The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-04
BOWMAN LATEST
 NAME MENTIONED
 FOR PETTUS' PLACE
Contest No Longer Confined to Kennamer of Gunters- vile and ChenauIt of
 Decatur


 Fight for the appointment as United States district attorney for the southern division of the northern district of Alabama to succeed Erie Pettus. one of the political plums to be handed out shortly by the Harding administration, will be a three-cornered contest of a two-sided battle between C. B. kennamer of Guntersville and W. L. Chenault of Decatur, according to indications in Birmingham republican circles yes terday.
 It also became known that Bir- mingham republicans will make a de- termined fight to keep the office of district attorney in the hands of q local man instead of allowing It to gy by default to an outsider and that a Birmingham lawyer prominent in Alabama republican circies is be- Ing groomed as an applicant for the position. and that as much pressure as possible will be brought to bear on the national administration to se- cure his nomination for the post.
 According to apparently we'll grounded rumors, the man whom Birmingham republicans have select ed as their candidate for the,position is Sam C. Bowman, who is Said to stand high in the favor of the Presi- dent, and who is said to have been one of the original Harding men be- fore and during the national repub- lican convention in Chicago which no Nf- recognized, it is stated, that Mir Bowman was the originator of the plan to have President Harding come to Birmingham recently on the oc- casion of this city's semi centennial celebration and that the ultimate decision of the President to visit Bir- mingham was due largely to things set in motion in the beginning by MT. Bowman.
 Fight Not Yet Open
 Although local republicans have not come out in the open in regard to the appointment of MT. Bowman, 1t is stated that a number of them are favorable to his candidacy, par ticularly that faction which recently suffered defeat in the matter of the appointment of an internal revenie collector. This faction, it is stated.
 
 the appointment of a Birmingham lawyer because of local pride, would not be averse to inflicting a setback on the Long and Street wing of the party, who are said to be favorable 10 the candidacy of one or the other of the avowed candidates. Kennamer or Chenault This faction or the party which was strong with the ad- ministration some time ago, is now said to be weaker with the national councils of the party than formerly, while Bowman, 1t Is said has re- tained his favor in the national eyes of the dominant party.
 Fortified by these facts, it is stat ed, friends of MT. Bowman have been working quietly for some time and are about ready to bring their men Into the open with the belief that when the matter is presented at Washington he will stand an excel lent chance to secure the appoint ment. It is pointed out that the ap- pointment of Erie Pettus, the incum- bent, came as a surprise at the time 1t was made by the Wilson admin istration, as he had not been A pub licly avowed candidate for the of lice much before the appointment was made, and that his ultimate ap- pointment was to a considerable ex- tent the result of the excellent pre- bminary work done in his behalf by his friends, who kept him under cover until the psychological mo- ment.
 Think Time Ripe
 Those backing the candidacy of MT. Bowman, who has not yet act ually stated whether or not he is candidate or whether he would ac- cept the post if it were offered him. believe that the situation has reached the point where he should be brought into the open and the open work begun.
 In addition to the backing of a number of prominent local republi- cans, or at least the looking upon him by them with favor, he is also receiving the indorsement of a num- Der of the prominent democrats of the city and county, 1t is stated. The indorsement of. number of them is expected to be forwarded to Wash ington as soon as matters have reached the stage where such action is deemed advisable.
 Appointment ef a successor to MT. Pettus is expected to be made within the next few weeks, as it is stated he has rendered his resignation, ef- fective January 1, and it is presumed the national administration will en- deavor to fill the post before or as soon after that time as possible.