May
Fifteenth
Nineteen eighteen

Hon. E. H. Crowder,
Provost Marshal General,
Washington, D. C.

My dear General Crowder:

In his report on the Pitt County situation one Phillips, a representative of the Department of Justice, takes occasion to say that “The Governor of North Carolina is playing politics.”

I do not know this man Phillips, and am not at all concerned about his private opinion of my official conduct, but I seriously challenge the charge made by a representative of the Department of Justice that the Governor of North Carolina is playing politics in the administration of the selective draft law. This charge is infamously false, without a shadow foundation of truth. The only explanation of this baseless charge that I can conceive of is that Phillips did not know what he was writing. Upon his visit to Greenville to inspect the Pitt County situation he was drinking, and his conduct reflected no credit upon the Department of Justice. Upon a recent visit to the office of Major Langston he was very noticably under the influence of whiskey. Whiskey may or may not be the cause of his making baseless charges, but however that may be, I desire to give notice that no further report made by this man, who represents the Department of Justice, will be even read by this department.

Sincerely yours,

T. W. Bicket
Governor.

B-T