The Weekly Tallahasseean., 1900-09-13
MR.. CLARKS LETTER.

| HIdHk CldFk3 Ill WHICH lie seeks, dHC
doubtless accomplishes--in his owl
estimation the annihilatfon, figura
lively speaking, Of the editor of the
| TALLAHAssEEAN. The effect might
have been more perceptible had he
not resorted to subterfuge instead Of
making plain statement, such as
was asked for.
We, and all the people, understand
that two voting places are necessary
to carry out the conventions instruc-
tionS, but in all other respects we
see no reason for laying particular
stress upon the two campaign feat
ure. Certainly the expenses of one
or the other could-economically
directed-be greatly diminished by
reason of the other at the same time
and place.
We have done some figuring, and
to save us, we have been unable to
find necessity for more than $1,000
(in round numbers), allowing mile
age and per diem for the inspectors,
return of poll lists, boxes, etc., and
an outside figure for all items conse-
quent to a primary in this section of
the State. However, further refer
ence to this matter now can accom-
pEsh no good (as the chairman has,
by implication at least, refused de-
tailed statement at this time) and
we have no desire to create strife
In the party by a fruitless cOntro-
Versy. .,
The insinuation that the former
State Committee went begging to
the railroads and the National
Committee, is certainly rich. We are
informed, however, by member of
the 1896 committee that So 600 were
received from the National Commit
tee, $1,000 spent in perfectly le-
gitimate way, $500 being given
each of the two Congressional
COmmitteeS), and the remainder
deposited in a Jacksonville bank
(Which failed) and papers show
ing same turned over to the present
committee. This is further shown.
by the following from the Times
Union and Citizen of August 1st:
"The Secretary (of the State Com
mittee) reported the receipt from J.
D. Beggs, Treasurer of the preceding
Executive Committee, of the funds
remaining unexpended from that
Committee. This was in the form
of check for $495.28 and a certif-
cate of deposit in a defunct bank,
which is now in the hands of a re
ceiver, for total sum of Sl,O57.11,
on which it was reported that 55 per
cent. had been paid and on which an
additional dividend of Is per cent.
might be expected"
If the TALLAHAssEEAN had
known that Mr.. Clark (and the Cam
paign Committee) intended to
make a large contribution to the
National Committee our. structures
would have been quite differently
laid. That information would have
apprised us as to where the money
was going, and we could only have
questioned the propriety of forcing
funds from Florida candidates, who
are, if successful, poorly paid at
best, against their will.
AS before stated we do not want
to stir up strife IN the party ranks at
a time when nothing is to be gained
and unity is most needed. Our onlv
object was to- force an explanation
for the seemingly unnecessarily
heavy assessments. That end has in
a measure been accomplished, and,
whether satisfactory to our readers
or not we must bide by it until
the further report promised is made.
Since writing the above and hay-
ing it putin type, we learn from an
authoritative source that not one cent
was contributed to the campaign
fund of 1896 by railroad or any
other corporation, hence the insinua-
finn n L L