The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-25
FIVE WEEKS REMAIN
 BEFORE THE ELECTION
Defenders, Confident Are PIasnins
 Still More Vigorous Werk.
Meeting. wm Be Held Dsrius weee at Every Important Point |. The state--Manager J. Lee Long Says That Voters Are
 Lining Up.

number of two or three there is amendment and anti-amendment talk Tn the towns two men talking 1t pro and con can draw a crowd of fifty n, a few minutes and in the country the farmers talk 1t as they meet on the road or at the cross roads stores.
 With five weeks to run. the cam paign is the warmest that Alabama has seen fin recent years and 1t is un- doubtedIy the most unique and spectas cular At the beginning of the cani- paign. when the Legislature had first submitted the question. even the opp ponents of the amendment were doubf- full. that it could be beaten by any sort of campaign. At the present stage of the campaign even the supporters of the amendment admit that probably it Is beaten at this time. but they hope to turn defeat into victory, by a strenuous and far-reaching campaign in the remaining five weeks.
 Speaking for the opponents of the amendments. Manager ]. Lee Long said yesterday:
 Each day have new reasons to be- iieve that not only is the anendment beaten. but that it will be the most decisive defeat administered in late years to any measure or to any candf~ date. There are new reasons why we should not concede to them a single county. I see no cause to revise my sanguine statement of a week ago. There are perhaps five counties In the State which they have a chance to car ry. In those counties we also have a chance and if the defeat is the iand- slide that we are expecting the doubt full counties will be swept along with the tide.
 section Conceded.
 "They concede that Middle and South Alabama as a whole viii give a na5ori- ty against the, arnsndment. but say that they win win the fight in North Alabafnas Again want to say to oiixs friends In this section of the state. that the Alabainian in North Alabama looks upon this measure as the man in the Southern section of the state does and that the vote there will be as heavy against 1t as 1t will be here say thls advisedly. Our organizaffon for two weeks has been most sactive and energetic in the North Alabama counties. We have canvassed them more carefully. we have had fuller res ports from them than the South Ala bama counties and our majorities there will be as large there as they wIIl be in North Alabama"
 Saturday was notable day for tils forces which are defending the Constl.
 
 inRs were held In every section of the State. There were big meetings Sat urday at Athens. Peli City. Troy Opeliika, Tuscaloosa and Lanette, and a dozen other places.
 Reports from these meetings receiv. ed yesterday at local neadquarters were significant in one particulars each report dwelt upon the great en- thusIasm that prevailed at the anti- amendment meetings.
 There has been tSi increase of cam paign activity In the fast ten days among the pro-amendment forces. kt Is said authoritatively that 1t was the original intention of Rev. Brooks Law renee to have a campaign of only six weeks for the adoption Of the amend- ment, but to make that campaign fast and furious. But the aggressive light of the anti-amendment forces, and the favor with which 1t met. upset these plans. The pro-amendment people had to get in the game earlrer and 1t is frankly admitted that so great start did the defenders get that the anend- CTS have continually had an uphill fight.
 Announcement was made over month ago that the amendment com mittee would October 20 put z,vvv speakers in the field. While their campaign has been active, they have not had so many speakers as that m the field. It was expected that they would call most of the protestant preachers in the state in the field, and while there are a large number of these speaking. it is claimed that the number is not as large as the coiii- mittee had hoped.
 The anti-amendment people. con sidering the number of preachers who would take the stump for the amend tod In EN y11n a ftN speakers as the amendment forces. In October the defender forces, so far as speakers were concerned. worked at a disadvantage. Most of their speakers were lawyers and the Alabama courts are busy in October. Still they had a large array of speakers going about from place to place and now this num- Der in the past week has more than doubled. In the next week if Is ex- pected that 1t will again be doubled. nti-amendment speakers are cutting across the country and speaking t0 rural audiences wherever one can be gathered and in every town of con sequence big meetings well advertised are being held.
 Black Belt Rally.
 A spectacular meeting Wednesday will be an Old Guard Rally at Selma. to which will gather the voters from half a dozen of the Black Belt coun. ties. Hon. sydney J. Bowie, Col E. l. Russell and Senator Frank S. Moody will address this meeting which has been arranged and managed by the anti-amendment forces in Dallas coun- ty"
 Saturday there will De general gathering of the voters of North Ala bama at Decatur. which :s convenient to the voters of four counties. and ef- forts are being made to nave special trains run to the meeting.
 It has become apparent that the amendment forces propose to carry out the original program. which was indicated when the election was forced m an off year in which 100000 voters had not paid their poll tax. It was charged. and 1t has not been denied that the election was thds ordered, go that the question could be decided by a restricted electorate.