The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1910-05-06
HON. MOSES WRIGHT
TO HON. GORDON LEE
Says Mr.. Lee Promised Not
To Run Against Him
For Congress.
The Hon. Gordon Lee, Chickamauga,

Your whole article is taken up with
statements of your solemn promises
to me and with a ludicrous attempt to
explain your right to break them.
You tell the people, for the first time,
about your agreements with me, and
then make the remarkable claim that
they have instructed you to break them.
Don't try to throw the burden of
your broken pledges on the shoulders
of the people.
You wrote everybody a letter about
five months ago; sent them a postal
card, on which to write Eyes" or "no )"
You asked the people to reply by ere
turn mail" in order that you might
make up your mind fright away"
That was five long months ago. What
has been troubling you all this time,
Gordon?
At last you have spoken, but you
haven't yet said what you are going to
do. After taking more than column
explaining away your promises, you
then say: off Judge Wright should
insist upon the binding force of the
private agreement between us, the is
sue will be between him and the peo-
pie, who ask that my name 60 before
the primary. | am indulging the hope
that he Will not object"
What do you mean by this state
ment, anyhow? The people are not
responsible for your promises to me,
nor for the personal sacrifice | made
for you two years ago But as between
you and me, Gordon, there is a lively
question of honor, a question of good
faith between man and man.
Now, as to our agreements, which
you take a column to explain; you
could have told it all in a few lines, as
follows:
You sent the Hon. w. W. Brookes
to see me, and | would not listen to
him until he had come the third time
at your solicitation. When we met in
Mr.. Brookes' office there was present
Mr.. e. a. Hight, your brother-in-law,
who is now dead; the Hon. w. w.
Brookes and Mr.. ]. n. King, then your
warm supporters. You signed your
name to paper, with these men as
witnesses, "pledging your honor" not
to run in 1910, but to give me your ac-
tive support then. Didn't you do this.
Gordon.
The only promise | made was not to
oppose you in 1908. l lived up to this
like a man.
Again, you say that before l resign
ed from the bench you wrote me that
you Knight probably run in the pri.
mary" That was after [ had publicly
announced that in few days my resig-
nation would be in the hands of the
governor. In reply to this letter I
wrote you: 'My action was taken in
absolute confidence in your integrity.
in perfect reliance upon your state
ments, which you say you made both
publicly and privately, and which, nv
dear sir, you never so much as init
mated to me you would not live up to
until this late hour"
But the most amusing thing to me
about your letter is the statement in
effect that you had referred all our
agreements to the people and that thew
had told you to run anyhow.
Why, Gordon, don't you know that
in that famous referendum letter and
post card" you never even intimated
that you had promised not to oppose
me- Gordon, you contradict yourself
You say you ''wrote me in October
that you would probably run. You
sent out your letter and post cards in
December. You admit, then, that you
made up your mind to run two months
before you ever wrote the people.
But in your letter with the postal
card inclosed you know you never said
one word about sending Mr.. Brookes
to me and about my refusing to run in
1908 upon your solemn, written prom
Use not to oppose me in 1910, but to
give me your active support.
This is ridiculous, Gordon. You
say: at is plain to me now, and I
presume equally so to Judge Wright,
that we erred in seeking to interfere in
any way with the free exercise of their
franchise by the people," Well, WE'LL
Why didn't you think OF this in 1908
when you got me out of your way? It
was all right to get me out in 1908, but
it would be awful to get you out by the
same process in 1910.
In conclusion, l really wonder. INV
dear sir, if you think that, if you had
let the people alone, they would ever
have insisted on your running?
When Jim Nevin, your closest polit-
ical friend in Washington, more than
a year ago wrote letter To the Tr;hu,,o