The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1918-05-30
McMULLEN's POSITION.


! Joe McMullen, who is candidate
for representative of Pinellas county
in the Florida legislature, denies that
i he will work for the repeal of the sno-
fence law unless a majority of the
voters of the county ask for such ac-
ton. He also denies that he has
made any promises to the liquor in
terests of the county. Furthermore,
he declares he will vote on the tenn
perance side of every question.
/ We are glad to hear him make these
statements. He should, however, curb
the activity and statements of some
of his supporters who have stated pos
titively that he will work for the repeal
of the "no-fence" law.
His connection with the liquor in
terests of the county was never OPEN
lily stated by the Daily Times, or any
one else that we know, but it has
been freely remarked that Ed Haley,
the Clearwater liquor dealer, and 9th
ers of what remains of the liquor ele-
ment, are supporting Mr. McMullen.
It was known that these same inter-
ests had attempted to bring out an
other candidate against Representa-
tive Harris and that they had prom
ised their support to Mr.. McMullen.
We merely asked the question to set
!, the record straight and we are glad
to have Mr.. McMullen put himself
squarely on record against the liquor
traffic
If we accept Mr.. McMullen's explain
/ alton of his position, there are no is
sues at stake between him and Repre-
sentative Harris except that he wants
the job held by our fellow townsman.
All of which IS very well and good,
but we nevertheless see no reason
why we should make a change in rep
resentatives to satisfy the ambition
of any man when the record of our
Incumbent is not attacked and when
he has fulfilled every promise made.
We do not contend that Mr.. Harris
is the only man in Pinellas county
who canSfll the position he holds, but
we do contend that we Know he can
fill it to the satisfaction and credit of
the citizenship of the county. We do
not know how some other person
might serve our interests at Tallahas-
see.
| Folks who have known him all their
lives speak of him as "Sam" Harris
and he is still "Sam" Harris, although
he has been honored with high DO
sition of trust. He is still "Sam''
Harris, although in his first term in
| the state legislature he won recogni-
ton as one of the most powerful men
lin the body. He is still SAM Harris
regardless of the fact that to him, a
newcomer in legislative circles, was
entrusted the uassage of some of the
most important bills introduced in the
last session. He is still "Sam. Har-
ris, although he secured the passage
of more bills bearing his name than
any other member of the legislature.
And as "Sar" Harris he is entitled
to reward for public duty faithful
ly performed. The reward we car
give him is popular approval of his
record at the polls and denomination
synonymous to reelection, by an over
whelming majority. He was credit
to Pinellas county in the state legisla-
ture and we should honor him at home
as he was honored all over the state
of Florida during and at the close of
the legislative term.
Every newspaper correspondent at
| Tallahassee during the session and
every legislator gave "Sam" Harris
credit for being probably the most
effective member of either house
when it came to practical work. To
fail to re-elect him would be for Pr
nellas county to tell the rest of Flori-
da that it was unmindful of it's best
interests and ungrateful for the honor
heaped upon it by it's dutiful servant
in the Florida law-making body. But
if we know Pinellas county folk, as
we think we do, we have no doubt
that they will return Representative
"Sam" Harris with an overwhelming
majority.-St. Petersburg Times.