Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-11-13
CONTINUED From Page One,


late brother, william, founded. Much
of his wealth, it was said, was acquired
through fortunate investment of his
money by his brother.
His death marked the passing of a
\ congressman whose time of service in
national halls never has been equaled.
He went to congress from the Danville
district after a term as county attor-
ney, and served from 1873 to 1891. He
was defeated then, but came back two
/ years later to serve from 1898 to 1918.
| Then he was carried to defeat with the
/ republican loss of 1912, but once more
/ he returned, in 1915, to hold his seat
/ until he retired at the end Of the 61st
I congress. His last six years Of serv-
! ice began to see the dimming of his
powers and he was no longer known
/ for his skyrocket style of debate, his
active gesturing on the floor of the
house and his furious assault on foes.
Once Danville thought to see him
president, and in 1908, when he was at
his crest, he got 5S votes for the re-
! publican nomination. But the next
year he was shorn of the power which
the speaker held in congress through q
coalition of democrats and insurgents,
and from that time he was a pictur
esque, rather than formidable, figure
in American politics.
with characteristic fire he declined
the vice presidency after he had failed
| in the presidential nomination in 1908,
and on many occasions, his friends
said, he refused compromises in poll
! ties which might have tempered his
infrequent reverses.
| His principal pleasure after leaving
congress was in sitting among the SOU
venirs of his public service. The walls
of his den and of many other rooms in
/ the house were crowded with cartoons
and with pictures of famous friends.
He listened much to the radio, too, and
read his Bible each day until his eye
grew too dim. Until last June he
cared for all his correspondence fas-
1 itidiously, debating for several hours
| each day to a secretary.
| Time scarcely had touched with sill
! yer the thin locks of Joseph Gurney
! Cannon years ago ere the nation had
rechristened him Uncle Joe" And un-
/ der that title, confirmed by millions
who never saw him, yet knew every
line of his worn face and every whim-
steal trait of his intense personality,
Uncle Joe" came at last to end his ca
reer as eldest statesmen of the nation;
the man of longest service in the con-
gress; the object of honors among his
colleagues that took no thought of
party or political differences.
| In the musty files of the Congress
sional Record there stands written a
moving tale of this mans great serv-
ice 1t begins back in 1873 when first
he came out of Illinois to take his seat
in the house, even then picturesque,
| free eating political gladiator to whom
the uproar of the debate and the tense
moments in committee were the breath
of life. The yellowed pages show day
| by day how the hot blood of youth
drove him into every affray, his tongue
lashing out at his opponents, his quick
mind formulating at call the instant
expedients that are the weapons of po-
, litical combat. Month by month he.
F! climbed toward leadership, growing
more knowing as each session brought
it's new conflicts; hardening with time
into the forceful, relentless champion
| of his party, until that day when the
gavel was placed in his hands and he
mounted the speakers rostrum as mas
ter of the house to rule alone for four
years as few men before him had ruled
that body.
'Uncle Joe" was then a veteran and
in the heyday of his power. Around
him had gathered a lore of tales, some
true, some false, but all picturesque,
and through the news columns and>car-
| toons his personality had been stamped
indelibly on the minds of men all over
the land.
Yet great as his place and power
had grown, great too, was his fall
when the house in 1910 revolted against
his czar-like rule and stripped him of
his power through a combination Of
| insurgents in his own party with the
democratic minority. Even then, how
ever, when the battle in the house,
reached pitch of excitement that
swept every other happening in the
world into the background for all
Americans, 'Uncle joe" fighting with
grim courage to the last, was to know
something of the feeling men would
| have for him later. The triumphant
rebels of the house refused to take the
| last step and thus oust him from the
speakership. Content with stripping
the post of it's power, they voted to
hold him still in place.
In the political deluge that fell upon
his party two years later, Uncle Joe"
| failed of reelection for the second
time in his national career Once be-
fore he had prac,iced law in Danville
after his defeat for congress. When
he came back again at the next elec-
ton, age had begun to cool his ardor.
He sat many days without sharing in
debate and it was only in flashes that
his old fire showed when he took the
! floor.
But never to the las was he inI
doubt as to the hearing the house,
would give him, never did he fail of a.
full audience among his colleagues and
of deep interest in his remarks.
Born in a little Quaker settlement
near Guilford N. c., May Z, 1886, and
named for Joseph Gurney, a famous
Quaker, Cannon often remarked that
he seemed to have drifted away from
The faith and habits of the pious peo-
pie whom Gurney led. For he was al