River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-07-14
La Toilette. Born Disturber.


publican party of Wisconsin stands
to-day shows the mischief a man OF
no small force of personality and
ability in some respects can work in
the course of few years. Such a
man is Gov. La Toilette, but ego
tistic, selfish, arbitrary, and utterly
reckless of methods or consequences.
It is the easiest thing to make
trouble in politics. La Toilette is a
born disturber.
1t was his ambition to dominate
Republican politics in Wisconsin,
and he could not brock the necessity
of acting in cooperation with the
many men of influence and leader
ship in the party, agreeing and COM
promising in common lines of ac-
ton. All other wills and judgment
must be subordinate to his own.
That disposition inevitably makes
trouble, whether in politics or in
business or even in running Sum-
day school picnic.
To accomplish his end, which
was the establishment of his own
supreme bossiness, he precipitated
agitation of lot of isms and meas
ures, most of them matters of ex-
pediency on which men may differ
in judgment and yet, if they are fair
and conservative, get along well to-
gether in great party. One of
these was the primary system, a
radical, elaborate, new-fangled meth
cd of nominating candidates involv-
ing sheer and sudden revolution
from the methods to which the peo-
pie of the state of all parties had
been immemorially accustomed. A
large portion of the party, and that
the soberest and most conservative
portion, were opposed to such a
revolution. The elaborate scheme
was indeed utterly i'll calculated for
the majority of the precincts of the
state, which are, of course, rural, -
expensive, intricate, cumbersome
and hard to work, and marred by
other objections.
The real purpose of La Toilette
was system which would tend to
help him build up personal ma
chine, first as fuel for popular
agitation, and second by unscrupu-
lous working of the system. Of
course, La Toilette, like, all agita-
tors and calculating cyclists, pre-
tended that his scheme was for the
public good, but his appeals were
directed to popular prejudice, to
class hatred, to the selfish motives
of his henchmen lin short, to any,
thing to make trouble and rip things
up the back, so that La Follette's
gang might tighten its grip on the
throat of the party and destroy all
the leaders who would not knuckle
to his dictation.
This primary scheme is only q
sample of number of other fads Of
popular agitation. At the same time
La Toilette as governor, organized q
most gross tyrannical machine by
the use of the state patronage which
is more extensive in Wisconsin than
! in most western states, the whole
machine being absolutely subser.
Went to his own dictation. With this
machine he sought to dictate nomin.
atoms in the congressional districts
and even in the several counties and
large municipalities, interfering in
the most insolent manner and violat.
ing all the amenities and decencie:
which ought to be observed.
1t is the coarsest and most intoler.
able bossism that has been seen ir
the west, yet operating under the
guise of high moral aims, employing
unending academic and sentimental
argument. But independent Ameri
can citizens will not long endure
such grotesque despotism. A time
comes when they rebel against i
and that time has come in Wiscon
sin. The party is rent in twain
The issue must be fought out to :
n