Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-03-21
La FOLLEHES SPEECH
ON CURRENCY BILL
Fight of Wisconsin Senator on
AIdrich Bill.
One of the Great Oratorical Efforts of
His Career Made in United
States Senate.

Senator La Toilette of Wisconsin
occupied the senate floor with q
speech on the Aldrich currency bill.
He was only a little more than
half through at 4:3O, when he an
nounced he would be unable TO con-
clude today, and asked that he be
given permission to conclude his re-
marks tomorrow.
Mr.. La Follette's currency speech
is regarded as one of his greatest
OratOrical efforts. He has had it in
preparation for weeks. Like all the
addresses of the Wisconsin senator.
the speech is filled with statistics.
In the portion delivered today the
Wisconsin senator reeled off table
after table of figures in support of
his various contentious. He had 8
splendid audience, especially in the
galleries. Many members of the
house were on the senate floor, but
senators generally gave only in
different attention TO the speech.
This was particularly true on the
republican side. Senator Aldrich
was on hand most of the time, and
SO was Senator Beveridge. PROB
ably two dozen democratic senator's
heard most of the speech.
FAMILY HEARS ADDRESS.
The first row of the senator's
family gallery was occupied by Mrs
La Toilette and party This party
included the La Toilette children.
Lincoln J. Steffens. the magazine
writer, and Mr.. and Mrs Gilbert E.
Roe of New York. Mr. Roe was
formerly Mr.. La Follette's law
partner at Madison. Mrs. Stephen
son was also in the gallery. Sena-
ton Stephenson was on the floor
throughout the speech. Most Of
the members of the Wisconsin con-
gressional delegation were on hand
also.
In a sense the wind was taken out
of Senator La Follette's sails by the
action Of the committee on finance
this morning. 1t had been known
for weeks that the Wisconsin sena-
tor would predicate his argument
on that section of the bill which
authorized the deposit of certain
| classes of railroad bonds as basis
of security for emergency circUla>
ton. Early IN the session Mr.. La
Toilette proposed as an amendment
to this section a provision that a
physical valuation be maze of rail-
road property. Ever since the AL
drich bill was presented there has
been considerable republican OPP
position to the retention of the rail-
road bond provision.
BOND PROVISION NOT ESSENTIAL.
Fol a matter of fact 1t has been
known for some weeks among those
intimate with Senator Aldrich that
he was not absolutely welded to
the railroad bond feature. 1t was
mis- expectation that this section
would be stricken out Ill the house,
In other words, the Rhode IslaLd
senator wanted the railroad bond
feature retained for trading pur-
poses. Dozens of representatives
assured him that they would vote
for his bill If this section should be
eliminated and Mr. Aldrich looked
for the elimination of this provision
in the house Probably dozen
republican senators, and practically
all the democratic senators, were
opposed to this section.
In the last few days the republic
can senators who said they could
not vote for the bill if the railroad
bond section remained have brought
pressure to bear to have it eliminat-
ed. Mr.. Aldrich talked over the
matter with President Roosevelt
several times and finally came TO the
conclusion that the tactical pari-
amentary advantage to be gained by
the retention of this section until
the bill reached the house would be
offset by the republican votes Ia
the senate against the measure.
CUT OUT BOND PROVISION.
At the regular weekly meeting OF
the finance committee this morning
this subject was considered, and by
a unanimous vote, it was decided to
eliminate the railroad bond prOvi-
sion. An announcement of this
was made by Senator Aldrich as
soon as the senate convened.
This announcement stirred up a
lot of excitement. Senator La Fol-
lette was not on hand when the