Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-09-12
SPEAKER CANNON.

Speaker Cannon preceded his main ad-
dress with a glowing tribute to tho worth
Of the civil War soldiers. declaring that
! if such problems as that of child labor
had been presented to the Ccvil War
generation to solve, wed been in a
devil of a fix
referring to Mr.. Proutys statement
that the wars issue was the preservation
of the Union, Mr. Cannon said:
THE war was for something more
than that. 1t was good for the slave,
hut It was greater, more important for
the white man. Thank God, It set the
white man free
| Mr.. Cannon then drew graphic pic
ture of the antc-war feeling in the bor-
der States, and of the Springfield con-
vcntion az which the emancipation pro-
| clamation of President Lincoln was en-
dorsed. He spoke touchingly of those
| loyal fighters over whose graves the
grass has grown, and continued.
And what came of II all? They said
We couldn't pay the public debt, but We
did. They said wa couldn't pay pensions
but. God bless you. we've paid nearly
$500. oo0 to the boys in blue. They
said We couldn't rebuild the waste
places. but we did. They said we
couldn't build the railroads, but they
We're built. But who nuIlt them? Nor
gam No Hartman? No Who? Wealth
the product Of labor distributed amongst
all the people Of the United States, The
peopl, built the railroads. They took thC
securities. Morgan couldn't build 'al
these roads. And since the war III,
wealth OF the United States has beer
multiplied by eight
"Oh, well, few people own It"
Ever think how much money there
is In a billion? Ten thousand millions
And there's l2oOCO.O0o billions owned b!
people of the United States,
"But the rich are growing richer, anC
the poor poorer"
ooh, how tired am of those mer
words, The people OF the United State
own one-thrd Of the wealth OF all tn
world. This wealth Is better distribute,
here than ever wealth was distributed
since the children OF God shouted 70
JOY and God finished the creation !,
the savings banks of the country to-da,
there are 1900 million dollars. There ar
over 500 million deponitors one half O
the population of Vermont has saving
bank deposits in small amounts footinl
SEQ 600 900. If every other State in the un
ion had as much. we'd have In the saw
ings banks Of the whole country 1900
millions of dollars.
Arm there's a wonderful amount o
money locked up in the insurance com
panies There are abuses of course, ano
have no defense for any abuses an,
whore But have you noticed that an,
insurance company has failed? AM
about this let mp in stocks Brother Prout.
has dwclt upon; I've seen let ups in buy
ing bonds and stocks before, and Nv
seen em let down again I don't see any
: thing bad in present conditions Abuse
are always creeping in. In competition
some times the sharp fellow, the Cunnini
} man. gets ahead. But the laws are Il
force II they are not sufficient Congress
is always in session when a national quos
} ton is involved"
l Mr.. Cannon then discussed the passag
t of the interstate commerce law.
= "This law is IN force. but still they vic
lato It," he SAID. "'Way back befor
t Gods chosen people reached the Promise
! Land, prepared and educated in the stcr
school of necessity. God gave Moses o
. Sinai the ten commandments. Thes
A commands came direct from God himsel
r through his chosen instrument. But
70 strange to say, people in all ages and !
, all countries, have gone right on lyn,
e stealing and coveting. Nine out of ever
g ten men, almost said nine and hal
y out OF every ten, obeys the law. Bu
I this tenth man, II you don't put stron
!. hand on him. will use his liberty to knoc
t the liberty OF all the other nine into
8 cooked hat"
T. The speaker then dwelt strongly on tn
= need of conservatism in adjusting I'll
q problems of the present day.
c mo great or small thief or honest ma
n is to be deprived of his person or proI
e erty except as the law provides. Thing