Evening star., 1946-05-13


slugging it out with him verbally.
Senator Bilbo is hard to match when
it comes to old-fashioned stump
oratory.
Friends of Mr.. Ellis believe that
if he refuses to be drawn into a
day-to-day exchange of personali-
ties with the chairman of the Sen
ate District Committee, his plea for
election will be more effective. Mr..
Ellis also told this writer today that
he is not going to try to solve ANY
great national problems from the
stump"
He says he would rather ask the
voters of Mississippi, who know him
to rely on him to use good judgment
in passing on important issues as
they arise. Here again, his cam
paign differs from that of other
senatorial aspirants, who are max
ing specific proposals for veterans
benefits and other postwar prob
lens. ~.
Mr.. Ellis has made only one speech
to date and that was in the little
town of Water Valley, in Northern
Mississippi, where he was train dis
patcher for many years. AS lie
opened his campaign, he was sur
rounded by some of his old railroad
buddies.
Seated in his modest frame home,
near the State Capitol in Jackson,
Mr.. Ellis spoke in a quiet, but conf
Dental manner of his prospects. His
warm manner makes a visitor feel
at home, and explains his reputa-
ton as popular public official.
When photographer suggested
that he pose with Mrs. Ellis, they
joked good naturedly about their
many years of married life.
Mr.. Ellis first ran for clerk of the
Mississippi Supreme Court in 1881.
In the first primary he led a field
OF five candidates by more than
$4,000 votes. One of his opponents
was the incumbent clerk, who had
been appointed by Senator Bilbo,
then Governor. In the run-of pri-
mary later that year, Mr.. Ellis was
elected by the biggest majority ever
given candidate for State Office
100000.
He has been reelected three times
without opposition. It is with this
record as a vote-getter that he steps
into the Senate race.
Mr.. Ellis was born in 1890, in
Holmes County, in North Central
Mississippi. He went to Water VAL
ley when he was 18, and his first
job on the railroad was as water
boy for road gang. He spent
four years as a telegrapher, and
then 20 years as a train dispatcher.
He was member of the Order of
Railroad Telegraphers. The rail-
road men constitute probably the
largest group of organized workers
in the State.
Senator Bilbo discusses all of his
opponents in his speeches, but thus
far he has been less severe in re-
ferring to Mr.. Ellis than to any Of
the others. The Senator has been
referring to Mr.. Ellis as my
friend Tom" or Brother Tom"
He then tells his audiences that
he is not going to let Mr.. Ellis
have the Masonic, the Baptist, or
the railroad workers vote. Because
he, too, is Mason, a Baptist and
former news butcher on railroad
trains. The nearest he comes to
criticizing Mr.. Ellis is to assert that
the Supreme Court clerk had PROM
ised to support the Bilbo campaign
before he himself became a candi-
date. 9 o.. s
Mr.. Ellis has made no direct reply,
beyond a statement that Il have
entered no political alliances that
would preclude an honorable man
from becoming a candidate"
Much of Mr.. Ellis popularity
grows out of the fact that in recent
years he has been invited to make
numerous nonpolitical addresses at
school graduations and other gath
erings all over the State.
MIR. Ellis friends say it will not be
necessary for him to mention any of
his organizational affiliations, be-
cause Senator Bilbo is doing that
for him