The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-11
Congressman Says NebfasEaR
 Has StpIen Big Stick
ROOSEVELT USES SLIPPER
Mir. Leake, Who is a New Jersey Dem ocrat, Talks Off His Subject and His Speech is Received With
 Kisses and Applause.

Washington, February 10.-A brief but fiery speech by Mir. Leake of New Jersey, in which he outlined his opposition to Will liam J. Bryan as a candidate for the Presidency, relieved the monotony of de- bate on the Indian appropriation bill in the house today. MT. Lealxe charged MT. Bryan with taking the big stick from the President, leaving the latter only big slipper and he further credited the dem oorats in the house with having usurped the right of free action of the delegates to the Denver convention by nominating MT. Bryan in advance. His remarks were greeted with misses from the democratic side of the House.
 Debate on the Indian appropriation bill under the five minute rule was resumed in the house. At the very outset politics was injected into the proceedings, when MT. Leake, a democrat of New Jersey, de- nounced W. J. Bryan and his methods. Several republicans and democrats ob- jected because he was not speaking to the bill By unanimous consent, however, he was allowed to proceed.
 MT. Leake said he had been surprised t the usurpatien of the prerogatives of the democrats to the Denver convention next July. There were some men, he charged, who believed this was the time and the House of Representatives the place to nominate a candidate on the democratic ticket, and he said, unless my silence might be construed as an indorsement of the nomination of w. J. Bryan, I rise f.. ,f,
 Applause and Kisses.
 If" proceeded MT. Leake, T adopted the example of Bryan I would vehement ly condemn as he did the distinguished democrat Grover Cleveland" But he said, he would content himself with ad- mittng that Mir. Bryan was honest, con sistent and sincere. He declared, how ever that MT. Bryans familiarity with the decalogue better qualified him for the pulpit than for the Presidency
 Republican laughter greeted this utter ance, which immediately afterward was supplemented by democratic misses, when MT. Leake said of MT. Bryan:
 He has taken the big stick from the President of the United States, and to
  the principlesSof democracy and American individuality and ambition on the cross of socialism"
 The President thus being deprived of his big stick, MT Leake declared, he had resorted to the big slipper.
 Mir Leake expressed the opinion that the people did not need spanking from the President, nor scolding from Mr. Bryan to. the latter of which he sarcasti- NaIly referred as the gentleman from Nebraskan He thought the health of the American community was such that a doctor was needed. and he hoped that either of the two great political parties would get one and that in his admlns- traitor of the remedies for the cure Of the many ills he would not forget when men condemned the American railroads, that the American railroad systems was one of the greatest in the world; and that American business men and Ameri- can enterprise were the best on earth.
 Specialist Needed.
 Mir Leake provoked laughter when he expressed the hope that one of the two political parties would nominate "a spe- cialist in statesmanship.'
 eIf that should be done,'' he declared,e g 'the center aisle of the chamber would no longer mark the difference between republicans and democrats, but the diff ference between radicals and conserVa- tives."
 Twill the gentleman name the doetor?' interjected MT. Gaines of Tennessee.
 T do not propose to name the doctor" MT. Leake replied, "I think that is the privilege of the delegates to the Chicago and Denver conventions"
 ',When the gentleman talks about rail roads and the good things they have done for the country" interrogated Mir. ShackeIford of Missouri, did he have In mind Mir Hartmann
 MT. Leake replied that he did not, but said that he referred to the fact that American railroads had given cheaper and better service than the railroads of any other country.
 Messrs. Hefiin of Alabama and Hepburn of Iowa, were on their feet each pro- testing that MT. Leake was out of order, but at this juncture MT. Leake's time expired. and he took his seat amid the commotion his remarks had created.