The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-07-20

politics personfed, in fact,-a political pre-
cipitate. Let no one be fnisled by the fight that
he is now making against extinction Let no
one imagine that because at this time cannon
leans backward on his dew claws and deties the
Insurgent lightnings to do their worst; because
he raves against the cult of the hypocriticat and
the selfrighteous because his shlbboleth Is party
regularity and his aim to win with his inlquity or
die gforiousy wicked, this same Cannon does not
know in his own experience the emotions and the
ambitions that rule the hearts of his enemies, the
motives that prompt their campaigns, the Interior
aims that stamp their loudly paraded virtues.
For despite the fact that Cannon at this time
scores to the best of scorchng ability the fraud
of the lnsurgcnt wing of his party, he is not, as
he would have the country believe, attacking Il
thing to him strange and incomprehensible.
"T-ncle Joe" has 'insurged himself. He knows
how it feels, what it leads TO. lie knows the
beautiful effect Of the playing Of such card.
He knows how the, Insurgents figure it out, why
they do IL what they want and what they expect
He knows that being Gar is dependent alone
upon the ability to acquire the power OF a Gar.
He knows that there many roads to power,
most familiar of which is the path that leads to
it through a protestation against it. Because
be knows so well how these things be, the Speaker
can assai with more force and point the launch
ing against himself of the very propaganda of
independence which in his youth he himself
hurled like spear, hurrying forward after each
cast until finally he turned to exercise in his own
person the very autocracy which he had attacked.
1t is not, perhaps, generally known, but the
Speaker was in the vanguard, if not, indeed, the
originator. of the Insurgcnt strategm. Long ago.
: haar Jt
and unknown orator in the House, Cannon and
the Boy from the Platte sank their political
differences in cause of common revolt. They in
surged here and insurged there. They hllbuSter
ed, traded, smote hip and thigh in the midst OF
the melee, ran hither and yon, confused partisan
politics till they were as indistinguishable as
a scramble of eggs. In short, they ran loose
on the ranch, refusing to be lassoed. lodging
the moose of their respective parties, attracting
attention with their flying names and laundering
hoofs, Teach an old dog like this new trick:
about Insurgency, anything else. 1t IS &
thing that cannot be done
I What Uncle Joe has to say about the presen
Insurgents, therefore, may be III large part &C
cepted as gospel truth. He knows them like Z
book He has lived under the same sort of hide
that covers them. Having been one himself, an(
having ceased to be one, he can be depended
upon to tell the truth about the tribe Whateve
the country may think of Uncle Joe, it2can vel
learn of him what to think of the typical lnsur
gent
Speaking in bleeding Kansas in his customary
CORY tone of voice, Victor Murdoch said of
Cannon that 'for thirty years he has been op
posed to locomoton in any direction. This OF
its face is absurd, Speaker Cannon, whatever
his vices, has been personally progressive. HI
has, in fact been only i'll favor of locomotion
but, so far as he is concerned, he has been loco
motive. Having arrived, he wishes to'stop. No
having arrived Murdoch and the rest wish TO pusl
him off the rock wherein he stands. There is th
moral point about which RACES the whirlwind
upon which fall the drenching storms of oratory
Remembering Uncle Joe and his record, w
can easily forecast from his self-confesson tn
ambition and the intent of those who now jus
starting where years ago he left off.