The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1913-05-16


has become widened thai men who
| formerly were close friends, political
", at least, now hardly speak as they
| pass by. Not since Senator La Fol
| lette became Wisconsin's great lead
| er has there been controversy with
in the Republican ranks as bitter as
the present one, which will end when
| either Governor McGovern has been
retired to private life or the govern
/ or wrests from the senator the lead
ership Mr.. La Toilette has so long en-
| Joyed in this state.
Other men, ambitious to occupy i'm
portant positions in public life, have
| dared to do what McGovern has done,
| but in no instance, perhaps, has the
break been so open and so marked
| In past years men who have broken
with the senator, as the governor has
broken with him, have been relegated
to private life, or at last, removed
| from any active leadership in politi-
cal affairs in Wisconsin A survey OF
the men who have COME and gone
because they failed to remain in line
with the senator, shows what a tre-
mendous task the governor has under
taken to accomplish.
La Toilette Still Leader.
While Senator La Toilette has
spent little time in his native state
since he was first sent to the United
States senate, he is still recognized as
the great Republican leader, and the
man about whom the people of the
state gladly flock when there is an is
sue in which La Toilette is making a
fight. While McGovern is a fighter
and will die hard, it is difficult to con-
ceive of any situation which will re-
turn him a victory over the senator
or any man whom the senator may
decide to place in the field against
McGovern for the United States SEN
atorship, the goal to which the gov
ernor aspires.
The refusal of Mr.. McGovern to at
tend the Republican banquet came
when Sol Levitan of Madison, a dele
gate at large to the last Republican
convention in Chicago, called upon
the chief executive and extended to
him an invitation to attend the ban
.quet
"This is an insult" replied the gov
ernor LET them play their own po-
litical game"
Strictly La Toilette Gathering.
The governor, it is understood, felt
that the arrangement of a banquet
without consultation with himself,
the nominal leader of the party in the
state, was an insult to the office he
occupies. 1t was not the plan to have
the governor play an important part
in the banquet, although there was no
disposition not to invite him to be
present.
AS it now stands, the event will be- |
come strictly La Toilette gathering. |
Governor McGovern intends to make |
his own fight along his own lines. He !
evidently intends to build whatever |
machine it is possible to build under |
the circumstances, and then trust to |
a popular vote when the next United |
States senator is elected. The cam
paign will be a bitter one, for it in
wolves the control of the Republican |
party in Wisconsin, 1t probably |
means that Senator La Toilette will |
return to Wisconsin and take the
stump against the governor. No mar
in years has beaten the senator in
such campaign. No man in public
life campaigns as strenuously and as
thoroughly as the senator when he
considers a contest of sufficient i'm
pOrtance for him to take the stump.
The people of the state await with in
terest the outcome.
Say Governor Gains Ground
McGovern men claim that the gov
ernor has gained much ground in
the support and friendship of
members of the assembly. From the
opening of the session it was con-
coded that La Toilette men held the
power in the senate. There was never
any question about that In the as
sembly it was different story, and
the exact strength of the governor
was hard to ascertain because no real
test votes developed, and it is still a
question whether the governors
strength has been clearly established.
McGovern men claim that the de-
feat of the bill in which Insurance
Commissioner Ekern was interested
and for which he worked, indicates
hat McGovern has gained ground.
The bill proposed to consolidate the
state fire marshal's department with
hat of the insurance commissioner.
but the measure was voted down in
he house. L. L. Johnson. over
whom Ekern was dismissed by the
governor, fought for the bill Assem-.
,lyman Mahon, the governors lieu
enant in the assembly, led the op-
position forces, and won out.
Exhibit at Exposition.
The little difference of opinion that
49, q i