The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1913-05-07
YOUNG JOE CANNON IS ".


If anyone is under the impression
that Uncle joe Cannon of Danville.
ILL.,. is any the less busy than he was
when he occupied the position OF
Speaker of the United States of Rep
resentatives, he is vastly mistaken.
Mr.. Cannon is today celebrating his
seventy-seventh birthday anniversary
and is deluged with congratulations
from all parts of the country. He
says he expects the Republican party
to be back in the harness four years
hence and plans to be among those
present"
Uncle Joe wrote an article for a
weekly magazine last week that was
corker. 1t shows he is II years
young in virility and knowledge.
We congratulate you Joe and wish
you nothing better than long life and
much happiness.
Having participated in the politics
| of this nation for more than half a
century; having seen this country
grow from 100000 people to s1,-
t000,000; having witnessed the COM
ing of the great inventions from the
telegraph to the aeroplane land hav-
| ing been an important factor in all
of this period Joseph G. Cannon,
former speaker of the house, is well
qualified to speak upon the subject
whereof he writes.
| Mr.. Cannon writes In the current
issue OF the Saturday Evening Post
on the various movements" that
have beset the country during his
time. He knows them all from the
Know Nothing" down to the present
day Progressive one.
His article is ably headed Follow
ers After Strange Gods" and 1t be-
gins thusly:
.Crusades for political regenera-
ton come periodically, like other
epidemics. They are as different as
are the measles. the whooping
cough and chicken pox. The
crusaders are neither constant nor
consistent. Each agitation is for a
new idea, with new discoveries of
shortcomings in the government
and new remedies. speak of these
things with the utmost respect,
because I have ben a victim"
Now this is what Mr. Cannon
looking back from the experiences oil
two generations, writes of the Pro.
lgressive party:
Il have had some patience with
oar
, in my younger days 1 had some of
the same impulses; and, moreover,
had any one of these campaigns
succeeded, the experiment could
have been undone as quickly and
II as easily 1t was done, when the
experiment proved that 1t was not
the panacea for all our political
Ills. 1 have little patience with
7 these latter-da reformers who
I'll would upset all the developments
of more than a century of govern
ment by law and return to the old
1 rule of the mob, led by men en-
s dowed with superior ability-or,
! rather. piausibility. Had the Pro-
pressive movement of last year
succeeded in carrying with it a ma
jority of the people. and had it
i been lasting enough to have abro-
try would have been committed to
: revolution as completely as was
France to that which placed that
q country under the rule of an un-
t estrained majority and reign of
: terror. 1t would have required
years of sanity to undo that work
of the wreckers and patiently build
: up again foundation of funda-
II mental law.
q ITO man who has passed half a
. century in public life in the most
strenuous and progressive period
of civilization, and who has for
nearly forty years had a part in
e the clash of opposing ideas. senti-
4 ment and prejudice In the House
of representatives. which is the
clearing house of American
IS policies, there has never been
l. more dangerous movement in
~ American politics or one more re-
dictionary than this which has
- caught the eye of many people
D with the al1uring label of the Pro-
lei gressive party
a Mr.. Cannon is right. Our previoi
h quests after strange gods have mer
Iy Ily been in the form of legislative r
r. forms. While misguided, in mo
d instances they were honest Mo
N than legislative reforms-the owe