Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/758

 660 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY was instrumental in securing other laws beneficial to the stair and county. In 1906. at his first re-nomination as a candidate from the Red Wing district, he received the honor by acclama- tion, there being no opposing candidate. He also received the election without opposition. In 1897 lie was a formidable candi- date for the speakership of the House. During his years of political activity Mr. Grondahl did considerable campaigning throughout the state under the auspices of the Republican state central committee. Being able to present the issues of the cam- paigns in either English or Norwegian, his services as a speaker were naturally in demand. Since 1892 Mr. Grondahl has been connected with the Red Wing Daily "Republican," and from January. 1895, to November, 1898, was editor of the "Nordstjer- nen," a Norwegian weekly issued by the same company. In the spring of 1896 he was elected secretary of the Minnesota Repub- lican Editorial Association, and in 1898 was secretary of the Minnesota Tafl Club. He took an active pari in the Republican state conventions for several years. In August, 1896, he was chosen as one of the delegates to represent Minnesota in the national convention of Republican clubs at Milwaukee. He is at present editor and manager of the "Republican," published by the Red Wing Printing Company. He is the president of the Red Wine- Commercial < lub and a member of the lct Wing Manu- facturers' Association. He is interested in a business way in two or three enterprises to which he does not give personal attention. It might be mentioned in passing that Mr. Grondahl is the author of a number of sketches and verses, both humorous and pathetic, written either for pleasure or as a part of his newspaper work. The Spanish-American war song, "Fighting for ('aba," had a national circulation at that time and is preserved in papers and books of that period. Henry Ridgway Cobb, managing editor of the Red Wing Daily "Republican," was born in Portland, Maine, and received a classical and literary education in the public schools of his native place, in Tabor College, Iowa, and in the Minnesota State Uni- versity. His early bent was toward a literary life, and as a. young man he entered newspaper work as a matter of personal pref- erence. He has been connected with several newspapers of Iowa and Nebraska, and in 1882 came to Minnesota and established the Hubbard County ''Enterprise." the first weekly newspaper north of the Northern Pacific railroad, between Duluth and the Red River valley. This paper had an important influence on the up- building of Hubbard county. Since 1904 Mr. Cobb has occupied his present position on the "Republican," and has taken an im- portant part in the advocacy of many public reforms. Always an ardent Republican. Mr. Cobb has seen public service as county