The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-01

Of the speeches made at the Hippo drome last night that of Col T. U. Bush is regarded as especially notable because of the fact that Colonel Busn i has always voted the democratic ticket i in state matters. His speech at the re- publican mass meeting as well as that of James Bowron and Gen. H. Clay
 Evans were enthusiastically applauded
 by the 2000 representative citizens who
 attended. The meeting was called espe-
 cially for business men and was an un-
 qualified success. Colonel Bush spoke
 in part as follows:
 Ladies and gentlemen and fellow citi,
 zens: If what I am to say tonight is to be called a political speech it is
 the first I have made in 20 years. Be- fore I address myself to the subject
 I want to discuss, beg your pardon Tor
 a personal reference. l, perhaps, can say some things that many of those
 in the audience cannot say. was born
 in Alabama; was reared in Alabama; WAS educated in Alabama: I was ed- ucated in Alabama, with the exception or two years of my college life, in another state; all of my business career has been in Alabama; I married in Alabama; my children were born in Alabama; they
 are now living in Alabama; and every
 thing own is in Alabama. Great ap-
 plause) Some of it in Jefferson county
 but I do not know how long 1t "hl Dc
 in that county. (Laughter) l Feel. my
 friends, in making that statement that I can say something more than thae and that is, as s mere boy l gave T. months of my time and exposed my life Tor
 my country-as l then called my coun-
 try-the southern Confederaey. l went
 through some privations, embarrassment and was guarded by arrogant negro SOL
 diers Now, in the face of that, and watching the south as it has grown from the days of it's reconstruction, l don think it is egotism on my part to say that I am entitled to express some opIu- ion as to what I think is good for me and our country. Great applause) I am sure we have had enough politics as
 we are all glad that this campaign is coming to a close. My friends l feel that there are many people in this coun- try that do not realize it's magnitude; what it is and what it means when we come to select a man to be chief executive of the entire country. I saw some data the other day in regard to farms and noticed that we have 6,25O,0o0 farms with farm lands worth s22, ,750, ,0O0, 900; live stock more than A,000,000,0O0; our farm products, s15,000,000,OO0; our banks, SIS ,OOO, coo O00 railroad property, $13,OOO,- Oo0 My friends, think of the enormity of our varied interests. In discussing the qualifications of the two candidates for the President of the United States
 I am going to give you my chief objection
 to the election of MT. Bryan and the
 reason why I favor the election of
 Mr. Taft. l expect have known Bryan,
 personally, longer than any man in this
 audience, or perhaps in Birmingham with
 the exception of three or four people.
 The first time l met him l went from this section of the state to Washington
 as spokesman of committee to plead
 with him and others on the committee or
 ways and means of the Wilson bill, beg ging them not to take the tariff off of iron and coal In an interview with MT.
 Bryan on that occasion discovered then
 and there that he was in favor Of nat
 money and nothing else. During MT. Bryans first candidacy I was not for him
 and never have been, for I did not and do
 not now believe he is a democrat. (Ap-
 plause) I never will be for him until he is
 a changed man and is better fitted to be
 President of the United States than he
 now is. Now the delegates who were
 chosen from Alabama to go to the Denver convention had no more to do with the framing of that platform than l did, and
 l was at home (Applause) l am con-
 vinced it was already written, and that it
 was prepared by MT. Bryan. It was intro-
 duced and maneuvered by his friend, Gov
 ernor Haskell My friends, the south has
 not even had vice president in 40 years,
 small a thing as vice president. The souths position fin national political af- fairs reminds me of little boy who met another chap on the street and said: If
 I had 5 cents I could buy a cigar and
 would go off in the woods and smoke. The other little fellow says: 'I have 5
 cents" He says give it to me and we
 will form a corporation I will be Presi- dent and you will be a stocllholder. He gave him the cents and he bought the cigar. After they had selected a quiet spot the first little fellow lit the cigar
 and began puffing until about a third,
 then a half, then two-thirds of it was gone. The second little fellow said. l "Where do I come in?" He says, ''I will do the smoking and you can do the spitting." I do not Intend to discuss the different men who are in the political parties for both parties have men in them that they would gladly rid themselves of, but it seems they cannot. am busi- ness man; I feel deep interest in the business affairs of the country. We are often told that this country Is bordering on commercialism, but too much stress cannot be laid on the questions that vital ly affect the business interests of the country, questions that are all important to the merchant, banker, manufacturer and laborer. We all belong to one family, and what affects one affects all. l am a democrat: always vote the local demo-
 cratic ticket; have voted the national re- nublican ticket once and will cast my vote this election for the republican nom-
 inee.
 have seen in the democratic news papers some criticism of the number Of government employees having been in creased. to which MT. Taft has very ably replied to by pointing out great progress in the volume of business,