Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-29
NOTES AND NOTIONS Siftings of Impressions as to the
 Clarke Claims. GAME OF BLUFF AND CLUSTER Out of Twenty-six Candidates for Office in Jefferson County All but Three An
 Outright for Johnston.

The boasting and bluffing clements of the Clarke forces, be it said to the credit of the gentlemen who are deluded into following the congressional convert in his wild pursuit of principles. for which he is willing to make great personal sacri- fees, are not many. The clamorous few, of course, make up what they lack in numbers by vociferous and versatile in sistency. They are really the "supes" on the stage; they furnish wind and noise, wild alarums and artificial thunder.
 Yet, after all, they are following the example of their chosen leader, who has been baldly and boldly proclaiming in his recent speeches that he was going to carry not only Jefferson county, but "Johnston's own beat"
 What commander MT. Clarke would make for the Spanish forces in Cuba, Whatever happened the government would hear of nothing but a triumphal progress for its leader. But, seriously does this self-exalted cha mpion of prln- ciples believe the sstuffing wherewith he has been stuffed by the young money kings of Birmingham?,
 
 Deeming it a good place to take straw bearings of the wind as to Jefferson county's vote, the undersigned went to the county court house and made note of observations vouchsafed. Not single county officer, court or executive, could be found who entertained any sort of idea that Clarke could carry Jefferson county Most decidedly and unanimously is the opposite view held.
 A prominent county officer who is a candidate for reelection said to me that at first he thought Clarke's coming into the canvass was bad thing for the par ty, especially in Jefferson county, but he had come to a contrary opinion. Cap tain Johnston will carry S5 per cent of the vote at the primaries in this county" he said. Talk of MT. Clarke carrying the county is absurd; but his canvass has awakened interest with consider able number of citizens who would not have voted at all; it is of a class who are for sound money so-called, but who do not usually take enough interest in politics to go to the polls. Now, these are honorable men, too and once having entered the primaries they will abide by the result, and that result must be that they will support Johnston as the demo- cratic nominee for governor, bringing ad- ditional votes to the democratic party To my mind, as a Johnston man. the sfu- ation is entirely satisfactory"
 I took copy of the State Herald and, with a gentleman sufficiently posted to do so, yesterday went over the names of twenty-six candidates for office who have announced themselves in the press, from state senator to constab ble. Of the twen- ty-six, twenty-three of them are for Johnston straight -eut,and the remain ing three are doubtful. Every one of these gentlemen is a respected citizen, who has influence and following covering every nook and corner of this big county Johnston has about S5 per cent of these leading citizens of Jefferson, who are his supporters without any sort of reserva. tion. Not one of all the numerous candi- dates for office in Jefferson county is out spoken for Clarke. You can't discount facts like these.
 , A call upon MT. A. o. Lane the chair man of the Johnston Democratic club, elicited from him the following express sion
 Johnston stock is high and still rising My opinion is that he will carry every beat in Jefferson county. Country beats are practically solid. I don't really think any well-informed Clarke adherent has ever expected Clarke to carry any beats in the county except Elyton, East Lake and Bessemer and possibly one beat Cleveland-in the city. The Clarke forces are clearly weakening on some of these, If not all of them. With all their boast ing about carrying Elyton, they have within the last day or two, for the sake of harmony, asked for a division of the ten Elyton delegates on a basis of for Johnston and for Clarke. This propo- sition, of course, we declined because we. confidently expect decisive majority for Johnston, and we know there would be no proposition from them of a division if they could carry the beat. The outlook in Jefferson and elsewhere is, to me- en- tire1y satisfactory. We have the Clarke bows the and if iS to keep them so."
 A bundle of copies of the Washington Star has been received at this office, which contains speculative article on
 The Morrison Boom" It contains this.
 There is no longer doubt that the stories which have been in circulation around the capitol that Morrison is to be the candidate of certain of the conserva- tive free silver democrats is true. The Morrison boom, in fact, has reached somewhat larger proportions, and it is claimed that it will grow from now on. About week ago 1t was a noiseleSs af- fair, and when the Star published an in- terview with an extreme silverite claim ing that that was to be the programme Of certain silver men, there was deal of comment and considerable criticism. The Well-knoWn attitude of the silver men in the past that they would have no other nominee than an avowed silver man was looked upon as an rrevocable position They say now that the advocacy of Mor- rison has string tied to it, and if Morr. son agrees to the string it will be equiva- lent to making him a silver man. They argue further that Morrison only recently denied that he was a gold standard man. and say that he is a bimetallist who will agree that the will of his party shall be supreme. That is the string tied to the Morrison boom If he will sign a paper that he will not interfere with the legisla- tion of the silver men in the next con- gress he will receive the support of the conservative silver men at Chicago, and