The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-05
The Contest Lies Between Street
and Brown.
The Brown Men Make the Larg-
est Claims.
THEU.S. SENATORSHIP
PETER Seems to be in the Lead
So Far.
An Estimate of the Candidates
Strength.
THE u. S. SENATORSHII

The contest for speaksrship is opened
up today. There will be q caucus of the
members of the house on Friday night
and if there is anything like a general
attendance of the members elected to
that body at that time. the nomination
will probably be made then. At first
when the caucus for Jan. was agreed
on, it was understood that it would
simply take up the question as to how
many doorkeepers, clerks and minor
offices of like character would be Sc
1ected, but there seems to be disposi-
ton on the part of the friends of the
candidates for speaker, to rush the cam
paign for this position through in short
order and let the man that is chosen by
the caucus for the party candidate,
have time in which to formulate his
plans as to committees.
The two leading candidates for the
position of speaker are w. F. Brown
of Pratt, commonly called Bill Fisher
Brown by his friends, and w. d. Street
of Oberlin, Decatur county. There are
several other candidates for the posi-
ton, but yet they have not arrived
and the representatives that are on the
ground at the present time seem to
think that the race is between Brown
and Street
Mr.. Brown was the first candidate to
arrive. He came to town on an early
morning train and at once went to bed.
His manager, J. S. Barnes of Pratt,
looked after his interests during the
morning among the representatives
that We're here. About noon Mr.. Brown
got up and began to receive callers.
When seen by a reporter he said;
Il have not been here very long and
have not seen any great number of
the members of the house.I am satisfied
with the way things are progressing
though, and think that everything is as
hopeful as l could ask. / will undoubt-
edly have the support of the entire Sew
enth district If there is a sufficient
number of members mere on Friday and
in the caucus to make it's action decis-
i've, think that the matter of the
speakership will be settled at that time
It ought to be, for it viii give the nom
inee a chance to arrange his commit
tees
How many members will you have
in the Seventh district?"
We will get at least twenty votes
IN the Seventh district, and ought to
have between thirty and thirty-fve
votes on the first ballot in the eau
GUS
w D Street came TO town about
noon, having been delayed some time
on account of the storm, which laid out
his train. He was seen shortly after
his arrival by reporter, and said
There are only few of the mem
bers of the house here yet, and I have
seen very few of this number 1 think
that the members of the northwest will
stand by me, though L have not heard
of any disafection, l can't say how
many votes 1 will have in the caucus
but think [ can count on twenty-five
in the Sixth district to start with. I
will also have several votes outside of
the Sixth iE the start and more later
/ understand that there will be a eau
Gus on the Sth. that will be Friday
and when all of the members from my
part of the country come down l can
tell better as to how many I can count
on from there"
Mr.. Rothweiler of Rush, Trueblood OF
Usage, Weller of Cherokee and Jones
of Neosho are all expected to come in
today. AS yet none of these last
named gentlemen has shown any de
cided strength in the race.
There are SeVenty-Six silver mem hers
of the house. divided as follows: Popu-
lists, 65; Democrats, 8; silver Republi-
cans, 8. If all of these go into a eau
Gus the successful candidate will have
to have 81 votes to secure the caucus
nomination. If the 60 Populist members
go into caucus alone it will require only
Sc votes to nominate.
The senatorial situation is as much
OF a puzzle as ever. There are no new
developments today. The members of
the legislature are coming to town slow
ly, many of them having delayed start
ing from home in the past day or so
till after the storm subsided. Those
that are here do not seem inclined to
express their choice.
Colonel W. A. Harris is on the ground
that are here. Among the friends that
he has that are working for him is
George Munger of Greenwood county.
who was one of the candidates for gov
ernor before the Abilene convention.
John w. Breidenthal is holding forth
in his Office in the state house and is
busy talking to the members that call
on him.
Senator PETERS interests are being
looked after by J. w. Morphy, who is
the editor of The Advocate the sena-
tors paper Morphy is busy in the cor
ridors of the hotels and is doing good
work.
These are all of the candidates tha+
are on the ground, either in person or bv
representative. None OF them will haz-
ard an estimate as to how many votes
he will have on the first ballot in the
caucus. 1t is doubtful if any of them
can figure accurately A man who
had been among the politicians at the
National sometime said this morning
was nearly an accurate estimate of the
first ballot: PETER, SO; Dennison, 20
Harris. 1S; Breidenthal, 16; Little, u
King, 5; Madden. 3. If Campbell should
come out he would get 2 on the first
ballot and this would take 2 away
from Little. A friend of BreidenthaIs
said today that he was unable to esti-
mate how many Breidenthal would have
at first, but that he would have 81
after few ballots in the caucus.
POLICE BOARD FIGHTS ON.