The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1921-01-05
COALITION
May UPSET
HOUSE RACE
Civan, Miltenberger Support
ers May Hang Together if
Anderson Man Does Not
Win on First Ballot.
BALLOTINC IS SECRET
Especial Correspondence of the
Richmond Palladium.)


caucuses tonight draws near, the con-
test for the speakership of the house
may be summarized as follows:
1) The general opinion among the
old timers is that John F. Mcclure, Of
Anderson, will be elected They base
this conclusion not on interviews with
Legislators but rather on the theory
that the power of a governor-elect i'll
a case like this cannot be overcome.
CD 1t is evident that in spite of all
influences at work a part of the leg1s.
lators will stand firm for Clinton H
Givan, of Indianapolis and J. D. Milten-
berger, of Muncie, and there will be
a contest in the caucus.
go If Mr.. Mcclure does not win or
have large lead on the first ballot his
chances for ultimate success will be
greatly weakened.
(4) In spite of the firmness of those
who will stand for Miltenberger or
Givan and in spite of rather sharp as
SertionS that have been made by some
of these, the general situation is fairly
encouraging to those who are interest
ed most in having good working condi-
tions in the legislature no matter
which way the speakership goes. AL
though it can by no means be said
that the temper of all of the legislators
is tranquil, it is true that the situation
is not so strained as the fears of some
had indicated.
The danger of McClure's position IN
case he fails to win on the first ballot
in the caucus tonight is due to the
probability that the supporters Of
Miltenberger and those of Givan will
hang together 1t might be that they
would not go together but the feeling
seems to be that hey would. And if
Mcclure should not get very formid-
able vote on the first ballot the chance
for coalition on the part of the Givan
and Miltenberger forces would be ex-
cellent.
Firm For Givan.
1t was the understanding today that
the Marion county delegation would
stand firm for Givan to the last. This
decision was said to have been
reached at conference of the Marion
county delegation yesterday afternoon
Givans friends were saying he would
have thirty votes. If Givan gets two
thirds that many votes on the first bal
lot the outcome of the caucus will be
uncertain
Ie has been thought all along that
Miltenberger was much stronger than
Givan If the first ballot for example
should show Givan 20, Miltenberger 35
and Mcclure "a, the chances of either
Miltenberger or Givan to win would
certainly be fiftyfifty with the chances
of Mcclure The number of votes in
caucus necessary to election is 40.
For Mcclure the ten last votes on the
first ballot will be important and if
he attains as many as 40 votes on the
first ballot his chances of election
would be excellent.
Toner On Job.
All of this speculation of course is
made on the theory that Miltenberger
and Givan will be able to hold on to
their strength long enough to make a
fight in the caucus. If, as is the opin~
ion of many of the old timers, the
influence of the governor-elect is SUI
preme. then all bets are off. Fred
Robinson who was the manager OF
Mr. McCray's governorship campaign,
said today that Mcclure would be
elected on the first ballot. Col. Bill
Huffman of Anderson who is manag-
ing the Mcclure campaign said the
same. Edward c. Toner of Anderson,
also was on the job today as the gen
eralissimo of the Mcclure campaign
and seemed to be in excellent spirits.
The balloting in the caucus if GUS
tom is followed will be secret and this
method of course will be an aid to the
anti Mcclure forces because by this
method it will not be so easy to deter
mine just exactly what legislators vote
against the candidate who is favored
by the givernor-elect Even those who
are determined to vote against Mr..
Mcclure would just as soon the COVER
nor-elect did not know too much
about it.
McCray Shakes Hands,
Governor-elect McCray in a very
democratic manner tarried in the lobby
of the Claypoor awhile last night He
was kept very busy shaking hands but
it was not noticed that any of the act
i've campaigners in the speakership
contest sought him This, however.
was not regarded as unusual and some
of the observers said that after the
speakership contest was over there
would be no i'll feeling.
1t was gossip today that the matter
of the makeup of committees might
figure in the speakership contest be-
fore the ballot is taker in the caucus
tonight. The assumption was that
the Mcclure or the anti-McClure forces
might win from the opposition by
HidhiHS certain pToHllSeS DIS 10 import
ant chairmanships.
Fight High Levies.
Some of those who are on the scene
early say that the corporations and
public utilities will make big fight in
the session this year to keep down the
tax levy. One public utility represent
atfve who was around the ClaypoOl
last night was dwelling on the danger
Of high tax rates and said the state
would be ruined unless the demands
made by the educational and other ir-
stitutions were considerably cat He
was pointing out that according to
present demands the state tax rate
will be more than fifty cents. This
increase over the present rate remind
ed his auditors would mean an addi-
tional $4,000 for the corporation
valued at $6,0o0.000 and he was of the
opinion that there were a good many
Continued on Page Three)