The Saint Paul globe., 1903-01-05

Spare.
Tonight brings the finish of the long
est and hardest fight for the speaker
ship of the Minnesota house of repre-
sentatives in the history of the state.
The conference committee will meet
this morning and arrange for the eau
Gus which is expected to be held at 8
o'clock tonight.
Last evening Mr.. Johnson announced
II selection of his three members of
the' caucus arrangements committee.
Representatives S. D. Peterson. of the
Second congressional district; c. N.
Haugen, of the Ninth, and Ward Stone,
of the Seventh, for Johnson will meet
George w. Armstrong, of the Fifth;
w. A. Nolan, of the First, and R. J.
Wells, of the Ninth, for Babcock.
They will agree upon the hour of
caucus and the rules for the meeting.
The latter are expected to be simple.
The unit rule now holds in only one
district, the First. If the First district
caucuses, as it may reasonably be eX-
pected to do, it may also abrogate the
unit rule, as Johnson has several sup
porters in the delegation who will un-
doubtedly ask to be released from the
action of the steering committee, which
indorSed Babcock and by virtue of
that Endorsement threw the district to
the Wadena man.
Free-for-AlI Caucus.
The Johnson men in the First dis
trict have not been counted by the
Babcock people as held by the unit
rule and their friends on the delegation
will probably make no objection to it's
abrOgation.
Fhe Seventh district delegation, of
which Johnson has an undisputed ma
jority, attempted to caucus yesterday
and bind the Babcock men by the unit
rule, but without success. The Bab-
cock men from the Seventh agreed
Saturday to enter a caucus which
should not deprive them of the right
to vote as they please and yesterday
they WithStoOd all argument.
Yesterday was one of the busiest
days of the speakership campaign The
Johnson people made strenuous efforts
to conceal or decry the effects of the
detection of a decisive majority of the
Hennepin delegation to Babcock. T.
H. Girling, Babcocks manager, insists
ed that instead of suffering a loss the
resulted in gain for Johnson. He
said 1t had aroused the country mem
berS and brought them more solidly
into line for the Hennepin man. If
Mr.. Girling'S claim were true there
was nothing on the surface or in the
Babcock camp to corroborate it.
Think Fight Is Over.
The hotel lobbies were filed through
out the day with leading members of
the house and senate and politicians
from various sections of the state. The
senators who have no vote nor direct
interest in the speakership fight and
who are in majority of cases in close
touch with the house members from
their respective districts have the best
chance to form impartial opinions. In
very large majority the senators on
the ground yesterday expressed the
belief that the fight is to all intents
and purposes over and that the Wa
dena man has the prize safely tucked
away.
Some of the Johnson men have lost
hope of winning and others still be-
heVe they have a fighting chance,
While the leaders, naturally enough,
claim that it will be a walkaway for
them tonight. A prominent First dis
trfct man, who has from the first been
Johnson man, yesterday said:
AT the worst we cannot be beaten
by q large majority and if things turn
our way as we expect and confidently
oeheVe they will we can squeeze out
the few votes necessary to win We
have, in any event, made a gallant
light and if beaten our defeat will be
honorable"
Refuses to Withdraw.
Mr.. Johnson's managers insist that
their man will not consent to with
draw in favor of a third man and is in
the race until defeat or election is
handed him by the caucus That an
effort to get Johnson out yesterday
was made, is beyond question. The
governor had given it out Saturday
that Representative Haugland, of Mon
teVldo, would do and pressure was
brought to bear on Johnson Saturday
night after the flop of the HenneDin
delegation. Shortly after midnight
Saturday Johnson gave it out to the
press that he was in the fight to stav
and yesterday Mr.. Haugland, who was
one OF the prominent members Of the
last house, said he would not be a can
didate.
The third candidate proposition. was.
however, in the air all day and Rerre-
sentative S. D. Peterson. CT New UIm.
was kept busy by the Johnson men,
who insist that Johnson must hava the
II, w
has from the first been a tentative
candidate, casually remarked that it
was not toe late for the entrance of
third man, but the johnson people
took no chances and placed him at the
head of the caucus conference ccmit-
tee to insure against his taking advan-
tage of the disposition to float Later
Mr.. Peterson again protested it was
too late for dark horse, but few CT
the old-timers will be surprised if the
developments today result in placing
the veteran legislator before the eau
Gus as receptacle for the favor of his
colleagues.
Peterson May Enter.
Mr.. Peterson thinks that his twenty
two years of service in the Minnesota
legislature has eHainently equipped him
for the discharge of the duties of
speaker and admits that the house
might do worse than elect him to pre-
side over it's deliberations
While the Johnson leaders still insist
that they have the fight won, the Bah
cock people say they feel secure in the
possession OF siXty-two votes. nine
more than necessary for nomination
Their workers were on the ground in
force to guard against any flank move
ment against their forces, as they stat
ed, by the roOrback route.
DR.. Babcock expressed the liveliest
satisfaction with the situation and
.1r4C