Morris tribune., 1910-12-23

! the house, and it is charged by his
| friends against Mr. Dunn that he is
the candidate the brewers want and
that he has the support of ''the inter
ests." Earlier in the game" Mr..
Dunn's supporters retort, that might
have been good fighting ground. It
loses it's effect" they add, when it is
known that Mr.. Dunn has now the
! support Of active county option men
and pronounced progressiVes." The
: argument is unansWerable. Mr.. Dunn,
indeed, is winning not because he rep
resents any particular principle or be-
cause he is supported by any particu-
lar party adverse or otherwise to the
peoples interests, but because the
members of the house got it into their
heads that he was going to win and
they didn't want to be left out in the
cold. An incident Of the speakership
fight was the action of twelve Mime
apolis ministers, reinforced by P. J.
Youngdahl and several of his lieuten-
ants from the headquarters of the
Anti-Saloon league, who held spir-
tied debate on the speakership with
members of the Hennepin house dele
cation at a meeting in Minneapolis.
The ministers objected to the action
Of the delegation in endorsing Dunn.
In stating their case Mr.. Youngdahl
asserted that Mr.. Dunn was picked
out six months ago as the candidate
of the brewing interests for speaker"
This statement, he said, had frequently
appeared in the press of the state.
:. = !.
It will, ] am quite sure, be found
after the organization Of the house is
settled and the members get down to
business that those now supporting
him will not necessarily regard Mr..
Dunn as their leader, but will go their
several ways as their principles, their
inclinatiOns or their caprices dictate.
There will be two factions in the Re
publican party in the house. Mr.. Burn
Quist may and probably will lead one
of them. l miss my guess if the
county option or progressive Repub-
lican leader, whoever he may be, will
not find behind him a respectable pro-
portion of the very men who are now
helping to make Mr.. Dunn speaker.
AS l have said before they do not re-
gard his election or defeat as invoIv-
ing any principle. They may be mis-
taken, but this certainly is the way
they are looking at the matter now.
:. !. !.
So far as the other house positions
are concerned nothing definite is
known. There are two candidates for
chief clerk, Oscar Arneson and Archie
Vernon, both of whom were officials
in the last house, and neither of whom,
SO far as can be seen at present, can
claim any advantage. John T. Jones
of Minneapolis, who has served in the
same capacity for several years, will
unQUestionably be reading clerk again
at the ensuing session. George H.
Deans of FOreston, Mile Lacs county,
some time ago announced that he was
candidate for sergeant-at-arms and
was thought to have the field to him
self until a few days ago when the
rumOr got about that B. F. Seiz of Red
Wing, who had occupied the position
the last two terms, is again a candi-
date There is nothing on which to
base an estimate of their relative
strength.
!. = =
It goes without saying that aside
from county option, which the election
is generally regarded as having settled
for the time adversely, the two sub
jects of legislation of paramount i'm
pOrtance at the ensuing session will
be reappOrtiOnment and good roads !
The prospective speakers, at all |
events, are being besieged with re
quests from members to be assigned |
one or other of these committees and |
some are ambitious to serve on both. |
Naturally, under the uncertain circum- !.
stances with regard to the outcome of !
the campaign, nothing definite has !
been settled and neither Mr. Burnquist !
nor Mr.. Dunn are making any an
Nevertheless, I hazard |
the prediction that when the assign
ments are published it will be found !
that Chester A. Congdon of Duluth |
will be chairman of the committee on |
reapportiorment and r. c. Dunn will |
be chairman of the good roads COM
mittee. Spooner of Morris is likely to |
say what he wants and to get it. He
will without doubt prefer to be a mem
Der of the committee on state prison. |
:. :. !.
The governor has been having some
trouble with a few of his appoint
ments and the offices of state libra
rian, dairy and food commissioner and
labor commissioner are still untitled.
The two prominent candidates for
state librarian have been Asa Wallace
of Fairfax and E. J. Lien of ST. Vim
cent, at present assistant librarian.
Neither of them will get the job. 1t
will go to a Minneapolis attorney as
yet unnamed. Asa Wallace will be
appointed assistant fire marshal at
salary of S1,800 a year