The Irish standard., 1905-01-07
CLAPP RENOMINATED.

So Senator Clapp is to be reelected
without even contest. This, no
doubt, is very unsatisfactory to many
legislators. There is a class of legisla-
tors, some of them are to be found in
the Hennepin county delegation, who
are always interested in seeing good
strong fight for the senatorship. Per-
haps their reason for this may be gath
cred from the following statement,
said to have been made by one of the
legislators: eff a fund of ten thou.
sand dollars had been thrown into the
senatorial fight even yesterday after
noon the nomination of Senator Clapr
would have been prevented '"Thi>
statement" says the Minneapolis Jour
nal, was made by one of the members
opposed to Clapp, who said that the
feeling against the senator was strong
and that such figure as that men
toned, jndiciously expended, would
have kept enough votes away from
Clapp to prevent his nomination and
throw the election into the Legislature"
Had this result been accomplished
there are some men we know Of who
would have been in clover. Judge
Gilfillan refused to buy the office, and
this, no doubt, accounts for the state
ments that were made in the public
press last week to the effect that Gill
tillan did not possess the essential ele-
ments of popularity necessary to win
a senatorship. Now, if we are any
judge Of the essential elements of pop
ularity necessary to win a senatorship
in the state of Minnesota, we would
say that the legislator who referred to
a fund of ten thousand dollars was on
the right track. Judge Gilfllan, In
the inception Of is candidacy, seemed
quite popular with certain Hcnnepin
county members, and why should he
not. for he possesses the essential ele-
mcnts Of popularity, but to his great
credit, lie refused to use those ele-
ments to procure the necessary support
The Minneapolis Journal bewails the
lack of Iennepin county influence in
the following paragraphs: George
Washington himself, if lie could come
back. could not be elected to the
United States senate from Hcnnepin
county so long rs the people of this
county will continue to elect men who,
under one flimsy prctcXt or another.
will desert the candidate at the criti-
cal moment. We might as we'll give
up the hope Of senator from this
city until we can elect delegation
that can be relied upon to he for the
Minneapolis man first and last and all
the time, and no man can afford to be
a candidate for that Office without that
kind of backing from home" Now, as
we understand it. the only excuse
which any Hennepin county member
had for not supporting home candi.
date was that the necessary amount
of dough" was not forthcoming. This
may he "flimsy excuse but it is al
potent with the class of men that we
have been in the habit of sending tc
the legislature. The Journal is right
We might as we'll give up hoping tt
elect senator from this city until we
can elect delegation that will support
good man without first being bought
and then being kept bought AS Ions
as we keep electing third-class lawyers
and men out of a job to the legislature
we may expect to have about the same
| standing that we have at the presen
time and have had for some years
past. Hennepin county has become