The Detroit times., 1912-08-22
SAYS ROOSEVELT CAN'T.
BREAK THE RANKS OF The
DEMOCRATS IN ALABAMA
Won't Get One Vote in Thou
sand, Declares Maj Screws,
Montgomery Editor
PARTY SOLID FOR WILSON
Sees Sure Victory For Jersey
Governor; Chats Interest
ingly of Conditions in South

Roosevelt will not get one vote
out of thousand among the Dem
ocrats In Alabama" said Major W,
W.. Screws. editor Of the Montgomery
Advertiser. who is visiting in Mt.
Clemens and spent Tuesday in De-
troit THE Democrats are united
on Wilson and what Republicans
there are will vote for Taft,
"The Democrats I'm the south have
not been taken in by Roosevelt at
titude toward the Negro delegates In
his Chicago convention. We recog-
nize IL for what IL is, purely polltl-
col trick for the benefit OF the grand
stand. II will have no effect on the
vote.
THE Democrats In Alabama are
entirely in harmony with Gov. VIII
son IN spite OF the fact that Under
wood, our own candidate, was our
first choice. There was strong popu-
lar sentiment IN favor of Wilson and
the people are entirely satisfied with
him.
There seems 10 be no question
about the election OF Wilson. For
a time ] was Inclined 10 think that
the. reaction against Roosevelt in
favor of Taft would make II hard
fight, but II does not look so much
like Il now. With a united party the
Republicans would have had
chance in North Carolina. Tennessee,
West Virginia and Missouri this
year, but the split has made II inn
possible for them to carry these
states.
There are plenty Of Republicans
in the south. They cast $4,000
white votes in Alabama last cleo
ton, and there are two or three
counties in the state which are prac-
ticaIly white and always go Repub-
lican. They were the counties where
union sentiment was strongest dur
ing the war In the black counties,
though, there is scarcely a single
white Republican to be found
Race feeling is not so bitter as
II was some years ago. do not mean
that there has been any change In
the social status OF the Negroes. The
social lines are Drawn as tightly as
they ever were, and they always will
be drawn tight, but the bitterness
which characterized the feeling be-
tween the races Is gradually disap-
pearing We could not get along
without the Negroes. They do much
of the labor In the cotton fields the
mines and the forests, thoughl fac
tory labor Is left to the whites. The
Negroes are getting a good common
school education and the state Is
giving them every advantage They
are not. acquiring land 10 any great
extent, though there arU--a few of
them who have done so. When they
do they make steady. conservative
citizens.
1T is generally supposed that prac-
tically all the cotton raiseJf- In the
south Is by Negro labor. As a mat
ter of fact there~is much. of the crop
that Is not touched by Negro labor
at all. There are many small farms
that are being worked by white set
tiers, who have come in. from the
north and west. and they raise some
mighty fine cotton, too.
There Is a general tendency TO
break up the land into small farms
and II Is a good thing for the coun-
try. In spite of the big industrial
development around Birmingham,
the farming sections of Alabama
have shown a greater increase In
population than the manufacturing
sections.
.We have in the south the only
soil on earth adapted for raising the
sort Of cotton that the worlds CO.
ton mills require. England and
Russia have been experimenting for
years, attempting to develop lands
that can be used for commercial cot
ton, but they have not been able to
find any, and last year the south
produced 16.500.000 bales cut OF the