The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-26
UNDERWOOD LETTER TOCSIN CALL ID ALL TRUE SONS IF PARTY By Far Most Important Political Development in
 State of Week
ISSUE SQUARELY
 UP TO THE VOTERS
Campaigns for Various Offices Being Carried on Along Quiet Lines-Can- didates for Delegates Fail
 to Show Expected Interest
By l.. S. BETTY

A
 Montgomery, March 25.-(Special )-By far the most important development in Alabama politics since the beginning of the present campaign was the Under wood letter calling upon the democrats of the state to support E. D. Smith of Birmingham for national committeeman Senator underwood's statement was clear-Gut and forceful, and laid bare without semblance of veneer the real Alabama. It was the tocsin call to the true sons of the party to fight for it's continued success by electing a man to serve "in the inner councils of the party, who is first a democrat and true to all democratic principles.
 In his letter Senator Underwood sound- ed warning against carrying beyond state lines all local issues declaring that all attempts to do so would be "in viola ernnent in which our democratic fathers believed" To ask the federal govern ment to establish nationwide prohibi- tion would be. in the language of Senator ! Underwood, throwing "a firebrand into the temple of democracy More than this, it would sound 'the death knell of the party" according to Senator Under wood. It would mean party obliteration. 1 SMITH "SOUND DEMOCRAT 1 To prevent such a catastrophe Senator | Underwood urged the democrats of the
 state to support D. D. Smith as against 1 Borden Burr, who stands for prohibit
 tion-na ton-wide prohibition first and
 the principles of democracy afterwards. ,
 "Mr. Smith is, and always has been l fundamentally sound democrat" he de.
 cared "He will stand for the principles 1 of his party under ah circumstances and never betray them For these reasons
 I think he is the man for the democ- racy of Alabama to put on guard"
 l In this manner Senator Underwood lets
 the democrats of the state know his views in reference to the contest for na- tional committeeman. Anxious to perpet-
 uate the party, to see it's continued sue
 cess, he urges his friends to elect a mar who is first a democrat. He sees in the l efforts of nation wide, or federal prohibi tionists the design to merge the demo cratic party with the prohibition party which would mean party destruction in st far as the democrats are coAcerned
 FOR NONPARTISAN DELEG ATION | Save for the Underwood letter the weel in Alabama politics has been uneventful Candidates everywhere are busy, but tn, campaigns for offices apparently are be ing conducted along quiet lines. How ever, the primary is several weeks ii the future, and there is yet time fol the political atmosphere to become en livened.
 {! The candidates for delegates-at-large tt the national convention have not dis 1 played the interest in their contests tha I was at first promised, but there is indi cation that their activities scon will bt
 most pronounced. In the contest for del egates, it is apparent that the prohibi tlonists, as in the fight for national com mitteeman, will try to capture the dele gation-a delegation of nationwide pro 1 hibitionists.
 1 To offset such a calamity, the effort is being made to elect a fair. unpartisar 1 delegation, true to the President and his 1 policies, and anxious to see the next anl l future administrations democratic. Sen ator Underwood's letter was in espousa E of the candidacy of MT. Smith for na | tional committeeman, but he indicated il
 strongest terms the importance of elect l ing only democrats as party representa- tives, which applies as well to delegate: to the national convention as to nationa l cen nlitteen an.
 OTHER RACES QUIET
 l Tn the fight for state offices the mos l important contest is that for president of the public service commission Int
 three candidates, President Sam P. kere nedy, J. A. Carnley and Henry P. Mer rtt, are all conducting vigorous cam paigns, and until recently, were all en gaged in a cross-firing contest. How. ever the ardor of these gentlemen ap pears to have cooled considerably within l the past week or two, and the voters ol | the state have heard little about the activities of these candidates.
 ! There have been no new developments | in the race for places on the court o1 appeals, though there has been no dimin- I ution in the efforts of the several candi- idates. According to general opinion Judge John Pelham, presiding judge oi the court, is leading the other candi- dates by a good margin. with Thomas E. Knight of Greensboro, running close