when its corruption is dis
covered it cries out: You must not
bolt Bolt what: The principles of
the Republican party? No. Bolt the
rotten machine. Cast it out. Throw .
it overheard 1t is of no use to hon :
est men, and has become a disgrace a.,
not only to the Republican party of ;
Vermont but to the Republican party
Of the nation. Let US re- !
deem the honor of the party and the !
honor of the old state. Let us hand
down to our children the inheritance !
which we have received from our faith 7
ars, its honor unsullied, its brightness {
lndimmed.''