Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-11-16
CHICAGO TRIBUNE CALLS
UNCLE JOE'S BLUFF

Continued From Page Four.)
of the minority as arranged by the
minority leader That was done
three times. No speaker of the
house ever did it before and it may
never be done again. 1 thought it
was a good thing to do at that time
and I do not regret it.
''If you will pick up the congress
sional record you will find the COM
plimentary things said by John
Sharpe Williams and Champ Clark,
and if you will take the letters of
Theodore Roosevelt you will find that
as he recapitulates the great guam
tity, as he believed and 1 believed
legislation, that he complimented the
house and the speaker of the house
by name. Again, at the commence
ment of the last campaign, he appeal
ed for a republican congress to CO.
operate with the president to be
elected.
IF you will read these things and
read the newspapers of that time,
you will see that 1 was handsomer
with the press and with our friends
of the minority than I am now.
Bryan Discovers He Is Cznr.
What happened to change it?
Just let us be frank with each other.
1 will tell you. Nobody can speak
sIightingly of Mr.. Bryan on account
of his ability. He is a clean man
personally, clean as a Chautauqua
lecturer, full of magnetism, but
ready always, whether it be tariff
for revenue under the Wilson bill or
whether it be free silver in 1896, or
anti-imperialism in 1900, or any ism
that would land him in the first
place in the government.
LAS a grand tumbler, ready TO
avail himself of anything that hap
pens, he has not had his superior
during my experience in public life.
He discovered that the rules of the
house were bad and that 1 was
car. Do you know how he happen
ed to discover it? 1 will tell you
briefly.
''It was just on the eve of a presi-
Dental election, which is no time to
revise the tariff, and any party that
would enter upon a revision of the
tariff and halt production at such
time would have been damned. No
party ever did do it or ever will do
it.
print paper had advanced in
price about half as much as other
products in the country. Our friends
who publish so, 60 and 70 pages,
advertisements and all-about half
advertisements and the rest news
and essays by people, some Of whom
stand for the uplift and some for
the downlift-did not like it. 1 do
not blame them.
81 am not now speaking of the
journalists. I am speaking of the
publishers, the men that own the
stock, the men who control the pub
locations.
"They did not like the advance.
1 think I regret it myself more than
anybody else who did not have a pc
cuniary interest in it. 1 did not want
trouble. But there came one morn
ing to the speakers room the presi-
dent of the publishers association,
Mr.. Herman Ridder, and there came
with him certain representatives of
metropolitan newspapers. 1 do not
want just now to take on too much,
however, so 1 will just stop with
Rfdder.
30, could a tale unfold, not up
on my word alone, but upon the word
of perfectly truthful men. The pub
fishers had right to come. Previous
to that time there were some people
foolish enough to suggest that ought
to be president 1 knew 1 never
would be president, but good peo-
pie in the republican party in the
state of Illinois seemed to be willing
and then to say that l ought to be
president. Possibly it was a little
vanity on my part and perhaps I
should have told them to desist, but
1 did not.
Tells OF Temptation.
"The demand was made by Mr..
Ridder that bill should be passed to
place print paper upon the free list.
He said he spoke for all the publish
ers. 1 said: Mr.. Ridder. you cannot
pass a popgun bill of that kind
through. Bills of that kind must
originate in the house and such a
bill already has been introduced. Mr..
Payne tells me it has been considered
by his committee and indefinitely
postponed
He said: %, yes, but you could
recognize some one to move to sus-
pend the rules without regard to a
report from that committee and pass
the bill
'T said: Yes, 1 could. but 1 will
not Such a thing never has been
done in such a time as this and under