Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-15
Ottumwa, Dec. IA, 1908.


Ottumwa, Dec. IA, 1908.
DR.. E. r. Edaerly, T. d. Foster and
others,
Gentlemen:
I note that you take up the matter
of the letter addressed to Mr.. Sunday.
and it seems as though you wanted to
make a mountain out of a mole hill.
Judging from your remarks you as
sumo that we are attacking Mr.. Sun
days good work, but such is not the
case. We made the proposition in the
best Of faith and still think it fair, and
| agree with you that Mr.. Sunday,
has done good in the city and he
should be well paid for il. 1t was
said by some of your speakers that
none OF the signers had been to the
Sunday meetings or contributed. ]
want to say that l was solicited to
work on the tabernacle but could not
do SO, but contributed the amount
asked for in cash with which to pay
some other person for doing the work.
l also attended the meetings and made
contributions on two occasions and
went up two other times and could
not get inside the door on account of
the crowd. You say among other
things as follows: 1t is we'll known
to the people Of Ottumwa. that these
men are not conspicuous on the
charity list of the city. also that sew
eral whose names are signed to the
letter are connected with the liquor
interests of the city,
Now am not a wealthy person by
any means, but make this statement,
that | have contributed two dollars to
one, more than either of you gentle
men in Ottumwa, for charity, churches
etc, and all without any fuss o. blus-
ter about it. There has not been a
church built in Ottumwa, In the last
twenty years, that l did not contribute
to it if called upon, contributing at
times when I could not afford TO do so.
l contributed to the Y. M. C. A. at the
solicitation of Mr.. Foster. o. one oc-
casion when l had to borrow the
money with which to pay the assess
ment. Rev. Davies. also solicited me
on the occasion of the building of his
new church in a way that was not
very modest to say the least. 1t was
when I was running for Office the sec
ond time just in the heat Of the cam
paign. He presented a list to me
showing the amount that my opponent
had contributed and suggested that it
would not look we'll for me to give
a less amount, as he knew that l had
numerous friends in his congregation,
etc. Well, he got the donation, The
West End Presbyterian church., The
Riverview Chapel, The East End
church. the old Packing House church,
the Y. NJ. c. A, the Mission, the Sal
walton Army, besides, gentlemen,
many private donations which l can
not now enumerate.
Now, Mr.. Foster, you say it would
take a microscope to see what they
have given to the poor. ] repeat, sir,
that I have given two dollars to your
one, according to my financial ability
as compared to yours and | will still
continue to do so, and | am willing to
base it on our actual assessments
rightfully made, not at one-flfth what
it should be as I charge your packing
house Is assessed at, and ! am ready
TO substantiate that claim. You claim
to be such a good Christian, sir, and
if you and some of the others who
signed that paper to us would pay the
taxes your firms should, the money
would help to reduce to a great ex-
tent the taxes of those who are not
able to bear such heavy burdens. You
came before the board Of equaliza-
ton. with a pitiful cry that your
taxes should not be raised. asked the
board to violate their oath Of Office on
your plant to the extent OF several
hundred thousands dollars. and still
the price of meat goes merrily up.
On investigation I find you pay
taxes of about one-third as much as
John Morrell & Cos. plant, as in
ran on same.
MIR. Foster. you say heretofore you
had classed the men who signed that
petition as your friends. Now my
dear sir, they have not in any way
attacked you or any other person in
as being dishonest. That we do not
believe what we say, that they told an
untruth, but they are known by short
er and uglier terms. Personally, sir,
/ return the shorter term to Q n
do as Mr.. Sunday does call things by
their right names, and say you lie,
when you say that | am trying to
steal MI. Sundays character, etc.
Now, sir, I realize that you are a very
wealthy and influential man, but
when you attack me as you have,
when you have not been attacked, l
propose to call a spade a spade. al
so realize, perhaps. hat you will get
my scalp. but sir. I will be at the
scalping. l am speaking for myself in
this matter and not for the other gen
tlemen, and will still continue In my
W way to make such contributions
as I can from time TO time afford to,
and will not raise the price Of my pro-
ducts to do it.
l note your kind offer TO sell your Box
| Car Loader stock to us because you
will not be in an institution with the
men who signed the petition to Mr..
Sunday. Well, Mr.. Foster, o will
be kept reasonably busy getting out of
business. j. B. Dennis. is a director
in the Ottumwa National bank, in
which concern you are interested. AL
SO T. P. Baker is a director in the