The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-05
Less Effort for Underwood

1 NesarulnS MT. underwood, however, 1t Is a matter of fact that his interests
 have been protected with less effort apparently than any of the other three candidates. When the campaign was
 first opened for him in Tennessee it was looked upon with great favor and l che idea of real southern man for President was heralded with great de- | light by numbers of democrats, who | have sweated and groaned for years under the disfavor shown men of the south when presidential timber Is being sought for. But the Underwood can- didacy was allowed to lag during the days of political bantering by the fac tioahl state committees and as this WAS not the tactics of the Harmon peo- pie or the Wilson followers these lat ter two were best prepared for a real fight when the democracy of the state got together on the question of mak- Ing up the delegation of the party to the Baltimore convention.
 | Had work for Underwood been car 1 ried on without ceasing there is hardly any question but that he would easily have been in the lead of all the can didates, for with those who are close to the presidential conditions it was apparent that 1t was easier to per suade a democrat to Underwood than any one of the other three leading candidates. Uhis was due in a great measure to the fact that he was the | most truly southern man and because of his close proximity to Tennessee, being congressman from an Alabama district so close to the Alabama line. Another thing was the fact that there | are many native Alabamians settled iE Tennessee and it was d rare thing to | find former Alabamian who was not quick to declare for the chairman of | he ways and means committee at | Washington when it was known that he would be in the race for the presidency. But with the limited attention that has | been given Underwood in Tennessee he | has good grounds for laying claims to 1 the two votes in the Sixth district and also in the Seventh. Outside of these
 two districts his strength Is unknown, | but along with the other contestants he has a chance of being represented on | the delegation from the state at large. Gained Much in Two Weeks | Speaker Clark, while not entering the state u1til about two weeks ago, has gained much of the support that would | for the asking. Clarl<'s two weeks cam | paigning in this state under the adroit | management of eX-Gov. John l. Cox has 1 brought him splendid results. In consid- ering the respective candidates there is no getting away from the fact that the
 continuous hammering for Wilson and
 Harmon has been the means of making
 their candidacy prominent, still Clark bids l fair to break in on these two leaders in | d way damaging to each should his popu- | larity reach out over the state as 1t bids | fair to do.
 Clark is particularly strong with the | nlass in the western portion of the state
 for the same reason that Underwood has | a strength in the portion of the state that lies close to Alabama West Tennessee | lies closer to St Louis than the position | on the nlap would indicate, and the news | papers of that city and the St. Louis
 drumrners have been doing some great nissicnaiy work for the Missourian in the
 western d'vision of the state For this
 reason the Clark managers think he will come up strong there and will also have
 great support in east Tennessee, where | Governor Cox is most popular
 ! Harmon managers maintain their splen- ! did organization that is a result of months
 of hard work gives them an unbeatable prestige. They also claim a big majori ty of the congressional districts and make - cidlilS TOT ftuc StHtId Stdle Qtle2dteS. Their ground for this lies mainly in the fact that the regulars of the party took Harmon up early just to beat Wilson in Tennessee, simply because Wilson was
 being pushed forward by the independ- ents. Harmons ability to hold the regu-
 lars depends alone on the effect that the
 work for Underwood and Clark have had
 on the minds of the democrats of the reg
 uar persuasion.
 Wilson's Independent Vote
 Wilson's independent vote that is to be
 reckoned with has been interfeled witt
 more by Clark than any one else. IT
 gaining Chief Justice Shields and Justice
 Lansden of the supreme bench the Clark
 managers performed tho greatest feat ol
 the year in state politics and did more te
 check the movement for Wilson in the , camp of the independents than any ont
 thing known They are the two mos
 popular independent democrats in th6 state and their support of Clark should
 wield a powerful influence in the demo cratic convention that assemblies her, May b.
 But if Wilson goes to the post with 2
 substantial portion of the independent, his managers could by trading gain foi l him a good portion of the Tennessee dele
 gation and the May convention will bs
 somewhat in the trading humor when the | ant n a at