The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-03
NEW YORK STATE WILL
 PUZZLE WISE HEADS
 AND MAY DECIDE RESULT I
Mack and Hitchcock Are Confident of Winning and Make No Change In Forecasts-Bryan and Taft
 Close Their Cam
 paigns.

New York. November 2.-with election day at hand, with fair weather and a heavy vote indicated throughout the Uni ted States. the rival managers ,of the re- publican and democratic national cam paigns closed their desks at headquarters tonight, declaring respectively that Taft and Bryan would win, and then hurried away on late trains to cast their ballots, Mir. Hitchcock at West Newton, Mass, and Mir. Mack at Buffalo. Both chairnen feel that whom their votes shall have been deposited tamorrow they will have done all that they could to further the interests of their parties and of their leading can didates in the momentous campaign of 1908.
 The tasks f the national chairmen have been many and tedious. They have in- volved long railroad journeys and many midnight Wgils. The varied turns and perplexities of the long campaign have been trying, and it was with sighs of great relief tkat both MT Hitchcock ana MT. Maex ani.ouneea that their work was done.
 Therc sgSiI lsa ksss'yi Fe siis ' be tocaaa after VI ln the voting is over, but the nerve-racl;Ng tension, the uncertainty and suspense will be gone, and with either victory or defeat will come an earnestly anticipated cessation of political worries. For MT. Hitchcock it will mean a rest after campaign which he declares has been conducted strictly along the lines agreed upon at the very start.
 Weeks Work Finished.
 MT. Mack gave up his prediction work with the satisfaction. his associates say, of having brought the democratic party into greater unity than for many years past. He has conducted a vigorous cam paign from the start and says he believes the party to be in a better position to win the election than at any time in it's history
 MT. Hitchcock remained late at repub- lican headquarters delaying his departure for Massachusetts until midnight. He will return tomorrow afternoon to receive the returns. MT. Mack left for his home in Buffalo shortly before 10 o'clock, and also will be lack in the city tomorrow night.
 The polls in New York city will open at o'clock tomorrow morning and close F hours later. The same rule holds true throughout practically every part of the city and the indications are that the New York state vote will be the first to be flashed over the wires tomorrow night as giving an indication of how the eee- ton is to go This, at least, will be true of the counties and cities outside of Greater New York. Voting machines are extensively used up the state, and the resulls will be known almost as soon as the polls close.
 Erie County the Keynote.
 It was said that four years ago Erie county in which Buffalo is located, first told President Roosevelt of his approach ing victory. The returns from Erie this year will be watched with the keenest interest both as to bearing on the national and New York state results. The count of the vote in New York city, Brook lyn and surrounding boroughs is likely to be slow and long delayed.
 The end of the campaign tonight found MT Taft and MT Bryan still on the go and if apathy should be apparent in the volume of the vote throughout the coun- try tomorrow it will be no fault of theirs They have both travelled many thousands of miles and have spoken in more than a score of states. New York, Indiana and Ohio have been the scenes of greatest efforts of the two candidates, and nat urally the returns from these states will hold the greatest degree of interest
 What effect the independence party, or ganized by William R. Hearst, and in the national field for the first time this year, will have upon the old parties is a matter of conjecture to be decided by tomorrows balloting.
 The socialist leaders, passing their claims on the reception given to Eugene V. Debs on his Red Special tour of the coun- try, are confident that they will poll d greater vote than ever before.
 Hitchcock's Card System.
 Republican Chairman Hitchcock de- clared today thar late reports received from national committeeman and state cllairmen strengthened his faith in the estimate of 325 electoral votes for MT. Taft made on Friday night,
 .I believe this contest is won" he said. "It has been worked out as sys- tematically as it is possible to apply a system to national campaign The chairmanship of this committee was not or my Scthrib. iif'S~ "h' "io oii tiie inside can testify to this. I had been involved in work previous to the opening of the campaign which naturally | thought should have relieved me of this work which accepted. As l anticipated there was much criticism in the begin- ming. but | think that the way in which inc work has been done justifies me in saving that the results show that the object has been attained.
 .sAt ,,o lime have indu1gQ6 ill any