The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1910-03-03
An Open Letter to Mr.. H. A. Som
mers, Editor Elizabethtown

again at some of your same old
tricks, evading an answer on. a fair
and reasonable subject; one of local,
state and national Importance, and
one that is prominent before the
public at present, and likely before
Congress in the near future. And,
knowing your ability as a writer,
and you soliciting through your pa
per, that your subscribers suggest
some subject for you to write an
editorial on, and when I thought the
situation over it appeared to me that
as you were a stakeholder and direc-
tor in the national bank at your
town, that it would be in keeping
with your practical knowledge of
banks and the agitation throughout
the country on the bank issue, that
could not suggest more appro-
pirate subject than to have you give
your readers an editorial; one which
would be of the greatest good to the
general public, central bank
like Senator Aldrich was advocat-
ing, Or postal savings bank" that
President Taft was recommending
to Congress.
Now, Brother Sommers, as to your
reply, you start out by saying, eve
are stumped." What do you mean
by that? Do you mean that you are
cut off? When a tree is cut off it
leaves stump. You say that here
comes my old friend, S. J. Grow,
from way down at Safety Harbor,
Fla, asking you to write an editorial
on a central bank that Presid ent
Taft and Senator Aldrich were advo-
eating" You know / did not state
it that way. Again, you say that [
suggested a subject that you knew
least about, and what does a coun-
try editor know about banks any
way? Now, brother, if I have over
estimated your ability as a writer, or
your knowledge of the banking
question, beg pardon; since I come
to think [ do recollect that back in
the nineties, when James B. Weaver
made speech in Elizabethtown, and
showed up the national banking sys-
tenn and its class privileges, that you
stated in the News that Weaver
showed lamentable ignorance in his
statement. And when I asked you
to publish the national bank laws, if
Weaver had not correctly stated
them, as [ would like to be put right
on the subject, for Weaver had
stated them as I understood them,
what was your reply then? It was,
that the banking laws had been pub
lished so often that you thought
every intelligent person understood
them. Now, Mr.. Sommers. I can
more clearly reason along these lines
as time passes, and I have noticed
the company you have been training
with. You have been playing in the
backyard of Messrs. Cleveland, Wat
son, Parker, Bryan & Co. Hence
your ability to evade, and disability
to answer important questions. AS
you seem to want to select, or say
that you expected the suggestion to
come from some of your subscribers
nearer home on roads, schools, or
local improvements, or some Ken
lucky matter of general inter-
est Now, as Kentucky has voted
an amendment to her Constitution, ]
ask to withdraw that bank sug-
gestion and give you another of your
own mention. / suggest that you
give your readers a better plan for
building public roads than J. S.
Coxey's good roads bill And don't
think for minute that because I
live thousand miles down here in
Florida that I don't feel an interest
in my old native State, and friends
and relatives back there. Yes, I dare
saw that Won and vOur kind that Won