The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-04

Il ] invited to speak in this campaign, that the conservative people of this state can settle their affairs without any help from Milwaukee,.
 Old Larry And Young Lige
 In the widely advertised O'Neal con- ference at Birmingham. it seems that the relation of an incident by my distinguish ed and valued friend, James Weatherly. attracted more attention and aroused more enthusiasm than anything else that 1 was said He told In very dramatic way of how Mir. O'Neal had made speech at Wetumpka, and after he had | concluded, a man came up to him and said: T fought four years under old Tige's puppies"
 This reminds me of story. Some boys were going possum hunting one night. They started out for the woods with trusty old dog named Larry. Enthusi- asm and excitement were running high. because they knew the old Larry was ab- | solutely reliable and that whenever he ''opened up he was on d hot trail. On the way they went by another boys house. who insisted on taking a, young dog named Tige, who was said to be a descendant of famous old dog, well known in the community as "Old Tige."
 
 as much as MT. Weatherly brags on his candidate. Of course. Young Tige did not have much of record to refer to, but the boys eloquence turned mainly on the point that he was son of Old Tige, and you boys know what Old Tige vas When they got to the woods however. Young Tige was nuisance. It is true. Old Larry didn't pay much attention to him, but with his continual yelping and ho rlri xrl,a to bark at or not, he very seriously inter fered, not only with the probable re- suits, but with the pleasure of the hunt. Finally the majority of the boys demand ed that something be done. Each boy felt in his pockets and got out all the strings that he had with him. They tied the strings together, and finally Young Tige was tied to sapling near the path leading back toward home.
 But To! and behold, almost by the time they. with Old Larry, reached the swamp here came Young Tige barking and yelp- ing again-not barking on any track, of course but barking seemingly to make noise and call attention to himself. One boy says T knowed when you were do- ing It that them strings wasn't strong enough to hold him." But on examina- ton of the part of the string that was hanging to Young Tige 1t was found that
 
 it was that the boy who had gotten up the hunt and owned old Larry came out in open rebellion. He said: Look a here. John, I knowed that Little Tige wasn't any good. | ain't gwfne to deny anything you say about Old Tige. l ain't gwine to deny that he is a son of Old Tige, but if he Is, he don't look like it.. His head Is just as big as Old Tige's, but it ain't shaped right and his tails too xra cirey I, bltt,f here you had better take Young Tige and go on home"
 Now. don't any of you people go away from here and say I have compared Mir. Wcatherleys candidate to a dog. I am just talking about what Mir. Weatherley and MT. ONeal's other friends up at Birmingham were comparing him to.
 The proceedings of the Montgomery con- ference and public utterances thereon, together with what has already been said about them, remind me very much If that 'possum hunt Young Tige O'Neal, as they please to call him, had already done considerable yelping and barking, not alone about the amendment, but about his own announcement for governor, which he had already made.
 MT. DeGraffenried said something at Birmingham about what occurred be- tween him and MT. O'Neal at file Ex- change hotel-about his saying that the amendment was going to carry and that r1r. O'Neal, busy at the telephone call ing up people to cone to the conference (whom. he doesn't say), saying that he would fight the amendment whether any hody else did or not. MT. DeGraffenried deesn't tell us anything about the re- inainder of the conversation. but I'll bet my hat that it did not last long before MT. ONeal said something about his own candidacy for governor.
 Anyhow, the conference met. but when that conference met it was a great gath ering of sure enough big men. And that conference and the results thereof were dominated by big men. I am just as proud Of the platform of that conference as anybody can be. l I am standing on it yet, and will always be standing for the principles ei unciated therein. Now what :. vas the purpose of that platform, main- ly? You have all read 1t and know what it means What does that declara- ton about. Tt is not our purpose to bring back the saloon in any place in Alabama" mean? What does the ,leciara- ton in section 4, that we do not advo- cate the candidacy of any man for any office in this state, and we depreciate the efforts of those who are striving to make a political issue of the proposed amend ment," etc. mean? Why they simply mean that the conference wanted to tie the "Young Tiges," That great body of conservative men were there for the pur- pose of defeating the amendment. They were not there to promote the interests of any allied interests. or of any candi- date for office. They declaredz to the people of Alabama their purpose and their intentions.
 Now, MT weatherly's candidate for governor. whom he so felicitiously re- fers to as one of "Old Tige's pups" was in that conference. After the platform was read and adopted. everybody thought that Young Tige and all the other Tiges who had ambitions for office were tied But it seems thst Mir. O'Neal has gnawed I the strirg in two. He bofs up serenely with only a part of the string hanging to him. He says that he stands squarely on the declaration that it was not the purpose of the conse ryative people of the stafe to bring back the open saloon in any place in Alabama. but he has not said anything about the declaration in sec ton A. . Now, l dc not know how many of you voted on this amendment question, but know that most of you voted against the amendment. just as I did. and l be- ileve in this election you are going to follow old Larry. Old Larry has not done Il much yelping and we all know that after he is in as governor he Is not going to do a great deal of barking But we know another thing; that when he gets on a hot trail of any animal that haa infested the state of Alabama. even If 1t Is nothing more than blind tiger, he is going to bay deep and loud, and if you go there you will find that he has "treed."
 And as for Young Tige. the people of the state of Alabama are going to tell | i,t,,, o,, th.. od day of May. that they