The semi-weekly messenger., 1908-02-18


candidates for congress, except the
unfortunate MIR. Wadsworth." Not
Withstanding that letter, he said, the
republican majority i'm the house had
been reduced from lis to IS. He de-
picted Speaker Cannon, to whom he
referred as Uncle Joe," Studying the
returns and repeating the sad excla-
nation of Pyrrhus, King OF Epirus,
| when, surveying a hard won field, he
said another such victory and we are
undone."
Addressing himself still further to
the republicans, Mr. Clark exclaimed:
"And the signs of the tim>s indicate
that even the Ready Letter Writer in
the White House cannot write enough
letters between this and the first Tues
day after the first Monday in Novem-
, Der to give you another majority in
this house" He predicted that on
March 4, 1909, democratic president
would be inaugurated, backed by
such majority in this house as will
| induce even a republican senate to
| enact into law the peoples will
| Mr.. Clark laid the recent financial
| disturbance at the door of the repub-
| licans.
| Mr.. Hepburn, he said, had treated
| the money stringency lightly when
| he intimated 1T was not much of a
panic anyway" Mr.. Clark said, in re-
citing the bank failures, receiVerships
for railroads, closing down Of mills,
! the men out of employment and We
are asked to discredit the evidences
of our senses and to believe that this
| was not much Of panic" He wished
! it were true, but he declared it was
| not. He quoted from an utterance or
| former Secretary of the Treasury
| Shaw that the money stringency of
| 1907 was the worst the world ever had
witnessed, but he said Mr.. Shaw might
| truthfully have added: 1T is repub-
| lican panic and gives the lie direct to
the republican platform declaration OF
| 1904 that a republican tariff is always
followed by business prosperity and
a democratic tariff by business adver-
| sity The fake is exploded"
| Mr.. Clark criticised the recent bond
issue and said that the issuance OF
bonds in a time of peace was the
Identical thing for which the republ1-
cans ''pilloried a democratic president
before high heaven"
No doubt, he said, the republicans
were preparing :'for another stupen-
1 hn
| by promising tariff revision in their
! next platform, without indicating
! whether the revision was to be up or
down. The republicans, he charged,
! had won in 1896 "by juggle on the
! financial question:" and added that
their solemn pledge to promote an
| International agreement for the free
coinage of silver roped in enough re-
publicans to land William Mckinley
N the White House." Now, he remark
ed, the republicans were meditating
juggle of the revision of the tariff "as
companion piece to the successful
| juggle as TO coinage"
! Mr.. Clark believed that one-third of
| all republicans were honestly in favor
of revising the tariff downward, and
| referring to the declaration of Mr..
Payne IL favor of maximum and a
minimum tariff asked if Mr Payne
was in favor of Mr.. Williams propo-
| sition to make the tariff forty-five per
cent of the Dingley rates, or the pro-
position of former Representative Nc
Cleary, Ito make the Dingley rates the
minimum and the maximum the blue
vault of heaven
Mr.. Payne, he declared, could be
precise, when he chose to, but he said
because in his propositions touching
The tarin Mr.. Payne used equivocal
| terms lone may fairly conclude that
.Lere is large sized Senegambian con-
ccaled in the wood pile or mammoth
rodent in the meal tub
III the midst of Mr.. Clark's remarks
! ore CT the presidents secretaries ap-
| pnared in the chamber with a mes
sage. Instantly there was general
laughter and Mr.. Clark convulsed the
house by declaring: 'It is a cold day
when the president does not send a
letter or message to somebody"
| In conclusion Mr.. Clark said:
/ I'm the impending conflict, I sum-
mon every democrat in all this broad
| land to service under the democratic
banner and for democratic principles
| principles which the immortal Jeffer-
son enunciated, which the heroic
Jackson upheld and which are as dear
to the hearts of the people this day
as they were a century ago. Fighting
under that banner and for those prin-
! ciples We won fourteen presidential
| elections out of thirty and can win
again and again till we drive the re-
publicans from every place of power,
thereby restoring the government to