The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1922-12-26
OKLA. S0L0MS To
GATHER SOON To
LAUNCH SESSION
Newly Elected Members. Holdoveru
10 Flock to Capital This Week
to Organize; Speculation az
to Coming Fight.
GIBBONS IS WALTON'S
CHOICE FOR SPEAKER
Democratic Majority In Both Houses
Eliminates Partlsan Rlv,lry;
Farmer.Labor Poss ,bllitlcs
Claim Attention.

The passing OF Christmas day
marked the dividing line between
the speculative period proceeding the
convening OF the Ninth Oklahoma
legislature and the actual prelim.
inaries of organizing for the session.
Newly elected members OF the
house. holdoyor senators and those
just named for four year terms will
flock to Oklahoma City between now
and next Monday
Through the overwhelming major.
ity of democratic members In both
houses the element Of partisan rivalry
has been largely removed. II has
been replaced hy the prevailing cues.
ton in the public mind-will the
session resolve Itself into battle
between the FarmerLabor combna.
tion and those democrats who be
lieye the farmers of the Shawnee
platform we're too radical for 1923
Oklahoma?
III 'Ni tam IhiA'Altio Aiit 'Wlig
days OF every legislative session are
alike. So it Is timely TO state this
far in advance what will be done
between now and the middle of
January.
Democratic caucus by majority
members of both houses between
now and noon on Tuesday, January
2, viii determine the democratic can
didates for speaker of the house and
president pro TEN of the senate.
Through his private secretary.
Aldrlch Blake, Governor-elect j. c.
Walton has signified his desire that
Murray Gibbons, an ex-soldier from
Purcell, uiember Of the 1921 legis-
lature, be named speaker okla
homa legislative history tells us
that an incoming governor with all
his patronage yet to distribute and
the usually more or less united sup
port of his party, can control organ
ization of the house without trouble.
Gibbons already has called demo
cratic caucus for the evening of
January 1. The significance of this
is that he asserts he has enough
democrats pledged to his support to
make him dhe party nominee.
Barring an unusual overturn, Glib
bons will be the speaker.
Committees which frame the legis.
lation of the house are appointed by
the speaker. There have been some
what abortive efforts in the past to
make these committees elective
rather than appointive.
Rumors of such an attempt have
accompanied the preliminaries of the
present session, but these have been
identified with the speakership can
didacy of d. A. Stovall Hugo, which
has not mustered suffi-
cient strength to be dangerous.
1t is customary in house procedure
for most of the important chairman
ships to be promised in the log
rolling which precedes naming OF
the speaker, SO that in fact the ap-
pointive power Of the speaker is not
untrammeled.
Organization of the senate is con-
Quoted differently. The lieutenant
governor is the presiding officer OF
the upper house by provision of the
The senators elect a
president pro TEN from among their
who presides in the absence
Of the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
Lieut. Gov George Bellamy and J.
J. McAlester, who served during the
first eight years after statehood, oc-
cupied the chair but little of the
time. This permitted records as pre-
siding officers to be made by SEN
ators Henry Johnston, Perry; Elmer
Lawton, and G. B. Kendrick,
Ardmore.
During the service of Lieut. Gov.
M. e. Trap, who has been elected
to his third term, the president pro
TEN has had little to do. Trapp has
made the office of lieutenant-gover-
nor something more than a title, by
presiding over the senate virtually
all the time. Consequently it is of
not SO great Importance whether
Senator Tom Anglin, Holdenville, or
Senator w. ], Holloway, Hugo, is
nominated and elected by the demo-
Gratis.
There will be caucus of demo-
cratic senators between now and
convening of the legislature. Besides
nominating the president pro tenn
the senators will decide on the ma