The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-10-31

like him and am his friend, the same as I am Colonel Higdon's. l did not vote for either of them on the 27th of Au- gust; the man l voted for didn't get in the run-off. He was like me, he couldn't make enough people see his way.
 Mistakes Sometimes Happen.
 "Now, fellow citizens, mistakes happen sometimes, and sometimes they happen accidentally and sometimes purposely. If accidental, it does not ,.involve moral turpitude or moral wr@.e, The law recognizes that if you shoot at deer and kill man you have committed a homicide but it was accidental, but IT you shoot at a man and kill a deer you have committed a crime in the sight Of the law.
 Now. if a man who voted in the last primary believed that he was quallf1ed elector, he is not a criminal. He does not stand morally guilty, although he has technically erred, and If l was on the jury he would never be convicted; but, fellow citizens, if though that mis- taken vote resulted in a nomination over a legal vote of the other, fellow citizens, 1t ought not to count.
 Now. that's plain English, and if, fel- low citizens, man votes knowing that he is not a qualified elector, knowing that he committed a wrong, he has not only done a wrong, fellow citizens, but he is guilty of intent to do wrong, and he ought to be put in the penitentiary.
 Admires His Grit and Courage.
 ''I want to say to you in perfect can dor, and, Judge Stiles, say to you, that I admire you and respect you for having the grit and courage to file your contest in Jefferson county. (Cheers) The time has arrived in this state when we have got to have honest. fair elections. The negro. has been eliminated, he is no lon ger. a factor, and the only criticism 1 have to make of the republican is that he comes into the democratic family and kicks up a row; I am not expressing my opinion as to him, but the democrat who goes into the republican ranks to settle contest l have no respect for.
 Now, fellow citizens, l submit to you as men of honor and fairness. are you patriotic citizens when you charge com mitteemen of being biased and prejudiced when he has a bet on the result. when you have not indicted him or had him put in the penitentiary? We ought to be careful with the honor and good name of our fellow men. I stand before you tonight a defeated candidate for the highest office in the state, but in the presence of God. in heaven and in earth, who sees and knows all things. wouldn't exchange the honorable record I have made and honorable record have adopted all my life, for the highest of fee in the state of Alabama. (Cheers) Never in any political discussion in the state of Alabama have I said anything about any man couldn't say in the pres ence of his family. I say to you. gentle men. the time has come when 1t ought to be coffee and pistols for two when a mans honor is taken and dragged in the dirt and spat upon the ground in l. It, AI- say, fellow citizens, we have no more right to question the honor and integrity of a man in politics, unless we know it to be true. than we have in business. l have more respect for the man who steals my money or that holds me up on the street and robs me of my watch and chain, as he is not my friend and has violated no more confidence than the man who deceives me in business.
 Tribute to Judge Stiles.
 ''I believe, and I honestly believe. that Judge Stiles tonight is the qualified, le- gally and lawfully, fairly and honestly elected nominee of the Democratic party of Jefferson county. (Cheers.) Believ ing that, fellow citizens, l shall cast my vote on the 9th of November, as l have always cast it. straight from the top to the bottom. l shall make mark in the circle, believing that I am not only standing to the organization to which l belong. but that 1 am doing the duty which I owe to the qualified. lawfully and fairly legally elected nominees of my party from the bottom to the top. One word in conclusion I would not be true to myself when called upon in this cam- paign not to say something in the in- terest of the democratic ticket, which has been nominated state and county. do not love politics. Honestly. fellow citizens, 1 take a different view from the average man, l do not believe that politics is a game; on the contrary, I be- lieve that politics is an honorable scien- tific method of putting into practice the sublime principles of truth, as the honest man sees it. who has studied economies and the conditions of this country and tries to enforce 1t in the administration of the law
 "One more word, and I am done. A