The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-11
WH!TSON ANSWERS W.b. bANKHEAD GARD Explains Adoption of Alternate
 Succession Plan NOT DONE FOR KNOX TalIadega Man Says It Was Adopted Purely to Give People of Stnte
 the Right to Select United
 States Senator
NOT DONE FOR KNOX

The following letter was received Wednesday by The Age-Herald from C. c. Whtson of Talladega, and through error was not published in yesterday mornings paper as intended
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 I have just seen the card of Hon. Will
 liam B. Bankhead published in your paper a few days ago, in which he seeks | to make it appear that the alternate sem ator plan adopted by the state commit tee several years since was gotten up in the interest of Hon. John B. Knox for the
 Unitde States Senate, because l was | chairman of the subcommittee which reported that plan and secured it's adop- tion," and was "very close personal and political friend of Mr. Knox" and that
 'it was generally regarded as move ment favorable to MT. Knox's ambition to go to the Senate"
 This does MT. Knox an injustice. That plan was not adopted by the committee in the interest of any candidate, or in
 furtherance of any mans ambition ''to go to the Senate" It was devised and adopted for the purpose of giving to the people of the respective counties the right to instruct their members of the legisla- ture as to their choice for election to the
 United States Senate, and the further op- portunity to instruct the governor as to | their choice for the appointment to that position in case of a vacancy. This feat ure of the plan grew out of the peculiar situation and the then great age of Sena- tors Morgan and Pettus
 | At that time 1 was not advised as to the 1 wishes and desires of MT. William B. | Bankhead or his father. I am informed that Hon. John H. Bankhead has stated 1 in recent interview that he did not favor the plan for an alternate senator, but favored a primary in case of a va
 cancy in the Senate by the death of either Senator Morgan or Senator Pettus, to in- struct the governor as to the appoint | ment of a successor.
 This is, in effect. no more than the a- ternate senator plan adopted by the com | mittee.
 | a member of the state committee, that had not for it's object the best interest of the democratic party and the ascertain | ment of the will and wiahes of the voters of the party: nor do 1 believe that any member of the committee. during my con- | neCtlOn With IL, ever used ms power or 1n- | fuence on the committee in behalf of one democrat against another.
 L. To my knowledge I was the first to sug- gest this plan. It was done without any | consultation with Mir. Knox or any of | his friends, without Knowledge on his part. and it first occurred to me the day before the committee met. There had been suggestions-of a general state primary for senator the two high est to be elected. Such a plan destroys
 the right of the people of the respective counties to instruct their own members of the legislature for whom to vote for the United States Senate, and allows the larger counties to dictate to the repre- | sentatives of the smaller counties on plurality vote. and l was opposed to it; while as to the appointment by the gov ernor recommendation or indorsement by the people Of the state was proper and, in fact, the only practicable mode. | AS to the plan favored by my friend. | MT. William E. Banlxhead, and his fath- CT. 'in furtherance' of the latter's "am- bition to so to the United States senate" I am not advised; but this I do know: that Hon. John H. Bankhead and all of lis house should rise up and call that committee and it's alternate senator plan" blessed. since without 1t he would have been retired to the shades of prl- | vate life.
 For myself. I have never had anything to conceal as to my motives. objects and | purposes Tn suggesting and advocating l that plan.
 At that time I believed that Governor Corners election was certain. and that | the anti-railroad sentiment would be all powerful in the legislature-as proved to | be the case.
 | Both Senators Morgan and Pettus had, but a short while before" opposed rail- road rate Dill in the Uniaed States Sem ate. they and Senator Foraker, of Ohio, l being the only senators who voted | against it. For this they had been se- verely criticised, and while I believed that they were the choice of the great | majority of the people, l was apprenen- sive that, if in some way that choicee | could not be expressed, one or both might be defeated for reelection; and I thought 1 that by allowing the people of each county to instruct their representatives, they would be overwhelmingly indorsed | for reelection as the peoples choice; | and this method of allowing the people l to so instruct their. representatives was accomplished by the plan.
 l It was also apparent to all men that, l in the course of nature, neither of our venerable senators was likely to outlive a new term. and thought it just and | fair to all democrats who were ambitious of succeeding them, and to the people alike. that the people should .have the | opportunity to express tnelr cnOlce or tte | sccessors to either or both.
 However much that plan may have been criticised it accomplished it's ob- jects. and but for the indorsement re- ceived in that alternate primary, Sem ator Bankhead would never have been elected by the legislature--and no one, to my Knowledge, has ever suggested that he had the ghost of chance of being appointed by Governor Conner. It is true, as stated by MT. William B. Bankhead in his card. that I was a personal friend of MT. Knox. is equally true that in that primary voted for and supported MT. Knox and Hon. Richard H. Clark because I be- Ilfeved that they were eminently quail fled for position in the United States Senate, where alone the south has any voice or hearing in national legisla- ton; and that in character, Knowledge of the law and the possession of great abilities, they were the peers of any men in Alabama-and certainly of any candidates before that primary. And furthermore l believed then, as l do now, that Alabama sho ould send men of commanding ability as sue cessors to Morgan and Pettus, and that If we followed the example of tie New | England states we should adopt the | founda ton principle of their policy by sending our ablest men to the Sen ate.
 l am not one of those who consider skill and experience as a politician nor the ability to secure few crumbs from the national treasury in the way of appropriations the chief qualifica-