The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-06
VOTE OF REPUBLICAN SPEAK
ERSHIP CAUCUS.

BY a vote of just two to one DR.. T..
W. Babcock, of Wadena, last night on
the first ballot defeated Lawrence TT
Johnson of Hennepin county, for
speaker of the thirty third session Of
the Minnesota legislature.
A speakership fight unparalleled in
the history of the state for length and
vigor was quickly settled last night.
after the Republican caucus got down
to the business Of voting. DR. Babcock,
opposed by the state central commit
tee and the power of the executive.
fairly ran away from his opponent.
Lawrence H. Johnson, who on the COM
pletion of the ballot moved to make the
nomination unanimous
Vote Was Decisive.
The nomination of Dr.. Babcock, who
the state central committee forces
claimed up to the last minute, went in
only to meet defeat, was accomplished
with an ease which to the uninitiated
would suggest that it was all a cut
and-dried affair. A few of the john
son men yesterday openly acknowledge
ed defeat. All efforts to get out third
candidate had proved fruitless.
Johnson also proved proof against
pleas for withdrawal in favor Of a third
man, and at a. conference held at the
Windsor yesterday afternoon it was
decided by the Johnson leaders to make
last onslaught and go down to de-
feat with colors sailing. After the con-
ference the leaders gave it out that
they considered the election of Mr..
Johnson a cinch, and intfmated they
would spring a surprise in the caucus.
There was one surprise furnished by
A. j. Rockne, of Goodhue county. He
made stirring speech, which was gen.
orally considered a second to the NOM
ination Of Mr.. Johnson. But at the
end of his remarks Mr.. Rockne sprulNg
the name of w. H. Putnam, of Red
Wing, for speaker. When the roll was
called Fraser, an original Johnson man,
voted for Putnam, and Rockne was
consistent by voting for his nominee.
Mr.. Putnam evidently did not see it
that way, however, and dropped little
surprise of his own in the shape of an
emphatic vote for Babcock.
Babcock Got Two Officers.
The preliminaries of the caucus
which was called for s o'clock, were
rather drawn out and correspondingly
tiresome. At the afternoon meeting of
the caucus conference committee the
Do
caucus officials. P. c. Deming, Min
neapolis, for chairman, and Renville
Chinook, St. Paul, as secretary. The
Johnson forces were represented by
their teller, George Perley of Moor
head. The rules provided for all ball
lots by roll call, but the question of
proxies was overlooked. During the
afternoon. DR.. M. S. Jones, of Battle
Lake, notified DR.. Babcock that his
little son was dangerously i'll, prevent
ing his attendance, but forwarded his
proxy. The attempt made by w. A.
Nolan, of Grand Meadow, to secure the
admission of proxies brought the john
son men to their feet, and show Of
strength which prognosticated beyond
question the result of the caucus.
S. D. Peterson, who called the eau
Gus to order, had barely turned the
house over to Chairman Deming, when
the first and only scrap was on. Rep
resentative ]. o. Haugland, Of Monte
videc, challenged Noians proxy prop
osition on the ground that no member
who could not be present to vote on
the floor of the house today should be
allowed to participate in the caucus.
w. III. Burns Fillmore, made a STIR
ring appeal to the houses spirit of
fairness, pleading for the admission Of
the proxy and a poll resulted in de-
cisive victory for the Babcock people
by vote Of 81 to So.
Nominated by Cole.
DR.. Babcock was nominated by A.
L. Cole, of Walker. Mr.. Cole made a
strong, manly speech, warmly eulogiZ-
ing DR.. Babcock as citizen and man,
who for a quarter of a century has
been leading figure in Northern Min
nesota, and who has been repeatedly
honored with public trusts by the citi-
zens OF Wadena and his legislative dis
trict
The principal seconding speeches for
Babcock were made by George w.
Armstrong, the young Minneapolitan,
who has demonstrated in the long
drawn out speakership fight that he is
one Of the states coming political gen.
erals, and w. H. Burns, of Fillmore
r. ]. Wells, of the Ninth; N. +. Hugo,
for the Eighth, and J. A. Anderegg, for
the Third district, contributed to the
eulogistic Babccek seconding speeches.
Mr. Johnson was nominated by ]. ID.
Shearer, Minneapolis, and seconding
speeches were made by George III. Per-
ley. Moorhead; J. o. Haugland, Mon
tevideo, and n. T.. Rosenwald, of Mad
ison. The Johnson speeches were
straight forward pleas for support on
the theory that JohnSon's election
would best conserve the interests Of
the administration and the party.
Representative Rockne nominated
Putnam and the voting was on.
Throughout the nominating oratory
the big gallery repeatedly demonstrat-
ed that Its sympathies were with the
Wadena man, and when the result Of
the ballot was announced gallery and