Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-27
NO LONGER A TERROR
Rodenberg Not Now Awed by
the Democracy.
CALLS 1T COMIC OPERA
Says It Is Always Looking for Great
Disaster.
GLORY TURNED INTO PATH0s
Contrasts Bryan and Roosevelt, De-
clares One the Antithesis
Of the Other.

me democrats, ana William j. Bryan In
particular. were excoriated in the Hous'
Of Representatives today by Representa-
tive Rodepberg of Illinois. He began hi
remarks by referring to 1.-The terror thai
struck his SOUL when as q new member
he "trembled with fear as some demo
cratic member, in deep. sepulchral tone.
that smacked Of the gloomy depths Of the
cherries tomb. arose in his seat, and
assuming the attitude of Ajax defying thu
lightning. hurled anathema upon anath
en1a at our devoted heads and predict
ed the overthrow, swift, sure and imme
date of the republican majority in thi.
House. 1t is all different now. Democ.
| racy's dismal and doleful note of warning
which from time immemorial has beer
| sounded In this chamber at regular in
tervals OF two years. no longer terrifies
1t simply amuses. What once was high
tragedy is now only comic opera
Launching into an analysis Of what 1,
democrat" Mr.. Rodenberg said that thu
average democratic statesman always hat
been disciple Of the doctrine Of despair
His Is the philosophy of pessimism. His
face Is ever turned toward the setting and
not the rising sun. He is never so much
at peace with himself as when he is quar-.
rehng with some one else. Instinctively
march. and believes that the song OF the
dying swan would make a most glorious
national anthem. He is happy only wher
ms 1eliowmen are sad. Night after nigh,
he sends up a fervent petition for some
hood or famine. drouth or death. earth.
quake shock or ocean storm, for in q
VISITATION OF that kind his morbid and
melancholy mind thinks it sees some
promising political possibilities"
r.
trying to extract some comfort out OF the
lact that the republicans were not a unit
as TO who should lead them to victory In
november but he was proud to assert
tnat the republican party was not the per
sonal asset Of any Individual No man,
ne asserted. held mortgage on its prin'
clples. its policies or it's purposes, ana II
had never issued a commission in per-
petuity to any one to write its platforms
and do all its thinking.
A Political sinbad.
1T has never been afflicted with a DO
liticai Sinbad. an Old Man of the Sea.
who has secured a strangle hold on its
windpipe and choked 1t into abject sub.
mission to his every within and caprice.
In all its history the republican party had
never developed a perennial disappearless
leader who arrogates to himself the sole
power OF political accommodation" The
democrats. he declared. long since had
lost their courage. Independence and
ing the democrats. been compelled to &C.
cept Bryan with all his idiosyncrasies OF
suffer the consequences OF his mighty
wrath. You have not been converted;
you are still the same old Sanl Of Tarsus
But your feigned loyalty won't last. You
| can't keep up the delusion. The history
Of the democratic party teaches us that
the glory of today Is the pathos of to-
morrow" The day would come. he pre-.
dicted, and it. was not far distant. when
plank Of democratic decapitation and &c
to his political grave. "unhonored. unwept
and unsung' He gloried in the fact that
the republican party always had been op-
posed on principle ito the incorporation
Of presidential nomination trust" and
that there was q division among republi-
cans as to the personality Of their candi-
date for President
Tracing the developments Of the last
several presidential campaigns. Mr.. Rod.
his paper. which with a becoming
sense OF modesty seldom mentions the
name Of its editor oftener than 100 times
in any issue" Mr.. Rodenberg held UP
two copies Of the Commoner, in one OF
which he said Bryan's name was men
toned 1875 times and In the other los
times.
64A00uo0Ap 4O1 A|dOO1s
Much stress will no doubt be laid on
democracy's pretended friendship for la
Dor. Crocodile tears will be shed In great
abundance by the democratic spellbinder
in 1908 as he tells of the heroic efforts OF
the minority in this House to enact leg
islation in behalf of the horny-handed
sons Of toll. and yet an examination of
the record will disclose the fact that the
only place in this country where labor
is underpaid. where the efforts Of work
ingmen to organize themselves into unions
meet with determined opposition and
where few laws favorable to the cause
Of toll have been incorporated into the
statutes are the states that have never
given an electoral vote to the republican
party"
Mr. Rodenberg closed by contrasting
Bryan and Roosevelt. asserting there was
nothing in common between them. "One
Is the antithesis of the other Roosevelt
is a practical statesman. the other an Inn
practical dreamer; one is patriotic. the
other is simply platitudinous: one is con-
structive. the other destructive: one be-