The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-01-12
Law and Order Forces Fire First
Gun in Mayor Fight.
Undecided Whether to Support
Hughes or Bergundthal.
STERNE WON'T HAVE IT
Declines to Allow the Use of
His Name.
Labor Unions Will Take Hand
in the Election.

The first battle OF the coming spring
election has begun ". s. Bergundthal
and ]. ". F. Hughes are on trial before
the committee representing the law
and order" faction, and the general i'm
preston seems to be that one of the two
aspirants viii be Endorsed. The commit
tee held their first meeting Saturday
afternoon, and failed to get together.
Another meeting is to be held next
Wednesday.
Each of the rival candidates has
certain following in the committee. The
lines ore pretty sharply drawn, too, and
it may be that in case Of a prolonged
deadlock, the result viii be split in the
law and order ranks.
Hughes has some friends on the COM
mittee who are likely to stay with him
to the last ditch. Some of them are
men whom Hughes appointed to Office,
and who hope TO retain their jobs in
case of Hughes election. These are
leading the fight in Hughes behalf.
Other members of the committee as
sert that it would be suicidal to nomi-
nate Hughes. as he is too well liked by
the liberals" They have investigated
the truth OF the reports that Hughes
has been secretly endorsed by the lib
erals and find that there IS truth in it.
These men viii stand by BergundthaIs
who is, they claim, the strongest man
IN the city council, and is willing to en-
force the prOhibitory law as strongly as
Hughes is
Meanwhile the dust-brown ranks of
the opposition are standing fast, wait
ing to see what the result Will be of the
Hughes Bergundthal fight.
ANOTHER CANDIDATE CERTAIN.
It makes no difference whether
Hughes wins out, or Bergundthal, there
will certainly be another candidate in
the field, and right there is where the
union labor" faction expects to get in
its work.
The union labor leaders deny en-
phatically that the unions have decided
not to place anyone in nomination for
mayor. They say; I'VE don't know
yet what we viii DO. We have nothing
to give to the public Later on we will
make a full and official announcement
of our plans"
A prominent member of the unions
steering committee said today:
Neither Hughes nor Bergundthal is
acceptable to the union labor people. We
will have a candidate for mayor in the
field who Is all right. Bergundthal we
well know is not a friend of labOring
men, and I am satisfied that Hughes
will not be any better off. The man
who gets the support of the unions
must submit to having his record over
hauled, and must not be afraid to pledge
himself to stand bv the union men in
every possible way
Asked whether or not ". +. Weber
would be acceptab bic to the unions, the
man refused to express an opinion. sim
ply reiterating his statement that the
candidate acceptable to the unions must
have a clean record. AS the unions
fought Mr.. Weber with all their might
when he was a candidate for council
man, 1t seems likely that he would not
be an acceptable candidate
STERNE NOT a CANDIDATE.
There have been a great many diff
ferent individuals talked OF as an CpDo-
sitiOn candidate for mayor, but eve
since the talk commenced there has
ing sentiment in favor of eX~United
States Marshal ". e. Sterne.
Mr. Sterne is a man of ability. and
would be able to give the city a business
like administrator But when asked to
day whether or not he would accept
nomination for mayor, Mr.. Sterne stated
positively that he would not under any
circumstances be candidate.
There has also been q persistent ru-
NOR that James S Warner would be
selected as the man to fight the hattie
this spring. It is believed by some that
if Hughes is chosen as the law and or
der candidate, Warner could defeat him
Warner has been growing in popularity.
while Hughes record as mayor will net
stand a very careful scrutiny.
When asked whether or not lie would
accept an independent nomination, or
whether he would be a candidate at the
primaries Mr.. Warner said:
My business for the coming year is
so arranged that it would be out of the
question for me to get into this fight
I expect to be out Of town 4 good deal .
If the nomination were offered you
would you accept?"
Il don't think I would said Mr.
Warner.
WILL FIGHT BLANCH.
The chances are that Councilman
Frank Blanch viii have very much the
same kind of fight to retain his seat
as councilman from the Fourth ward
that Councilman Weber had last year.
The unions are after Mr.. Blanch be-
cause he is not union contractor. He
employs nonunion workmen on MS iobs,
and the unions all hate him. Blanch
takes about the same stand on the uro-
hibition question that Councilman
Weber does.
The man whom Blanch has TO fight
is not regarded as a very fOrnida bic
candidate. though he has liked up with
politics considerably and viii have a
good assortment of wires to pull
The First ward IS as barren as usual
of active candidates for councilman A
NJ. Baird is the only one mentioned 50
far, end he has not consented to make
the race
The anti-Griley people are having a
hard time to find man to represent
them in the Second ward. George
Layne is the only one who manifests
a willingness to get into the fight.
Neil in the Third and Swendson in
/ the Sixth have no opposition so far
/ but the prohibition people are said to
/ have dislike for Neil and may try to
Wolf him as they did Snattinger.
| J. c. Sinner is a candidate for the
council in the Sixth against Nichols,
and is believed to have a good chance
1 to win
LAW AND ORDER COMMITTEE
The members of the law and order
committee. which will decide between
Hughes and Bergundthal, are as fol-
1 lows:
Committee of 2o0-Thos. Page. First
ward; T. S Williams. Second ward: J.
W. Gleed. Third ward: A. Troup. Fourth
ward; the Rev. c. NJ. Sheldon Fifth
ward; F H. Foster. Sixth ward.
Law and Order Republican league
Sam c. Miller First ward; John Alex
ander. Second ward; Frank Lindsay,