Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-03-26
WAS HANDED
THE ALABAMA DELEGATION
Railroad Attorneys and Form
er Harmon Supporters
Framed Up Rules
OFrom a Staf Correspondent
III L. ra.h % Il

CFrom a Staff Correspondent
+ BIRMINGHAM, Ala. March 2S.-or
Monday. April I. a presidential primary
will be held in Alabama in which no
name will appear on the ballot eX-
cept that Of. oscar Underwood and at
which none but Underwood delegates 10
the state convention will be voted for.
The state has been handed to- Under
wood bag and baggage. The primary is
in name only. II is merely the ratifi-
cation OF the dictation Of few men
with these few men dominated by one
man.
The giving of the state TO Underwood
bodily did not take place recently. 1t
happened as far hack as December 20,
1911. when the Democratic state ex-
ecutive committee met and formulated
the rules for the primary. Everything
that has followed since is merely the
logical working out of those rules and
is why the free voters Of Alabama are
70 be treated Monday after next not TO
a real primary, but TO an April fool
that was Matched in December.
This a Democratic presidential pri-
mary and the names of Woodrow Will
son and Judson Harmon not appearing!
Why, where can they be?" one naturally
exclaims.
IN the Alabama affair the name Of
Wilson has been steam-rolled clean out
BY the state executive committee, while
the name of Harmon has been kept in
the background to conJure with-not
TO eonjure with among Alabama voters,
but :. among their present political
bosses
RAILROAD INFLUENCE DoMI-
MATES.
II was representatives Of the railroad
and corporate influence now come back
10 dominate in Alabama politics that
devised the scheme to deliver the state
over the heads of the people to Under
wood and after Underwood to Harmon
as against Wilson.
When the plan was put through at
Birmingham in December, Underwood
did not then loom so large upon the
presidential horizon as ne does now. OF
the confederated trio. Harmon, Under
wood and Clark, banded together
against Wilson, Harmon then seemed in
the ascendancy. 1t was the plan Of the
Alabama dictators at that time TO send
M merely a favorite son delegation for
Underwood which should in reality be
for Harmon. But since then Under
wood in his own right is beginning to
look better to them than Harmon, but
il is merely a shift from one leg OF
the anti-wilson triangle to the other.
Is the assertion that Underwood has
received the Alabama delegation from
the hands of the railroads and corpor-
ate interests and, from the hands Of
former Harmon supporters and that
Wilson even in the matter of second
choice has been walled out at every
turns that assertion justified?
Here's the evidence. Judge for your
self:
When the scheme was put across"
at Birmingham, 35 members of the
executive committee were present. OF
these 81 voted for it and IA against 1t.
OF these 81 the dominating spirits were
r. Tyler Goodwin, of Montgomery, who
is chairman of the committee; George
w Jones' of Montgomery, member of
the committee from the state at large;
L F. Greer, Of Calhoun county, and
Gardner Greene, Of Pell City, both men,
bers from the state at large.
These in turn were dominated anb
directed by Senator John H. Bankhead.
who devised the plan and engineered
il TO success. He left his duties at
Washington to be present to do the
job. He was ably assisted by his son,
John H. Bankhead, Jr., Of Jasper, and
by Gov. Emmett O'Neall The execu-
tive committee was an ONeal commit
tee 1t was named by the state con-
vention which followed his nomination
as governor on platform opposing the
prohibition and the railroad regulation
administration of Gov. Z. b. Conner,
who preceded him.
Now as to the railroad influence di-
recting the action of the majority of
the committee
John ]. Bankhead, Jr.. who, after
his father was second in command IN
plotting he plan OF adoption, is the To-
cal attorney for the Frisco lines at
Jasper and general counsel for the
Pratt Consolidated Coal and Iron
company, Of jefferson and Walker
counties. The law firm OF r. Tyler
Goodwin - local counsel for the
j ouisville fand Nashville railroad at
Montgomery.
George ". Jones is the district AZ.
torney for the Louisville and Nash
Vile railroad at Montgomery, and is
known throughout the state as that
roads policy man and political bell
wether. -#
L. F. Greer is state convict inspec-
tor appointed by Governor ONeal,
who, as has been said. was elected on
a pro-railroad platform, and Gardner
Greene Is colOnel on - Neal SlalA.
II may be mentioned here that the
chairman Of the Underwood campaign
ncommittee in Alabama is Z. x.
Campbell of Birmingham, local coun-
sci for the Frisco lines.
A HARMON FRAME-UP.
AS to the Harmon influence in the
committee
Before last August, and before the
time Underwood was seriously thought
Of as a candidate, Senator Bankhead
came out enthusiastically for Haf-
mon. Governor O'Neal was a pro-
nounced Harmon man. He was dis
trict attorney under Cleveland at the
time Harmon was attorney general