The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-20
.BAL[OT|NC CANNOT COME TOO SOON ID
 SUIT REPUBLICANS
Democratic Chances Have Gained 25 Per Cent Ip p~s st Two Weeks-Hardj
 Breaks Cause AyS.
By LOUIS sE 1.

National leaders, apprehen- sive of fatal break" on the part of their standard bearer, admit the fact.
 The democrats contend with complete justification that if Senator Harding should be permitted to continue exposing ms inefficiency as statesman for an- other month, Governor Cox would certain 1y be elected The republican view of present conditions is fully illuminated by one of the chieftains of that party who said to me this afternoon in the Audi torium hotel.
 We have got the fight won now. and our greatest concern is to keep from losing it''
 MAKES MANY BREAKS
 The reason that dictated this astounding admission from man who declared a month ago that no development of the
 campaign could injure Mir. Harding's chances are pretty much the same as those which prevail among the leaders or all political parties throughout the country. They are crystallized in the
 woeful exhibitions which the repub- lican presidential candidate has provided every time he has left the front porch
 and attempted to explain his previous explanations of his attitude on the
 League of Nations.
 His last crack" permitting the infer
 cree that the French government had
 manifested it's sympathy with one or two
 of the Harding plans for promoting
 world peace has unquestionably created
 the greatest consternation among the
 managers of the party
 They will indulge in deep breath of relief when he has returned from a brief visit to New York state and settled down ir his rocking chair on the Marion porch to await the decision that probably 27- G0 GOO American citizens will deliver two weeks from today.
 1t would be exceedingly difficult to re- fleet the depth of anxiety which Mir. Harding's gyrations on the League Of Nations has inspired to trouble the souls Of his packers. Their private comment regarding him is almost unfit for publi- cation. 1t reflects neither confidence in his judgment admiration for his mental processes in meeting the outstanding is- sue of the cafMpaign, no res sect ro- ffs political sagacity. GAIN 9 PER CENT It is the character of the comments more than any other single circumstance that justifies the statement of Governor Cox, National Chairman White and other democratic leaders that the re- publican candidate has reached and gone over the peak of his advantage that was not to be disputed a month ago. There Is no question but that democratic changes have improved 9 per cent. According to Western Manager Doremus, with whom I talked this afternoon. this per- centage is mounting by leaps and bounds and within the next two weeks will have wiped out the unauestioned lead that the Irepublican national ticket still retains. The republican managers asserted, and with very good reasons for doing so, that even their own candidate cannot prevent them from winning the election two " eeks hence. The basis for their confi- dence is that resentment against the democratic party for grievances. real and | fancied is too deeply imbedded in the minds of the average citizen to be eradi- cated because Of the weakness of the re- publican candidate. Republican National Chairman Hayes and George White. the Idenocratic manager, both gave estimates 1 today of the probable result of the cen- | test. Naturally. they were very far apart | and consequently are to be taken with a grain of salt as it were.
 CLAIMS OF MANAGERS Hays. who is something of wizard, does not see how the republican rresi- dential ticket can win less than 375 of the electoral votes, or 109 more than lare necessary. Whites estimate is .har the rapid reversal of public sentiment, due to the League of Nations issue, will insure Governor Cox 2So of inc electoral vote or IA more than he needs Hays produces figures that ap- pear to be definite and based upon a lconvincingly comprehensive survey ef iactual conditions to support his claim. White admits that the figures present- ed by him are largely contingent on ] J"prospects' due to the rapidity with which sentiment in favor of the League Iof Nations is crystallizing in the middle and far west.
 | Both of the national managers lay tclaim to the so-called doubtful states,
 Maryland. West Virginia. Ohio, ,fen- ltucky. Indiana and Missouri Hays doesn't give the democrats anything
 west of the Mississippi. with the 'os- sible exception of Nevada Colo n do, Montana and perhaps Arizona" White asserts that reports reaching him il di- | cate so tremendous change of senr-
 ment in California. Colorado, Idaho Utah and South Dakota that there is
 no question of us carrying those states.
 WOMEN VOTE
 1 Both sides are quite as far apart in their estimates as to the probable d,s- ltribution of the women's vote as they are on the general result Their res lports do indicate that the women win poll in the neighborhood of 50 per cent of the total votes. One feature of inc Inew vote which is disturbing to both sides and particularly the democrats. is lthat in the doubtful border states the bulk of the registered women repre- Isent the two extremes of feminine lclassi cation. In other words. the lwomen of the silk stocking class and those of the colored race seem to ave taken advantage of their new privi- Ilege to a greater extent than those cf the middle class. The colored women lvote is, of course. claimed to be for Harding, and the democratic manages lment admit that Cox has very little hope of securing any of it. It is this ifact more than any other that encour> iages the republicans to- believe that lthey will carry all of the /douotful !states because of their contehtion that the colored vote will prove the decisive factor in determining the result. | But while the republicans assert that