The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-02-19
NOW FACE ID FACE
 WITH TIE ISSUES Campaign Will Be Notable in
 States History
CONFIDENCE OF o'NEAL
of Optimism Arc Dominant Among His Supporters-The Senatorial
 Fight Full of Interest
Ny BURR BLACkBURN

1 e Cdinpdlse or the Kind our fathers talk
 about.
 That great conference in Birmingham Thursday cannot be discredited It stands
 for itself, and if ever stirring, pointed
 political principles were set forth, the
 eloquent speakers who came from all sec
 tions of Alabama spoke them in blunt,
 led hot, burning words.
 Efforts to veil the issue were as sud denly torn away as the darkness by the
 rising sun. Day by day the Mallory | forces had preached the doctrine of for
 gntfulness. but principle cannot be for
 gotten in a day. and when these men came up from the people they brought the
 same clarion call for conservatism which Was sounded last November.
 The men who thought for a time that
 they would slip through this campaign by
 a gum shoe canvass were brought to their senses by that meeting Thursday, and
 they have come face to face with fight
 which they will either have to combat or | fall under trampling feet
 All that indefinite uncertainty was cleared away. The two leaders of the conservatives and radicals of Alabama | were pushed out before the footlights, and they will have to fight or run away. Things were said at that meeting which put Mallory on the defensive, as well as all those other candidates who are run nlng on the Conner ticket. No doubt they will combet them, and there is where the people of Alabama will have their fun
 as well as an opportunity to decide be- tween the two causes.
 This much was settled
 It is the enthusiasm of the ONeal SUD- port which is notable to the onloolxer.
 He finds 1t on every street corner and in
 every gathering. He is on the offensive. Comparisons are odious, and the O'Neal
 followers will hardly stoop to compare
 the conference of Thursday with that held
 in the Exchange hotel at Montgomery last
 week, though the figures are obtainable
 and might be interesting
 MT. O'Neal wants 1t understood that he
 is running on no ticket. If the principles
 for which he stands and fought are the | same as those of other candidates the people will decide. Those are the princi-
 pies which form the issue of the cam
 paign Nand they are dividing the candi-
 dateo into the sheep and the goats. The stand of Jchn B. Knox, candidate for United States senator, is now one of
 the principle topics of discussion. Mr. Iknox's friends in Birmingham are getting busy, and will soon organize the county | thoroughly.
 | The question of whether Senator Bank head will take. stand on the state s- sues is next in interest. some claiming that he is following wise political | course, while others have written him urging that he let the people know where he stands.
 MT. Knox's announcement has placed this senatorial race side by side with
 the gubernatoral contest in the interest
 of the people, and when these two head
 liners get to work the audience will find plenty to see, hear and enjoy
 As a result of the reports at the con- ference Thursday O'Neal men are declar- ing confidently that he will carry the state by as large vote or larger than the amendment defeat. Reports from all the counties in the First district were
 to the effect that the anti-amendment
 majority will be almost doubled As yet conditions in the Second district have not been thoroughly grasped. but it is claimed that the majority in the Third district will be largely increased because the peo- pie down there don't want to vote for a railroad attorney, and when they find that Mir Mallory is representative of
  will go against their nature and training to support him.
 The Fourth district will be Mallorys strongest fort with the republican vote left out in Shelby and Chiffon counties and Dallas and Talladega, MT. Mallory's two home counties. Men from the Fifth and Sixth districts confidently predicted
 that the majority would be larger than
 that against the amendment. The Sev
 enth is another strong republican district, but the Eighth and Ninth, with an elec- torate almost doubled, the politicians con-. fidcntly claim, will be second only to the
 First in the matter of a majority. It is still as far from the May elec- tion as 1t was between the Montgomery conference and November 29, so the esti-
 mators have not yet gotten busy, but they are the most enthusiastic, confident lot in the state.
 Max Hamburger, candidate for rail- road commissioner, one of the ablest
 defenders of the constitution in the re- cent contest, and a man who is known all over Alabama, is now getting busy in north Alabama. He has been in Bir-
 mingham for the past two days meeting
 his friends. MT. Hamburger expresses himself as perfectly confident of his suc- cess. He states that he has received no reply from John Craft of Mobile to his letter in which he suggested that, since only one member of the railroad com |mission can hail from the same county, that they should submit themselves to
 the voters of Mobile county in the county election. He takes MT. Crafts failure to reply as an admission that he would not agree to leave the question to the
 voters of his county.
 Another interesting figure in Birming-
 ham these days is D. H. Riddle of Good water. who is candidate for attorney general, and on his cards prints the statement "The only candidate to offer for state office from Coosa county in 25 years" He is making a thorough canvass Of the state.
 R. F. Kolb, candidate for commissioner of agriculture is one of the busy can
 didates in Birmingham right now It is probable that he and J. B. Ward of Abbeville will get closer to the people in their canvass than any other office seekers, because it is the farmer who Is most interested.
 The Ninth congressional democratic ex- ecutive committee will meet in the office of Chairman E. K. Campbell in the
 First National Bank building today at noon to set the date for the congress
 sional primary. The same date as the state primary will be chosen and quail dcations for the voters will be settled The card of T. H. Motion announcing for the legislature will be found in this issue of The Herald. He states his views clearly and frankly on all impor- |. tant questions affecting Jefferson county and the state of Alabama and what he says will be read with especial interest at this time.
 Yes, we have your size. Pick +he style vou want. Do it now.