The Washington herald., 1908-05-25
Topeka Editor Finds "Uncle
Joe" Gar of Necessity.
BUT He IS NOT DEsPOTIC
Head of the House just Has to SIT
Down on RecaIcitrant Members.
Talks Freely to Frank r. Mac
Lehman About stevens BiII-Has n
Hard job with Plenty of Work.
By FRANK p. MacLENNAN.

after day IN conversation, does not cor
respond with the impressions he gath
cred from close view Of the dis
tinguished autocrat of the House, says
the Topeka (Kans) Daily State Journal.
Some Of these current views are err
roneous that is, they seem erroneous
to one who has been on the ground, be-
cause one must be impressed from his
own observations where Il Is permitted
TO maze them. rather than the observa-
tions Of others. who may or may not
have had equal opportunities for form
ing judgments.
In brief although 1t is plainly not n
popular thing TO say in Kansas. here's
the wish 10 go on record as saying that
in this humble opinion Speaker Cannon
has been more or less maligned by those
who should speak the truth and shame
the devil"
The choice epithets which have been
hurled at Speaker Cannon's head by
newspaper associates OF mine In different
States, including my own. would make
a vocabulary hardly fit TO print
Has TO BE Gar.
The Speaker is ''czar" all right. and
IL he were not. that is. II he did not
have some of the elements OF a "czar"
in his makeup. ~ would not be a good
Speaker. But he Is not so despotic as
he Is said 10 be- This Is surely true:
with all due respect 10 young Victor
Murdoch who is doing noble work in
Washington by his Independence and
courage. Here is full sympathy with his
efforts to reform the rules. They GER
tainly need reforming. and the Speaker
has too much power. but he is not TO
blame for all the things which are not
done. nor for all things which are done
| or the thousands OF bills which are
thrown into the hopper at the sessions
| OF the Congress, comparatively few are
merit0rious or necessary. Hundreds OF
them are not only useless, but dangerous
Who sits down on these bills? The
| Speaker; and he ought to sit down on
them many Of them, hard and he does
now and then crushing nearby merl-
torious measures that ought to be con-
sdered.
Would Get Bill Up.
Many newspaper publishers asserted
that they could rot get the Stevens bill.
which provides for the removal OF the
tariff on wood pulp and paper. before
the House; that Cannon would not per-
init it.
The writer is convinced that certain
Congressman did not want the bin to
come up; they pretended 20 be in favor
OF Il, and said 1t was Speaker Cannon
who kept them from voting on H. That
was not wholly true. They were coward
ly, some OF them. and they have been
afraid up to this writing. II fifty or
eighty Republican Congressmen had sim
ply stated to the Speaker that they want
ed the bill before that House come Il
would. and every mothers son OF them
\ knows that it would. Those eighty Con-
gressmen. fifty Of them even controlled
IL. and they knew they controlled IT, but
II was easier TO throw the responsibility
on Speaker Cannon.
Not Exposing Trust.
The writer did not go to washington
TO expose the paper trust" or "air
newspaper troubles but being there. was
simply dragged into the contest and did
the best he could. as any one would under
the circumstances. He did not 20 to
| Washington 20 see the Speaker nor did
he call on him to discuss the tariff on
paper or the Stevens bill.
There were other bigger abler news
paper men in charge of the work, and he
did not seek to butt in," but was
| "butted" in.
From what the caller had heard OF
| Uncle Joe" he had expected that nearly
every other word would be an explosive,
politely represented in this and other
family newspapers by dashes, but he
waited and waited, and during the whole
time heard but a single oath, and that
was used in a connection which might
make a preacher swear" and was
merely a strong adjective in which the
ordinary vocabulary seemed somewhat
deficient in meeting that particularly ex-
ssperating case referred 10 by the
/ Speaker.
Speaker II Gentle.
Uncle Joe was as gentle and pleasant,
and yet as forceful and emphatic at
times as the vigorous man he is could
be. In discussing a few phases Of the
newspaper situation the writer took a
hand, and gave the Speaker the best he
could hand out.
Speaker Cannon has been mighty good
TO Kansas. Does the reader know that
with one forty-ninth Of the membership
OF the House Kansas has one-eighth Of
the committee chairmanships Scott,
chairman of the very important Commit
tee of Agriculture; Miller. chairman of
Committee on Claims. and that is a very
important committee, involving millions
of dollars OF expenditures; Reeder, chair
man of Committee on Irrigation; Calder
head, one Of the ranking members on the
| Ways and Means Committee, equal 20
or better than a chairmanship; Murdoch
on the important Post-Office Committee.
on which he Is doing splendid work? But
there are other stories.
Few Do the Work.
A few men in Congress do the big part
Of the work and they are not drones.
either The leaders in CongroIs are hard
worked men, as the leaders in every de-
partment Of life are those who labor
hard. The President works harder than
anybody. He has the hardest job; but
he fills it we'll. The Speaker is hard
working man. He has TO be, to take care
of the mutitudinOus duties and response
bllities thrust upon him and evaded
ofttimes by idlers in Congress. or by 9TH
ers that we of the West sometimes call
| rabbits
! II the Stevens bill falls a. the last to
get before the House, II Will not be so
much the fault Of the Speaker as 1t is the
fault of the Republicans who were dodg-
ers. and who were afraid to ask Cannon
for the bill. and the fault of those news
paper men who at tae crucial time failed
to produce their vouchers and contracts,
much 20 the embarrassment OF Chairman
Mann and TO the humiliation of the pub
fishers who did open their books 10 the
public, and who did denounce and con-
denn those who furnished them raw ma