The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-09-10
JOE CANNON
HAS SWORN OFF
THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
DECIDES TO GIVE UP SMOKING
CIGARS

CHICAGO, August 23-JOSeph G..
Cannon's cigar is to be thing of the
past The sage of Danville is up In
the woods near Plattsburg. n. Y, try
ing to get away from the influence
of the weed" which has been his
solace for the last forty years. The
Associated Press brought word to his
friends today that he is going to con-
quer and that he has already succeeded
in cutting down his daily allowance of
"cig-a-a-ars' from fifteen to three
The idea of seeing Uncle joe minus
a Havana cooked in the corner Of his
mouth is something his political friends
are looking forward to with a relish
and are wondering whether it will have
any noticeable effect upon his nerves.
They are also asking what Cannon will
do without the companionship of his
cigar and whether his stories will be as
wholesome hereafter.
The self-denial he is undergoing has
recalled to mind stories connected with
his career in which his love for the
weed" figured. Here is one State Sen
ator Corbus p. Gardner tells.
Shortly before the time Cannon was
first elected speaker he went to the
New Willard hotel in Washington and
sought to engage a suite of rooms. He
/ inquired of the clerk and found To-
cation that suited him. While putting
away at cigar he was asked by the
clerk: do you want to take your
meals here?"
Yes, certainly, want to board with
you, said Cannon without hesitation
The Clerk asserted that the price for
the rooms without meals would be $500
a month Cannon pulled hard at his
cigar and cycling the clerk said my
young man, you must have misundeI-
stood me. l did not say l wanted to
buy your hotel, only wanted to board
with you"
In telling this story to his friends
Canaan said he was wondering what
he would do with the SIC balance of his
monthly salary if he had taken quar-
ters at the Willard After he told the
clerk he would not take the rooms he
said he allowed they kept good cigars
there and that he would try one OF
their brand"
Congressman Martin B. Madden said
it would be an unnatural sight to see
Cannon in the speakers chair in the
house of representatives and not find
him chewing cigar.
He never knew good cigar when
it was given him, but had his own no
lions about tobacco said the con-
gresham. You can't get a good
smoke in Washington, but Uncle Joe
found one that suited him and he al
ways was lonesome when without one
of his favorite brand. remember
they tell a story about his having been
tried on the charge of high treason
before the Gridiron club, and during
the proceedings it is said Cannon Ii
terally chewed up five cigars"
A. J. Landgraf, who has sold Cannon
more cigars than any other person in
Chicago, at the Union League club, said
that away from Washington the presi-
Dental possibility never stuck to any
particular cigar.
Just as like as not he would come
out of the barber shop in his shirt
sleeves" said Mr.. Landgraf and say:
My boy, I want a cig-a-a-r, and |
don't want the one I smoked a while
ago. He'd look the stock over ana
was just as likely to select a scent one
if he had it as a 35-cent cigar This
was one of his peculiarities. You
never could tell what price he intended
to pay for the next smoke"
During the deadlock of the republic
can state convention in 1904 over which
he presided it is said that Cannon tried
every brand of cigars on sale in Spring
field. He was photographed probably
100 times during this long siege and
invariably every picture showed him
with the familiar cigar cooked at the
same angle