Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-10-03
ALL Of WISCONSIN,
POLITICS CENTERED
AROUND | TOILETTE
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
Leased Wire Service to The Journal.)

(Leased Wire Service to The Journal.)
Copyright. 1929
MADISON, Wis, Sept. 3O.-Poll'
tics in this state can be summed up
in one phrase-LaFolle that's all
There isn't even an opposing party
the Democratic party has been OBJ
liberated. Only 10000 votes were
polled for senator and 10000 for gov
ernor in the Democratic primaries
and the state law requires a mini.
mum vote of $4,000 to put a. party
ticket into the race.
The Democrats didn't qualify, but
their alternative is to enter ticket
labeled "Independent." This they
will do and Mrs. Jesse Hooper will
run for United States senator. Those
regular Republicans who can't stand
LaFollette will vote for the indie
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
ratification of the primaries.
Wisconsin is pertinent example
Of evolution inside the Republican
party. LaFollette won by 100000
votes, the vote was almost unani-
nous and he carried with him eleven
other LaFollettes comprising the
whole delegation to the house Of rep
resentatives. Nine of the eleven were
out and out LaFollette men and two
others lean his way more strongly
than any other.
If the Republican party is reform.
ing itself from within, the victory
here is on the LaFollette side for
the moment at any rate. But it
would be exaggeration to say that
Wisconsin has permanently commit
ted itself to radicalism. It is for
LaFollette land If he were to retire
from politics tomorrow it is not
doubted that a man Of his type
would triumph.
LaFollette Shrewd
For LaFollette, who won, is q
dominating personality, a shrewd
politician, a man with all kinds OF
following from pink to red and from
wet to dry, voters of foreign birth
or ancestry laborite, progressives
agriculturists. There never was q
more complicated vote to analyze.
It's true La Toilette capitalized
all the discomfort. He gloried in his
war record. He virtually asked for
vindication, insisting that he was
right when he made the famous
speech in st. Paul which temporarily
ostracized him in the United States
senate. He blamed Wilson for in
stigating the war and pointed in his
speeches to the burdens Of taxation
as confirmation of his dire predic
tons of those days when he voted
against war. He is admired for his
courage, and former Senator Bever
ldge, of Indiana, characterized him
the other night in a public speech
as the most brilliant radical in the
United States"
La Follett's landslide was very
much like Harding's in 1920. He
got all the protest votes, all the
discontinued elements. Vets voted
for him and helped pay for adver
tisements printed widely in the
state. This didn't antagonize the
drys, either. for many Of the latter
cared more about standing by La
Toilette because Of his war views
than they did about prohibition. So
in the Technology of the street, "he
got them coming and going" There
will be a light vote cast in the cleo
ton. La Toilette is practically elect
ed now. What does his victory sig
Nifty? Certainly it was more of a
negative vote than an affirmative
mandate. It emphasized also that
the "boring from withnin" process
which radicals in the west have bee
utilizing ever since they captured
the machinery of the Republican
party in North Dakota a few years
ago is highly successful.
The Radicals
To offset this gradual absorption
of the Republican party by radicals
the regular Republicans have been
considering fusion with the Demo.
Gratis. But the decision is in favor
Of keeping the fight within the party
and trying to win next time. Native
born Americans and others who in,
dignantly resent La Follettes views
are powerless to apply punishment
Fully so per cent of the electorate
Is either foreign-born or f1rst-genera
ton Americans. Labor looks on him
as great champion. Committees
of labor leaders worked indefatigably
for La Toilette. It was a well-or
ganized, well-managed, well.f1nanced
campaign, and for six years more
Bob La Toilette will play hjs part in
the senate, interpreting in his own
way the curious mandate of thou
sands of voters who call themselves
Republicans just as much as do the
stand-patters or conservatives OF
Massachusetts { Pennsylvania.
The signs of political revolution
are unmistakable. The Gle, ION in
November turns not so much on
whether the Republicans will win,
for they seem to have the upper
hand-but waht kind of Republicans
will sit in congress and what kind
of delegates will go o the next pres.
idential convention from western
G