The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1910-05-27
THE eEAL ISSUE


Times. until the PRONUNCIATION OF the
Infamous primary plan and the repre-
bepsible efforts Of the Governor 70 CO
arce the courts, one Of the strongest
administration organs Of Tennessee,
Dpts the case against Patterson in its
strongest possible light No one can
accuse the Times Of prejudice or fac
t,opal bias in this campaign. II stood
with the Governor until a high sense
Of duty to the State made il impossi-
HE for it longer 10 go counter to what
may be properly termed the sentiment
of the civilized world. The Times
says:
III is to be expected that the ao-
ministratiopists will attempt 10 be
fnddle the minds Of the voters and
avoid the direct issue OF Pattersonism
IN the campaigns now on by injecting
the prohibition question into the dis
cussion. Especially, as far as the
August election is concerned, sucn
attempts will be futile. 1t is true that
manv of the men who took a leading
mart in the Nashville mass meeting
had been advocates of statewide pro
hibition. but the sneer sure to come
that II was a convention Of state-wid-
ers more bent on maintaining present
conditions regarding the sale and con-
sumption of liquors than it was on
freeing the judiciary from baneful po-
Iitical influences will fool nobody.
mo doubt, it would please the ad-
ministration forces nightly II the
opposition could be divided and made
less effective by the temperance ques-
ton. That the machine is to be dis
appointed in this hope is evidenced
by the wise elimination by the speak
ers at Wednesdays remarkable con-
vention itself Of any reference to any
method of dealing with the liquor
problem. That should be, and no
doubt will be, the policy Of the cam
paiRn managers and speakers until
the votes are counted in August.
There is only one issue in this
judicial campaign, it is a free, IN
trammele0, Embossed judiciary and the
destruction of the machine. How
ever the orators and organs OF the
machine may attempt to sidestep
this issue and inject into it the state
wide prohibition question, they Will
find that they cannot fool the people
into anv such delusion, and the bat
tie will be fought on the issue Wed
nesday's convention mapped out
"a Free Judiciary" 1t is not
campaign of state widers Tor the
continuance or more rigid enforce
ment of the present prohibition law
nor was Wednesdays great gathering
A statewide meeting, as some OF the
administration friends are pleased TO
call il Side by side with men who
aided in bringing ABOUT the ehel"i
prohibition statute we're just as ar
dent advocates of local option, all
united in the determined purpose OF
giving the democracy of Tennessee
its freedom and rebuking an aroit'
rary machine for it's many offenses
Here is what the Associated Press
saws Of the convention:
"'Not only is today's convention
one of the largest ever seen in Ten
nessee. but one of the most represen-
tative. From all the walks of life, ir-
respective of past factional Differ
ences. from every county in Tennes-
see have the delegates come to give
voice to their sentiments.
1T will not do to call it state
wide meeting and attempts to belittle
it's significance will fail. The people
are aroused and Patterson and his
machine must go"