The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-04

Florida and Georgia.
Florida goes to the polls on Tuesday
and Georgia on Wednesday. There is
widespread interest as to how the states
will vote-what majorities they viii give
the democratic ticket. The political sta
tisticians and seers will compile tables
and make predictions with regard to the
national election based on the Florida
and Georgia returns. And the people
will be just as well informed with regard
10 the probabilities Of the November cleo
ton as they were before and no better.
For the elections in the two states viii
be hold under circumstances differing
from those OF any election held previously.
In Florida the Australian ballot system
will be tried for the FIRST time, and the
new ballot law requires an educational
/ qualification and the payment of poll
/ taxes as prerequisites to voting. There is
/ not room for doubling that the election,
/ held under the new regulations, viii be
! the fairest the state has had in years.
/ But just what the effect viii be upon the
voting strength of the several parties re-
mains to be seen. In Georgia the forth
Y
general registration law The registra-
ton has been very heavy, but in what
proportion the parties have registered is
an open question.
The democratic party of Florida has
had no real, hard fight upon its hands
since 1888, in which year it turned down
the republicans by plurality of 1904, in
a total vote of 6666l. The Times-Union Of
Jacksonville predicts that the total vote
on Tuesday viii approximate that of 1888,
and that the democratic plurality will be
so per cent. greater. 1t is to be hoped that
such viii be the case, as it is understood
that considerable republican money has
been turned loose in the state, and that
the republicans are well organized. 1t
should be borne in mind that the cleo
ton of 1894 is not to be accepted as the
basis for comparisons. In that year there
was no organized opposition worth speak
ing of. The democrats had a walkover
The democratic plurality the last time
the party had a real fight on it's hands
was a few votes short of 1900. Any in
crease in that plurality will show so
much increase in the democratic strength.
In the last presidential election Georgia
polled 223946 votes. The total of voters
| registered this year under the new regis
tration law is 291,866 nearly 6S,OOO in ex-
cess of the vote of 1892. 1t is believed that
| a large percentage Of the colored vote
has been registered, approximating in the
total 100000 votes. Two years ago, in the
state election, the populists poled 96,SSs
votes and the democrats 12lO49 votes, Civ
/ ing the latter plurality Of q, 161.
Crop Movement Checked.
4 Our market reports for several days
1 have noted the diminution of receipts OF
| cotton and naval stores. The reason Is
not far to seek-the storm is responsible.
/ The movement of upland cotton has not
/ been materially affected, but the move
ment of sea islands and naval stores has
been cut down considerably. The path
of the storm was through the sea island
and the turpentine belt The effect was,
and Is the total suspension in the storm
area of wagon traffic between plantations,
stills and shipping points. Advices cover
ing a considerable portion of Souln
Georgia and North Florida are to the er-
feet that the country roads are completes
! ly blockaded by fallen timber. In some
sections there are thousands of tree
trunks across the roads to every mile
In Others the situation Is not quite so
bad, but bad enough to require weeks OF
time for the clearing away of the OBJ
structions.
Unfortunately, the work of clearing the
roads in the country districts progresses
very slowly. 1t is hard enough matter
to get the roads worked when there is
nothing uncommon the matter with them
and It is harder to get people to clear
them up after such a visitation as that OF
last week. The public road laws contain
no provision adequate to such an emer>
gency as the one at hand, hence the
roads will remain blocked indefinitely, ex-
cept in places where private enterprises
pay for the opening of short stretches of
roadway for their own convenience.
In so far as sea island cotton is con.
cerned, by the way, it is not probable
that there is great deal more of it on
the plantations awaiting the clearing OF
the roads: The bottom crop had about all
been gathered and sent to market
when the blow came. What there was OF
the top crop in the fields in the storm
area on last Tuesday was quickly whipped
out and blown away or ruined. This is
true of both South Georgia and Florida
cotton. The South Carolina sea island
crop probably did not suffer to so great
an extent, as the sea island section of
that state did not receive the full force
of the winds. The storm struck inland
above this city.
The conclusion seems to have been
reached by several prominent members
Of the National Prison Congress after all