Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-09-08
LEfFLEK'S $1,000 LICENSE IDEA.
tits Proved Up On Ilim-and the nn-
buqnc Herald is Sailed in
the lgargain.
lAtlantic Telegraph, Sept. IL


Gated placing saloon licenses at 81 600.
The farther off the paper, and the less
the editor knew about what I,efller did
say, the moro emphatic has been the
denial. Those papers denied that he
advocated any such principles simply
because they did not want him to adj
vocste them, and not because he did
do 1t. Mr.. LETTER has not denied that
he advocated placing saloon licenses at
Sl,OuO, in his speech here, and the
Democratic paper in this city, whose
editor heard Letller speak, HAS NOT
DENIED 1T, and we believe Judge Har-
ris, the editor, has too much regard
for tho truth to deny it. Among other
denials by papers located at a great
distance from Atlantic, the following
| clipped by friend from the Dubuque
Herald and sent ne. ranks promin.
| entity:
1.-The editor Of the Atlantic I'c1e-
graph still insists that Mr.. Letter is in
favor of 81 GOO license law, and he
heard him say SO in a public speech,
| Now We hope the editor of the At
lantic Telegraph will hear us when we
brand him as q full blooded deliberate,
cowardly, ignorant, mendacioue, con-
stipated liar. Mr.. Letter never said
anything Of the kind. he never hint
ed anything of the kind. He never
dreamed anything of the kind. Fur
thermore, the Telegraph man knows
that Mr.. Letfler never endorsed such
sentiment, but hes because he 10 told
to do 80 by his party managers in the
hope that q little cheap political capital
can thus be manufactured. Dubuque
Herald.
In response to the above nonsensical
paragraph, written by man who
knew nothing of what he was writing
about, we submit the following afii.
davit, made cheerfully BY MEN WHO
KNOW WHAT THEY ATE SWEARING TO:
STATE OF Iowa, CAss Co.'S:
We, I. N. Hammond, j. X. Powers,
H. E. Bacon, G. w. Swarts, F. H. Burr,
V. O'Bryan, G. s. Montgomery, G. 4.
Marsh, +. B. Lehman, F. o. Clark, r.
P. Harris all residents of said county
and State, being duly sworn, on our
oaths depose And say, that on the even
ing of the 18th day Of July, 1876, at
the court house in the town of Atlantic
Iowa, we and each of us were present,
and heard Hon. Shepherd Lefiler,
Democratic candidate for Governor,
make a public speech on tho issues of
the day, and the second question dis
cussed by said LETTER was the subject
of a judicious license law. The said
Letter then and there, and in the pres
cnce and hearing of each of us, stated
J that he favored license law solely in
the interest of temperance, and if he
thought such law would increase the
consumption of whisky, he would be
against it. He further stated that he
was in favor of placing the license SO
high that only men of responsibility
could engage in the business. He
further stated that the city of Burling-
ton at this time contained over one
hundred saloons in all parts of tho city
selling whisky, and that he favored a
law placing tho license at 81 900 ut
least so that in cities like Burlington,
there would DO but five or Elk saloons,
and they in the business part of said
cities where the demoralizing influ-
onces Of such saloons would not have
tho effect upon the rising generation as
under the present system..
| j. ". IuAIuliouNy e' IA. VWSiS,
III. E. Bacon, G. w. Swarts,
+. II. Burr, V. O'Bryan,
&. S. Montgomery, G. r. Marsh,
+. b. Lehman, +. o. Clark,
II. P. Harris.
County Of Cass. S.
Subscribed and sworn TO by tho said
l. N. Hammond, j. X. Powers, ii. f..
Bacon, G. w. Swarts, II. III. Burr, V.
a o'nsyan, G u, AsAtseAssss. G. ~
March, r. Z. Lehman, f. O. Clark, and
II p. Harris, iIrsny presence and be-
| II. r.. GRlsWoLD,
Notary Public.
If the editor Of the telegram has
lied he is supported in it by eleven
other men, aud those men as good aB
any in Western Iowa. Wecould have
had the oaths of other good men, had
we taken the trouble TO hunt them up.
Men who heard the speech are not
easy to find, because there were but
few there. We trust the editor of the
Dubuque Herald will have the fairness
to publish this affidavit, for he has dis
puted our word in the meanest terms
known to the English language, all
without knowing anything about the
facts. The fact is, Letter did favor a
| 81 600 license in his speech here. But
his speech was the second one of the
campaign and the old man had not
then been told what to say, and what
it would be best to say. Not know
ing anything to prevent him from do
ing SO the old man gave utterance to
the honest sentiments of his heart, and
then found that an honest speech did
not suit his hackers, and those like the
editor Of the Dubuque Herald, who
think they are smarter than the old
man lie. Since then the figurehead has
laid low on the temperance question,
simply advocating license without any
specified sum. That Letter really be-
lieves in terribly high license for
saloons, we do not doubt, but that he
will say so again we do not believe,
for he has been told that it won't do.
| -Mre. Milliss has very fdgety