The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-04-17
ETCHINGS FROM
CURRENT TOPICS

convictions, and in sympathy with the opin-
| ions of very decided majority of their
constituents upon the war resolutions. in
PRODUCED last Tuesday in the house of rep
| resentatves at Washington, have made
Alabamians eternaly their debtors.
Familiar with the sentiment of the peo-
pie of the state upon this and all other
questions. they have bravely represented
that sentiment against an overwhelming
opposition, which would have deferred
! many men of smaller calibre.
They stood steadfast for the interests of
their constituents, while editors, war CORE
spondents and all other forms of jingoes
howled and yelled in the galleries and fired
torpedoes through the telegraph offices.
These four Alabamians, Messrs. Bank
! head. Clayton, Brewer and Taylor, have
exhibited affection for their state that
far outweighs all sentimental regard for
the Cuban half-breeds. They justly esteem
the needs of Alabama, as above and beyond
those of any foreign or outside nation.
| They have been born and reared upon
Alabama soil and are entirely familiar with
the necessities of the people, whether they
come from the gulf coast, the mountains of
the northern section, or from the cotton
growing region.
These men have gone to Washington to
represent a people whom they love, and
who have honored them. and to their cred
it, be 1t said. they have refused to vote for
measure which meant death and devasta-
ton to this section of the country. They
were able to rise above the tricks of the
demagogue, and to remain true to their
states best interests and to those of the
men who elected them.
The four Alabama congressman who
showed by their votes on Tuesday that
they loved not Cuba less but Alabama
| more. have risen to the heights of states
manship because of their capacity to see
beyond the immediate present, and to count
/ the cost of war, to the people of their ma
tive state.
They have not caught the pugnacious SEN
sational epidemic which threatens to de-
stroy some of the other Alabamians who
are writhing in impotent wrath in the halls
of the national congress- They have not
advised the secretary of war nor Governor
Johnston that in the event of hostilties the
lighting must be done by men from the
gulf coast" as did the war-like Wheeler,
who delights in breathing out threaten
ings and slaughter" They have done
plorable war upon the country, but they
have managed to stand up courageously
against a vast congressional majority,
which was voting away the lives and prop
erty of their constituents. Be it told also
to their honor that they were not engaged
in the disgraceful row that occurred in the
house of representatives on Tuesday when
General Wheeler's voice-as usual-was
heard above the din of contending forces
and the dull thuds of falling books and
bodies, crying out in irritating insfstence
for .'retraction." These four men have not
been gone astray. after false gods, but re-
manned true and loyal to principle and
people.
These four congressman will find upon
their return to Alabama that the woods
are very full of their friends, who approve
of their position on the war resolutions and
applaud their courage in voting for the
best interests of Alabama
The present population at Washington,
whether native, journalistic or legislative,
can be depended upon to remain just as
large and as loud after hostilities COM
mence. The representatives who respond
to the call for troops from their states will
surely find themselves very, very lonely
indeed, as far Washington associates
are concerned. But there will be at the
front in the most exposed and dangerous
positions southern men who took part
in precipitating hostilities; who did not
pose in war-like attitudes before the coun-
try; never wrote lurid telegram or a
bellicose editorial, but who stand always
ready to do their duty at all times and in
all emergencies.
If Alabama were polled today it would be
discovered that these four brave, intrepid
representatives from this state would be
sustained by very large majority of their
constituents. They may be lonely in WASH
ington, but they have much larger fol-
lowing in Alabama than the other repre-
sentatives who are anxious to bring upon
the country the horrors of another war.
and who cast their votes in a moment of
excitement that meant perhaps years OF
misery to the Gulf states. War may come,
and when it does Alabamians are ready to
do their full duty, but they do not care
to have the misery and agony that follow
in the wake of battle thrust upon them by
the men who will not do the fighting; but
who have largely brought this nation to
the brink of through jingosm in con-
gress and in the offices of newspaper edi.
tors and correspondents.
The interest of Alabamians is safe in the
hands of such representatives as Messrs.
Clayton, Bankhead, Brewer and Taylor at
Washington. They have the courage or
their convictions and two-thirds of the peo-
pie of the state are in absolute sympathy
with their position upon the war resolu-
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