Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-05-05
Edtor Ia Follette.s Weekly....

On April 18th Senator La Toilette
made a speech in the United States
Senate on the railroad bill. Accord
ing to the Associated Press report
of that speech, he said
''The mask is eff. We have al Of
Us done Injustice to Mr.. MeIIen:
gross injustice. Nor IS Mr.. Byrnes.
in his private capacity or in any ca
pacity except as a corporation en-
ployee, the trucuJent braggard that
he. seems in the prezG reports Of rail-
road hearings. Both o. these nen. and
others Of their kind are but hired
megaphones through which beefy,
red faced, thick necke5, financial bull
", drunk wiki wealth and power.
bawls his orders to stock markets.
directors, courts, governments and na
tions. We have been listening to Mr.
Morgan. .
While We believe the last named
individual possesses and uses this
great power, several ef. our friends
and myself experienced a shcck when.
We read, as coming from Senator
La Toilette, this uncompHmentarv des
cription Of Mr. Morganis personal an
pearance,. for we did not like to think
of the leader Of the Progressives in
this country. as one who would in
dulge in personal. remarks Of that
character. Having read SO MANY Of
the Senator's speeches, I had come,
to look upon him as man of ex-
ceptional Doise. I could hardly be-
feVe, therefore, that the report was
true, and yet there it was-in prac-
tlcally all of the Buffalo papers. and
in the New York Evening Post as
well. I decided to look at the Con
gressional Record and see if some
mistake had not been made.
Then saw it all.
On page 4707 Of the Record if an
pears that the Senator. in the course
OF his remarks on the railroad bin.
dwelt at some length upon railroad
conditions in~New England, and. as
bearing upon these conditions. had
occasion to read to the Senate for
what. it might be worth, an editor
lal which had been printed in the
Commercial Bulletin Of Boston of
February 10, Of this year.. The edi-
torial mention had been written bv
Governor Curtiss Guild, the BuIe-
tin being Mr.. Guilds own paper. Nea
the middle of the editorial I came
upon a paragraph which had a fami-
liar sound. 1t began, "The mask is
off, and ended with the words. eve
have been listening to Mr.. Morgan -
1t was, in fact, word for word the
language I have quoted at the head
of this communications Only it was
the language Of Governor Guild and
not that of Senator La Toilette as
unfortunately intimated by the AS
ISOLATED Press.
Inasmuch as Buffalo and New York
papers printed, without qualification,
these reflections upon Mr.. Morgan's
personal appearance as Senator La
Follette's own words, I presume the
same misleading dispatch was pub
lished generally throughout the coun-.
try. Thus, a great injustice has. been.
done Senator La Toilette and I think
it lis up to the Associated Press to-
make immediate correction. If not
corrected, such a dispatch may have
a tendency to discredit the Senator
with a large number of people gwho
very properly look upon personalities
as unwise. Evidently the Senator's
purpose in reading the editorial, of
which this personal reference was
but smal portion, was to throw light
upon the New England railroad sit
uation and he did not deem it prop
er or necessary to- alter or omit the
verbiage about Mr.. Morgan's person
al looks or about the character of
the other gentlemen mentioned, rel
garding those illusions as merely in
cidental to the reading of the editor
ial. They were not Mr.. La Follette's
own words and it is regrettable that
the newspapers, probably all over
the country, have told their readers
that they were.
This is one Of the severest blows
that has thus far been struck at a
man who is daily growing in the
confidence of the American people
and no time should be lost by the
Associated Press in telling the pub
lie, in an equally prominent dispatch,
the exact facts. Yours truly,
oil - r,lI---:-.