The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-12-28
MAGAZINE REVIEW
The Turning Point of La FOllette's Life.

Inc turning P0lnt OF La f0llette'S Life.
In the January American Magazine,
Senator La Toilette, writing his auto
biography, gives the first authoritative
account of an experience he had in the
! Plankington hotel in Milwaukee with
Philetus Sawyer, the famous standpat
Wisconsin. senator of generation ago.
Sawyer was interested in some suits
that were being tried before Judge Sic
| becker of Wisconsin, who was a brother
! in-law of La Toilette. The suits were
| to recover money from a former state
treasurer whose bond Sawyer had signed.
| Following is La Follette's report of what
happened in the hotel;
ION the 18th day Of September / went
to Milwaukee and met Sawyer at the
Plankington house. The parlors were
large, and he led me away to portion
Of the room remote from the entrance
where we sat down. After some pre-
| liminary conversation in which he said,
j wanted to talk with you about Sic
becker and the treasury matter he final
~ came directly to the point and said:
These cases are awfully important
to MS, and we cannot afford to lose them
Now / came down here to see you alone
No one knows l am to hire you as an
attorney in the cases, La Toilette, and
don't want Won TO 60 into court. But
here is fifty dollars, will give you five
hundred more or a thousand or five
hundred more and thousand II was
never able to recall exactly the sums
named when Siebecker decides the cases
right
II said to him, Senator Sawyer, YOU
can't know what you are saying to me.
If YOU struck me in the face you could
not insult me as you insult me now
"He said, Wait, on
II was then standing up. | said, No,
YOU don't want to employ me as an ats
torney You want to hire me to talk to
the Judge about your case off the bench
He said, 4 did not think YOU would take
retainer in the case. did not think
Won would want TO 90 into the case as
an attorney How much will you take
as retainerf'
~ answered. You haven't enough mon
ey to employ me as an attorney in your
case after what you have said to me-
Well perhaps don't understand
court rules. Anyway, let me pay you
for coming down here
II said, Not a dollar, sir and i'm
mediately left the room.
Nothing else ever came into my life
that exerted such a powerful influence
upon me as that affair. Sooner or lat
err / probably would have done what
did in Wisconsin. But it would have
been later. But it shocked me into
complete realization Of the extremes ia
which this power that Sawyer repre-
sented would 90 to secure the results it
was after. But in another way, its ef-
feet upon me as an individual was most
profound. / had always had a pride
in my family, in my good name.
"There has always been uncertainty in
my mind about the money he offered me
the amounts. He had his pocket
book in one hand, and a roll of motey
in the other. For an instant | was
dazed. and then the thing surged through
me. I felt that / could not keep my
hands off his throat,I stood over him,
said the things to him that have re-
lated and then left him, blindly.
knew he followed me- | went rapidly
down the stairs, and out of the hotel.
The state fair was on, and the hotel
lobby crowded with people. saw no
body. got out in the street and walked
and walked"