Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1906-01-01
BETTER Than EVER.
SPEAKER CANNON TALKS IN Char.
ACTERISTIC Vein.
Same PeSsimiStiC Talk as at Pres.
eni Day Was In Vogue when
He was a BOy-r1en and COndi.
lions Are Better Than In the
"Good Old Days.

Washington, Dec. 21.-Speake Can
non was one of the callers at the
White House yesterday. He desired
simply to pay his Christmas greetings
to President Roosevelt, but was Oblig-
ed to defer them, as the president
had gone for horseback ride. The
speaker was in excellent spirits and
talked with the newspaper men in
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 | say that there is no fair
minded man, who studies the history
of this country from it's foundation
down to the present time and who de-
duces the difference between 5000, 900
people and $4,000, 900, who considers
the telegraph, telephone and the rail
roads, who will not say that we are
markedly better physically, mentally
and morally than our grandfathers, or
even or fathers
House Representative Body.
"Then you believe the house of
representatives is just as representa-
tive as it was in years gone by?"
Eyes, yes, indeed" the speaker re-
piled. 1.-The house is just as repre-
sentative a body now as it was when
this country had only 1O,OOO,O 900 of
people. If you listen to all that is
said you might believe the country is
fast going to the devil, is fast becom-
| ing monarchy and will cease soon to
be a republic. Why, heard the same
kind of talk when l was a boy when
we used to gather at camp meetings.
They 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 retrOgrading; that
everybody is corrupt and dishonest,
and that there is wholesale immor-
atty. 1t do 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
moral and less disposed to yield to
temptations that are put in front of
honest men at every turn.
'The people are just as mighty now
in the matter of elections as ever be-
fore, and just as discriminating as to
| whether 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.
They settle a man so quickly that he
is soon forgotten.
Names Wiped or the Slate.
81 venture the prediction that few
of the best men of the country could
sit down today and give off hand the
names of 100 men who have helped
to make history in the house of repre-
sentatives. The others were defeated
and forro.' a and that was the end.
In the old days there was William j.
Brown, who put through the house
the appropriation of $50, 1000 to build
the first telegraph line between Wash
ington and Baltimore. He did the
world an immense service, yet at the
next election afterwards he received
hardly votes enough to count. The
opposition put up man who ridiculed
the idea of sending messages by light
ming, and he beat Brown thousands
of votes. So it is today, although a
man S services are not so easily for
gotten.
Undoubtedly we are better of
than our forefathers. The millennium
is not here, it ist rue. We are doing
better, though