Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-04-06
JOE CANNON
CHAMP CLARK
ON THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK.


Special Interview Given to Henry Mann an
Save from the heights of the reserved
gallery the writer had never seen Jo-
seph Quincy Cannon. and it must be
agreed that, from that point of view,
the cartoonists nave created a pretty
accurate likeness OF Uncle joe" At
closer view the former speaker gives a
very different impression. Although OF
medium stature, he looks tall, and GER
tainly does not look his "a years. Few
men of 60 have the clear, wholesome
complexion of Joe" Cannon, the star
ry, penetrating gaze, the expression at
once deliberate and frankly impulslve.
His features are the kind you meet IN
Lossing's Encyclopaedia of United States
History"-the old American type OF the
revolution and 1872. of the men who
made the republic, before the composite
m now SO frequent In u urban
communities began to take the place OF
the old stock. to reap the harvest
planted by the fathers, n watered by
the blood of their descendants. One Is
not surprised to learn that MIR. Cannon
was born in North Carolina, being
brought north when he was a baby. He
is one Of the big men whom the south
has been permitted to give to the ma
" III IlllS IOuI1OdOOuS q ~ "
the war itself our greatest national et-
riment within the past half a century
has been the suppression of southern
genius, courage and ability as applied
in the broadcast sense to national af-
fairs. Thus far, but no %farther!" has
been the unwritten veto upon the aspi-
rations of hat section of n union
which gave us Washington Madison.
Monroe, Jackson, the Harrisons-yes,
and Lincoln.
Mr.. Cannon had a public school edu-
cation, and studied law In III hours
which some young men give to having
"a good time" AS states attorney he
gained q reputation for straight-to-
the-marlS common sense methods which
generally carried juries his way, espe-
cially as Mr.. Cannon also had a epu
tation for not prosecuting except when
he was sure that he was right. Many
q time he gave a helping hand to those
whom duty required him to bring to
justice and put them on the path to
honor and success. Mr.. Cannon be-
came the best liked man in Danville.
and the first of his successive elections
to congress was by a majority that at
tested his popularity. He has been a
member of congress 3S years. and re-
elected in 1910, and he was speaker or
the House for eight years, until March
4. 1911.
Speaker Carlisle appointed Mr.. Cam
non a M of the committee on
rules, the Other republican member be-
Ing Thomas B. Reed, and when the
House became republican in 1889 the
three republican members OF the COM
mittee on rules were Reed, Mckinley
and Cannon. AS chairman of the COM
mittee on appropriations Mr.. Cannon
stood for sound economy, vigilance and
prudence in protecting public funds,
and liberality in expenditures that were
likely to promote the general welfare
land to serve the progress of useful sci
'ence. Mr.. Cannon saw that money was
placed at the disposal of the late Pro-
lessor Langley in demonstrating the
practicability of mechanical flight for
machines heavier than air. Mr.. Cannon
was one Of the authors of the bill pro-
viding for the geological survey of the
public domain, which enabled the gov
to enter upon the vast irriga-
ton and reclamation chemes that ave
opened great areas of formerly waste
land to settlement, and turned deserts
into flourishing farms, embracing alto
gether a work of conservation and de-
velopment unparalleled in any g OF
the world. The creation of Potomac
park was made possible by Mr.. Can
mons advocacy of the draining of the
Potomac flats. The office building OF
Senate and House, the National muse
UNI and the Municipal and Agricultural
buildings, which help SO materially tt
improve the appearance of Washing
ton, and to promote the efficiency of the
public service, owed their erection
largely to Mr.. Cannon's earnest efforts
in committee n on the floor. 1t is
worth noting here also that, as chair
man of the subcommittee to revise
and codify the postal laws. Mr.. a
non wrote the law giving newspaper:
and periodicals a very low rate fol
transportation through the mails.
AS speaker. Mr.. annon was guided
by rules that represented the concrete
experience of more than a century. III
did not make the rules. and could
neither ignore nor set them aside. Will
Cannon, as with Reed, the House NOR
than once proved itself to be bigge
than the speaker. and the act of tn
House in o%verturning the rules and de
Driving the speaker of much of his au
4fhority was q blow, not SO much a
MIR. Cannon as at the majority of MI
Cannon's party. which had placed hin
in the speakers chair. That the demo
Gratis who formed the main force II
the attack on the rules did not regar'
their action as directed against NJ
Cannon personally is shown by tn
fact that. While naming their most pop
ular leader, Champ Clark, for speake
of the Sixty-second congress. the
have also voted to continue the lim1
tatiOns on the speakers authority.
MI. Cannon did not waste n tim
in preliminaries. He spoke clearly an
deliberately, from fullness OF min
and heart, as. he said:
"Artemus Wards patriotic READINGS
to sacrifice his wife's relations on til
M Al<n~ 80 hSo Noaantrv hoo n nm Q 11o1 4