New Britain herald., 1925-06-18
IA TOILETTE DIES
 IN WASHINGTON
tcotninusd from First pase)

pompAdour with q quick, sharp jerk of the head and running his fingers through his black locks. His speeches often lasted for hours, especially during his filibusters in the senate.
 Senator Laf'ollotte derived his name from ancestral stock of French Hnguenot refugees, Ills Kon- lucky father, Josiah LaFolettc, and his mother. Mary fFurgoson) La- Toilette, were pioneers In Wisconsin. where they went from Indiana. Their children were reared in the face of poverty. but all were able to attend the rural schools.
 Robert was admitted to the uui- versity of Wisconsin by specia, waiver of entrance charges. He soon attained prominence in drama tic and debating classes, and also as editor of the college magazine. After hts graduation, bo was called upon to support his mother and sister while teaching country school and studying law He was admitted to the bar ina 1880 and soon entered politics as candidate for prosecut- Ing attorney. Despite the opposition of what he termed political bosses md machines, he was elected and . subsequently, reelected. Again over he opposition of party leaders, he was nominated and elected to the tath congress in 1884, becoming at 2s years of age the youngest mem- Der of the house.
 He was appointed to a place on the ways and means committee by Speaker Reed, and worked with Will liam Mckinley, then a member of the same committee. in framing the Mckinley tariff law. His first speech in the house was against pork bar rel" river and harbor appropriations, and, by blocking or amending bills sponsored by the leaders, he early classified himself as an ''insurgent."
 Elected governor of Wisconsin in 1901 on a reform platform, he launched fight against railroad in- fuence in state politics, and, also led the movement for the direct primary law, adopted by the Wisconsin legis- lature in 1904. He was elected to the senate the same year, and re- signed from the governorship.
 As a presidential candidate Sena- tor LaF'ollette began an active cam- paign for progressive support in De- cember, 1911, but while speaking in Philadelphia the following February he collapsed after long address and many of his supporters turned to Roosevelt. He continued his cam- paisn, but 1t was hopeless enter prise.
 During his early service in the sen- ate, he won prominence by repeated forays against Special privilege" and Special interests in tariff and other legislation. He broke with President Taft in 1911 and opposed the administrators Canadian reci- procity treaty. He was an early ad- Nocate of woman suffrage, labor leg islation and taxation of the wealthy classes Later he advocated recall of judges and judicial decisions, and came out in favor of nationalizing the railways.
 Included in the long list of meas ures against which he fought stub bornly were the Aldrich- Vreeland currency act, the commerce court act, and the Payne-Aldrich tariff measure. He made speech last ing four days advocating the unseat- ing of Senator Lorimer of Illinois, and was prominent in the Ballinger- Pinchot conservation fight as a critic of President Taft and supporter of Mir. Pinchot.
 Opposing American intervention in the World War Senator La Fol- lette urged peace conference of neutrals. He took aaleading part in the spectacular filibuster against the armed ship bill, asked for by Presi- dent Wilson, and encompassed It's defeat early in 1917. He was among the famous twelve wilful men" named by President Wilson as ob- structionists.
 After voting against the American war declaration, Senator ,LaFollettc also opposed the selective draft act. but supported the enormous war ap- propriations and other bills. He sponsored many free speech" pro- rosais. fought ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, and in many long speeches after the war urged amnesty for those convicted under the espionage act.
 During 1917 the senate received a mass of petitions demanding sena% tor LaFollette's expulsion. princi- pally because of a speech at St. Paul to a non partisan league con- vention. The Minnesota public safety commission was among those demanding his unseating, and the Wisconsin legislature passed resolu- tions of censure. It was during this political period that Mir. LaFollette WAS hung in efigy and denounced by resolutions of civic and other organizations throughout the coun- try. An investigation of the St. Paul speech, based on the war and Americas part in it finally was made by the senate privileges and elec- tions committee. Senator LaFollette submitted copies of the speech and other evidence. and charged that he had been misquoted, a charge ad- rnitted by some of the reporters, and the senate inquiry was dropped in February, 1918.
 Always a champion of labor, the LaFollette seaman's law. designed to safeguard the interests of American seamen, probably Is the most im- portant measure bearing his name. Labor formed the nucleus of the support to his independent candida ey for the presidency.s
 LaFellette had many important committee assignments in the Sem ste. For years he was a veteran member of the finance and inter