The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-26
UNCLE JOE, OPTIMIST.
Speaker of the House Discusses Past
and Present.

Washington, Dec. 26.-Speaker Can
non was one of the callers at the
White House today. He desired slmp-
ly to pay his Christmas greetings to
the president, but was obliged to de-
Ter them as the president had gone
to the country for long horseback
ride. The speaker was in excellent
spirits and talked with his newspaper
friends in a characteristic way
"They say things are not now like
they were in the old days; that we
are becoming aristocrats; that there
is no longer honesty in legislative
bodies; that there is no ability at the
bar; that we are liable to become a
monarchy; that some strong man is
liable to rise up and dominate every
body.
But I say that there is no fair
minded man who studies the history
Of this country from the days of it's
foundation down to the present time
and who deduces the difference be-
tween eight millions of people and so
millions, who considers the telegraph
telephone and the railroads. who will
not say we are markedly better phys
lcally, meuta lily and morally than our
grandfathers, or even our fathers"
Then you believe the house of rep
resentatives is just as representative
as ir was in years gone by2'
Yes, yes, indeed" the speaker re-
Piled. 1.-THE house is just as repre-
sentative now as it was when this
country had only 10 millions of peo-
pie. If you listen to all that is said
you might believe the country is ia ST
going to the devil, is fast becoming a
monarchy and viii cease soon to be a
republic Why, heard that same
KIND OF talk when I was a boy. when
We used to gather at camp meetings.
Ihey used to tell us that things were
not what they were in the good old
days You hear the same things now:
that the country is retrograting; that
everybody is corrupt and dishonest:
ana tnaI Jnere is wholesale immoral
ny 90 not hesitate to assert that
this country is better TODAY than it
ever was In its history; that the people
are better-more honest, more mora
ana less disposed to yield to temDta-
tons that are put in front of honest
men at every turn.
The people are Just as mighty now
IN Ihe matter of elections as ever be
1Ore and just as discriminatfonsy as to
Whether man has done his duty No
man evtr gets so big that he can not
easily be wiped off the political man
and how quickly the people do it. too.
4hey settle man so quickly that he is
soon forgotten
Il venture the prediction that few of
Lne best men in the country col1I6 sit
down today and give off-hand the names
gI 100 men who have helped to make
history in the house of representatives.
Inc others were defeated and forgotten
and That was the end. There was WTl-
iam j. Brown, who put through the
mouse the appropriation of $50 600 to
buld the first telegraph line between
w ashington and Baltimore. He did the
world an immense service, yet at the
next election afterward he received
HafQly enough votes to count. The an
position upt up a man who ridiculed the
ldea OF sending messages by lightning
ana ne beat Brown thousands of votes.
So it is today. although a mans services
now are not so easily condemned.
Undoubtedly, we are better off than
our forefathers. The nillenium is not
here it is true, and things viii not be a
Dll interesting when everything becomes
perfect We are doin~ better though. -