Show LaFollette La Follette Octopus Chaser BY SAVOYARD If in the te political world the expected hould should s happen and it I should become as disreputable to be an a octopus chaser chaer and nd trust buster as it I now is to be a corporation lawyer Jawer this man would be bea bea bea a statesman out of a Job He is the tho Bryan Bran of the Republican party pay and a radical of the radicals He was a re form fonn orm governor and did not fall fa fal down stairs stair a misfortune that frequently overtakes overes reformers in office ofie As an octopus chaser cher in the senate he sep arted from the Republican pack pak Ho He HeIs Is i s a candidate for president and ad will willbe wi be an a also ran mn In the Republican national convention of Except as to 0 16 to 1 and the degree deg of ot revision that hat should be injected into the tariff La L Follette and ad Bryan are In perfect acord and I have not one particle of doubt that each of these two eminent statesmen Is the second choice of the theother theother other for the office of president of the United States When Wen I first saw La L Folletto he was wasa a slender man ma of youthful appearance with wih more voice in proportion to avoirdupois avoirdupois dupois than any other man I ever saw He was wa then a member of the Forty ninth congress thirty years rears old and his specialty was tariff a Question Queston that he treated with lungs only Carlisle was speaker and Cleveland was president resl dent There was ws ah rth a enormous surplus In iii the treasury that th t was wa swelled dally daily daly by the customs and the collections of Internal taxes taus William R H Morrison was trying to curtail the revenues by reducing taxes but Randall Randal led a re revolt r volt vol in the Democratic camp and de do defeated defeated the project Pig Iron was the titular leader of the Republicans but Reed and McKInley were the real commanders seconded by Burrows B and Cannon annon La Follette Folletto was wa a fancy orator on the te Republican side almost as frenzied In his eloquence as Dave Henderson who then had the he boody bloody shirt in his keeping I shall never for forget forget forget get the vehement and patriotic elo eloquence eloquence quence of the Hon Henderson a na native natye native tive tye of Scotland when to rebuke southern souther treason he exclaimed in an ecstasy of oC hyperbole From highland pass pas to lowland mOdI treason treaon never found lodgment in Scottish breast The rebel brigadiers yelled whoopee In n derision and the loll 01 ap applauded applauded In rapture La L Follette was wasa a rather abridged Henderson in those days As I said Randall Randal destroyed the Morrison Morison bill bi of the congress and Pittsburg Pits burg sent out to Illinois and bought Morrisons seat in inthe Inthe the Fiftieth congress for old John ohn Baker who became a Silver Siver Republican ten years yearn later and voted for Bryan Brya but the Fiftieth congress was also Democratic and ad Carlisle its It speaker In December 1887 President Cleveland sent his famous message to congress I that made mae the tariff absolutely para paramount paramount mount mount It I was wa followed by the Mills Mis I bill bi which Randall Radal was unable to de defeat defeat defeat feat in the house The debate on that measure was wa able and brilliant brilliant La LaFollette LaFollette Follette was wa then an advocate of a tar tariff t tariff iff If for br protection and incidental rev revenue revenue revenue a policy quite Quie as 85 dishonest a as It Ii ItIs Is unconstitutional We have it I now In is I all Its Is iniquity In the law under which the people pay the manu manufacturers mau manufacturers 10 of protection for every ever dollar dolar they pay into the treasury for foi revenue Here is this octopus that does doe more mischief In hours than the railroads do in days I The presidential campaign In 1888 1881 I I was wa fought on the tariff Mr lr Cleveland I would have been reelected If it I a Mr 11 Wanamaker Wanamaker had ha not contributed vast I sums of money from his wealth and am I copious streams of prayer from his re religion ligion to promote the Republican cause cuse causeS Mr Matt laU Quay took charge of the th S money and sent it over OV r to Brooklyn In is S charge of Dave Martin It I was wa nfl all over r bot bat the shouting as soon son as Martin Mantis Main S crossed the bridge Had Ha Grover Cleve Cleveland Cleveland land been reelected in 1888 the tariff I would have been reformed on a constitutional const and honest onest basis and the 16 to t I 1 frenzy would have been avoided But Harrison Harison was elected The Re Republicans publicans set about a reduction of the th S surplus and did it on Republican lines line S that Is they the increased tariff duties dutie dutes 5 to discourage Importations and bestow additional graft on the tariff octopus By this time La L mugs had ha I talked him to a seat at the council counci counci I board bar of the ways and ad means mens commit committee tee where the McKInley tariff of 1890 D and of odious memory was hatched He took a prominent part in the de dc debate debate bate and was quite quie an astonished mar man m mara I when the country got a whack at his hI a work in November 1890 and gave the thi thit Democrats the greatest and completes t victory any party pay ever achieved in the thi thiS S United Unite States State One of the consequences consequence S of that victory was a solid Democratic r delegation in the congress S from Wisconsin La L Follette Folette himself himsel himsel f fell In the action badly baly crippled fight fighting ing in the ranks of monopoly of greed gree 1 and of graft gf for of these is a protective e tariff composed And now La L Follette turned octopus S chaser chaer and has ha a certificate of pure pun C patriotism and able statesmanship p Stanard from Lincoln Steffens Ray Baker and that set set This Mr 11 Baker Bake Bakeris Baer r is now down south Investigating Invest the therace therace th thi a race problem He sees everything and an i observes nothing He will wl go back home horn e more hopelessly if I not quite Quie as a dense densely ly Ignorant of the subject than when a he started stated It I seems that old man mai a Philetus Phletus Sawyer was boss bos of Wiscon Wisconsin sin He was as a sawmill man very ver rich richand richand rId i and dealt deal In politics as well wel as pine pin e logs He had taken a fancy to La LaFollette L Lg a Follette and aided to further the young youn g mans political fortunes It I came cam e about however that La Follette dis die discovered discovered covered that old Sawyer was wa not the th C right sort of ot man and there was a big bigrow bigrow bi g row I have ave forgotten whether the th e before after La Fol Follette Follette quarrel came caine cae or L Be that as It I lette lete got to be governor a I may nay the young reformer downed dowed the theold theold th C old boss and became every ever man him himself himself self Report has it that La L Follette did s some ome injurious things to the th corpora corporations corora ti tons ons that he wrought mightily and aid ad si smote mote s the Philistines hip and thigh Railroads R were disciplined and ad grafters banished b and all al that that From 1890 till ti 1894 Wisconsin was Democratic D Both senators Vlas Vilas and ad Mitchell M were of that party and there is not the slightest doubt that Wiscon Wisconsin sin s in would have continued Democratic to t o this day if the Democratic party paty had hd remained r Ish The same Is la latrue true tue t rue of numerous other northern states but b ut when wen the Democratic party paty deposed Cleveland leveland C Wisconsin deposed the Dem Democratic o party That is how it came that tat th at La L Follette Folette got to be governor and ad Spooner got back his job as sen senator senator sentor ator a tor There were but three thre men m en in the state Vilas Spooner and Bragg B La L Follette as a governor chased the octopus and would have been glad giad giado to t o put Spooner out of a Job but Wis Wisconsin Wisconsin c remembered how she had taken ten Carpenter Carenter C out of the senate some twenty twenty ty t y years earlier ealer and elected a legisla legislature ture tur t ure that stood by her greatest living Republican R But La L Follette Foletta had his eyes on the senate enate s and when another vacancy oc occurred cured c he took it I after debating for a along along long l ong time in his mind whether octopus chasing hasing c Washington was to be pre preferred ferre f erre to octopus chasing at Madison He H e decided for Cor the national capital In January and ind a entered the senate 1906 1 just as the grand octopus chase chasel chae o l f the congress was about t to o begin When the rate bill bi came care on ono onto to t o be heard the new senator p He made a great geat speech on the s that the proofreaders of tho the government g printing office read read The Tho gist g of it was that the American re p has gone to the dogs and that the Jie t American America people are undone I have hae h ave heard that speech some 1000 t times imes and have written miles mie and miles mies of that sort of stuff for the news newspapers newspapers p papers apers myself The president of of the United States was the leader of the octopus chase chae with the Hon Ben Tillman Tiliman Timan chief hunts huntsman huntsman huntsman man in the senate and the Hon Bill Bi C Chandler handler whooping things thing up on the o outside The Republicans were much od disconcerted d when they found their president resident p in the Democratic camp but Uncle Allison came along and fixed things t so that the president got get gt back hh home h ome not not however until there was i held h eld a stormy stonny chapter of the Ananias club lub cub c where knights of mendacity were hurled h against one another like so eo many Rolands and Olivers When Senator S Aldrich saw sw the president safe safely safey ly Iy l y rescued from the camp of Tillman Timan Bailey Baley and the other Democratic oc octopus octopus opus t chasers he went to Europe Europe Con Congress Congress gress adjourned and the country countr fell fel fello t to o its Is old trade of In the Democratic camp there is an absolute autocrat to whom everything must be referred Nothing Is Demo Democratic Democratic cratic c of which he disapproved Certainly t he will wi make the platform doubtless he ha h will wi head hea the ticket There Ther was some brave talk of a a southern man Mr Bryan Bran met it with wih a sneer that put that talk to silence How However However ever eyer some things might happen be between between between i tween the dog do days 1907 and the con convention convention of 1908 On the Republican side of tie the the hedge I Ithe the situation is more interesting Nev Never er before beCore were there so s many candi candidates candidates candidates dates active and receptive Taft Fair Fairbanks Fairbanks 1 banks Cannon Knox Hughes Cor Cortelyou Cortelyou 1 telou Cummins Crane Shaw Spoon Spooner er Foraker Scott Scot and La Follette Then there Is the talk and asic I every everybody bd knows that can cas cn have It I for a wink or a grin Tail Taft would be the strongest man of the th whole layout on the day of election electon but it is doubtful if he can get the th nomination The he opposition to the ad administration a administration ministration will wi concentrate on Fair Fairbanks Fir banks or Cannon or Knox possibly on or 1 Hughes never an Cummins Cummin or La L Fol Follette Follet Follett lette lett let At A this writing the Cortelyou boom has the floor much to that gen gon disgust who would gladly have postponed his stunt until corn cor planting time next n year yea There Is a I tradition that he Is a regular Napoleon of politics and that veteran bosses bosse stood aghast at some of the strategies 5 he successfully practiced when chief chic of staff of the party in 1904 1901 He has ha been head of the department of com commerce commerce commerce merce and labor and knows the cor corporations corporations from skin to core he has ha been head hea of the postoffice department t that has ha most of the bread and butter buter He is now head of the treasury depart department department department ment that has ramifications in every ever community from ocean to ocean He Hi a planned and executed execute the victorious campaign of 1904 If I he is endowed with the genius for politics he ha is suspected of ot possessing it will wi necessarily follow follo that tat he will wi make monkeys s out of Ot the thi S rest of em at the convention La Follette Is 18 the radical candidate Roosevelt ls is IE not half hal the tho the octopus chaser chase La Follette would be L Bryan Bran himself himsel is not set a bit more digging The rate rte rat a abill bill bi got La vote but It I was wa not half baked in his opinion He H claims to be a tariff reformer too to this thi thiman man who sat at the feet of Pig Iron Kelley Keley and absorbed the th political econ economy economy economy omy of Henry C Carey that is the th mother of every ever trust that oppresses the people There Tere is no economic evil evi evi El now w existing that thi is not directly trace traceable traceable traceable able to paternalism in government government and anda an Ii Iia a protective tariff Is the upper crust ems it and butt but cut of ot all al paternalism Here Her we are on the brink of socialism and an anby by 1924 this republic will wI have to tight fight t for its very existence against social socialism socialism ism which can point to the paternal paternalism ism of the Republican party chiefly y the tariff es as precedent for Its Is frenzy Mr Bryans ultimate government ownership and operation of ot railroads Is I S but the legitimate fruit frit of the pater paternalism paternalism we have had ha for forty years yer The Beveridge bill bi which 1 Mr Bryan Doan indorses Indorse is pure paternal paternalism ism lam and a total annihilation of states rights La L Follette purposes to reform the tariff by the friends of protection As AsE AsE A AF E E F W Carmack pertinently said there then e will 1 be no reform of ot the tariff until it itIs ItIs I Is accomplished by the friends of the th taxpayers When the Republicans re reform r reform form for the tariff Nelson W V Aldrich will wl boss the job in the senate senate and an John Dalzell Dalzel will wi superintend it In the th 0 house hous They will reform it I up as Mc McKInley KInley did in 1899 When rowdy ne negroes negroes negrOes groes carry car safety razors the Republicans r cans will wi reform t the tariff There is Isto to be a tong long session of ot con congress cn I gress gess in this town tow beginning Dec 2 tremendous anniversary and maybe a glorious sun of Austerlitz will that day dayrise da y rise auspicious of the career carer of some som great geat statesman who will wi lead l d us out on of the wilderness again agin enthrone the th e constitution and save the represents representative tive republic founded by the fathers He is not yet visible to t the naked flake eye Copyright 1907 by b B W Newman |