The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

1hH Aub-11G bv nature and measured by the Psalmlst year bv wear with increasing volume oui
 fife seems filled with the memory of the dead. It could not be otherwise It is well that it Is so. It is primal source of inspiration"
 Foolish Assault on the Convention
 and Nomination in 1890
 In the same fell spirit the author or me message assaults the honor of the demo- cratic convention and the nomination II made in 1890 with the charge that the unsuccessful candidate had the majority of the votes in that convention, put through machine politics, was man'pu- lated out of it. and Jones put in with the same methods that were used Tn tho TIayes-TiIden contest" The only machine in that convention was a secret political society which controlled members In the interest of a candidate who was not nom- mated. One side in that contest ooncen- trated on A candidate before the assem- hing of the convention, and the other side concentrated on one candidate while the convention was balloting.
 It is well known that one or the ;on- trolling issues in that campaign, though the personal equation figured largely, was the attitude or etS Ao Apo CSefa'' and St Louis platforms, and that of the candidates who opposed them l had per- hans been more outspoken on the stump than the others. Bach contestant pre- ferred my nomination to that of any one but himself and my personal reiatiohs with all of them were cordial. If cotem- noraneous accounts are to be trusted the nomination was received as a happy solli- ton of a difficult situation. Many per
 st Fx-r.r. hA hoo in in Q sons had predicted 1t from the beginning II is an all sufficient answer now to ,,ay that the fairness of that nomination was afterwards debated on thousand stumps and the party, whose representative the convention was, overwhelmingly ap- proved it.
 Contests Before Convention Rightly
 Decided
 As the tale is put on duty again. 1t is perhaps well to go into details. on the last ballot PIT and fraction of votes were cast for me, and 245 and a fraction Of votes for my competitor, and two and a fraction of votes for other candidates. Two hundred and sixty-three votes were necessary to choice. My majority over my competitor was g votes. There were contests from only three counties Chii- ton with six votes. Lee with seven votes, and Shelby with six votes-19 contested votes in all It was not denied that re- publicans and third party men partici- pated largely in the primaries ln Cnliton county and overcame the democratic vote That county, however, settled it's own differences, and agreed to divide its vote giving three delegates to each sloe, and the defeated candidate received three of it's votes. The only possible wrong, il wrong there was, could come from the de-
 fha mir votes. which seven were from Lee and six rom Shelby. Tn Lee county, delegates from a majority of the beats, with a popular ma ioritv of over 800 in the county. who were opposed to my competitor, were elected TO the county convention. Contests were pre- sented there and kept up for such length of time and in such spirit, that the county convention could not organize CT elect delegates to the state convention The participants, however, elected and certified two sets of delegates, agreeing that the state convention should decide which were entitled to seats. The state had no alternative but to seat the delegates who had a popular majority of 800 in the county I do not recall all the details of the contest in Shelby, but they were much like those in Chiffon, and all fair minded men admitted at the time that there was room for honest difference of opinion. The unsuccessful candidate never had a majority of the votes of the and could not get them. If all the contestd votes had been given 10 him il would not have nominated him. The result. in that event, would have de- pended on the vote of delegates who the convention refused, m spite of the most urgent pressure, to come to his standard. Unquestionably he was not entitled to the vote of all three or those counties. If both Shelby and Chil- ton had been taken from the successful candidate and Lee alone of the contested vote given him. he would still have been by a majority of IA votes. The Delegates Who Made the NOmi-
 nation Unanimous" Were not
 Hypocrites
 When the call of counties on the iasr ballot ended, every delegate in the hall knew the result before it was formally One Of my competitors faith full leaders immediately withdrew his name and moved to make the nomination and the motion was seconded by another of his ardent supporters. It was carried without a dissenting vote. There was not one among the 245 1el- egates. who stood so long and faithfully for their choice, who would have outraged his conscience or sunk his manhood by a nomination and making it unanimous, If the result had wronged their candidate or the nomination nad been an unfit one. or made by unworthy Moreover, my comptitor imme- diately addressed the convention and said :: ITO those gentlemen, delegates on the floor, who have supported other men and other candidates for this office, I have no words of censure," and finished by con the convention on the nomi- nation, and promising to "espouse" the cause of its nominee The flight of q years since then has not altered the ruth The Result in 1892 Voiced the Will of
 the Majority of the White Voters
 of the State
 Next the author of the message in or der to injure me because I was the leader of the democratic party in Alabama in 1892, charges that the rank and file of the party suppressed by force and fraud the majority of the white voters In the state election that year. It is not true The electors, whenever they have had opportunity to deal with this charge, have always repudated it al the polls The defeated gubernatorial candidate in 1892 staked his election in the campaign of 1894 on that issue, and was defeated at the polls It was afterwards nrged by his friends in later race for railroad commissioner. and 1t met with still less favor at the hands of the voters.
 Still Owes a Duty to the Party to
 Defend It's Honor
 The democratic party did for the sec ond time entrust it's flag and the defence of it's principles to my keeping in 1892, and thousands and tens of thousands of