The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-12

| ent quality of Cleveland follower but ne failed 10 please the other side. on August 2s, 1893, the bill to repeal I the sherman silver purchase act of 1890
 was put to vote in the lower branch
 and carried. yeas 239. nays 10s Clarke
 of the First Alabama and Oates of the Third voted with the majority. Messrs
 Jesse Stallings of the Second. Gaston
 Robbins of the Fourth. J. F. Cobbs of
 the Fifth, John H. Bankhead of the sixth, W. IL Denson of the Seventh and Gen. Joseph Wheeler of the Eighth
 voted nay with the minority.
 So Colonel Oates went on record in
 favor of the silver dollar which he could not get and against the silver dollar provided for by the sherman
 silver purchase act then In force. 1 Colonel oates lost no time while the senate debated the house bill without cessation until November. He recom- inended himself to Alabama in this activity and offended President Cleve- land by at least one of his measures. He offered bill to execute that plank of the latest national democratic plat | form that called for the repeal of the act of Congress which taxed state banks of issue out of existence in favor
 of national banks of issue. His argu- ment was the assets of the state were available to support a currency safe and abundant. Defeated in this. he of fered the next best thing. a bill to al- low national banks to lend money on
 land. He lost there. He offered a bill 1 to refund the cotton tax of 1865, '66 and '67. amounting In Alabama to mil- lions. He offered a bill to remove the test of "loyalty" from all claimants in the southern states against the gov ernment for war damages. cotton rob-
 berries, etc. He offered a bill to amend
 federal election laws in the interest of white supremacy.
 1 Captain Johnston opened his canvass with energy while Oates remained at his post. Johnston in March, 1894, after the President had subdued the demo- cratic Congress to the republican doc- Urine of gold monometalism made speech at Roanoke. Randolph county reported by Charles Greer He said the
 people were very poor and it cost more
 to make cotton than 4 cents or even 6 cents and yet those were the market figures for the staple. He opposed Mir. Cleveland as earnestly after the recent antisilver legislation as prior to it but
 the country would have to endure its wrongs. Alabama must not gnaw
 file. The state depended on a united democracy. The irremediable things must be passed and the future provided | for.
 l, That speech put Johnston and Oates 1 on level Johnston seemed to realize | ,le eject. Later speaking at Ann1StOn
 he said in his familiar off-hand pleas
 antry: Colonel Oates wants to be gov
 ernor and would not dispute his right
 under ordinary circumstances. but the people now have the chance to do bet teri I think I could beat him just
 little in that office.'
 The three candidates Oates, Kolb and
 Johnston were all above the average
 citizen in qualifications Oates was the eldest Johnston 10 years younger than l he. Kolb coming in between the two.
 All were distinguished Confederate of ficers. Oates was tiwce desperately
 wounded. Johnston bore four scars on 1 his body from four wounds. Kolb
 though never hit, was famous for hold
 ing his place in the picture close to the flashing of the guns"
 All had done yeoman service in oust-
 ing the carpetbaggers. scallawags and negroes. Johnston more than once had
 been entrusted with command in the | most desperate state campaigns Henry | D. Clayton had vouched to a state dem ocratic convention that Kolb was the boldest partisan of democracy on the rolls Oates had been so prominent that partial friends brought to at least one convention his name as a proper nominee for governor.
 JOHN WITHERSPOON DuBOSE.