The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-03-17
INTERVIEWS WITH CHAMP CLARK AND
Joe" CANNON ON POLITICAL OUTLOOK
Clark is For a Revenue Tariff
and Against AIdrich's Central
Bank Scheme-''UnCle Joe"
Will Live and Die a Reaction
ary
columbia MagaZine)

columbian Magazine)
(Champ Clark, named by the Dem
Scrats for Speaker of the Sixty-sdcond
Congress, and Joseph Quincy Cannon,
popularity known as Uncle Joe" Can
non, who has just retired as Speaker,
after holding that office in the Fifty
eighth. Fifty-ninth, Sixtieth and Six
ty-first Congresses, express radically
divergent views in interviews for the
Columbian on important political is
sues of the present and near future
Mr. Clark is, as he always has been
The Aldrich plan of a central bank, by
whatsoever term designated. Mr.. Can
non Is. as he always has been, for a
protective tariff Mr.. Cannon, it
Sixty-second Congress and will un-
doubtedly be heard from on the floor.)
Champ Clark, of Missouri, next
Speaker Of the House of Representa-
fives. and almost certain to be the
rext candidate of the Democratic par
~ for the presidency of the United
States, expresses, in this article, his
views upon some of the most impor-
tant topics of the day. 1t is an &C
curate expression of his views, for he
drst dictated to my stenographer the
answers TO my questions and after
wards revised with his own hand the
transcript Of the notes. The inter
View, therefore. In absolutely authori-
taffve, and really tells what he thinks
party, the increased cost of living and
certain other matters.
The nrst question which I asked
him concerned the course his party
ought TO take, now that 1t has regain
Cd power after SO long a lapse of
The principal duty of the Demo- |
Gratis, now that they have come into
power" he answered. sis to carry
ont the promises which they made be-
ming the election. That Is the only
rule Of political conduct which it will
do to live by. OF course, 1t must bel
borne In mind that we have the House
only, while the Republicans still hold
What were chief among those
promises?"
The principal promises which the
Democrats made during the last CAM
paigu were to reduce the tariff, to re-
Houae Of Representatives, to provide
for the election of United States SEN
afors by popular vote. and to reduce
pubic expenses. There were other
issues urged by certain men in cer-
have mentioned were the leading ones
In q general way. and of all these.
that relating to the tariff is much the
most important"
And win the party live up to all
at Is my belief that the Democrats
viii redeem their promises touching
all these questions. The last two
Democratic House caucuses, one
caucus OF the members elect of the
Sixty-second Congress, the other the
caucus of the Democratic members
OF the Sixty-f1rst Congress, were the
two most harmonious ever held In
washington"
What followed this expression Mr..
strengthened, when he went over the |
interview revising it. In the trans |
cript, which lies before me, much of
this paragraph is written In his own !
small, neat, very legible handwriting.
This promises much for the well |
fare of the party and the welfare of |
the country. for, according to my |
way of thinking. the welfare of the |
Democratic party and the welfare of
the country are synonymous terms, |
had attended q Democratic caucus
two years ago, and been asleep ever
since, had walked just in time to drop |
in on these two last Democratic eau
cuses, he would have been in grave
doubt whether the men there assem-
bled were members of the Democratic |
party he had known in days gone
by. Discord and quarrelsoneness had |
been succeeded by complete and cor
dial harmony. When the last eau
had been more like a great family I
than like congressional |
caucus, and this was literally true"
Concerning the future Of the Dem
ocratic party, then, it may be assum-
ed that Mr.: Clark feels no doubt
whatever. That matter thus disposed
Of. I went on to others-to the one
other which, at present, demands and /
commands the attention of every head
Of every family in the United States.
The increased cost of living" / /
suggested. 'fs the one problem with
which all Americans are now most
Do you consider this, as
Mr.. Taft says he does, a natural and
inevitable result of a worldwide up
ward movement of all prices?"
ed cost of living he replied, has
been caused by three things-the tar
IN. the trusts and the movement of
the population from the rural dis
tricts to the towns and cities To
certain extent 1t may be world
but it seems to operate
IN the United States with extraordin-
sry force / don't know of any
thing Congress can do, or that the
President can do, which will check
the drift Of population toward the
cities and the towns-and this fact ,
i lamentab1e. The proper place for
people to live Is out in the country,
and the more who live there and the
fewer who live in the cities and towns
the better will the country be off
The groves were, Gods first temples
l. only a poetic, expression of a great
truth The rural districts are the
proper places for men and women
and the best places in which to rear
children" i
Champ Clark actually sighed
But Il seems that all this has been
forgotten and that nearly everyone
3 headed for the population centres,
arFe and small, particularly large. I
i've near the centre of a triangle, with
81 Louis Kansas City and Chicago at
Is three points. My district is one
II the richest pieces of ground on the
xlobe considered from an agricultu-
al standpoint, and it certainly is one
II the most beautiful. We have in
1 every necessity of successful civili-
lands fine water, church.
q. schools and colleges, railroads and
travelled wagon-roads steamboats, and
10 on, and yet in my mail. there is ]
: an average of nearly one letter a
lay from those among my young con-
ltituents who want to move out of
his Eden and go to some big city.
rhey write to me, asking for advice
md help. There is a continual pro-
.ession of some of the brightest girls
md boys the farms produce now NOV
ng from them to the towns and cit {
es-
IL have gone into a statement of
his movement from the country to
he cities to emphasize the fact that
he proportion of the people who pro- s
luce things to eat and the proportion
-I@,& fe- H..