The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-26
 JOHNSON HAS AN ADVANTAGE His Central Committee Decides Contests. VIGOROUS PROTESTS MADE Most Bitter Feeling Is Against Old Committee. Preliminary Contests Show That the Cleveland Mayor Has odds in
 His Favor in 0uberna-
 torial Contest.
VIGOROUS PROTESTS MADE

meetings this afternoon and evening of the Democratic State Convention result ed in favor of Mayor Tom l.. Johnson of
 Cleveland in his contest with John L..
 Zimmerman of Springfield for the guber- Latorial nomination.
 Mayor Johnson had uncontested control of the Democratic State Convention last year at Sandusky and the committee se-
 lected then, in it's call for this convention provided that the credentials from all the
 counties were to be first submitted to the State Central Committee. Pursuant to this new requirement. the State Central Committee that was selected at sandusky
 last year, met at ?. m. today and pass
 ed upon the contests that affect 14S of the 800 delegates. fin favor of the Johnson men who thus had the odds In their favor when the delegates met at 4:3o p. m. by Congressional Districts to select mem- bers of the Committees on Credentials. Resolutions, etc. The Johnson men SC. cured most or the members of the new State Central Committee which holds over to call the State Convention rext year when delegates at large to the Democratic
 National Convention will be selected and an endorsement be made for the presi- dency.
 The State Central Committee in consid- ering the contests from counties in alpha
 betical order first decided to report to the
 Committee on Credentials that there was no contest from Cuyahoga County (Cleve- land) and then on a demand for a roll
 call it was decided by vote of 14 to [ that there was a contest from Hamilton
 County fcincinnatl.) The result of this
 action was that thet first and second dis
 tricts at Cincinnati which are anti-John-
 son, were prevented from voting in the
 organization of the committees and the
 convention. while the twentieth and tweu- 1 ty-first districts at Cleveland were en- abled to take part
 The State Central Committee referred the contests in Gallia. Miami, Ross and Seneca counties to tils Committee on C-e- dentiaIs without recommendation. These counties are in different Congressional
 districts and those districts proceeded to
 select members of the committees with out the contested counties taking part, the result being thus favorable to the Johnson men. It is seldom that such vigorous protesting is heard as that of the Zimmerman men tonight, but the Johnson men reply that no quarter could be expected after such a fight as has been waged the past few days. The Zim- mermen men carried the fight into the meetings of all the committees tonight and insist that they will carry 1t into the
 convention tomorrow. The most bitter feeling is against the action of the old State Central Committee this afternoon l in passing on contested cases. which is
 said to be without precedent in the his-
 tory of the party.
 The appeal of the Zimmerman men for
 constructions from the counties on Gov ernor not to apply to the selection of
 members of the committees and the or- ganization of the convention were not effective, but in fact accepted as a con- | fession of weakness and the Johnson men aoli61ry fnnafhnr nn ali the Fraliun.
 mary contests.
 The district meetings were unusually spirited, especially those of the Cincin-
 natl districts, where the Johnson men are represented by the Bigelow delegations and the Zimmerman men by the Ber-
 nard delegations. Each made separate selections. those of the Bigelow delega-
 tions being unanimous while the Ser
 nard delegates had opposing candidates. The new State Central Committee or ga anized tonight with F. L. Finley of Ken ton as chairman and D. c. Madigan of
 Cleveland as Secretary. both Johnson
 men. The Committee on Permanent Or ganization selected J. H. Cooke of wape-
 ket as permanent and rep0rted in favor
 of continuing the rest of the temporary organization. The Johnson men controll- cd all the committee meetings tonight
 as firmly as the afternoon meetings, but l the Zimmermen men fought at every point and will present minority reports to the convention tomorrow on every thing In the Committee on Rules and Order of Business, Webster P. Hunting ton. the manager of Zimmermans can didacy, led the opposition to any provi-
 sion for Senatorial endorsement, and four others joined him in signing the minority
 report. The majority report puts Sena- torial endorsement as the last thing in -,.fk fvaAga TCf
 son men except a contest in their own ranks on that matter. While Johnson still advocates John H. Clarke of C1eve- land, it is believed that the name of N.
 M. Saltzgaber. the temporary chairman of the convention ex-Congressman Letnz and others. will be presented, as there Is
 much talk about nominating Bookwalter.
 notwithstanding his withdrawal Charles w. Constantine, the close friend of
 Bookwalter, late tonight felt called upon to issue another statement that Book
 walter would decline If he was named for
 Senator.
 c. c. Philbrick, one of the close coun- sellors of Johnson called on Zimmerman tonight and offered the endorsement for
 Senator if he would withdraw and make
 the nomination of Johnson unanimous
 but Zimmerman could not entertain the proposition as he had today issued a state- ment agalnSt the endorsement or anyone
 for Senator and his friends on the com
 mittees had already dawn up minority reports against such endorsement and
 then 1t was thought that it would be dis astrous to his fellow townsman Bookwalt- CT who had withdrawn from the Senator
 ship contest. It Is said the Zimmerman men will oppose endorsement and when | beaten on that proposition that they will
 vote for John A. Clark. whose financial
 views are In accord with the conserva-
 tives on that question. so that the en-
 dorsement of Clarke for Senator seems to | be assured.
 The Committee on Credentials tonight
 followed the action of the old State Cen
 tral Committee.
 The Committee on Resolutions held an
 all night session, although printed copies
 of the platform were brought here by
 Johnson men from Cleveland. The John
 son men of this Committee was not unan- . N...- 4.