Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-23


 best organized force of any candidate
 save MT. Kolb, yet was first and foremost
 to yield his personal ambition upon the
 altar of his partys good.
 Again in 1894, when Governor Oates re-
 ceived an apparent majority in the con-
 vention, Johnston bowed to the will of his
 party, and through the mountains of
 north Alabama and the expansive plains
 of south Alabama earnestly and elo-
 quently urged the election of William c. Oates.
 Matchless, this impregnable, this he
 roic and glorious record his distinguished opponent presumes to assai1. and de- clared in the presence of a Montgomery
 audience the hands of Joseph F. John- ston crimson with democratic gore. This would seem to be the very soul of
 ingratitude, when the plain facts are that all that Richard H. Clarke is today the democratic party has made him, while
 the dominancy of the democratic party is largely due to the labors of Joseph F. Johnston.
 One has, unrewaeded, borne the heat and burden of the day; the other still banquets on the fat of congressional hon. ors. The only specification made by MT. Clarke in support of his fierce and fuTf- ous indictment is in effect that Captain Johnston has dared to exercise the priYi- lege of every democrat and sovereign cit izen to entertain an opinion on the finan- cial question without first consulting even the president of the United States, and has even had the unprecedented au- dacity and boldness to express publicly those convictions
 Captain Johnston has held to the same views since early manhood and has been free to express them. When the hosts of democracy are commanded to march into the republican camp and ground arms we deem disobedience to such an | order no more reasonable than the re- | fusal of those brave and loyal sons of | freedom to follow Benedict Arnold into the arms of the English.
 | Can it be treason when Plutus, blind to merit dead to virtue, has raised his iron | heel to plant it upon the neck of liberty | for Captain Johnston to sound the | alarm? Shall he be rewarded by the cry of treason as was Patrick Henry in the | house of burgesses?
 MT. Clarke is to some extent discov | erer-a Columbus. In his vast research l es, under the direction of a golden Apis, l it has been revealed to him, and to him alone, that the president of the United States is infallble. What kind of meat our Ceasar has been feeding on that he has grown into a Roman pontiH, the dis tinguished Mobilan has not yet deemed it expedient to disclose. We are told in history that the great and all con queroring Alexander, when he had car ried his victorious standard throughout the whole known world his mighty spir- it chafed under the restraints of natures laws and aspired vainly to become a god. But. strange to say, what this Macedo- nian monarch failed to achieve has been pressed and bestowed upon the pres- dent of this great republic, "the land of the free and home of the brave"
 We would not detract from the legit- mate prerogatives of the only democrat ic president since the war The great body of free coinage democrats indorse with Captain Johnston much that MT. Cleveland has done. When the adminis- tration restored millions of unclaimed lands to the people; when the odious fed eral election laws were repealed, remoV- | ing thereby the shadow and cloud of fed eral bayonets from the polls; when the fraudulent pension bills were vetoed; !; when tariff reformation was urged :; when the income tax bill became law, l the free silver democrats upheld the ad- | ministration because these were demo- cratic measures and constituted | wreathes of glory that crown the only l two democratic administrations since | the war and will continue to brighten as they shine down the streams of his | tory. But because. forsooth, Captain l Johnston differs with the president on l the financial issues and opposes the con- l tinued bond issues. is he to be tabooed l by party that he has lowered with the l services of a life time.
 l This doughty champion of Plutus may l lIdNti l&biH WIeTe lllt pay DTeeZeS KISS | the aroma from the lips of the orange | and magnolia to the clifted shores and | ice-creSted waves of the stately Tennes- | see, proclaiming from every hilltop Joe | Johnston to be a traitor to democracy, l but his poisoned shafts will glance harm l lessly from the Vulcan-w wrought shield of | an Achilles If to differ from Cleveland | on the money question be traitorous then | Morgan. Pugh, Cobb, Banlzhead, Wheel | CT, Underwood Stallings and Robbins | are all traitors. So also Mississippi de- | mocracy has painted it's hands in demo-
 cratic gore, save that pure and spotless | lamb. Ex-Gov. John M: Stone, who could l hardly be elected constable in any bail | wick in that state. After a thorough l canvass he received one complimentary
 vote for United States senator. The great l body of United States senators would also | be traitors, for a few days since a free | coinage measure passed that body. What l about Missouri and Tennessee? What | about Texas and Georgia and many other l states making ready to "line up?" l The democrats in congress in 1878 sup l ported almost en masse free coinage. also 1 in 1S90 The democratic campaign book l for 1892, circulated by the democratic | party, declared for free coinage, and l democratic orators in every campaign in l this state have declared from every stump free coinage to be a cardinal doc l Urine of democratic faith. Yet Captain l Johnston is branded a red-handed traitor 1 because he believes in it. | We will deal more gently with MT. | Clarke than he has with our friend Cap 1 tain Johnston. While we differ sharply | upon the money issue we accord to him l honesty in his gold standard views and l! with pleasure bear witness to his high l character as a man and democrat
 l Nevertheless, this gallant leader of the | Alabama single gold standard advocates l complains in his Montgomery delivery l that he has not received his Just and l equitable share of advice from the demo- | cratic state executive committee. We | therefore modestly confer upon him this | decided mark of confidence and esteem | by boldly suggesting to him that the | manner and form of his entry into the | gubernatorial contest was strained, un- natural and illogical. The success of | Governor Oates was no test of the | strength of the gold standard advocates in this state. Mr. Clarke has not the mel l low voice. the empty sleeve and the 20 | to pacifier so potently used by Governor | Oates in his canvass. Furthermore, the | cuckoos always worship rising, not a | setting sun, and as that of MT. Cleveland 1 is fast dipping towards the west prepar- hob i,.1 taA