Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-03-22
Amid Widest Sort of Scenes
the Gar of the House Goes
Down in Defeat, His Power
/ Practically Thing of Past
NORRIS SUBSTITUTE WINS
BY VOTE OF 1913 TO 1853
Cannon Willing to Resign but
the Regulars Refused to Al
low Him to and Compromise
Was Effected

WASHINGTON. March ls.-speaker
Jeseph @. Cannon. as a political entity
ana cannonisn as emplifed BY the
s-eaker, were ground 90 pieces In
revolution in the house Of representa-
tives today.
nv a vote OF Isl to Iss the allied In
surgent Republicans and the Democrats
custed him from the committee on rules.
through which he had welded his great
est power and enlarged that committee
from ave to ten members.
By the same vote, rsversed-lss 20
IsI-ths house, however. declined to
take the speakers chair away nom ar.
Cannon. He ana his friends call that "a
vote Of confidence" but the only conf
dsncs shown after that nrst- crushing
defeat was too siekIy and weak TO hold
mp It's head.
The real significance OF the vote Co
depose the speaker was that the insur-
gents refused TO make q martyr Of him
Further, they refused TO cause q state
OF chaos By bringing on the election Of
9 new speaker.
Not only were Cannon and his staunch
supporters outvoted but they were out
generated and outfought. And not only
were they given the most humiliating
repudiation that any so-callsd leaders of
the house have ever suffered but they
we're made TO taste the bitter medicins
they have 30 often administered when
they had the party lash and the fear of
party accommodation to help them TO
achieve ruthless victory.
Tor the speaker himself, though he
atsd. Al he oftsn said he would when his
time came, with his boots on" he had
the courage, the audacity. the enrontery
or whatever it may be called, to retort
TO the vote that diseredited and rspudi-
atsd him with a defiance OF those who
had crushed him and literally dared
chem TO follow up their victory and
throw him out OF the speakers chair.
OLD GUARD FIGHTS on.
Also the speakers old guard fought
with equal bravado 10 the end. Braced
by the speaker himself. they made the
best showing possible under the heart
breaking circumstances and when the
speaker Uttered his final words TO his
enemies. they stood up and cheered him
as though they had won the great battle
OF their lives instead Of having lost that
battle II was a history-making session
of the house OF representatives that
brought about the defeat Of Cannon. Its
Ike was never before beheId; none OF
those who took part in tOdays fight re-
membered the occasion or an occasion
that approached that OF today in i'm
portance. And no session OF this gener-
alton OF legislators approached il either
In the intense excitement. the wild dis
order. the bitterness OF feeling or the
intense partisanship that was displayed.
GALLERIES WERE PACKED.
And the interest was not only in Wash
irgton, but throughout the country. For
an immediate audience the participants
he squeezed into the galleries Of the
house. practically the whole OF the sen
ate and every individual who by previous
membership or otherwise could claim the
privilege Of the floor. That was the most
indnitessimal fraction Of the real audi
ence. however. The whole country watch
ed and waited for the result Of the strug-
lie.
What will be the definite. tangible re-
one is yet in position or OF a mind TO
say Admittedly Cannonism is ended, for
one thing. No more will the speaker and
his close corporation FslleS committee be
allowed 20 force through the house what
measures they please or withhold those
they do not like Nor again. is il claimed.
will debate be prohibited. while the speak
eT's favOTites will be shorn OF the privi-
leges they have not only used. but abused.
There VIII he a new committee on rules.
II will b a Republican committee and
the insurgents themselves say they are
not assured sfrry will even have repre-
sentstion upon IL It's members will 1e
first selected in party caucuses in all
probability before they are elected by
the house The insurgents have promised
10 go into a caucus for that purpose. and
they will he there a mighty small minor
tty. But even IL they are not represent
I'd and II the new committee IS controlled
BY the Cannon regulars. il will be a COM
mittee that will have upon IL the fear OF
the happenings Of this day and the high
banded methods are not likely to he re
Teated-
CLAIM SPEAKERS TRIUMPH
There are those among the regulars
no hold that by the work Of the siren
r7us day insurgency in the Republican
7arty was destroyed They even 20 :
flr as TO claim-men like Dalzell. BOu-
telle and Mann-that the real result Of the
day was a triumph for the speaker.
meaning thereby what they call the final
vote Of confidence The insuTgent lead
ers are not worrying about that view Of
the case. however And in the view of
toe insurgent leaders. as well as Of the
- her larger minds OF the house. the in
surgents have justified themselves. Their
justification was in their victory. Fur
Their they are no longer regarded IN
surgents but as revolutionists- Iosur
raction became revolution when il sue
cseded.
The insurgent leaders. Norris. who in
troduced the resolution that overturned
Cannon and who led the fight: Murdoch.
whom the speaker has referred to as "a