The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-09-12
With Patterson Out the Fac
tiOnS Do Not Know What
Course to Take
INDEPENDENTS READY
TO HOLD CONVENTION
No Candidate Has Been Mentioned to
Lead the Democrats, Who May
Now Unite on Some Man to
Beat the Republicans

| Nashville, September 11.-Governor
Pattersons withdrawal from the guber-
| material race in Tennessee has created a
condition that has the wisest politicians
| guessing. What effect will his action
| have? Will the democratic factions that
have been so bitterly arraigned against
each other bury the hatchet, as the gov
ernor urges them to do, with him elm
| mated, and agree on a candidate whom
all can support? Will the convention of
independents called to meet here We'd
nesday. with a majority OF its delegates
instructed to vote for Endorsement of B.
". Hooper the republican nominee for
governor, carry out these instructions. as
opposed to any democrat who may be
placed in the field in Pattersons stead:
Are instructions binding on these dele
gates in view of these conditions?
These are few of the questions con-
| fronting the leaders tonight and from all
indications none can answer with any
degree of conviction.
II is all problematfcal and hurried
| calls for conferences and meetings have
been issued.
| Tomorrow and Tuesday will see series
of gatherings here of leaders of various
parties and factions and developments
arc looked forward to with absorbing in
| terest.
| A meeting of the independent demo-
| cratic state executive committee is set
for Tuesday Its members will confront
a situation unparalleled In the history of
the state. Their faction received the sup
port of the republicans in electing state
| judicial tickets August 4, and their part
| OF the agreement is to support the repuh-
lican candidate for governor.
Hooper's Expectations
In an Interview at hrs home at NV
port last night, Captain Hooper prac-
| tically said that he expected the indie
pendents to carry out their agreement
and that 1t was hardly possible to make
new alignments at this late day
1t is known that the opposition of many
of the Independents to the regular de-
| mocracy is directed solely against Pat
| terson, and many claim that it is a grave
question whether the Independent COM
| mittee and the convention can now hold
the voters in line for Hooper If they so
desired. The regular" Cor Patterson
| democratic state committee was called to
meet here Thursday. the day following
| the Independent convention, but today
| Chairman Robertson amended the call,
/
In advance of the convention. 1t is ex-
pected that they will formulate some sort
of a plan to be proposed to the inde-
pendents whereby committees from each
| faction could meet on common ground
and agree on ways and means of nom-
| mating a candidate and forming a plat
| form that might be acceptable to both.
| republican state convention Is called
to meet here Thursday. Chairman San
ders of Chattanooga has not been heard
| from as to the plan of some of the local
republicans to have the date of the COM
mittee meeting advanced.
| Puzzle to the Wise Ones
| Thus the present situation presents a
puzzle but what is the future of Pat
terson and the things he stands for?
Eliminated from the present campaign.
his enemies claim that his relegation to
the political background is permanent
| Friends, however, do not consider that
he will stay in the background for any
length of time With the party reunited
at the polls and with the independent re-
publican coalition destroyed, many OF
Pattersons friends believe that he would
become formidable factor as senator
ial possibility. The next legislature is to
select a successor to United States Sena-
| tor James B. Frazier.
The republican platform declares for no
backward step in the prohibition legisla-
| ton now on the statute books and which
went there over Pattersons veto. In
| coalition with the independent democrats,
made up largely of the old statewide
prohibition advocates, the republicans
could prevent any change in the liquor
laws by the next legislature. With that
coalition broken, however, the outlook
would be different.
Patterson's Future
| It is confidently claimed by many
astute politicians that sentiment among
the democrats in Tennessee has changed
to the extent that there is a feeling that
the laws should be amended to
give the larger cities a voice in the mat
ter of controlling the liquor traffic with
ing their corporate limits Should a dem
ocratic legislature with such leanings be
chosen at the November election, Pat
terson's chances for the United States
Senate. his friends claim, would be ex-
ceedingly bright, despite the fact that,
at the recent regular democratic pri-
mary, former Gov. Benton Mcmillan was
nominated The nomination is merely in
the nature of a recommendation and
many believe that. in such conditions.
Mcmillan would be entirely 'overshadow-
ed by Patterson.
| So much confusion existed in local po-
litical circles today that no names have
been suggested in connection with the
matter of a democratic candidate for