The Washington herald., 1908-02-14

souri,. yesterday raked the present adj
mlnistration fore and aft pierced the
lrmor Of that p8rtys policies with the
rot shot of ridicule, and wound up d
speech that was enjoyed hugely 10y a
o-oWded House by running up the flag
Of Democratic victory on the good ship
Election. which sails next November
Cor Congress and the White House.
Mr.. Clark spoke for an hour and a
alf and his speech, epigrammatic,
lled with a gentle sarcasm, and replete
with quotations and original verse, ere
ted such stir that when he had
finished he received an ovation such as
has not been Witnessed for many weeks.
Mr. Clark dealt out his remarks with
an unsparing hand, and included every
hing from the President, and his
aabit OF ready letter-writing, to what
Congress might do" If the big Five
would only see the light and permit the
Democrats to vote on needed legislation.
AppIauded Generally.
All through the speech Mr.. Clark made
elllng hits. and his Democratic breth-
rem not alone applauded his sallies. On
he Republican side, even the men whom
he hit hardest appeared 10 enjoy it, and,
-or a wonder, practically ali the leaders
-emained until he finished.
President Roosevelt, Speaker Cannon,
Representatives DalzeII Payne, Sherman,
nd Hepburn. not 10 mention +. II.
hartman. who used to be My Dear
hartman" but who is now another
eort Of Hartman" with big. big ID.
resides a few others of prominence.
came under the fire of Mr. Clark's rhe-
,orioal guns.
Mr Clark paid some attention at the
reginning to President Roosevelt's letter
writing and other forms OF participation
% the campaign of 1896 and asserted that
not even the President could write enough
-etters between now and November 10 re-
arn another Republican majority in the
House.
The majority was reduced from ia 70
= in the Sixtietb Congress, he said,
md i'm every district where the Repubi
-an candidate received less than $500 ma
ioritv he claimed that the Democrats had
Iae better Chance to elect this year, "and
praise be 10 God, there are forty-tive OF
them"
In districts where the Republican Candi-
dates had less than 800 you are our
neat. There are over thirty-seven OF
these. and We need TO carry but twenty
eight TO organize the next House"
Nothing Escapes President.
Referring 10 the diversity of opinion
roucerniug President Roosevelt, Mr. clark
said;
..ETa ,z.v7,gE s,-r~ees his ,.;ays.s r,ro,, apr,
question under heaven. even upon SUBJ
ject so prosaic and tLreadbare as the
prospective state of the weather without
precipitating a row, his extreme ad-
heTents swearing that there never has
been such weather prophet on earth
since Adam and Eve were driven from
no Garden Of Eden With-fiIming swords
from Paradise. and his extreme enemies
celebrating that he knows no more about
the weather than does a ground hog
As to himself, Mr. Clark said he always
had and would continue to support RooSe-
velt when right, and fight him tooth and
nail when wrong Whatever his faults
nd his virtues, however, he asserted that
the President was not a Democrat, 't0r
Democracy means the least amount of
government the people can get alOns
with, while Repub!icanism means the
greatest amount of government the peo-
pie will stand and Roosevelt was the
apostle Of Republicanism.
Turning 20 the Republicans, he asked
how the "Bigwigs' Of that party liked
Roosevelt,
If you would be candid you would
confess that you are not half so much
namored Of the President as you seem
10 be-" he said.
You grow red in the face lauding him
90 the skies for he is still the dispenser
.n-chief of pie, and a Republican states
nan bereft of pie is a spectacle 10 make
the angels weep
As to Finance.
Mr. Clark said he wouldn't discuss the
financial question. adopting Lord Palmer
stoa's bon mot concerning the SchIeswig-
Uolstein complex problem But two
men he said ever understood it," said
Mr. Clark zone OF them is Mr.. Hnl
Of Connecticut; the other. unfortunately,
is dead"
lie did, however, devote some time 10
an expression Of views on the panic. This
he declared, was and always would be
known as a Republican panic. The Presi-
dents friends. he said, charged it upon
Hartman; the latter's friends upon the
President But whichever faction was re-
sponsible. it was a Republican panic
The gentleman from Iowa AIr Hep
burn) had sought TO minimize the effect
Of the tariff. ] reminded him. Mr.. Clark
said, Of the old sinner, of whom 1t was
reported that, as Noah sailed by in the
ark. sitting in the fork OF a big tree, he
shook the water from his eyes and hair
and remarked This ere flood amt much
of a shower, after all
Col Hepburn had said the panic wasn't
so bad. Whether it had been or not,
Clark said, it had cost him about a quar-
ter of what he owned. He quoted ex-Sec- /
retary Shaw and Senator Aldrich 20 prove
that the panic had been one of the worst
on record. And Secretary Cortelyou's
remedy for it had been 10 issue bonds i'm
time of profound peace, for which the
President had written him q letter Of ap-
proyal.
It's a cold day" commented Clark,
amid a shout Of laughter. when he
doesn't send letter TO somebody. If he
doesn't wind up with a case Of pen paraI-
ysis, I miss my guess" He notified the
Republicans that the lines of the hymn
The mercy 20 others show that mercy show to me
Applied 10 their responsibility for the
panic, and that forevermore they must be
known as panic-breeders
Comes to the Tariff.
Upon the subject OF the tariff, Mr.
Clark scored several points at the ex-
ponse Of the Republicans. He didn't count
much upon. Majority Leader Payne's
promise 10 revise the tariff; if the gentle /
man from Pennsylvania lAlr DalzelD /
should rise in his place. said AR Clark. I
and make the unqualified statement that /
he was in favor Of the revision of the /