The Washington times., 1924-03-22
SENATOR IS
STANDING
PAT
VIII Wait on Platforms Before
tie Makes Move-His Popu-
Iarity Growing.
BY JOHN T. LAMBERT,
Cosmopolitan News Service.

~ SOhN IL AAMDEN1sf
Cosmopolitan News Service.
senator Robert M. LaFollette is
voday faced by one Of the most
interesting crises in his long, ag-
gressive career.
Messages urging him to declare
himself candidate for President
are pouring in upon him from all
sections of the country, notably
the Northwest. Requests for him
to organize and lead a third party
are constant.
The demands to permit the use
OF his name in the Republican pri-
maries Of the West are more fire.
quent. The more radical sugges-
ton to sever all connections with
the Republican party and to be-
come a standard-bearer of the in
dependent Democrats is said to
have reached him in surprising
volume from the sorely-affilicted
cotton centers of the South.
Popularity is Surprise.
Districts in which his name was
Anathema but two short years ago
now speculate upon his possibilities
without rancor. His comeback to
popular favor without veering from
the course he has steered for years
y today one Of the foremost topics
In public life.
Public understanding no longer
oontemplates him as a sour, dis.
appointed man, which was 4 fiction
built up by enemies who actually
knew him to be amiable and gentle
IN his personal relations.
La Toilette Is confronted by the
double-horned dilemma which so
often stalks the path Of vigorous
public officials. To ignore the re.
quests might be to dull the en-.
thusiasm Of anxious well-wishers
now confident they can settle the
campaign without intolerable delay.
To consent to them would place
HIM in the position Of a seeker Of
that confounds a modest man.
admonition Of his friends that the
third party may dry up and fade
away unless he lends to it his
actlve leadership.
Wont Change Attitude.
He is said to have come to a de.
cision from which he will not
deviate. He will not thrust himself
into a race for President. He
would accept a spontaneous man.
date from the public. He will not
lead" third-party movement.
Such a movement must rise ur
from the people, built upon their
aims and strength. He will probab-
ly await the action Of the Repub-
lican convention, in order that he
to be. the conventions merit or
unWorthiness.
Meanwhile, the third-party move
ment is making what it's adherents
claim to be notable strides. Organ
izations have been effected in at
least a dozen States. In Minnesota,
Montana, Washington and Illinois
It is known as the Farmer-La5or
party. North Dakota terms 1t
Non-Partisan League. In Idaho
and Nebraska it is called the Pro.
gressive Party. In New York. and
even Pennsylvania, part organiza-
tons have been formed.
States Forming Organizations.
The strategy is to have each State
form it's own liberal party under
any name which appeals to 1t, but
to unite them at a great conven-
tion to be held in Minneapolis on
hn vooodn go ~.
alition Of the forces Of the farmers,
laborers and progressive business
men who favor liberal platform"
Public ownership of natural re.
souces and Of the railroads will be
the bulwark of the platform. Arrest
of the abuse of injunctions in labor
disputes, adoption of the initiative
and referendum, Government con-
troll of banking by extension Of Gov
eminent and cooperative banking
and farm relief will be other i'm
portant platform planks.
The liberals have called their con-
vention as a matter of strategy, I'M
mediately after the G. o. P. con.
cIave, and Immediately before the
Democratic convention in New York.
Senator La Toilette thus will have
been enabled to propose a liberal
policy to the Chicago convention.
States for La Toilette.
If he is nominated by the third
party convention, the Democrats
week later will be animated by
the fear that they will lose the
Western liberal States to him, and
that they will be forced to combat
President Coolidge in the East, his
own stamping ground.
The third party movement is az
present predicated upon the theory
that Senator La Toilette would be
certain to carry Wisconsin, Mime.
sofa, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho,
Washington, Oregon, Nebraska, and
Oklahoma.
Some of its ardent members claim
he would be successful also in Colo
RADIO, Michigan, West Virginia and
Iowa.
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