WISCONSIN'S TRIBUTE TO LA FOLLETTE
Crownhart, Charles H.
Wisconsin's Tribute to La Follette Figure Sculptured by Jo Davidson Will Be Placed in Statuary Hall at Washington By CHARLES H. CROWNHART (Justice Wisconsin Supreme Court) Justice Charles II....
...He sacrificed his health and his time in their behalf...
...Senator Robert Marion La Follette, Sr., was in the van of his time...
...However, La Foilette had a multitude of friends among the commonalty, known and unknown, who never wavered in their great affection for their leader...
...La Foilette had great dramatic power...
...But when Time shall sift the wheat from the chaff, it will be found that La Follettefs ideals were pure and unde-filed by self-interest...
...received the primary endorsement for re-election to the Senate by a vote of 362,445 to 139,327 for his opponent, and when at the election he received 379,404 to his opponent's 78,029...
...People Not Stampeded THEN it was that this man, with none but love in his heart for his country and his people, was firm when he seemed all-forsaken...
...la Follette was a student of great resourcefulness...
...Crownhart has been a member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court fiince 1922...
...In every position he commanded great respect for the fidelity and ability with which he performed the duties of his oftk...
...However, there' are many outstanding facts about which there cannot be niuch difference of opinion concerning Wisconsin's foremost statesman, whose statue is soon to occupy the niche set apart by law in the Hall of Fame in the nation's capitol for the state's most eminent men...
...But he could not be tempted to stray from his chosen life work...
...He could and did maintain friends who differed with him oh social and economic principles, so long as they recognized his right to fight for his principles to the last ditch...
...He was district attorney of Dane county two terms, congressman for three terms, governor for five years, United States Senator for nineteen and one-half years...
...They must be friends on principle, willing to stand for a principle even at a sacrifice of position and power...
...He sought information from every available source...
...It taught the future statesman industry, frugal - <MAR1.ES H. CROWNHART Senator I.a Kollette in his Autobiography characterized Justice Crownhart as "a very able lawyer and devoted to the public sen ice...
...Ht> becamo the boy's physician and nurse...
...When, some months later, the statements of the press were retracted, only briefest mention was made of the fact in inconspicuous corners of most newspapers—quite in contrast with the blazing headlines denouncing as unpatriotic one of the truest, most loyal citizens this country has ever known...
...He knew his Shakespeare as few others did, and his essay on Iago won the intercollegiate oratorical contest for his Alma Mater...
...But that quick sympathy and understanding of the hardship of the masses of mankind led him to dedicate his unusual abilities to make his country a better place for the struggling poor to find happy homes, and thus a better country for us all...
...His understanding of economic and financial problems was fuli and deep...
...No one loved friends more sincerely than La Foilette...
...He held with the Apostlo Paul, that he should prove all things...
...He had so lived that he could wrap his mantle about him and sink into a peaceful sleep...
...he oft quoted Washington's farewell address, advising against foreign entanglements...
...In the political arena, 1a Foilette was a hard fighter...
...Ideals Were Pure...
...He was an orator of rare ability...
...He was not intolerant of the opinions of others...
...approval stood the test of time...
...His lecture on Hamlet was famed before literary bodies...
...the other, the purchase of a sixty-acre farm on the shore of Lake Mendota...
...Ija Follette was reared in an humble home, where he felt the pinch of poverty...
...Senator Frazier, speaking of the incident which inflamed people already full-fed on false propaganda, said: "In 1917 it happened" to be my privilege to be chairman of the producers' and consumers' convention, and I had the honor of presenting Senator La Follette to that immense crowd in the city auditorium of St...
...Section 2. The governor is hereby authorized and directed to have placed in the said hall a statue of Robert M. La Follette...
...His wife idolized him as he did her...
...Section 3. There is appropriated fTora the general fund a sum sufficient to carry out the purposes of this act...
...It was only seemingly so...
...Many and gracious were the eulogies pronounced upon his life and services...
...Above Greed and Selfishness LA FOLLETTE chose his field of useful en--< deavor...
...La Foilette on his death...
...His last words were: "I am at peace with all the world, but there is a lot of work I still could do...
...And truth demands that it be made known that during that crucial period, when prejudice, passion, and persecution quite generally took the place of patriotism, the great mass of his countrymen, the farmers and the laborers, refused to be stampeded into the general denunciation of press awl pulpit, of chambers of commerce, and business organisations, of war leagues and war-makers They knew the heart of La Follette, and tLey waited with full faith for his vindication...
...But, oh, the gross misrepresentation of that stirring, straight-forward, historic speech...
...Had he chosen the stage, undoubtedly he would have won fame and fortune in that profession...
...Statue by Jo Davidson...
...His struggle for an education made him resourceful and self-reliant...
...In widely different fields, separated in life by two and a half centuries, these two men had mai.y virtues in common...
...t(TTiE who would serve his generation must be in advance of it...
...They worthily represent a great state carved out of the old Northwest Territory, dedicated to religious freedom, judicial proceedings according to the common law, moderate punishments for crime, jury trials for the preservation of life and property, and where "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of man-kind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged...
...La Follette's family life was ideal...
...Resists War Hysteria...
...It was only after La Foilette had tested a problem from every angle with an open mind, and his judgment had been fully ripened, that he became hard, unyielding, and the dangerous antagonist...
...He could detect at once the weasel words inserted in a platform, bill or law by skilled lobbyists to defeat the real intent...
...It was to promote the cause of the common people...
...To him was given the power to envisage the future and prepare the way in large measure for his country's progress...
...His was not the easy way...
...His criticism of the courts was not directed against their Integrity, hut against the system whereby bad precedents became sanctified by repetition without judgment or courage...
...Governor John J. Blaine thereafter, with the approval of the family of Senator La Follette, contracted with Mjr...
...Never has the press more tla grantly misquoted or worked a greater in justice upon any public speaker...
...It imbedded in his nature a sympathy and understanding of "God's patient poor" that never forsook him in the face of the jibes and jeers of those who could not or would not understand this elemental virtue in a statesman of the foremost republic of the world...
...She was his constant companion and helpmeet...
...Follette would make dry facts alive with interest...
...The future will more justly appraise him than does the present...
...During the ten-year interval between his congressional .office and that of Governor, he carried on a great educational campaign in Wisconsin and aroused the people to throw off the abuses that had grown up in their political affairs...
...ity, temperance, and patience...
...He spoke to the students of Ann Arbor on representative government, and so exhaustive and interesting was his address that he received ov*r a thousand letters asking for further information and data...
...So wrote a distinguished French statesman...
...Crowuhari of the Wisconsin Supreme Court was one of Senator La FoHettuTs most intimate friends...
...He had unuual abilities, but these alone were noi the source of his power...
...N WHEN the red demon of war raised its ugly head to scourge this country into world-wide entanglements, and into drafting the youth of the land to shod its blood on for-'ign fie-lds, La Follette would not be dragooned in the mad rush...
...He willed that th« boy should recover...
...He was manager of several of the Wrisconsin campaigns for Senator La Follette and was always looked upon by the Senator as one of his closest advisers...
...And it was so.' The strong man gave of himself that the sick Should slum-in his vigor and health...
...I don't know how the...
...Career of La Follette...
...He was no mere destroyer...
...It was the poverty of the pioneers who built the foundations of the state's noble .edifice...
...Those who thought otherwise misunderstood his character...
...Paul...
...He could address an audience of farmers, laboring men, or educators in perfect English and within their equal easy understanding and appreciation...
...He was a student of history...
...La Follette commandeered all the medical works on tho subject and digested them completely...
...The oppression of the masses by oppressive laws, or laws unjustly applied, aroused his indignation and urged him to battle...
...For our institutions and laws as a whole be had a profound respect...
...He was independent candidate for President in 1924, and received the electoral vote of Wisconsin and polled a popular vote of some five millions...
...he knew that Lincoln was forced to war against hi* wish...
...While he knew that such often might be the feet, he also knew that such was not the result of righteousness, nor of the spirit of our laws nor of our institutions...
...people will feel toward me, but I shall take to the grave my love for them which has sustained me through life...
...Not till the victory was won did he surrender his vigil...
...It often has been said that La Foilette "would cast aside friends without provocation...
...T IKE many of the leaders of the age, his —' virtues were thought by some to he masks to cover selfish ends...
...However, the growth and prosperity of the capital city has caused ti»e potential value of the farm to increase as a probable city addition, until the equity is of substantial value...
...He would not "dull his palm," however, with friends for profit...
...Loved His Friends LA FOLLETTE was no dictator...
...He burned the midnight oil in the study of every important problem...
...He ever, kept this purpose clearly before him, He never swerved from that purpose...
...These he would mercilessly expose in debate...
...he had " read Grant's fervent hope that "we may now look forward to perpetual peace at homo and to a national strength which Rhall secure us against any foreign complications...
...The latter never could be made to pay any revemie on the purchase money, and the mortgage increased instead of decreased with time...
...La Follette demanded the open door of opportunity for all, and he was impatient of the distorted meaning ascribed to the saying, "to him that hath shall be given...
...He was impatient of compromise that sacrificed substance to form...
...Few speakers ever receive the enthusiastic reception that was given tho Senator upon that memorable occasion...
...As his body lay in state in Wisconsin's magnificent eapitol, thousands upon thousands, for many hours, passed by the remains of their beloved leader, with tear-dimmed eyes, with slow and subdued step, to take a last farewell...
...The legislature of Wisconsin, then being in session, by chapter 410, of the laws for that year, approved June •M, 1925, provided: "Section 1. Robert M. La Follette is ' hereby designated as one of the deceased residents of Wisconsin of historic renown worthy of the national commendation of having their statues placed in the old hall of the house of representatives, now generally known as the hall of fame or as statuary hall, in the national capitol...
...Finances Always a Worry LA FOLLETTE'S financial affairs were al-¦> ways a source of worry to him...
...But he would not sacrifice the principles of his life even for friends...
...He was equally impatient of the courts when technicality was allowed to defeat justice...
...La Follette counseled mediation neutrality...
...La Follette, soon after graduation from the University of Wisconsin, where he imbibed fearless integrity from John Bascom, then the University's wonderful President, becamei a successful lawyer, and it is not doubted that in this profession La Follette could have won distinction and affuence had he been content to seek his personal welfare and comfort rather than the welfare of his fellow citizens...
...He had no fear...
...Because of his long acquaintance with Senator La Follette he was selected to write this article on the occasion of the seventy-second birthday of Senator T~i Follette.—Managing Editor...
...The Reverend Haydon, in the funeral oration, truly said of La Foilette: "Fearless, incorruptible, his head above the murk and miasma of selfishness and greed, his feet firmly planted in the thickness of fact, he toiled to make government the servant of human values...
...and when that day dawns, as it will surely dawn, when social organizations will center about the higher values of life, when property will be less than humanity, when wealth will be the commonweal, when the path of free opportunity will beckon to every eager youth, then men will remember that Robert Marion La Foilette carried the torch down that path and trod that way before them...
...Forty Years in Public Life...
...i.SOOiN-SliN, pursuant to invitation by act of Congress, has presented the statue of Pere Jacques Marquette to stand in Statuary Hall as one of historic / renown, and will soon present the statue of Robert Marion La Follette, illustrious for distinguished civic services worthy of commemoration...
...It was honest poverty and carried with it no disgrace...
...For forty days and nights he hardly left the patient's bedside...
...He had four children—two girls and two boys—all worthy children of worthy parents, who have a heritage greater than wealth...
...He cared nothing for wealth, but he had so many things to do for his people, and to forward their cause made tremendous demands upon him...
...The future historian, from the great mass of data available, must winnow the truth from the false and measure the man and his work, free from the partisan present...
...Tips on the market, which have ruined many ambitious statesmen, never interested him...
...Jo Davidson, the noted sculptor, of Milwaukee, with a studio in Paris, for the statue of Senator La Follette to be no placed in Statuary Wall...
...This is illustrated in the instance when his son, Robert, Jr., was so ill with blood-poisoning that his life was despaired of by his physicians...
...He interviewed the most noted medical men...
...He took nothing for granted...
...It is too early properly to appraise his work...
...that McKinley was strongly against war with Spain until forced by congress as a result of the fatal folly of the blowing up of the "Maine...
...ROBERT MARION LA FOLLETTE, then...
...1A FOLLETTE was in public life for more than forty years, and held office over thirty-four- years...
...United States Senator from the 3tate of Wisconsin, died June 18, 1925...
...But then the war psychology, fed and fanned into (lame by falsehoods put forth by a great newspaper association, roused his enemies to fury, and they sought his destruction...
...He insisted that "'the letter of the law killeth, but the spirit of the law giveth life...
...La Foilette early became proficient in the use of exact language to convey the correct meaning of the idea to be expressed...
...That vindication in Wisconsin came swift and complete in 1922, when lie...
...He had tremendous power of concentration, and he applied him self with such assiduity that he mastered every problem he had to face...
...Crow wharf was admitted to the Bar in 1889 and practiced law in Superior, Wis., from 1891 to 1911...
...He had no financial thought for himself and family beyond the ordinary duty of educating his children and leaving his devoted wife sufficient for her reasonable comfort...
...La Follette's death was the occasion of profound sorrow throughout the nation...
...His early training by worthy and upright parents, amid such conditions, put the iron into his soul and the righteousness into his character, that furnished the foundation for his great career...
...La Foilette did not form hasty judgments...
...Had he chosen to reap the rewards in the financial field, to which his abilities entitled him, he could have easily amassed wealth...
...He held true, to his compass...
...It was thus that he had as personal friends such incongruous characters as the learned and impeccable Senator Lodge, the heavy and boistrous Senator Boise Penrose, the great Commoner and fundamentalist, William Jennings Bryan, the sarcastic and virile Senator Dolliver, the mild and lovable Senator Kenyon, and the incorruptible Senator Norris...
...They had been tested in the crucible of his inquiring mind by the must searching inquisition...
...he never tore down but to build something better in place of the thing that was wrong, outlived, or unsuitod to this progressive asre...
...When his friends left him he was touched to the quick...
...He was unyielding on matters of principle...
...As death approached to claim him, his conscience was clear...
...He drafted men into his counsel who were proficient to give advice...
...To this end, La Foilette made two investments early in life— one a $25,000 life insurance policy, payable to Mrs...
...He drained experts dry by searching questions, lie submitted the results of his labors to men qualified to give criticism, and he was quick to adopt any suggestion that appealed to his reason...
...The "friends he had and their adoption tried, he grappled to his soul with hoops of steel...
...He was not obstinate...
...Thus it was that a great body of laws that met hi...
Vol. 19 • June 1927 • No. 6
