The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-03
Spectacular Meeting in Birmingham. DARING AND SELFISH
 POLITICS ARRAlGNED Determined Speakers Declare War
 to the End. Most Remarkable Assembling in Hls- tery of Alabama is Addressed by Patriotic Men-PeIitical CAi-
 chanery Laid Bare.
BY WILL T. SIBERIAN.

Birmingham. Oct. 2.-tSpecial.)- In the fiercest and the most spectacu- lar political meeting ever held in Ala bama, 10000 persons in Capitol Park tonight heard the proposed amendment, to the Constitution denounced as the thin disguise of daring and conscience less politicians to secure continuance of power after they had betrayed the people who had trusted them.
 Nine speakers addressed the crowd, divided into three parts. and never were more aggressive speeches delivered than those that were heard by the great throng assembled under the elec- tric lights and on the grass of Capitol Park.
 The conference at Montgomery was a splendid review and a parade. The political meeting tonight was a fierce cavalry charge. I have watched every political campaign in Alabama since the free silver fight of 1896. As a boy attended the sensational meetings of the Jones' Kolb campaign, but never before at a political meeting saw the aggressiveness an dthe vigor of po- Htical fighting as 1t was displayed to- night. while thousands cheered. I have never in an experience more or less limited. witnessed such political aggressixeness and the yigor of po- saults. And if Jefferson County votes like it cheers, 1t will give bigger majority against the amcndment than Montgomery.
 Nc Quarter to Be Given.
 The meeting tonight was to be unique and spectacular. It was all of that. and more. It gave tone and tenor to this campaign which indicates that 1t will be politically the bloodiest battle ever fought in Alabama. The de- lenders of the constitution. exuitant and confident of victory, announced that the political fight was fight to the death in which no quarter would be asked and no quarter would be given.
 One side in this campaign will be politically destroyed and the orators of the night. with shoulders squared and heads thrown back. announced that the side doomed to political destruction was the side which had betrayed prom ises and which had cruelty plunged Alabama into costly and unnecessary political campaign in order to serve their political ends.
 Governor Conner, Rev. Brooks Law renee and Judge S. D. Weakley have been criticised and attacked on street corners and at country stores through out Alabama, but never have they been assailed with such vigor, with such uncompromising opposition and with such powerful adjectives as they were assailed tonight. The three men live in Birmingham and yet their neighbors assembled in the park cheer ed these determined attacks to the echo. This. triumvirate Weakley. Co., mer and Lawrence drew the fire of all the orators. They and their position were shelled from start to finish. They were pictured as remorselesS politi- clans who, for ambition, that crime by which angels fell, had betrayed the people of the past who had trusted them and proposed to deceive them in the future to feed an unsuitable ambi- tion.
 Stops steam Roller.
 There were some. who, month ago, believed that the amendment would carry by default, and that no earnest and sincere fight would be made against if. There were some who believed that the well-oiled and afficient politi- cal machine of the Anti-Saloon League would be a steam-roller that would crush all opposition as soon as it ap- peared. If those sanguine gentlemen who needed anything to undeceive them. the remarkable meeting of to- night served that purpose. As com -plete- as is the machine of Mir Law renee. the Governor and Judge Weak Iey. it's most ardent supporter who witnessed the demonstration must ad- init that 1t Is face to face with a pow erful and courageous opposition that will fight it fiercely until the vote is counted on the night of Nov 29.
 The cry was raised tonight. weak Iings to the rear" This is a strong mans fight and those who cannot par ticipateN in or resist a cavalry charge fin which men fall or are ridden down have no business on the field. The op- ponents of the amendment, if their or- ators speak the sentiment of their rank and file, will carry the fight into every corner of the State and destroy or be destroyed.
 The fight from now on. in the light of the speeches of tonight. is to be a battle of San Jacinto. In that fight by a feigned retreat Sam Houston led the Mexican army into a piece of  marshy ground surrounded by the riv- CT and bayous, from which there were no bridges and no retreat. Only one army was to come out alive. The oth- CT was to be destroyed. So. tonight. confidently the defenders of the Con- stitution pitched their fight in the same manner.
 One Side Must Die.
 Governor Conner. his Legislature. Rev. Brooks Lawrence, Judge Weak ley. the allied army for the amend ment. were challenged and notice was served that politically one side would die.
 It is doubtful. if on the street cor ners of Alafama, at the country stores or at the cross roads, were such at- tacks made as on the allies. Cover nor Conner was not only charged with hypocrisy, but he was asasfled as man who had himself sold whiskey as long as the business was profitable. And one speaker. Peyton G. Bowman,