The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-04
DEMOCRATS SHOW
 MORE CONF F|DENCE
 IN FINAL OUTCOME
Central States Are to Be Great battle-ground Which Will Decide Issue Next
 Month
By LOUIS sEIBoID

By LOUIS SEIBOLD New York, October B. (Special.) = Democratic and
 republican managers have al-
 ready begun to revise their
 original estimates of the re-
 suits of the presidential con- tests expected by them-the
 former upward and latter downward.
 The democrats are much more opti- 1 mistie than they were couple of weeks ago. The republicans are quite as conn- dent that there will be no developments during the remainder of the campaign to change the prospects which are wholly l gratifying to them.
 To be on the safe side" the more con- servative leaders like Hays. Dougherty. Weeks, Hillies and Herts have set about sealing down the estimates made by the leaders of state organizations. 1t is even possible to secure hitherto unavailable ad- missions that there are weak spots'' in the republican situation that may help Governor Cox, the democratic presiden- tal candidate. EAST LOOKS HOPELESS There are apparently none in the group of states along the Atlantic seaboard north of the Potomac river-that Is, as far as the Harding ticket is concerned. Popular sentiment as reflected by the democratic and republican leaders, and in the newspapers, seems to make reas- onably certain the delivery to Mir. Hard ing of the Al electoral votes of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachu- setts Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This impressive total just amout balances the electoral votes of the southern states, which Governor Cox is sure to land. 1 The weak spots in the republican situ- ation in the New England and eastern
 states at least affect senatorial, puger- i natorial and to some extent local cand dates of minor importance Local condi-
 tions in which there enters great deal
 of uncertainty regarding the actual in- l fluence of the League of Nations issue
 encourages the democrats to believe that i they can beat Moses Brandegee and
 Wadsworth the republican candidates fer 1.-the Senate in New Hampshire Connecti-
 cut and New York.
 l REPUBLICANS REACH PEAK I Ths democratic managers who assert ! that the campaign has .iust started sn- sist that the republicans have reached 1 the peak of their activities and prospects, ! and from this time the breaks" will 1 be with Governor Cox. They insist that the democratic presidential candidate has ] won the support of most Of the far west I ern states and will cinch his hold on
 Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri in the tour he is to inaugu-
 rate the coming week.
 | It is manifest from the attitude of both
 democratic and republican managers that.
 barring the unexpected, they do not look | for rh n
 sides have shifted their heaviest finan- | cial and verbal guns to the clump Of states between the Alleghanies and tha Mississippi It is thsre that the final
 conflict will take place, The democratic
 managrs believe that if they can win
 West Virginia Ohio and Indiana. where 1 the prospects are pronounced 'encour-
 aging" they vii be able to show total
 of 21s electoral votes. and that the other
 47 will be contributed by Colorado. Mon- 1 tana, Utah. Maryland, Nevada. New Mexico. California. Idaho and South Da. kota the aggregate of whose electoral
 vote is one more than the number re- quired to win.
 Republican managers declare the clatiu i to be utterly absurd They assert that the opposition has no chance of carry- 1 ing California Idaho, South Dakota, New Mexico and Maryland. while Harding is
 safely assured of Michigan, Illinois. Wis., sin. Iowa, the two Dakotas. oregon and Washington. with an aggregate
 electoral vote of 233. which, added to tho I total of the eastern states, will swell tho vote for Harding to 233. or B less than
 the number / /,qdired without counting ! on the doubtru states in which both ! parties to make their final fight.
 DIVERGENT CLAIMS ! Concerning the final distribution of this
 doubtful vote there is naturally wide divergence of opinion. Both sides assert
 the advantage in Kentucky. though the surface indications seem to favor Cow
 ernor Cox, The democratic managers be- 1 lieye that they can win Ohio. The chief danger to their candidate is the negro vote. which has largely increased under war influences during the last thred years. Democrats estimate the colored | vote of Ohio at "close to 10000 The res publcans place 1t at 150,GOo, and claim that it will be cast solidiy for Senators Harding.
 In Indiana the democrats appear is have shade the best of it, due to the energy of Thomas Taggert, the candidate for the Senate. who has the most effi- cient democratic organization in the
 country. In Missouri. Governor Cox seems to have made tremendous strides despite the division of democratic seuti-
 ment over the League of Nations issue. i In West Virginia. where the repub- | lcHns are reputed to be spending q great
  the democrats appear to be capable oe matching opposition ventures and of car- rylng the state.
 SHIFTING THE FARRELL | Incidental to the shift of activity rrorn
 the numericaliys important states oe th- ] east and lake districts. the republicans
 have revised the,r financial budgets Sd as to make larger provision for those
 states where final battles are to bs 1 fought. There Is excellent reason to 'be- | leve that tho republicans have already
 devoted larger sums to organization | work in the doubtful states --s.. usually expended in major canpaisn. | The democrats known to be ham pered for want of funds. The volume os tcontributions. however. though small n actual financial returns, show much
 more widespread interest among u--..,- cratic sympathizers than is true of ths opposition.
 With both presidential candidates m action the corning week the republican l plan of strategy calls for the utmost caution the part of It's standard-
 bearer. The greatest concern of bis ads visers revolves around the dispute be- tween the Root. Taft. Wickersham ele-