Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-12-23
cannon D) QUIT
At END Of TERN
SPEAKER WILL NOT BE A cANpl-
DATE. FOR REELECTION AS
PRESIDING OFFICER.
sITUATloN slMPLlFlED
IN MANY DISTRICTS
Pressure by Friends to Bring About
Retirement Of Cannon from Power
Reorganization Of House Recognized
as Necessary to Party Success. in
Next Election.


% Necessary to Party Success in
Next Election.
Washington, Dec. 23.-It is now
pretty we'll understood among the lead
Ing men In the republican party that
Speaker Cannon will not be a candi-
date to succeed himself in that office.
He may decide to be candidate for
the house again in the Danville district.
altho even this is uncertain; but should
he do so, and be again elected, he will
not again ask the house to honor him
by mating him speaker.
AS nearly as the facts can be as
serted at this time, the question of the
speakership OF the sixty-second con-
gress, assuming that the house is then
to be under republican control, has
been the subject of serious considera.
tion by party leaders of national promi-
nence. There have been several infof-
NAL conferences in which these leaders
have participated, and the unanimous
judgment has been that Mr.. Cannon,
saving nothing of whether he has been
right or wrong in the things he has
said and done as speaker, has ceased
to be party asset, and that it will be
necessary to rid the party of him be-
fore the next, campaign gets under way.
REORGANIZATION Necessitv
1t will be understood, of course, that
the speaker has not been present at
these conferences, and that his judg-
ment at present is not in harmony with
the judgment of the men just referred
to. But the drift of public opinion
has been so clearly in one direction as
to leave no room to doubt the ad-
Visibility, nay, the necessity, of thor
ough house reorganization after the
closes of the present congress. AS
part OF this reorganization, there must
be new speaker. This conclusion has
been forced upon some of the strong
friends of the speaker, and there is
now no doubt 1t is generally accepted
by party leaders of all shades of opin-
ion
The first important weakening Of the
Cannon hold on the confidence of the
country manifested itself in the presi-
Dental campaign of 1908. In that cam
paign 1t was generally recognized that
he was dead weight on the republican
party. President Roosevelt realized that
this was the case, and spoke of it many
times to his cabinet. President Taft,
it is fair to assume, felt the same way
about it, altho he has been more care
full of speech than his predecessor. Fol-
lowing that campaign and the meeting
of congress in special session last
March for tariff revision, the anti
Cannon sentiment of the country
rapidly crystalized.
Time to Retire at Hand.
The outward and visible sign of that
erystalization was the movement in the
house against him when he became
again candidate for speaker. and later
the movement against the readoption
of the rules of order, from which he
derived hiss authority to govern. Both
of these movements failed, the latter,
however. only narrowly. Had it not
been for the support of certain Tam
many and southern democrats, the old
rules would not have been adopted last
spring, and an upheaval would have
come about in the house that might
have done the party at large great
harm.
There are many fair-minded men
who believe that the speaker has done
nothing the rules have forbidden, or
which would not have been done by
another occupying his place. But this
view of the case can no longer be
taken. Right or wrong, the country
has come to believe that Mr.. Cannon
is not a proper person to occupy the
speakers chair, and. there will be no
party harmony, it IS now generally ad-
mitted, until an authoritative announce
ment can be made tnat he will not
again ask for speakership fonors.
Forced to Make Announcement.
dt is the plan Of the party managers
that such an announcement shall be
made to the country blythe time the
present session Of congress is ready to
adjourn, or shortly thereafter; in other
words. 1t is to come in ample time for
the purposes Of the 1910 campaign. Mr.
Cannon Is at present unwilling to con-
slider the question of making such an
announcement, but 1t is quite certain
that in due time he will change his
mind.
He win make it, and possibly this
will mean that he will not ask the peo-
pie of the Danville district to return
him, for, coming back to the house, and
finding a new man holding new opin-
ions as to public questions, in the chair,
he would without doubt find the house
q very uncomfortable place. He would
not be one Of the leaders of the houss,
he would not have the craftsmanship of
any OF the great house Committees, and
at best he would remind the country Of
disembodied spirit haunting the.
scenes Of its former usefulness and ac-
tivities.
This Is not what, Mr.. Cannon would
want, and SO 1t is believed that he will
accompany or follow his announcement
Just referred to by another to the effect
that he is to retire from public life,
possibly giving. his age and long years
Of service as an excuse.
Mean Much to g. o. p.
There is warrant for the statement
that numerous leaders Of the party