The farmer and mechanic., 1907-09-10

,pyrl9ht 1907. bX f. W. Newman
l. in the political world the expect
ed should happen and IL should be-
come as disreputaole 10 be an octopus
chaser and trust buster as il now il 10
be q corporation LAWYER this man viii
be a statesman out If a job He j.
the Bryan Of the Republican party
and s radical Of he radicals. He was
a reform" governor. and did not fall
downstairs. a misfortune that fre-
guently overtakes reformers In offce
As an octopus chaser in the senate
he separated from the Repu ollcan
pack. ana even got ahead Of the Dem
ocratic PACK He is a candidate for
President and will be an also ran"
in the Republican national conven-
ton of 1908 Except as 10 s to
and the degree OF revision that should
be Injected into the tariff, La Toilette
and Bryan are in PERFECT accord, ana
] have not one particle of doubt mat
each of these two eminent statesmen
Is the second choice Or the other Tor
the office Of President OF the United
States
When | first saw La Toilette he
was a slender man of youthful ap-
pearance with more voice in proper
ton to avoirdupois than any other
man / ever saw He was then q
member of the Forty-ninth Congress.
thirty years old, and his specially was
the tariff. a question that he treated
with lungs only Carlisle was Speak
er and Cleveland was President. There
was an enormous surplus IN the
Treasury that was swelled daily by
the customs receipts and the collec-
tions Of internal taxes. William f.
Morrison was trying to curtail the
revenues by reducing taxes, but Ran
dali led a revolt in the Democratic
camp and defeated the project. Pig
Iron KELLEY was the titular leader Of
the Republicans, but Reed and Nc
Kinley were the real commanders.
seconded by Burrows and Cannon.
La Fclette was fancy orator on the
Republican side almost as frenZied in
his eloquence as Dave Henderson, who
then had the bloody shirt in his keep
ing / shall never forget the veheni-
ant and patriotic eloQuence OF the
Hon. Henderson-a rative of Scot
land-when, to rebuke Southern
treason, he exclaimed in an ecstasy of
hyperbole: From highland pass to
loWland moor. treason never found
lodgment in Scottish breast The
rebel brigadiers yelled ''whoopee" in
dcrision. and the ''trooly loll' ap-
olauded in rapture. La Toilette was
rather abridged Henderson in those
days
AS said. Randall destroyed the
Morrison bill of the Forty y-seventh
Congress. and Pittsburg sent out to
illinois and bought Morrison's seat in
.he Fiftieth Congress for old Jehu
Baker who became a Silver RepubH-
can ten years later and voted for
Bryan; but the F'iftieth Congress was
%s< Gov q c
Speaker. In December, 1887 Presi-
lent Cleveland sent his famous mes
sage to Congress that made the tariff
absolutely paramount. It was followed
by the Mills bill, which Randall was
unable to defeat in the House. The
debate on that measure was able and
brilliant. La Toilette was then an ad-
yocate of tariff for protection with
Incidental revenue. a policy quite as
dishonest as it is unconstitutional. We
have it now in all its inGuity in the
Dingley law, under which the people
pay the manufacturers $40 of pro
lection for every dollar they pay into
the Treasury for revenue. Here is
this octopus that does more mischief
in twenty-four hours that the rail-
roads do in twentyfOur days.
The Presidential campaign of 1888
was fought on the tariff Mr.. Cleve-
land would have been reelected if
MT. Wdnan1dkef Hd-A not COAlIlD-
uted vast sums OF money from his
wealth ana copous streams of prayer
from his religion to promote the Re-
publican cause. Mr.. Matt Quay took
charge of the money and sent it over
to Brooklyn in charge Of Dave Mar
tin IT was all over but the shouting
as soon as Martin crossed the bridge.
Had Grover Cleveland been re-elect-
ed in 1888 the tariff would have been
reformed on a constitutional and hon
est basis and the 16 to l frenzy would
have been avoided.
But Harrison was elected. The
RepubicanS set about a reduction Of
the surplus, and did 1t on Republican
Enes-that is. they 1ncreas sed tariff
duties to discourage impOrtations and
bestow additional graft on the tariff
octopus BY this time La FOllette's
lungs had talked him % a seat at the
council board OF the Wavs and Means
committee where the Mckinley tariff
of 189o-2nd OF Odicus mem Dry
was hatch ed He took prominent
part IN the debate and was quite an
astonished man when the country got
whack at his work in November.
1890 and gave the Democrats the
greatest and completest victory any
party ever achieved IN the United
states One of the consequences Of
that victory was solid Democratic
delegation in the Tifty-second Con-
rress from Wisconsin. La Toilette
himself fell in the action, badly Grip
pled fighting in the ranks Of monop-
o!y. OF greed. and Of graft for of
these is a protective tariff composed.
And now La Toilette turned octopus
chaser and has certificate of pure
patriotism and able sre,tesmanship
from Lincoln Staffens. Ray Stennard
Baker and that set. This Mr.. Baker
is now down South Investigating the
race problem. He sees everything
and observes nothing. He VIII go
back home more hopelessly, II not
quite 50 densely. ignorant of the sub
iect II an when he started It seems
that cd man Philetus Sawyer was
boss q Wisconsin. He was a saw
mill man. very rich and dealt in poll
tics as well as pine logs. Re had ta-
ken a fancy to La Toilette and aided
TO further the young mans political
fortunes. It came about. however.
that La Toilette discovered that old
SAWYER was not the right sort OF man
and there was a big row. I have for
gotten whether the quarrel came be-
fore or after La Toilette got TO be
governor Be thai as it may. the
young ref0rmer dow7ed the old boss