Prospective Senator

Two deaths (TIME, June 29) caused two vacancies and two vacancies must be filled. The vacancies are insurgent Republican, the seats of the late Senators LaFollette and Ladd. Now observers are beginning to believe they can see how the seats will be disposed of.

They opine that when a special election is held in Wisconsin in the fall, Robert M. LaFollette Jr. will be elected. They opine further that Governor Sorlie of North Dakota will appoint a successor to Mr. Ladd and that his legal right to do so will be questioned.

The second of these opinions is largely conjectural. The first is growing stronger every day. There were several a priori possbilities: that "young Bob" might get his father's seat, that Mrs. LaFollette might get it, that Governor Elaine of Wisconsin might get it.

Mrs. LaFollette apparently had little inclination to succeed her husband, preferred to have her elder son do so. She has been petitioned to run by various groups, most recently by the National Woman's Party, to whom she replied noncommittally:

"I am gratified that women for whose advancement I have always worked should recognize in me a friend and should want me to serve them in the Senate. It is a great happiness to me, and I feel it is a great honor that so many women have expressed faith in my friendship for them."

Governor Blaine has Senatorial ambitions but it is reported that he has effected an arrangement with "young Bob" whereby the Governor should run against Senator Lenroot next year, and Bob Jr. should run this fall for his father's seat.

Senator Lenroot declared last week:

"I feel confident that a strong candidate, with the endorsement of the Republicans of the state, will easily win the seat in the Senate. Wisconsin has an opportunity to give President Coolidge one more supporter in the Senate, but success can come only through united action."

But young Bob could certainly not be classified as a supporter of President Coolidge. Report has even gone as far as to say that the regulars of Mr. Lenroot's group, supporters of President Coolidge, contrary to Mr. Lenroot's professed confidence, consider it almost useless to make a fight against Bob Jr.

If so--if Robert M. LaFollette Jr. is to be a U. S. Senator before long, what sort of Senator will he be? There are two LaFollette scions: Robert M. Jr. and Philip. Robert Jr. has never held public office. He is 30, the minimum age for entering the Senate.* Philp is 28. He is District Attorney of Dane County (the county in which Madison, the state capital, is situate), the same job in which his father entered on his political career.

Robert Jr. has his father's chubby face. Philip has the shock of hair. Robert Jr. is a practical politician, knows how all the wheels go 'round, the genial type who gains the personal liking of all who have to do with him. Philip is an orator with so many of his father's traits and tricks of speech as to appear almost a mimick. Combined, they make an almost exact replica of their father.

But that does not mean that Robert is only half his father. For several years he had been his father's secretary and so obliged to efface himself. He has almost never made public speeches. It is an open question whether he can speak with his father's fire, whether he can win the favor of a crowd as well as he can win the favor of two or three men in conversation.

Of his other political ability, there is little question. Clinton W. Gilbert, able newspaper correspondent, pointed out:

"He knows the Senate as only a few of the often reflected Senators know it, He has been behind the scenes in Washington for a long time. And except for having a seat on the floor, he has been practically a Senator for the last three or four years--since his father's health began to fail."

He is Republican State Chairman in Wisconsin. He practically managed his father's campaign for the presidency last year. He has every advantage -- except that he has a youthful appearance.

* In spite of the constitutional prohibition, Henry Clay went to the Senate to fill an unexpired term, lacking 3 months and 15 days of the prescribed age, and apparently there was no protest. Of present Senate members, Senators Harrison of Mississippi and Wadsworth of New York took their seats at the earliest age--37 years. The average age of entry is much higher.