The Semi-weekly leader., 1919-07-26
HON. OSCAR JOHNSTON MAKES REPLY
TO CRITICISMS OF HIS OPPONENTS
Subsanaes Statements Made BY Him by Referring to House
Journals and Giving Pages Which Record May
Be Found to Agricultural High School
Bill, Banking Law and Others.

No. 3, introduced In the legislature
of 1908. / am certainly not under
taking ito claim any credit for the
work of Everett Of Newton. whose
bill neither modified nor amended
Chapter I'll of the Laws Of 1908, OF
which / was the author as above
stated. The bill as introduced by
me will be found at page 81 Of the
House Journal Of 1908.
Thirdly. "The writer" next chal-
lenges the correctness of my state
ment that l was the author of the
bill prohibiting corporations from
owning farming lands in Mississippi,
calling attention to the fact that the
bill which became law is shown by
the books to be a Senate bill intro
duced by Senator Bailey of Lauder
dale county. Here again "the wri-
ter" shows the densest ignorance re-
garding legislative history. Stated
as briefly as possible, the history Of
this bill is as follows:
In 1912 at the request of the
Farmers Union, Congressman IT. U.
Sisson drafted and sent to Jackson
a bill designed to prohibit corpora
tions from owning farming lands.
President Carter Of the Farmers Un-
ion and G. r. Hightower. ex-presi-
dent, with other officials. came to
Jackson for the purpose of undertake
ing to secure the passage Of this leg
islation. There was some objection
made to the bill prepared by Mr.. Sis
SON and was invited to the confer
ence and requested to draft bill
and did so. When completed, my
bill met with the approval both of
the Farmers Union and the Legisla-
tive Committee. Since was not as
interested in undertaking to make a
record as the Attorney General seems
to have been. when he had photos
made of the various checks which he
has gotten, gave the bill to Mr.. N.
A. Mott of Yazoo and to Mr.. c. H.
West of Carroll County who Jointly
introduced it in the House. 1t pas
Sed the House and went to the SEN
ate, where in some way the bill dis
appeared. Senator Bailey, who had
been in the conference with us and
who knew the history of the bill,
came Immediately to my desk in the
House and advised me of the disap-
pearance, l thereupon gave him a
carbon copy OF the original bill
this he introduced in the Senate. AS
drafted by me, the law was rather
more drastic than the Senate would
agree to; they therefore made some
slight amendments and passed the
bill which then came back to the
House for re-passage, was passed
and is today the law. I note "the
writer's" reference to a subsequent
effort to put teeth in the law. In
reply, will say that IL any corpora
tions have acquired lands in Missis-
sippi in violation of the terms of
this Act since the law went into eff
feet, it is because the Attorney Gen
eral has not done his duty. Per-
sonally know of no violation and
assume there has been none.
Fourthly. Regarding the provis-
ions of the banking law providing
for the guaranty of deposits, will say
that John L. Smith of Clay county
and myself wrote Sections Asa and
~ of the present banking law. These
are the sections that put into the Act
the present guaranty system. / am
not interested in the recollection of
the gentleman to whom 1.-The writer"
refers, but again suggest that he look
at the minutes of the House as set
forth in the House Journal of 1914
at page 713.
The final statement in the article
referred to that l am seeking of
flee by attempting to appropriate the
work of other brains is absurd.
am not seeking office because of
what have done but refer, in ad-
dressing the people of this state, to
my record as evidence of my fitness
for the office to which / aspire. If
the article to which this is reply
was written or passed upon by At
torney General Collins, it is certain
ly a serious reflection upon his
knowledge of the legislative history
of the State. q
(Adv.) OSCAR JOHNSTON.