Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-21


 upon him. He recalled that the following spring, when MT Clarke had come to the First district and his constituents had demanded to know whether he favored E the return to the senate of Senator Mor- gan, he had said he did; that he now eX- plained that he favored Morgan'S re-elec- tion on account of his advocacy of the Nicaragua canal. and had therefore tenn porarily suspended the operations of the
 great law of principle. He said he had
 been informed that in the last election in this district both of the editors of the Advertiser had favored the candidacy of MT. Stallings, free silver advocate, and one who consistently roasted the national administration, that they had side tracked the law for personal reasons f- He spoke of harmony and called att tention to the Kentucky muddle. He hoped, he said, that Alabama would not fall into the same indiscretions. He de- plored intolerance among democrats, and reminded the audience that the theory that the opposition worked on was that such men as sat on the stage tonight were eligible to vote the democratic ticket, but not to hold office. He said MT. Clarke appealed in his proclamation, which was sent out from Washington, to only one faction of the democracy. That he asked all of the democrats of Alabama to make him governor He said the democratic doctrine was that the states were free and independent of the general govern | ment, excepting such authority as they had expressly delegated years ago, and | that the president nor anyone else on the 1 outside had any right to dictate to the | democracy of Alabama. He said he had not consulted MT. Cleveland as to his l candidacy. That while he acknowledged | he was not as big man as MT. Cleve- | land physically he was as good demo- l crat.
 | He said he had learned today that it | was charged that he proposed to move | he state capital from here to Birming- | ham, but that he intended instead to re-
 move himself and family here after De- | cember next. He spoke of the charge of | Mir. Clarke and his friends that his nom l ination and election would drive cap l ital away from Alabama. He said he l helped to bring several millions of dol l lars into Alabama, and had by this | means been instrumental in providing | employment for several thousand work l ing men. He assured the audience that l if they imagined that there were several | thousand yankees and Englishmen pre- pairing to flood Alabama with their gold | as soon as they heard of MT. Clarke $ | election they would be disappointed. He told with pride of his war record | and spoke most eloquently and feeling | ly of those days that tried mems souls. | He said he had intimated that his oppo- | nent, who charged him with being afraid | to meet him on the stump, had never | smelled powder, although he Is several years the speakers senior, and read an editorial from the Advertiser which stated that | MT. Clarke had participated In the many | fiery attacks Fort Morgan at Mobile,
 the reading of which occasioned much | amusement. He spoke of MT. Clarke's S | not having been on record in any debates | in congress in which defense of Alabama
 CT the south or the national administra- | ton would have been well timed and pa- | triotic. He said if his opponent had any | blood whatever on his blade 1t was dem- | ocratic blood, as he had never heard of his devoting his alleged Demosthenian | talents to the destruction of any foeman | except some democrat in Alabama. Cap | tain Johnston explained frankly that he | had declined to meet MT. Clarke in joint l debate in this canvass for the reason that l he realized that if they came together in debate they would inevitably say some | things that would tend to separate the | democrats of Alabama; that as he ex- pected to be nominated and desired to be 1 elected he said MT. Clarke, if by acci- dent he should be nomina ted, would be l bubblng over with harmony after the | convention.
 | He deplored that the democrats were l bowling about gold and silver and were l imperilling their party in the state. He | then affirmed his strong belief in the free l and unlimited coinage of silver, and briefly but forcibly discussed the money l question. He stated that if Alabama l could settle the question of free coinage, | he could make the campaign with that l as the chief plank in his platform. He explained that he was bimetalliSt, and | said he would not favor free coinage of l silver unless he was convinced that the l white dollar would be worth as much as | the yellow one; that it had never so far | failed and never would. He did not be- 1 lieve. we could-have any general pros 1 perity without double standard. Cap l tain Johnston concluded by saying that | he would prefer to lead in the work of
 building up the institutions of Alabama to 1 holding the highest seat in the United ! States senate.
 l Captain Johnston was cheered most | profusely. His audience was vastly more responsive than that which greeted MT. 1 Clarke two weeks ago. There were evil | dently more Johnston men in the au- dience tonight than there were Clarke 1 men in the other audience. There were on the stage about twenty-five of the | best known democrats in Alabama, | among them President Warren of the l Montgomery Johnston club; Hon. H. D. | Clayton, district attorney; Hon. Tenant | Lomax. Auditor Purifoy, Hon. John W. | A. Sanford, Judge w. s. Thorington, Hon. Joseph Hodgson, R. F. Ligon, J. Craig Smith. A. D. Sayre, Walton Hill, $. T. 1 Surratt, A. T. Dreyspring and John D. | Roquemore.
 l The speakers table was decked with a beautiful basket of flowers, presented
 to Captain Johnston by Mrs. W. s. Thor l ington, with this gracious wish: May l these spring flowers serve as a reminder l that our women as we'll as our men de- | sire you to be Alabamas governor"
 l Before Tonight's meeting closed the audience with unanimous voice demand | ed a speech from Hon. Tennant Lomax. The people here are devoted to Lomax | and they never lose an opportunity to express their devotion to him. MT. Lo- max responded tonight in happy man. | ner as he always does. indorsing Cap | tain Johnston most eloquently and cor | dially.
 From start to finish the meeting was | great success and Captain Johnston's
 friends here are confident that Montgom- cry will give Jeffersons candidate her | nineteen votes in the state convention.