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the footprints of the past.* It is expressly said that the young Hindu, learning English literature, does not catch this, its subtlest essence, its "precious lifegiving spirit." And what has Confucianism, with all its scholarship and all its ethical elevation, done for China? It has only lulled China to add century after century to her age-long sleep.

Wealth, especially when being amassed, tends constantly to choke out spiritual ideals, although the situation is helped when the rich and the poor meet under circumstances that call out their better selves. The dependence of the schools upon the wealthy, especially if their wealth is ill-gotten, increases the peril that the spirituality shall be in the outward seeming, rather than in the inward life. Feeling keenly the peril, we rejoice to believe that there still is in our educational system, in our methods of training, in the spirit of our cultivated classes, enough spirituality, enough alert unself

ishness, to save our culture as a whole from present decay.

And what does culture become when it begins to decay?-when the dry-rot strikes in? It gives itself a new definition, being satisfied, perhaps, to be a mere enlargement of information, with the development and enjoyment of taste. It omits the training of the conscience; it omits the discipline of the will; it forgets or neglects those powers of the soul by which the man reaches forth after duty. It knows not any of the laws of the spirit. It forgets the rights of fellowman. If our national culture, that is, the trend of life in our educated classes, ever ends upon self, then our culture is in great peril of being added to the "three " whose great mischief has been to prevent the entrance of wisdom, and whose judgment has been or may be to "go down with a crash."

Branford, Ct.

HENRY M. WHITNEY.

R

ROBERT M. LA FOLLETTE: A STATESMAN AFTER THE ORDER OF LINCOLN.

BY WILLIAM KITTLE,

Secretary of the Board of Regents of Normal Schools of Wisconsin.

OBERT M. LAFOLLETTE, the junior Senator from Wisconsin, was born a few miles from Madison, Wisconsin, in 1855. He is of French Huguenot extraction. His boyhood was spent on a farm. He entered the University of Wisconsin in 1874 and during his college course won the championship for his university in an interstate contest for oratory. In 1879, he graduated from the

*The latest and most apposite note of this fact, so far as we have seen, is in R. A. Hume's Missions From the Modern View (p. 19): “One fundamental weakness in the doctrine of transmigration and of reincarnation, which are the principal forces in Hinduism, is that it is wholly or mainly the past that controls the future. But poets and seers and all lovers [including, we may add, lovers of

general science course and from the law department in 1880. Although regarded by the politicians as a mere boy, he was at once elected district-attorney of Dane county and held that office for four years. By his eloquence and ability he had obtained a state reputation and in 1884, at the age of twenty-nine, he was elected a member of Congress from the Capital district. He was in Congress from 1884

country] know that the present and the future are more than the past. Therefore, while not ignoring the past or the present, they care for the past principally because it is the door into a greater future. That is, the lure of the ideal is the formative influence in the life of the poet and the seer and the lover." Yes, and of the patriot, too.

to 1890, and served on the Ways and Means committee with McKinley. During the next ten years, he held no official position. A powerful coterie in his party had remanded him to private life. This ring parcelled out the offices, state and national, and quietly but effectively determined that on account of his independence and for his opposition to the senior Senator from Wisconsin, he should hold no office whatever. LaFollette saw clearly that the great mass of the people were for him and that a small ring controlled every caucus and convention. His confidence in the people was Jeffersonian. He spoke to them on every occasion, at fairs, in churches, at celebrations, and by formal lectures. His one theme began to be "Representative Government," in which the will of the majority should control directly the votes and acts of the representative. He began to crystallize public opinion on a plan to secure direct nominations by the people. This plan formulated and advocated by him became known as 'primary election." In eight years, one man, by his eloquence, his integrity and his ability as an organizer, had impressed the value of this new and untried principle on nearly half a million voters. The principle itself would not have carried without the remarkable oratory of its advocate.

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In 1898 La Follette was a candidate for governor before the state convention. He was defeated by the politicians, but his principle of primary election was put in the platform. His candidacy had now become formidable to the ring. From Washington came a tempting offer of a lucrative position in the treasury department to get him out of the state. His law practice had been neglected. He was known to be in debt. He declined the position offered by his enemies, and carried on his continuous campaign. In 1900 he was again a candidate for governor. Nearly every Congressional district had an opposing candidate. The greatest daily paper in Wisconsin opposed La Follette. One by one every other

candidate withdrew. The people in every district had compelled the retirement of every opponent. No such victory over the politicians had ever before been achieved. When the state convention met, the eloquent advocate of better government was unanimously nominated by acclamation, and was elected governor in the following November.

The first long period of the contest was over. For ten years the man who was now governor had advocated the principle ¦ of direct nominations by the people without interference by the politicians. The people of Wisconsin, in two elections, had unmistakably declared for that principle. Twice had the platform plainly pledged its enactment into law. Both branches of the legislature had large majorities elected upon that issue. When the question came before the legislature, a powerful corporation-lobby defeated the primary-election bill, and also a bill for the equal taxation of property. Governor La Follette afterwards publicly stated that the legislature had been corrupted by every form of vice; that members had been brought to the chambers intoxicated; that there could be no doubt that money had been offered and accepted; but that money was offered and refused was susceptible of proof. Governor La Follette and the people were given a striking object-lesson of the power of a ring of professional politicians backed up by a lobby sent by the public-service corporations.

He

This defeat called out all that was best in a virile, able and honest man. sprang to the contest with renewed vigor. He saw that free government is but a name if the will of great majorities, definitely registered at the polls, can be defeated by money. He informed every voter in the state that their expressed will had been defeated by a corrupt lobby in the Capitol. By conferences with hundreds who visited Madison, by earnest addresses in various parts of the state, and by messages to the legislature defining the issue, he literally made public opinion against three hundred papers

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throughout the state supported by the politicians and the corporations. In order to win, he had to triumph over the corporations, the politicians, and many of the chosen representatives of his own party in the legislature,—and he won.

The next contest was before the voters of Wisconsin in the campaign of 1902. It was fought out with vigor in every voting precinct in the state. The politicians and the corporations bought up three hundred country-newspapers, and sent out from Milwaukee carefully-written editorials purporting to emanate from the local editors. They united on a candidate subservient to their interests. They avoided the issues raised by the governor, and from three hundred villages and cities they made the state ring with denunciations of the "populist" and "demagogue" who had simply advocated the direct nomination of public officials and the equal taxation of all property.

The Republican state convention of 1902 was held in the huge university gymnasium at Madison, the home-city of Governor La Follette and the homecity also of his arch-enemy, Senator John C. Spooner. More than a thousand delegates were present from every part of Wisconsin. Twice had the party violated its pledges to the people; and now more than two hundred delegates were there with unblushing front in the bad cause. But eight hundred delegates were also there to speak in no uncertain terms for a primary-election law and for equal taxation, and to nominate their loved and admired leader. The proceedings were orderly, but there was an air of expectation in the great assemblage for the moment when the governor and finest orator of the commonwealth was to be nominated.

A man of marked integrity and ability nominated La Follette. Three-fourths of the convention ratified the nomination, and a committee was dispatched to invite the nominee to address the convention. When he appeared, nothing was wanting in the ovation. Before him were

the men who for months had denounced his every act. There, too, were his loyal friends from Lake Superior to Illinois and from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. His home-city saw a great host summoned there after ten years of public service for good government. His wife and daughter and little son, closer to him than any in that great array of close personal friends, were just at his right on the platform. His address had been carefully prepared; but in delivery and eloquence it held the rapt attention of the great audience and, when published in the next morning's papers, had a profound influence in the state. At the close he said: "I do not treasure one personal injury or lodge in memory one personal insult. The span of my life is too short for that. But so much as it pleases God to spare unto me, I shall give, whether in the public service or out of it, to the contest for good government.'

In the campaign which followed, La Follette spoke fifty-five consecutive nights and a greater number of times during the days as he went from city to city. On the last night of the campaign, he spoke for three hours and his voice was clear and strong. Against the strongest opposition he had ever met, an opposition wielding great wealth and political power, he was elected governor by a plurality of 47,599. Both branches of the legislature had large majorities pledged definitely for a primary-election law and a law for the equal taxation of property. Yet, when bills were introduced for these two purposes in the next legislature, they were openly defeated by the corporation-lobby. Three times had the platform pledges been violated. Twice had the members of the upper house of the legislature prostituted their office. But in the executive chair was a man who could not be bribed or silenced. Though defeated again and again, his integrity and courage were still formidable to the ring. He was a lion, but not at bay. He carried on a continuous campaign. He said in December, 1903: "The contest must go on, and on,

and on, until it is settled and settled right." Extraordinary interest attended the election of delegates in the primaries for the State Republican Convention to be held in Madison, on May 18, 1904, to elect delegates to the National Republican Convention. The influence of the railroads and other corporations was openly exerted to defeat the champion of equal taxation. Every station-agent of the railroads was ordered to do his utmost to defeat the La Follette delegates on the day of the caucus. As these caucuses were held on different dates in the different counties, train-crews were held at given points to elect the Stalwart delegates. Money was freely and notoriously used. As the morning-papers reported the election of delegates who had been chosen the preceding day in a group of counties, they were as eagerly read as were the reports of battles in the Spanish or in the Civil war. The largest vote ever recorded was given at these primaries.

The state convention of 1,065 delegates met at Madison, May 18, 1904. 952 were uncontested delegates, their election, credentials and regularity being unquestioned by either faction. 515 of these were conceded by the Stalwarts as being favorable to La Follette. The six Stalwart members of the State Central Committee on May 17, the day preceding the convention, unanimously conceded 20 more votes from the first districts of Grant and Eau Claire counties. These 20 votes were not included in the 515, which were at all times conceded by the Stalwarts. Therefore they openly admitted the election of 535 delegates for La Follette. 533 was a majority. As a matter of fact, Governor La Follette had 574%, a clear majority of 843.

The Stalwart delegates, 485 in number, held a bolting convention, with no formal notice, no roll-call, no regularity. No one really knows how many delegates were present and it is certain that persons not delegates attended and took part in the irregular proceedings of this meeting.

It purported to elect four delegates to the Republican National Convention,-Senator John C. Spooner, Senator Joseph V. Quarles, Congressman Babcock and Emil Baensch, the Stalwart candidate for governor. The regular republican convention also nominated a complete state ticket and elected delegates to the National Convention.

The case was now appealed to the Republican National Committee at Chicago. A formal but farcical "hearing" was given on June 16-17, 1904, at Chicago. Gas Addicks was a member of that committee. For days preceding the trial of the Wisconsin case, Senators Spooner and Quarles appealed to Senatorial courtesy to sacrifice the leader of the regular Republican party in Wisconsin. George R. Peck, the attorney of the St. Paul railroad, labored indefatigably to defeat La Follette. Walter Wellman stated that the plucky governor of Wisconsin was run over by the “bullgine.” Every effort was made by La Follette to secure a fair trial, but without success. It became evident that the National Committee had prejudged the case. Printed briefs covering every material fact in the case were laid before the Committee, but they were not even read. Before the Committee could report back to the Convention, La Follette issued a defiance to the corrupt tribunal and took an appeal to the voters of his state. Before the election, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin handed down a decision that the convention which had nominated the La Follette delegates was the regular Republican convention of Wisconsin.

A campaign of extraordinary bitterness ensued. The Stalwarts placed ex-Governor Scofield as candidate for Governor under the party name of "National Republican." Senators Spooner and Quarles took the platform against La Follette. It was not expected by the Stalwarts that Scofield would be elected. He was put in the field to capture those old-time voters who could not be brought to vote the Democratic ticket. The great

majority of the Stalwart votes went to the Democratic candidate for governor, and were so intended by Spooner, Quarles and by Scofield himself.

But Governor La Follette carried on a campaign that must have extorted the admiration of his foes. He bought an automobile and used the railroads and carriages to enable him to meet the people. In many cases, the farmers knowing that he would pass along a certain road, would meet him and call for an address by the roadside. Wrapped in a large fur-overcoat and wearing the wellknown soft-wool hat turned up all around and speeding along the country roads to meet audiences, he presented a striking appearance. For months he spoke to tens of thousands in the country, in villages and cities. On Friday evening preceding the election he addressed ten thousand people in the Exposition Building in Milwaukee for three hours. When he retired to the Plankington Hotel, he was wet with perspiration and was cared for by an attendant and rubbed in alcohol. The next morning he was up at seven o'clock to take a train for a forenoon meeting. The next Monday evening he addressed the students and people of his home-city in the university gymnasium, where three thousand had assembled to hear his last speech before the election. The next day Wisconsin gave him a plurality of 50,952 votes.

Three qualities distinguish this virile, resourceful and eloquent leader:

He is an absolutely honest man. Had his great ability been devoted to the interests of the public-service corporations, he would have had Spooner's place in the United States Senate long ago. Before he had been doomed to defeat by the ring, he was called to Milwaukee by a United States Senator and offered a large roll of bills if he would betray a public trust. He refused and was thrown out of Congress and public life for ten years. In 1898, when a clear majority of the delegates to the State Convention had been elected to nominate him for governor and a suffi

cient number of the delegates had been literally bought with money, Charles Pfister, then one of the bosses and recently indicted by the grand jury, came to La Follette's hotel-room after midnight, preceding the convention, and said: "We have got you skinned, Bob; but if you will behave yourself, we will take care of you." Not long after he was offered a tempting position in the treasury department at Washington, but he refused it. When he was nominated in 1900 for governor, the railroads placed at his command special trains; and after the election, by every insidious means, tried to swerve him from the platform pledges. The people of Wisconsin know in whom they have put their trust.

one.

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He is an organizer of the first rank. He began without a party. He has created He had nearly all the old-line politicians against him, but by appealing directly to the people he has retired them to private life and built up a new organization. This has been called the machine," the "ring," etc. But its main strength lies in the fact that it represents and is close to the mass of the people. But such a body of workers presents peculiar difficulties to leadership. Yet La Follette has not only inspired them with confidence and respect, but also with admiration and affection. Probably no man in American history, not even Henry Clay or Blaine, has called forth such personal loyalty and friendship.

But as an orator he appears at his best. His gracefulness in delivery, the strength and vigor of his thought, the purity of his English, his high ideals, and his lofty conception of the integrity and courage of a public official indicate unmistakably the character of the man.

This orator quotes no poetry or literary gems of any kind, uses no figures of speech has no climaxes, tells no stories, indulges in no humor. Though familiar with all the masterpieces of literature, and lectures on certain plays of Shakespeare, he never refers to them in his political addresses. He uses no historical examples or allu

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