The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-10
BY WAT or ExrLANArfoN.


 The Cullman Tribune-Gazetts was one of the ardent supporters of the ex-Gov- ernor. and was also one of the strong advocates of m open primary. Whether 1t wanted the bars down because 1t be- iieved that such . course would help its candidate. or whether 1t really thought 1t would be best for the Democratic Par ty does not matter. It wanted the bars let down very low. and now says:
 We believe that the leaders of the ss sss F. Rry assss 5 s4s sSss ,S s.ns wise steps will be taken. Democrats should bear in mind that the recent ac- tion, led by The Advertiser, was for no other purpose than to defeat Governor Johnston.
 If The Advertiser had had no other reason for advocating . strict Democratic primary than the hope of thus deefating Johnston, it would not now Have any. cause to regret its course. but that was not its only or dominant reason! We thought then. as we think now. that can didates for Democrats to vote for should be selected solely by Democrats. In the old days of conventions the Democrats of precinct were called together to select delegates to a County Convention. and that convention chose county candidates and delegates to a State Convention. Nobody in those days thought of inviting men of every political faith to take part in the selection of delegates or candi- dates for Democrats to vote for, and the opponents of the latter never thought of interfering in a Democratic function.
 The primary changes the method of selecting candidates, but does not in any manner change the principles upon which the choice is made. The primary is sup posed to choose men to be voted for who will be acceptable to Democrats, and nobody else has any right to take part in such selection. Tho talk of inviting all former Democrats to come back into the Party is we'll enough, and in November the way will be open. It was not open in the primaries. and should not have been. Whether any of the leaders of the Party realize their mistake" is a mat ter of which we are not informed. If they do. they are not making the fact public.
 The Advertiser has had very little 10 say about the ex-Governor's defeat, either editorially )r by republication. We could have filled an entire page of the paper with clippings from the weekly press which supported Governor Jelks. Many of these expressions were almost brutaily cruel and many others scath- ingly contemptuous. but we have refused to copy them, because we were unable to see any good to come of it We have copied a very few of these merely as expressions of opinion, but as before stated we could easily have filled a. .base of the paper. more than once with un- comments o2 the ex-Gov- srnor. It would have 1One harm rather than good.
 Now. while >es1 this subject. we shall say for ourselves. As we have said. this paper has had hafdly anything to say about Johnston since the contest was over. Both himself and his friends for him took advantage of every occasion that offered itself to assert that if he was defeated, he would accept the ver- dict like a good Democrat and would pledge himself to support the ticket. How has that pledge been kept? If he has spoken one word to indicate that he accepts and will abide by the yer dict of the people. we have not been permitted to read it or hear of it. On the contrary. his personal organ which is supposed to speak ex-cathedra, has been filled with bitter criticisms of the result, many of them unjust and untrue. and we have no choice. in the absence of a declaration from his own mouth, but to take the course of The Alabamian as the course of Johnston himself. He could have settled the matter and re- deemed the pledges of his partisans by coming out frankly. as Mir. Waller did, and giving in his adhesion to the ticket nominated on the 18th of August This | he has failed to do. and his opponents, as well as his supporters. must be par doned. if they take the bitter and male- | volent words of The Alabamian as the | sentiments of its father.
 This may all be somewhat aside from | the subject, but it is germane.
 Nos-