The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-02-27

An incident occurred In the senate re-
Gently that Illustrated the characterls-
tics Of Senator Lafollette, OF wiscon-
sin, the man whom the republicans
have unnecessarily tried to haze be-
cause OF his refusal to be amenable to
party discipline. During the morning
hour, when miscellaneous business was
under consideration, a certain sena-
] tor who Is known to be very close to
one Of the large railroad interests Of
/ the country, moved over to the desk
next to that Of Mr.. La Toilette. and
engaging him In conversation. remark
ed that II he (Mr. La Follette) pushed
his bill limiting the hours of labor Of
railroad employees to the detriment OF
some of the measures in which the
speaker was interested, no opportunity
would be neglected to pursue the SEN
ator from Wisconsin so long as he re-
mained in the senate.
Turning TO this senator, whose name
would be recognized all over the
country, if it We're printed. and talking
in the same low conversational tone,
Mr.. La Toilette used a number of
words that would not look we'll in
print, declaring that for sixteen years
he had grown fat on that kind OF talk,
and the threats Of the men who were
the personal property Of railroad cor
porations. If there was any pursu-
ing to be done Senator Lafollette said
he would DO little Of it himself. and
intimated that when the opportunity
arose he would expose the senator in |
debate. Subsequently this senator
found it convenient to explain what
he meant and to apologize but Mr.. |
La Toilette declared he cared nothing |
for the apology and the explanation
did not explain.
For weeks Mr.. La Toilette hal been
after Chairman Elkins Of the inter-
state commerce committee to call a |
meeting to consider his bill relative to
the fixing Of railroad values in con-
nection with the enforcement Of the
rate law. Mr.. Elkins succeeded In
avoiding Mr.. La Toilette, but the Wis
cons-n senator finally cornered the
chairman one day in one Of the cori-
doris and exacted a promise that
meeting should be called, Mr.. Ell
kins protesting that it was too late in
the session to do anything. Accom-
panying the chirman to the committee
room, Mr. La Toilette saw the notices
to members Of the committee We're
written, and then set about notifying
democratic members and a couple Of
friendly republicans Of the importance
Of being present. The result was that
q favorable report was ordered on the
bill, but one Of the republican members
his vote and then moved re-
consideration. The bill will come up
at a regular meeting Of the committee
this week and will be favorably re-
ported. Mr.. La Toilette says there are
enough votes in the senate to pass 1t.
The press dispatches announce that
the first trolley sleeper ever run In the
United States has been put on a line
between Decatur, Illinois, and East St.
Louis, by way Of Springfield, the cap
tol Of Illinois. The man who Is re-
,ponsible for this innovation in cleo
trio railway travel is Congressman
William B. Mckinley, Of Champaign,
Illinois, district Mr.. Mckinley is a
nan Of great wealth and has made 1t
argely through his genius in building
electric lines and power plants and
them into a system that
1as gradually extended in a network Of
racks over all central and southern