Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-27
GOES
FOR ENEMIES
SPEAKER MAKES CHARACTER
ISTIC SPEECH
DENoUNcEs cUMMINs AND Ex-
tolls HIMSELF
Autocrat Declares He Was Most Pop-
ular Man in the United States
Until Roosevelt Out
shone Him
Associated Press1

KANSAS CITY, Nov. 26-"When
Senators Cummins, La Toilette, BrlstoW
and their so-called progressive follow
ing join hands with Mr.. Bryan in max
ing war on Republican members OF
congress who passed the tariff bill ana
on the president, who signed 1t, in that
contest know of only one way to treat
them and that is to fight them just
as we fought Mr.. Bryan and his fol-
lowing"
Such was the declaration of Speaker
Cannon, who delivered the principal
address before the annual banquet Of
the Knife and Fork club here tonight.
Mr.. Cannon said Senator Cummins
alone had read himself out of the Re-
publican party. He upheld the rules of
the house, saying they will remain
substantially as they have been and
are as long as there is a congress.
Ever since history began" said the
speaker, "the man in the minority has
been seeking some device by which he
could overcome the will of the ma
jority."
Mr.. Cannon asserted that, while the
Payne tariff law Is not perfect, it is
the best ever passed under Republican
leadership; that since the enactment of
the law production in this country and
imports have greatly increased, and
that day by day conditions are i'm
proving.
The insurgents" and their followers,
he said, are seeking to hinder the prog
ress Of prosperity by criticism and de-
nunciation, and this, too, within three
months of the passage of the tariff
Only such agitation can halt the pros
pective era of prosperity, he declared
Those Demaeogues
"The demagogue," said Mr.. Cannon,
I'VE have always with us, and as ours
is government of the people, the only
way to dispose Of him Is to move on.
II am perfectly willing to trust the
verdict of a prosperous and happy
people in the elections in November,
1910, after the new tariff law has been
in operation for more than a year.
N"Do you know that eighteen months
ago, next to Roosevelt, whom 4 con-
slider a very great man and a most
excellent press agent, l was the most
popular man in the country? Yes, sir;
with the newspapers and magazines !
was the most popular man in the
country"
Thus spoke Speaker Cannon on his
arrival here today.
"Oh, know all right what has caused
the change" continued the speaker.
But 1 could not have done any differ
emily. 1t was impossible to take any
other stand on this matter of the tariff.
81 only wish that 1 were a greater
man than l am, and | would kick such
men as these progressives off the face
of the earth. / am an old man, 73 years
of age, and some day / will have to go
TO the scrap heap, but when I do no
one can say that there was an atom
that was governed by any other atom"
At the conclusion of his prepared
speech, Speaker Cannon INDUCED in
some extemporaneous remarks in
which he became vehement in his OBJ
lection to the ATTITUDE of local paper
towards him. He quoted the paper as
stating today that Speaker Cannon
realizes that his popularity is ION the
wane' and declared in response to that
statement that all his long life he had
never turned his back upon a friend
nor his face away from an enemy.
"Will you print that?" he yelled
towards the press table, and added
II am sorry the editor of the paper
is not here to answer me himself"
Speaker Cannon deplored what he
explained as the custom Of some news
papers to mislead their readers by an
ingenious arrangement of headlines
and intimated that the support of
newspapers was not always necessary
for the success of a man in public
life.
He city recent elections in the Sixth
district where, he said,
the successful candidate was opposed
by leading papers of Chicago.
Ridiculing the charge that the Payne
tariff law was enacted for the benefit
of New England interests, the speaker
cited numerous statistics to support
his declaration that products of New
England manufacturers had shown a
decided increase under Republican pro-
lection policies as compared with the
increase of manufactures in other
states.
Former Congressman John Allen of
who also addressed the
club, supported the arguments of
Speaker Cannon in defending rules of
the house, but he said he could not
agree with Speaker Cannon, Senator
Aldrich and President Taft that the
Payne law was the best tariff law ever
enacted