The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-18
Eetters tc tbe Gdftcr
me NationaI Contest.

The National Contest
 Editor The Advertiser:
 Nne waters are beginning 10 pe n@oyeo @ of the State, for delegates to the con. vsntion at St. Louis, and the seiection Q, Presidential candidate. There has been much said upon the SUD ject of getting together" much more than was necessary, if anything was necessary. That the different elements cf the Democratic party. should concur .n opinion upon every propositlon. % %wn,cn Ss ra.5ent stssg mi tae the sdop uon or platform, is not to pc expectsu.
 I undertake to say. that If suitaoie candldats is selected. and placed upon a truly Democratic platform. ne VII pon all the Democratic votes, which can pc reasonably expected. by. e reasonable minded man,
 The Democrats of Alabama. have here tt9sore taken great pleasure In following Leaders" in the State, that is to say, our Senators. and members Of Congress; l do not assume that any man IS bound 70 follow any of these, but It mas been cone heretofore with apparent pleasure. In 1898 large percentage of the present members of Congress. in both houses, were unqualinedly in favor of the plat torm adopted by the Democratic con vention in fsss. The people followed and hence the Chicago platform was re- amrmed at Kansas City. Today, 1T a single man of them Is in favor Of stand ing upon the two platforms indicated, 1t Is not known to their constituents in Ala ,sa nama. They were probably mistaken in though they would probably find good excuse Tor 1t. Nevertheless; 1 is It IS ap. .'c party of Alabama, believe our represen- tatives in Congress to be right today, whatever they may have been heretofore, but leaving all that out of consideration, the question now, is. whether the con servative thinking element of the party in the State of Alabama. are in favor of selecting as a candidate for President. staid, dignified. and experienced man. To do this, will be to give some hope or success to the great Democratic party, of the country. A failure to do so. will place the Democratic party in worse condition, than 1t was after the battles of 1898. and of 1900. ..
 Now then, a talk of getting together" may sound we'll, and may please some people. but in good truth, as already in- dicated, in the opinion of the writer, 1t will count for very little, because the right kind of a candidate: and the right kind of q platform, will insure the sup port of 90 percent of the Democratic party.
 There are some persons who seem to cling stili to the fallacies of MT. Bryan. ana III 0OlHK 50, they dbSuEt0 tHdb CNCAy Democrat in the land who is not still a follower of Mir. Bryan, was "bolter in 1896 and 1900. This Is not so. No man acquainted with the temper of the Demo cratic party, can reasonably think so; The tenacity with which meny men still cling to the idea of Bryanism. reminds one of a noted old fist fighter in the days of bullyism, who was cut down, and nearly into mince meat, by an antag- onist. and lying upon a table with a number of doctors around him, trying to piece him up, and keep life in hls body, the man who did the cutting being anx- ious, of course. that he should not die passed by the foot of the table. and the kicked at him. remarking to the by islanders, "Ain't I a plucky man"
 No. if our friends, who are still disposed to follow in the wake of MT. Bryan. are in favor of the reafflrmation of the Chica, cago and Kansas City platforms. Is il not just to the voters of the State of Alabama, for them to say so. in so many words They speak of throwing down the gauntlet and lining up. and to that nobody has objection; it the people snai
 The man being advocated hv some oi our friends, just at this time, MT. Hearst is one of whom the people have very lit' tie knowledge. He may be good man seems to be wanting in following al home. the state of New York. where he resides. But few of the great poll tical leaders there, are in favor of sup porting him. He Is at present. mem Der of Congress. but as such, has never been heard from. He is said to be man of great wealth, but that is nc reasonable argument in favor of mak ing him a candidate for President, un less he possesses the other qualifications necessary to the occupancy of so ex alted a position in the United States. :. In view of these suggestions, 1t woulc seem that the people owe 1t to them Helves, to be careful. and if fight | rushed upon them. in favor of any par ticular man. not suited to the position | they owa 1t to their manhood, and party | fidelity, to speak out and to advocate l such principles as cannot be objectionable | to any Democrat
 Mir. Bryan seems to have still fol lowing, and to cling tenaciously to thu | two platfroms. upon which he. and th' party slipped up in 1896 and 1900 I l remember. correctly. the old Bel of Alabama, was in Chicago in thu 1 Democratic convention In 1896, support ing Mir. Bryan, and ''whooping up tn | platform, which he continued to do fo | years afterwards. The history of tn times. and of the conditions in the year that have rolled away, since that time l seem to have convinced our much esteem | ed Senator that there is no longer all. need for these platforms, and he is nov I of any one for President, who is not tie on the platforms of 1S96 and 1900. Som men learn only from experience, and large number of the members of tn Democratic party of Alabama, in com mon with our Senators, seem to hay learned from experience, that we have n longer need of the platforms upon whicl we slipped up" but some seem not t have done so. but in common with MT Bryan, still cry out 'aint we pluck | men,
 l We followed our Congressional leader | in 1896 and in 1900 honestly and earnest ly. though believed then that tn Democratic party, In the two platforms 1 made great mistakes. I now think thOs leaders are on the right track, and I fol low them with much greater hope o l success, than before.
 I shall vote for the nominee of tn party, whoever he may be, and I thin every other good Democrat should b willing to do the same. and not to hesi tate to say that he will do so. and t define himself on the platform.
 J. M. Carmichael.