Mother and Son

Governor Elaine of Wisconsin announced that he would call a special election in the fall to fill the seat of the late Senator Robert M. LaFollette (TIME, June 29).

Among the Republican candidates already in the field are onetime (1911-15) Governor Francis E. McGovern and Roy P. Wilcox, former state Senator. They are "regulars."

But the expectation is that the election will go not to a regular but to an insurgent--an insurgent by the name of LaFollette. The question was: "Which LaFollette?"

Last week this question was answered by the LaFollettes themselves. Mrs. Belle Case LaFollette, the Senator's widow, who had been urged to run, issued a statement:

"After giving careful thought to the special obligations which circumstances place upon me, I cannot, however, bring myself to believe that it is my duty to enter the field.

"This is a critical time in the history of the Progressive movement. Progressives in the United States Senate are few in number, but they are vested with great responsibility and power. I need not suggest how vitally the choice of Mr. LaFollette's successor may affect the cause.

"When the Progressive voters of Wisconsin perform the solemn duty of choosing a candidate to fill out the unexpired term of Mr. LaFollette I would ask them to think not only of unswerving devotion to the cause, capacity and fitness, but also of the iron resolution, enthusiasm and faith necessary to carry on the work he has laid down."

Two days later, her elder son, Robert Jr., announced simply:

"I am a candidate for United States Senator.?

Mrs. LaFollette plans to devote her time to completing the second volume of the late Senator's autobiography, material for which he had gathered, and to editorial work for LaFollette's Magazine.