The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1904-05-27
MR.. McM1LL1N's FOOL FRIENDS,


Bristol Courier:
Mr.. Editor: On behalf of the Liquor
Dealers Association and myself.
want TO say that the report circulated
on the streets of Bristol today. that
our Association, collectively or in
dividually, endorse the candidacy OF
one Mr.. Lyon for the Legislature, has
no foundation whatever.
Our Association IS composed OF
twenty-five of the leading liquor
dealers of the two Bristols and Is
strictly non political. and between a
ProhibitiOnist and an Anti Saloon
League man we have no choice. pre-
ferring to save our powder for the final
election in November. Both candi-
dates, as we understand. have pledged
themselves to put us out of business If
elected in November.
/ have presided over the delibeIatiOn
of every meeting of the Association
and state positively that the matter of
Representative from Sullivan County
has never been mentioned in our hall,
and the person who asserts otherwise
Is working in the interest of one or
the other of these Prohibition candi-
dates, without regard to the truth OF
his statement. We are liquor dealers,
we are citizens and property owners,
and we do not endorse people whom
we cannot rely upon to represent our
interest along with other business
interests.
We intend TO fight for the Hon. Ben
ton McMlllin for the United States
Senate; and as Messrs. Lyon and
Worley have declared for the Adams
law and the Hon. W. B. Bate, we can
not and will not be for either.
Very respectfully,
S. G. KELLER, JR.
President Liquor Dealers Association
of Bristol, Tenn. Va, April 30, 1904.
The above, taken in connection with
other recent developments. strikes us
as quite significant. Significant of
two things. First that Mr.. McMillin
is receiving the all too cordial support
of that 'insolent and lawless set =
the whiskey men and gamblers of Ten.
nessee; and second, that he has lot
OF fool friends, who, some OF them,
talk too much with their mouths, and
Others of them with their pens.
1t was a fool gambler friend of Mr.
McMillln S in Memphis who declared
publicly in the presence of Senator
Carmack and others that all the gamb-
lers in Tennessee were going to support
Mr.. McMlllin and take old Bates
scalp" and what followed we al
know.
And 1t was another fool friend, the
Secretary of the Gerst Brewing Com
pany at Nashville, who, according tol
affdavits published in the Pulaski
Citizen declared that he personally
preferred Bate but that Bate was in
favor of the Hepburn Dolliver bill and
McMillin was against it, and he must
therefore support McMillin.
And now comes another fool friend
who rushes into print with matter
that, to say the least of it, had better
been left unsaid, and will provoke ara
is provoking good many questions
and good many criticisms.
Mr.. Keller, Jr, President of the
Liquor Dealers Association, declares,
in substance, that it does not cut any
ice with him or his association, what
political complexion any man wears
that they are not in politics for senti-
ment or patriotism, but purely for
business sordid. selfish business. He
declares in plain, unmistakable terms.
that they will not ''endorse people
whom we cannot rely upon to repre-
sent our interests. - And, mark you,
he declares in almost the next sentence,
that, I'VE intend to fight for the Hon.
Benton McMillin. y
Is that not quite significant? How
could Mr.. McMillin represent their :.
''interest?' BY voting against the
Doliver bill if he would.
Mr.. McMillin gets fightin mad when .
be is accused of having said that he
would vote against the Hepburn
Dolliver bill. But he has never said
hat he wouldn't And it seems that =
u6 DeCItldIy VI tHO SCiop blowing
Company at Nashville. and the Presi- '
lent of the Liquor Dealers Associa- =
ion at Bristol, have heard somehow or
ther that he would. And it seems too =
hat they have heard somehow or other I,
hat Bate would pot represent their h
Interest,"" that he would vote for the :,
ILL.,
Frankly the Herald does not like .
be attitude of either of the distinguish =
4 candidates for the Senate. We do \
OF like their timidity; their fear of 3
,e sound of their own voices; their &
ok of candor. Why VIII they not &
mulate the good example of Senator &
afmack? He has said he is for it. He 3
right, in our judgment; but whether x
> is right or wrong, he is sincere, q
Id the would admires man who has (
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