Evening star., 1923-07-08
BITTER MINNESOTA
RACENEAR|NGEND
Vote in Preus-Johns Fight
for Senate Seat Expected
to Be Close.
special Dispatch to The Star.


ST. PAUL, Minp.. July THE
most bitterly contested senatorial
fight in the recent history Of the
northwest entered its final phases to-
day. 1t Is to decide whether the sue
cessor to Knute Nelson in the upper
house Of the national legislature shall
be radical or a conservative.
The fight admittedly is between
Magnus Johnson. farmer-labor candi-
date. and Gov. J. A. o. Preus, al
though there Is a democratic aspirant
in the field in the person of State
Senator James A. Carley, who is
charging from the stump that the
| national republican organization util-
lied a million dollar "slush fund" to
elect the present state administration
| in 1920. But, after all. democrats fur
nish only a negligible portion of the
Minnesota population, and even his
admirers admit Senator Carley will
finish distant third.
johnson nm Immigrant.
The leading candidates are decided
ly picturesque individuals. Magnus
johnson came to America a Swedish
immigrant. He was twenty-one when
he already had learned his trade as a
glass blower, he could find no work,
and drifted west, where he worked
for years in the lumber camps of Wis
consin and Minnesota. He early joined
the knights of Labor. at that time
the premier organization of the work
ers in America.
From his savings Johnson bought
farm near Kimball. Mimi, later repre-
senting that district in the state
legislature. He has been active in
farm welfare work, was for over ten
years head Of the state union Of the
American Society of Equity and vice
president of. the Equity Cooperative
Exchange, which has "A great terminal
warehouse in this city and eighty
elevators in the country. He is a
hard-headed Individual who has the
the radical element of the Senate which
IL headed by Senator Robert NJ. La
Toilette OF Wisconsin.
Worked With Nelson.
His chief opponent, Gov. j.. A. o.
Preus, has been in the public eye
nearly all his life. Graduating from
law school in 1906, he became clerk
which position he graduated to be
executive clerk to Gov. Eberhart He
served as insurance commissioner and
state auditor and. following his cleo
tion as governor, he announced he
would be a candidate for the United
States Senate when a vacancy took
place.
The fight between this pair is bit
ter In the extreme. Lined up for
Johnson are Senator La Toilette, re-
publican. and Senator Wheeler. demo-
crat, aided by Gov. Blaine of Wiscon-
sin. Senator Moses, chairman of the
republican senatorial campaign COM
mittee; Senator Lenroot and other na-
tionally known republicans are in the
list for Preus. The latter is quoting
the late Senator Knute Nelson as hav-
ing said that he (Preus) was the man
he would have preferred as his sue
cessor.
incidentally, allegations that some.
at least. Of the men who entered the
republican primary against Preus are
not standing by the verdict of that
election are being made by the Preus
adherents. They also allege that the
unanimous Endorsement of Johnson by
the heads of the various railway labor
organizations was secured by misrep-
resentation Of the governors position
on certain matters.
Plea to Aid Harding.
The republican state organization is
working at top speed to pull its can
didate through. X possible. The fact
that the republican progressives, as
they call themselves. or insurgents.
40 thciI SHcHieS ouD IHefl, Will De
able. with the aid Of the democrats, to
control the Senate should johnson
win a week from Monday has i'm
PEELED conservative party members to
throw away their. coats and fight
along old-fashioned lines. This con-
tingency also has aided the Preus
camp In securing plenty Of funds for
literature and to defray the expense
of meetings and the like. The plea
is. Elect Preus and uphold President
Harding's policies"
Both camps are supremely confident
but the outcome promises to remain
In doubt until the moment the polls
close, although, of course, in this
state a landslide politically is always
one of the possibilities.