Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-04
CANNON'S NEW POLICY
CHANGE IN MEMBERSHIP OF DIS
TRIcT COMMITTEE.
No Neighbors Will Be Permitted to
Serve = Mudd and Pearre
Will Be Replaced.

Speaker Cannon, after!a a conference with
the President this morning, said he would
announce the committees of the House at
noen tomorrow, having been delayed one
day over the time he had fixed. Repre-
sentative Mudd of Maryland, also called,
and although the visits of these two men
did not directly concern the District, pol
icy which Speaker Cannon is declared to
have decided upon in appointments to MEM
bership on the House committee of the Dis
trict of Columbia will be of widespread and
important interest to the entire District.
This policy Is that no members of the
House from States near to the District shall
be appointed to membership on the COM
mittee which would take Representatives
Mudd and Pearre from the District of Co
lumbia committee and replace them with
men from a distance not so familiar with
the affairs and the people of the District.
The Speakers determination that neigh
boring representatives shall not serve on
the committee is said to be irrevocable
and, although not much effort has been
made to change his views, Representatives
Mudd and Pearre understand that they
will not be reappointed. Neither, 1t is said
regrets the attitude of the Speaker from
a personal point of view. Their connection
with the District committee has given them
a good deal of hard work and made them
liable to all sorts of Importantly, especially
supposed that membership on the commit
tee furnished numerous good places in both
the general and District. governments.
But the Maryland representatives look
upon Mr.. Cannons position as detrimental
to the District, taking the view that rep
resentatives from adjacent states are nat
urally more familiar with the District and
her needs than persons from a distance.
entirely lacking in a proper general under
standing of the affairs of the seat of gov
ernment of the United States
Mr.. Mudd goes on the committee on naval
affairs, while Colonel Pearre will have a
desirable place on the judiciary committee.
1t is rumored that possibly Representative
RiXey of Virginia may also be taken off the
District committee. as he comes from a
neighboring state. If the policy of the
Speaker is carried out in full 1t Is believed
that the nearest representative On the Dis
trict committee will hail from North Caro-
lima Mr.. Babcock of Wisconsin will, of
course, remain chairman of the committee.
No fight has been made by either of these
members to retain their places, because Mr..
Cannon is said to have declared that he
knew, from his long service in Congress,
what was best in the formal don of the
committee. Mr.. Mudd has been a member
of the committee for ten ears and al
though Mr. Pearre had served for a much
shorter period his knowledge of the District
was valuable to him in the committee work.
Several Virginia democratic representa-
tiveS are said to have had some aspirations
for membership on the consInittee, but If
the claims of any of them were presented
to Minority Leader Williams or Speaker
Cannon they were informeds just what has
been made known to others
The announcement of the personnel of the
committee will show just what the Speak
er'S policy is and Will be toward the Dis
trict so long as he occupies his present po-
sition. How far away he thinks members
of the District committee should live and
what degree: of knowledge they ought to
have of District people, laws and needs, will
come out in the formation of the commit
tee.