The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-04-30

the statements contained in the edi-
toriaI of April %. l. would greatly
appreciate your kindness in giving re-
| ply to the attack made upon me and
upon Wilson publicity in your paper.
With kind personal regards, L am.
Yours very truly,
J. T. G. Crawford.
April "a, 1912.
Mr.. w. F. stovan. Editor Tampa Trib-
une, Tampa, Fla.
Dear Sir: L have just read an edi-
torial which appeared in your paper of
the 23rd inst under the caption
Chairman Price Exposes a Conspir-
acy." The editorial contains some mis-
statements and I ask that you make
the correction by publishing this state
ment.
| You state that 1 took umbrage at
the fact that the names of Harmon
and Clark were omitted from the Of
fetal ballot and wrote Mr.. Price a
sassy" letter on the subject. The
truth of the matter is as follows: l
caused letter to be written to Mr..
Price reciting the resolution of the
state executive committee which re-
quired and instructed the campaign
committee, of which Mr.. Price is also
chairman, to print on the official bal
lot the names of all known candidates
for president. After Mr.. Price had
certified the list and had omitted the
names of Judson Harmon and Champ
Clark. l called his attention to the
language of the resolution and asked
for an explanation. He replied by ask
ing me what business of mine 1t was
md fhra ton 1tFaO fn Il /
toms candidacy for governor unless L
dropped the subject. In reply to that
| threatened to give the correspond
ence to the press unless he. in his Of
fetal capacity as chairman of the
stale committee, gave an explanation
of the omission of the names of Clark
and Harmon. Then he addresses to
me a six-page typewriter communi-
cation in which he laboriously and
lstudiously attacks Mr.. Milton and
Woodrow Wilson and myself and in
sinuates that some others whom he
does not mention are parties to some
great plot. What his object was, in
going beyond the limits of the con-
troversy over the omission of the
names of Clark and Harmon from the
ballot, / do not know.
You, on your own initiative, charge
that l am the hired man of Woodrow
Wilson and w. II. Milton, and that l
am in charge of a "dough-b bag" In
reply to that | wish to state that 1
have spent a few dollars in the inter-
| est of Gov. Woodrow Wilson, whose
Icampaign / am not managing, but VINO
III am supporting and was supporting G
| when Chairman Price and the Tampa
Tribune were advocating the candi-
daey of Judson Harmon. This money
was my own, made honestly, and spent
in the interest of democracy. 1 have
never received one dollar from Wood
row Wilson or from anybody else to
be used in his interest. / have no
knowledge of any money having been
sent into this state TO be spent by
anyone else in the interest of Wood
row Wilson. With reference to the
Milton dough-bag, | will state that as
the campaign manager for Mr.. Milton
IL have disbursed what money he has
ispent in the promotion OF his candi-
idacy. You can ascertain the amount
from his expense account filed with
the secretary of state and from an
iexamination of the books in my office
Il have been through some other cam
paigns in Florida in the interest OF
received one dollar Of compensation
for any political services that l have
iever rendered to any person. Any
Istatement in conflict with the above is
| absolutely false, without foundation
a deliberate lie.
You have seen fit to make this at
tack on me and to involve in it other
people who are not in any way inter
lested. You have charged that there
has been no lack of money among the
Woodrow Wilson people in Florida
Why do not you produce some evi-
Idence of the use of money, and while
tyou are doing that you might be hon
lest enough to admit that there has
been vast amount of money disburs-
ed in this state for Underwood.
have seen statements in some of the
lunpurchasable newspapers in thi:
Estate to the effect that they are re-
lceiving regular advertising rates fol-
the Underwood matter they publish
and that they are donating space o
their own account in the interest o
Wilson.
The trouble with Mr.. Price is tha
he is controlled; that his record ism
lstraight; that he knows the names o
Harmon and Clark were left off tn,
ballot in violation of the instruction o
the state executive committee and un
der instructions from the people wht
wish to defeat Wilson. He admitted
in conversation that Clark and Har
mon had requested their names to b,
left off the ballot. 1t was that state
ment l sought from him in evidenc,
of the fact that somewhere by some
body has been framed up a deal be
tween the men behind Harmon. Clarl
and Underwood TO defeat the nomina
tion of Woodrow Wilson.
Yours very truly,
John T. G. Crawford