The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-26
NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY
CAFFEE HAS NO STRENGTH IN THE BLACK BELT.
Only Interest Aroused by the Com. missionsr's Card is in Regard
 to Sentence Intimating
 Split With Johnston.
Advertise Bureau.

Selma. June %. q The announcement of Judge A. E. caf- fee for Governor came as quite a surprise to the people of Selma. and the announce ment in this mornings Advertiser was very generally discussed on the streets here. It did not create any excitement, but everybody was inquifing what 1t meant. prominent and wsii-informed politician had this to say about 1t:
 ..I am not on the inside of the opposi- tior to Governor Jeiks and do not know what 1t means. but if they have settled on Caffee to defeat the present Governor. it Icoks to me like they have picked out a rather weak candidate. Caffee is nice, clever gentleman. but he will never be able to defeat Governor Jelks. don't know how Judge Caffee will run in other portions of Alabama. but he will hardly poll a corporal's guard in this, the Black Belt. where he ought to be strongest. In Dallas County. Governor Jelks would beat him twenty to one. doubt whether Caftee would get fifty votes in Dallas against Jelks.
 "Judge Caffee is shrewd. however. and wants to hold the job of railroad com mis sioner It is a sinecure ana IS Just like picking up $3,o00 in the public road' Ho knows he does not stand any chance of getting the nomination, but he can announce and rally around him rev thousand followers. Then, if anybody IS So foolish as to enter the race ayalns' Governor Jelks, he can go to that mai, and say to him that he will get out oi | <~sx ata oId DOHi- ton as Railroad Commissioner, in case he is elected. I am free to confess If he depe nds on getting his job through the man who will defeat Governor Jelks, ne is depending on a broken reed. but he IS in a position where he will take desper- ate chances and that is his only hope.
 ..There is one sentence in Judge Cat fees announcement that locks like he and Johnston have come to a parting oi the ways. He says that his announce ment for Governor will be great sur. prise to Governor Johnston. It would appear from that sentence that he and the ex-Governor had had little falling out over something, ard that he is run ming for Governor to get even with John ston for some supposed. or real wrong If they have really fallen out and John stor makes the race against Governor Jelks, you can look out for real live campaign, for Caffee is on the Inside oi everything, and what he will do to Jo- sephus will be plenty.
 ''Outside of a possible split between Johnston and Caffee the latter's candi' dacy for Governor Is rather amusing than serious. The announcement that he would be a candidate came like nash of lightning from a clear sky. No one in this section had ever heard of his name in connection with the office before he announced that he would be in the race and 1t is strange. if SC many letters have been written to him. urging him to run that 1t has not been heard of down here in the Black Belt. where he made his fame as a manipulator of ballots. when 1t took nerve to do it. I am anxious to see what Judge Caffee has up his sleeve but no one that have talked to believes for moment that his candidacy means business. but the impression is that he is using it to accomplish an end. It is one of the moves on the checker board of Alabama politics. and ] shall watch its outcome with interest"
 Reports Bad Crops.
 Capt. W. W. Wilson of Newton. Dale County is in Selma today. He came to look after his farming interests He still owns three plantations on South Side, which are rented. He says that the crops between Selma and the wiregrass section through which he passed are very poor, but that beyond Newton and in the coua- ties below Dale the crops are good and the farmers had plenty of rain. Captain Wilson says that the wiregrass region of Alabama is- coming to the front very rad idly now. Lands that could have been pur- chased there q few years ago for $2.5O an acre arc now bringing $10 and SIP and some lands there are not for sale at any price. He Is infatuated with Newton and Dale County and thinks that section has just cCmmc=ced it's onward, upward e IT. SC.