EXTOL LA FOIIETTE AS GREAT CRUSADER
Extol La FoIIette As Great Crusader Principles Expounded by Wisconsin Leader Were An Inspiration for Othere to Render True Service, Declare Congressmen With this issue LA FOLLETTE'S Magazine...
...For over four hours Senator La Follette held his large audience entranced and delighted, until finally he had to stop speaking in order to catch his tram...
...he knew that he must employ the methods of the reputable surgeon, adopt drastic measures, use the knife even though it might emart and pain...
...We should be happy that La Follette lived, and we should comfort ourselves accordingly as members of the representative body of a free people...
...course to the end...
...A bereaved people mourn him...
...I did not have the benefit of his intimate acquaintance, nevertheless he was just as much my teacher as yours...
...The reforms he championed are now the milestones of the Nation's progress for over 20 years...
...It k the prerogative of the greatest men to discover and turn to effect new social and political forces...
...That creed is honesty in State affairs, a slogan of La Follette that first had its origin with him in his earliest political life and became later a National slogan with him...
...The Nation is indebted to him for many a measure which, when first presented, was regarded as too advanced, but which afterwards became the law of the land, its worth proved beyond a doubt...
...It may be a safe assertion that, even as Webster and Clay in their time towered above the Presidents under whom they served and made themselves felt as the great constructive statesmen of their time, so will Ia Follette stand out as a man of achievement long after his contemporaries in higher office have been forgotten...
...And the archives of Congress hold many a record of battles, the ferocity and intensity of which will long linger in the minds of the people, in which the sterling leadership of this great statesman predominated...
...Never did the people have a more dauntless champion...
...This is to some degree due to the character of its citizenship...
...t« iear him...
...I can see Robert La Follette in every line of it...
...We should be happy that La Follette lived, ajid we should comport ourselves accordingly as members of the representative body of a free people.—Mr...
...Also to the State legislation sponsored by Mr...
...He neither asked nor gave quarter in an encounter...
...He resided in Wisconsin, but he lived in the hearts of the tenement dwellers of my city...
...He used neither the manners nor the vestments of the courtier...
...This was exemplified in the political life of La Follette, starting in the office of district attorney of Dane County, Wisconsin, until it covered the whole State, then to the Nation, leaving to the American citizens a heritage which will grow in esteem in national life as the years go by...
...But his was a battle cry for humanity and that of the Roman a slogan for blood and tears...
...keep away from political expediency...
...On a slab in a cemetery in the city of New Orleans are lines that are unforgettable...
...The constructive legislation enacted under bin guidance by the Congress of the United State...
...And so all along the line...
...By reason of legislation which he fostered his State today enjoys a greater measure of prosperity than do many others...
...The Tory is blind to a present evil or t...
...He deemed it no part of his life's mission to produce sweet ninslc on harp or lute...
...When he came to Washington he enlarged the field of his endeavors to a national scope...
...that the resources of the Nation were intended to be equitably and justly dealt with for all the people of this great Republic and should not by legislation be given to a special privileged class...
...A sense of justice causes a man to see the right and to love it...
...We all know that in Republies and democracies there are cer-tain inspiring principles beautiful in theory, but, alas, seldom put in practice...
...His fame, consigned to the keeping of that time which, happily, is Not so much the tomb of virtue as its shrine...
...Robert Marion La Follette still lives...
...W7hy...
...In his simplicity—sublime...
...He had won my sympathy and admiration in the great fight he had made, almost single handed, against the political bosses in his irwj State...
...Effective action depends in the first instance on superiority of ideas...
...Howard of Nebraska: MR...
...And so he seemed severe, so often, in his language and methods...
...His voice -was always heard in their behalf, and his vote always cast for their best interests...
...Yet I am privileged to tell you that I drew, and honestly, I think, from the poet's conversation the fact that at least La Follette was one of the heroes he had in mind when he wrote the "Battle Cry...
...In his passing I felt the deepest sense of personal loss...
...There were no backslidings, no sudden conversions, no periods of quiescence, much less any time of faltering...
...It is needless to say it will be many years before the place he occupied in public and private life can be filled...
...And the greatness of the Republic will not have been fully acquired until it is truly great, not in a measure of gold in reserve, not in terms of high buildings, not in the number of battleships or standing army, but when the world can look upon this Republic and find a happy land of happy people...
...The Senator hafi all too well accomplished this purpose in hres life's work...
...He lived in an era when the power of money was greater and its acquisition easier, when the pleasure and honors it conferred were more abundant than ever before in human hSstory...
...He was a philosopher, but was no mere doctrinaire...
...Unfalteringly, from the beginning to the end of his life, he took the people's side in the great battle for human rights and human welfare and fought and suffered heroically in their cause...
...Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," was to him what Carthago Delendaest was to Cato...
...He did not compromise, but he made the best of existing conditions...
...Who can take the place of "fighting Bob La Follette," the man of tireless energy, a man of the highest moral character, a man whose influence may be compared to a tiny rivulet of elear water which starts from its mountain home toward the valley, gathering water from many small streams on its way until it becomes u mighty river sweeping on to the vast ocean...
...A native of a State thousands of miles from-either ocean, he became the champion of the seamen who had been exploited for centuries...
...No country e'er had a truer »on—no cause « nobler champion...
...He aroused the people of the Nation to their danger, that there must be eternal vigilance on the part of their servants in public life if this Government is to maintain its proud independence and not change into a plutocracy...
...It has a well-defined place in our political scheme...
...His prayer for those who have held to their faith unseduced by the prize which the world holds on high will yet be on many tongues, and the lips of children will sing them as a sweet song of an everlasting hope...
...In this issue are presented excerpts from the addresses of Congressmen from other States.—Managing Editor...
...Rohert La Follette demonstrated the fundamental principle that besides the protection of life and property, the right of every American "to the pursuit of happiness," meant something...
...When one seeks to make these theories practical, to apply them for the benefit of humanity, the opposition presents itself...
...SPEAKER, for nearly a quarter J made my home at Orfordville, a village in southern Wisconsin almost within the shadow of the State Capitol...
...By reason of legislation which he fostered his State today enjoys a greater measure of prosperity than do many others...
...Robert M. La Follette took the soul of the seamen and put it where it belongs, in the breast of the American sailor...
...He understood the people, sympathized with the people, was true to the people, and the people returned in the fullest measure his understanding, his sympathy, and his fidelity...
...SPEAKER, if one should employ the term "beautiful grief," one might be misunderstood...
...Senator La Follette lives and will continue to live in the laws he caused to he enacted and the resultant good to mankind, and also because he left behind him a host of sustaining friends, a band of political disciples who had the ability and the heart to carry on his work...
...La Follette possessed this heroic trait in as ample measure as any statesman who has ever lived...
...he saw visions...
...True to his ideals, loyal to the cause of the workers of our country, sincerely in earnest in all he did, he commanded the respect and esteeri of even his most bitter opponents...
...youth in Wisconsin, I naturally took an interest from the first in the progress and development of the political work of Robert La Follette Later on, as I entered the political field myself I came to admire the great fight this stauivch determined leader was making in my natal state The principles he expounded in behalf of the masses were an inspiration to all interested in rendering true service to the people in public life...
...Neither fear of consequences nor promise of personal advancement silenced him or caused him to deviate a hair's breadth from the straight path of service to his country which he had marked out for himself...
...The story of his life and achievements will be told in the pages of history, and will shine the more brightly with each succeeding year...
...It is with difficulty even now that I am able to say these few words...
...When he wanted to ascertain the condition of the farmers he did not take a bulletin from the Department of Agriculture, he went into the homes of, the tillers of the soil on the farms...
...To me, upon an occasion like this a year or so ago when tributes were expressed in the United States Senate in honor of him whose memory we arc honoring today, I was thrilled, I was joyed, by the tributes paid to the memory of Robert La Follette by men who fcad served with him in the Senate during the dark days when he was so much misunderstood because of the course he pursued with reference to the entry of our country into the war...
...his part was to arouse a nation, and this he did with a trumpet which gave no uncertain sound...
...The lines are indelibly written in my memory...
...I saw at close range the fires that played about him...
...His record in the Congress speaks for itself...
...These words might well have been the motto of Robert M. La Follette, for his whole life was lived in accordance with this precept...
...that which would retard their development and their progress or which made for privilege and for selfishness, to him was wrong...
...His greatness stands confessed today m a people's tears...
...He followed a steadfast, a consistent course from the beginning to the end of his life...
...He knew how to achieve...
...I am thinking this morning, Mr...
...My personal relations with Senator La Follette were warm and tender...
...He was a philosopher and all his actions were guided by high principle...
...That which would advance the cause of the masses, to him was right...
...True, indeed, are the words of the poem...
...simple and kindly in manner, he enjoyed the company and conversation of friends about him, throwing off for the time the weighty cares pressing upon him...
...This was wholly so in his public life...
...With his great talents, no one can doubt but that he might easily have won for himself a leading place among those whom we call rich and influential...
...Speaker, I think I may pay my best tribute now to the memory of Robert La Follette by reciting here that great poet's battle song, that great poet's heart cry of the people, which he drafted under caption "The Battle Cry...
...Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,— Yet that scaffold sways the future, And, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, Keeping watch above his own...
...He knew history well enough to know that he would reap the reward common to all benefactors of mankind since the dawn of civilization...
...He knew that no man and no party could live for#ver on the past...
...The painters recorded on canvas the beauty and the heroic deeds of the life of the seamen...
...These compensated for the intense hatreds and bitter feelings aroused against him by his attacks upon the organized forces who were depriving the people of their rights and liberties...
...Mr...
...Never befoTe, nor since, have ) heard such a remarkable speech as was delivered that evening...
...He was on guard for them every day of his life, and every hour of each day...
...He consciously, willingly chose these paths, and he found his compensation in the love and esteem of the people, to whose welfare he dedicated his life, and in the satisfaction that comes in knowledge of duty well performed...
...To the contrary, he felt that the progress of mankind was through average men and women...
...He chose the harder course, the fight for a cleaner and better Government, and a more just representation of the rights of the people...
...he was never content not to bring back some substantial gains for the cause which he served, and even in defeat it was rare, indeed, that he came back from the contest without having forced the enemy to make some concession of value...
...He knew that no quack remedy, with its soothing plasters and opiates, would cure...
...In his honor—impregnable...
...He knew more about., it than any man of his age...
...Statesmen naturally fall into two classes— those who strive to improve institutions and conditions and those who struggle to preserve them as they are...
...Not in vain has he lived, for every ti*ue champion of the people's cause in future years will be inspired by the story of the battle for political righteousness so gallantly waged through a lifetime of self-devotion by Robert M. La Follette...
...Well done, thou good and faithful servant," can well be inscribed opon his tomb...
...Senator La Follette had vision beyond that of most legislators...
...I saw the throngs that greeted him on every occasion, whether his subject touched matters of State or whether, perchance, he delivered a scholarly lecture on Shakespeare...
...He was the idealist per se...
...but La Follette applied it, and when you make the many happy you naturally incur the disfavor of a few...
...His life record is one of devotion to duty, as God gave it to him to see that duty...
...These rights and wrongs were moral rights and wrongs...
...he went into the homes of the producers of the country...
...Methods and laws that meet the requirements of the age are preceded by thoughts that are true and right...
...and succeeding centuries bow down and worship them...
...Speaker, that 1 might pay the highest tribute to the memory of Robert I .a Follette and might make an interesting disclosure to the fellows of his own home commonwealth here assembled by citing what appears in my own community to be a positive fact, namely that the greatest living poet had La Follette in mind when he painted that word picture of the champion of the common people in contest with the Monster of Greed...
...that we will go on as brave soldiers in the cause which he served...
...And inevitably it brought to my mind the picture of a great surgeon...
...I read th/fc first issue of his magazine and continued to read it thereafter...
...it has been advanced under Senator La Follette until it is today the outstanding subject of conversation wherever politics is discussed...
...Keller of Minnesota: MR SPEAKER, Senator La Follette came nearer being the absolute incarnation of vitality, of tenacity ot purpose, of stiek-to-itiveness, of fearlessness, of sincerity of purpose than nas ever been molded in-I J| to the body and soul of one human being...
...Resolute, moderat...
...Thai speech had a wonderful influence on the political and economic thought of my State...
...As a citizen he was honest, faithful, and true to his people...
...In the fullness of time history will write in enduring letters, large and luminous, so that they might be beheld from afar, the name of Robert M. La Follette...
...Through time and over space in soul inspiring language his magic tones will carry hope to the children of all men...
...It was my privilege to know Senator La Folletet as a friend after I came to Washington...
...Always approachable, he gave freely of his vast store of knowledge and experience...
...What though I live with the winners Or perish with those who fall...
...Today, after more than 30 years of intimate acquaintance with and careful study of his life and work, his achievements and his efforts, it is my calm, sober judgment that the historians of the future will acclaim him one of the greatest men that God ever reared on the Western Hemisphere...
...We spit upon the Savior of mankind, we persecute and crucify them...
...One by one the demands of the people for social, industrial, and political justice, which he championed, were, through his efforts and leadership, made part of the institutions and life of his State and the Nation...
...To advance the cause of the people or to oppose their oppressors were great moral causes to serve which he felt that he might worthily give his life if need be...
...the inspiration derived from his successful labors here will reach into the hearts of the homes of the cOmmffi people wherever they may he, and the devotiOB to that great duty that devolves upon us left to mourn his loss to carry on in the paths he has so clearly outlined will be the easier of awconv-plidiment...
...Mr...
...Senator La Follette had vision beyond that of most legislators...
...As time goes on his deeds of greatness will shine the brighter...
...Mr...
...They are in memoriam of one who ^has crossed that bourne from whence no traveler has ever re-' turned...
...When he came to Washington he enlarged the field of his endeavors to a national scope...
...He was always in the forefront of the contest, where danger lies...
...never once did he compromise with any wrong or cringe to power...
...His life was one long sacrifice of interest to conscience and unswerving dirty of devotion to country...
...It is said that the sincerest compliment finds its expression in imitation, and so the sincerest veneration for the memory of a departed loved one is shown in added devotion to the things which that loved one served...
...It is not necessary to enumerate the laws that he was the author of, as others have cited them...
...He changed the spirit of a State...
...and today, rather than making this a day of sorrow and mourning, we should make this a day in which we dedicate ourselves to carry on the work that he started...
...keep up the fight to bring happiness into the home of every worker in this country...
...And the more I saw him and heard him and read of him, the more he increased in stature...
...He was a political pioneer, blazing a new path through the trackless wilderness with all the valor of the Vikings of old, whose motto was "We wift find a way or make one...
...His task was to see to it that, in the development of mighty aggregations of capital and the altered structure of our national life resulting therefrom, the rights and interests of the people did not suffer...
...and coming generations venerate them and hold their memory a sacred and hallowed thing...
...I saw, oh, how many times, how the people flocked to his standard...
...They might be written with a few alterations which I will make on the many monuments that wilf arise <o attest the greatness of mind and grandeur of soul of Robert M. La Follette— A man tried in many high offices...
...Extol La FoIIette As Great Crusader Principles Expounded by Wisconsin Leader Were An Inspiration for Othere to Render True Service, Declare Congressmen With this issue LA FOLLETTE'S Magazine concludes the publication of the tributes paid in the House of Representatives on Sunday, Feb...
...We stone our prophets and kill them...
...Senator La Follette loved justice enough to fight for it...
...and if I understand in any way the character of this great man, he would say to us today: "Stop...
...He made reform permanent...
...His wonderful words will yet reach every heart throughout our broad land, that they only the victory win who have fought the good fight and vanquished the demons that tempt us within...
...It ill behooves us to endeavor to erect a monument of words in outlining the achievements of Robert Marion La Follette...
...In many ways he seemed to me the very embodiment of the spirit of the Nazarene...
...the fallen cardinal to the young Cromwell, I find the best of political maxims—"Be just and fear not...
...He was the true father of progressivism, the Columbus of the new world of American politics...
...He never worshipped tombstonea...
...He made the name "progressive" honorable and significant...
...1 R. SPEA-KEK, it was my pleasure to - JVI meˆt tile **te Senator La Follette \* *"* for the first time when he was at M gjfffc the height of his physical and •mental powers...
...of service to the common people — those people fo* whom he had such great love and respect...
...Having been born and reared during my earl...
...The Nation fe indebted to him for many a measure wh;ch, when first presented, was regarded as too advanced, but which afterwards became the law of the land, its worth proved beyond a doubt...
...Senator La Follette was one of the truly great of this world...
...In honor, now the great statesman rests...
...How well Bob La Follette succeeded in this respect is a matter of history...
...La Follette's gaze was steadfastly forward...
...will stand as a monument to his memory as long as this Nation endures...
...In Spain, worn-out automobile tires are being made into special armor to be used for protecting horses during bullfights...
...He seemed to be able to divine the future needs of the people, and having determined upon a plan of action for their relief or protection, he was untiring in its accomplishment.—Mr...
...And history shall cheriah him, Among those choicer spirits who, holding their conscience unmixed with blame, Have been, in all conjuncture, true to themselves, their people, and their God...
...His principles became party platforms—his theories the law of the land...
...there is too much work to be done...
...The great man always and everywhere is he who is consecrated to a cause which is greater than himself...
...As a statesman he was thorough, reliable, and upright in all public affairs...
...We have narrowly escaped that fate on several occasions in the past generation...
...He was a soldier and died in a cause that his people held a sacred one...
...A gigantic struggle was going on then, as now, for the control of this Government...
...keep up the work to make this country great...
...It took a strong man indeed to oppose the rising tide of privilege and materialism...
...Others have been brave...
...From the beginning to the end of his life the atmosphere he breathed was that of battle...
...And critical enterprises...
...Courage gives him strength to fight for the right in defiance of every consequence and in the face of the fiercest and most powerful opposition...
...The impress made on my youthful mind can never be obliterated...
...For the last half century the fight has waged between the forces of special privilege and corrupt wealth on the one hand and the masses of the people on the other...
...Sinclair of North Dakota...
...Others say it is just pure theory...
...The sculptor put into marble and into bronze the brave acts of the seamen...
...Oh, some say it was put there just for euphony...
...Where the soul WHEN he wanted to ascertain the condition of the farmers he did not take a bulletin from the Department of Agriculture, he went into the homes of the tillers of the soil on the farms...
...As Governor of Wisconsin he made that State a model Commonwealth...
...And with that suggestion, Mr...
...Seldom, indeed, has nature sent forth anyone so lavishly gifted, mentally, morally, physically, to take up the task of a tribune of the people...
...And generations yet unborn will rise up and call him blessed...
...I remember that he was scheduled to speak at Fargo, N. Dak., about 20 years ago, and made a journey of over a hundred mile...
...I read them when a boy and the stately, reverent, patriotic, eloquent and inspiring words have ever remained with me...
...Ah, I was sure cf it after conversation with that great poet time and again, although I am not privileged now to tell you positively that in those lines 1a Follette was the poet's hero...
...The laws which he championed there and which were adopted have served as models for other States...
...and that is but one of his many, many successful efforts for the people against exploitation...
...From that time I watched the Senator's public career with growing interest...
...Crusader though he was, when an enemy was vanquished he was ready to succor and to forget...
...I witnessed the strife, the unending ctrife in which he was plunged by the driving force of his deep-seated convictions...
...others have been able...
...His was a most gracious personality...
...But if he spoke in the language of the twenty-third chapter of Matthew rather than in the language of the Beatitudes', if he came in the spirit of Elijah and Amos rather than in that of the Beloved Disciple, let ns never forget that the conditions which confronted those prophets of old were child's play in comparison with the decay and corruption that surrounded this Elijah of the present age...
...No ordinary man could have accomplished such results...
...All through the history of our great Nation we find proofs of the statement that men who have performed the most distinguished service have often been denied a true appraisal of their worth until long after their death...
...I felt for him a deep and a lasting affection...
...If it be that the spirits cf the departed may look down upon human things and have some recognition of what transpires here, I feel sure that our departed friend would find his greatest joy not in the words of praise which have been spoken nor in the tears which have been shed, but would find it in a new resolution coming on a day like this that we still "carry on...
...As for myself, I went many an evening to the neighboring cities—Brodhead, Janesville, Beloit —to iit, spellbound, for three hours or more in rapt, almost worshipful, attention...
...Down through the centuries there had descended upon him the soul of the berserker...
...I had already read a great deal about him in the newspapers and elsewhere...
...Of few statesmen, of few men, can as much be said...
...Wisconsin with its severe climatic conditions (much more severe than many other States in the Nation), virtually outranks every State in the industry, frugality, and prosperity of its people...
...Our sense of values, in a national way, is not reliable...
...His victory over the corrupt railroad and business interests there was fresh in tl»e public mind...
...Perhaps there may come to us who survive some value from an occasion like this...
...Not for the glory of winning, Not for the fear of the night: Shunning the battle is sinning Oh, spare me the heart to fight...
...20, 1927, to the memory of Robert M. La Follette...
...When he fought for a cause nothing could give him pause, but with all that there was in him the deepest tenderness and affection for his friends and those he loved...
...Sinclair of North Dakota: f...
...I didn't have the benefit of personal contact and counsel with him, nevertheless he inspired us of the East as much as you of the Middle West...
...I know of no instance that illustrates this better, perhaps, than his interest in the seamen...
...He loved this country...
...Yet idealist though he was, he recognized facts and that it was not worth while to waste himself in hopeless efforts...
...The source of his love and admiration for the masse" must have been the same as that which prompted that greatest of Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, to utter those words of undying beauty and reverence, "God must have loved the common people, for he made so many of them...
...Seekers of special favofli from the Government boldly pursued their end's in years gone by, protected by political puIL Against these forces Robert Marion La Follette waged unrelenting war...
...In its pages he told the everyday folks, whom he loved and who loved him, of the battles he was waging in their behalf...
...La Follette on more than one occasion referred to the mounting corruption in government as a ''cancer...
...others have been sympathetic and devoted, but no man who has come to the public service in Washington within the history of the Republic has combined all these qualities in such a liberal measure as did Senator La Follette...
...And yet this, morning I have witnessed evi-dences of beautiful grief upon the faces, upon the cheeks, and upon the quivering lips of men who loved Robert La Follette while he lived, and who love his memory now...
...he dreamed dreams...
...He is no more...
...Breathless and reeling, but tearless, Here in the lull of the fight, 1, who bow not but before Thee, God of the fighting clan, Lifting my fists, I implore Thee, Give me the heart of a man...
...He seemed to be able to divine the future needs of the people and, having determined upon a plan of action for their relief or protection, he was untiring in its accomplishment...
...His was not the philosophy that the world advances through its heroes...
...Wisdom and justice were his, but these can not avail a statesman without the supreme quality of courage...
...Its organization has become so powerful that it is found in control of that great legislative body, the United States Senate, in the forthcoming Congress And its power for go^d-—for the improvement if conditions for the common people—will be appreciated more fully as time goes on...
...Great men are priceless...
...Speaker, that in the homes of the great shipowners you would find these paintings, you would find these w-orks of art...
...only the most extraordinary man could have achieved them...
...He has urged them to teach the generations to come to fight for truth which will blaze the way for a larger and finer liberty and freedom...
...In order that the reader may get a clearer picture of the wonderful power which the political doctrine of La Follette brought to the affairs of his home State, all that is necessary is to realize the powerful influence that his principles of government had on the people of the great State of Wisconsin and the influence that, those principles have exercised in that State for nearly two decades...
...There are other acts which will long endure in the minds of those who have benefited thereby...
...He was a herald of the future...
...It was the medium througb which he spoke to the people of his State and Nation...
...He recognized that frequently he dealt with faulty materials and that he lived in the now, and that his means must be adapted to the end...
...Much of his activity as a legislator was concerned with opposition to legislation vicious in it.s scope and purpose and designed for the benefit of the powerful interests and the favored few...
...Is it not peculiar, Mr...
...and our grandchildren elevate them to sainthood...
...La Guardia of New York...
...Justice and courage—these, added to the wisdom of the statesman, are the qualities most needed fn public life...
...In fact I am sure he had Robert La Follette in mind when he wrote his "Cattle Cry...
...and today, rather than making this a day of sorrow and mourning, we should make this a day in which we dedicate ourselves to carry on the work that he started...
...And when I heard one after another of those Senators speak of him as a pure patriot, and particularly regarding the words of Senator Fernald, who was so long his seat mate in the Senate, and hearing Senator Fernald pronounce Robert La Follette as one of the purest patriots he had ever known, I felt that that ceremony was of value, not only to La Follette's friends, but also to the American people, who had believed in him, and who for a little while had been swept away from their belief by the frenzied advocates of war...
...And found faithful in all...
...We burn our Jeanne d' Arcs at the stake...
...With every act, every utterance, every influence he grew and developed, and his impress deepened...
...Only the cowards are sinners, Fighting the fight is all...
...I trust we may find here today a new inspiration, a new love for the people, and a new devotion to the cause of humanity, which was so dear to the heart of him who has passed away...
...He did not believe that the masses exist merely as a vehicle upon which the great may ride to make their way in history...
...the possibility of creating a future good...
...Shall, in the years to come, tire modest worth to noble ends...
...He labored to cure that cancer, to remove it from the body politic...
...do not waver...
...His leadership in the develop ment of that new political thought—the progressive element in our body politic—will serve as an inspiration in years to come to those who carry on this great work...
...Rathbone of Illinois: j^aosmm SPEAKER, we have assembled Mto pay our tribute to the memory of a great American...
...In order that all should share equally in the benefits of government...
...And we will not have done our part unless we keep up the fight against special privilege...
...Idealistic to a high degree, yet he had a side which was intensely practical...
...At the same time, he was not a visionary...
...The poets sang of the heroism of the sailor...
...Senator La Follette was ever the champion of the rights of the people...
...Morrow of New Mexico: MR SPEAKER, Robert M. La Folltte, the late Senator from the State of Wisconsin, was reared in the same county of Wisconsin wnere 't was my good fortune to have first seen the light of day...
...Never once in hife lifelong career did he waver...
...Huddleston of Alabama: SPEAKER, in the passing of SenMator La Follette average men and women lost the best friend they have ever had in Washington...
...LaGuardia of New York: MR.SPEAKER, Robert La Follette WaS t'le ma'ster °^ applied happiness...
...O'Connor of Louisiana: -1 R. SPEAKER...
...As one who respected, acU mired, and loved him, I deem it an honor to offe* this small tribute to his memory...
...Probably his greatest work for humanity was embodied in the Sea man's Act which bears his name...
...never once did he betray the cause of the people...
...La Follette and the wholesome doctrine that he planted in the laws and his teachings which have by years become the creed of the majority of the citizenship of that State...
...Often I have heard men say that these memorial services which we of the Congress conduct in memory of our loved and lost are meaningless...
...His was the soul of a poet...
...clear of envy, yet not wanting in that finer ambition which makes men great and pure...
...The Battle Cry More than haK beaten, but fearless, Facing the storm and the night...
...Also to become familiar with his early struggles for success in that career, and to familiarize myself with the history of his efforts to better his condition...
...never once did, he surrender his principles...
...Kvale of Minnesota: MR...
...But steadfastly, unswervingly he pursued hia AS Governor of Wisconsin he made that State a model commonwealth, The laws which he championed there and which were adopted have served as models for other States...
...He bore no malice...
...He was never satisfied to return from a battle in behalf of civic righteousness without bringing some spoil in his hands...
...We weep...
...In Shakespeare's "Henry the VIII," in the advice given by Wolsey...
...The inspiration to do justice to the masses in publw* life and succeed in that purpose is the greatest goal that one can cherish in a life's work...
...A proud Commonwealth and a noble Nation claim him...
...No people a bolder defender—no principle a purer advocate, than / The dead statesman who (deeps his last sleep in the soil of his well-beloved Commonwealth of Wisconsin...
...Thought is the father of achievement...
...There is no question but that his studious habits and enormous power for work affected his physical constitution and that this great American statesman and defender of the people tut short his life in the struggle...
...that what was should only be a stepping stone to what could be...
...In La Follette we see the new era, the new spirit, the new conscience, the new attitude toward public life and its problems at the dawn...
...As has well been said by that profound student of American m-stitutions, James Bryce: Room should be found in every country for men who, like the prophets of ancient Israel, have, along with their wrath at the evils of their own time, inspired visions of a better future and the right to speak their minds...
...He was a practical idealist, a common-sense reformer, a sane progressive...
...Senator La Follette was by temperament a battler...
...And if compelled in those early days to spend the night in a freighttrain caboose in order to fill an appointment for the day following, I felt well repaid for the inconveniences I endured...
...Whenever such legislation dared to rear its head in the Congress, in the foreground of tht opponents thereto could be seen the striking figure of that world renowned crusader for right and justice—Robert Marion La Follette...
...So we say today: Robert Marion La Follette is dead...
...It is true, also, that his ideals of government brought by him to the National Congress a form of government that our Nation is entitled to as intelligent and enlightened Americans, and no American schooled in the principles of government can say that his ideals were wrong...
...He never surrendered his principles, but he did not always insist on that which is the ultimate...
...We recog_ nize in him that rarest combinafe^gfc-gg tion of heart, conscience, and brain BBip^ELB which alone can Insure the high-ESJ-38H est success and entitles its possessor to enduring fame...
...It my privilege as a boy to witness and to know of his early political career...
...Robert M. La Follette was the man for the hour...
...Dur-ing that time it was my privilege to know something of the man to whose memory we are today meeting to pay tribute...
...High moral principles were the torch that always lighted his public and private life...
...cf the man of the sea was put on canvas and in stone, the same men made the daily life of the seamen continued drudgery and misery...
...When he wanted to ascertain whether the country was prosperous or not, he did not go to the ticker of a gambling exchange...
...To me, as a young man in the ministry, he was the true hero, always the one to champion the cause of the lowly and the downtrodden...
...Under a different environment, perhaps, he might have found his place in literature rather than in civic life...
...In the March and April issues we published in abbreviated form the addresses of Wisconsin Congressmen...
Vol. 19 • May 1927 • No. 5
