Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-07-15
POLITICS IN PLENTY
MAYOR RICHARDS ENTERS
RACE FOR AsSEMBLYMAN
What His Honor's Platform will be
Is Subject Of Much
Discussion

And another candidate has stepped
into the arena, thrown down the gaunt-
let, shied his castor, put the chip on
his shoulder, or whatever is the proper
fifurative expression for the prelimi-
nary motions Of d political contest,
Nomination papers are being circulated
for D. Fl Richards for assemblyman.
Presumably there has been the urgent
and insistent request of friends and
admirers commonly announced when a
candidate trots out, and Mayor Rich
ards patriotism led him to sacrifice
business considerations and personal
preferences in order to lend his efforts
to strenuous and heroic attempt to
save the country.
For long time it looked as if there
would be no strife for this office, but
fate or some other equally omnipotent
power decreed otherwise. Early last
spring a request to C. P. Elingson to
stand as candidate for the assembly
was circulated, and was signed by
practically everyone to whom it was
presented. A large portion of the
signers were men who had formerly
been identified with the conservative
wing of the party. These men no doubt
recognized that Progressive legislation
is an accomplished fact in Wisconsin,
that the battle on the principle of such
legislation is over, that we now need
in the legislature men who are sanely
but not radically progressive, men of
good judgment and undoubted integrity
who will intelligently and honestly
eliminate from such legislation the
minor defects which experience has
discovered Under these circumstances
Mr.. Ellingson acceded to the request,
and up to this week he was alone in the
field.
Strong efforts were made to induce
Assemblyman Arnt Erickson to run
again, but failed, as did also all efforts
to get some other Stalwart to take the
field. Matt Edgar was in the running
for a couple of weeks, but his out
spoken LaFollette proclivities proved
his undoing with the crowd that was
backing him. The contest with Mr.
Ellingson looked decidedly discouraging
from the Stalwart viewpoint The call
for Mr.. Ellingson's candidacy having
been so generally signed, it seems to
have been taken for granted that no
other Progressive would enter the field,
and the failure of the Stalwarts to find
one of their number with sufficient
nerve led many to look for unanimous
AS to who Mr.. Richards chief sup
porters are or what his position is on
the political issues of the day, we have
not sufficient information on which to
base statement. Some credit 0. E.
Peterson with having first suggested
his candidacy, while others tell of a
meeting of prominent Stalwarts which
occurred just prior to the an
of his candidacy, which
is supposed to have had bearing on
the matter. 1t cannot be said that his
candidacy, like Topsy, ''just growed
up" for apparently no one noticed it's
terminating or growing until it sprang
full fiedged into the political arena.
AS rule it isn't hard to classify
Wisconsin newspaper men as to their
attitude toward the Progressive move
ment, but, though Mr.. Richards ran a
paper here from 1900 to 1908, we are
unable to find what his attitude was.
He seems to have been consistently
regular, whether nominees were
Stalwarts or Progressive, but with a
Stalwart leaning before nominations.
Two years ago he supported Jenkins,
his paper referring to Lenroot as
"a minnow among whales" when COM
pared to the Congressional leaders.
The Stalwart campaign fund distribu-
tor, Dresser, appointed him census
enumerator, which indicates that he
has at least not lost favor with the
StalWart element.