Sharp County record., 1916-03-24

"To My Friends, the People OF the
| Second Congressional District OF
| Arkansas:
| Greeting-Whereas, VIM. A. Old
filed has written letters, I am inform
ed, to people of Searcy, in White
county; to people of Batesville and
Newark, in independence county; to
people of Melbourne, in lizard county;
to people of Heber Springs, in Cle-
burne county; to people at Clarendon
and Brinkley, in Monroe county, and
to people of my own county, Fulton,
and most probably to people in other
parts of the District, endeavoring to
mislead the people into believing that
my opposition to him in this race for
reelection to Congress is based on the
fact that he declined to appoint one
of my brothers cadet to the United
States Military Academy, at West
Point.
"Now, Mr.. Oldfeld indicates by
these letters that he believes some ex-
planation favorable to him of my op-
position to his reelection to Congress
should be made, and in making this
explanation he has followed his usual
custom of resorting to falsehood and
deceit when such a course will better
serve his purpose than to state the
truth.
"I want to say to the people of my
State that have found out from ex-
perience that Mr.. Oldfeld is not a
person who will DEAL HONESTLY
i'm CONTROVERSIES WITH HIS
FRIENDS, NOR FAIRLY WITH HIS
{ ENEMIES.
"Since the question Of my political
separation from Mr.. Oldfeld has been
raised in this campaign by Mr.. Old
field himself, deem it but fair to my
self, AND DUE TO THE PEOPLE
: to make explanation of the real causes
: of my opposition to the reelection
d of VIM. A. Oldfeld to Congress.
In December, 1914, and in January
1915, Mr.. Oldfeld stated to me that
we could "PICK UP SOME EASY
> MONEY" if would follow his "sug.
:, gestions," and proposed that I submit
to George o. Ogilvie, a publisher ir
New York City, and the G. & C. Mer
riam Company, publishers, of Spring
!. field, Massachusetts,, respectively, 9
proposition to bring about the enact
ment or the defeat of House
Bill 21137, pending before the com
mittee on Patents. Mr.. Oldfeld was
!, chairman of this committee and
clerk. The bill in question proposed
" legislation which would amend the
copyright laws to such an extent as
t. permit George W. Ogilvie, or any
other publishers, to use the name
webster" as applied to dictionaries
and to publish their variously com.
piled dictionaries under that name
: 1.-THE Merriam Company bitterly op
n posed the bill on the ground that they
e were the owners Of the original copy.
righted title Webster" acquired BY
\ them by purchase from the descend
= ants Of Noah Webster, and argued
] that they had spent hundreds OF
Thousands Of dollars in preparing and
] advertising the present high standard
: "Webster's" dictionary under the
name Of webster" and we're entitled
D to the exclusive use Of the name by
Q reason Of their ownership of the copy.
Y right and their acquired property in
/, the said title aceruing from long con.
] tinued use, and because Of the fact
. that the public had come to recognize
q the reliability of their 'Webster's'
dictionary.
George W, 0gilvie waged as
Q strong a fight for the bill as the Mer.
riams did against the measure. II
was indeed very important bill, ant
a at this point Mr.. Oldfeld, welding the
n power Of chairman Of the committee
saw an opportunity to profit by rea.
son Of his position, enabling him tc
Q control the action Of the committee or
the bill In view Of les evenly dividet
membership,
Q AT this stage Mr., 0ldheld analyzet
the situation, and TO me INSISTED
: that propose, First, to George W
Ogilvie, that for TEN THOUSAND
DOLLARS, | would obtain "guaran,
I tee from the Chairman Of the Com,
0 mittee that the legislation would b,
s ehaeted" Second, In case George W
Ogilvie would not trade, to propose tc
the Merrams that for TEN THOUS.
| AND nnT IADO