The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-01-10
POLITICAL GOSSIP
Democratic Senators Fail to
Agree.
The Matter of Committee
Craftsmanship the Cause.
YOUNG HEADS VS.. The old
Old Men for Council; That
Axiom Carried Out.
Representatives to Hold Con-
ference Monday Afternoon.

| conference concerning pending legiS
| lation, Kansas Democratic senators
went to dinner at o'clock last nigh
| with less party enthusiasm and mor'
| bitter tastes than they had carried
when they entered the first conference
! of the majority members of the new
! senate. It was over the division OF
! committee chairmanshipS that the
! Democratic senate has divided and the
| first sign of friction in the ranks OF
| the administration following came tc
light after the meeting. An effort VIII
| be made Monday to carry the hghl
on committee appointments onto the
| floor of the senate and to defeat the
work of the special committee IN an
! open, free handed fight.
The conference of the Democratic
senators followed a morning of serious
lobbying and was preceded by several
conferences in which the members
recounted the things they want I'm
less some wise leader can enter the
breach before the Monday AFTERNOON
session, this dissatisfaction will be
displayed in an open contest and an
effort made to set aside the work OF
the committee on committees.
There were 18 of the 21 Democratic
senators in the caucus. And the meet
ing which was held behind locked
doors. Indicated that the preliminary
fight for the leadership will not ada
to the harmony among administration
members
Shouse had been slated in the morn.
ing caucus for the chairmanship OF
the ways and means committee, one
of the biggest committees of the SEN
ate It was rumored that Shouse, VINO
is young and ambitious, is an eSpeclal
friend of the administration and reaily
ought to land. But some OF the older
heads in the senate didn't see 1t Just
that way. So they proceeded to pune
ture the ambitions of the young man
from Edwards county.
once in the course of the proceed
ings. Shouse suggested that inasmuch
as the new governor was not in To-
peka, that the senatorial meeting
should recognize Grant Harrington,
his private secretary, and offer him
seat in tn inner circle OF course the
Kinslev man didn't mean any offense,
but his remarks were an entering for
the old timers and Bale P. Waggener
of Atchison so gently chastised the
senator from Kinsley that Shouse hur-
riedly withdrew the Harrington invi-
tation.
But the real trouble was over those
committee chairmanships Some hours
before the meeting, Senators Milton,
Shouse, Joseph and perhaps some 9TH
ers had discussed the division of the
pie Milton, by virtue of the fact that
he sat in the northeast corner of the
senate chamber in the 1909-11 sessions,
on committees. Shouse, by
virtue of his geographical location and
intimacy with the administration, was
to be accorded the Craftsmanship of the
Ways and means committee. And since
there was no other especial aspirant
for the place, the caucus of three or
more decided to give Bale P. Wag-
eener the helm on the judiciary COM
mittee. And that was the lineup when
the afternoon session started the
lob of reducing Democratic harmony
in Kansas.
It so happened, of course, that other
men wanted the craftsmanship of the
ways and means committee. But the
committee on committees had been
previously selected and was named be- |
fore anyone really gave the matter
much serious thought. Still there was !
a possibility to change the results. So
the wise men of the minority suggest |
ed an adjournment until Monday after |
noon when all the 81 senators could |
have voice in the voting. There was |
no opposition to this plan and an ad- |
journment was taken.
In the meantime things are hap |
pening. Last night and this morning !
there was plan under way to side
track Shouse and substitute Noah L. |
Bowman of Anderson county as chair |
man of the ways and means commit |
tee. Joseph, of Butler, who helped to |
pick the committee on committees, |
wants the craftsmanship of the bank |
ing committee. And the opposition to |
the advance caucus program will give |
Price, of Greenwood, their undivided |
Under the present program it seems |
there will be some disappointed Dem |
0cratic senators when the committee |
heads are named next Monday at the |
adjourned session of the caucus The |
on committees is composed |
Of T. A. Milton. Kansas City: A B. |
Carney. Concordia; Harry Mcmillan,
3. E. Wilson, Williams |
,own: ]. n. Kinds, Mound Valley: Jas. /
Malone, Herndon; Jouett Shouse, Kins- |
ey; H F. Sutton, st. Johns; Frank
Nighswonger, Wichita.
And the work of that committee will
De observed with interest by the 12
democrats who have no place on it.
These IL men may or may NOT cause
sorrow for that committee. They
Iuietly recall that the committee was
lamed without a single Republican re-
,eiving place. Certainly some of the
Republicans are entitled to recognition |
hese IL men argue. If they denied a
olace on the committee and refused a |
ust portion of the patronage. the
hings that may happen to that COM
nittee's report can be seen far in the
There are Is Republicans 1 |
Socialist and those II Democrats who
will joyously tear holes in che com
leap if fair division of the patronage
s refused.
So narrow, in fact, is the Democratic
majority in the senate that all possibil-
ties of factional differences must be
wiped away before the report is sub