Evening star., 1925-06-19

| the place now left vacant. But in
! none of these are there resident the
qualities of command that La Toilette
| possessed in so high degree Borah
measures up most to the dema nds of
! the post, and, in this observers opii-
ion. will sooner or later formally in
herit and occupy it, If the Idaho
Senator does not put. on the mantle of
Robert Marion La Toilette it will only
be because he prefers uncompromising
independence 20 the obligations of 30
lltlCal leadership. Nor would Borah
be likely to admit that his brand Of
liberalism Is extreme enough to ap-
peaSe the elements that burned in
cense at La Follette'S shrine Yet
Borah, at 6O-which he will reach this
months presidential timber of
towering stature. He may decide that
to buckle on the armor La Toilette
has laid off is now both duty and an
opportunity.
La Toilette BECAME a political in
stltution by grace. of the railroads
which he fought and which fought
him tooth and nail. 1t was not long
after he entered national politics that
the State Legislature. at his instiga-
ton. placed transportation lines
crossing Wisconsin under control Of
railroad and warehouse commits
sion. Minnesota, just previously. had
enacted a similar law. in which
Frank b. Kellogg. then rising
young corporation lawyer. had
hand. In Minnesota the railroads ac-
cepted the law without a fight. but
in Wisconsin they bucked il and
thereby incurred at La Follette's.
hands an enmity that was never TO
die. Forthwith railroad politics be
came the speciality of the man who
was three times governor of the
State and ever afterward its invinc-
ible political boss. If La Toilette hal
a ruling passion in the Senate. it was
war TO the knife on the railroads.
Many of his senatorial colleagues
believed that La Toilette never Sc
riously hankered for the presidency
despite his many organized thrusts in
that direction. Senator Moses once
said to me that La Follette's dearest
longings were to engrave his name
upon national legislative policies like
transportation, tariff or shipping, as
he wrote it so indelibly upon the leg
islative history. of Wisconsin,. To
WELD the power that the La Toilette
bloc held in the SiNty>eighth Congress
was said to represent the zenith of
La Follette's ambitions. Defeat at
the presidential elections in 1924 cost
him no real tears. If the result filled
him with any deep remorse it was the
realization that his sway on Capitol
Hill was broken.
Rooseveltians in Washington de-
clare that ct. r." never forgave La
Toilette for preventing the colonels
nomination for the presidency at Chi
cago in 1912. Thirty-six votes, those
of Wisconsin and North Dakota, were
held by and cast for La Toilette at
a time when they would have just
sufficed to give Roosevelt victory
over Taft. Fighting Bob" became
used, as the years went by. to the
obloquy of Republican national con
ventions. The kissing of his name
was regularity at them. But 1t
never prevented the spokesman for
the Wisconsin delegation from stand
ing in his place and telling the world.
in defiant tone, that the States %
votes were for Robert NJ. La Toilette
first, last and all the time. In the ,
consciousness of Wisconsin's un-
tagging devotion, Fighting Bob
made his last stand.
.(copyright. 1890