The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1886-02-18
A LETTER FROM DIR. FELTON,.

he runs it will be as an Independent He
has committed himself to the Organized
and that lets him out
These are unqualified statements and |
write to ask you what bill or measure which
| advocated in the legislature has thus pro
voked you? Ii is my recollection that your
immediate representatives voted with me on
all important questions, and | believe you
have publicly given them your appreciation.
| Your attack on me is therefore personal
and You have motive for so doing-there-
fore ask you to particularize the injury
that ! have inflicted on anybody by my ac-
ton in the Legislature.
Again, you say The has committed him
self to the organized, and that lets him
out
AS am no candidate for any Office and
have no expectations Of becoming can
didate, you will be kind enough to tell me
and your readers, when and where | com
mitted myself TO "the organized" thus let
| ting myself out? | certainly have asked no
office at the hands Of the organized" and
to use homely adage it is we'll not Ito
kick before you are spurred
When ! commit myself to "the organic
ed 1t VIII be your prerogative to hold me
up to organized" approval or condemna-
tion but as a private citizen asking no ia
~ JCNf hAhus pIODUSt 10 HUu OUT
why masked battery has been rolled out
from headquarters, and you engaged to
make this unprovoked attack, coupled with
misrepresentation and injustice.
whenever the organized, shall advocate
men and measures that are honorable and
patriotic 1T will give me pleasure to cast my
vote with them. Whenever the organized |
organize solely for the spoils of office and be-
come the defenders of political corruption,
then 1t is my privilege to vote and work
against them. If that is committing myself
to them it also successfully accounts for
letting myself out
Having always supported the National
Democratic ticket claim the right to do
so as often as it suits me, but | am proud to
sasNssask no permission from the organized
or the journal to cast vote whenever and
wherever | am pleased to do so 1t is bare.
ly possible that the day may come when
| even National Democracy will need help
so if the advice is not impertinent it would
| be well to hold your friends, while attacking
your foes. Respectfully,
W. II. FELTON,
When we wrote the above harmless para
graph, to which Dir. FELTON, has taken ex.
| ception, mentioning his name in connection
with other distinguished gentlemen--Bacon
Simmons, Livingstone, ct al AS to the
next race for Governor, we had no idea that
it would draw the fire of the amiabe DR..
FELTON, upon our defenceless head.
Rev. Sam Jones says, when you throw
rock among a crowd Of dogs you can always
tell which one is hit by its yell. The small
pebble we cast, shows that it struck DR.. Eel
ton in a sensitive place, or he would not
have snapped back with such rufied feelings
and defiant ferocity.
In saying that our paragraph in reference
to the Doctor is harmless we think an anal
ysis of it will so determine In expressing
an opinion that the Doctor was combat
i've in the Legislature, we certainly did not
"misrepresent" or do The honorable gentle
man from Barlow an injustice neither
can our paragraph be truthfuly called n
personal attack Invested as it is of all de
nunciation or condemnation, and contain
ing but three assertions-frst, that the Doc
tor was "combative' in the Legislature ;
second, if he runs il would have to be as an
Independent and, third, that he had com
mitted himself to the organized Democ-
racy.
You can not consistently run as an hide
pendent, because, we again assert, you have
committed yourself to the organized" and
as we believe that party will never nomi-
nate you that is our reason for saying that
lets you out of the race. We hope, Doctor,
that is not your real grievance
II we mistake not Doctor, you persist
emily "combated' all efforts OF the oppo-
nents of the State local option" bill who
attempted to defeat that very commendabe
measure. Doctor, you were Jealous above
your fellows in the success of that bill. and
you made enemies thereby, but we are not of
them. The doctor also "combated' with
unsparing invective all opposition to his pet
bill to provide convict farm, which our
immediate Representative" did not vote
for. Doctor, you also combatted" the re-
peal OF the Railroad Commission, and we
did the same thing; but it is thought by
some persons, doctor, that you displayed
more "combatiyeness' than sound Judgment
in your Incorporate language and commu-
nistc comparison of the poor mans hut and
the rich mans palace, which has tenden
cy to array labor against capital
The combative aggressiveness which char
acterized you in these debates, which was
your right to exercise, and the right of 9th
ers to criticise, very naturally made you
enemies who would now leave no stone un-
turned to compass your defeat either as an
Independent or as an Organized can
didate.
As to when and where" you committed
yourself to the organized Democracy, we
quote from an editorial in your paper the
CoUrdHt, to which your initials are attach
ed dated May 1885, which probably will re-
fresh your memory, it being part of your
record that You always pride yourself
on. 1t is as follows
80 impressed are we with the supreme
Importance of supporting President Cleye
land, who thousands of the best republicans
IN the northern states supported, and so pur-
suaded are we of the necessity of retaining
IN power the political party he represents, a
party now of necessity under the indomita-
bic will and mastery tactics of its .leader
made conservative, national honest and con.
sttutonal, that hereafter our political IN
i dPeadeRtiSm must be exercised and main
tanned inside Of the organized democratic
party
"lndependentism has been of great ser
vice to the democratic party in this con.
gressionai district. Its beneficial results
have modified and improved the methods Of
the party throughout the state 1t has cor.
rected errors and reformed abuses. But Il
as best nop and hereafter 10 seek such cor
rectjoR and reformation under the Rdg of
that organization which made Grover
Cleveland President OF the United States
This is the organization whichmust propand
sustain him while he wipes outthe sectional.
i.t.t ,ar..tr, IL, 49, :.