The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-26
Never Cast a Republican Vote in 51 Years of Voting
 But Supports Thompson
PUTS OBLIGATION TO GOVERNMENT ABOVE
 DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Professor Hewitt One of the Best Known Men in Jefferson County, Coming from History Max
 ing Family

LII pftNdihhS upOh EVAs he. ".
 Hewitt to manage his campaign.
 announcement of which was made
 yesterday Joseph o. Thompson, re-
 publican nominee for Congress from
 the Birmingham district, 1t is be-
 Iieved made a political 10-strike.
 Professor Hewitt is one of the best
 known men in Jefferson county.s
 coming from one of the old and
 distinguished families whose his-
 tory is part of tho history of this
 great industrial center.
 In the 51 years he has been voting Prof. Hewitt says he has never cast his ballot for other than democrat and that in supporting J. o. Thompson and accepting the management of his campaign he does not feel that he is disloyal to his own party His brother, the late Col. c. w. Hewitt, represented thes old Sixth district, when Jefferson county was part of it. in Congress ana he and his family have been wheel horses in democratic politics in this part of the state for half a century. lie is now assistant superintendent or eau cation of Jefferson county. with which body he has been connected during the last IA years Prior to that he was the democratic nominee to the constitution al convention the call for which was subsequently, revoked during the admin istration of Governor Joseph F. John ston.
 PROF. HEWITTS STATEMENT
 In announcing his acceptance of the management of Mir. Thompson s cam paign, Prof Hewitt said;
 'In the 51 years I have been voting have never voted for any but demo- crats, and now I find myself managing the campaign of republican How ever. | shall vote for the entire demo- cratic ticket except the nominee tor Congress in the November election. and when that election is over l expect 10 resume my activities in the democratic party.
 ..There is just one question before IS in this campaign; it Is, win the war, and anything that gets in the way Of that should be sidetracked. It's aues- ton of George Huddeston or Woodrow Wilson. Our chances of winning the war are increased many fold by follow ing the policies of Woodrow Wilson
 These are not like normal times. In war times disloyalty is tried by court martial. not by civil court, and if guilt is established the offender is shot.
 George Huddleston says he voted for all but four of the Presidents war policies But these were the most im- portant of all. I will illustrate: sup nose man is charged with larceny ana the grand jury on investigation Iinus him guilty of one count and innocent on fourteen others, but the one Of Whicn he is guilty is the theft of the money? What would you think of the grand jury if it refused to indict hir or steal ing the money, the main count simply because he was innocent of the others, which were of minor importance!
 CITES HUDDLESTON'S RECORD
 Again: What if MT. Huddleston vot- ed 15O times with the President ana against the main counts. why shonid ne not be condemned? Suppose major lty of Congress had voted as MT. Hud- dleston did on the war measures What would have been the result? What con dition would we be in today? George voted against the draft act the only possible way to raise an army. after the volunteer provision had been voted down. If a majority in Congress had voted that way we would have had a pitiful army of 25o,00O men to send to France against Germany
 'Everybody knows that when England and France sent their war commissions to this country those countries were worn out, and could not have lasted more than three or four months longer. The result would have been that Ger many would have dictated terms to Eng land and France, and what terms they would have been! It would have been England. turn over your navy. France. turn eyer your army and today we would se fighting Germany on our own soil, if we had been able to~withstand the initial thrust. We would have had the same experience as Belgium and France.
 sIs it right that We should support a man simply because he got the demo- cratic nomination. when he has opposed the only method of raising an army with which to meet and defeat the powerful German military machine.
 ,' T have no apologies to make for the action I am taking. There are no ob- isaticns of the loyal democratic party more binding on me than the obligation to our government and our national democratic principles. and expect 10 use every effort to defeat the man whose record shows conclusively that he is directly and indirectly opposed to the war policies of our government'