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I NOW come to the
latter-day phase of Wisconsin Politics: the organization of the
half-breed faction within the Republican party and the election of
Robert M. La Follette as Governor.
The philosophy of the
movement which had its beginning in this enterprise has been dealt
with by many exponents and interpreted in many lights. Its evolution
from governmental reform to political dogma has provoked a variety
of opinion, stirred commentators to a fever of activity, and led to
prophecies of hope and despair. Of that controversy I shall have
nothing to say. My only purpose here is to set down the part I
played in the undertaking; and in so doing I shall confine myself to
a plain statement of facts, leaving those who may read to draw their
own conclusions.
Internal conditions
in the Republican party in Wisconsin in 1898 and 1899 were far from
a state of repose. There was obvious and growing dissatisfaction
with the trend of its affairs. The railroads, public service
corporations, and allied interests had come to exert a dominant
influence over the legislative activities of both parties; and power
had become so concentrated in the hands of a few leaders in the
Republican party that they presumed to direct its destinies to suit
their own purposes whether they ran counter to the desires of the
rank and file of the electorate or not.
In 1866 and 1868, when I was a member of
the Assembly, the railroads, then basking in the light of public
favor and looked upon as the harbingers of great prosperity and
industrial development, were, through their agents, much in evidence
at Madison. The lobbyists had headquarters at the Vilas House, the
most important hotel, and the effects of their activities upon the
work of the legislature were obvious. By the distribution of passes
and granting of favors here and there throughout the state, this
system had been maintained for nearly forty years; and in time the
railroads became so thoroughly entrenched that they regarded their
position as impregnable.
During this constructive period I had
been closely associated with railroad men. Many of them counted as
my friends. But I thought at the outset and still think that if
their influence had been curtailed it would have been better for
themselves and better for the business of the state generally. The
increase in traffic that would have followed the adoption of a more
liberal policy would have more than compensated for any immediate
losses they might have sustained; economies would have been achieved
and popular confidence would have supplanted the distrust in which
they came to be held. Nevertheless they did not elect to follow this
course. Instead they throttled legislation which they considered, in
this narrow light, inimical to them and dominated the legislature.
The boast was made by one of their chief lobbyists that no bill had
passed for sixteen years without their approval; and I believe he
was right in this assertion.
But the halcyon days of railroad control
were coming to an end. They were no longer the object of popular
solicitude and encouragement during the closing days of the last
century, and the demand that they pay their just proportion of
taxation and submit to the control exercised over all other
commercial and industrial institutions grew apace. Like many others
I arrived at the conclusion that it would be well for the state to
shake off their domination and the incubus of the "inner ring" of
politicians which enabled it to maintain itself and for the
legislature to exercise greater liberty of action to the end that
there might be systematic regulation, not only of the railroads but
of public service corporations generally.
To accomplish this, however, required
the entire upsetting of the old alignment, a general political
upheaval which would restore the power of initiative to the voters.
This was no small problem. After weighing it carefully, however, in
my own mind and taking measure of the difficulties that would be
encountered, I decided on the course I would follow, keeping my own
counsel and not consulting, for a time, anyone.
The result was the establishment of the
so-called Half-breed faction as opposed to the Stalwart or regular
faction in the Republican party. For several years Albert R. Hall,
of Knapp, Dunn County, a Republican who had served in the
legislature for several terms, with several others, had been making
a futile fight against the influence of the railroads and the
coterie which supported them. Robert M. La Follette joined their
number, backed Nils P. Haugen for the governorship, and became a
candidate for that office twice himself in opposition to the
machine. These efforts to break the ring within which the power of
the dominating corporations was centered were fruitless and little
or no progress was made.
On December 12, 1899, I sent my
secretary, Lewis S. Patrick, to Madison with instructions to see La
Follette and to say to him that it was my suggestion that he again
enter the field for the governorship the following year, 1900. His
reply to Patrick was that his health was impaired, that he had no
money to defray the expenses of a campaign and that the time was not
propitious, that it was ten years too soon for a concerted effort.
In January, 1900, and again in February,
I commissioned Henry Overbeck, Jr., a. member of the legislature
from Sturgeon Bay, to go to La Follette and convey to him a similar
message. On both visits he again said it was too soon, at least five
years. Despite his apparent reluctance to make the attempt in the
face of what had so far proved to be an impregnable opposition, I
sent Overbeck to see him a third time in March with the same result.
I then enlisted the aid of De Wayne
Stebbins, a member of the State Senate from Algoma, in my own
district, who arranged a meeting with La Follette in Chicago during
the latter part of April at the Sherman House. This, by the way,
seemed to be La Follette's favorite method of avoiding publicity,
the risk of which, in most instances, appeared to me to be so remote
as to be scarcely discernible at all. Many of the political plans
carried out in Wisconsin at this time were laid at conferences in
Chicago hotel rooms, the conferees slipping in and out of the city
singly and with the greatest possible secrecy as if the attention of
the world were riveted on their movements, whereas the world, as a
matter of fact, was quite indifferent to them. The meetings might
have been held more conveniently at Madison and, so far as I could
see, would probably have attracted as little notice.
La Follette was at the appointed place
with Edward I. Kidd, the state bank examiner. Before Stebbins could
complete what I had instructed him to say La Follette interrupted
again, making the objection that the time was not ripe for his
candidacy and that he was without funds to make the fight. Stebbins
persisted, asking to be heard through before any objections were
made and outlined the plan which I had devised. According to this La
Follette was to announce his candidacy for the governorship.
Stebbins was also to enter the field, but was to withdraw at the
proper time after canvassing the northern part of the state. I knew
that Henry C. Payne, the leader of the reactionary wing of the
Republican party, would bring out a candidate but I was reasonably
sure that, with the campaign I proposed, we could defeat him.
When Stebbins had mapped out the plan he
handed La Follette $2,500 in currency which I had given him for that
purpose. The reluctance which he had exhibited at previous meetings
with Patrick and Overbeck vanished. Apparently overcome at the
prospect, according to the detailed report of the conference made to
me, and with tears running down his cheeks, he declared with
confidence that he would be the next governor of Wisconsin.
How well the plan worked out is a matter
of political record. Stebbins went on with his canvass in the
northern part of the state, to carry on I gave him $2,500. La
Follette confined his efforts to the other parts, as had been agreed
upon. To defray the expenses of his campaign I gave $2,500 more, six
weeks after the Chicago meeting. These contributions appeared to
have fixed a standard. Thereafter when an outlay was needed to meet
the difficulties with which the hall-breeds were confronted from
time to time, requests were, in most cases, for this precise amount.
These manoeuvres mystified the machine
politicians, who were, as yet, unaware of the nature of the
opposition. The inner council, which had been accustomed to decide
what course the party should follow, seemed to realize that they had
lost control, but did not understand how it was brought about. In
time the Payne candidate withdrew and the others dropped out,
leaving the field entirely to La Follette and Stebbins. When this
came to pass Stebbins also quit the race.This much having been
accomplished, he came to me and offered to return half the money I
had given him, the unexpended balance of the contribution I had made
to enable him to carry on the campaign. The remainder had been used
to defray his traveling expenses. In this, as in all other things, I
found him to be a man of absolute integrity.
When the time for the state convention,
which was held in Milwaukee, arrived, the Stalwarts had capitulated
entirely and La Follette was nominated by a unanimous vote. As his
campaign manager and chairman of the state central committee he
chose General Bryant, whom he regarded, he said, as a godfather - an
idealistic relationship the value of which was to realize later
when, seeking counsel and aid, he clothed me with the attributes of
fatherhood. As
a respite for La Follette, whose health was far from good at the
time, from the strain of the preconvention campaign, I took about
twenty persons, including him and Mrs. La Follette, for an extended
excursion on my yacht. Starting at Marinette we went to the "Soo,"
Georgian Bay, and other other points on the upper lakes and were
away for seven days. The campaign proper, the expenses of which I
bore in large part, followed. La Follette was elected and with him a
majority of the legislature favorable to our plans.
Having acquired control of the
administration, the next problem was to retain it. This required
continuous struggle and unfaltering vigilance. The chief handicap of
the Half-breed faction was the lack of an organ, an important
newspaper which might be used as the medium for conveying to the
public its principles and its purposes and by which it might. defend
itself against attacks, particularly those of the Milwaukee
Sentinel, the oldest and most influential journal in the state at
the time, which was decidedly hostile to the administration. In 1901
the suggestion was made to me that I purchase a controlling interest
in the Sentinel, which could be obtained for $164,000. I offered to
subscribe $50,000 to that end if the remaining $114,000 could be
raised by the Half-breed supporters. This could not be done within
the two weeks the option was in force and the control of the paper
was finally purchased by Charles F. Pfister, one of the
stockholders, who continued the policy hostile to the Half-breeds.
La Follette and his friends then set
about to establish another newspaper. They obtained a lengthy list
of subscribers, most of whom, it came to pass, never paid their
subscriptions. Among others, Charles F. llsley, whom I had known for
fifty years and in whom I had great confidence, agreed to take some
stock; and it was pointed out to me that if I would contribute the
requisite amount, about $37,000, the paper could be started.
These were no matter-of-fact
negotiations. They were carried on in the stress and storm of
political conflict and were illumined with roseate prospects of
victory in a praiseworthy undertaking, the "great cause" which was
to live long after my demise. I was commended for my open-handed
generosity and worthy public spirit in promoting clean, just
government in the commonwealth (the words are not mine), and
pictured as one who had wronged no man but had suffered much
criticism aimed to drive me out of politics.
At last I went into the publishing
enterprise and the newspaper, called the Free Press, was established
June 18, 1901. Mr. Ilsley, Mr. Upham, and a few others paid their
subscriptions, but the greater number of the prospective
stockholders withdrew, leaving me to bear the cost alone. I was not
an officer in the company, but took notes for the indebtedness and,
having had no experience in the conduct of a newspaper, I soon
discovered that the undertaking was a costly one. The paper "that
was hungered for by a great constituency" and was to plead the great
cause "not of the citizen against the corporation, but of the
citizen and the corporation each to stand equal before the law and
each to bear a just burden of taxation," seemed to meet with the
vicissitudes of a fickle appetite. The $37,000 I contributed to its
maintenance the first year was increased by $87,000 the second year
and the process continued with disconcerting persistency.
None the less the Half-breeds had their
organ and in that we achieved the primary purpose of the
establishment of the Free Press, which became an institution of some
political consequence.
The attacks upon La Follette and our
faction of the Republican party were carried on not only from within
the state but from without. Our experiment and the success we had
achieved had attracted the attention of corporation interests
generally, and they contemplated with some dismay the spread of the
propaganda to other states. In 1902 they originated a movement which
came to be designated the Eleventh Story or Eleventh Floor, their
offices and headquarters being on the eleventh floor of a building
on the corner of Broadway and Wisconsin streets in Milwaukee. To
carry on this work a number of eastern corporations, it was
generally reported, contributed large sums of money for the purpose
of crushing the movement before it could gain headway. It was said
that they had secured, by a large outlay of funds, control of the
editorial policy of more than two hundred small newspapers
throughout the state. These ill-advised efforts were not only
futile, but contributed much, I am convinced, to the success of the
Half-breeds. The more energetically they attacked, the more
determined became popular support of the movement. Had it not been
for the resentment against the interference of the Eleventh Story
and the activities of foreign corporations in the field of state
politics, it is not improbable that the Half-breeds would have been
defeated. The
old-line Republicans in 1902 asked me to become a candidate for the
governorship, hoping through me, no doubt, to encompass the defeat
of La Follette. Up to this time my attitude still puzzled them. In
the conduct of my business I had met men at the head of large
industrial and commercial institutions and railroad officials and
was intimately associated with them for a half-century or more. Many
of them were also friendly to me and remained so throughout this
period of political upheaval. That I should have become apparently
antagonistic toward them in a political way they were unable to
understand. None the less, many were broad-minded enough to give me
credit for sincerity of purpose and did not hold it against me that
I should have aided the Half-breeds. But whether their offer was
made as a piece of political strategy or in good faith, I rejected
it and held to my course.
Proposals of the same kind were
forthcoming from La Follette, who professed a very lively sense of
gratitude for what I had done for him and the cause of "clean, just
government." In 1902 I met him in Chicago, as I was in the habit of
doing frequently at this time, to discuss our political plans. On
this occasion he urged me to run for the United States Senate
against Spooner. No particular effort, he said, would be required on
my part. If I supplied him with funds to carry on the campaign, he
explained, I might go to Europe, and during my absence he would
bring about, my election. This proposal I rejected out of hand. I
replied that I had no business in Europe and no intention of going
there, but that I had business at home and would not consider the
suggestion at all.
In the meantime the political pot
bubbled energetically. The emissaries of La Follette found their way
to Marinette, some of them coming to my office stealthily by an
indirect way and delivering their messages with an impressive air of
secrecy, although they could have walked the streets of the city at
high noon without attracting any more attention than they did. Among
these was Judge Zimmerman, formerly a law partner of La Foflette's,
whom I have always regarded as an estimable gentleman, Walter
Hauser, and Harvey Clark. Sometimes the emissaries departed with a
"package of papers," the accepted designation for one of the $2,500
contributions, the advancement of the "great cause" so often seemed
to require, leaving the city as stealthily as they had entered it.
About this time also, when La Follette
came to Appleton and De Pere on a speech-making tour, I sent Mr. J.
A. Van Cleve to the latter place with $1,000 in currency which he
gave to La Follette at the conclusion of his address to defray the
expenses of his campaigning.
What was accomplished in a legislative
way during the first two years of Half-breed control of the state
government was well set forth by Governor La Follette himself:
We have not accomplished everything
hoped for. We have made great strides toward better government and
secured much that is of the highest value. Not in a quarter of a
century has a more important piece of legislation been enacted than
the law which taxes railroad property in Wisconsin upon the same
basis as other taxable property.
We could not secure primary election
legislation to be immediately effective, but we have passed a bill
which the people will, I trust, adopt in the general election of
1904. Should they do this, it will consummate the most far-reaching
and valuable public measure for representative government enacted in
Wisconsin since her admission into the Union.
We have passed many laws of special
excellence besides, notwithstanding the obstruction encountered in
the Senate. They will receive merited attention when the work of
this session is reviewed in detail. A large number of bad bills have
been beaten and vetoed, the evil in which the public will never
fully know. We
have failed in one great piece of legislation, which is not dead,
nor does it even sleep for a day. The work goes on and will not halt
or stop till the transportation taxes are reduced and equalized in
Wisconsin. But even in this we have made phenomenal progress and
advanced farther in a. few months than any other state, or even the
general government, in a decade.
All this history of political
accomplishment, I was assured, "would have been a blank page" but
for my aid and influence.
So far, so good. These specific reforms
were of benefit to the state and were a part of the work we had set
out to do. Looking backward, however, I am not now so certain that I
would advocate a primary election law as I was then. It is the sort
of legislation of which everything good can he said and which
arouses popular interest; but experience has proved, I think, that
it is not practicable. It increases the burden of political
obligation unnecessarily. The people, as a rule, except under the
stimulus of an extraordinary contest, will not go to the polls twice
to fill the same office. July Fourth, the Christmas holidays, and
general elections are the only occasions when they will give their
attention to other things than their daily work. The primary vote is
always but a small proportion of the total vote in either party. And
I am not sure that this method of selecting candidates is the most
effective. A convention of selected delegates can proceed with
greater deliberation and more sense of responsibility than the
people as a whole, who are often times swayed by meretricious
influences or guided by sympathy which may or may not properly have
place in the selection of public officers. By way of illustration, I
might be expected to act with greater caution in selecting a foreman
for one of my mills than the workmen themselves and with greater
regard for the permanency of the institution. That, however, is a
large question which has no place here. |
