Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-04

ventlon as it had in the last state con- yention.
 g. Each county executive committee shall decide for it's county whether the delegates to the state convention shall be selected by primary election, beat meet ings, county conventions or mass meet ings.
 A. No delegate to the congressional convention shall be elected at the same time that delegates are selected to the state convention.
 "5. That the executice committee of each county shall have the right to deter mine whether to admit any but white voters to the primaries of their respec- tive counties"
 It will be seen that the committee of 1891 used the worlds All qualified vot- CTS" It will also be seen that the com- mittee of 1896 used these words: All conservative voters"
 As was well said by MT. Weakley in speech at the meeting of the county com mittee here on last Saturday, the ques- tion as to whether or not the state execu- tive committee would admit negroes to participate in democratic primaries was never raised in Alabama until after the subcommittee had made it's report to the full committee on the 21st of January last. The committee in none of it's calls heretofore had ever found it necessary to use the word white" The use of that word was not suggested by any resolu- tions offered to that subcommittee. After the question was raised the sub- committee promptly accepted as part of it's original report the resolution of Mr. Mallory relegating that question to the county committees.
 The State Herald knows full well that the committee in 1894 did not intend to invite negroes into the democratic pri- maries So also does it know full well that the committee of 1896 did not Intend to invite negroes into the democratic pri- maries. Yet the Advertiser and other Clarke papers and men supporting MT. Clarke boldly make the charge that what they are pleased to term the johnston committee in seeking advantage for Johnston even invited negroes into the primar res Now 1t is clear that if fail- ure to use the word white" by the con- mittee of 1896 means the letting down of the bars to the negro, then all the pre- vious democratic executive committees have done the same thing.
 If the charge made against the present executive committee by the Advertiser and others is well founded the same charge would lie against former commit tees the majority of which happened to be of the Advertisers way of thinking as regards candidates
 The truth is the charge is not well founded. in fact it has no foundation and the Advertiser knows it.
 If the invitation to "all conservative voters irrespective of past political as- sociations or differences. who can unite with us in the effort for pure, economi- cal and constitutional government, and who will support the nominees and prin- ciples of the democratic party means an invitation to the negroes to partci- pate in the democratic primaries, then the invitation to "all qualified voters who voted for Cleveland and Stevenson was an invitation to not less than 10000 negroes to participate in the democratic primaries in. 1894. The charge is false and untrue in either instance, and those making it are doing it in the hope of prejudcng the people living in a certain section of Alabama against Captain of such a course, which cannot strength en the democratic party In the state or in any manner tend to harmonize.
 It is the reckless iise of an unfounded accusation, made by the Advertiser and joined in by others, who have possibly not taken the pains to investigate and see how unjustifable it is.