Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-10-09
7 AR|FF ak
. BY Gun MINIS
At KNOXVILLE
IOWA SENATOR uPHoLDs INsuR-
GENT VOTES IN CONGRESS AND
REPLIES TO SPEAKER CAM
MONS SPEECH.

rIF LEO ~ SHEAkER IAN
MONS SPEECH.
| Knoxville, Oct. Taking issue
with Speaker Joseph G. Cannon on the
subject of rules of the national house
Of representatives, Senator A. B. Cum
minis yesterday afternoon defended
the six Iowa insurgents who voted for
the proposed change in these rules,
and those Republicans who voted
against the Payne tariff bill.
His speech, delivered out of doors
in the court house square, was heard
by as many people as could crowd
within reach of his voice.
He declared unequivocally for a
change of the house rules which will
take from the speaker the right to
name the committees, and asserted
that this one issue Is all that is at
stake in the fight over the house rules.
| The senator contended that the Iowa
insurgents who voted against the
Payne tariff bill did so rather than
vote for some of the schedules which
the rules prevented them from amend
ing and left no other way to express
their disapproval.
Cannon's Power Too Great.
He declared that no mortal should
have the power which now lies in the
hands of che speaker and bpined that
had he been a member of the house
he would not have cast his vote for
Joseph G. Cannon for speaker.
Reserving until the last his com
ment upon Mr.. Cannon's criticism CT
his vote on the Payne tariff bill in
the senate, Mr.. Cummins asserted his
belief in the protective principle faith
cred by the Republican party and de-
clared that he voted against the tariff
bill with the tariff plank Of the Chi
cago platform in mind.
He said that vote did not mean that
he favored free trade, but that he pre-
ferred the Dingley law with its oppor-
tunity for amendments, to the Payne
law and the probability that it must
stand on the books without amend
ments for a period of years.
The senator took occasion to deny
that Mr.. Cannon was right when he
said that Cummins, like Bryan, is
continuing to agitate the subject of
tariff revision. He declared that he is
unalterably opposed to another at
tempt at tariff revision by the present
congress or any other that does not
possess the information, which he be-
lieves can be obtained only through
the efforts of regularly constituted
commission organized for the purpose
of determining the difference between
the cost of production of manufacture
ed articles in this country and abroad.
Leads UP to Politics.
eff Iowa is great in the standard OF
her citizenship and in the fertility Of
her soil and it's productiveness," said
the senator, "she is greater still in
the capacity of her men and women to
discern the truth, and, knowing the
truth, to stand by it-man for man and
woman for woman. And that leads me
to politics.
81 can be just as kind and just to
my friend Cannon as he was to me
yesterday. l understand he didn't say
an i'll word of me personally and am
very sure have no i'll feeling toward
him personally, but | am eternally op-
posed to some of the things for which
he stands, and l expect to be against
them as long as God gives me the
power to breath the air of life. | have
no doubt he is fighting for his country
as he thinks he ought to fight. l
know that am fighting for my coun-
try as I think I ought to fight, and
tbar So ~ ira 10 J,,,,
me from the path l have established
for myself
And now" he continued, adopting
| Speaker Cannon's words of yesterday,
Il want to talk with you a moment
about the rules Of the house of repre-
sentatives. l am not a member of the
house of representatives, but have
given some study to the rules that
govern that body, and l agree with
| Speaker Cannon's statement that they
are the growth of a long period of
years. During those years some OBJ
jectionable features have crept into
them which we ought to have the
courage to remove.
II can't agree with the idea that
something is good just because it is
old-that because these rules have OBJ.
tanned for many years they ought to
obtain even another month longer
| Why, we would make no progress if
that idea prevailed in all things. Sup,
| pose your stores, your mills, your
farms and your other enterprises were
! run now as they were run when your
grandfathers lived. You would be left
behind in the march of progress.
No Virtue In Antiquity.
Il believe every day brings new
| light and We ought to shape our course
according to that light and I am not
going to bow down to any god simply
because it was worshiped years age
eyes. He went into the car smiling
! for he called Ardmore his best friend