Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1898-12-07
OUR MADISON LETTER.
The Coming Shake-up at the
State House.
WILL NOT BE SWEEPING.


cox's Recent Visit to Her Aged Parents
Author of Tippecanoe and Tyler.
Too" a Resident of Madison.
Madison, Wis, Nov. 29.-The coming |
shake-up at the state house with the
acvent OF the newly elected state Off |
GERS is beginning to be the main sub |
1ect of discussion and speculation |
among local politicians. of which there |
are any number. AS Governor SEQ |
field remains in office. the changes will |
not be so sweeping as one that would |
mark the incoming of an entirely new /
administration. The capitol sinecures
which are in the gift of the governor
and heads of various departments num-
Der several hundred, and range in sal
airy from $3.50 TO $500 a year. There
are two classes OF employees about the
state house-those who by virtue of
being Indispensable as experts have
been retained for years and those of
recent appointment. OF the latter class
there are also two sets. the Upham
men, who have been in four years. ard
the Scofield men of two years service
AS four years is the traditional term
for appointees. it is expected that the
Scofield men will be retained Dairy
and Food Commissioner H. c. Adams
is the most prominent of the Upham
appointees and ii is expected he will
stay While Mr.. LaFollette personally
is not faring we'll in a political way
yet his followers will get a larger share
Of the patronage than ever. Treasurer
Elect Davidson is a pronounced LaFol-
lette man, ana Attorney General Elect
Hicks is believed to be in sympathy
with that wing of the party. Conse-
quently their departments will be filled
largely with LaFollette men. The same
is true of the land office and other de-
partments will be partially recruited
! from the ranks of the Madison leader.
Babcock on the Field.
Congressman J. w. Babcock is MAX
| ing Madison his home at present, and
| will remain here until the senator
| ial contest is over to personally manage
| his campaign. His effective lieutenant,
| Secretary of State sCasson, is confident
his man will get the plum. Since the
election Babcock stock has gone up
materially on the report that President
| Mckinley is said to have expressed
| his great appreciation for the Wiscon-
| sin mans management as chairman of
| the congressional committee, and to
| have ntimated that he would like to
! see Mr.. Babcock made chairman of the
national committee in the next presi-
/ dental campaign in place of Hanna.
| That Mr.. Justice Joshua E. Dodge
the newly appointed member of the SUI
| preme bench, is not a married man is
| greatly regretted by Madison society.
| The families of the supreme court
| judges have always been prominent
| factors in Madison social life, and it
was hoped that with Judge Pinney's
| successor would also come a valuable
| acquisition to local society circles. JUS
| tice Dodge will continue to make Mil
waukee his home ii he can consistently
do so in connection with his new duties.
| His swearing in was a most prosaic
| proc aeGing He received a dispatch at
| Milwaukee from Chief Justice Cassoday
in the afternoon stating that his pres
| ence in Madison would be necessary the
| next day as business demanded a full
! court. He caught an evening train,
| and early next morning was sworn in
| before Chief Justice Cassoday, in the
presence of only the members of the
| court and John T. Fish of Milwaukee.
In accordance with custom he took his
seat at the extreme left of the chief
| Justice. Judge Bardeen. the latest pre-
vious appointee. moving over to the
extreme right. Justice Dodge appears
to be particularly fortunate in the mat
| ter Of preferment. He was offered a
similar position on the bench by Gov
| ernor Peck, but generously stepped
aside for his old friend. Judge Winsow.
| In the legislative session of 1891 he was
| a member of the lower house and easily
| proved himself the strongest man in
| that body. He viii have to stand for
reelection in the spring. but being a
| Democrat appointed by a Republican,
| it is argued he should have no opposi-
ton. What the charge of favoritsm
| to corporations shown in the appoint
ment will develop remains to be seen.
Two Notable Writers.
Mrs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox has just
returned to her eastern home. after her
| annual visit of a month with her aged
| parents in the town of Windsor, ten
miles north of Madison. Ella. as she is
| affectionately called here. has become
| so accustomed to fame that she now
| avoids notice when she comes back, and
| her presence here is not generally
known until couple of days before she
| is ready to return. The same is true
| of Hamlin Garland Wisconsins IA
| nous novelist, who recently spent
| week here with his mother while she
| was under medical treatment. So sue
cessful was he in concealing his identi-
| ty that a local newspaper man who sat
| opposite him at the table all this time
| did not learn who his vis-a-vis neigh
hor who maintained such a discriminat-
| ing conversation was until by chance
| he discovered a letter addressed to him.
! His presence was at once exploited, but
! the rush of reporters and friends came
| too late as Garland left the same day.
| In the forenoon of their fame Madison
society delighted in giving functions
| for these notables and would take in
creased pleasure in doing so now were
| an opportunity presented. 1t Is not
| generally known that the now famed
| poetess of passion first achieved To-
| cal reputation as a lyric champion of
prohibition by setting forth the evils OF
| the grog shops in burning measures
| a la Longfellow's maiden effort:
'Mr. Finney had a turnip, etc"
The farmhouse on the Wheeler home
| stead is a plain and unpretentious one
| and a mothers pardonable pride is
| shown by Mrs Wheeler who invariably
| gives to visitors the chair that was the
| favorite of her famous daughters girl
| hood. A brother of Mrs. Wilcox con-
| duets the farm.
| Author of Famous Campaign Song.
| But Ella Wheeler is not the only Mad
| ison versifier entitled TO distinction.
| There is one humble resident Of the
capital city. whose name is seldom men
toned, yet who is the author of the
most famous camp gn song in our po-
| iticai history. "TIppecanoe and Tyler,
Too" His name is Orson Eli Wood
| bury he being a ne Ohew Of Levi Wood
bury. the cabinet officer who later be-
came a judge Of the federal supreme
court. He is now 10 years old and for
thirty seven years has followed the &C.
| cupation OF a machinist in Madison.
| He wrote his famous song when but
| boy of 10, living with his parents at
Menden, N. Y, thirteen miles south Of
Rochester. When William Henry Har-
rison was named for the presidency by
the Wings in 1910 his opponent sought
TO laugh down his cand daey by
exploiting the circumstances of his
early life. The coon skin. the
cider barrel and the log cabin
were made the symbols OF all