The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-12
MARYLAND TO GO DEMOCRATIC A Personal Investigation
 Shows It. SITUATION IN BALTIMORE Palmer and Buckner Supporters
 Return to Fold. Labor Leaders in the State are Posi- tive that the Majority of Work
 lag Men wil Support
 Bryan.
nY ALFRED ,. sToFER.

Washington. Oct 11.-(Spscial. )-The electoral vote of Maryland seems to be safe for Bryan and Kern.
 This state has been one of the doubtful ones during the past fifteen years. Mckinley carried It over Bryan in .1s96 by about s2,o00. and again in 1900 by about 14,oOo. In 1896 the bulk of the Democrats in Mary land, who declined to support Bryan on account of his advocacy of the free coinage of silver, hesitated for some weeks as to whether. or not they would vote the Palmer and Buckner ticket or pitt la their ballots straight Tor the Republican ticket. Iney became worked up and most of them decided to support Mckinley outright. with the result noted above.
 With hardly an exception, tn ese men who cut loose from their party asso- ciates. still claimed to be Democrats. and the average one became insulted if he was called a Republican. Since that memorable campaign, probably from 1000 to 5000 former Democrats in the city of Baltimore have gone clear over into the Republican ranks and no longer object to being classed as Republicans. There are several hundred more of the same kind out in the larger cities and towns of the State, exclusive of Baltimore.
 A Close Race.
 Your correspondent made a special trip to Baltimore. and put in seven or eight hours of hard work with a view of ascertaining a correct idea of the situation. Leading men con- nected with the management of the contest for both the Democrats and Republicans were called upon for their opinions as to the outlook in Mary land. As as rule, men st political A s-ka a nQ 1f their surroundings, cannot help telling you that a city or State will vote just as they hope k will. It was learned from talks with these leaders that each side realizes that the con- test in Maryland this year is going to be a close one.
 "We are going to- carry Maryland" said General Murray Vandiver. Treas urer of the State and Chairman of the Democratic State Committee. But we realize that we have a tremendous fight on our hands We work under the disadvantage of having very little money to meet the legitimate expenses of the campaign. That, however, Is nothing new for us. We have carried Republicans had all the funds they asked for.".
 Collector of the Port William Stone. who is looked upon as the Republican boss of Baltimore. Is sanguine that Taft will come out ahead by a few thousand votes. General Felix Agnus, publisher of The Baltimore American and The American Star. an afternoon edition of the establishment that was launched only a few weeks go to try conclusions with Frank A. Munsey's Baltimore News, is such an enthusiastic Taft supporter that he will not con- cede that Bryan has the slightest show in Maryland. But this Is nothing but @ talking through his hat" assertion. as users of slang would say. The jolly General Agnus actually claims that Taft's majority will run from 20 0000 to 25,000. No other Republicans conversed with can figure out more than 5000, and they will be happy in the extreme if they. should even pull their candidate through by few hum dred votes. Judge Parker four years