The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-10
KICKS ON THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Which, They Say, Is Made Solely in the Interest Of
Senators Stevens and Pottgieser, and
Unfair to the Party as
Whole.


boiled, stewed, fried, or deducted from
all the whales in the northern ocean
to quiet the troubled waters of Ramsey
county Republicanism, judging from
the breezy proceedings at the capitol
last night, where the reapportionment
scheme was under consideration.
1t is war to the knife. There is no
secret about it now. 1t was blazoned
on the house tops last night; it was
heralded up and down Wabasha street,
even from the capitol to the court
house square that the Republican dele
cation from the Fourth ward to the
next county convention would give the
Stevens Pottigieser Freddy Bryant
combination the most through, digni-
fed and generally effective trouncing
that ever was administered to an en-
thusiastic but callow, Republican ma
chine.
Who promised this? Well, Henry
Johns helped a little. Doc Schiffman
took hand. Tim Sheehan painted it
in words whose rainbow tints almost
led the aesthetic souls of the confer
ence committee away from the pillar of
fire which the doughty Hiram, of the
Ninth, was using to guide them by
night, but it was in vain. They turned
Sheehan down. and they turned Johns
down, and Schiffman, well, he is work
ing on a lot of new acids in the hope OF
securing something that will turn the
edge of Damascus blade a little BIZ
sharper than one was ever made be
fore
When the senate adjourned yester-
day, Senator Stevens had secured O
re-reference of the reapportionment
puzzle to the conference committee
That committee met last night and de-
cided to hear the plant of the Otter
Tail folk this morning at II, and some
sundry other kicks at various hours in
the next ten or twelve, but when it
came to the Ramsey conflict, no balm
could be found which could anneal the
confused edges of the party harmony.
The Ramsey delegation gave a pub
lie hearing in this hope. There was d
brilliant galaxy of Republican talent
there Senator Stevens had Freddy
Bryant at his right hand with mani
fold copies of the map which the
Globe produced for it's readers a few
days ago. George Thompson SAT-
across the table, while Harris Richard
son was down at the other end looking
after the machine end of it, pre-
sumably Sam Lowenstein sat in the
background, but his voice-was none the
less heard in support of the party
slogan. Schiffman and Johns were
there part of the time Then Johns
proposed an apportionment plan, and
when his was the only vote cast IN
favor of it he quit
Freddy had his maps there. They
were drawn In blank as far as the dis
tricts were concerned, but they showed
the wards in great shape. If they
lacked anything from the vote for
William Jennings Bryan to that for
there to supply it. And he did The
delegation, by formal vote, expressed
it's confidence in the map-designing
ability of the namesake of Thanatopsis
author.
Then it proceeded to. business, and
when 1T got through Henry Johns had
about as much show of breaking into
the senate as the armless man might
have of climbing a ladder with the
spokes out 4--sls-.ea.s
They did, however, adopt a plan OF
districting the city. Instead of leaving
both the First and Second wards to-
gether, as both the house and senate
had agreed, they put the north half OF
the First ward with the Ninth. They
split the first ward block or two
north of Minnehaha street, which left
the Celtic senator from the First in a
district consisting of the rest of the
First, the Second and the Third.
When the Cicero of the northwestern
corner heard this he was playing pin
pool at the Windsor. 1t was less than
ten minutes before his basso profundo,
trembling with pent-up emotion, was
ringing out from the recesses of the
executive session, for the conference
committee had then reconvened, and
he promised or threatened, that he
would beat that part of the bill on
the senate floor today or he would re-
nounce all his claims to political in
huence, and go down with his constit-
uents in the grave Of political treach-
cry The First ward, he insisted, was q
unit. It should not be divided for po-
litical exigencies. It's people were one,
it should be one political division
Moreover, the two branches Of the
legislature had agreed on this, and the
conference committee had no right to
go beyond their decision. But it did
and it adopted the plan of the sub
committee which was practically the
Ramsey delegation plan.
They went at it dispassionately,
Senator Stevens explained to them
that the First ward had Republican
votes to burn. It's loyalty was so en-
phatic that it could spare half it's votes
to counteract the Democratic Ninth
and yet survive. He lives in the Ninth.
But as Senator Sheehan lives south of
the line, he thought that the First
ward Demosthenes would not object to
that. He had Sheehan fixed. He gave
him his own half Of the First, the
Second and the Third, and Sam Low
enstein, who lived in the Third, said
that was a Republican district. too.
How could Tim get behind that?-
why" said Sam, I'VE are Tins best
friends, although he don't seem to know
1t. He has the First ward. He's all
right Just as long as the SWedes want