The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-09
HENRY D. CLAYTON's SPEECH.

HENRY d. CLAYTON'S SPEECH.
One of the most vigorous excavations
or the Republican party, its policies.
its leaders and Mr.. Roosevelt in par
ticular. which has been delivered in
many day, is to be found in the
speech delivered at the Democratic
gathering at Denver today by Henry
d. Clayton of Alabama, when he as
sumed the place of permanent chair
man OF the convention. In this adj
dress Mr.. Clayton tears the hide of
his Republican friends in blotches of
immense proportions and pours on the
bare places a lot of words and charges
of vitriolic intensity which are bound
to make the victims squirm.
He pays particular attention to Mr..
Roosevelt and my policies" and is Sc
we're in his condemnation of the presi-
dent for his alleged usurpation of fed
eral authority he says does not be-
long in the hands of the chief execu-
tive of the nation but to other func-
tional parts Of the government. Among
some of the milder things he says of
Mr.. Roosevelt in this connection is
that he has done more to inculcate
contempt of law than all the mobs that
have claimed victims for their violence
According to Mr.. Clayton about the
only good things that Mr.. Roosevelt
has done or has undertaken have been
derived from his familiarity with the
teachings of the Democratic party and
that only such utterances of Mr..
Roosevelt that are Democratic have
given him is his only claim to be a re-
former.
Concerning the much mooted anti
injunction question Mr. Clayton de-
clares that the proposition Is one of
regulating the process Of injunctions
and not abolishing them and he says
that Mr.. Roosevelt and Mr.. Taft, prior
to the Chicago convention, advocated
a measure along these lines that the
Democratic party has been demanding
for twelve years.
Still another slap at the president is
made by Mr.. Clayton in which he de-
clares that the country has enjoyed
the recent spectacle of a president urg-
ing a refractory congress to pass need
ed reforms and appealing in vain. This
strikes Mr.. Clayton as being an effort
on the part of Mr.. Roosevelt for the
sake of his own popularity and for the
sake of the popularity of his candidate
for the presidency of urging congress to
do what he knew 1t would not do and
what many people are forced to con-
slider he did not wish done. He says
that there is small chance, under these
circumstances, that the same party
will do these same things for Mr.. Taft,
whom he styles as the presidents lega-
tee, If it would not do them for Mr..
Roosevelt. He insists that II Mr..
Roosevelt and even a small number of
the Republicans in congress were sin
cere in the advocacy of many reforms
which were agitated. it would have
only been necessary for some thirty
odd Republican congressman to have
Joined with the Democrats and forced
these measures at least through the
house of representatives. The Demo-
Gratis, he says, were at all times will
ing to join forces with a sufficient
number of Republicans on these ques-
lions.
Mr.. Clayton also declares that many
Of my policies" which Mr.. Roosevelt
so strongly urged on congress, are
treated with silent contempt in the
Republican platform, which was draft
ed under the direction of Mr.. Roose-
welt and Mr.. Taft and that this is an
evidence of their insincerity on these
questions. 1t is also evidence to Mr..
Clayton's mind that in urging
them on congress Mr.. Roosevelt was
doing so merely for the political cap
ital he could make out of them for his
presidential candidate
1t is Mr.. CIayton's idea that the Re-
publicans will never properly revise
the tariff. despite their promises. and
that a revision of the tariff the mother
of trusts, downward and in the in
terests of the people can come only
from the Democrats.
In his closing peroration Mr.. Clayton
eloquently declares that the represen-
tative institutions of this country must
be preserved and that the federal gov
eminent of delegated and limited pow
ers must be maintained in all of its
reserve powers and in its integrity and
autonomy forever. This can only be
accomplished. he says. by placing the
government in the hands of the Demo-
Gratis.
Like the speech of Mr.. Bell. the tenn
porary chairman of the convention,
there Is not a word in Mr.. Clayton's
speech concerning Mr.. Bryan. who is
to be the Democratic nominee for pres
ident. This is probably the first time
in the history of political conventions
in this country when neither of the
chairmen has had word of COM
mendation to make for the acknowl-
edged leader of their party. 1t is par
ticularly peculiar in the present in
stance because it has been a foregone
conclusion for some time that Mr..
Bryan is to again be the standard
bearer of the party.