The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-13
Cetters tc tbe Gditsr
Unfortunate Expression.

Quoting MT. H. B. Gray on page 2. 1 column 1 of the Age-Herald of January l 10, as shown in its staff correspondent s
 report to that paper;
 ment and said I am not in the habit l of criticising my party. l am always | ready to defend it rather than condemn | it. 1 cannot however he continued, ! concur in the view that it is either be- i coming or necessary at this time Tor the Democratic Party of Alabama to anticipate who shall succeed General | Morgan or General Pettus in the Senate. | The most valuable asset possessed by | Alabama Is the strength and unblem. l ished character of those two grand old
 men. I have never yet waited Tor | sympathy with any one who is will
 ling to place himself in that unenvi- 1 able position
 To the above it might be replied that | the chief purpose for the creation or l the office of Lieutenant Governor and 1 electing such officer at the time the Governor is elected was to provide Tor the possible contingency of the death
 of the Governor. as Mir. Gray may as- certain by reading the debate upon the subject in the Constitutional Conven- tion. and as most people in Aiabama already know. As presiding officer of the State Senate, the Lieutenant Gov l ernor has been shorn of all power to appoint standing committees of the Senate or to do more than preside over
 its sessions. without authority. The principal honor now attached to the of flee is the possibility of filling "a dead mans shoes" and becoming Governor,
 or of being decked with "a little
 brief authority during the sickness or absence from the State of the Governor.
 So 1t would seem that MT. Gray, not withstanding his observation that T have never yet waited for any dead
 mans shoes. and I have no sympathy himself in that unenviable position" is in fact an aspirant for exactly that sort of a position. He is a candidate principal purpose of which Is to provide for filling a vacancy occasloned by death and the very reason for which the people elect Lieutenant Governor, to fill the vacancy in the office of Gov ernor, should the Governor die dur ing his term. was the underlying prin- ciple upon which was based the action
 of the State Committee in authorizing the Democrats of Alabama to vote
 for their choice for United States Sena- tors in case of a vacancy created in that office by death or resignation. and the one is no more ghoulish than the
 If may be that in Mir. Gray's ambi- tious dreams. deep down in his soul. he has contemplated the possible contin- gency that if Governor Cunningham should be elected. that. being portly apoplexy might carry him off or that shoilld Mir. Conner be elected. he might succumb to the strenuous life during the term and he (Mr. Gravy become reigning Governor and have an oppor- tunity to appoint to a vacancy in the United States Senate.
 It occurs to me that the plan adopt
 ed by the State Committee assures to both General Morgan and General Pet tus. whom MT. Gray praises so highly. re-eIection to the great offices they now hold and without such plan, while they were engaged in the discharge of | their duties as Senators of the United States. shrewd politicians might cap ! ture the Legislature and defeat one or | hcth It gives to every Democratic
 voter the right to express his choice | for appointment of the United States
 Senators in case of any vacancy. Such
 right Is just and falr,. In any case,
 whether the incumbent of the office be ! old or young, the possibility of death | always exists. and this plan enables a
 voter to do this ard also retain the | grand old Senators of Alabama in the | positions which they have so well fill
 ed.
 | crat aspiring to the Senate a fair | chance for the appointment to any va 1 cancy whether he knew or supported | the relgning Governor or not. It de- | his whim or friendship in making such l. appointment. It relieves the success sion to the Senate. should it come about, of being filled by an appoint | nent that might be very undesirable
 to the people of the State. It gives the 1 people an immediate voice in the mat place of such magnitude and import ance might be in the very teeth of the popular will, and lastly it was not in- l delicate in its anticipations of va cancy because, such vacancy may occur even with a Senator young or old. The fact that a vacancy may occur is fact no matter who holds the position, and inc prest mt great Senators can hardly complain since both of them are peo- nles' men ard have never held their DO sitions Of trust except by the win of
 the great majority of the people of the
 Justice.