The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1910-06-30
litical market place?

lltlcal market place!
Will decent and self-respecting Re-
pubhcans be sold like dumb driven
cattle by those who claim to be their
masters?
Is it not time for honest prohibitions
lists in both parties to know that they
have been used by a few designing
! politicians whose motives were of the
! lowest order and who have never
! been, from first to last, actuated by a
single generous or patriotic impulse
! Who now believes that the coterie
who forced the prohibition laws upon
the people and involved the State
were genuine in their protestations?
Which one of them is talking or
writing for prohibition now?
Why was l pilloried day by day?
Why was 1 surrounded by the pes
tilential airs which daily emananated
from a certain center of journalistic
iniquity to blight and destroy repu-
tation, to set brother against brother,
to wither the tree of happiness and
progress in the State?
The present situation, my fellow
Democrats, is the graVest that has
ever confronted us.
In times past the party was over
whelmed when it was powerless to
resist It's overthrow then was the
work of an organized enemy which
the fates of war had left supreme.
But it's friends were steadfast and
soon the forces of misrule and the
powers of evil were expelled.
AT another time the party itself
was divided on the State debt ques-
ton, but the division embodied prin-
ciple of government and there was no
attempt by either wing to join with
the Republicans.
But this is the first time in all our
history where men who hold office by
the grace of the Democratic party
have deliberately abandoned it to
form a coalition with it's foes.
They have given no reason, they
can give none that will justify party
perfidy and dishonor.
1t was to be expected that whatever
plan the committee might adopt would
be criticised, and it was predeter-
mined by the malcontents that there
should be a rupture in the Democratic
party. The primary plan was seized
upon as offering an opportunity. The
men who have said they always ia
vored a vote by the people to nomi-
nate all public officers, including the
judges, are the first to raise the false
cry of bringing the judges into poll
tics, and they would have made any
other issue on any plan that might
have been adopted.
We are having now the same
charges and falsehoods which were
circulated two years ago.
Let us examine the recent political
history of Tennessee for the facts and
by them test the present situation. In
my first campaign for Governor one
of the leading issues was protest
against mass-conventions, held with
out notice, at irregular times and
participated in by only few voters.
1t was urged that these did not give
the people an opportunity to vote and
was unfair to them and the candi-
dates. The platform upon which I
was first elected contained this plank:
1--WE favor the enactment of such
laws by the General Assembly as will
insure certainty, uniformity and regu
larity in all party nominations and
prevent the inconvenience and vexa,
lions which now arise"
When / again became candidate a |
uniform primary plan was adopted to
nominate all candidates before the
people on the 9th day of June, 1908. |
Every one knows that this primary |
was fair, that the campaign was open, |
that all Democrats participated, that
great interest was excited, that no |
advantage whatever was sought or |
taken.
Planks in Platform.
When I was again nominated the
platform contained this plank:
1--WE favor the enactment of such
laws by the General Assembly as will
insure certainty, uniformity and reg
ularity in all party nominations, and
that such laws should be general and
applicable to both political parties.
1--WE favor direct vote of the peo-
pie by counties on the same day, as
being the fairest mode of expressing
the popular will, believing that such
a system will preserve the county as
a unit of the State, as was intended
by the founders of the government,
and will afford the surest way to pre-
vent fraud at the polls and strengthen
and preserve the proportionate repre-
sentation of the counties in party
So it is that the Democratic party
In Tennessee has been twice distinct
Iy pledged to regularity and uniform
ity in all party nominations, and no
exclusions were made in favor of the
Judges.
Let us review this subject from the
standpoint of those who are now COM
planning. When he becomes candi-
late for Governor, Senator Carmack,
through his manager, Mr.. Armistead,
preferred a request to the Executive
Committee for a Statewide primary,
which was as follows:
Resolved by the Democratic State
Executive Committee of Tennessee,
That State Democratic primary cleo
ion is hereby ordered to be held Sat
lrday, May %, 1908, in all of the
of Tennessee for the pur-
pose of selecting the Democratic NOM
nees for Governor, Secretary of State,
Treasurer, Railroad Com
one judge Of the Supreme
Court from Middle Tennessee and two
Judges of the Court of Civil Appeals,
ind tho candidates for each of said