The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-09
]. ], W|LLETT TAXES SHARP ISSUE WITH WHITE STATEMENT If He FavOrs NatiOn-W Prohibition He Should
 Fight for It ACETATE
 TT AT CONVENTION Man Says He Was Fighting Democracy's Battles Before
 Captain White Moved
 to Alabama


 delegate to the democratic national con sharp issue with Capt. Frank s. White regarding certain position assumed by the latter in his recent statement to the peo- pie of the state. MT. WilIett tells Cap tain White that if he stands for nation wide prohibition at all and that policy is right, he should by all means stand for it this year and at all times in the future, and should agitate it at the na- tional convention.
 Regarding the claims of Captain White concerning his service to the democracy of Alabama, MT. Willett says he was fighting the battles of the Alabama dem- ocrats long before Captain White ever removed to this state. MT. Willett tells Captain White that 1t is certainly no fault of his, nor of his associates. Messrs Rushton and Spragins, that Captain White never met them on the stump oi this state. He states that he and Messrs Rushton and Spragins were on the stumr all over Alabama in the amendment cam paign. while Captain White was speaking on the opposite side and they certainly took no steps to avoid meeting the cap tain.
 SPEECHES FOR AMENDMENT
 MT. Willett twits Captain White by say. ing that he believes the captain Is not proud of the speeches he made in the amendment campaign and his stand in that fight does not fit in with the declara- finr11 h1y Co his loyalty to the principles of the dem- ocratic party. Gan 1t be that Captain White has forgotten what he fought for during the civil war; of which he so often reminds us. and for which he has so often claimed reward from the voters of thia state?' asks MT. WIllett
 The statement of Mr. Willett follows: To the Democrats of Alabama:
 Capt Frank s. White. in his peevish letter to the democrats of this state makes in appeal for their support as dele gate-at-large to the St. Louis conven- tion on purely personal grounds. Boiled down, his position is, as I understand 1t. that he is in favor of national prohibition, but not in favor, for motives of expedienoy (whether to him or his party is not clear), of agitating the question this year. Ii nationwide prohibition is right, as I am informed, and he and Messrs. Hood and Carmichael believe. then they should in. sist upon 1t this year, and every other year that the question is agitated (Judge Denson, one of their associates, has just repudiated it, I am glad to see), but if on the contrary nationwide prohibition IS eternally wrong, and destructive of the democratic fundamental doctrine of home rule. as Messrs. Rushton, Spragins and I believe, then we are right in opposing it this year and every other year that it raises it's vicious head.
 ANTITHESIS OF DEMOCRACY
 Nationwide prohibition is the very antithesis of democracy. Tt means that the states shall surrender their police powers on this question and commit them to the federal government. and that all the offenses against the prohibition laws thereafter shall be exclusively investi- gated and tried in the federal courts. There is worldwide difference between the position of Captain White and Messrs. Hood and Carmichael, and my associates and myself; the difference between mere expediency or opportunism and deep con- viction. As to my democratic record, which Captain White asks about, I will state that I was fighting tho battles of democracy in Alabama before he came to Alabama. but unlike him have never asked for or expected any reward there- for. The genial captain recommends him. self very highly in his card and mod estly tells us how he can be depended upon to stand by President Wilson, all though he will not say he believes in his policies MT. Ray Rushton in his re- cent card to the public has pointed out how this same genial captain as chair man of the committee on platform at the democratic state convention in 1906 framed platform which declared for local option and moved it's adoption, and made a grandiloquent speech in the con- vention relative to the platform, declar- ing that opposition would mean war to the knife and knife to the hilt:' and yet we find the genial captain as Mir. Rush. ton pointed out. surrendering or chang ing his convictions on this subject in 1909 when he stumped the state in favor of the amendment to the constitution, which not only declared for statewide prohibit tion. but authorized if adopted the viola tion of the most sacred rights of the citi- zens The captain complains that he has never met Messrs. Allen Spragins. Rush ton or myself on the stump
 ALL ON THE STUMPS
 q am sure that is as much his fault as ours: we were all on the stump in the great anti-amendment campaign in
 (Coatinucd on PaEe Eightl