Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-12-28
SPEAKER OF NATIONAL HOUSE
SAYS THE PRESENT BEATS
THE PAST
WANTS NO MILLENNIUM
Complete Rest Only Comes With
Death, He Says, And He Also De-
livers Other "cannonisms" While in
Conversation with Newspaper Men
at the White House.

Washington, d. c., Dec. 27--"Uncle
JOG" Cannon, speaker of the house and
optlm1st on all things American. CALI
ed at the White House yesterday to
pay his Christmas greetings to the
President.
AS the President had gone to the
country for long horseback ride, the
speaker was obliged to leave his card.
Mr.. Cannon was in excellent spirits
and talked with his newspaper friends
at the White House in characteristic
way. He said that people are better
than they ever were and that the devil
is on the run.
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 mon
archy; that some strong man is liable
to rise up and dominate everybody.
But | say that there is no fair.
minded man who studies the history Of.
this country from the days of it's foun-
dation down to the present time, and
who deduces the difference between
100000 of people and S3,000,000 who
considers the telegraph, the telephone,
and the railroads,who will not say that
we are markedly better physically,
mentally and morally than our grand-
fathers, or even our fathers"
Devil Has Poor Show,
"Then you believe the house of rep.
resentatives is just as representative
as it was in years gone by?'
;,,Iz Al
Piled. "The house is just as repre-
sentative body now as it was when
this country had only 100000 peo-
pie. If you listen to all that is said
you might believe the country is fast
going to the devil; is fast becoming a
monarchy, and will 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.
They used to tell us that things were
not what they We're in the good old
days You hear the same things now;
that the country is retrograding:: that
everybody is corrupt and dishonest;
and that there is wholesale immoral
ity / do not hesitate to assert that
this country is better today than it
ever was in It's history; that the peo-
pie are better, more honest. more NOR
al and less disposed to yield to tempta-
tions that are put in front Of honest
men at every turn. The people have
the devil on the run
"The people are just as mighty now
in the matter of elections as ever be-
fore, and just as discriminating as to.
whether a man has done his duty. No
man ever gets SO big that he cannot
easily be wiped off the political map.
And how quickly the people do it, too.
People Are vieiIant.
They settle man so quickly that
he Is soon forgotten venture the
prediction that few of the best read
men in the country could sit down to-
day and give off-hand the names of
100 men who have helped to make
history in the house Of representa-
tives. The others were defeated and
forgotten. and that was the end There
was William ]. Brown, who put
through the house the appropriation
of 100000 to build the first telegraph
line between Washington and Balti-
more. He did the world an immense
service, yet at the next election he re-
ceived hardly enough votes to count.
The opposition put up man who ridi-
culed the idea of sending messages
by lightning and he beat Town
thousands Of votes. So it is today, all
though a mans services now are not
so easily condemned.
"Undoubtedly,we are better off than
were our forefathers. The millennium
isn't here, it is true, and things will
not be bit interesting when every
thing becomes perfect We are doing
better though"
ASKED TO RESIGN