The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-16

| so many NlngS-Dlack ana lan, lily
 whites, insurgents and stand-patters-
 that 1t Is not remarkable that the word wing haunts his troubled thoughts and l leads him into error. There are no wings 1 in the democratic party We are now
 more united than any time since 1892,
 and the democratic landslide in Maine is 1 but the precursor of the democratic cy- clone which will sweep the country in l November, 1910, and In November, 1912.
 If the sale of liquors Is authorized
 in any county, any city, any town, any hamlet, and spot in the state of Ala
 bama,' such sale will only be authorized I by legislature fresh from the peo- pie which will voice their sentiments and wishes in accordance with the democratic principle of local self-government. Ours Is a government of the people, and if the people of Alabama in the exercise of the
 sovereign right of self-government should conclude that 1t would promote law, or der ond temperance to except any lo- cality in the state from the operation of our prohibition laws, and such excep- | tions should reflect the will of the ma | jority of the people in the locality af- | fected, I declared in my letter to Senator Spragns that l would not interpose the | executive veto to such legislation. No
 man in Alabama-even the most parti- tisan republican of the Thompson wing can truthfully say that my position on this or any other public question has been misunderstood, or that any man gave me
 his support under any misapprehension of
 my views. Both my distinguished op-
 ponent and myself repeatedly declared
 on the stump that whatever might be
 our individual views, we would subordi-
 nate them to the will of the party to be declared in a convention of delegates
 selected by direst vote of the party and who were commissioned 10
 write the party platform.
 Tn declaring for local option the dem
 ocratic party simply renewed their al- legianee to a policy which had been a
 cardinal creed of the party since it re- gained control of the state In 1874 In 1906 both parties in Alabama declared for local option, and it was proclaimed then by the temperance people as mak- ing the greatest advance that cause had received It Is difficult to understand why a policy which four years ago all admitted would promote the cause of temperance should now be denounced as hostile to that cause and favorable to the liquir traffic.
 The LawIess Element
 After stating that the democratic or ganization was captured and is now minipulated In the combined interest of whisky and railroads, MT. J. O. Thomp- son declares that this has caused law less clement which expects to receive pardon and immunity from the next ad- |mnistration. If there are any men in Alabama who are today violating the laws of the state 1t is the duty of the
 grand 1uries, which are now in session. to find indictments, and of the petty
 iuries to convict. Even if I was in league
 with the lawless element there is yet suf-
 1cient time before I am inaugurated to subject them to the full penalties of the law As governor of Alabama it would
 be my sworn duty to see to 1t that the laws are faithfully executed and any intimation that I would prostitute the powers of my position to give immunity to any lawless element in the state can only be inspired by the foulest and bas- est motives and by a desire to attract at tention to a candidate whose only stock In trade is falsehood, islander and mis- representation. Mir J. O. Thompson ap- peals to Alabamians to protect the peace and comfort of the women of the state, yet 1t is we'll known that white men in Alabama were forced for years to arm themselves to protect their families and the women of the south against race naturally docile and submissive. but whose passions were aroused by the false and pernicious ideas of social equality in- culcated by white renegades who banded them together in solid political array against the democratic party.
 Tn his published address MT. Thomp- son says: The incompetence of the dem ocratic party is signally illustrated by the fact that wildcat state banks are constantly permitted to form and run their career of theivery from honest, but
 trustful people all over the state. This statement is a libel upon every man en- gagged in operating a state bank in Ala bama A large number of our people are engaged in state banking and if there has been any career of thievery on their part the public has been kept in profound ignorance Our state banks have been carefully and conservatively managed and the failures among these institutions have really been less than among the banks chartered by the national govern ment We have a system of state inspec- ton and the fact that there have been so few failures among these institutions and that no man can point to scarcely single instance where a single dollar of loss has been sustained by the people of Alabama during the present administra- tion brands this statement as without any foundation in truth or in fact.
 Corporations
 "The profound ignorance of the candi- date of the black and tan faction of the republican party of our theories of gov ernment is shown by his advocacy of visitation and inspection by the national government of all corporations public and private He seems to have overlooked the fact that the national government is one of delegated powers and can only
 exercise such authority as is vested by the federal constitution. To clothe the national government with power to visit and inspect every corporation organized
 within the states would violate the con-
 stitution and convert our beautiful fed eral system into a centralized despotism
 The Congress has the right to regulate commerce between the states but no power can be found in the federal con. sttution which gives the general gov-
 ernment the power to regulate and con |trol corporations formed for intrastate trade and business
 "The constitution declares that all powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states and the people. The new nationalism so earnestly advocated by Colonel Roosevelt in his recent tour of the west--by which the general govern ment would assume all the powers re- served to the states, by which the ex- ecutiye would be vested with absolute power over the general welfare, and complete domination over the judicial department will. If not checked, over throw our beautiful federal system and defeat the whole scheme of the con- stit,ltion as conceived by the framers and the states that ratified It. The states and the general government, ca ch supreme in its sphere, Is the doctrine of the constitution of democ- racy and of liberty. He who seeks to concentrate all powers in the general