Evening star., 1937-12-12

Member of Famous Family Derives From
Parent Belief in Democracy and Concern
for Common Man-Rogers' Idea.

progressives would make the best
fight of which they are capable for
drastic increases in the taxes levied
upon wealth and income"
La Toilette believes that higher
taxes are the only guarantee against
uncontrolled imitation. and for d
more equitable distribution Of wealth.
CENATOR LA TOILETTE has al
ways concerned himself with this
matter Of the ''maldistribution" and
concentration" of wealth. He believes
it to be one Of the principal causes
of any economic crisis. 1t accounts
for what he terms "the failure of
mass purchasing power to keep
abreast of our increased capacity to
produce manufactured and agricul-
tural products" Unless there is an
equitable distribution of purchasing
power among the people, he contends,
sit is obvious that we cannot employ
mass production in industry and
scientific methods of agriculture on
the farms"
He gives an Illustration. "Let us
assume" he states, that $100 repre-
sents the entire vast wealth of this
Nation and its people. Let us assume
that 100 people represent our entire
population. If we divide this 500.
representing our total wealth, among
these 100 people. representing our to-
tai population, as wealth is actually
distributed in this country today. we
get the following results: One person
would have $50 out Of the hundred.
one would have 50, % people would
have S1.22 each, and 76, or all the rest,
would have less than 7 cents apiece
out of the $10o representing our total
wealth"
Political society, La Toilette believes,
has an instrument for dealing with
this problem. That is the instrument
of taxation-"a. sane and thorough
going program of taxation according
to the ability to pay, to replace the
present hodge -podge that has grown
up in the last hundred years. Social
finance is coming to be one OF the most
critical problems of our time"
CONSIDERING, no doubt, such ut
~ terances as these, one COM
mentator who described young Bob's"
appearance on the occasion of his TAX
ing his first oath of Office in the United
States Senate, referred with sarcastic
levity to the resplendency of a we'll
fitting morning coat, striped trousers
and wing collar. Robert M. La Fol-
lette, successor to his cyclonic father
and ideal of the rough and shaggy
Northwest where men are men, wears
pearl-colored spats," the reviewer
wrote. But young Bob could sur
vive such comments as these. He was
no pale shadow of his father. whose
unexpired term in the Senate he had
been sent to fill. He knew more about
Washington and the Hill than many
members twice his 80 years.
He had attended the public schools
| Of Washington and after q period al
| the University Of Wisconsin had beer
with his father constantly in the Capt.
tai. From 1919 until the death Of the
elder La Toilette he served as of1cia
secretary to the Wisconsin Senator
He knew politics and procedure first
hand. He was, for time, clerk to the
Senate Committee on Manufactures
of which his father was chairman. Ht
was familiar with the conduct of Ser
ate affairs, and had thorough
schooling in committee matters. Trick.
Of debate, parliamentary maneuver'
he learned first hand or from his ex.
perienced father. From his father, too
he derived his belief in democracy
and concern for the common man.
Despite the fact that the elder Ii
Toilette had been read out of tht
| Republican party in 1924 for hi
apostasy, the people Of Wisconsin
were loyal to the La Toilette tradition
in the fall Of 1925. and sent the sor
| to Washington to the embarrassment