Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1905-11-03
A STARTLING SUGGESTION.

mat Hon. Robert NJ. La Toilette of
Wisconsin cannot hold on to United
States senatorship and the governor
ship Of his state at the same time is a
fact known Of all men. That he must
resign one or the other is inevitable.
There has been much guessing as to
which he would give up. Now comes
his brother with the startling sugges-
ton that he may resign both and de-
vote his time to urging reform and pu-
ridcation in politics. II he does that
his fame will be secure, and he will
write his own among 1.-THE few, the
immortal, names that were not born
to die" But seeing Is believing in this
case, as in many others. Thomas JET
ferson once declared that federal Office
holders seldom die and never resign,
but he was speaking of appointive off,
Gals, not Of elective. In fact, there
has been much ingenious argument to
prove that senators and representa-
tives in congress are not federal, but
state, officials. Nevertheless Jefferson's
mot applies to them to large degree.
Up to the present time Governor-Sena-
tor La Toilette has, publicly at least,
given no hint Of what he intends to do.
1t is generally believed that he Is
candidate for the Republican presiden-
tial nomination. If so, he may have to
forego the senatorshlp and hold on to
the governorship to make sure Of the
Wisconsin delegation, for the ant-La
Toilette faction, headed by Senator
John O. Spooner and Congressman
Babcock, is very strong in the state,
and the governor-senator ia their pet
aversion, their bette nolre. It is safe to
say that the anti-La Toilette Republic
ans in Wisconsin would prefer a Dem
ocratic president to him; consequently
it will be hazardous If not ruinous for
him to relinquish to any degree his
hold on the Wisconsin machine which
he has built up during his three terms
in the gubernatorial chair. Perhaps he
might retain control Of it while serving
in the senate; but, while distance lends
enchantment to the view, it is not con-
ducive to retention of control of state
machines. OF course there are United
States senators who are state bosses
Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania, Ste
phen Benton Elkins of West Virginia,
Thomas Collier Plat Of New York and
Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts,
for instance-but Washington is close
to their bailiwicks, and they can make
frequent visits to their henchmen and
line them up by talking with them face
to face. It's a long journey from
Washington to Wisconsin, and Govern
ex-senator La Toilette may discover
that the absent treatment is failure.
Suppose, however, that he resigns the
governorship and hangs on to the sena-
torship. Then what? If he expounds In
the senate the radical opinions he has
been expounding on the stump and the
Chautauqua platform, he Is certain to
have war on his hands that will at
tract the attention Of the entire coun-
try. Some Of his most enthusiastic ad-
mtrers assert that he will at once be-
come the leader Of "the Roosevelt Re-
publicans" and straightway surge to
the front. That's very fetching pro-
gramme If it can be carried out. But
there are precisely eighty-nine other
grave and reverend seigniors" who win
object to that, for, while they differ
about everything else, they are thor
Oughly agreed that new senator must
tarry at Jericho till his head Is grown
before he participates actively in the
doings Of the "nost august body on
earth" That the eighty-nine will en-
deavor to sit on him If he essays the
role Of leader there can be no ques-
ton. So there you are, or, rather, there
he is. If he boldly wades in and leads,
his way to the Republican presidential
nomination is clear, but il he remains
quiescent ana in the shadow for two
years his glory will fade and his pow
err III Wisconsin will peter out.
For some years now his colleague,
Senator John c. Spooner, has been one
of the leaders Oh the Republican side
of the chamber ana Is usually consid-
cred the ablest Republican debater in