Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1911-10-17


elected again: 1t appears from the
foregoing that prior to the last cleo
ton the development Of insurgency
in the west had amounted to DEM
onstration that this portion Of the
country does not want Taft, and the
outcome OF the election in the por-
ton of the country where the repub-
lican party still professed to sup
port Taft amounted to demonstra-
ton that that portion of the coun-
try does not want him either. East
or west, wherever there has been
any real test of his standing with
the people the proof is that he is
weighed and found wanting. The
individual voter throughout the
country knows what he thinks of
Taft, has shown what he thinks OF
Taft, and to defy this sentiment is
to call down his sure resentment.
On the other hand, LaFollette has
the record of winning in elections.
He won his first victory in a fight
for county attorney in the county
that includes the Wisconsin capital.
He went to congress before he was
80, and was elected three times. He
failed in a fourth candidacy; but
that was in 1890, when the repub-
licans suffered universally from the
passage OF the Mckinley tariff and
when the Wisconsin republicans
suffered especially from German
bolt against compulsory education
al law. And this was the only de-
feat that LaFollette ever suffered
before the people. Later he was
three times elected governor of Wis
consin. The first time there was no
particular fuss; but in the two 9TH
er elections he was bolted and
fought and every means possible us
ed to defeat him; but in each of
these fights his majority approx
mated $4,000. Following the last of
these fights he was promoted to the
senate, and last winter he was again
elected to the senate following an
election in which the LaFollette can
didate for governor was again elect
ed, after the usual manifestations OF
opposition, by another $4,000 ma
jority. And this last double victory
Of LaFollette for senator and his
friend for governor was accomplish
ed with the election Of eight out of
eleven republican members Of, con-
gress, while at the same time Mr..
Taft's state of Ohio was electing a
democratic governor by slightly
more than 100000 majority, was
turning strongly republican legis-
lature to one strongly democratic.
with the subsequent loss of a United
States senator, and was reducing the
republican membership in the Ohio
delegation in congress from thirteen
to five. The substance of the mat
ter is that Mr.. LaFollette has a
strength of his own with the people
is able to meet a personal attack,
however fierce, and in fact profits
in elections from the enemies he
makes. There is no doubt his hav-
ing enemies, and there is no doubt
they would bolt him if nominated,
and to this extent those who dis
courage his candidacy are correct;
but his enemies do not particularly
harm him with the people. On the
contrary, all over the land the peo-
pie who thought that Roosevelt was
a man to follow and who rolled up
for him the unprecedented major
tiles of 1904 are people who think
we'll of LaFollette and who can be
counted upon to support him In any
election. An inquiry into the situa-
ton almost anywhere would confirm
this statement, be it on the farms or
in the workshops. There are num-
erous politicians in Iowa and other
states who need, each Of them, to
invest in political almanac and to
sit down with it on a pleasant az
ternoon, and make comparative
study of the returns of the election
last year in Wisconsin and Ohio,
Iowa and New Jersey, Minnesota
and Massachusetts,, California and
New York. Then with the facts be-
fore them, let them express an In
telligent Judgment concerning the
running qualities of man who has
been elected repeatedly, nearly al
ways in a real fight, always on MS
own merits, and never defeated but
once, and the running qualities OF
a man who has held office almost
constantly by some other mans fav-
or, has been elected once to a small
iudgeship by courtesy and finally to
the presidency upon the understand
ing that he would be like unto an
other particular man, whom the