The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-08-15
Ia TOILETTE PLAYS
VERY SHREWO GAME
Lever Politics of the Wiscon.
sin Senator Puts the
President in a Hole.
~ SIDNEY EsPEY.

BY SIDNEY EsPEY.
WASHINGTON, Aug. ia series
bf recent developments in the senate
plainly demonstrates that Senator
Robert NJ. Lafollette, OF Wisconsin, is
ofter the political scalp of President
Taft, and that Senator Lafollette will
be candidate for the Re-
publican Presidential nomination.
No other construction can be placed
upon the activity with which the Wis
consin senator is pursuing the task
of tariff revision. The Insurgent lead
ser Of the senate is just as anxious to-
day to get a tariff bill up to the Presi-
dent as is any Democrat of either the
senate or house, and, in the event that
the President vetoes the bill, there is
a general feeling that Lafollette as
well as the Democratic party, will pro-
ut politically.
Strange Politics.
Strange politics have been played
IN the senate during the past ten days.
Even Senator Penrose, who seldom
says anything that will acquaint the
country with the fact thatMhe senate
is not in control of the regulars. has
admitted that the Insurgents and the
Democrats have the upper hand, and
the nominal leaders of the once pow
erful Republican majority has virtual
ly thrown up the sponge. Senator
Penrose. chairman of the Senate FL
nance committee, and heir to the man.
tel of leadership which fell from the
shoulders Of Nelson w. Aldrich, stood
on the floor of the senate and made
the admission that "the Republicans
no longer have a majority here"
This admission is but incidental to
the fact that the Democratic
coalition in the senate damned
through the Lafollette substitute for
the wool bill, and that the same group
OF Insurgents and Democrats have put
through the Farmers Free List Bill.
with amendments proposed by the In.
surgent wing. Fr=..
The President Is admittedly in an
embarrassing position. and Senator
Lafollette. believing that he knows
the temper OF the country. is biding
his time and anticipating that the
President will veto not only these,
but all other tariff bills that may be
sent to him.
Once this is done. it will be feath-
er in the cap. not alone of Lafollette,
but the Democrats will 60 Immediate
ly to the country making the tariff an
issue both prior to and after the
OF the next Presidential cam
paign.
Gets Name on Bill.
The senator from Wisconsin has ad-
roitly managed to have his name ap-
pended both to the wool bill and the
free list bill.
President Taft has assured regular
Of the Senate and house.
It is reliably reported, that he will
veto all tariff legislation which may
be passed In advance of the report Of
the Tariff Board. The Insurgents and
Democrats take little stock in the pros
pective report of that board, declaring
that the country demands an immedi.
ate revision of the tariff and especial
ly of Schedule X, which even the
President, in public speech charac-
terized as "indefensible."
The shrewd Lafollette believes that
the voters will be unwilling to pardon
President Taft for his veto of a bill
that promised revision of the sche-
dule which he 30 characterized. The
Wisconsin senator and his colleagues
believe that the country is not SO much
interested In technical report of the
tariff board, as 1t is in prompt relief
from the inequalities of the Payne
tariff.
The political game played by Sena.
tor Lafollette therefore is apparent
The Presidents veto of the tariff re-
vision bill will be his stock in trade.
Just az 1t will be the slogan of the
Democrats. Senator Lafollette will 60
before the next Republican convention
and will be In position to upbraid the
President for Withholding his sigma.
ture from the Lafollette- Underwood
bills. Even Mr.. Lafollette fails to re-
ceive the nomination. his antipathy to-
ward the President may 60 to such an
extent that he will refuse his aid to
the Republican ticket, and the large
Lafollette following is bound to be af-
fected by the Presidents expected re-
pudiation Of the bills which Senator
1afollette and his Insurgent friends
IN the Senate and House have helped
to frame.
Big Possibilities.
The situation Is fraught with big
possibilities for Lafollette and also the
President. There are some who pre-
dict that President may he made or
unmade by the developments of the
next few days, when tariff revision
matters will come to head with the
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Ra1;Anf N0S1H hA