The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-07
Various Aspects Will Fur
nish Campaign Thunder"
For Candidates
SEED CLAIMS CONFER
MADE IT POSSIBLE
Conner, on the Other Hand, Points Out
With Pride the Fact That None
of His Administration la
eyed" the State

Theodore Lacy may be in that dear
Honduras enjoying the funds of which
by stealth .,e deprived the strong box of
the state, or his body, as some surmise
might have been fed to the fishes in the
of the convict department is destined
even though he remains among the MISS
ing, to play q momontous part in the en-
suing gubernatorial campaign. 1t is bare
ly possible Furthermore, that ne has fur-
nished an issue on which some man might
ride into office, or some other man fan TO
ride.
This fact is becoming more and more
apparent. Sometime ago Walter D. Seed,
a candidate for governor. scored ex-Gov.
b. B. Conner for having approved a bill
during his term OF office as result of
which, according to the Tuscaloosa eiti-
zen it was possible for Lacy to make
This killing Mr.. Seed declared that
whereas Mr.. Conner was in every regard
a man of the mos. exalted principles and
that whereas his son-in-law. j. Craig
Smith, was without question sans puer,
sans reproache," still. in view of the fact
that neither could always serve the state
es among its foremost officials, gross
carelessness was displayed in presenting.
securing the passage of, and approving
that bill which kept the funds of the eo
vict department oEt of the treasury for
quarter of a year al a time.
Two Aspects of Defalcation
peculiar feature in this connection
was that on a single day last week, to-wit,
Friday the Lacy incident was employed
by two other gubernatoral candidates, In
Spruce Pine, an unpretentious but lovely
hamlet of Franklin county, John H. Wal
lace, in stentorian tone charged that MI,
Conner was responsible for the opportuni-
ty with which Lacey was presented and
which withou hesitation or unnecessary
ado he accepted, to swipc the swag of the
convict department. On the other hand,
In defending his own administration,
which has air eady on innumerable occa-
sions been subjected to terrific fire, MIR.
Conner at Cleveland, one of the pleasantess
villages of Blount county, pointed out
what is unequiyocaliy true, that whereas
his associates in ofrice none of them
looted the treasury of its meagre assets,
or, as the speaker ricturesquely declared
None of my officials Lacyed' the state,
state
From what has already occurred, there
fore, 1t is certain that Lacy, who is re.
membered as lebonair and gallant
young gentleman, with charming man
ners and most obliging disposition. and
who, in view of the fact thai he stopped
to gather in about 100000 of the money of
others and quite mysterously or in fash
ion almost uncanny disappeared from the
face of the earth, has established a clear
title to unusual intelligence, will figure
TO the practical exclusion of other per
sonal issues in the CALLING campaign
which is fast getting under way.
Weapon of Many Chambers
His act OF indiscretion. furthermore,
has not furnished a single barreled mus
ket which can be used by only one indi-
vidual, but q gun of many chambers out
of which Vit;iol of any desired intensity
may be discharged. For, the people, on
the one hanI, behold an ambitious orator
pointing OUT the fact that whereas Lacy
stole the money of the state, Conner
should not be reelected, and on the other
band behold second candidate exclairn-
Ing that because Lacy did not steal DUR
ing the administration of Governor CO.
mer, that individual should be returned
to high office, wheJe the plaudits of the
common people can best reach Kim
1t is an evil wind, according to prehis-
toric philosophers, which blows no ma n
good. The oreeze which Lacy set in mo-
ton however. was exceptional in that 1t
not only is still in motion, but that Il
blows both hot ana cold, hot when heat
Is required and cold when a more frigid
atmosphere is deemed expedient. And if
one judges from What has already oc-
cured unless that wind had been created
there would BE in Alabama in this good
season of 1918 no campaign for the most
important office In the gift of the people
-+o,--