Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ILLUSTRATIONS Robert M. LaFollette Frontispiece FACING PAGE Albert Baird Cummins 36 George William Norris 54 Joseph Little Bristow 68 Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver 86 Albert J. Beveridge 104 Victor Murdock 124 Miles Poindexter 140 Robert M. Lafollette HEROES OF INSURGENCY Robert M. Eafollette 'THE most spectacular, dramatic, and Napoleonic of the leaders of insurgency is Senator Robert Marion LaFol- le.tte, the dynamic fighter against political corruption, whose work in Wisconsin at- tracted and held the attention of the nation. For thirty years his fighting blood has been coursing through his veins under the; urge of his desire to make popular government materialize into something more substantial than a name. He was born in Primrose, an insignificant little town in Wisconsin, on June 14, 1855. The wolves of poverty continuously camped before the LaFollette door. His father died when Robert was a youngster, and the care of the family was his first great task. He fought against poverty as he later fought against the political machine — winning his way forward because of the gifts bestowed upon him by his French-Huguenot and Scotch-Irish ancestors. In the face of great obstacles he worked his way through Wisconsin University, distinguished himself and his college by the use of his oratorical gifts, impressed himself upon his fellows as a man of tremendous energy, of unswerving determination, of concentration that held him to his tasks until completed, and time after time demonstrated his mastership in a fight where knowledge and fire were needed. He graduated in 1879, taking the LL.D. degree two years later. All this time he was paying his own way and helping in the support of his family. It is said that he studied night and day at o...