The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-30
Letters to The Editor.
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General Oates and the Primary.

General Oates and the Primary. Editor The Advertiser:
 In your editorial comment this morn 1 ing on my letter to the editor oi The Mobile Register which you kindly pub lished, l think you mlSconStrued Il, You | said that the term white primary was misleading. 1t is in one sense and not | in another. There Is no white party or ganized as such, but since the dlsfran- | cnisement of all the negroes fhe Demo- | cratic party may as well be called white. 1 There were few black Democrats or ne- groes who always voted the Democratic ticket, but l have not heard of any Of them being registered and hence all the qualified Democratic voters are now white men, and in this sense, any primary of the party may appropriately be called white. But 1 think that l clearly stated in The Register letter that 'the primary of party action," and that the EXecu- tive Committee Is every party's initiatory agency and when it calls for or orders a primary all good party men respond.
 Should the Executive Committee order a primary it is it's province, in fact its duty, to prescribe rules for the conduct of such primary, not inconsistent with the law of such elections, and when done It IS the duty of party men to support the action of their Committed" All my statements in the letter had reference to the Execu- tive Committee of the Democratic party ordering primary 1T we are to have one, and l hope we will, We are in accord on that, But your editorial created the im- pression in the minds of many of your readers that l am in favor of some other kind of a primary than Democratic one. l did not so understand The Adver- tiser editorial. l know that 1t would not intentionally misrepresent me. The Ian guage which created the impression in the notice of my letter is: We do not understand the suggestion Of a primary to decide between Democrats as to cnolce
 I~o VN-nV n V- srybody voting in that primary who may see proper to do so. It is to be fair and square contest between Democrats and they alone should decide the matter
 the organ and mouthpiece of the party decides when it orders the primary who may vote therein. l cited precedents or the party to show that of late years the Committees have let down the bars ana allowed every man to vote who proposes to vote for the nominees of such primary at the general election. They did 1t In 1896 when Colonel Tompkins resigned the chairmanship and John 5. Knox was elected in his stead. and 1t knocked out | our candidate and gave his competitor | the inside track. You and l objected to | the change and such a change should never be made by the Executive Com- mittee in the interest of any candidate ns | we believed was the case then. On gen | eral principles you and l thought It wrong to allow man to vote in the | primary when ne was d new dCCeSSlO1 | to the party. We desired adherence to | the old rule of protection-that no man who did not vote the Democratic ticket at the last preceding general election should be allowed to vote in primary | or participate in a nominating convention. We wanted him to tarry at Jerico until his Democratic beard got grown. But the Executive Committee disregarded our wishes, abolished the old rule and ''let | down the bars and they have so re- mained ever since. Some seem to think since reading your editorial notice, that | 1 am in favor of general mixed prt- | mary of non-partiZan character be- | cause in The Register letter l said: We | will take in the Republicans if they de- l sire to come" We'll why not? If a1 Re-
 publican desires to leave his party and l join the Democracy why not receive him? | The late Senator Palmer of Illinois whom you supported for President in 1896, EX- l Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania. and
 many other prominent Democrats. were | once Republicans. 1 think such recruits
 more desirable than men who were once | Democrats. deserted and then return and
 seek re-baptism into the old political | church. One change of party relation
 may be from ratriotic convictions; a
 greater number betokens disappointed | ambition. Citation of party precedents
 tion of a primary--call 1t white, if we
 choose. but I advocated it as a Demo-
 cratic party measure as my letters shows. | Will you please publish the foregoing | with the following editorial notice from | The Mobile Register and oblge,
 Yours truly,
 Wm. c. Oates.