The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-18
ALABAMA PARTY
 READY FOR TRIP
(Continued from Page Onel

pidtIOrm COuHlLCee. nepOrtS are dIlOdJ that Mr. Tunstall will lead a fight to give this post to Victor H. Hanson, publisher of the Birmingham News, a development however not in harmony with the Comer-Tunstall agreement of February 6 when Mir. Tunstall said definitely that he had asked Governor Conner to name the member of the plat form committee.
 UnderwO0d's Letter
 Senator Underwood's letter to Mir. Evins follows:
 June IA, 1924. ''Hon. R. B. Evins, Chairman Demo-
 cratic State Executive Committee of Alabama, Woodward Building, Bir- | mingham, Ala.
 My Dear Mir. Evins:
 Last year the legislature of Ala hama invited me to become a candidate for the presidential nomination of the democratic party. Subsequently I ac- cepted their invitation in a speech be- fore the legislature clearly defining my political views on the leading issues of l the day, and as the campaign developed r in many states of the Union I made speeches declaring my allegiance to the time-honored principle of the democrat ic party as expressed in section 10 of the platform of 1856, so that there can be no question but that my position on the fundamental issues involved in the prediction campaign for the democrat lc nomination for president has been known not only to my immediate con- stituents in Alabama, but to the coun- | try at large.
 Before the legislature adjourned last l fall it enacted a preferential primary law, authorizing and directing the sue cessful candidate in the primary to name the delegation to the democratic national convention to be held in New York on the 24th day of June this year. Subsequently the democratic state com mittee of Alabama reaffirmed the legis- lative enactment I have referred to in all it's terms. I was the successful can. dldate in the preferential primary, and therefore under the law and under the rules of my party l am authorized to designate to you, as chairman of the democratic party in Alabama, for your certification of them to the democratic national convention at New York, the names of the delegates to represent our state.
 Last December I had some letters from friends who were supporting me, among them former Senator B. B. Co., mer, suggesting that the delegation be designated in advance of the election In order to thoroughly satisfy the peo- pie of Alabama that the delegation would reflect the sentiment of our state Tn regard to the enforcement of the prohibition laws. In reply I wrote that l desired to have the campaign com mIffQ0 AnnnIOfnd hv to conduct my campaign to designate the delegates to the coming convention. This statement was published at the time and it is the only committal that I have made in regard to the matter.
 Cites Agreement
 In February Senator B. B. Conner, a member Of my campaign committee, and Hon. A. M. Tunstall, the chair man Of my committee, entered into an agreement between themselves to mutually select the delegation to go to the convention in my interest if were successful Tn the campaign. l was not a party to this agreement in any way. and had no knowledge of the agreement being conSummated until I read it in the daily papers published in Alabama. MT. Tunstall informs me that it was l Conner and himself that l personally was not a party to this agreement. Aft CT l read the agreement in the paper, and from the correspondence that came to me, l believed that the only issue in- vOlyed was the question of securing a delegation that would reflect the view point of the people of Alabama on the enforcement of the eighteenth amend ment to the constitution of the United states and the laws supplemental there to. As l had clearly defined my posi- tiOn in favor of the enforcement of this amendment in its entire integrity in my speech before the legislature, I had no objection to this question be- | ing made as clear to the voters of Alabama as it could be, but did not suppose that there would be any uues- tiOn raised about the delegation se- lected from my state reflecaing my views on the other leading issues of the campaign, which l had at that time made plain. I believed that the purpose of the. legislative enactment and the action of the democratic state executive committee in allowing the successful candidate to choose his own delegation was to be sure that the dele gation from Alabama would ring true in every particular to Alabama's choice for the presidential nomination It may be a new development in modern times that mans personality is regarded as of more importance than the princi- ples he stands for, but my own view point of party government is that gov ernmentals principles come first and that the personality of the candidate is ! a secondary consideration.
 Wrote To TunstaII
 With these views in mind, and with the earnest desire on my part to con form to the agreement entered into be- tween Senator Conner and Mir. Tunstall and before these gentlemen had se- lected the names of the delegates to pre- sent to me for appointment, I wrote a letter to Mir. Tunstall, asking him to call it to tn eattentiou of my cam | paign committee, with the view of their endeavoring to secure a delegation that would not only be in accord with the agreement of Senator Conner and Mir. Tunstall, but also in accord with the principles I had advocated during the campaign. This was in no way in- tended ,as a reflection on the person ality of the men subsequently, named, as at that time none of the delegates had been determined upon and I had no knowledge whatever of the names that would be on the list, and I regret } that this suggestion was not carried out before the names of the delegates were announced, as it would have been less embarrassing to all concerned.
 T deeply regret that an issue has been raised in, American politics that challenges the right of citizens of the republic to hold office, based on their religious belief or place of birth. The sound position of those who believe in the fundamental principles of our party was well defined in no less a per