House of La Follette
Again Sponsors a
Third Party
By JOSEPH W. LaBINE
Since 1930 American politics
has seen Messiahs by the car-
load.
their Farmer-Labor party into
the national picture; in Detroit
the Father Coughlins came for-
ward with a platform that was
anti-Democratic and anti-Re-
day, and dynamic Huey
Long raised his voice from the
bayous of Louisiana.
These are the malcontents,
to build a new balloon than
patch the old. In an era fea-
tured by change, they
more change. Individually they
Leader should emerge—.
In Wisconsin a few
ago that potential Leader did
emerge, but he was not an
unknown Messiah. His father
was the fire-eating Progres-
sive who kept the United
States senate worried until
his death in 1925. His brother is
today a member of that same sen-
ate and very much respected.
himself is governor of Wisconsin.
The name is Phil LaFollette.
anti-Democrats had searched a gen-
eration they might not have found
popped up in the quiet college town
of Madison. Like his brother, Sen-
Messiahs shout.
his ideals to state government and
has made them work.
A Brotherly Combine,
Together the brothers LaFollette
form a unique combination to win
support from labor, the farmer and
the small business men.
They are not socialists but the La-
Follettes want to ‘‘harness the profit
motive for social ends.” They are
not capitalistic but they think or-
ganized labor is foolish to bargain
for fixed wages instead of an an.
nual income based on a share of
the company's profits.
agriculture but they do censure the
farmer for haggling with purchas-
ers of their crops for a set price
level. Instead, say the LaFollettes,
farmers should bargain collectively
for a share of the ultimate price.
These proposals come under the
heading of making new balloons in-
stead of patching old ones. Phil La-
Follette built a new balloon in his
state unemployment insurance law,
a piece of legislation that reflects
is kept for each business organiza-
tion in the state. The corporation
with the smallest labor turnover
pays the least.
What Phil LaFollette doesn't say,
Senator Bob supplies. In Washing-
ton he rants about the ‘‘hodge-
podge” of taxation that has grown
up these past hundred years.
like to junk it all and develop a
sane, thoroughgoing program.
Brother Bob's Opinions,
Senator Bob has also voiced a
family opinion concerning the New
Deal and its efforts to cure depres-
&
will be the “public appeal” factor
crises,
ciation.
‘“‘economic cycles’ is
in social
and economic reform, the LaFol-
in the background.
Governor Phil has done his own ex-
1925, is still the moving spirit in
"w-
Comes the Announcement,
In 1938, at
when the New Deal shows signs of
party still lacks leadership and the
LaFollette has launched the Nation-
al Progressive party with an eye to
| by 1948. Perhaps it will be sooner.
On the surface Bob LaFollette,
SY
invaluable in the campaign.
in the National Progressive party's
well versed with official Washington,
is the logical National Progressive
candidate. But the brothers recog-
nize that Bob is the politician and
legislator while Phil is an execu-
tive.
This is a queer trick of fate be-
cause old Bob LaFollette intended
that his namesake should carry on
the family tradition. Young Bob
went to Washington immediately
after he finished college and became
In 1924 he
campaign and found himself in the
heat of politics while brother Phil
Phil once thought of entering the
¥
His wise old father dis-
In 1924, at the ripe
age of twenty-seven, he ran for dis-
trict attorney of Dane county, de-
because the elder LaFollette
But Phil
Wisconsin's Wonder Boy.
The next year his father died and
Phil's ambitions were nipped in the
bud when young Bob ascended to
the senate. It looked like a politi-
cal fade-out but Phil won the Re-
publican nomination for governor
in 1930 and has been at Madison
won
Wisconsin's allegiance to the La-
Follette tradition is a thing of won-
der. In November, 1928, young Bob
back to the senate
with a plurality of 400,000. Yet Wis-
consin gave its electoral vote that
year to Herbert Hoover, for whom
the LaFollettes had said not a single
| good word.
Governor Phil is by no means an
| idol with his constituents. The past
| two years have seen many scraps
{ from which he has emerged vic-
| torious but badly scratched. In most
{ of these he has shown a judgment
for diplomacy that would credit any
President. One of his accomplish-
ments was legislative enactment of
a governmental reorganization bill;
the same stumbling block over
which President Roosevelt tripped
last winter.
“Trigger” La Follette.
The governor's private life and
hobbies account for much of his pop-
ular appeal. He is a devotee of
Americana of the Sam Houston pe-
riod and a student of Na-
poleon.
His quick-on-the-trigger aptitude
in speech-making wins him many
converts. Never caught short, he
faced a momentary crisis when ad-
dressing a crowd of Farmer-Labor-
ites in Jowa a few weeks ago. A
bench collapsed noisily, spilling its
occupants to the ground.
“That,” cracked Phil, “must have
been the Democratic or Republican
platform.”
The next few months may see
Governor Phil and Senator Bob car-
rying their National Progressive
| party to the nation. The two broth-
ers never disagree on major points,
so America’s farmers, laboring men
and small business men are apt to
be offered two Messiahs instead of
one, each preaching the same politi-
cal doctrine.
To them may fall the.task of ce-
is also
contents
with the farmer and the corner gro-
cery man. To their flag may rally
a strange mixture of men and wom-
en, disillusioned followers of de-
feated third party movements.
But Phil will be the dominant La-
Follette, a dynamic crusader in
whom more than one aging Pro-
gressive will see a carbon copy of
old Fighting Bob LaFollette, the
man who wanted his son to be a
© Western Newspaper Union.
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF!
“Death by Proxy”
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter
ELLO EVERYBODY:
There's only one thing I know that’s less profitable than
being a burglar, and that's just posing as one. And Distin-
guished Adventurer Willard G. Stanton of Bloomfield, N. J.,
ought to agree with me there. Once upon a time, when Bill was
a youngster of sixteen, he tried that little stunt. Not purposely,
of course. Bill's intentions were perfectly O. K. But it doesn’t
make any difference what your intentions are. If you look like a
burglar, or if you act like a burglar, first thing you know some-
body is going Yo think you ARE a burglar and treat you ac-
cordingly.
Back in 1907, when this adventure happened to Bill, he lived in an old-
fashioned apartment house in Brooklyn. At least it would look old-
fashioned today. At that time it was probably the last word in apart-
ment houses. It had a stairway running up the center of the building,
and there were two apartments to the floor. The doors of the living rooms
opened on the stair landing, and the outer doors were fitted with ground
glass panels, The glass was opaque. You couldn't exactly rough
it. But when you were on the inside looking out you could tell when some-
cne was at the door, because you could see a shadow of a human figure
against the glass.
Remember those panels. They've got a lot to do with the story.
Burglars Alarmed the Old Ladies.
Bill's family had an apartment the fourth and top floor of that
building. Across the hall lived two old ladies—retired school teachers—
one of whom was slightly deaf. Remember that deaf old lady, too.
on
TBR a AA TIT
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PL "e A Ys AE AAR a Ord !
vr p had erst 7d vii ill R77) Wh Ly
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Ay
Bullets Whizzed Over Bill's Head.
Between her and the glass panels, Old Lady Adventure managed to cook
up quite a thrill for Bill Stanton.
About three o'clock one November morning, Bill was awakened out
of a sound sleep by a loud, insistent pounding. As he came out of a
half-doze, he realized that the pounding came from the wall, on the other
side of which the two old ladies slept. Something was wrong in their
apartment! Bill jumped out of bed and went into his own living room.
Then he saw what the trouble was
On the ground glass panels of the door leading to the hall he could
see two shadowy figures. They were over by the door of the old ladies’
apartment and they seemed to be trying to jimmy the lock. So that was
it! Burglars, trying to get in next door! The old ladies had heard
them and pounded on the wall attract Bill's attention.
Bill called out, “Who's there?” and began rattling the door
knob. The two figures moved noiselessly to the stairs and be-
gan to descend. Bill was sixteen, and impetuous. He ran out of
his apartment and started to follow the two men down the stairs.
“Right there,” he says, “is where my adventuring career
started.”
$4
VO
Bill Was in a Tight Place.
Bill followed the crooks down two flights of stairs, but they were too
fast for him. He was in pajamas, and he couldn't very well dash out into
the street after them anyway. Not on a cold night in November. He
turned around and went slowly back up the stairs
Bill got to the top and put his hand on the doorknob. The door was
locked. In his haste to follow the two men he had slammed it behind
him. In his pajamas and without a key in his pocket, it looked as if
he was going to have some trouble getting back in He stood for a
moment considering his plight, and then, suddenly he heard a voice
coming from the next apartment.
It was one of the old ladies—the deaf one—and her tone was omi-
nous. “If you don’t go away,” she yelled, “I'll shoot.”
All at once Bill realized what a tight situation he was in. The old lady
could see his shadow through the glass door and thought he was one of the
departed burglars. He knew she kept a gun in her apartment and didn't
have any doubt that she would do just what she threatened to do.
Shot At by a Deaf Woman.
“I thought I had a good pair of lungs,” says Bill, “and I
screamed back: ‘Don’t shoot. It's me.” But I didn’t count on
that old lady being deaf. Before I had a chance to get in an-
other word I heard a loud report and a bullet came crashing
through the door. It was followed by two more. Then I dropped
flat on the floor, and while I lay there, three more shots imbed-
ded themselves in the wall over my head.”
The shots stopped then, but Bill lay right where he was, afraid to
stir lest the slightest motion bring more of that hot lead his way. Then,
inside his own apartment, he heard his mother open a window and
start screaming for the police. Still Bill stayed where he was. Courage
is one thing, but when a panic-stricken old lady starts blazing away right
and left with a revolver, there isn't any sense in giving her a mark to
shoot at
Bill lay right where he was until the police came. Then he got up
again. He looked himself over and was relieved to find that he hadn't
been hit by any of those wild bullets, but he found an ominous little
hole in the sieeve of his pajamas that showed just how close he had
come to having a funeral instead of just an adventure. “And now-
adays,” says Bill, “when there is any burglar hunting to be done, I do
it by telephone.”
Copyright. WNU Service.
Use of the Oregon Boot
Once Oregon was famous for a
contrivance that was held in pardon-
able distaste by prisoners who hap-
pened to find themselves confined
within the cold gray walls of the
state penitentiary. The Oregon boot,
they called it, and it was used as
an efficient but not altogether hu-
mane method of keeping prisoners
from dashing off on their own.
Compelled to Kill Squirrels
The large number of squirrels
days that the Ohio legislature passed
a certain number of them
year.
termined by each township board of
fill their quota were
subject to
a fine. .
Sausage Tree Native of Africa
The sausage tree (Kigelia pinna-
ta) is a native of Africa. ft has
rough pinnate leaves and peculiar
flowers which hang suspended by
long peduncles. From each flower
a large fruit develops which resem-
bles a sausage.
Home of Copernicus
Torun in Poland is the birthplace
of Copernicus, the great astron-
omer. The charming old city has
a statue to his memory and visitors
may enter the home he had 400
years ago.
Our Faith in Human Nature
“Our faith in human nature grows i
so scant,” said Hi Ho, the sage of
Chinatown, “that we soon arrive at
the belief that everybody who is or-
d'narily polite is trying to deceive
un"
Refeisnee to Shaving in Bible
There are many references
shaving in the Bible. In
Dati Bee hang” a ah
pres-
ance of Pharaoh.
to
.
By ELIZABETH C. JAMES
N THE last days of King Arthur,
his men were led in revolt
against him by the (traitorous
knight, Sir Modred. Warfare had
continued many months the
time had now come for the last
struggle. Among those faithful to
the king was the knight, Sir Bedi-
vere, now constant
the lonely and aged
Overlooking 1}
were arrayed for battle,
thought sorrowfully of his
whom he was now fightin
heart was heavy as the
gan, relates Tennys
and
companion
%
king
the camps
‘
to
ord 1
story, “The Death of King Art!
On every side there was strif
the death until the field was stre
with men, point of
bur, King Arthur's {
Sir Modred
end. But, alas, King
Arthur was
wounded. Carefully
Sir Bedivere carried
his king off the field.
3ut King Arthur
knew now
was to die.
Calling
knights to
requested
vere to carry
ibur down
lake front and thi
it the water.
The knight tho
but he liftec
sword and went his way
Standing
Bedivere thoug
waste of so many jes
much beauty
in a tree. When Sir Bedivere stoo
At the
met his
sorely
he
Elizabeth
James
into
beside
what he had seen when
the sword into the water
vere answered, ‘““The rippling
waves.”’
“Betrayer
as I bid you!"
Standing again beside the
the knight thought:
and does not know what he
I will hide the sword, Acc
cried the king
the kir
“BEAUTIFUL” LIFE
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, lived a
life as beautiful and unreal in its
romanticism as that of any hero
in his King Arthur stories.
The drowning of Arthur Hal-
lam, Tennyson's college friend
who understood and encouraged
the sensitive poet, caused Tenny-
son to suffer a nervous collapse
and to live ten years in retire-
ment. At the end eof that time he
presented for publication “In
Memoriam,” an elegy to Arthur
Hallam, a poem said to have
brought more comfort to sorrow-
ing people than any other poem.
Tennyson was not wealthy, and
he and his sweetheart wanted to
leave the path of his life open
for writing instead of trying to
earn a less precarious livelihood,
so they waited many years be-
fore marriage was possible.
Speaking of his marrying Emily
Sellwood he said, “On the day |
married her, the peace of God
entered into my soul.”
At the death of Wordsworth,
Tennyson was made Poet Laure-
ate of England, having long en-
joyed the friendship of Queen
Victoria. After that he was seo
besieged by sightseers, that he
was forced to move to the Isle
of Wight, which place is now
famous for having been his
home. Tennyson died in 1892, at
the age of eighty-three.
The second time
what he had seen
gave the same ans
“The rippling of
With great effort
cried, “If you do not d«
mand, 1 will kill you
hands!”
Sir Bedivere t
wheeled the sword high ith
all his might, hurled it o the
Jake. Instantly an arm clothed in
rich apparel rose from the lake,
caught the sword, brandished it
three times and drew Excalibur ua-
When the king had
heard what Sir Bedivere had seen,
—_
fall
int
ans
that
to
reach the shores of the lake.
Old Order Changeth,
When the king stood beside the
waters, there appeared in the dis-
tance a barge. Nearer and nearer
it came, until the richness of the
black draperies could be seen,
King Arthur, Sir Bedivere supported
his king, until the outstretched arms
of the queens assisted King Arthur
to take his place on the barge.
Slowly the. barge began to leave
the shore. Standing alone as King
Arthur moved into the distance, Sir
Bedivere cried out, “I am left alone!
What shall I do?”
Kindly answered the king, “The
old order changeth, giving place