The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-14
HObSON IS VIGOROUS
IN DENOUNC|NG THE
NAMING OF CLAYTON
Calls 1t Deep Laid Political
Trick to Cheat People of
Alabama Out of
Their Rights

congressman HobSon was not well
pleased when he learned through The
Age Herald yesterday that Governor
O'Neal had named Henry d. Clayton to
succeed the late Senator Johnston.
He proceeded to prepare a statement
in which he attempted to lay bare
deep laid political conspiracy" His
statement In full follows:
"rhe appointment of Mr.. Clayton is
the elimination of deep laid polit-
ical conspiracy.
1T is brazen defiance of law, the
people and the constitution, the most
humiliating travesty on our political
institution. The defiance of the law and
the rights of the people was wilfully
made with the full knowledge that the
appointment was Illegal and is so re-
garded by the United States senator's
not only by opposition senators but
by democratic senators as we'll.
THE effect of the appointment will
be to postpone indefinitely the set
tlement of the question. This delay is
fully understood by the Alabama pol
itician and is incurred against the
earnest advice of our democratic lead
ers.
In the midst of the crisis OF the
tariff bill, the interest of the demo-
cratic party, the relief and welfare of
the nation. the law of the land the
sacred political rights of the people
seems to have counted for naught
THE governors first announcement
that he wished special election
seemed plausible enough until he de-
liberately failed to call one, after be-
ing assured by the chairman of the
judiciary committee that 1t was In con-
formity with the law
THE Wanted solic1tude of the poll
ticians to prevent delay might have
appeared plausible until the unanimous
opinion of the democratic senators as
sured us against the legality of the
appointment which caused delay with
no visible termination.
The fact is that all the jockeyfng
and caucnsing the scheme went
through precisely as Mr.. Bankhead had
planned. 1t was very remarkable how
Senator Bankhead hurried to Alabama
and had the whole specious article pre-
pared to give out almost instantly.
1T was very interesting to watch
the step progressively taken by some
of the newspapers under political dom
ination of the interestes to prepare the
mind of the people in an effort to blind
them to this rape of their political
rights.
For my own part. of course I feel
tremendously gratified to know that
the democratic members of the Senate
Judiciary committee unanimously take
fdenticaily the same view as [ have
been so strenuously insisting upon ever
since the untimely death of the la
mented Johnston.
Il was on the House committee that
had charge of this amendment and |
know absolutely that our supreme OBJ
ject was to take senatorships away
from caucuses or legislatures and turn
them absolutely over to the people
themselves in conformity with the
spirit of the democratic institutions
Il felt all the more sustained in
my arduous labors to get the amend
ment adopted by reason of the fact that
Alabama had been-one of the very first
states in the union to put the plan
into effect
you will recall that Senator Bank
head and the lamented Johnston were
themselves chosen by popular vote; in
fact, the principle was considered of
such sacred Importance in our progress
sive state that we even went so far as
to provide an election for successors to
our great Morgan and Pettus before
the death of those grand old men.
'How. then, can any true Alabamian
now stand for the miserable expedient
of having their United States senator
app ointed by Emmett O'Neal. instead of
being elected by the people themselves ?
1T belongs to the people. 1t Is theirs
by law as we'll as every true consider
alton of democratic rights. They de-
mand 1t and they are not going to be
fooled or hoodwinked by the hairsplit-
ting quibblings of technical lawyers or
professional politicians"