Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-01-17
Senator la Follette's Speaking Tour.

IAOucu1 III ZIG mluSC OIL us SpeeCu,
about ex-President Roosevelt. He
replied that in the last four years of
the Roosevelt administration more
trusts were formed than under all
preceding administrations, total of
10000 plants having been merged in
trusts with a total capitalization of
$31, 672, l80,754; but that more legal
proceedings had been instituted
against trusts in the same period.
Senator La Toilette also criticized
the Aldrich reserve scheme.
In speaking at Joliet, Illinois, on
the 4th, he directed attention to the
difference in the judicial application
of the Sherman antitrust law to
commercial trusts and to labor Or
CARNATIONS, and made this basis in
part for an argument for the recall
of judges. His words on this point
were:
There is one class Of so-called re-
straints Of trade that was not in
tended, or at least not understood, to
come under the prohibition Of the
Sherman antitrust law. These are
labor organizations. It is curious
fact about the enforcement Of the
law that, while the courts have care
fully protected investors in trusts
against loss Of values, the only in
stance where the extreme penalty Of
the three-fold damages has been i'm
posed is in the case Of labor organ
ization. A law which treats invest
ors as innocent if they form a trust,
and guilty if they form a labor union,
does not command the respect, nor
appeal to the sense Of justice, Of the
American people.
Senator La Follette's speeches on
the 5th were at Springfield and East
St. Louis with short ones at many
intermediate points. In Springfield,
demanding that "corrupt leadership
be driven out Of the Republican par
ty, he spoke in this fashion of Sen
ator Aldrich, the principal sponsor
for the central reserve banking
scheme:
Nelson W. Aldrich in all the years
Of his service in the United States
Senate has never served the people,
and never has he failed to represent
the special interests. He does not re-
present the Republican party in the
nation any more than does Senator
Lorimer represent the Republican
party in Illinois.
In his speech at Danville, Illinois,
on the 9th, Senator La Toilette de-
scribed the panic Of 1907 as having
been maintained by Big Business
leaders, and in reply to a question,
admitted that President Roosevelt,
under the scare Of this panic, helped
put through the Tennessee coal and
iron deal. AS reported in the Chi
cago Inter- Ocean by Charles N.
Wheeler, the circumstances were as
follows:
Senator La Toilette had been fay
ing the "money trust" for half an
hour. He had been telling how, in
his opinion the Morgan and Stand
ard Oil groups had been using the
money in their banks to corner the
industries Of the nation. He had
been giving his version of what Mr..
Morgan and his friends had done to
Banker Morse and Mr.. Heinze in the
copper deals in the effort to smash
them and put them out of business.
Then he stopped, looked at his au-
dience for short time, as if weigh
ing carefully each word he was about
to utter, and began: "Then there was
the Tennessee Coal & Iron case"
Didn't Teddy help, too?" interrupt
ed a gray-haired man in the front
seat. La Toilette stopped as if hit
in the face. He hesitated only mo-
ment. Then he walked to the front
of the stage, placed one foot on the
outer rail in. front of the footlights,
struck dramatic pose, shot his right
arm out and said deliberately in a
sort Of conversational tone: eyes,
Teddy did. But" he shouted, throw
ing both arms above his head, "I
know what they told Teddy" This
startling declaration not only caused
a sensation out in the large crowd,
but precipitated a commotion among
the newspaper men. A dozen inter-
pretations were volunteered. To some
it meant a declaration of war be-
tween Mr.. Roosevelt and Mr.. La Fol-
!ette. But the truth is that so far
as La Toilette is concerned no affront
was intended for Colonel Roosevelt.
It was just the emotional outburst
Of the moment, although let out with
a full realization, apparently, Of the
Importance of the words. It amount
ed, no doubt, to the inference that
Roosevelt was fool when he agreed
to the absorption of the big Tennes-
see company by the United States
Steel Corporation, and undoubtedly
there will be some crashing Of teeth