THE ROLL CALL

...over $1,000,000 by Pepper, and $188,000, by Pinchot in Pennsylvania...

...He took the floor to appeal for more time in which the World Court issue might be discussed, "I do not know how it impressed other Senators," Reed said in the open Senate, "but in my opinion we have just listened to a great speech from the Senator from Wisconsin...

...Bob, Sr.," had been a dynamic figure in the United States Senate for a generation and the undisputed leader of the Progressive movement in Wisconsin and the nation, The question was whether or not his son, thirty years old, the youngest Senator ever elected by a direct vote of the people, could meet the situation, The youngster was up against a man-sized job in succeeding a Senator of so striking and original a personality as "Old Bob," and he had the handicap of being a great man's son, which has dwarfed many a lion's cub, Has Established Himself REGARDLESS of whether or not Bob La Foilette, Jr., proves himself as able a political general as his father in the Badger primaries September 7, it is the consensus of opinion of friend and foe that the young Senator has won his spurs at the national capital and has firmly established himself "on his own" in the Senate, The story of how "Young Bob" charted his course and stuck to it through his first session in the Senate is worth telling, It is in marked contrast to the technique and achievements too often associated with sons of distinguished sires, On matters of legislation and in his attitude toward the regular Republican organization, young Bob doubtless found a useful guide in "Old Bob's" record...

...La Foilette is not a lawyer, but in his first appearance in a major investigation he proved himself an able and resourceful hand at cross examination, The committee to probe the campaign expenditures was set up soon after the Pennsylvania primaries in May in a resolution offered by Reed of Missouri The results of this inquiry have filled the front pages of the nation's press for several months, Reed has taken the lead in handling the witnesses and has been the big figure of the probe, but La Foilette has been at his side and next to the Missouri Senator has taken the most prominent part in the investigation...

...In two important investigations—the Tariff Commission and an investigation of "slush funds" which had been used by senatorial candidates in Pennsylvania, Illinois and elsewhere— the Senate resolution ordering the investigations directed the Vice-President to appoint two Republicans, two Democrats, and one "Progressive Republican" to each committee, La Foilette had listed himself in the Congressional Directory as a "Progressive Republican," He was the only Senator who had run up his flag in cold type as an insurgent, and hence Vice-President Dawee named him as a member of each of these impor-tant investigating bodies...

...His father had brought the original charges that the Commission was being "hamstrung" and "packed" by the administration, and young La Foilette produced the documents and the witnesses which, in his opinion, proved the charges...

...The Roll Call ON HEN AND MEASURES By BASIL MANLY The Senate's Youngest Member SENATOR Robert M. La Foilette, Jr., after his first session in the United States Senate, is now neck deep in a campaign culminating with the Wisconsin primaries of September 1, which politicians are watching with keen interest as another test of the young Senator's ability to score, "Young Bob" found the eyes of the nation upon him when he romped through the special primary and election in Wisconsin last summer and, by smashing majorities, won the seat vacated by the death of Senator Robert M, La Foilette, Sr...

...THE committee that probed the Tariff Commission sat almost daily for three months and La Foilette attended every session, It is no exaggeration to say that he took a more active part in the probe than any other member of the committee...

...Under reformed conditions recent records show that Ramsay McDonald spent $5,125, Stanley Baldwin $4,107, David Lloyd George $2,467, Herbert Asquith $3,616, for their elections to Parliament in 1924, Contrast these sums with $300,000 each spent by McKinley and Smith in Illinois, $800,000 by Vare...

...La Foilette made half a dozen other speeches during the session, Each time he was prepared in advance, buttressing his stand against the Mellon tax bill, repeal of the inheritance tax, and the leasing of Muscle Shoals with carefully assembled economic and statistical data, While his manner of delivery remained distinct, he revealed the same power of massing expert testimony and illuminating ordinarily tiresome figures and quotations which his father had always exhibited...

...It will doubtless be the subject of a bitter struggle, but if representative government is to be preserved in the United States such conditions as revealed in Illinois and Pennsylvania must he uprooted, In former years English elections were notoriously rotten and corrupt...

...I was nominated and elected on the Republican ticket by the Republican voters of Wisconsin," he wrote Watson, in a letter he simultaneously made public, "and if I am given committee assignments as a Republican I shall accept them, You should understand, how-ever, that I am pledged to carry out the record and the principles of the late Senator La Foilette and that no committee assignments will deter me from following the independent course I have marked out for myself," The Watson committee held a special session to decide what to do with this young man who on his first skirmish with the Old Guard refused to be put into a hole...

...Jim" Reed, Borah, "Tom" Walsh, Johnson and other great orators debated the Court issue for weeks, When La Foilette announced he would make his maiden speech on the Court, it was predicted the greybeards of the Senate would not listen to the utterance of a lad of thirty on such a weighty matter of foreign policy, On January 22, "Young Bob" made his bow as a speaker in the Senate, For three hours he spoke on the issue of the World Court, To an audience which included practically all the big guns and the veterans of the Senate, critical to the last degree, and with the memory of "Old Bob" and his devastating speeches in their minds, the young Senator delivered a speech that commanded attention and the respect of floor and galleries, Mrs, Woodrow Wilson, widow of the founder of the League, strolled into the galleries and remained to listen, La Foilette went back of the technical discussion over reservations which had occupied the Senate for weeks, He convincingly demonstrated the inseparable relations of the Court to the League of Nations, He recited the story of the invasion of the Ruhr, which he had personally witnessed, He cited the grabbing of the Mosul oil fields, and conflicts and wars which had been going on since the League and Court were set up, which they have been powerless to prevent, Quoting freely from chapter and verse of historical documents and diplomatic papers, at times disregarding his manuscript, but speaking in direct, forceful style, without oratorical frills, "Young Bob" made a frontal attack on the League and Court and boldly took his stand as an "irreconcilable," Old Leaders Pleased THE prince of Senate debaters, Reed of Missouri, had sat in his place throughout the delivery of the address, giving close attention...

...Fights to Last Ditch SENATOR LA FOLLETTE'S plan is the best which has been offered, Once having taken hold of this matter of a corrupt practices rule for the Senate, Bob La Foilette, Jr., will without doubt follow the example of his famous sire and fight it through to a conclusion, This completes the bare outline of La Fol-tette's activities in the Senate and in the com-mittee rooms since he took office eight months ago, He has had unusual opportunities for a youth in his thirties and, along with them, un-usual responsibilities, Frequently he has come to bat with the bases loaded and other side try-ing to "rattle" him, From the record, it is hard to escape the conclusion that "Young Bob" has kept his eye on the ball and has maintained consistently high batting average, If the young man gets results on the stump—on the home field—this summer, and if the La Foilette Pro-gressive candidates for state and congressional offices get over the plate, the "boy Senator" will be given credit at Washington for a "home run and "Fighting Bob II" will be his title from then on...

...La Foilette was assigned to committees as a Republican without further ado or comment, Opposed World Court THE World Court resolution was the first important measure to come up at the December session, La Foilette joined the group of "last ditch" opponents of the pact...

...When Reed moved on to Chicago to dig into the Illinois primary La Foilette was the only other member of the committee to report for the hearings, Is Opposed to Evil LIKE his father, when a serious evil is disclosed, Young Bob seeks a way to eradicate it, Before Congress adjourned, after careful study of the problem presented by the Pennsylvania investigation, he introduced a new Senate rule which would meet the difficulty of the Supreme Court decision in the Newberry case and establish a limit to the amount which can be expended by candidates for the United States Senate...

...The son's votes and speeches reflect the same uncompromising quality which marked the father's course throughout his long public service, No Party Dictation AT THE START "Young Bob" asserted his independence of party dictation, When he arrived at the capital in November, 1925, the Senator found on his desk a letter from Senator "Jim" Watson of Indiana, hard-boiled Republican chairman of the organization group that assigns new members to committees, asking him whether or not he desired to be listed as a Republican, The Wisconsin delegation in the House had already been kicked out of the G, 0, P, organization and shorn of their committee places...

...Practices Act of Wisconsin...

...This rule which would govern elections to the Senate is a composite of the Cable Act and of the Corrupt...

...The elder La Foilette, a few months before his death, had been similarly used in the Senate, "Young Bob" promptly took the offensive and used the direct method of replying to the Old Guard challenge...

...Reactionary politicians and newspapers are making a violent protest against adoption of the proposed La Foilette rule...