Henderson Daily Dispatch

Talk Of More Entering Primary Is Still Heard

Daily Dispatch Bureau,

In the Sir Walter Hotel

By J. C. Baskervill

Raleigh, Feb. 22.--Talk concerning prospective candidates for the Democratic nomination for Governor continues to such an extent here that those who are not yet in the race are getting much more attention than those who have already announced as candidates. As a result the three announced candidates-R. T. Fountain, J. C. B. Ehringhaus and A. J. Maxwell--are going to have to get busy to keep their prospective opponents from crowding them out of the political spotlight.

Of the four or five prospective candidates who continue to be mentioned as "possibilities" since Josephus Daniels removed himself from the gubernatorial picture, opinion here today is that Solicitor Tom McNeill of Lumberton, Robeson county, is more likely to become a candidate than any one else and that the formal announcement of his candidacy is likely to be made at any moment. Quite a number of the friends of General Albert L. Cox of Raleigh also regard it as virtually certain that he will become a candidate with Daniels blessing. But reports coming in during the last few days indicate that McNeill has already made up his mind to run and is likely to get the jump on Cox. Dixon MacLean of Lumberton, unofficial campaign manager of McNeill, who has had not a little to do with pumping up the McNeill boom, was in Raleigh this week and confidentially assured so many that McNeill is going to run that now most of those in political circles here believe it.

There is no doubt that General Cox is seriously considering getting into the contest for the nomination, and that he is being urged from a number of quarters to make the run. Within the past week he has told several of his friends unqualifiedly that he is going to be a candidate, although he has declined to make this statement for publication. He admits, however, that he is giving the matter careful and thoughtful consideration

Then, there is Willis Smith, of Raleigh, speaker of the house in the 1931 general assembly, who is still

Considering the question of whether to run or not to run and hesitating on the brink of the political pool. Some still regard Angus D. MacLean of MacLean law and sales tax fame as a possibility while within the last few days there has been talk of a boomlet in favor of Congressman Lindsay Warren of the First Congressional District.

But the movement for Willis Smith does not seem to have picked up any material speed for several months and there is nothing to indicate he would receive any of the Daniels support, since Smith was decidedly opposed to any form of sales tax in the 1931 general assembly. Many observers here believe there is much less sentiment for Smith now than six months ago. For is A. D. MacLean any longer considered as a probable candidate. A month or six weeks ago he was considered as the most likely candidate if Daniels did not run. But since his speech in which he attacked the 1931 general assembly for not having "the moral courage" to levy enough taxes to keep the State's agencies running full blast and charged that the State's credit was weakening as a result, his popularity has steadily declined. The talk concerning the possible candidacy of Lindsay Warren is regarded as being the only a fantastic pipe-dream that is highly complimentary to the First District Congressman. It is generally conceded that Warren is headed for things in Congress that are much bigger and more to be desired than the Governorship of North Carolina.

So the situation seems to be narrowing down with McNeill and Cox as the two most likely to enter the gubernatorial contest, with both seeking the blessing of Mahatma Daniels, the prophet who did not choose to run to lead the landowners out of the wilderness, and whose cloak several are now coveting.