The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1913-08-29

nav iOI years DeGn II
I ardent supporters.
The Herald has always supporte
Judge Shields earnestly and enth,
siastically. The Herald was an Al
dent supporter and admirer of Judg
Shields from the day that he frs
announced his candidacy for tn
supreme bench twelve years ago, ur
til he became candidate for tn
senate. There has never been
campaign in Tennessee in which thi
paper took SO active an interest o
labored SO hard as that of 1910, whel
Judge Shields was an independent
| fusion candidate for the suprem,
court. The Herald has the yer,
highest regard for Judge Shields. 1
regards the junior senator as one O
the ablest men in public life. He il
unquestionably one of the most mag
netic men in politics. He has &
charming personality. And so long
as The Herald could consistently dc
SO it supported Judge Shields in all
OF his aspirations. Nothing has oc
Cured in Tennessee politics since
the assassination of Senator Car.
mack that so shocked The Herald as
Judge Shields candidacy for the
Senate last January.
Judge Shields is, under the above
record the creature of fusion. He
was its first leader, its most popular
idol. Conditions in Tennessee have
not improved since 1910. The demo-
cratic machine is differed by Cox,
Worley, Drane, Stewart ct ais, the
same men who manned it then. 1t
has been pretty badly crippled but
it is just as defiant of the best senti-
ment of the state now as it was
three years ago. 1t no more appeals
to the men who, for the sake of con-
viction and because of the love of
country, left it in 1910 than it did
when Judge Shields was fusion can
didate. Its organ now is managed
and controlled by the very same men
who in 1910 were it's devoted adher-
ents and apologists and the bitter en-
emies of Senator Shields.
Under all the circumstances are
not The Herald, the Chattanooga
News, the Nashville Banner and the !
Jackson Sun justified in their criti- /,
cism of the present attitude of Sena- j
tor Shields toward the independent
democrats of Tennessee? Is it not
Senator Shields who has experienced
a change of heart? Who has been
Had Judge Shields first used the
power and prestige of his great Of
ice and his influence at Washington
% purge the democratic organization
If Tennessee of the special interests
Ind the grafters that dominate it,
making the organization truly repre-
of the best sentiment of the
tate, then there would have been
ONE justification for his attitude. |
lad he first insisted upon the elimi- |
alton Of John l. Cox and Parks Wor- a
ey and Hoyte Stewart and McAlis- 9
er and Patterson and Dibrell and
he relics of the Dibrell machine, y
rom all party leadership, he would
len have been in a position to insist Z
pom democratic harmony in Tennes- 9
ee. But he did not do this. He v
lakes allegiance to the very same u
achine and the very same interests Is
lat the independent democrats have, Il
the three great pitched battles, ie
lallenged for supremacy in Tonnes Ia
e, the sine qui non for official en- ce
'rsement at Washington. With the p'
cord that he has made as the un- ti'
advocate of good gov ee
nment in Tennessee he can hardly al
pect the veterans whom he led in &C
10 to follow him into the Cox-Wor- III
back-tax machine today.
tw