The Pascagoula chronicle., 1918-08-31
elLeo ISSUES CHALLENGE

BlLBo ISSUES CHALLENGE
TO JOHNSON.
Popularville, Miss, August %, 1918.
Judge Paul Johnson,
Hattiesburg, Miss.
Dear Sir:
The returns of the first primary for
Congress in this district forces a
second primary between you and me.
Before the first primary. you talked
loud and long about wanting a joint
debate with me, charging that ! had
run away from you to escape joint
debates. This was not true.
Now, since the race has narrowed
down to you and myself, ] am ready
to give you the joint debates you have
been looking for l hereby challenge
you for a series of twenty-six joint
debates, covering every county in the
district. I am enclosing a speaking
iteniary, subject to your approval, the
time and rules of joint debate to be
agreed upon by committee OF three,
one to be appointed by you, one by me,
and the third member of the commit
tee to be selected by the two thus APP
pointed.
insist that you accept this chal
lenge and let the people of the district
hear both sides Of this congressional
contest at the same time so that they
may be in a position to properly pass
upon the relative merits and qualifica-
tons of the two candidates before
making their final decision.
| insist again that you accept this
challenge for the reason that you have,
throughout your campaign, made all
sorts and kinds of false and mislead-
ing charges against my private life
and public record. Many of these
charges made by you were known to
be untrue and none of them can be
substantiated.
Your refusal to accept this challenge
will be construed by all fair minded
citizens of the district as confession
of your inability to back up and prove
what you have been saying.
You have wilfully and flagrantly
charged that | misused and squand-
cred public funds you have wilfully
and lllagrantly charged that recon-
mended and secured the passage Of
the Statewide dipping law; you have
wilfully and fagrantly charged that |
over-ran the pardon board; you have
wilfully and fiagrantly charged that /
have corruptly used money in the cam
paign; you have wilfully and fragrant
ly charged that do not deserve any
credit for giving to the people of Mis-
sissippi several Institions that will
bless the people of the State for years
to come. You have criticised and at
-GcNeu me State tax commission, the
State highway commission, the tu-
bercular sanitorium, the reformatory
school and Centennial Exposition,
and, in fact, nearly everything ac-
complished by my administration
You have made unfair and dirty ref
erences to Beauvoir, thereby casting
These are only few of the untrue
charges that you have resorted to.
demand that you meet me face to
face before a fair and impartial citi-
zenship and make good these charges
and criticisms.
You have attempted to fool the peo-
pie by promising them homesteads
and other legislation that you ought
to know to be clearly unconstitutional.
If you have faith in your platform, you
need not be afraid to meet me on the
stump
| am sure that the people of the dis
trict will join me in this request that
you face me on the issues that you
have injected into this campaign.
You have not only abused, viliied
and misrepresented me, but you have
denounced Mr.. Bowers by charging
that he had betrayed the people in
Congress before, and that he had prac-
tically sold out to Edward Hines and
the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad, AMI
that he was crazy. This you did, even
in the presence of his wife in the city
of Gulfport, and after you had done
all the damage and dirt you could to
Mr.. Bowers, later, when you saw that
he would be the third man in the race,
you Immediately reversed your atti-
tude and sought to refer to Mr. Bow
ers in a semi-complimentary way.
name Hon. II. X. Rouse to repre-
sent me on the committee to arrange
for the time and rules of debate
Give me your reply by return mail so
we can begin speaking on Monday,
August 26th.
shall feel free to construe your re-
fusal to this challenge as a weakness
of your case. in the campaign.
Yours faithfully,
THEO. G. BILBO.