Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-31

Clarke coming forward for no other pur-
pose than to conquer the silver faction
OF the party The silver men, who in our
opinion. are largely in the ascendant in
this state and very largely in the ma
jority in the counties of north Alabama,
which are the growing sections of the
state, naturally feel Indignant at the
manner in which their favorite standard
bearer has been so wantonly assailed in
the very halls of the democracy They
know that allied to them upon this mon
ey question is a vast body of men
amounting to 10000 or 40,000-who had
become dlsaffected towards the demo-
cratic party but who will vote for John
ston, and who will not vote for Clarke.
This fact was plainly announced by our
neighbor, the Birmingham News, early
In the campaign. 1t was a fact then and
it Is a fact now. No stress of local condi-
tons, no fractional lash, no new develop
ments, have changed or can change that
fact. These recruits are needed if Ala
bama hopes to hold her elected state gov
eminent up to the scrutiny of the next
congress. They stand ready to vote for
Johnston in large numbers. AS evidence
of the truth of this assertion we point to
the vote cast in Morgan county at sew
eral of the beats, where nearly every man
who had gone off from the party voted
for Johnston at the primaries. Not only
did these men with singular unanimity
show their intention to return to the fold
under Johnston's banner, but nearly ev-
cry other voter stood for Johnston in
those precincts. What was true in Nor
gan county will be found true in an over
whelming number of rural precincts
throughout the state.
The question, then, that confronts us
is, shall we nominate Johnston and bring
to our ranks the men whose votes we
need, or shall we nominate Clarke and
give the state to the fusionists? This is
the prominent question. 1t cannot be es-
capped Behind it stands the little, con-
temptible and inconsequential question,
"Are we willing to condemn the admin
istration money policy?" This latter
question is too insignificant and too un-
certain to engage the attention of a, pa
triot
we stand today very much as the DEM
ocratic factions stood in 1874 The Con-
federate feeling then ran high, but the
party selected Houston as their standard
bearer because he could carry a large
union vote of north Alabama. We had
tried Herndon of Mobile two years be-
fore and had signally failed. The ques-
ton of availability carried the day, and
the result proved the wisdom of nominat-
ing a north Alabama man who was in
close touch with all of his people Hous-
ton gave us a splendid administration,
and nobody heard anything more about
secession or union so far as state cleo
tions were concerned.
There can be no difference of opinion
upon the vital question before us. John
ston is available and Clarke is not avail
able. Johnston will win If nominated,
and Clarke's success is problematic. In
the latter case the battle would probably
not be over even after the returns for
Clarke are counted at Montgomery. We
want our candidate to get his commission
upon unquestioned credentials The
gravest interests of the people demand
that the result shall not be questioned.
We cannot afford to make a mistake in
this matter. No matter what may be cur
money views, no matter what may be our
personal preferences. it is our duty to
cast our votes on April IL for that tcandi-
date who can in all probability draw the
largest number of votes from those who
have been hostile, apathetic or indiffer-
emit