The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-13
RICHARDSON SPEAKS
ALABAMA CONGRESSMAN DISCUSSES
 THE TARIFF.
ne Prods Republicans With Failure to Give the Country Relief and Crfticfses Message of the
 President.

Washington. Feb 1z.--The attitude of the Republican party on the tarin question, and the Presidents recent special message to Congress, In wnicn he called attention to the necessity or certain legislation, were the themes Of a lengthy speech today in the House of Representatives by Mir Ricnardson or Alabama.
 He congratulated the Democrats of ft,e House and the country on the joint debate in Congress during the last fortnight, and said that it had in remarkable manner cleared up the po- IiticaI atmosphere and forcibiy defined the position and virtues of both of the political parties in vital political ana economic questions.
 Tariff reform, said Mfr. Richardson. is the issue that would clarify the poiiti- cal atmosphere.
 Let us stand for free raw material, he explained. land the victory isr ours"
 He charged that on that point the Republican party was weak and stood discredited with the people by It's broken pledges. He did not hesitate to say that the tariff was an Issue that appealed to the people more than the Panama Canal, the railroads, the free dom of the Philippines, imperialism. or the question of unharmed malefactors so soundly denounced by the President in his last message. The debate of the last week, he said, had demonstrated the "weakness and utter inefhciency of our boasted gold standard financial sys- tenn"
 He spoke of the multiplication of soup houses, falling banks and other adversities. and reminded the Repuhli- cans of their exclamation during the panic of 1893. when a bank failure was reported that another bank had gone Democratic"
 MT. Richardson charged that the banks failed last fall had gone Repub- Iican.
 The "stand-pat" leaders who dictated and directed the policies of the Repub- lican party, he asserted, declared with great earnestness and solemnity that not single schedule of the Dingley tariff sh ouId be revised or considered until after the Presidential election, ''and then only by It's friends"
 No sane man. he declared pretended to believe that and he did not think that the leaders who made such dec- larations could expect the country to take them seriously. The great trusts of the country he said, had fallen un- der the pregentytarfH system. and these "frlends'' were now engaged in a hide end-seek game to extend the friendly powers of arrogant corporations and combines "by seeking to allay the fears OL ettO CohSuhAoFs ny pIOmlsoS sO oAtSH disregarded in the past few days"
 The whole situation was, he said. that the Republican leaders did not believe it to the interest of the Repub- lican party to have revision of tariff at this time, although he charged pub lie opinion, supplemented by Republi- can dissatisfaction, 'iaas forced a re- luctant consent to hammer into the next Republican platform a promise to revise after the election."
 Regarding the Presidents messages, Mir. Richardson said 1t was in a class by itself. and was in response to the criticisms that the newspapers had freely published upon him and the policies of his administration. Many of the recommendations of that nles- sage. he declared. if carried out at once by his party would undoubtedly be of benefit to the country. Mfr. Will Hams, the minority leader, he said, had pointed out clearly the portions of the message that Democrats could and did cheerfulIy endorse but, he alleged, "the message undoubtedly seeks to make the control of the trusts the paramount issue in the present campaign"
 If, he inquired. the President was