Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1913-01-25
ouncLE JoE,sn vALeplcroRY.

- O.
"uncLE JoE's" vALEDlcToRY.
Most OF eye, but with his sight
otherwise unimpaired, and with his
natural force undated, though in a
few months he will reach the age Of
II, Joseph q. Cannon was the guest
OF his Congressional friends in Phil
adelphia. many OF whom are his 20.
litical enemies, at a banquet given
to him as an EXPIRE sion OF affection
for as genial a personality and as
hard a political fighter as our public
life has known. He has served in
the House OF Representatives for
forty years, except two years when
by some alteration Of the electoral
machinery the, votes were against
him. II any one. has served longer
in the House we do not recall him,
He was Speaker for eight years,
which beats all records.
On the issues Of the civil war 10
seph G. Cannon was immense and in
vincible, but the lapse of time brought
new issues, ana It was not quite true
OF him, al the Latin poet said Of
mankind, that the times change and
we change with them Uncle joe
was indisposed to change he stood
pat. For that the public threw
stones at him, but they liked the old
/ man. IN spite of it. He stood pat on
the currency and used all the pow.
ers Of the Speakership 10 prevent
his party from revising the banking
and currency laws, as q consequences
OF. which HIS political opponents viii
roglse them. lie never could get the
hang OF what progress2Yeism was, bat
so far as he understood it he detested
it. The political world about hin
had changed. but he stood pat aud
went down to defeat last November.
tUnclc Joe fell from grace whom
he got into the Speakers chair. But
as he has in late years come in fdt
plenty Of abuse as a csar, II IS inter
esting to know that III his younger
years lie was am insurgent against
czarism. AS Speaker he outdid
Thomas Bracket Reed in his dicta'
torship, but when Reed assumed the
role oil dictator Mr.. Cannon led the.
oppo 5ition to him. Reed swallowed
ais own words printed in The North
American Review only a little more
than q year before, and, finding him-
self Speaker with a majority of about
seven, he undertook to strengthen
the party by adding the chair to it.
Many Republicans in the House, nn-
der the leadership OF Cannon, refhs-
ed to assent to the change IN rules
which he demanded, and for two
months the House had no rules, and
did business under common parlia
mentary law" or the rules of the for
mer House adopted for the purpose
Iof the Republicans. With so small
4 majority it was not always cpnyen
.lent for the Republicans TO furnish
a quorum, and Reed assumed the pre-
rogatlye Of declaring a quorum pres
eat though none had voted; for the
Republicans did not have a quorum
that is, a majority of the member5hip
of the tlouse-prosent. This precial-
tated a furious party fight, and the
Republicans had to back up their
own Speaker or %repudiate him. and
they did the former. When MIR, Can
non became Speaker he walked N the
footsteps OF Reed.
But he has always been a strong
and Interesting man, and while his
retirement from politics was inyolun-
tary we are glad to see that he IS as
cheerful and buoyant as ever, and not
only expects the country to survive
IN Democratic Administration, but is
even confident OF the recovery OF mis-
party. Such optimism ON the part
OF a man of his years Is unusual as
it is gratifying,