Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-28
WILL THE ADVERTISER DENYp

OICe SluGe It's llCOHSlS-
 tency has been shown in the Wyly-Stal-
 lings contest. Its "prineiple' is a cloak
 to hide it's personal animosities; and, like
 a cloak, it can be conveniently put off or on to suit emergencies.
 The renominat ton of MT. Stallings for
 congress in 1894, caused in a large meas
 ure by the Advertisers conduct, was re- garded and heralded as a failure on the part of the people in the Second district
 to indorse President Cleveland's admin
 istration; and that was the issue in the
 congressional primary campaign, clean
 cut and we'll defined-Cleveland or Stall
 lings. Hon. A. A. Wyly was his chief
 competitor for the nomination. He was
 in the national convention which nom-
 mated MT Cleveland the first time, and
 continuously thereafter was his earnest
 and active supporter and advocate. He
 was an original Cleveland man. pres-
 idential elector six or seven years ago
 and was known to have indorsed the
 presidents administra tion, and particu-
 larly his interpretation of the Chicago
 platform. Mr. Stallings voted against
 the repeal of the purchasing clause of
 the sherman law and in favor of every
 amendment offered by MT. Bland. The
 result was. he was everywhere regarded
 throughout the Second district in that
 campaign as an intense anti-administra-
 tion congressman. In the joint debate
 at Troy during the summer of that year
 between these two political aspirants
 Captain Wyly assailed Mr. Stallings' rec
 ord in these respects. He read a letter
 that Mr. Stallings had written to Hon.
 John Gamble of that city. in which he
 charged that Cleveland and Carlisle had
 entered into a conspiracy with eastern
 republicans to reduce this country to gold
 monometallism; also letter he had writ
 ten to Dr. James A. Wilkinson of Flo
 maton, in which he declared that "the death knell of the democratic party in the south had been sounded" and as a con sequence there was nothing left for the farmers of the south and west to do tex cept>to repudiate the democratic party" In this discussion Captain Wyly proved | by Prof E. M. Shackleford and w. II. Sanford, Esq, both reputable citizens of Troy, that MT. Stallngs in December, 1893, had denounced President Cleveland both personally and officially charging that his whole financial policy had been dictated by Tom Reed, Cabot Lodge and John sherman. These gentlemen confronted MT Stallings, coming forward
 at the request of Captain Wyly as wit ncsses and testified to these facts in the
 court house where the meeting took place
 and while the joint discussion was going
 on. Captain Wyly also read letters and
 affidavits tending to show that Mr Stall
 lings was endeavoring to procure the in-
 dorsement of the Jeffersonians and popu-
 lists in Butler and Crenshaw counties
 and in several beats in Pike county; and
 that with this object in view he wrote a
 letter dated Washington, D. C., April II,
 1894 to one Frank Connolly, the editor of
 the Luverne Liberal, agreeing to take a
 nomination from the Jeffersonians and lead them to victory" in the event the democratic party failed or refused to nominate him. Bank examiners and eX-
 perts in Montgomery, Troy and else where pronounced MT. Stallings sigma ture to the letter to be genuine. MT. Con nelly, at the time he claimed to have re-
 ceived this letter, was a prominent so-
 called Jeffersonian and advocated the
 election of Kolb for governor These
 facts were reported to and published in
 various newspapers, widely read in the
 state, and were we'll known to the editors and proprietors of the Montgomery Ad- Vertiser; but, notwithstanding these facts and MT. Stallngs' anti-CleVeland record Maj. w. w. Screws, himself eating gov ernment bread, was his chief lieutenant | and adviser and held frequent confer- | ences with him in the Montgomery post oa To nd | ticket for delegates which MT. Stallings l ran in the city of Montgomery. He worked with might and main, in season and out of season, to compass the renom- l ination of this anti-Cleveland congress- man and against his own county man, a | Cleveland democrat and one in every way 1 qualified to have made an abe faithful and honorable representative. Every well informed person in Montgomery county knows these facts to be true, and
 we challenge the Advertiser to deny
 them. What became of the "principle"
 then? Was it asleep or simply held in abeyance?
 Now, we are not making war on MT. | Stallings, who has served his constitu- | ency ably and we'll We are not un- | friendly to him, but we mention these l things to show the inconsistency of the Advertiser and it's editors and to lay | stress upon the fact that, while that pa- | per and its editors claim to be fighting Captain Johnston on principle" it has | no application whenever they dislike a | man, as in Captain Wyly's case. The ed- itors of the Advertiser disliked him and | hence opposed him. If their "principle" | did not apply in this case it is fair to sup pose it would not apply If they personally | disliked MT. Clarke. In short, they dem | onstrate the fact that they are acting en- | tirely without "principle."
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 THE PRESIDENTS PLAN.
 The Chicap pn Times Hera Id of thn oitb