Birmingham state herald., 1895-11-14
The Craze Not Dead in Colbert.


 .If the silver craze is not dead in the
 rest of the country, or in the remainder
 of Alabama plainly 1t is not alive in Col
 bert county. It looks as if the Tuscumbla
 North Alabamian and the two Sheffield
 papers had killed it pretty effectually
 there It is not the first time the advo-
 cates of cause have ruined it-Mont-
 gomery Advertiser
 "Be not oVerconfident in your own con
 ceit. The silver craze has not been kill
 ed in Colbert. It is neither dead nor dy'
 ing however much the big postal cuckoo
 could wish it were so We do not doubt
 and we base the assertion upon perfectly
 reliable information-that fully four
 fifths of the people of Colbert are for free
 silver at the old ratio, and will cast their
 ballots that way whenever the occasion
 is offered. The fact that they did not
 rush to the call for some bimetallic con
 vention proves nothing, save that they thought it wholly unnecessary-that there was little use in wasting time in re- gard to a matter as to which the opposi- ton is too feeble to excite respectable
 contention. The farmers and others are too busy, just now, to give their time and attention to a matter as to which they are practically unanimous"
 The Selma Times says:
 "The Times, while personally friendly to Governor Oates, has somehow been J
 We admire him for his strong individual ity, for his courage, his candor, and the Straig ght-forward manner in which he strikes out from the shoulder.
 "These thoughts are brought out by the cruel and treacherous treatment he has received at the hand of the Montgom- cry Advertiser, which announced him as a candidate for governor against his express wishes. We do not remember of such underhand journalism being per- petrated on a public man in Alabama for years as the trick played on the gov- ernor in it's double-leaded editorial of last Friday. He said in the last cam paign that he did not want the office of governor second term, and there he stands today-ever ready to serve the party if it thinks he is the man to make the sacrifice, but desiring to go to the senate as the croWnng ambition Of his | life.
 We, admire Governor Oates more than we have ever done since his manly inter- view in the State Herald, in which he said: I am a candidate for the senate, and not for governor Those were the words of brave man, honestly spoken. we have not made up our minds to support Governor Oates for the senate It is more than likely that we will oppose him. If however, we are to have gold bug senator to succeed Senator Pugh we believe that we had rather have Oates
 
 play, and the Advertiser has not treated him fairly. He has been knifed in quar- | ter where he least expected 1t. He has had a stilletto thrust into his vitals by a supposed friend. The Advertiser has approached him, took him by the beard to kiss and then thrust a dagger under his fifth rib.
 "Why has 1t done this? For two or three reasons-'killing two birds with one stone' It hoped to force Governor Oates to enter the gubernatorial race with the view of shelving Joe Johnston In the next place it wanted to get rid of Gov ernor Oates as candidate for the sem ate in order to open the way for some real favorite. Possibly this performance of the Advertiser was intended to create friction between the friens of Captain | Johnston and those of Governor Oates with the view of knitting the Johnston men into the position of anybody to
 beat Oates for senator
 "The Advertiser for the once has over shot the mark. Its little scheme is too thin. Governor Oates punctured it in his interview in Saturdays State Herald; 1t fell to the ground like the bursting of a
 soap bubble blown by child. The Ad- vertiser is placed before the world in a pitiable condition. It has acted the trait | or to Governor Oates and Its double-lead- ed editorial has proven boomerang"