The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-04
FARMER VOTE NOW IS PRIZE Rural Districts Are Bat
 tie Grounds. FIGHT IN NORTH ALABAMA Both Sides in Hot Race For
 Ballots. Leaders of "Antis, Well Pleased With the Bifminsham Meeting, But Realize That Hard Battles
 Are Ahead.
FIGHT IN NORTH ALABAMA
BY WILL T. sHEEHAN.


 Birmingham, Oct. 3-(SpeciaL) )-For the political contest now raging in Alabama, private box and a special seat is being arranged to accommodate the North Alabama farmer. From now on, the farmer of North Alabama is to be a pampered spectator of the fight, and the spectacle is to be arranged for his consideration and his satisfaction.
 The political warfare from now on Is to be fought out largely in the North Alabama counties and both sides. the Amenders and the Defenders, will make special and direct pleas to the farmers in North Alabama This shift ing of the fight is due to two causes, first, that that part of Alabama north of Calera has probably 30.000 more votes than South Alabama since the negroes quit voting, and second, to the fact that the defenders of the Consti- tution got in their work first and won a strong footing in South Alabama be- fore the amenders got their excellent machine started.
 Any we'll informed man, without a partisan bias, will admit that south of Montgomery and including the big ma jorities that will come from Mont- gomery, Mobile and Lowndes Counties, will bring up a majority against the amendment, unless there is remark able change in public sentiment The pro-amendment people assert that theT greatest strength Is in the North Ala bama counties.
 Appeal to Rural Voter.
 The pro- amendment people expect to make their strongest appeal direct to the country voter, because they real ize that the country voter in the az greRate. is against the amendment and not for it. as was at first. expected. The conservative amendment peopie admit that their greatest strengtn IS ln the towns, but that they will win the country people as soon as they get 70 them with speakers and interviewers
 IT ts announced that Rev brooKs Yawrence has given special study to this phase of the present situaton anu that as 0 result he has evoiVeo scheme to go direct to ana appeai '" the country voter. What this p ns hss not ben announced, but some or the pro-amendment people having run confidence in MT. Lawrence's resources fulness. are banking on it's emciehcy.
 Tha anti-amendment people went ai- Gar the country voter, at the tap oI tue halI. A bushel of literature was dunipeu M into each county and In many coun "a ho talk to and canvass the Iarhiete' o
 aonAnts of the amendment nave E" .a-aosed their clerical force Tn Moht. .,,ry that they now can senu out sS ooo n,eces of mail daily Nh @ uns s' thav can cover any two couhtios as tbe state with one or tne'T of circulars =. n,sb, delight
 ne t,sorts of the leaders Of the est gu a.ainst the amendment. Iney a tbat the total attendance was at least 12.OO0 and that the more oon
 r,,atiya estimate of 1O,OoO Was s;ra,y too small Be that as IL may if was undeniably the most hoeau nol,tical mass meeting ever helu III .n state. Of course, greater crowos na ase sathered. but so far as is known so sa'n oroud never assembled to hear a discussion of the pohticai sues of the state.
 Meeting Was Success.
 '"The meeting was mas success" said Chairman Lee o, who presided at one of the stahus' have never seen anything ike IL II, my experience in state poiltics' was the most forceful anu po" nrotest against existing political con dit,ons that was ever registered III this state. It gave our opponents III Birmingham and Jefferson county something to think about. 1T they are not panic stricken, they ought to he. We are more than satisfied with the Jefferson county situation.
 Mir. Long has called his executNe committee to meet in Birmingham Friday.
 There were scores of leaders who came in from adjoining counties. wish you and I had the time to Fe- cord and have published some of the glowing reports that they brought in' TJnless our friends. the enemy. do something to stop the tide. this is going to be one of the most one-sided elections ever held in this state.
 Judge John H. Miller. who is lead ing the defender forces in this coun- ty was equally delighted with the meeting.
 q am counted as unduly conserva- tive over the Jefferson county situa- tion," said Judge Miller. "Some of our friends do not believe that I do full justice to our strength in this county, but I prefer to underestimate 1t now than to be disappointed in the final vote. Jefferson county will certainly go against the amendment. The ma iority will range between 1,500 and B. 900. The size of the majority will depend upon the fight that Is made here In the next two months. We
 
 ized in this county and we do not pro- pose to discount his strength. But the enemy has failed to appreciate the revolt of the people against the poll ticians. The city of Birmingham, it is estimated on both sides. will go heavily against the amendment. When the fight was saloon or no saloon and when I and hundreds of others were hghtig the saloons Birmingham voted against prohibition. The supporters of the amendment hope to get enough votes in the smaller towns and com munities to offset the vote of Birm- ingham. But we will meet there and we will come to the city of BirmIng ham with majority"
 PrOhibitiOnist Optimistic.
 A well known prOhibitionist. one who is in the confidence of the state leaders said yesterday in discussing the statewide situation:
 We believe we are going to win this fight We are going to win 1t between now and November 29, for a prohibition fight has always cut down the lead of the opponents when the campaign once got under way. We have agencies and resources that the other crowd know nothing about.
 s.But let me tell you Brooks Law