Omaha daily bee., 1906-12-31
SAUNDERS HAS A GOOD SHOW
Douglas Man Apparently Leads In Race to
Preside Over Senate.
FIELD AGAINST wHULLEN IN HOUSE
Caucus Call Has Not Yet Been Circu-
lated, in Fact No Agreement Has
Been Reached on It's
Terms.
CFrom a Stan Correspondent1

ton honors has gone on steadily. but the |
program Is still more or less indefinite. So |
far as the senate is concerned, the pros
poets appear to favor Saunders OF Douglas
for the presidency, although Wiltse Of
Cedar has loomed up with unexpected !
strength and Wilson of Pawnee and Nc
Keeson of Lancaster have dropped into the
merely complimentary stage. Saunders |
friends claim to have assurances of more
than enough OF his fellow senators to make
the necessary majority Of the caucus. II
takes only fifteen, and they say they have
pledges of several to spare.
The speakership lineup now is as FOL-
lows: McMullen of Gage, Dodge of Doug
las Armstrong Of Nemaha, Harrison of
Otoe, Marsh OF Seward, Brown of Ian
caster, Hart of York. Nettleton Of Clay,
Kelfer Of Nuckolls, Hill Of Chase. This is
the biggest entry list that has been seen
on the eve Of any recent legislature.
McMuIIen Against the Field.
To man up tree Il looks as II the
skirmish were about to develop into a
fight between McMullen on one side and
the field on the other. McMulens inter-
views. with his bid for railroad support,
have done him both help and harm. There
is no doubt that most Of the members with
COTpOTdIlOH ledHlnB are IdlhlIlB lOl MI
Mullen. and there is no doubt either that
this very fact is driving away from him
some of the independent members who
would otherwise be attracted to him.
Among the field the strong men are un-
questionably Dodge and Nettleton, althr 'gh
with many contestants every one in the
field figures that he has fair chance and
insists that he is in the running. II the
field can combine on any one the candidate
thus centered on will win out over Nc
Mullen. McMulens success, therefore, de-
pends not only on holding his own, but
drawing in some of the supporters Of his
competitors when the break comes.
The caucus paper has not yet been
started. nor is there any agreement as to
what It shall contain. The expectation is
that the candidates for speaker will get
together in the morning and formulate the
terms for the caucus call The sentiment
generally seems to be for an open roll call
vote to make sure that no curved balls are
thrown under cover Of a secret ballot. It
is suggested that even a two-thirds
majority be required. although that is not
probable. II the candidates prepare the
caucus call It will be soon signed up with
out disclosing the strength of any partcu-
lar one of them.
Minor Places In the shadow
Outside of the speakership and the presi-
dency of the senate, the minor house
officers have had to take subsidiary
position. Buck Taylor is boosting himself
for sergeant-at-arms and by so doing irri-
tating the Dodge workers, who think he is
interfering with them. Another obstacle
J DodEe's friends have had to overcome Is
the objection to putting both the presidency
OF the senate and the speakership in Doug
las county. r. Manning, who also now
lives in Omaha, is a candidate for post
master in the senate while several lesser
! lights are waiting for smaller appointIve
positions.
The railroad lobbyists are trying hard to
keep under cover and to do their work
through emissaries who are less well
known. Lobbyist Clancy of the Union
Pacific is duly installed in his quarters at
the Lindell and the Burlington lobbyist,
Frank Young, is working wires from the
Lincoln. They have had runners going in
and out all evening.
The word is that Governor Elect Sheldon
will be in Lincoln tomorrow and his ar
rival will be signalized by a warm recep-
ton extended to him by the small army
of officeseekers who have been lying in
wait for several days.
Combinations Not Easy.
Lots of pulling and hauling has been done
| by the legislators in an effort to make
| some kind of combination on the speaker
| ship fight, but so far as the surface indi-
cations go the purpose was not accom-
plished. 1t looks like too many of the
legislators have a second choice for the
candidates for speaker to make much head
way in promising to trade. Efforts were
t,I- .I.g..
in candidate for chief clerk, but that plan
also failed to succeed to any great extent
Efforts were made to do this two years
ago and 1t accomplished the defeat Of a
candidate for speaker to whom the po-
sition was practically conceded. Some OF
the old members have not forgotten that
and so far the fight for speaker and the
fight for chief clerk have been kept dis
tlnctly separate. Clyde Barnards stock
went up several notches during the day
when II became known that majority OF
the candidates for speaker had pledged
themselves to him, regardless of what hand
he might take in the speakership scrap
There has been some talk that a full slate
would be sprung some time tomorrow and
the talk is that all OF the present candi,
dates for speaker might be left out in the
cold. unless they can get together In somC
Interest Turns on Senate.
Considerable more interest was taken II
the race for president pro tenn of the sen
ate during the day because the member
began to realize the real importance o
this fight is over the personnel of the com
mittee of seven which selects the stand
ing committee OF that body. While thu
members say no matter who bosses tn
committee, the platform pledges will be ad
hered to- because the senate will be stronl
enough to override the committees Thos
who have been foremost in demanding tn
carrying out OF the platform have con
cluded 10 see that the committee Is righ
from the start. consequently there may b.
, a nice fight over this proposition. 1t onl!
takes four members to make a majority o
! this committee on committees, and shoult
the corporations secure this committee the
will start on with big advantage. Tn
candidates for president pro TEN ar
Saunders OF Douglas. Wiltse OF Cedar. Nc
Kesson Of Lancaster. and Wilson OF Paw
nee. II is probable these four will be Of
the committee on committees, no matte
which OF the four captures the presidency
W. 8. T1lton OF Beatrice Is meeting wit
! some encouragement In his race for secre
Z tary Of the senate. He is being ADVERTISE
? as an old soldier, an active republican, an
{ as being thoroughly In accord with IN
platform. His competitors are Fred Miller
|