The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-26
Talladega Lawyer Ans
 wers Birmingham Paper.
Teli. of the Preparation of the Plan fer Holding the Democratic Prt- mary, the Conferences Held,
 and the Changes Made.


 editor of that paper as follows:
 Talladega, Ala, Jan. 25, l9ob-
 Editor Birmingham News:
 | have just seen your editorial In The News of the gard inst. While l am averse to any newspaper controversy, The News has so persistently circulated false rumor as to the origin and preparation of the primary plan re- gently adopted by the Democratic State Executive Committee, that it has be- come necessary for the truth to be pub Iicly stated. have not been In At lanta for several years, and never heard of any conference of railroad officials or attorneys in Atlanta until saw statement to that effect in your paper of some days ago, and the rumor' which you now publish for the hrst time, that I participated in any such conference. is unqualifiedly false. had drawn plan for primary | and convention embodying my own | ideas. without suggestion or assist auce from any one. This original draft was, substantially, the same as that adopted finally by the committee, ex- | cept 1t provided that the candidate, ! other than an incumbent. who received | the highest vote for Senator of the | United States throughout the state | should stand as recommended to the | Governor for appointment to the hrst | vacancy in that office, the next highest l to the second vacancy, and the next | highest to the third vacancy; that ' majority vote should be necessary to
 nominate in the primary; and where no candidate had received majority of all the votes cast, the convention should nominate as between the candidates, | each candidate to be entitled to his primary strength for at least five bal | lots in the convention for the office for | which he was a candidate. and could not be withdrawn until that number | of ballots were cast, unless he With | drew his name in person on the floor l of the convention. By oversight, this | draft failed to provide that Senatorial
 District Committees could adopt the
 State primary.
 l On Monday night, when Hon. H. s. D. Mallory arrived, I sought him to dis l cuss and consider the plan had 1 drawn, and what was best to be done. l I found him at Fitgpatrick's Cafe, in company with the distinguished chair man of the Ninth Congressional Dis | trict CommikAee, who was urging that the State Committee should not under | take to require Congressional nomina- | tions to be made in the State primary, and deprive Congressional District 1 Committees of any authority in the premises. As MT. Mallory had been i unable to obtain a satisfactory room,
 we went to the Imperial Hotel. I pre- sume that is the conference to which I you allude There was present on that | occasion MT Mallory. Mir T. M. Stevens,
 Mir. Jones G. Moore, Mir George H. Par
 ker and myself. Mir. George W. Jones | was in the room a short while only,
 and took little or no part in the discus sion. MT. John c. Eyster was in the | room at intervals. and took no part in i 1t. All of these gentlemen were mem
 bers of the State Committee, and until 1 read The News, l was not aware that | 1t was either a crime or a reflection for members of the State Committee, charged with conserving the best Inter- ] est of the Democratic party, to confer | together as to what should be done | to carry out the wishes of the great body of the Democratic voters of Ala | bama.
 never heard of any member of the State committee being denied entrance
 to this conference, nor that the chair | man of any congressional committee was denied entrance, until l read 1t | in The News, and I presume that your
 authority in this regard is about as
 well founded as to my having been in ! a conference in Atlanta. In fact. the l presence of all members of the com mittee was desired. There were fre- i quent interruptions from various l persons. who desired to have MT. Nal | lory and others come out and confer
 with them. There was no lack of out
 s;ders ready anxious and willing to
 advise and instruct the members of | the State committee. .~.
 I submitted to these gentlemen the
 draft I had prepared, and we discussed at length the question of d senatorial l primary. Mir. Mallory. Mr. Stevens and myself principally engaging in the dis
 cussion. It was thoroughly under
 stood that there would be only two candidates for Governor, and as practically all present at this Con
 ference" favored plurality nominations. I readily conceded this. l afterwards
 declared my personal preference in this regard, and my reason for yielding
 to the judgment of other members of the committee in my argument in sub
 hitting the Sub-Commttee's report. So
 too, Mir. Mallory MT. Stevens and others
 in the "Conference" objected to the
 plan of appointment to Senatorial
 vacancies in my draft, which was ten
 tative merely. when it was suggested
 as l recall by myself, that we allow the people to recommend to such
 vacancies by direct vote, and this
 was agreed to. It was then suggested
 that l should make the necessary
 changes.
 Re-Wretc the Plans.
 I called at the office of Mir. Pat Mc-
 Gauly the next morning. and failing to
 find him, went to the office of Terry
 and Devent, stenographers and re-
 wrote those portions of the original
 draft changed in the conference"
 while the unchanged portions were be- ing copied, and spent from nine to twelve o'clock in this work, and 1t was typewriter complete at about two o'clock, after the recess of the com-
 mittee. Meanwhile, as I am informed, the outlines of the plan had been d.s- cussed by members of the committee. and immediately after the appoint n:ent of the subcommittee those of it's 1 me mbers who did not auready know,
 were informed of the outlines of tn
 plan l had been engaged on, and that it could not be finished before two
 o'clock. As soon as the typewriting
 was completed, and at about , 80 D. m., ! the committee met, carefully went ! That the majority of the committee | not only understood. but concurred in the plan was demonstrated by an al most unanimous adoption. That the committees action nas met with the approval of the great majority of the people, and newspapers of the Statc, is equally apparent.
 In your editorial you say: The demo- cratic organization belongs tb the mem bers of the democratic party, who are entitled to know all about what it's servants-not It's masters-tae demo cratic State committee, does and how fl originates. considers and reaches it's decisions