The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-24

y posing MT. Bryan's renomination do not do SO with the hope of winning public ofice. and cannot be alarmed by the possibility of defeat. If 1t be asked who we favor, I should personally say that there has never been a time in the history of the American people when the man was not ready for the emer- gency. believe the Democrats in con- vention assembled can make wise and judicious selection.
 MT. Bryan has never, and apparent ly cannot carry his own State. The South has been the tail to his presiden.. tlal kite. His repeated candidates have weakened the party but increased his personal profits, as platform lec- turer. Expressing merely my personal opinion: rather than nominate a wes- tern Democrat who cannot carry his own State. should vastly prefer the nomination of a clean. Southern Demo- crat. such as c. A. Culberson or John Sharp Williams, who will command the enthusiastic support of a great section of this country.
 Declaration of Opposition.
 The following is the declaration of opposition to MT. Bryan which has been circulated for portion of the past two days. together with the names of some of the signers; and l believe that before the time comes for the selection of, delegates to the State Convention. this declaration will have been signed by more than a majority of the voters of Jefferson County;
 Notwithstandinb bountiful haryests and enormous accumulated wealth. the people of the United States have re- gently tasted the bitterness of finan- cial humiliation. Our great industries have in large part been compelled to shut down. Hundreds of thousands of laboring and salaried men have been thrown out of employment, and many more will probably be confronted with reductions in compensation, Cotton, the great staple commodity of the South, has suffered such shrinkage In value as to entail upon the Southern States loss as against recent values of over hundred millions of dollars. While this depression has spared neither the rich not the poor, the burden. as in all industrial and commercial relations, will fall heaviest upon the wage earn CT.
 'It is universally recognized that this financial distress Is due to the impair ment of confidence and credit, and not to any dimipution in our National re- sources or accumulated. tangible wealth.
 Under these conditions the Demo- crats of the United States are called upon to consider the selection of a nominee for the approaching President iaI election. Mir William Jennings Bryan has again announced his will ingness to accept the nomination.
 "The next nominee of the Democratic Party. and the next President of the United States, should be a man of rec ognized business ability and construct i've statesmanship whose candidacy and election would tend to restore confi- dence in our business institutions, na- tional policies and financial future; to put in blast the idle smokestacks, and put back to work the growing army of unemployed.
 "The undersigned Democratic voters of Jefferson County, Alabama, urge that the Democratic nomination shall not go by default to William Jennings Bryan While we admire Mir. Bryan's oratorical powef and purity of char acter we regard him as unsound on the vital economic questions of the day; and we believe that hts nonin- ation would be regarded as a menace by the business interests of the coun- try. great and small. that any prospect of his election would aggravate the present distrust and prolong and ac- centuate the present financial distress
 Until Bryan's first nomination. the Democratic Party was powerful fac- tor in national affairs. Under his leadership 1t has steadily lost strength. Kentucky, where his voice was last heard, has gone Republican. We be- lieye his renominatjon would weak en the party still furthr We do not believe that the Democrats of the