The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-11
pxHocxArS ONLY IN A FRI
 MARY. ff

taken q general hold upon the Demo- cratic press of Alabama. Very few pa-
 pers are opposing it.
 however. as to the sort of primary that should take the place of the convention
 system The Advertiser and "a great
 many other papers are staunchly stand ing up for a strictly Democratic primary. They want none but Democrats to take part in the nomination of Democratic candidates. They are tired of the '1et- ting down of the bars" through which outsiders made Johnston's nomination possible in lsss. M
 | We have been surprised to see some Of Ithc Democratic dsilies advocating "a white primary" They seem to think that every white man in the State is pri- ma facie Democrat. and should Do per- mitted to so into primary to select | Democratic candidates. The Mobile Reg
 ister cautiously enough, is advocating that proposition. One would think. that the experience of 1sss, when Mobiles distin- gifished citizen, Mr. Clarke, was deteateo
 by letting into the beat primaries every white man. would have been enough 10 | have sickened The Register of that sort | of thing But The Register Is not alone. Here is The Birmingham Age-Heraid ap- parently advocating the same policy. Speaking of the opponents of the pri-
 mary idea, it said yesterday:
 They think that long before August the | people will forget their rights In the max. | ing of nominations. and will De con.enl l to ratify the selections maoe loi ,.'.ea | by middlemen practically seh-appo'h'e"' as they have long done.
 Never was there a greater error tneh this. Every mans electoral certHicate' l newly received, spurs him to demand ms plain undoubted right to share in the se- lection of candidates. The eiecuon oi those candidates is in this State mere formality. because there is no real he- publican Party in this State. The nom- ;nation is all in which there Is any choice. and this has heretofore been usurped by a few self-chosen middlemen. H There is the talk about "the people, the whole of the whites. Every man"
 whether Democrat. Republican or Popu- list. who gets an electoral certificate,
 seems to be regarded as eligible to parti- cipate In" a Democratic undertaking. | There is the distinct allegation that there is no real Republican Party in this state,'' that there are no white Re- publicans.
 All this sounds very unwise to. The Ad- vertiser. There are many thousands of white men in Alabama who are not Dem ocrats now, and never have been. The
 bars have remained down for them for six years. but the Democratic pasture | has not been attractive to them. There | is no more reason to think that the grass will look any grcener or taste any sweeter | to them this Summer than heretofore. Why should they be tempted to take part in Democratic councils, when they
 may thereby cause discord and weaken
 Democratic tickets? Johnstons nomina-
 ton. all the evils of his four years ad-
 ministration, all the trouble in framing
 and adopting the new Constitution, all the disturbance of the present, have been
 dua to the blunder of letting outsiders
 dictate men and measures to the Democ-
 racy. Why repeat the blunder?
 | Again The Advertiser reiterates the truth known to every wcll-informed man in the State: there are thousands of
 white men in Alabama who are not Dem- l ocrats and there. is no sense in persist | ing in the visionary attempt to make Democrats out of the bulk of them. They
 are Republicans. Populists. Third Party ties, Prohibitionists, and what not. Nor
 ape all these outsiders in the hills and
 mountains of North Alabama. They are
 in all the white counties in appreciable
 numbers, and there are some in nearly every Black Belt County.
 | It may be possible that The Register
 and The Age-Herald are at heart opposed
 to any sort of a primary. and that they
 are advocating a general primary of all
 white men to select Democratic ticket
 as the best way of maintaining the con
 vention system. We dislike to believe
 those esteemed contemporaries capable of
 such guile but the proposition for a
 wholesale white primary seems so absurd.
 that we prefer to surmise that there is
 method in the madness of its advocacy. Perhaps they can make themselves
 clearer on this point than heretofore.
 There is one thing certain. in the 3udg-
 ment of The Advertiser, and that is that
 the Democratic State Committee will
 never order general white primary.
 We doubt whether it would order Dem-
 ocratic primary even, if 1t met now But as Party opinion natures ano
 impresses itself on members of tho Committee, there is strong proba P bility that it will not put itself il . the way of the will of the bulk of th' Party, as we believe the Committee vii . see. when it meets some months hence If it sees it's way clear to order any sor ' of primary. We believe 1t will be on' of Democrats only, of men who voted the Party ticket in recent State elections \ of those only who can be relied upon tc supnort the nominees they take part IT . making. The Committee will throw every
 reasonable restriction around any pri
 mary 1t decides upon, and will do all il
 can to see those restrictions observed bI the County Committees
 If there is to be a strong, Victorioui Democratic Party in Alabama in the flu , ture, 1t must be based upon two things
 first, equal power among members of thu I Party, and, second, thorough organiza ton based on discipline. The day for al