Daily Arizona silver belt., 1910-04-05


 bearing in the newspapers, but note
 that no one goes so far as to attempt
 to show by cold facts that Cannonism
 is a bad thing for the country. Please
 define Cannonism for us.-A Repub- lican Reader.
 Cannonsm means government by the special interests If especial interests" is too vague, we will put it in another way, for 1t is far from our desire to wish to handle the subject of Can nonism vaguely Cannonism means government too much dictated by the steel trust the sugar trust the lumber trust, the combination of New England cotton manufacturers Standard Oil, the railroads and the Rockefeller Morgan Wall street banks
 Cannonism means that when the interests of the common people and the interests of such cor porations as those indicated, come into conflict, the special interests get the legislation they want and the common people get that which they do not want (See Payne Aldrich law for con- crete illustration.)
 Boiled down, the term Cannonism mans legis- lation shaped and framed less in accordance with the needs and desires of the American peo- pie, and more in accordance with the needs and desires of those big interests which donate lib eray to campaign funds or control state po- litical machines. National needs, under Can nonism, are entirely secondary to party needs.
 '<Anything to build up the party" is the cry of the Cannonite. It is typical of the Cannon type of politician to regard federal positions as the legitimate prey of the party triumphant on election day. "Work?" he ejaculates, after he gets his job in Washington. ''I worked to get here You don't expect me to work now that am here?" Progressive legislation, under Can nonism is myth, only fit for use in stump cam paign speeches; but party solidarity-why that is something practical, reality, as it were.
 But where does "Unce Joe" come in? is ask ed "Uncle Joe'' is merely part of great machine Fire is concentrated on him because his position as speaker of the house keeps him in the spotlight more than it does the other Can mons. Yet he is little more to blamefor the work of the complete machine than any one of those 155 members who to every practical end placed their approval on Cannonsm when they voted against the Burleson resolution which would have deprived Cannon of the speakership. Can nonism does not refer to one man; it refers to system or policy which would be as bad under any other name,
 'Then you retract the charges that have been made against the speaker personally?'' the re- publican reader is no doubt asking. Not at all.
 "Uncle Joe'' personally misuses the power vested in him as speaker to block and chloro- form proposed legislation desired by the people, and to promote the passage of measures de- manded by the campaign contributing special in terests.
 It is the speakers duty to appoint all commit tees save the committee on rules. It is a mo- torious fact that Speaker Cannon has packed ev cry important committee of the house with men who have the same convictions on particular legislation that must of necessity come before them that he has. In this way the speaker wields an enormous power, because he can block or hur- ny the passage of any legislation he desires.
 All but of the 2l8 republicans in the house voted against the resolution to unseat "UncIe Joe" The milk in the cocoanut, therefore, is that Cannonism and the present republican par ty are synonymous!