Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-01-19
Madison. Ian. IL.

regation OF forces. The general SEN
atorial caucus is scheduled for s.
O'Clock tomorrow evening in the as
sembly chamber. 1t is not believed
that any candidate knows exactly
upon how many votes he can count.
} his much is certain, the date for
| combinations mas nearly arrived.
| Neither Quarles nor Babcock, Stephen
| son nor Cook has within 20 votes OF
| enough to nominate. 1t requires 81
to do that. A Quaries leader yester
| day claimed 81; but retorts the
| Babcock boomer, the Quarles head
| quarters claimed A two weeks before
| Christmas. 1t was added also that the
! members who had recently been COM
! ing out Tor the eloquent Milwau-
| keean mad been for him all the time,
and that these periodical announce
ments were merely a form OF politi-
/ cal strategy without really any sig
| nifcance.
The feeling is growing that Quarles
must win early if at ali. 1t fact, the
| opposition contends that If he fails
| the first night his doom is sealed. This
| theory, however, is secuted by the
| Quarles men who declare that he is
the second choice of so many of the
members supporting other candidates
| that in no event can his defeat be COM
| passed. At least Is out of the 16
milwaukee votes are claimed for
| Quarles, yet an ANTICIPATES man Of
| prominence insists that if he gets
| nalf Of the delegation he will be doing
| remarkably well, and that he will not
| have even that many after the thru
| ballot in the caucus. BY no
| possibility can he VIM said tbs
gentleman. There are 6S members Of
| the two houses utterly opposed to his
candidacy. This is 9 more than q
majority of the whole caucus. These
] 68 will never vote for him, there
fore he is certain loser in the end. .
But this sort of defamation seemingly
has not excited anything like panic
at the Quarles rendezvous. There
equanimity and assurance peryade the
atmosphere, dividing space with
oxidized nicotine No combinations
are suggested in which Quarles is a
/ principal 1t appears to be assumed
that he expects to win on his own
merits alone, and will therefore not
talk compromise, conditions Or collu-
sion. But, granting that he has =.
votes, it would take all that Stephen
son or Cook can possibly muster to
bring him success, and, it is highly
doubtful if any candidate has his
| fnll full y,l1 = hot
he can transfer them in a body. Thus
it looks extremely improbable that
any dual combination with Mr..
Quarles as the beneficiary can be made
SO complete as to prove effective, and
| a Quafles-Babcock deal is out of the
| question for the reason that too much
hostility exists between these ele-
! mentS
But, if Quarles is counted out on dual
deals, SO, too, are all the rest. No two
Of the opposition have enough to nom
mate. Babcock may have 25 to So votes
and Stephenson Or Cook from 10 to 20
each, but, even admitting the maxi
mum figure in each case, any combina-
ton OF two forces would yet fall
somewhat short Of reaching the neces-
sary 81 votes. Nevertheless talk OF d
Babcock-Stephenson combination is
| becoming very common and mas had
the effect Of energizing Stephenson
| stock considerably. Yesterday, at the
! Park, a substantial bet was made that
the Marinette man would be the next
senator! It is well understood that some
of the La Toilette strength-and that
may mean much that Cook and Webb
have-could easily be shifted TO
| Stephenson-for las any one forgotten
that during the last ante-convention
campaign hints were many that it
was Stephenson substance which was
being so effectively employed by the
La Toilette managers! Any way
| whether this story is true or not, there
is no unkindness of sentiment toward
| the Marinette lumberman ever trace
able TO La Toilette sources. The Bah
cock people, TOO, exhibit no unfriend-
| illness toward Stephenson, while the
! Cook men are aTousing no antago-
| nisms~ whatever. Geographically,
! they ought really to be almost Of
| Stephenson kin, and indeed it is en-
| tirely probable that they may be
found supporting that element when
! the crisis comes. if in the meantime
they do not break up, with Quarles in
| heriting a considerable fraction. Ex-
! Speaker Buckstaff boldly affirms that
| Cook will be second in the running,
and curiously enough, a very promi-
nent BabcOck man Yesterday said with