The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-04-30
PERRY WALLS ADDRESS. A BUS


win be called on to adopt policies that
win affect US may be for generations
to come.
Then. in voting for your county
or less By your n persona1 I reias
ton, your friendships and your busI-
ness relations, but in voting for a
United States senator no doubt we all
that is to say you know none of us
specially well. take 1t that very few
of you comparatively have gotten any
United States appointments, and that
ycu are under no obligations to any
of the other gentlemen, and surely you
are under none to me. We are all
Democrats We are all Floridians. We
are all about the same age. I am
older than Bryan and Trammen Mr..
Gilchrist Is older than I. You can, of
course, all see that am the best look
ing man, but I don't want any advan-
tage on that account. ] have come to
you tonight to talk to you in a straight
forward, business way, because I am
q business man and know Of no other
way to talk In the event you gem
temen were called on to select man
to handle your most important bust
ness, something that meant more to
you than anything else, what manner
OF thought would you follow to select
the man out of number of indi-
vidua1s? 70 uwould consider these
men along the line of general qualifi-
cations, special knowledge Of the par
L1cu1aE business Wntc1 you mad TO
manage and finally their knowledge of
the people and the community in
which that business is situated. So
come TO you tonight and ask you to
business thoughts to selecting a man
for this great office of United States
senator, and ] ask you what kind of
man do you think you need in the
senate OF the United States? In the
event you haven't made up your mind
along this line / am going to make
some suggestions for your thoughtful
consideration. In my opinion, you need
first an honest man, a man of ability,
a man of public spiritedness, a man OF
practical knowledge of the every day
needs of the people, a man OF educa-
ton and finally a man who has friends
and influence outside of the state OF
. Florida. Now I submit that as a
standard of general qualifications by
which ask you to measure me and
my opponents. Bear in mind, my
friends, this is race within the party
lines, not between candidates of OPP
posing parties. I call your attention
specially to that because / don't want
to be too much like the fellow who
was making a speech and two negroes
walked up and one said to the other
who is that fellow who made that
talk%' / don't know what his name
is" the other negro said, but he
""
So I don't want to be put in
the position of recommending mySol1
too highly but necessarily have got
! TO talk about myself and present what
I consider my qualifications for this
/ position in identically the same way
/ as If ! went to a business house here
! and applied for a position. I would
| tell them what I thought I could dc
! in connection Herewith, We will take
/ the first point of honesty. I have &C
/ cused my opponents of being honest
| and am willing to confess to a rea-
| sonable degree to honesty myself The
| fact that / served in the city council
| of Tampa for two terms and am still
| out of Jail is fair evidence Of reason
| able honesty on my part. The mex
/ proposition is that of ability. How
| do you Judge of mans ability except
/ by his success in his own business oil
| profession. Now / don't claim to 5t
] any great business man. The news.
| papers sometimes call me a fnanciel
| but that is when they want an ad
| vertisement, but I do claim to be I
! successful business man. use thu
/ tive sense, in it's organizing sense, II
i its developing sense, and not neces
L sarily with a dollar mark before 1t
I claim to be I say, a successful bust
ness man. / founded and am man
ager of the firm of Knight & Wall o.
Tampa, hardware merchants. I or
Il ganized this business before there wa
in the City of Tampa It is the oldes
business institution In the city. I
is the larsest bushes of its kind Fl
/ the state of Florida and one of thu
largest in the South. My reputation
as a business man is bound up will
this institution and it Is identicall!
the same, and you can go to any banl