St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1913-08-23
OF
COM. BRUNER
Baton Rouge, Aug. II, 1913.

Baton Rouge, Aug. II, 1918.
Editor St. Tammany Farmer.
MY Dear Sir:-I know it is your
desire, as it is the desire of every fair
minded man. to hear both sides OF
every controversy before reaching o
conclusion. have been SO cruelty
'misrepresented, not intentionally per-
haps, but because my side has not
been presented, that feel it my duty
to present to you in this personal let
.ter the true and exact facts.
My silence up to this time has been
due largely to the advice OF my
friends, and absolutely against my
own judgment in the premises, and
no doubt this silence has been con-
strued against me.
/. In the beginning want to say
that as Commissioner of Agriculture
1 have direct or indirect supervision
over all branches of the Agricultural
Department. 1t is my duty to take
tognizance of complaints against any
department and to do what ! can tc
correct any mistakes or misconduct.
Numerous complaints were made &c
me about Mr.. Dodson. Two OF the
compliments were men whose hon
esty. integrity and veracity were un-
questioned. They made many and
serious charges against Mr.. DOdson's
conduct of his department. Coming
from the source they did, from these
men who had been for number Of
years under Mr.. Dodson and in po-
sition to know what they were talk
ng about, very naturally believed
them to be true, and on the strength
of my honest belief in these reports
discussed the matter with some Of
my friends-or supposed to ne
friends had my informant
placed the matter before the Govern
or who assured me that thorough
investigation of Mr.. Dodson's books
vouchers, ETC., would be made. But
before the investigation could he
made Dodson made affidavit against
me for SANDER. went into the case
depending upon my informants te
substantiate the charges they had
made to me. My first witness. the
man who had made the MOST charges
and the one upon whom naturally
most depended, absolutely fell nat
and instead of substantiatfng the
charges he had made, not only to me
but to hte Governor and to my at.
torneys, made a good witness for the
State. OF course, /, as we'll as my
attorneys, was absolutely non plussed
-dumbfounded. 1 saw that l had
been mislead-deceived, and as a re-
suit had done Mr.. Dodson an injury.
I might have continued with the trial
had my other witnesses testify, tied
the matter up in the Supreme Court
until October or later and left some
doubt In the public mind as to the
correctness Of incorrectness Of the
charges made to me. But deemed
It my duty, the duty of an honorable
man, to rectify, as speedily as possible
and in the clearest and most unequiv-
ocal way, the wrong had nninten-
tionally done. Hence l immediate
" had the case halted without put
ting another witness on the stand.
and stated to the court that desired
to plead guilty to giving currency tc
reports that had been made to me in
my official capacity as Commissioner
of Agriculture and immigration of
the State of Louisiana and which u
had honestly believed to be true
though subsequent developments had
shown them not to be true-and ]
wanted to make, and did make, the
amend honorable to Mr.. Dodson.
Now, the above are the absolute
facts and want you to consider the
whole matter Carefully and Sc If the
course have pursued jussifie5 the
very severe criticism and abuse that
has been heaped upon me. 1t is true
that subsequent developments prove
that made a mistake In placing as
much confidence as did in the COM
plants made to me, but when you
take into consideration the character
and standing of the COM
plainants, and not in the light Of
later developments, believe yon will
agree with me that had {: right to
believe these reports.
OF course know and you know,
that there are many people who as.
sumo q "holie than thou" air-and
condemn most severely in others that
Of which they are themselves most
guilty. From such people expect
only abuse, but from the average.
fair minded honest man who believes
in right and justice. who recognizes
that to err is human, and to admit
a mistake and right q wrong unin-
done. is the hardest hut