Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-02-18
CANNON TELLS WHAT
HE DID As REFOR|MER,
AND THANKS HE GOT
Was the Originator of Pure
Food Law and Conservation,
He Says, Although Nobody
Gave Him Credit
WAS DENOUNCED AS
A "BAD, BAD, INJUh"

(By Associated PreSs.)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16-"Unan1mous
consent to talk five minutes more was
accorded the gentleman from illinois,
at the National Press CLUB IasC night
after Speaker Cannon, of the house OF
representatives, had consumed his al
lotted ten minutes in discussing his
hobby"
1t was hobby night at the club. ard
Mr.. Cannon had followed Willis IA
Moore. chief of the weather bureau;
DR.. Harvey Wiley, of pure food fame;
Clifford Pinchot. formerly chief forester
of the United States; Commander Rob-
ert E. Peary and Representative Champ
Clark, of Missouri, each of whom had
discussed a pet idea. The clubs as
sembly room was thronged with mem
bers, to whom the speakers talk seem
ed especially striking. He said:
CANNON'S HOBBY
Now, my hobby in my little circle has
always been to stand by and watcn
other peoples hobbies. If the weather
bureau had full course to run and glor-
ify, it would have spent over ten times
in the public service what it has.
I'm the fullness of time the pure
food law was PASSED. / was pictured as
a bad, bad injun; 1 was denounced and
traced it down, not to DIR. Wiley, but
to people who were very close to him,
sending out the news that was the ny
in the ointment, that / was holding up
the pure food bill Jim Mann was the
most powerful factor in passing that
pure food bill through the house. Long
before it was reported, 1 said to him:
p" L am a member of the COMMITTEES
on rules, and when you get ready, IL
you need special order reported to the
house to gain a majority on that bill
you will get it, 1 did not say any.
thing more about it, and was piIlor-
led in the Chicago Tribune. the Indian
apolis News and pretty nearly all tns
metropolitan papers. as being the obsta-
Gle in the way of that bill.
CONSERVATION HOBBY
Now let US come to the conservation
hobby-and it is a hobby. Why, when
Mr.. Powell was at the head OF the geo.
logical survey, Senator Stewart, of Ne
vada, in the senate, and in the house,
were the evangelists for the passing OF
the original conservation bill. We bit off
more than we could keep. but as a result
of 1t the surveys were made under the
direction of Mr.. Powell by virtue of that
law and appropriation, and the reser-
voir sites were reserved and every I'M
pi ovement of that kind being made by
the government today is utilizing the res
ervoirN sites that we reserved Now Pin
chot does not know that. Sometimes SCI
ertists and conservation people run wild.
Pinchot is an lawfully able man. ,Yo
said. Mr.. Chairman, that he is still chief
forester. Well, he is chief forester 7
guess in the estimation of the people,
but he is not still an uncomfortable
subordinate, So is Wiley. Why Champ,
addressing Mr.. Clark If in the provi-
dence of God you had been president and
had cabinet and you had under you two
men in subordinate positions like those
men. they would have been out of the
public service in a holy minute because
they were the whole shooting match. and
the secretary had great trouble in being
secretary.
GREATEST PRESS AGENT
Theodore Roosevelt is a great man
the gratest press agent / ever knew. He
is the most popular man in the United
States in my time save Lincoln and more
popular than Lincoln was when he was
alive. more popular than Grant was
when he was alive. There was more
legislation and better legislation during
his term of office of a little less than
eight years than in any other is years OF
our history save alone the period of the
civil war and that which followed. But
suppose we had written into law, Brother
Clark, all that he recommended in all
his messagesi Why, II is thousand-mil-
lion-dollar congress annually now. II
Pinchot and Wiley and Willis Moore and
all those other specialists had had their
way and Roosevelts messages had mate
rialized into law, let me tell you, Mr..
Champ Clark. the budget would be ST.
Geo, 600 every year"
With well-wishing for the hobby riders.
Mr.. Cannon closed saying, Long may
our successors live to take these apostles
who are pushing ahead. each one look
ing through his gimlet hole in the uni
verse. and the universe is to. each indi-
vidual according to the range of his WIS.,
ion. They are splendid servants of CO.,
900 of people but would make infer
nally poor masters