288 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS visions of the law, he spared neither time nor energy to dis- cover all the facts and to present all the evidence. In this work were manifested the essential qualities of intellect that have placed Mr. LaFoUette among the foremost American statesmen. Concerning the influence of this four years' ex- perience as prosecuting attorney, Mr. LaFollette offers this testimony : * * I put my whole force into my work as district attorney and thought of nothing else. It was a keen joy to prepare the cases and present them in perfect order before the court. When it became known that a crime had been com- mitted, I tried always to be first on the ground myself, inter- view all the witnesses and see all the surroundings in person* It is facts that settle cases ; the law is always the same. And this rule applies to things of larger importance than criminal cases. Facts count high everywhere. Whether the matter in hand is railroad legislation or the tariff, it is always a question of digging out the facts upon which to base your case. In no other one thing does a public man more surely indicate his quality than in his ability to master actual conditions and set them forth with clearness. Neither laws, nor opinions, nor even constitutions, will finally convince people : it is only the concrete facts of concrete cases.*' * The spectacle of a district attorney defying the leaders whose decrees had heretofore been superior to statutes, and enforcing the law in an entirely impartial manner attracted wide attention and occasioned no little comment throughout Wisconsin. Largely as a result of the enviable record made during his term as district attorney, Mr. LaFollette, at the solicitation of friends, became in 1884 a candidate for the Be- pubUcan congressional nomination. Again his ambitions were opposed by the regular party organization, which put forth every effort to defeat him. But again he ignored the bosses and made his appeal to the people. After a bitter contest he was nominated. In the campaign that followed, the ** organ- ization renewed its opposition, but where it had previously fought in the open it now resorted to secret methods. In 1 A Personal Narrative of Political Experience, by Bobert M. LaFoUette, pp. 41-42.
