The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-16
Emnet O'Nea| VIII Become Governor of Alabama
 Al Noon
GOVERNOR COMER WILL
 RETIRE TO HIS FARM
Events at the Stnte CapioI-The New Officers Take Charge
 of Affairs
BY BERRYMAN G. BETTY

Montgomery. January 15.-(Special.l-
 Alabama official famy changes at the hour of 12 o'clock tomorrow By that
 time Col. Emmet O'Neal of Florence will have been inaugurated as governor Of
 the state and ommander-in-chief of the
 Alabama National Guard. The oath will
 be taken in the hall of the house of rep
 resentatives at the capitol and will be
 witnessed by the entire legislature.
 Simultaneously with the incoming of tho | rev chief executive, Gov. Braxton Bragg
 Conner will again become a plain citizen ! of the state-manufacturer. farmer and
 capitalist. After the mornings celebra- ton he will repair the afternoon to
 lis plantation at Conner. in Barbour coun- ty where he will rest week. Then, after
 a hunting excursion of several months, he will journey 10 the city of Birming- l ham, where he will make his head
 quarters
 | Whether he will attempt to come
 back" in an extraneous question to which
 many answers have been vouchsafed.
 none of which has been verified. More
 over, the question Is beside itself. | In Montgomery today and tomorrow the | upper iiOSt matter LII liiAeltsl III tIlt luihio
 of the citizens is the inaugural of the
 new governor and the incoming of the
 new state officials.
 Huge Celebration | Celebration of the event will be along
 the most gigantic scale ever attempted in | this city, where for many years has been
 situated the capitol of Alabama. From
 early morn until dewy eve, and dewy eve
 to black midnight the city will be in a
 whirl of excitement brought about by
 the manifestations of the occasion. While | the official ceremony of the day does not ] begin until noon, when the parade is started, the inauguration Of the new gov ernos Ntt tR'se nlaer Il sllor' while be- fore this, when the legislature is in ses-
 sion. After that there will be speeches,
 review of troops. reception and ball.
 And while it all is going on in the other .offices at the capitol there will be a silent l shift of the office force. Successful can-
 didates in the spring primary of 1910 will 1 be familiarizing themselves with their new
 duties and preparing the machinery for
 another grind of four years duration. Significance Attached 1 Significance is attached to the new ad-
 ministration which begins tomorrow. ow- | ing to the policy of the incoming execu- | tive. The fight which was made by Gov
 
 along local option lines, as opposed to the
 prohibition tendencies of Gov. B. B.. Co., 1 mer Yielding his local option views as | a sedge hammer. Colonel O'Neal was suc-
 cessful in winning his own nomination. and was largely instrumental in helping | to defeat the measure which sought more | than year ago to write liquor prohibi- l ton in the constitution of the state, Governor Comers platform four years | ago contained two blanks of statewide | importance at that time, the first one
 being railroad legislation and the second
 one local option The first one was walked | to the end, and then rubbed in; the
 second was walked over. The chief ex- 1 ecutiVe states with regard to it that ne yielded to the demand of the people that
 an amendment be attempted whereby 1t
 was hoped to change the states organic
 law
 Local Option Assured | That local option is assured under the | new administration is evidenced by the | inclination of the present legislature. now | in session in Montgomery. The stand
 which the prohibitionists expected to
 make is not looked upon formidable | Those counties of the state, however, | which voted dry prior to the last ad-
 mlnistration will be allowed to retain
 their position, if such laws can possibly | be framed.
 1 To this end all of the incoming offi- 1 clalS or the SlHte VIII leiu tiicil diu iHc
 majority of these officers, also, were elect
 ed on local option views. | Those who enter office tomorrow are c. | Brooks Smith. as auditor; R. c. Brickel,
 as attorney general; Henry J. Willing
 ham, as superintendent of education: | Capt Rufus r. Kolb as commissioner of | agriculture: Judge John Purifoy, state
 treasurer Frank N. Julian and Leon Me | Cord as associate railroad commissioners: Ormund Somerville. as associate justice | of the supreme court Cyrus B. Brown ;s
 already in office as secretary of state. | A notable exception to the local option
 sts is Walter D. Seed. an out and ous
 statewider. who will be inaugurated to-
 morrow as lieutenant governor of the | commonwealth.
 Seeds Position | Elevation of Mir Seed to the office next | to the highest office in the state came as | a surprise to the voters of Alabama, espe- | cialy in view of his announced views on | prohibition. In the democratic primary he made no secret of his position on the l liquor question, but came out boldly with | the declaration that he was for no sa- 1 loons and for such an amendment to the | constitution as would perpetually sound | the death knel to the traffic in this com | monw edith His whole campaign was waged along this line. He included fhis views in every speech and came pretty
 near to leading the state ticket at the |
 | His overwhelming majority over his op- | ponent, E. Perry Thomas of Barbour | county, is viewed as the result of his ex- | ceptionally active campaign, and Is taken | as tribute to his own Popularity In the 1 rural districts. Ii is said that no man in l the state enjoys an acquaintance as large | as that of the incoming lieutenant gov ernor Certain it is u at no man in Ala l bama has spoken in as many precincts | or in as many out of the way districts. 1 Friends of MT. Thomas allowed his cam paign to lag on the representation that 1t | was not necessary for him to make an ag- | eressive fight MT. Thomas had just | closed a most succt sful administration as president pro tenn of the Alabama sem | ate. and was recognized as one of tho
 strongest local optionlsts in the state, 1 sR queer Anomaly
 As 5 result of MT. Seeds election, Ala | bama is in the queer position of having | local option governor and a prohibi.
 <cONTuNVtEn ON pAGE sN