The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-11-11
NEA Service Writer


 Washington,- M. LaFol-
 lette, still the youngest senator at
 the age of 38, may exert an extra ordinary amount of influence in both branches of congress when the nations legislators convene in December. He is certain to be one of the most important figures Tn the the senate and it Is quite possi- ble that he will have a lot to do
 with guiding the course of the house.
 The progressives are going to be
 more powerful in the senate than ever before. Young Bob" is the level headed organizer among them, the keen and energetic namesake of a famous father who is the only real leader among them even though the strings of his lead ership are almost invisible. or equal importance. LaFollette is the one republican progressive who has tracked the most pressing eco homie problems to their 1airs and grabbed them by the tail. With his head full of facts and his feet on the ground, this industrious young senator will be in the fore front of every fight which arises in the next session over such sub jectsl as business recovery, unem- ployfnent and relief.
 The possibility of an important LaFollette influence in the house lies in the fact that there, too, the progressives will hold balance of power between the republicans and democrats. The backbone of any co ordlinated progressive group would be the eight republican in- surgents from Wisconsin. members of LaFollette's political faction
 back. in the old home state. There is little, doubt here that those in- surgents will cooperate with La- Toilette right up to the hiit. Years ago the division between parties | in the house was so close as to give {, the Wisconsin progressives prestige and power. but of late years they have been impotent and silent,
 buried beneath large g. o. p. ma Ijorities.
 Already the eight Wisconsinites
 are said to be organizing huddle with progressives of other states | in order to devise and promote q l DEOhIC5SAtC PAO6AohA s~sAN threaten to prevent the republicans
 from organizing the house unless :, they are assusde of consideration | for unemployment and farm re- lief measures as well as revision of the rules. Even if the repub- licans have no paper majority, the
 progressives probably will hold a balance of power for they are req
 sonably sure to find democrats-
 such as Huddleston of Alabama, and Howard of Nebraska-to play with them on most issues.
 | Meanwhile, Little Bob" has
 been laying his lines for an intelli- gent progressive onslaught against
 economic problems in the coming congress by his hearings on his bill for n national economic council. There have been few senate fn-
 vestigations to compare with this
 one of LaFollette's, held and pre-
 sided over by him in his position
 as chairman of the senate commit | tee on manufactures.
 The organization. the selection
 of witnesses and the questioning have exemplified tke care, the cool
 judgment and the vigor with which
 LaFollette operates. Along with
 an elite group of economists. sta-
 tisticians, sociologists and other ex-
 perts he summoned and examined the nations industrial and finan- cial giants--sloan of General Mo tors, Wiggins of Chase Nationa'
 Bank, Farrell of U. s. Steel, Swope
 of General Electro and Hartman
 of the utilities. He obtained. to q