The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-23
KoIb, Conner and Seed Seem
Destined to Fight Out
Next Battle
CONTEST PROMISES
SOME FIREWORKS
With Seed Drawing From Comer's
Prohibition Strength Neither Can
didate Will Begin Race With
Decided Advantage
BY HUGH w. ROBERTS

The campaign out of which will come
the next governor of Alabama will be
chara acterized by an issue, not prohibition,
not regulation of the railroads, not any
other of the specious propositions on
which men, in the past have ridden into
office.
But there will be an issue, and that
issue will be Peace VS.. War Prosperity
vs. Agitation, Rest vs. Unrest
From the indications of the present,
there will be three candidates for gov
ernor-Reuben r. Kolb Walter d. Seed
and B. b. Comer-no more, no less.
With Seed making inroads into Conner $
prohibition strength, neither of the can
didates, critics agree, will have a decided
advantage over the other
The campaign promises to be one OF
the most spectacular ever recorded in the
annals of the state. The victor might not
feast long with the gods, but the de-
feated will go down never to rise again.
Everybody Was Busy
During the past week, there were no
developments, - tangible developments,
but everybody was acting. Captain Kolb
has announced. There is no way in which
one can forecast the date on which Mr..
Conner and Mr.. Seed will announce. But
it is reasonably certain that nothing will
transpire potent enough to sway either
from his present intention. Mr. Conner
will have reason to believe that, on ac-
count of the unsettled situation as con-
Germs the railroads, there will be need
for him and the strength peculiarly his.
Mr. Seed who in the last campaign very
gracefully yielded for the sake of har-
mony and unity within his own ranks,
will yield no more. There is a strong
demand for him from all sections of the
state--this emanating from the prohibi-
tionists of the rural districts who now
realize that in the last battle, he might
have made a stronger fight than the
man in whose favor he withdrew.
The three men who are to be candidates
have recently made no public statement
But neither has permitted the grass to
grow under his feet. And neither will
permit the grass to grow again until the
issue of the great fight is settled.
No Strict Lines Drawn
From developments to date, there will
be no strict lines drawn. 1t will be i'm
possible for any man to say that those
who favor kolb are "henchmen of the
railroads or friends of the liquor trust.
There will be too many behind kolb all
clamoring for peace And the idea has
vanished that all of the strength of Seed
will go to Conner. Those who have
studied the situation now realize that
Seed has strength of his own. which will
go to no other man. The lieutenant gov
ernor as is remembered, won overwhelm-
ingly in a race out of which the prin-
ciple of local option achieved unimpaired
success. In other words, he. of all men
and issues dependent on prohibition. es-
capped the general slaughter, and there
was serious discussion, following the
count of the votes, as to whether or not
Governor O'Neal could have won against
him.
Mr.. Conner has, it is claimed. the largest
individual following in the state. But the
outlook is that Mr.. Conner will have to
fight for what he gets next time. The
era in which honors were thrust upon
him has evidently gone.