Evening star., 1922-09-30
Wisconsin VOTE
IN FALL SETTLED
La Fo|Iette's Certain EIec-
F.. tion Hints G. o. P. Revolt
From Within.
OPPOSITION WIPED OUT
All Elements of. Politics Included
in Support of the
Senator.
OPPOSITION WIPED OUT
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

MADISON. Wis. Sentember 80,
Politics in this state can be summed
up i'll one phrase-La Toilette, that's
all.
There isn't even an opposing party,
the democratic party has been OBJ
liberated. Only 5000 votes were
polled for senator and $4,000 for gov
ernor In the democratic primaries, and
the state law requires a minimum
vote of $4,000 to put a party ticket
into thearace.
The democrats didn't qualify, but
their alternative is to enter a ticket
| labeled. 'Independent." This they
Will do. and Mrs. Jesse Hooper will
run Tor United States senator. Those
regular republicans who can't stand
La Foliette will vote for the inde-
pendent ticket. but the total will be
negligible.
The big fight is over. 1t all hap
pened In the primaries. Election day
here nowadays Is something like
election day in the solid south. a
! ratthcation of the primaries.
Wisconsin is a pertinent example
of evolution inside the republican
! party. La Toilette won by 25opOO
, votes. the vote was almost unanimous.
and he carried with him eleven
others. comprising the whole delega-
tion to the House of Representatives
Hlne or the eleven were out and out
La FoiIette men, and the two others
lean his way more strongly than
any other.
Committed to La Toilette.
If the republican party is reform
ing itself from within. the victory
| mere Is on the La Toilette side for
tne moment anyway. But 1t would be
! an exaggeration to say that Wis
eonsin eoIr n has permaanently committed it;
to La Toilette. and were he to retire
from politics tomorrow, there is no
assurance that man of his doctrines
would be triumphant
For the La Toilette who won is a
dominating personality. shrewd
| politician. a man with ali kinds of
followfngs, from pink to red and from
wet TO dry. voters of foreign birth
or ancestry. laborite. progressives,
agriculturists. There never was a
! more complicated vote to analyze
It's true La Toilette capitalized all
the discontent. He gloried in his war
| record He virtually asked for vindi-
| cation, insisting that he was right
| when he made the famous speech In
81. Paul which temporarily ostra-
cized him in the United States Sem
| ate. He blamed Wilson for instigat-
! ing the war and pointed in his
| speeches to the burdens Of taxation
| as confirmation of his dire predic-
| tions OF those days when he voted
| Vets voted for him and helped pay
for advertisements printed widely in
! the state. He got them coming and
| going" There will be a light vote.
] cast in the election. La Toilette is
! his victory signify? Certainly it was
| more of Il negative vot. than an af-
| hrmative mandate. 1t emphaS;Ze also
| that tae boring from within" process
[ whlcn radicals in the west have been
utilizing ever since they captured the
| machinery of the republican party in
North Dakota a few years ago Is
highly successful.
Fusion Possibilities.
To offset this gradual absorption of
the republican party by radicals, the
regular republicans have been consid-
| ering fusion with the democrats. But
| the decision is in favor Of keeping the
| win next time. Native born Americans
and others who indignantly resent
La Follette's views are powerless to
| apply punishment. Fully So per cent
; Of the electorate is either foreign born
or first-generation Americans. La
! Dor looks on him a. a great champion.
Committees OF labor leaders worked
! indefatigably for La Toilette. 1t was
; a well organized. we'll managed. wei
financed campaiTr. and for six years
more Bob La Toilette will play his
part in the Senate, interpreting in his
own way the curious mandate of
! thousands of voters who call them
| selves republicans just as much as do
the StandpatterS or conservatives of
Massachusetts or Pennsylvania
The signs of political revolution are
unmistakabIe. The election in Novem-
ber turns not so much on whether the
republicans will win-for they seem
! to, have the upper hand-but what
kind Of republicans will sit in Con-
Rress and what kind of delegates will
I 70 to the next presidential conven-
| ton from western states.
copyright. 1927