Arizona republican., 1909-11-28
Speaker Cannon's Mistakes.


 When Senators Cummins. LaFol- lette. Bristow. and their sO-called pro gressive' following join hands with MT. Bryan in making war upon the republican members of congress who passed the tariff bin. and upon the president who signed it, know of only one way to treat them, and that is 10 fight them just as we fought Bryan and his following g"-Speaker Joseph c. Cannon, at Kansas City Friday night.
 In this speech. and in all his other addresses recently. the speaker has made two cardinal mistakes:
 l. He assumes that the war that is made upon him by a large element of the republican party includes a war" upon President Taft also.
 ?. He assumes that he is empow- cred to read out Of the party" every body and every newspaper that pre- sumes to criticise him.
 There is shrewdness, of course in his taking refuge within the shadow of Mir Taft. He will lead many peo- pie to believe that in defending him. self he is making common cause with the president. The fact is. however. that there is no war" upon the presi- dent in any quarter. The country. including the democrats, is thoroughly satisfied as to Mir. Taft's good inten- tions. and is more than willing to wait for him to put his policies into force before subjecting him to any criti- cism.
 But the general view of Mir. Cannon is entirely different. The belief is widely prevalent that he is a personi- fled anachronism-that he is mis- placed in time. and belongs to the last century The belief is general that he is thoroughly bcurbon-that he forgets nothing. and learns noth- ing; that for years and years his mind has not been receptive to new ideas The whole country knows that he is so conservative" that practically every piece of progressive legislation Of the past few years has been en- acted over his sullen protest, or with his grudging and belated assent. Some of the most brilliant achievements of the republican party, such as the laws providing for safety appliances to pro- tect railway employees, providing for the acquisition of the canal zone and the construction of the Panama canal, providing for the reclamation of the arid west. providing for the preserva- ton of our forests, providing penalties for food adulteration, and others that could be mentioned have been gained without his active help and in some cases in the face of his jeering oppo- sition.
 The insurgent senators who are SO freely assailed by MT. Cannon make the assertion that many 5t the amend ments for which they cOntended would have been accepted by the house in conference. if the house had not been bound and gagged by the speaker.
 It is not necessary to find fault with 1 the new tariff law, and it is not nec- essary to approve entirely the attitude | of the "insurgent" republicans in re- spect of the tariff. in order to arrive l at a correct estimate of MT. Cannon. | As a matter of fact, the -insurgent" republicans in congress are not nearly | so much dissatisfied with the tariff | law as it stands as they are with the | conditions which forced them to ac- cept the law Their war has been I mainly against MT. Cannon's methods l and against his unreasoning control of the house of representatives.
 In all his speeches Mir. Cannon is fond of pointing out that he is sus- tained by the majority; that the ma jority can always do as it pIeases. | and if any fault is found it should be with the majority. and not with him. This is a technical subterfuge. He carefully avoids discussion of the very | gravamen of the insurgent complaint. i which is that he secures a majority l by bulldozing and unfair methods. No l member can get a hearing on the floor | unless he first gets recognition from l the speaker. and he cannot get recog- | milton from the speaker except by | previous arrangement And he cannot | arrange for recognition until he ex- plains what he intends to propose