The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-11-05
CITY POLITICS.
Is There a Political Deal i'm
Waterw0rks Fight.
RumOr That Hughes and HOlli-
day Have q Plan.
LATTER TO GIVE WAY.
Former Would Again Stand as
Candidate for Mayor.
Believed He Is Preparing to
"FlOp."
LATTER TO GIVE WAY.

There is reason to believe that the
| thing which is really at the bottom of
the waterworks fight in the city coun-
Gil is conspiracy to defeat Mayor w.
S. Bergundthal for reelection, and
| that a deal has been made by which
]. w. F. Hughes is to be sprung as
the wet" candidate in the coming city
primaries.
! G. K. Holiday, who has been much
talked of as the candidate of the lib
eral element of the city for mayor
against w. S. Bergundthal. has fixed
/ it up with Col. Hughes, according to
the current report, and will refuse the
nomination and undertake to deliver to
Hughes in the next election the entire
liberal vote of the city. Hughes is ex-
pected to make his play for the law
and order support, in the hope of get
ting enough of it away from Bergund-
! thai to swing the election.
What Hughes and Holiday are
afraid of is that the deal for the pur-
chase of the waterworks plant will be
brought to focus too soon; so soon
that Mayor Bergundthal will have the
appointment of the board OF water
| commissioners to control the plant
They are afraid that this would give
him too much political thunder; they
seem to have started in to do exactly
what should by all means be avoided,
and that SNAKE a political football out
of the control of the waterworks. The
people of Topeka will not stand for this
effort to inject politics into the man
agement of the waterworks, even
though it may be done for the noble
purpose of making ]. w. F. Hughes
the next mayor.
der, Councilman George Neil, Council
man J. G. Sinner and others who are
known to be friendly to Mayor. Ber-
gundthals administration, have simply
Id Nv
trick, and have, without their knowl-
edge, been playing into the hands of
the wet faction to accomplish Ber-
gundthaPs political undoing. Sinner
discovered the existence of the plot,
and they are practically certain to re
fuse to have ANYTHING more to do with
the HugheS-Holliday combine
What the friends of Mayor Ber-
gundthal in the city council ought to
do is to come to his support at once;
delay is the only thing which Hughes
and his crowd are trying to accomp-
lish AS soon as the next city election
is over they will be willing to swing
around and have the city buy the
plant. But for the present, their most
strenuous efforts will be put forth to
delay the contamination of the deal
Hughes Is Scared.
There is reason to believe that the
scheme is not working quite as well
as it was hoped by the con9sP pin
that he will not be able to hold any of
his law and order friends in line and
at the same time oppose city owner
ship and conSort with the liberal ele- |
ment. All the members of the "old
guard who were so bitterly aggrieved
when Hughes was turned down by the
arbitration committee in the last Re-
publican primary have now assumed
an attitude of distinct hostility to
Hughes. 1t is not likely that w. w.
Mills. Del Keller. E. B. Cowgirl. or
any of the other former leaders of the |
Hughes movement will endorse their
much abused champion. They will
doubtless line up for Bergundthal in /
the next campaign.
Consequently there has been deal
of talk lately to the effect that Hughes |
is preparing to flop; that he wants /
to do something to get back into the |
good graces of the dry" crowd. The |
only trouble is that if Hughes f1ops, he |
might make Charley Holiday mad, |
and thereby lose the promise of the I
liberal support. Hughes is certainly