The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-20
MIR, BELL EXPLAINS
 CAPSULE TICKET Will Take Johnston's Name
 From O'Neal List
PLAN FOR CONVENIENCE
Coupty Chairman Says Names Were Proposed Largely for Convenience of Voters and of Ohicisls In
 Counting the Ballots

Robert N, Bell, chairman of the Jener-
 son county democratic executive com mittee, has written 8 reply to the letter of Forney Johnston. MT. Johnston op- iected to having his name administered in "capsule" form as candidate TOT oele- gate to the state convention, and MT. Bell
 assures him that the name Will pc put
 on the ticket alphabetically. MT. Bell also
 expresses his condemnation of the too
 intensive primary plan" His letter is as follows:
 Hon. Forney Johnston, City:
 Dear Sir-In answer to your letter pub
 lished in The Age-Herald, beg to say
 that your name was not given to the
 newspapers by me; it was secured from some other source. Your application to be placed on the ticket as delegate to the Montgomery convention came to me | by the hands of Col. O. P. Gaut ana MT Frank W. Smith, and your name was on a ticket prepared by them as a Mal- | lory delegate. This is all the information | had on the subject until your letter ap- | peared in The Age-Herald.
 | I shall take pleasure in asking the NiAS of this ticket to place your name on 1t as requested.
 In justice to the county executive com mittee, of which l am chairman, you should know that the 'capsule' ticket was agreed to by the committee more as | a convenience to the managers and clerks | in counting and to the voters in preparing the ballot than for any other reason In | fact. the committee was of the opinion
 that the general public wanted two tickets
 separated and distinguished as Mallory
 and "O'Neal' tickets, the idea being to
 serve the public demands. This arrange
 ment, however, will not in any way pre-
 vent voter selecting individuals from
 each ticket; it allows you to vote ticket | by one cross mark, but does not compel
 you to do so. You can vote straight par
 tisan ticket by one x at top or vote for in-
 dividuals on each, by making an X in
 front of the individual name you vote for. Other parts of your letter, intended for | the public especially. that part con-
 demning the intensive primary plan, meets l with hearty approval on my part. be-
 lieve that the selection of many officers | could be made in convention, with more certainty of securing a good officer, sat- | isfactory to the masses, than can be by primary election under the plurality plan. By the plurality primary plan the can-
 didates will probably be selected by one third of the voters or less, depending on | the number of candidates; the other two- thirds, or nine-tenths as the case may be, may know that the selected candidate is the least fitted for the office of any man | in the race. In Jefferson county we tried the majority primary plan and the party
 came near the verge of destruction. My opinion as d citizen Is that judges at least
 should be held out of the political jam
 that they should be selected" as dis
 tinguished from elected" In other words
 the state has a right to the best ser
 vices of all her citizens, whether they elect to run for the office or not. Judges should not be political. social. religious or financial debtors. and the best way to avoid political indebtedness is to avoid the necessity of soliciting support. If
 there is objection in this county to re-
 moving judges from political strife and
 turmoil I would be glad if it could be expressed before the Montgomery con- vention.
 We must have pure administration of
 law, free from bias of any kind, if we expect to retain our liberties and hold
 our place in civilization. It is of more importance to the citizen and state that
 the laws are justly and wisely adminis-
 tered than that they are wisely enacted. An unwise or unfair law will be repealed,
 but 8 wise law unfairly administered may not be. Yours obediently,
 ROBERT N. BELL, Chairman.