Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-10-08
LAFOLLETTE'S DEFENSE

There was nothing particularly newNi in tho address
OF Senator La Toilette delivered shortly before the senate
adjourned, and intended as a plea in Justification Of his
conduct. and especially Of the speeches which he has
made of late, and which have brought about him a storm
of indignation. The address was a repetition of his other
ofenses. 1t could not we'll have been otherwise. Nobody
expected La Toilette to confess, profess penitence and
ask to be forgiven. The man is not made that way. In
his own way, he is as much an egotist. as much an auto
crat, as Kaiser Wilhelm, whose cause he is aiding to the
best Of his ability. And short Of confession and pentience
he could do nothing that would not aggravate his ofense.
La Toilette is an experienced special pleader. And
his Saturday speech was chiefly a series Of special pleas
along familiar lines, intended to confuse issues and throw
dust in the eyes Of the people. His insistence on the
right Of the people to discuss laws was plausible, but
utterly beside the question. 1t was a statement of a gem
eral proposition which, in its general application, no one
will deny. But it was false reasoning in that it ignored
the fact that 1" Is the duty of a people to obey laws passed
to meet great emergencies, and to obey them loyalty and
effectively, in such a manner that whatever discussion is
attempted does not tend Of itself to nullify the law by
making 1t impossible Of enforcement.
Senator la Toilette knows AZ well as any other man
that in this or any other country there are always per-
sons who seek to shirk their duty to the government
which protects them. When the CONSUMPTION law was
passed it was not popular among such persons. Some
of them, misinformed and misguided, as a rule, hung in
the balance between obedience to the registration order
and submission to the draft and resistance to both. A
little thing would turn them either way. And the maxi
ing of speeches such as La Toilette has been making,
denouncing the war, assailing the CONSUMPTION law as
immoral and unconstitutional -demandinE general ref
erendum, and so forth. was the thing that turned many
OF these people the wrong way. AS is usual in such cases
it is the misled individual who is the first, and perhaps
the only sufferer, while the teacher of false doctrine goes
free. Hundreds Of persons have been punished for
resisting the draft, but the senator who uses his high po-
sition to prompt them to such acts is still at large.
Regardless of any action that may be taken now or
in the future by the senate with reference to La Toilette
tn man has brought upon himself q greater punishment,
than could have been inflicted in any other way. More
than almost any other man in America he has a. voracious
appetite for popular applause. With the skill Of a born
actor who has improved all his opportunities, he has TAX.
en- advantage Of every chance to appear before the public
in the guise of a hero. He has been applauded to the
echo. and as the people have smiled upon him he ha:
hasked in their appreciation. To such a man there car
be no moro bitter punishment than the knowledge tina
instead of admiration he is regarded with contempt b,
the very people whose praise he seeks. And the contemp
In which he Is held would be apparent to a man much
more obtuse than Robert M. La Toilette.