The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-18


neys gave notice of appeal, but the
appeal was withdrawn and he con-
tossed to the killing but implicated
county during the last Is or 20 years
Jefferson county and Birmingham are
the pride of Alabama, the glory and
the admiration of the south. Cap
plause)
4 am glad also to be in the city
of Birmingham, which is the headquar-
ters of the two senatorial candidates,
and where l will have my state head
quarters after the state democratic
executive committee meets on January
7. While | have my convictions and
my individual opinions on the senato-
rial race, yet / am neither advocating
Hobson nor Underwood, for l do not
want either Underwood or Hobson to
go into the Senate swinging onto my
coattail. daughter and applause.)
Mr.. Wallace then discussed the several
planks of his platform at length
Get Down to Real Issues
Now, I am coming down to real is
sues" he continued. 1.-The most vital is
sue in this campaign is, stripped of all
disguises. Shall statewide prohibition
and the Webb act of Congress prevail
| in Alabama? had rather have your
| respect that to have the votes. would
| not deceive you for the office of gov
ernor. l don't want to obtain your sup
port under false pretense. | am an old
fashioned democrat. / have never SUBJ
scribed to the newfangled ideas that
| glitter for a day, and then are soon for
! gotten. ] am a thorough believer in the
| old-time democratic principles of local
! option and local self-government as re-
lates to liquor traffic. (Applause.) I'm
la<C he no af n tx- "a tFnF prn ri
| tion, the liquor laws will be nullified by
] tho grand jury and by the petit jury,
| and therefore become a farce. No law
| is stronger than it's jury box, Public
sentiment is absolutely the basis of all
/ law enforcement, and unless the people
| favor prohibition it cannot be enforced.
Prohibition has been tried in Alabama
and was abandoned because 1t was con-
sumate farce.
Now, what obtained when we had
| statewide prohibition? Every day Mr..
Conner walked from his office to his
residence in Montgomery and passed four
saloons, open and notoriously selling
liquor over the bar, and although he ap-
pointed the sheriff of Montgomery and
the county solicitor of Montgomery and
although he employed private detectives
to assist In enforcing the prohibition law,
they couldn't stop the sale of liquor even
under the very shadow of the state capi-
night; there was no way of regulating
them. They sold to little boys, to any
body that had the price. They dispensed
a fiery concoction of wood alcohol, to-
bacco, sapolio and red pepper, one drop
of which. If injected into white rabbit,
would make him stand on his hind legs
and walk up to a bull dog and spit in
his face.
Means Home Rule
Local OptiOn means home rule. If
means that every county shall attend TO
it's own business. Local option means
| that the county of Walker has no right
| TO say to the county of Jefferson you
shall not sell whisky. 1t means that the
county of Jefferson has no right to say
to the county of Walker, you sell
whisky. Are you a believer in the de-
mocracy of William Jennings Bryan, who
is the embodiment OF morality and
Christianity? If you are you believe In
local option. Are you a believer In the
democracy of Woodrow Wilson, the in.
carnation of courage of conscience, pa
triotism of power, the greatest President
we have had since the days of Jefferson?
tApplause) If you are, you believe in
local option.
Il see where the Anti-Saloon league
has met and indorsed Mr. Conner and Mr..
Seed, and yet everybody knows that MI.
| Conner is their first and most ardent love.
| If the Anti-Saloon league any other
rings are to make nominations for gov
ernor, what is the use of holding demo-
cratic primary? Why the other day at
Andalusia, Rev. Brooks Lawrence stated
that the next legislature would make
Alabama as dry as a tinder box Our
constitution provides that church and
state shall be forever separate, and after
tile next primary election, / propose to
send the political parsons forever back
tc their pulpits.
Local option has been In every demo-
cratic platform which has been adopted
since the war. How, then, can man be
democrat and advocate statewide pro-
hibition? applause and stamping or
feet)
|. Outlines Own Position
Now, let me tell you my position. In
the event of my election to the office of
governor, a democratic platform will be
adopted in harmony with my views on
the local option question and should leg
islature pass statewide prohibition bill,
L Will endeavor to kill it by my veto.
(Applause.) There have been certain false
and ficticious issues put into this cam
paign by demogogues, merely for the pur-
pose of hoodwinlNng and deceiving the
people. There is no such issue In Ala
bama as a railroad rate issue. The SUI
preme court of the United States has
said that the railroad commission is a
proper tribunal to fix railroad rates. An
act of Congress has said the same. Now,
what do we find? We find Mr.. Conner,
a candidate for governor, conducting his
crusade against the railroads of Alabama
to avenge a personal quarrel Now sup
pose that Milton II. Smith should resign,
or the Louisville and Nashville railroad
should eVaporate, Mr.. Conner would be
without an issue. and would be as re-
sourceess as motherless lamb in the
middle of the Sahara desert. (Applause)
The eyes of the world are upon Ala
bama, because now the oceanic canal is
open, the dream of Alabamas most IL
lustrous statesman, John II. Morgan, has
come true. The time is here that we have
yearned for for so years. Will you EN-
brace your opportunity? or will fe pass
it by? When Mr.. Conner was governor,
we had panic There was financial de-
preston. You could not borrow money
on gold dollars. The banks issued script
This condition was brought about by men
like jeff Davis of Arkansas. Glenn Of
North Carolina and Conner of Alabama
and that arch demogoHue, Theodore
Roosevelt. In the event Of the election of
Conner as governor, there will not be a
mile of railroad built in this state dur
ing the four years he holds office.
do the people of Alabama want for
governor man of constructive states
manship or do they want destructive