The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-04-02
Special TO Tn. journal.

Tallahassee. April 1.-While the SEN
ate and house of representatives of the
sovereign state of Florida will not
meet in regular biennial session un-
til noon on Tuesday. the 4th inst
which by a co-incidence is the same
date as the assembling Of the spec
ial session of the United States con
gress, a few members of both houses
are in the city, and as usual the
Third House. so far Is about the best
represented of all. Candidates for po-
sitions with one or the other house
are here in pretty full force, and arc
actively canvassing amongst the van
guard of the two constitutional houses
for support in the democratic caucus
which will meet Monday night to nom
mate officers and attaches for the com :
ing session. AS usual. both house aud
senate are unanimously democratic.
The Speakership Fight.
Everything is very quiet as to the
selection Of officers Of the two houses.
Surface indications are that Fred P.
Cone. Of Lake City will be chosen
president of the senate, while there
is three cornered contest on, fo-
speaker OF the house between T. Al
bert Jennings of Pensacola, Eugene S.
Matthews Of starke, speaker Of the
1907 house. and A. j. Angle of Bar
tow, with the result so far not yisibls
upon the surface to the general pub
lie There is still fnT interesting
schanges to occur IS TO an the con ;
tests, ard forecasts at this time would
be largely speculative. Half the SEN
ators are hold-overs. and several of
the newly elected men have seen pre-
vious service, but in the house only
about one dozen of the seventy mem
bers have seen service before in leg
islative halls. Notwithstanding this,
there are men Of marked ability in this
body, as well as in the senate, and It
does not take much time for an in
tslligent member Of either house to
get onto the ropes.
Election of Senator.
With only three days intervening be-
tween now and the convening OF the
legislature, SO far no great "over-
shadowing" issue has presented itself.
The most important action 1t will
take, so far as 1t affects any other part
of the country. will be the election
of a United States Senator to sue
ceed Hon. James P. Taliaferro. Hon.
Nathan P. Bryan of Jacksonville hav-
ing received the nomination in the
special democratic primary made nee
essarw by the death of the lamented
Napoleon B. Broward, the party's
nominee. and having been appointed
for the ad interim term by Governor
Gilchrist, there appears no probabil
ity whatever at this time that the
legislature will fail to ratify the peo-
pies expressed choice although the ex-
ceedingly close race between Senator
Bryan and Hon. w. A. Blount, his dis
tinguished opponent from Pensacola,
gave rise at one time of a threatened
contest before the legislature.
Old Issues Disposed OF.
Four years ago the great fight be-
fore the legislature was between the
friends and opponents Of the Broward
administration, resulting in the vic
tory of the former, and the passage Of
legislation that greatly assisted the
then governor and his colleagues IN
carrying out the drainage Of the Ever
glades and other important policies.
Two years later the issue OF State
wide prohibition, resulting in the sub
mission and later the defeat of an
amendment prohibiting saloons in the
state and leaving the present local
option provisions In force, overshadow-
ed all else. Now the drainage ques-
ton has been very largely removed
from the political arena, and II is not
probable that any effort will be made
to re-submit q prohibition amendment