The tariff was, after all, the main issue, Bassett held; but it was said that in his business transactions during these vexed years he had stipulated gold payment in his contracts.

This was never proved; and if, as charged, he voted in 1896 for Republican presidential electors it did not greatly matter when a considerable number of other Hoosier Democrats who, to outward view were virtuously loyal, managed to run with both hounds and hare.

Bassett believed that his party would regain its lost prestige and come into power again; meanwhile he prospered in business, and wielded the Democratic minority at the state house effectively.
Dan presented himself punctually at the Whitcomb House where Bassett, with his bag packed, sat reading a magazine.

He wore a becoming gray suit without a waistcoat, and a blue neglige shirt, with a turnover collar and a blue tie.

He pulled up his creased trousers when he sat down, and the socks thus disclosed above his tan Oxfords proved to be blue also.