Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1912-02-08


him out of the running presidential candidate. It
wipes out all his chances relegates him to the
planning but poWerless majority. He cannot ever be
statesman now, much less chief executive
He made the mistake of telling the truth. He has
been very careful about it. heretofore True he has not
beenas careful Roosevelt but then Roosevelt is scker
Both tried to tell just enough truth to keep the progress
sve and dscontended public with them but to keep from
telling enough truth to ALLEVIATE the affections of the gem
tleen with the money bags Roosevelt has balanced all
far but the other evening tOppled
OF course he had temptation aggraVation that
Roosevelt did not have Roosevelt with his past pres
Dental prestige, drawing the sprogressive Office
seekers to him Like flies to mOasseS. Even If you hken
them to rats you have to think of LaFolete sinking
ship At any rate LaFolette grew desperate. He saw
that he had to become more radical than This
meant telling more Of the truth And he did Now he is
where people often go after telling the truthhe is in
hospital
He came awfully close to telling too much truth a
month ago in Michigan when Governor Osburn had laid
trap to make him declare his position government
ownership of the chief means Of life. Fortunately how
he able to arrange that he took the wrong
train and missed the meeting and the governors embar
RAISING questions III
But the pitcher that goes too often to the weWel
anyway it happened the other evening He speaking
to the Periodical Publishers Association bunch of
who live by extracting the price Of advertising from other
who live by extracting exhorbitant price for
nodities which agreeable people have permitted them
to control LaFolette had carefully prepared manu-
script speech in which he let out here and there just
much roth about the publishing business he thought
would win with the public and not offend the publishers
But the publishers were SnroWd men, as lackaS ana
wolves and such like animals usually They yeped at
the first thrust.
The conventional thing for LaFolette might have
saved him. He should have said that there were some
.'bad" publishers among the many "good las
Roosevelt works it and he should of course have except
ed sspresent company"
Instead, he became 'srattled, dropped his manu-
script and gave them yep for yep. He told them that
they kept papers, which is unexpurgated English
for 'prostituted press He told them that they had TO-
please the advertiser at the betrayal Of their
pectng reader and that the thing growing worse
instead of better and advertising assuming nation
proportions the suppressing of truth periodicals was
becoming national evil.
He can never take this back It's out now, and real
h he ought to feel better getting it out than IN get
ting the presidency It must be awfuly DEPRESSING
worrying thing to be progressive and to be at the
same time limited to political expediency It must be hard
the to have your hand appraised pro
oratorial POSTURE and be half through stating some
truth-iust when your hacker shakes warning head,
and you have to stop in the middle and raise the other
hand and-say something else. LaFollette must pc re-
1eved.
But whether he is not and whether he likes e q
not it really is more important that the people s9oae