The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-12-31
UNCLE Joe"
CANNON OF ILLINOIS
A SKETCH OF THE NEXT SPEAK
Err OF THE HOUSE-LIFE AND
CHARACTER.

The biggest gun in the national
House of Representatives Is Joseph G.
Cannon of Illinois, who will succeed Da-
vid B. Henderson of Iowa as speaker,
place where one famous man won the
title of car and another one may if he
proves to be big enough. Mr.. Cannon
is veteran of the House, his term of
service beginning at about the same
time as that of the late eX-Speaker
Reed, and in looking around for man
to put at their head, the other Repub-
lican members of Congress have been
practically unanimous in alighting up
on the present chairman of the impor
tant committee on appropriation.
Mr.. Cannon is a southerner by birth
and typical citizen of the middle
West by long residence. He was born
in Guilford, N. c., May Z, 1886, but
when he was four years old his par
! ents took him with them to farm in
| Parke county, Ind. When IA years old
| he lost his father, but remained at the
| farm off and on till he was 90, studying
at intervals at the Cincinnati law
school, where he was finally graduated.
| He studied for a while also in the Of
flee of Usher and Patterson at Terre
| Haute. He removed to Tuscola, Doug
| las county, ILL.,, in 1859, and there began
| the practice of law on his own account.
| He was States Attorney for his county
from March, 1861, to December, 1868,
and was first elected to Congress-the
Adm 1872. He was also elected to
every succeeding Congress, including
| the coming one-the 5Sth-eXCept the
| SD. On becoming a member of the 43d
| Congress, when James G.. Blaine was
! speaker of the House, Mr.. Cannon was
! appointed a member of the committee
| on post offices and post roads, and was
chairman of the subcommittee that
| virtually revised the postal code, the
\ prominent feature of which was the
i establishment of a rate of two cents
! pound on third-class mail matter. Mr..
Cannon remained on this committee
through the 43d, 44th and 45th Con-
Il crosses; in the 45th he also became a
member of the committee on private
land claims. In the 46th Congress he
was dropped from these committees
and appointed a member of the COM
mittee on appropriations, a position
retained by him through the 47th, 4Sth
and 49th Congresses, down to the pres
ent time. Mr.. Blaine, in the second
volume of his Twenty Years of Con-
gress," gives him the credit of being
an undOubted authority on all matters
pertaining to postal legislation, COM
pliment that Mr.. Cannon takes partic-
ular pride in.
At the first glance one would hardly
give the DdnNllle man credit LOT DelnS
the astute thinker and clever legislator
that he has proved himself to be. He
is neat, almost to dapperness, in his
get-up and is not gifted with that
readiness of speech in conversation
with newly-made friends that without
exception marks his rivals. He is ra-
Their spare of build, and his full beard
gives to the lower part of his face a
! partriarchal aspect at direct variance
!. with the.upper half, which is ruddy al
! most to youthfulness. Altogether he
offered a striking contrast to such of
his rivals as had preceded him, who
were all bigger men-in physical
! sense. Mr.. Cannon has always been
one of the plainest and most approach
able members of the House. The prom
inence and power of the positions which
! he has held have not interfered in the
least with his ever-flowing good hui
NOR and his easy, affable, familiar
manners. He is a man of ready, home
! spun wit. resembling in some degree
that for which President Lincoln was
! distinguished. He is a capital story
teller, and one of the best fellows in
the world to join in a jolly chorus at
stag party" or a picnic. To hear
! him lead a party of half a dozen in
singing Going Home to Dixie" used
to be, and perhaps is now, one of the
greatest treats that congressional so
ciety afforded.-Springfield Republican.