The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1909-12-16

In your Nov. the 25th number you stated that Duck
worth got to send out letter to local unions this
| deny and prove, | want your proof retrac
ton. Lower down in the same column you said that
the present campaign being to defend these
men, gave you the facts and read carefully for the
denial, failed to find it,
The two assertions are not true and will clear my
self of those charges. Before going any further
would be glad to hear from you.
With kindest regards, j. l.. LEE,
State President.
DEAR SIR:-I decline to have any further
private correspondence with you In regard to
the issues now pending between me, on the
one side, and Duckworth Ladson and Boden-
hamer on the other. I have seen one of your
private letters, in which you allude to the
watson les; consequently, you are beyond
the pale of gentlemanly correspondence.
This is public matter: make your state
ments through the newspapers, as [ am max
ing mine. The public shall be taken into my
confidence, and, before we reach the end Of
this matter, you will be sorry that you adopt
ed your stealthy, underhanded and cowardly
policy of attacking me in private letters and
in secret meetings, behind closed doors when
[ was assailing those three rascals in the open.
Not word had been said against you, and L
had no thought of saying a word against you
not word had been said against the Farmers
Union, and it was not my intention to say
word against it. You and -Duckworth have
evidently adopted the old Livingston trump
of claiming that the Union is assailed when
your own conduct is exposed and criticised
That old game can't be worked any more in
Georgia. [ am going to put in The JEFFER-
sONIAN every letter that you write me, and
every letter that [ write you, so that the peo
pie can know what is going on.
You wrote a whole lot of lies about Ladson
and the Neal Bank failure, when you could
have gone to the Court House records of Full
ton County and verified every statement that
[ had made. You have been claiming that
you did not instruct those lecturers to circu-
late Duckworth's lies behind closed doors,
when [ know that you did. It is true that
twenty five men had already decided to send
out the lecturers, but those twenty five men
did not instruct those lecturers to circulate
Duckworth's lies. It was you who did that,
and you will have to answer to the people
for it.
Neither you nor Duckworth are native
Georgians, and the State would be better off
if both of you would go back where you came
from If you think that you two recently
imported outsiders can down me and discredit
me before the farmers of this State, you are
badly out of your reckoning.
Very truly yours, THos. E. WATSON.
P. SIT is quite evident to me, as it should
be to you, that you are being pushed forward
against me by those three men, who are not
themselves willing to confront the issues.
They want to make it appear that this is
fight between the President of the Georgia
Farmers Union and myself If you do not
realize this, you are strangely lacking in dis
cernment, The people of this State are not
going to be duped by the maneuvres Of
Duckworth, Ladson and Bodenhamer in hay
ing you take up the cudgels for them. That
trick won't work. Nobody had made any at