The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-05
ENDANGERING DEMOCRATIC OP- pORTIJNITY


 From the Atlanta Constitution.
 Jostling of the hands of the democratic
 heimsmen in the House of Representatives by pie hungry democrats is, according to a political expert in the current issue
 of the Saturday Evening Post, one of the l imminent meanaces to democratic success I in the presidential campaign. The au- 1 thor-whose work bears all the earmarks of Samuel B. Blythe, political specialist of national reputation-pays unstinted praise to the resourcefulness, sanity and | steadiness of Oscar Underwood chair
 man of the ways and means committee and House general for the party But he | does not conceal the peril that lies in wait
 for the democracy, if thoughtless con
 gressmen, ravenous for patronage after
 16 years absence from power. mar or att tack the sagaclous plans of those respon- sible for leadership in the lower branch. | It is fortunate that in this crisis which l faces the party it should have as House | leader so firm and far seeing person. l ality as Underwood. Only few weeks | ago he gave evidence newly testifying to his ability to hold his head and consider
 the future. When the Sherwood pension | grab bill, an indefensible raid upon the
 treasury involving s75,000,000 additional ex- | penditure, came before the House, Un- I derwood was one of the few democratic
 generals with the courage and spine to | fight it tooth and nall. Had his astute-
 ness and determination been followed by
 tho majority of his colleagues, the party would not have been sadded with an act
 which can have no effect other than to weaken it's appeal to the country.
 | If Underwood, with these demonstrated qualities of political bravery and leader ship, lived in Ohio, in New York, or in any portion of the country other than the south, he would be forthwith drafted to carry his partys standard as it's presi-
 dential candidate. The man who could, like he did, make the industries of his home section the first battle ground for tariff revision, has exemplified requre- ments of statesmanship that appear once in decades. The north recognizes his fiber and accords him national stature and eligibility. Two days ago the Constitu-
 ton published additional testimony to this fact, in the shape of an interview with
 Alfred c. Newell who has just returned
 from New York city. MT. Newell report ed that sentiment in the north was pow erfully predisposed toward Underwood. | The north, he also said. viewed with engagement the south's reluctance to in- | dorse Underwood, or other southern men, for the presidency because of the bogie of "seetionalism." That phantom, he was | informed by northern political experts, was harbored only by the south, and the | remainder of the country was inclined to charge the south with outright "coward- | ice'' in failing to recognize the presi- | dential availability of its own statesmen. Only in the degree that the south abandons this self insulting superstition
 will 1t gain respect in the eyes of the
 nation, and lift the embargo which other
 wise will be undisturbed by the other | disgusted sections of our common coun-
 try And only in the degree that demo- | crats in Congress cease letting their po-
 litical avarice interfere with leadership in the House, will the party capitalize its opportunities to put a President in the | White House for the first time in IS years.