Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1911-02-17

interesting contest among them
selves, ana the league might go to
pieces as a result of internal
dissensions.
The character of any organi-
cation is shown by the character of
the men who compose it. All of
the leaders of the movement are
well known. and is easy to see
what the organization will be
regardless of what it pretends to
he.
AT the head of the organization
is Senator Bourne of Oregon, a
gentleman who knows more about
golf than he does about legislation,
but who has cultivated the faculty
of changing band wagons with
such frequency that in one month he
has clamored for a second elective
term for a president and a month
alter lined up with the successful
candidate on terms of close intimacy.
Senator Bourne has obtained wide
publicity by his advocacy of what
is known as the Oregon plan for
electing senators. and it should be
said in fairness that of all the men
on the list, he is the least radical.
High in the councils of the new
league, and generally considered
its leader. is Senator La Toilette
of Wisconsin, whose claim to be a
republican is a libel on the party,
as he is republican in name only,
except when it comes TO voting for
a high protective tariff on the
products of his constituents. La
Toilette commands little respect
in the country at large and less
than eve before, since his boorish
conduct in refusing to confer at the
courteous request of the president
of the United States upon the
recent supreme court appointments.
Among other senators who have
enrolled in the league are Cum
Minis of Iowa and Beveridge OF
Indiana. Senator Cummins has
distinguished himself by absolute
disregard of facts in discussing
railroad Legislation and Senator
Beverage has attained to such
high esteem in his own state of
Indiana that in the recent election
his fellow citizens retired him to
private life, and sent to Washington
in his place John Worth Kern,
who was treated as a joke when
running on the ticket with Bryan
in the last presidential campaign.
Of curse the name of Clifford
Pinchot is prominent. 1t viii
not be forgotten that Mr.. Pinchot
was summarily fired by the Presi-
dent Of the United States for
INSTRUMENTATION that savored of
the ]schoolboy type. 1t was the
same Mr.. Pinchot who, when called
before the investigation committee
in the Ballinger Pinchot contro-
vcrsy, read a long statement accus-
ing Mr.. Ballinger of every crime
short of murder, but who absolutely
refused to make oath to a single
charge.
Then there is Mr.. BranGies Of
Boston, who is temporarily filling
the shoes of Thomas w. Lawson as
the most advertised man in Boston.
Mr.. Bran1eis is well known in
Boston and New England for his
participation in the anti-New
Haven agitation. To the country
at large, he is known for his failure
to faetcn anything on Secretary
Ballnger, in spite of all the claims
of those by whom he was retained.
This. then, is the character of the
men who have organized the
National Progressive League. The
platform of the league is closely
allied to the new nationalism Of
Theodore Roosevelt, which assisted
so materially in turning the house
Of representatives over to the
democrats last fall"
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