Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-14
THE PERRY PLAN.

ed so ably and so eloquently by Senator
 Morgan. It Is embodied in the follow
 ing resolution, recently adopted by the
 democratic central committee of that
 county:
 Resolved, That the Perry county dem-
 ocratic executive committee tenders to those citizens of our county who have
 for various reasons failed or refused to
 vote for the nominees of our party in
 the past few years, and who believe in democratic principles and who agree to
 support the nominees of the demo-
 cratic party, an invitation to vote for all democratic candidates at the prima- ries or mass meetings, whichever shall be so ordered by this committee, in fu-
 ture, at the place and time such prima- Ties or mass meetings shall be held; be it further
 Resolved. That the only restrictions placed upon such voters shall be that they will support the democratic nomina- tlons resulting from the votes cast by them at such primaries or mass meetings and all nominees of the democratic par ty."
 This is the patriotic plan which can
 alone reunite our party and bring back l to the fold the tens of thousands of dem ocrats who. having followed the Jeffer- sonian democratic party of 1892, refused | to vote the populistic ticket of 1894 and | who now, with decent encouragement | and honest conciliation, stand ready to 1 do battle shoulder to shoulder with their | old friends of the democratic party. We are not surpriseL that the pestilent Advertiser is swift to denounce the Perry | plan for harmony. It says: "No county committee should hold or order primary, or take any sort Of step 1 in next years party canvass, in advance 1 of the state committees meeting and ac- l ton.
 "The state convention, the highest pow l CT in the party, has lodged all power of that kind for the uniform organization 1 of the party in the hands of the state committee, and loyal party men are bound by the conventions law. Loyal party men are bound by the action of the central executive commit tee only so far as it is authorized to | speak by the convention which called 1t | into existence. The last state conven- 1 ton, which gave birth to the present state committee, nowhere clothed that commit 1 tee with power to decide who are demo- crats and who may vote at the party pri- maries. We challenge the Advertiser to | show any such authority. It is true that the convention of 1852 gave such authority to the committee created by that body, but the power so
  not continue as a party law unless re- yiyed and renewed by the succeeding l convention. The succeeding convention, that of 1894, was complete sovereignty, and no act of its predecessor could bind it or it's executive committee. We say It without fear of successful contradiction that never in the history of Alabama politics has any convention except that ptnf committee the power to define the char acter and duties of democrat. It IS not the law of the party, and it ought not to
 be the law. It would give to handful
 of men, mostly professional politicians, the power to control the destinies or great party It would form a narrow, close corpora tion-a kind of pohtpal trust-that would set up candidates as the viziers of Turkey set up their puppet
 sultans, and hope to elect them by tactics which might be abhorrent to every sense of honesty and decency. The people or Alabama have not sunk to the low depth of degredation which would make them
 bend their knees to a score of masters. The right to say who may participate in the primary elections belongs to the local authority, that which is nearest to the people, the county and the beat com
 mittees.
 During the last presidential campaign the national executive committee invited everyone to participate in the nominat- ing conventions who wished the success | of the party no matter how they had voted at prior elections. So broad ana | generous was this call that thousands | accepted the invitation joyfully, and out of the new forces thus won from the en- emy MT. Cleveland called General Gres- ham to his cabinet.
 If the Advertiser had had it's way it would not have permitted General Gres- ham in 1892 to have voted at democratic primary or to have held a seat in a democratic convention. A journal which follows with its nose so closely to the earth, the trail of Mr. Cleveland should not rebuke him and his cabinet for open ing the democratic doors to all who would enter.
 If however, precedent were not on the
 side of the Perry plan, common sense, patriotism and justice are certainly on that side We want democratic har- mony We want to save the state from the enemy. It is therefore expedent to initiate the Lord of the vineyard and in- vite laborers in upon equal terms with the others. even at the last hours It is also just that those democrats who be- lieved that they were wronged by the convention of 1892, and who went off for a time. always claiming, however, that they were the straight democratic party, should be welcomed back speedily and | cordially.
 We hope that every county in Ala bama will adopt similar resolutions to | those of the Perry democracy. Let them send delegates to the state convention l in accordance with the time-honored rights of the party and if these delegates | are rejected by the state committee, which will not be done, the people will | find d way to assert their duty and their | power
 SENATOR WALTHALL.