The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-29
THE WARNING POLITICIANS.
MUCH TURMOIL AND STRIFE IN
FLORIDA'S CAMPAIGN.

ANACG lOE secretary OK StANGs
Fight for Congressman I'm Third
District Grows Wnrmer-State SEN
atOr Frank Adams and Ex-senator
Wilkinson Call Are Creating "A Sit
uatiOn which May Make All Sorts
of Trouble for the Regulars This
Fail.
Tallahassee, Fla, June 2S.--The lat
est sensation of the day in politics has
been the withdrawal of the Hon. James
f. Broome OF Gadsden county from
the race for secretary of state. The
move was not altogether unexpected
to those who are on the inside, and
was doubtless due to the information
CLEANED by Senator Broome in his re-
cent tour of the state. His withdraw
al, of course, leaves the Hon. H. Clay
Crawford, the present incumbent. a
clear field, and assures his nomination
at the coming primary.
The congressional contest in the
Third district, however, will hardly be
so easily settled. The fight between
Lamar and Myers every day wakes
warmer. and the contest is likely to he
ClOSCs DUH 6iuCH nave
both have made enemies, and both,
unfortunately. have made mistakes.
This is especially true of some of The
Myers newspapers organs, which have
mistaken abuse for argument and per-
sonalities for politics. One of these
newspapers in particular has lost no
opportunity to villify some of Gen.
Lamar's supporters, who have, on the
other hand, confined themselves strict
ly to the official record of his opponent
as a state senator The counties Of
Escambia, Jackson and Madison seem
likely to be the points at
which the struggle will be
fiercest, and the result of the
contest will be awaited with interest
throughout the state. The course pOr-
sued By Senator Frank Adams of
Hamilton county, and former Senator
Wilkinson Call, of nowhere in partic-
ular, in reference to the regulations
formulated by the Democratic State
Executive Committee for the control
of the July primary, are generally re-
garded as having a special significance
at this juncture. Senator Adams is one
OF the most prominent men in the state.
Rich, young and popular, he has the
politicians temperament, the poliu-
clans faculty for making friends, the
wise mans faculty of keeping them.
He has been president of the State Sem
ate. where his admirable rulings and
unfailing tact did much to expedite
business, and, incidentally, enhance his
own personal popularity. That
man so equipped and so sit
uated, and against whose standing
as a Democrat nothing can be said
should now announce himself as a can
didate for the state Senate, and then
calmly repudiate the authority of the
State Executive Committee, and de-
clare himself bound only by the rulings
of the executive committee of his own
county, all this must inevitably excite
comment. That Mr.. Adams will return
to the state Senate goes without say
ing; that his name will not appear on
the official ballot next month, is equally
certain. Nevertheless, 1t would be a
bold man who would venture to inn
pugn the Hamilton county mans
Democracy, or seek to read him out of
the party, whose interests he has done
so much to advance, and in whose
councils he has borne SO prominent a
part.
Mr.. Calls Methods.
Mr.. Calls method of procedure was
somewhat different. An avowed cam
didate for the United States Senate
against Mr.. Mallory, he failed to pay
the prescribed assessment or qualify
for the primary at the time prescribed
by the State Executive Committee. He
proceeded to ask that time be extended
which request the Hon. Arthur T. Will
liams, chairman of that committee,
very properly refused to grant. Mr.
Call claimed that he had just returned
to the state, and that he had had no
time in which to comply with the re-
quirements Of the committee. All this
may have been true, so far as that par
ticular time was concerned, but the
fact, nevertheless, remains that prior
to that time Mr.. Call was in
Jacksonville, where he occupied an Of
flee directly opposite to that occupied
by Mr.. Williams, who openly declares
that he had every opportunity of
paying the required assessment at the
required time. These facts all point
in one direction and upon them but
one construction can be placed. Mr..
Adams is going to the state Senate
from Hamilton county; no power on
earth can prevent him. Equally clear
is the fact that Senator Call is also
going to the Legislature, not, indeed,
as q member, but in his favorite role
of "the old man with grievance" Sem
ator Adams will also have a griev-
ance. How will he use it, and in
what direction is Call likely to exert
his energy and his eloquence
In the direction of harmony or
disruption, in the interests Of
Senator Mallory, who now stands
without opposition In the primary, or
in the interests Of his own ambition and
his undying hatred of the man who, in
1897, so suddenly stepped between him
self and Col. Chipley, and bore away
the senatorial prize without the ex-
penditure of a single dollar or the de-
livery of a single speech?
The answer to all this lies upon the
surface. BY the time the next Leg
islature has ironed out the wrinkles
In this primary election, the entire sys-
tenn will be so discredited in the esti-
nation of the public that 1t is safe IL
say that the experiment will not soon
be tried again in this state. Mr.. NAL
Tory evidently has his work cut out for
him, in spite of the easy victory as
sured him next month.
But two constitutional amendments
are TO be submitted to the people in
this primary election, and though both
are of the first importance, the ques-
lions involved are unfortunately not
such as to make any direct appeal to
the popular imagination. One Of these
amendments provides for the re-divis-
ion Of the state for judicial purposes.
and the addition of one judicial circuit,
making eight instead of seven. Under
this amendment the circuit judges are
to be appointed by the Governor for a
term of six years. The second amend
ment provides that the number OF the
Supreme Court justices shall be in
creased from three to six, and that the
first incumbents shall be appointed by
the Governor to hold office until June