The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-26
MOBILE TALKS IF
 NEXT GOVERNOR Wash Taylor is to Have Some
 Opposition MOBILE ALSO HAS DEFICIT Interesting Figures Are Given Com pairing Various Items of Expense and Income With Those
 of Birmingham.
MOBILE ALSO HAS DEFICIT

erSAAANA the railroad commission has been the subject of much gossip among Mobile politicians this week. There are differ ences of opinion as to the probable effect O. the letter upon the gubernatorial con test next year, but there is unanimous opinion as to the reason for the writing Of the letter bv the lieutenant governor.
 He is trying to land squarely in the Comer band wagon," everyone tells you. Some politicians who are accustomed to taking their political outings Cor innings) in band wagons say that the learned Jefferson county doctor has turned smooth trick, and that this letter that shall almost certainly become famous is sure to land him the nomination. And then there is pretty fair sprinkling or opinions expressed that the lieutenant governor waited too long to splash his ink, and consequently they assert that the Conner element will want to be shown" before they hitch him to the lead traces of their wagon.
 There is still another element, which is slightly in the majority in Mobile county, that will not talk. The anti Comer, or more generally known as the railroad element, are saying not word. From their view point the contest has not yet taken shape, or at least the word has not been passed down to this corner of the state.
 There have been rumors to the effect that Mobile is to furnish the anti Conner candidate, but such talk is mere gossip. There are long lists of "eligibles' and well fitted" in this county. but so far as can be learned only one man has had a serious bee Duzzlng about his cap. Senator Joel W. Goldsby has been fre- quently mentioned as a probable candi- date and it is quite likely that he has given the matter some serious thought, but he has so far failed to make an announcement of his intentions.
 This rumor about the Mobile candi- date seems to have had it's origin in Birmingham and as evidence of it's cor rectness the report cites the fact that Colonel Wiley Tunstallf associate rail- read commissioner, was recently in Mo bile, and while here talked to some prom irent man about becoming a candidate and about beating Dr. Cunningham. Mo- bile people who are close to Colonel Tun- stall have given little attention to this Montgomery rumor Colonel Tunstall was in Mobile, but it was prior to the meeting of the railroad commission, at which the two associoates sat" upon President Conner. While here Colonel TEnstall saw many of his friends, but if he talked politics no one has been found who heard him. Practically all of the eligible list here have publicly denied and discussion of gubernatorlal candl- dates with Colonel Tunstall
 The chances seem decidely against Mo- bile furnishing gubernatorial candidate in vt puf bo hora have not yet tied themselves onto any prospective candidate.
 Congressional Politics.
 The people of Mobile are taking consid- erable interest in another race which is equally, or more interesting to them than the forthcoming gubernatorial race. To speak of Congressional politics is to inn mediately arouse the interest of the voter here. Mobile seems so far away from an Alabama town, or the other counties of Alabama, until state politics hardly cause as exciting interest as local affairs
 Ever since Col Richard II. Clark volun- tarily retired from Congress- Mobile has been trying to send q favored son to Con gress. but up this time Col Wash Taylor has out generated the Moblians. But to speak of a Mobile politician is to speak the name of fighter, and 1t now appears that Colonel Taylor is going to have the hardest fight of his life to get another nomination. In days of yore when the First district witnessed such fierce battles between the Taylor r's-Wash and Hannis- the Marengo county Representative would down the Mobile man through the old convention system. There are six coun- ties in the district, and the upper three, always carried by the Marengo candidate, had sufficient votes to name the candida te oyer the lower three, usually carried by the Mobile candidate.
 The brilliant young democrat who is to oppose Colonel Taylor in his next race is Edward M. Robinson, known all over the state as an eloquent orator and demo- erat faithful to his party. He has rep resented the county with credit in the Legislature, and has other wise been hon ored by the party. Colonel Taylor has recently been In Mobile looking after the Robinson boom, and it leaked out that the friends of the Congressman have been discussing the most "convenient" plan for defeating MT. Robinson Colonel Taylor is said to favor a primary, but his friends or most of them are reported as desiring the convention system In the meanwhile, Mir. Robinsons friends claim that they will win in either event but MT. Robinson frankly asserts that he is believer in the prlnnary plan, giving every voter the 1ull benefit of his ballot. There's likely to be some real fun when this campaign begins.
 The city's Deficit.
 Mobile, like Birmingham, is face 10 face with municipal deficit, though not quite so large as that Of the Magic City Mayor Lyons has submitted to the Council his annual report, and he tells the members that the expenditures have been $4S00O greater than the recepts. The report dis closes that it reuires considerably more money to run Birmingham. The two cities are shown by the census of 1900 to be within less than one hundred persons of the same population, yet the receipts of Birmingham are shown to be $4GOS0S.2l. as against $321, ,172 .79 for Mobile, while the disbursements for Birmingham are placed at $56l.SS5.66 to $364, 267 for Mobile.
 The largest differences in receipts of the two cities comes from the tax and license collections Birmingham collected S1Sl ,9S3