The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1911-01-31
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

" = ~ - ~ iiU ~ "
.'5f IN tapeenlot Eng land, The Govern.
m ms ~ 81 The United States; Ms Ma!
lest, the head ~ The Government; (
and = t mel joe az rolled into onef
highly Intelligent corps Of. post
ONCE CLERKS N shIngton have al
ready foliad that rare mbinat Ion in
q. 81 person lof Joseph Quincy Cannon,
speaker OF the Holse oi Representa-.
lives. y 81 + Z Y
Cannon Is known far and wide as
Uncle Joe. thes Iron Duke OF Amer:
lean Politics, the Car the
House, ! and perhaps, owing to inslr.
gents, by some other rather more Oh.
probrious 5nick.names, but the govern.
men, through the postefliee depart
meIns apparently gives substantiatlon
70 the complaint Of Insurgents that
Uncle Joe i: The main works I'm the
machinery q government. 4;
Probably no man In Official Wash,
lngton receives as many peculiar epls.
ties as the speaker Cranks all over
the country seem to single him out as
correspondent svkhln the past
month Uncle Joe" has received a let.
ter advising him that he is heir to d
fortune running into millions (purely
mythical a letter purportlng TO have
been written by a patriotic American
girl warning against Japanese spies;
aaisht letter Of about $50 words de.
manding abolition Of the U. S. Senate,
and q letter addressed 10 The Queen
OF England demanding protection
/ against spooks. y. IA
! Reams Of poetry deluge the speak:
+ er's mail. Geniuses with reform
mnnications; inventors ask aid; beg.
CARS pray Tor assistance; the army Of
fiae tobless demand places on the pay:
roll, enthusiastic Republicans write To
congratulate or condemn his views,
and finally, plain craaks submit all
T their grtevancesstoI him.
Most OF this sort Of mail matter
never reaches the speaker II is con:
signed TO the waste basket by L. Whitd
Busbey. Uncle Joe'sp secretary. Oc.
Scasionally. however, soma particularly
unique communication reaches the
speakers desk, and, like as not, the
!"Iron Duke OF American Politics.
writes a letter HI reply. 4. =.
1t seems to be the rule in the Wash.
Iington postotllceI that when letter is
received addressed to some power that
doesn't exist Ii is referred to the
speaker. Z, IS .393 Il
~ ~ -. (:
An immediate fesult ofa.blll by Rep.
resentatlye Gil, tDems Md for the
purchase q an oil portrait of George
washington. Tor $50, 900, by the govern
ment. was the discovery by Congress:
men today that there was Ia consider.
able crop of Washington portraits by
iPeale. They found that one Of them,
d duplicate Of which Gill advised the
purchase. except in. one point Of a
minor difference. has adorned the
Senate wing Of the Capitol for nearly
twenty years The difference is that
in the Senate picture Uncle George
wears epanlotstSfii infthe other his
shoulders are unadorped.
The Senate picture is llfe-size, and
shows George Washington when he
was forty.six years old. He stands in
careless pose, his left hand resting on
some indistinct object which might be
a rock and on.whieh his. cloak is ,drap;
ed. His right hand As placed on his
hip and his legs are crossed. He
wears knee breaches and black silk
stockings, His face Is strong and rud.
dy, less broad and wholly unlike the
countenance Of the father OF his coun-
! 49,, .