Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-21
HELM PLE'AI!GQES
ITO ALABAMA xxx.
Fellowship Forum to Issue
ESQ, 900 Papers in Last
Hour Campaign Drive.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Calling upon "the patriotic Protestant
forces of America" TO prevent rum and
Rcmanism" from "crucifying Tom Hef-
lin on the papal cross" great drive for
the Alabama "Jeffersonian Democrats"
reelection to the Senate will feature
the final fortnight of the campaign.
The drive appears to have been or
ganized by the Fellowship Forum, which
is commonly considered to speak for the
Kn Klux Khan.
nounces that q big Helm Special" OF
250, 900 copies Is to be sent into Alabama
on october rs. This will be the very
last chance we will have" says James
s. Vance, editor and manager Of the
Fellowship Forum, ito give Tom Helm
q lift and the enemies Of our country
q body blow" The first big Helm
Special Edition" of $4,000 copies was
distributed in Alabama earlier this
month. For q contribution Of $685.,
1000 copies are sent.
Believe Helms Doom Sealed.
According to frst-hand information
reaching this writer from regular DEM
ocratic quarters In Alabama, Senator
Helm viii need all the support he can
get, II he Is to avoid defeat on NsvszA-
Der 4. He is conducting one of his typi-
cal whirlwind campaigns, speaking twice
q day and visiting every county In the
State. Assured of the good show Helm,
always puts on, whether he is on the
stump or the floor Of the Senate, big
crowds turn out whenever he appears.
But the Democratic forces behind John
H. Bankhead, the party's regular sena-
torial nominee, are convinced that Hef-
Inns doom is sealed. They are not
claiming victory by anything like b
landslide vote. If Bankhead can be
elected by anything from $4,000 to
10000 majority, his managers will be
satisfied. They seem In no doubt that
this result can be accomplished. The
strong Democratic counties of the State.
It is foreshadowed, will pile up q much
heavier vote for Bankhead than they
did for Smith two years ago. Alabama
went Democratic for President in 1928
by T,O00-odd. Helms senatorial ma
jority in 1924 was 115,000s when he ran
against a Republican. ~
AS recently as a month ago, the Helm
tide seemed to be running strong. His
incessant onslaughts against "tl1e in
famous 27," his description of the Ala
bama State committeeman who read
him out of the Democratic party, were
making an appeal. Toms Is effective
when picturing himself as martyr.
His argument that North. Carolina
Democrats had not attempted to punish
Senator Simmons for 'sdisloyaltyp was
rammed home pretty tellingly, enabling
Hefiin to pose as the victim OF personal
persecution. The big voiced Senator
has also made some Roadway with an
increasing allusion to an occasion on
which his opponent, Bankhead, once
permitted q negro to sit on a Jury
which was trying white man in Ala
balna.
During the past two or three weeks,
writes an Alabama Democrat Of ma
tional renown. there has been q sub
headed by Bankhead for Senator and
Miller for Governor. Helm is very
strong in Is or 20 counties among the
'hiil-billies,' as we call them. These
regions have always contained q very
heavy Republican vote. The fathers
of these voters were not in sympathy
with the Southern Confederacy and
the Federal Army during The Civil War.
It is counties of that makeup that
Helm has his greatest strength.
Bankhead to WIN, by 10000, Claim
"The Democratic State COMMITTEE
has made the most effective -organiza-
ton In this campaign that Alabama
has ever known. 1t realized from I'M
satisfactory results in the 1928 presi-
Dental campaign that real fight and
q complete organization had to be made.
I am convinced that the bulk Of the
81 counties Of Alabama 1are thoroughly
organized now to the last township. In
Middle and South Alabama where the
old-time loyal Democratic vote has al
ways existed, there is only d small mi
nority that went of after Hoover two
years ago, and most of these are COM
ing back to the straight ticket this year.
The strong Democratic counties will
pile up a much heavier vote for Bank
head and Miller than they gave Smith.
Reasonable authorities are assured
that Bankhead will beat Helm by a
minimum majority of $4,000 to 10000.
There is probability that the ma ority
may run up to 10000. A great many Of
the Republican State and county lead
erss are opposed to Helm. They will
not vote for him because he has been
so vituperative in his denunciations Of
the Republican party all his life until
1923. Many Republican leaders are
trying to get their partisans to vote for
county tickets, where there are such,
and not to vote for Helm. The size
of Bankhead's majority is going to de-
pend upon the success Of these anti
Hefin Republican leaders in carrying
out their program"
Copyright. 1900