The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-03
hostility against MT. Underwood him.


 were going on, The Age-Herald feared that such sentiment would be created by certain corporate groups, and that neither love for Democracy nor party harmony, nor the real interests of Mir. Underwood were the sole and controlling influences at work. The Age-Herald said at that time:
 It appears to be simple political philosophy that any expressed hostility to other aspirants % IS not calculated to inspire friend ly feeling for Mir. Underwood, but arouse hostility towards him These attacks upon other Demo- cratic aspilants must be deprecated.
 Again, at a later date, The Age Her aid was moved to voce objection against the continued defamation of MT. Mo Adoo by, these corpol ate organs, saying
 If Mir. Underwood is successful l before the next Democratic national
 convention, he necessarily will have | to be nominated by delegates at the present time committed 70 other cam ] didates. Criticism of these candi-
 dates will but result in arousng hos
 tilI:y to Mir Underwood. What Mir.
 IJnderW ood's real friends should do | is to seek the friendly aud nar- l monious support of delegates com-
 mitted to other candidates, and not
 antagonlze them.
 Even at later date, when the canl- paign of calumny was being continued against a conspicuous Democratic as- pirant, who later dominated the conven- tion for nearly hundred ballots, The Age-Herald once more cautioned against such a course when it asked which was the better policy;
 To antagonize enough votes to
 block MT. Underwood's nominations;
 or to conciliate those who will hold
 the balance of power?
 But these warnings were unheeded, because there was something more back of the attack than the mere cause of MT. Underwood's candidacy. The Bir- mingham News and the Montgomery Ad- vertiscr even took the astounding posi- ton that to seek support of delegates then committed to another candidate was to traffic with enemies. For example, the Advertiser, on September 9, 1924, said
 Senator Underwood is not to be
 nominated by the intelligent and
 loyal support of his friends, but by
 concluding and trafficking with his
 enemies.
 And in November, 1923, the Birming- ham Evening News remarked:
 All this talk about second-choice
 votes is about on a par with a chap
 marrying girl, with the second wife
 picked out.
 How this view, born of prejudice aris- ing from, special interest attachment, harmed Underwood is proved by the con- vention action; for no one disputes that if the solid South, which, except for Alabama, voted for MT. McAdoo on 10l ballots, had come to MT. Underwood, he would without any question have been the nominee of the convention. The cor porate and ti-prohibition groups did not want MT. McAdoo, and the suspicion may we'll be entertained whether MT. Under wood, in his failure to repudiate such a policy, did not let himself become the in- stloment through which it was hoped to attain an end beyond his nomination.
 To speculate as to what would have happened in Alabama had the corporate contact and the unhappy religious issue been defined prior to the legislative in vitation is merely a post mortem of events that are now history. That MT. Underwood has been grievously dam aged in Alabama no thoughtful or ob- servant man can deny. That his further tenure in the senate was not considered by those who professed close intimacy with him, though warned of the position in which they were placing him, evil denced on their part disregard for MT. Underwood himself and his continued able service in the senate. That issue rests on the knees of the political gods :; but that it will arise when he of- fers again, and that the people will ex- press themselves upon it, now appears inevitable. For the apparent willingness of MT. Underwood to continue close alignment with the corporate group in Alabama, always alert to garner all the spells that go with political prestige, may make of MT. Underwood the central fig ure in future political developments in Alabama, and an end of his power the immediate objective in the situation that has resulted from events eliminating in what took place in the Alabama delega- ton at the convention.
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