Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-12-19
Senatorial and speakership
Situations Up to Date.
GEARS SUPPORT UNITED
speakcrship Contest Growing Interest-
Ing as Time Approaches-tsear's
Advantages From Good or.
ganization of Forces.

Des Moines, Dec. 1s.-The speaker
ship and senatorial contests are getting
decidedly interesting. Members from
the country districts are arriving daily,
making arrangements for winter quar-
ters. The Bowen and Gear and the Eat
on and Cummins people have both es-
tabished headquarters at the Savery
hotel.
The speakership contest has at last
settled down to two candidates, Bow
en-, the Gear candidate, and Eaton, who
is the recognized Cummins candidate,
and the first contest on the senatorial
question will be fought ON the lines of
the speakership.
Governor Gears friends would have
much preferred that the contest be not
conducted long speakership lines, for
the reason that they desire the iudi-
vidual members of the house to eNer-
else their own preference,b but the Cum
minis people have been for some time
pushing the candidacy of Mr.. Eaton
and now it is impossible to divorce the
speakership contest from the senato-
rial. The Gear people have a much
better organization than their oppo-
nents, and his candidacy and that of
Bowen is being. supported by almost
the entire congressional delegation of
the state, Senator Allison, majority
of the state officers. and the expert
enced politicians. They have decided
advantage by having very large ma
jority in the senate; in fact, it is con-
ceded that they will have at least
twenty-siX out of the thirty-five rspub-
lican senators. In addition, Governor
Gears friends claim fifty-four mem
bers in the house, with a possible fifty
six, while it will require only forty-one
votes to elect the speaker and control
the organization of the house. The
Cummins' people last week made some
headway in the Gear camp by getting
promises. of. soRle of their votes for
Eaton, while the Gear people made
similar progress in the eneny's camp.
but as matter of tact, before the
speakership caucus, it is predicted by
conservative politicians that the lines
will be drawn strictly along the sena-
torial lines.
Mr.. Cummins' candidacy has been
very vigorously pushed by the Des
Moines dailies; in fact, without the
support of these papers, which reach
nearly all portions of the state, he
would have been able to make little,
if any progress.
Governor Gears friends, if they were
so disposed, have the power to estab-
lish a new precedent in Iowa politics.
viz, select the chairmen and member
ship of committees in the senate. but
as IL matter of courtesy of the senate,
the lieutenant governor has for years
exercised that privilege, and the Gear
people say that they have no DISPOSE
ton to establish new precedent; but
Mr.. Cummins' supporters, who con-
trolled the leading chairmanships of
the most prominent committees in the
last senate, are not entirely satisfied
that this will not be done.
Mr. Bowen and Mr.. Eaton both live
in the same congressional district in
northeastern Iowa, and before Bowen
became candidate, he was practically
assured OF a majority of the votes in
his own congressional district.
Cummins and Eaton are both handi-
capped somewhat, the latter because he
has only been Il republican snce 1896,
and the former because he bolted two
republican nominations for governor,
one in 1889 and the other in 1891, and
in both campaigns supported Governor
Boies.
1t was not many years ago that Mr..
Eaton was permanent chairman of a
democratic state convention at Dayen-
port, in fact it was in the same cam
paign that Mr.. Cummins was supports
ing Governor Boies.