Birmingham age-herald., 1894-08-28
"SAMOTH" WRITES
Presenting an Analysls of the
 State Vote,
And Seeks to Do Justice to Both Jones and
 Oates.

I notice in the AaE-HERALD of yester.
 day some deductions by a correspon dent from comparison of the election returns
 of 1892 and 1894, and some editorial com- ments thereon. Both are in some respects inaccurate. The writer is a warm admirer of Governor elect Oates and believes that no man could have done better than he in the ast state election. Still, to support that claim 1t is not necessary or justi6able to state, as you do, that 'sa5 Governor Jones' campaign is brought into the dis cussion, comparisons, which are some- times odioue, are presented. A close ex- animation will show that Oates received larger majority of white votes than did Jones two years ago.'' A close examina. ton of the returns will hardly sustain the statement as to ''white majorities, ' and it occasionally proves that Jones re- ceived more white votes in the 'white countiesp in 1892 than Oates did n 1894.
 With four or five exceptions the balance of power in what are called the ''white counties' is held by the negro voters, and
 with the exception of six "white couu- ties'' carried by Koib in 1892, every one of
 them was carried for him by the negro vote, which 1t is known as a rule went al.
 most solid in these counties for Kolb in 1892, and nearly solid in 1894. Kolb's ne-
 gro vote in the white counties was proba-
 bly, less in 1894 than In 1892, owing to
 Kolb's sympathy with the element that
 killed the negroes at Pratt mines and his denunciations of the authorities for pro.
 teoting them. The vote in the "white cpunties" does not, therefore, show what candidate received the majority of the white
 votes in the white counties. It will sur.
 prise many persons to know the proportion
 of negro votes in many of the "white coun-
 ties" In Madison, for instance, there are 3tSB white and 3434 black voters; in Lime-
 stone 2168 white and 1859 black votes; Tal-
 lapoosa, 3c64 whites and 1665 black voters;
 Colbert, 2225 white and i444 black voters; Calhoun, 4344 white and I818 black voteas;
 Morgan, 5255 white and 1124 black voters;
 Talladega. 27S9 white and 2546 voters. With anything like an equal division of the white
 vote In most of the "white couutieso
 in either 1892 Or 1894, with Kolb's hold on
 the negro vote, be would have carried them
 by far greater msjorities than he did.
 Assuming, however, that the vote in the
 ''white connties'' Ia 1892 and 1894 fur
 nishes the correct basis for determining the number of white votes Jones aud Oates re- ceived, it will be sseo that Jones received a
 greater number of white votes than Oates
 did.
 The four largest white counties are
 Mobile, Jefferson, Calhoun and Jackson.
 In Mobile Jones received 3533 votes, Oates
 2505; Calhoun, Jones 3040, Oates 2524; lief.
 ferson, Jones 8727. Oates 45S9; Jackson,
 Jones 2887, Oates 1887. The returns from
 the smaller white counties show that in the
 majority of them Jones received more votes
 than Oates. Governor -elect Oates made
 gains over Jones' vote in fourteen of the
 white counties, while in all the other white
 counties Jones receiveda a larger vote than
 Oates. The returns clearly show that Jones
 received more white votes in the white
 counties than Oates did, and it is certain
 that Jones received fully as many white
 votes in the "black belt'' as Oates did.
 Ti,n af fhn rnt1 kax fc nt at
 Jones was not as strong as Oates with the
 white voters of the state. The conditions
 of the campaigns of 1892 and 1894 when
 contracted, while they do not detract from
 Oates, certainly do not show that he had
 any greater hold upon the party or people
 than Jones. Indeed, the conditions are so
 dssi milar that it is hardly fair to take then,
 as a measure of comparative strength of the two men.
 In the Jones campaign of 1892 Kolb was regarded by many as sound democrat,
 the special friend of the farmers, and the
 martyr to unfair combinations iu the con. vention of 1890. Many people mistakenly supported him to fright the wrong.' Harrison's republican administration was in power and he candidate for reelection. Alabama was one of the first states to act, and the republican administration was so- llcitous to aid in breaking the solid south |, and the federal officials received instruc. tions from those near the throne to help Kolb all they could. This was the secret of Chairman Moseley's great interest in
 Koib's behalf, and why United States marshals and postmasters were so active for him. Jones' campaign was compli- cated by the fact that every officer in the state, from constable up, was to be elected. In hundreds of instances candidates for county offices remained on the fence or openly traded with Kolb against the regu- lar ticket. What constituted a democrat had not been sharply defiued, and the poll iticians, as a rule, were waiting to see t'which way the cat would jump" Oar | gress, with two or three exceptions, failed 1 to take the stump or make any active | efforts for the regular ticket. Kolb was l backed by the full power of the alliance and Its compact organization. It was still powerful, and, flushed with it's success in nominating governors in South Carolina. Georgia and Tennessee in the previous Alabama in 1892" In the beginning of l the campaign Kolb had the help of ralia- ] ferro, Altman, Bowman, Hubbard, R9que- | more and other prominent democrats, | while Governor Jones was, practically speaking, compelled to make his fight al- 1 most single handed. In Oates campaign 1 in 1894 Kolb had been thoroughly and ef- fectually stripped of all pretense of claim I to democracy. The exposure of his sale of
 the Weaver electors to Magee for Harri- 1 son s benefit, and his shameless and open bargain with Hoar to send delegation of 1 protection congressman to Washington, l had driven off hundreds and hundreds oi I democrats who had followed him up to that time. His attitude and that of his fol- l lowers towards Cleveland had thoroughly l drawn party lines. Every man knew where his party was, and there was no hesitation among leaders in raIlying around the regu. | lar ticket. There were no county offices for l Kolb to trade on or to keep aspirants on l the fence. It was not a presidential year, 1 and the administration being democratic, 1 it's influence was in favor of the regular l ticket. Kolb's attitude towards lawless. ness and his censure of the authorities fol