The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-04-20
.HEFLIN IS CHEERED
 AS HE RELATES HIS RECORD IN CONGRESS
Jasper Audience Rises to Show Its Approval of Shooting Negro In
 Washington

a large crowd or uemoCrdtS Tn the
 courthouse in Jasper at 10 o'clock to- day. He was introduced by his col league, Congressman w. B. Bankhead, who paid him a very complimentary
 eulogy. by referring to him as having served the people for more than a
 quarter of century.
 MT. Hef1in opened his address by re-
 ferring to his having come into the in the congressional fight in 1916. and
 having been introduced by the late Senator Bankhead. He said that the State of Alabama had had four sena- tors pass away since he had been in the halls of Congress-namely, Morg- an, Pettus, Johnston and Bankhead
 MT. Hef1in then went into a discus sion of the cotton conditions in the south when he was boy on the farm and how it's interest was held chained down by the Wall street interests; how the farmer used to get only or 5 cents for his cotton and if he did not sell at the sprice that was offered the
 banks were told by the Wall street people that unless the farmer sold his cotton and met his debts they would bring on a panic and stop money com ing to the banks and the merchants would not be financed. This would cause a panic all down the line and the farmer would be forced to sell
 He went to Congress and when he got there he was determined to bring about a reformation in this state of affairs He visited the cotton ex- change in New York and found that
 h, f. twenty eight different samples of cot ( ton, most of which were dog-tails. From these samples the spinners were having to buy and the, spinner was not getting the real samples of cotton brought there by the farmers.
 Tn this way the exchange was able to hold the price of cotton to the lowest point
 He says that he at once began a crusade in the halls of Congress to put a stop to this system and the re- suit was that after years of hard work he succeeded in having only nine sam pies of cotton on the market, which covered all the samples produced. When spinner wanted to buy cot ton he was shown government ap- proved samples and the exchange must deliver cotton equal to the samples produced or not deliver any at all. He also said he had placed in the agri- cultural bill the system of making the ginners report the number of bales of cotton that were consumed by the local spinners, the number of bales ex- ported and the number on hand at the beginning of each month. He said that as result of these efforts the farm CTS of the south are today selling cot ton at 30 to 40 cents a pound
 An0ther thino that fhalDS inc farrnar and which he takes much credit for is the establishment of the federal re- serve banks. He says that before the democrats established these banks that the merchants and bankers could force the farmer to sell his cotton at whatever price he wanted to pay for it But by the use of these banks the farmers could produce the warehouse receipts and borrow money with which to pay the merchant. He said that be- fore this when a farmer came to mar ket the merchant would tell him the prices had dropped s10 bale and the farmer would say that he did not want to sell. The merchant would tell him that his account must be settled and then the poor down-trodden farmer would have to yield. No so today. He said that when MT. Farmer comes in and the merchant says that the ac- count must be paid the farmer goes with his warehouse receipts and gets the money and pays him and while he is doing it the merchant is at the mercy of the farmer now because he is an independent man through the great constructive legislation brought about by the administration.
 The farmers loan bank and the good roads appropriation came in for a good deal of discussion. He said that he wanted to go the Senate to continue the great work that Senator Bankhead had begun.
 '. In his usual humorous manner hs brought in his opponents in the race. He referred to the platform of Gov ernor O'Neal as being one of incon- sistency. He said: How in the world and beer in Alabama when the Vol stead act was as mild as the May hreezes as compared to the prohibit tion laws in Alabama?" He said that when he was a boy he fox-hunted great deal and when he would catch a red fox he would skin and wet the hide and drag it over the fields and then start the puppies on the trail. The old dogs would sit and wink while the puppies would raise a mighty howl in the chase. He said that O'Neal with his little wet platform was not even getting the puppies to follow him. He said that the volstead act was on the books and should be en- forced and as long as he was in con gress he would do his best to see that this was done. He claimed that the whisky issue was a dead one and said that no man need hope to go to the Senate and promise his people that he would get them light wines and beer, for he could never get it in Alabama. at least, for the people did not want it.
 MT. Heflin then went into a discuss sion of the bonus for the soldiers He said that he had not as yet gotten sufficient data upon which to base an opinion as to what was best. tie said that if they wanted bonus he would do all he could to get one in either land or money, or both He paid very beautiful tribute to the Ameri- can boys who went to the battlefields of France and died.
 During the speech he referred to his action in shooting a negro in Wash ington. He said that his southern blood would never permit him to sit by while a drunken brute insthe great capital of our country insulted white lady. even if it was during the reign of republican administration. He asked all who indorsed his action to stand. and ehe entire house rose and gave him tremendous applause He closed his speech by asking the voters to honor him as they had other men who had been in Congress by pro- noting the next oldest man in Con- gress to the Senate. He said that they 11.> sxl Il. 41- I,