Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-22
La Toilette Disturbs Serenity
of Conservatives.
HIS FIGHT FOR REFORM
WHIPPED TWICE FOR GOVERNOR,
HE WON AT LAST.
Now Heads the Republican Machine in
His State-May Have His Eye on
Cutting a National Figure.

Cutting a National Figure.
rs the republican party to have Will
lam Jennings Bryan? Is a young Lochin-
var to come out of the west 10 disturb the
serenity of the eastern conservatives in this
the most conservative of parttes?"
These questions are being asked by the
politicians In their hot-weather gossipings.
and some of them stir uneasily In their
seats they do From beyond Lake
Michigan has come the faint echo of the
bugle note Of a possible new leader He
has new ideas abhorrent though they may
be to the complacent wise men of the old
party. as Bryans were obnoxious to his
elders: vet ideas that may serve to con-
jure with in dealing with the masses.
Moreover. there is a personality behind
them. which must be reckoned with.
1t is La Toilette of Wisconsin who IS
disturbing the midsummer day dreams Of
the republican politicians Out there they
are beginning TO whisper about national
hOnOrs in connection with his name. While
81 Is far cry from a state conventions
victory TO a national one, they say, La Fol-
letJe is in the political game TO stay, with
a big stack of chips TO the good He will
he heard from. they say, more and more
from now on and will have TO, be consider
ed In the political equation, for reasons
which will appear.
Who La Toilette Is.
Who Is this La Toilette? Some Of US re-
member him in the Fffty-first Congress,
when he sat in the ways and means COM
nlittee with Mckinley. La Toilette had
been in Congress since 1884. entering when
he was twenty-nine years Of age. He went
out with the tidal wave which swept the
republicans from power after the Fifty
first Congress. He did not go out of poll
tics. however.
Here is a recent description of The La
Toilette Of today:
Picture to yourself man about as tai.
as the books say Napoleon was-a little
man measured in feet and inches-wi,h
body perfectly proportioned and vibran;
with life ana energy. His head, neither
large or small for the body is set square
l. erect on square shoulders. a pair OF
flashing eyes. under straight brows, look
out of ii countenance that is frank and en-
Edging and ready to break INTO smiling dc~
commitment TO touch and to Talllery. but
Eithal aquiline. strong countenance. lie
has a smile that warns and WINS lie
shakes hands with a grip. not with a mere
grasp. He talks, whether beside his Office
table or on ;he platform, as if he mean;
every word He binds men to him with an
affection personal and so unaffectetly
and frankly familiar that il finds express
sion in calling him Bob and that anec-
tion, no matter how distant OF how person
ally familiar is always 1inged with fanatl-
CiSn for the man and his cause. That II
Gov. La Toilette
A Campaign of Reform.
When La Toilette got back to Wisconsin
he undertook Il campaign of reform in his
own party. He found magnificent poiiti-
Ca. machine in existence. Philetus Sawyer
was the builder Of it. ana it was perfect Of
its kind. Henry c. Payne. Senator Spooner
,F- Na1D nj r-lIrl
IT. To q young man ke La Toilette, with
ambition. it meant long years of apprentice
ship Oiler and stoher before he could
be placed in charge Of 1t. He said he would
destroy i.
In 1884 he took his first whirI at it, The
Cd crowd simply boWIed him under and
walked over him He got up and brushed
the dust on. replaced his lOOSened teeth,
felt his damaged RIBS and limped away.
Two years later he appeared again. fresh
and ready for another fight This time, in
stead OF conducting the fight in anotner's
behalf ne said he would head the ticket
and become a andidate for the guberna-
t0rjal nomination. They waIIOped him again,
and wall0ped him well In 1895 there was
He got II.
Elected Governor
In 1870 this La Toilette was again on
hand He had not had enough. His dogged
courage seems 10 have taken the nerve of
the opposition. He won. receiving his nOmi-
nation by acclamation. and was elected
governor By that time his reforms had
begun 10 attract attention. Although the
old machine was party To his nomination.
1t refused 10 aid his reforms The plans
were frustrated in the legislature The rem
nants OF the Sawyer -Spooner-Pavue outfit
Could not stand for his alleged populistic
tendencies. and there were enough of the
remnants 10 DO business at the old stand in
the legislature That brings the situation
down To last week in the state convention.
when La Toilette wins again and ties the
old crowd to his chariot wheels They can't
have anything in the future unless they
promise 70 fall in with the La Fcilette re-
forms.
There are men in politics who say that
there must be a shaking up of dry bones in
national republican politics. that some of
the old fetfches must be shelved. and that
new policies. in sympathy with the heart
throbs OF the great west must be taken into
account When that time comes they saw
la Toilette will be the man
What is Said of Him.
They say that he Is sure 70 head the
emeute which. they claim. is coming IN the
republican party-the uprising against the
ultra-conservative interests of the eastern
communities. He is to be another Bryan.
perhaps. 10 sweep his party from it's old
moorirgs in a wave of enthusiasm. Reform
In taxation. supplanting Of machine rule
by primaries reform in the tariff, economy
III administration. young blood TO the front
-these are some of the La Toilette war
cries.
ms young Lochlnvar is sure to strike a
stin east wind, however. The old fellows
already are watching him. They will have
no border chieftian invading the peacefuI
4owIands where politics are well ordered
along oid-time feudal political lines and
chleItainShipS are unchallenged. From now
on they viii watch the passes carefully.
and If opportunity presents they will get
bis tartan his plaid and his claymore be-
fore he knows IL.
For Positions in the Philippines.