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The Semi-Weekly Journal, j
KaMfM « <t« AOaau ro—.rn— •• «•*' u “ !
tar •< the Secood Class.
JAMES K. GRAY.
Editor and General Manager.
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I--
Friday, Dec. 17, 1909.
And by the way. what has become of
Harry Whitney, big game hunter?
‘ These air ship records change as quick
ly as those of racing automobiles.
It is to be hoped Santa Claus will bring
Dr Cook all the necessary proofs.
The small boy’s idea of smiling nature
4s snow and sleet and plenty of sledding.
are being used as a liquor cure.
Vnfermented apples, of course.
Bailey wants night sessions for con
gress. Are the sessions so tempting?
Later reports seem to indicate that the
Nicaragua insurgents met their Cannon.
The way to a man's heart is through
his stomach; to a woman s, through her
bat. >
The local waterworks receipts show a
heavy Increase. Near-beer sales falling
off?
We are in for a long siege of con
gress, and. after congress—the legisla
ture.
Ladies who contemplate giving boxes of
cigars should select gentlemen who
smoke.
It is high time the ice cream dealers
were stepping aside to let the coal men
get thelra ' _
-No oil sent France." a headline says.
What's the use? John D. can sell It all
at home.
Few actors are wealthy, says a writer.
But *hy brand a few with the failing of
so many?
A Russian says that women of today
wear too much clothing. This is what
•very man knows
The mysterious black clouds which
darkened Louisville must have been im
pending prohibition.
One would think, reading the conflict
ing Zelaya and Estrada accounts, each
had a press agent.
Christmas presents of bard coin are al
ways acceptable, add the silver coin
needn’t he engraved.
Living prices are high in New Jersey,
•ays a dispatch. Nothing to brag about.
8o they are in other states.
President Taft strangely omitted any
mention of the Peary-Cook dispute. Is
there no bureau on polar affairs?
Mr. Taft's appointment of Lurton to the
supreme court Indicates that the admin
istration is steadfast to conservatism.”
Uncle Sam's refusal to buy foreign
homes for ambassadors may be his re
luctance to invest in suburban real es
tate
Emma Goldman says there's no hope
for women in the ballot. Emma favors
something more concrete like a brick or
a bomb
When Mr. Taft decides what whisky is.
he might enlighten prohibition states on
what near beer is.
President Taft may take comfort. Even
Tennessee is not certain about whisky.
Kentucky doubtless is.
It is to be hoped that Count Zeppelin s
aerial omnibus, accommodating 50 people.
wiU be heated tn the cold months.
The clothes makers have announced the
new styles for spring, but let us first fin
ish paying for the old winter styles:
It would be well for Dr. Cook to delay
his statement until all future charges are
in. Then he can a clean sweep.
If we do have a little bad weather,
don't blame the weather bureau. Think
of the bully work it did all through the
fall
PROF. PARKS’ LETTERS
RESUMED.
■ " l-
The Journal is pleased to call
attention to the resumption in to
day’s issue of Prof. M. M. Parks”
engaging series of letters on the
world tour he is now making. This
correspondence, written specially
for The Journal, has bestirred
southwide interest and has thrown
a fresh light of enchantment upon
the wonders of the continents
across the sea.
Today Professor Parks tells of
Port Said. Thence he will lead
his readers across the desert to the
century-folded pyramids. From
day to day the readers of The
Journal will follow him. gathering
new points of view as well as new
information of the countries and
people he is visiting.
GEORGIA NEEDS PRESIDENT SOULE.
Dr. Andrew M. Soule, president of the Georgia State College
of Agriculture, has received one of the most substantial tributes
ever paid a southern educator. He has been offered the deanship
of Minnesota’s world famous agricultural college, the tender hav
ing come directly through the governor of that state.. In its par
ticular field this institution corresponds with Harvard or with thd
universities at Berlin and Leipzig in the academic sphere. It is
one of the most individual and creative schools on the continent.
President Soule merits the compliment. His rare professional
equipment and rich personality entitle him to the highest honors
to be earned. But it is devoutly to be wished that he will remain
in Georgia, continuing the kingly work he has begun. Our state
cannot afford to lose such a leader at this moment. Her agricul
tural interests are in their crucial epoch. The light of a great
awakening is upon us. We are in the very springtime of modern
agricultural thought and endeavor. Only within the past few
years have we come to understand in a larger sense what the
farm really means to society as a whole and to the farmer
himself. The next decade means more in the scientific unfolding
of Georgia resources than the past half century has. A big crusade
is on. President Soule has played a major role in impelling it. He
is its logical leader and finisher. He is close to the people; he
knows the ins and outs of local conditions; he combines the two
essentials of the present day teacher—uncommon knowledge and
common sense.
As agricultural editor of The Semi-Weekly Journal, the paid
circulation of which is one hundred thousand. Dr. Soule speaks
twice each week to half a million people. In this sphere alone his
service is bountiful. Few men have such a wide area of duty and
opportunity. It is to be hoped that, renouncing the distinction
and emoluments of the new’ office, he will stay between Georgia s
plowshares.
KING AND BUSINESS MAN I
King Leopold 11, of Belgium, who lies dying, or may even
now be dead, is Europe’s uniquest sovereign. While other mon
archs have pursued the customary chase of fashion, diplomacy,
or war, this practical-minded king has gone on quietly
making money. He has been pre-eminently a business man. He
compares as a financier with J. Pierpont Morgan, and with Harri
man as a manipulator of big enterprises. The square compactness
of his forehead, the narrow sharpness of his eyes, tell of this, and
his chin doubtless would, were it not for his bushy beard.
Leopold has been in the world seventy-four years. Since 186.)
he has been on the throne of Belgium. Since 1876 he has been
making money. At that time he effected at Brussels the organi
zation of the African International association with a view to util
izing in an economic way the itscoveries that had just been made
on the dark continent. It was largely from his own resources
indeed that Stanley’s historic explorations of the Congo were fin
anced. In 1885 the Congo. Free State was established and neutral
ized and its sovereignty assigned to Leopold. Thence dates his
amazing, and if reports be true, his ruthless acquisition of wealth.
The newly found riches of Africa—its gold and ivory and skins
and fruits—burst upon the world of trade with a splendor resem
bling that which lured adventurers to America in the seventeenth
century. Leopold was the boss of the whole situation. He held the
power of granting private franchises and of collecting tariff du
ties, though trade was supposed to be free. At the outset of his
ostensibly neutral administration, he set aside for himself what is
known as the Great Crown Domain, a tract of opulent country larg
er than all his native kingdom. It was here that the rubber plant
flourished most luxuriantly. Leopold was a royal salesman. He
has earned his title—the King of the Rubber Crown.
There has long been a breath of scandal over his administra
tion of the Free State. The London News recently declared:
“Never before in the history of the world has one man devised
a system of brigandage so vast and so ingenious in its conceptior,
so daring and so unscrupulous in its operation as that by which
King Leopold has drawn his fabulous wealth from the tortured
Congolese.' ’
Today Brussels seems more interested in the renewed gossip
concerning these transactions than it does over the king’s ap
proaching death. But perhaps the estimate of a foreign official
quoted in the press dispatches is true.
“Leopold does not understand the Belgians; the Belgians do
not understand Leopold,’’ said he.
It is difficult and even dange-ous to weigh any man’s worth by
outward facts alone. While the king has made money for himself,
he has also spoken the open sesame to a hitherto useless region and
has added materially to the whole world’s wealth. He has been
munificent in improvements in the royal city and, most of all, he
has set the example of a king performing a practical and substan
tial work on the earth.
CONCERNING PECANS.
Once upon a time, runs the old nursery tale, a boy found three
nuts lying at the foot of a hill. They were brown, ugly things,
seemingly useless, but when, after a season they burst, one brought
forth a coach and six bourses, one a castle and one a bag of gold.
The story has come true in Georgia. Not many years ago, the
pecan nut was considered as something fit to crack at Christmas
time but not more seriously than that. Today, it is one of the
state’s most profitable resource. Almost unnoticed, pecan or
chards have grown up until in southwest Georgia they cover more
than ten thousand acres of land and contribute annually something
like two million dollars of wealth.
In the current issue of “Progress,” that always vital and in
teresting monthly of the Atlanta chamber of commerce, is told the
history of our pecan industry. It reads like a fairy legend itself.
Twenty-seven years ago G. M. Bacon, who lives at the little village
of DeWitt, twelve miles out from Albany, received from a Texas
kinsman a sack of pecan nuts for the children. Most of them were
eaten but four of them were planted, along with collards and mar
igolds, in the garden. They lay there forgotten through shifting
Aprils and Octobers, until one day it was observed that four
babyish green shoots had climbed into the sunlight. These seedlings,
Mr. Bacon dug up and transplanted. He is now the president of a
company owning fourteen thousand trees upon seven hundred
acres, each a veritable bag of gold. One of the four sturdy pion
eers still stands and each autumn flings down its russet treasure
with the careless freedom of youth.
It is estimated that the pecan yields two hundred dollars an
acre. net. Without the slightest crowding twenty trees may be
planted to the acre, with ample room and soil sustenance between
the rows for cotton, corp, peas or other crops. Each tree bears
twenty pounds of nuts. The market price of paper-shell pecans
throughout the United States is one dollar a pound. Every acre
thus has a gross value to its owner of four hundred dollars, so that
the estimate of two hundred dollars an acre is severely conserva
tive. ‘' /
Many men have grown rich through utilizing apparent trifle i.
Here is an opportunity for Georgia.
Over ten thousand acres of pecan trees are already under cul
tivation near Albany and in various other quarters they are com
ing to receive practical attention. Indeed, investors from the east
and the west are buying Georgia land specifically for this pur
pose. The tree is an easy-going sort, able to shift for itself in al
most any soil, frugal in its demands, long-lived and prolific. Its
adaptability to climate is shown by the fact that several beautiful
specimens are now flourishing on Atlanta lawns where they have
been set primarily for the charm of their form and foliage.
Col. Philip Cook, state treasurer, has planted a pecan nut a
few paces from his office window at the capitol. declaring that he
intends it as his monument. It will be that and more, for when
visitors look upon it, they will behold a living symbol of a great
Georgia industry.
inn ATLANTA bEMi-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 190fc
A ROUND THE WORLD n..
WITH PROF. PARKS P °s«.i
CAIRO. Egypt, November.
A few minutes after breakfast on a
bright November morning our ship
passed from . the Mediterranean and
anchored at the entrance to the
Suez canal. It was planned that
we should spend four days in Egypt,
at Cairo and elsewhere,- while the steam
er should slowly pass through the canal
and be ready for us at the city of Suez
upon our return from Cairo.
Considerable concern was felt by the
captain and by the officials of the Ham
burg-American line in Germany, as thej,
had some fears that possibly the big ship
might have difficulty in getting through
to the Red sea.
The canal varies in depth from 28 to
80 feet. In leaving New York our vessel
(The Cleveland) sank 32 feet in the wa
ter, but as the vessel lay at anchor ready
to enter the canal, after the consumption
of coal and supplies for several weeks, it
was drawing only 28 feet.
By the removal of some of the water
ballast, the captain pronounced that he
would bring the Cleveland through and
be ready for us at Suez, though it was
believed by many that the vessel might
have to be pulled off the road in some
places. j
Even the directors of the canal felt
more than ordinary interest, as the
Cleveland is reported to be the longest
and largest vessel that ever attempted to
pass from the Mediterranean to the Red ’
sea. They promised to give the big ship j
the right of way and orders were given i
that no vessel should try to pass the
Cleveland in the canal.
• ♦ •
As soon as our vessel was anchored off
the center of the town, it was quickly
surrounded by scores of row boats. In i
some were divers begging for coins to be
thrown into the water: in others were mu- ,
Biclans playing violins and guitars with
the hope that money would be dropped to
them; in others were vendors of fruits
and souvenirs and merchandise; in others
were boatmen begging for the chance to
row us ashore.
Descending to one of the small boats we
were quickly rowed to the land by a
tall dark-skinned Egyptian; he was bare
footed and wore a long, loose fitting rbbe,
white in color and reaching almost to
his feet.
Passing through the custom house with
out difficulty, we looked wdth amazement
upon the varied races that gq to make
tip the cosmopolitan population of Port
Said.
With two hours to spend tn the city. I
secured a carriage in company with two
friends. Our driver was a fat Turk, wear
ing the Oriental turban, and able to
speak, in his way. English, French. Ger- j
man, Spanish. Italian and Greek, besides
his native tongue, Arabic. His charge sot
two hours was only two shillings each, (
though as usual on this side of the At
lantic. an extra tip was of course ex
pected.
*• * •
Port Said is considered to be the most
cosmopolitan port in the world. It has a
population of 50,000 people, representing
nearly every race on earth. One-fourth
of the inhabitants are European (English.
Spanish. Italian, Greek), the rest are
black, hrown, or dark skinned people, rep
resenting racea so varied that only an
expert could identify all of them.
The city is modern, and has grown up
rapidly since the completion of the ca
nal. It has caught the driftwood of hu
manity and has a reputation for being
very wicked.
Kipling wrote: “There is Iniquity In
many ports of the wrold, and vice in all;
but the concentrated essence of all ini
quity and all the vices of all the con
tinents finds Itself at Port Said in that
sand bordered hell.”
This was written years ago; since that
time, under the control of the 'English
the city has been improved, undergoing
the refining and reforming Influence of a
better type of civilization. The custom
house, the postoffice and several public
buildings are attractive, while many of
the European residents are elegant. The
native homeb, with few exceptions, were
unaatractlve; in most cases they were on
narrow streets,surrounded by dirt and filth;
in some cases there was squalor and deg
radation almost Indescribable. There ace
several good churches, / The Greek church
was on our road and for a few minutes
we watched an interesting service with
in. The Mohammedan mosque attracts at
tention by reason of the tall minaret
which rises high into the sky and pre
sents a graceful appearance.
Soon after entering the sandy city we
saw a long train of camels coming down
the streets, laden with merchandise and
bound for a journey across the desert, t
With our Turk as interpreter, arrange-i
ments were made for the Bedouin driver I
to stop his camels for a kodak picture.
The snapshot was taken and handing:
the Bedouin a small coin, I started for:
the carriage. Immediately I was sur-!
rounded by a dozen boys good natured-j
ly, but loudly calling for "backshesh," I
(tips). They had seen the money in
my hand and they begged vehemently,
and strenuously for a gift. They caught i
hold of my arms and for a moment sur- j
rounded as I was it was impossible to!
go forward. ' \
The American
Congress
The central figure in every discussion*
of the American congress today is the
speaker of the house of representatives,
Joseph Gurney Cannon. “Uncle Joe” is a
character. He is as much of a character
in American politics as was the rugged
Andrew Jackson, the terrible John Ran
dolph, of Roanoke! or the Imperious Ros
coe Conkling. And he shares with those
three interesting historical personages
the distinction of being always positive,
never negative. Uncle a Republi
can, therefore he hates the Democratic
party and all its works. If he likes a man
he will go to any proper length to show
his affection. If he disapproves of a man
there is no language too severe to ex
press his feelings. Consequently those
persons who admire Mr. Cannon accord
him a whole-souled and unquestioning
loyalty which is akin to infatuation, and
those who do not admire him are apt to
use the entire supply of invectives in ex
pressing their opinions.
♦ • •
It appears that there are fashions in
Cannonism. The speaker can remember
when he was hailed all over the coun
try as the ideal leader of the western
Republicanism—that was before some of
the “fair-haired boys of the uplift maga
zines” were bom. He also remembers
when he was denounced by a large sec
tion of the press and by all Democrats
as “dirty-mouthed Cannon.” Still later
the whole country adopted him as its
“uncle,” and embarrassed him with gifts
of homespun suits, and yarn socks, and
hand-knit “galluses,” just to show that
the country saw in Uncle Joe the incar
nation of those homely virtues which all
Americans affect to regard so highly. And
now Uncle Joe. being the same man and
remembering all these things, is being
abused by most Democrats and some Re
publicans because he is a “czar.” and
13 alleged to have decamped with the lib
erties of the American people secreted
in the same vest pocket where he carries,
ready for instant use. cigars, Vermillion
county, 111., the Republican house or
ganization and a perfectly warm estt-
I had been warned to look out for
incessant and importunate begging for
“backshesh'’ in Egypt, but I must con
fess that my first experience came with
a vigor and an earnestness for which I
was not prepared. Realizing my unfor
tunate and yet ludicrous situation, and
thinking strategy better than force, I
pointed towards one of my companions;
away some of the boys rushed, releasing
me and surrounding him.
• • •
While driving along the streets we
looked upon a local school—an open and
bare room, where a dozen or more little
boys were sitting on a dirty floor around
a dilapidated looking pedagogue. A lit
tle later we were permitted to visit a
Mohammedan school conducted along
more modern lines.
The principal of the school received
us with marke dcourtesy and directed
his assistants to conduct us to the Eng
lish room.
As we entered the class room every
body rose to his feet and saluted us by
raising his right hand to his forehead.
Each boy wore the red fez or tarboosh,
on his head.
The Arab teacher (with turban on his
head), shook hands with us, saying
“Welcome, welcome.” with manifesta
tions of extreme pleasure/ Then with
a sudden change in manner, he sternly
shouted to the boys, "sit down, silence.”
The dignity of his position was asserted
in a loud voice and by a dictatorial and
arrogant manner. The boys were obe
dient, but in a characteristic Oriental
manner they spoke in loud tones. We
found the boys spoke an dread English
fairly well, and that they had also some
familiarity with French. Spanish, Ital
ian and Greek. It was amusing to hear
Arabic well, that being their natural
speech.
In the study of English grammar, the
boys were required to give from memo
ry definitions with which they did not
understand. It was amuseing to hear
them undertake to define such words
as “sentence.” choose,” “phrase,” “in
terjection,” “participle;” as I listened to
the meaningless words they uttered and
as I observed the crude explanations of
the teacher, it was hard to refrain from
a smile.
Concerning things which they under
stand and in which they were interested,
i noticed that the boys talked fairly welt,
but in the definitions in English gram
mar they were as helpless as an untried
swimmer in a whirlpool.
However, the same unwise custom pre
vails in many schools in America where
little children recite like parrots the
things they do not comprehend. People
are so prone to fall into fixed customs
that few realize how amusing and how
pathetic are many of the methods that
prevail in some of our schools. Before
leaving the school we made the boys a
little talk on our trip around the world,
and concluded by complimenting them on
their English (not their grammar). As
we left the boys arose again and gave
the salute. The principal was very gra
cious; he offered us cigarettes which we
declined; he offered again, indicating
that the cigarettes were “nice Egyptian.”
Unable to partake of this extended hospi
tality we thanked him for the opportunity
given us of seeing the school, and bade
him "good-by,” using as far as we had
power both language and smiles to show
our pleasure.
The school Impressed us more favorably
than we had expected, but an experienced
traveler warned us not to look upon that
as a typical school. The ordinary Mo
hammedan schools, he said, were much
poorer; this school, he led us to believe,
had been modernized, Europeanized, An
glicized.
The customs of the Orientals were most
varied; only a few wore the European
dress. Most of them were barefooted; in
steal of coats and trousers they wore
long tunics or robes like “Mother Hub
bards,” the colors being white, green,
blue, yellow or other shades; on their
heads they wore the turban or the red
fez; the turbans were of many colors and
kinds, representing the tribe or the race
to which the wearer belonged. The few
women seen in the streets wore black
robes and black veils.
At Port Said the west meets the east,
the European meets the Oriental, the
modern world meets the ancient civiliza
tion, the Christian meets the Mohamme
dan. This has been my first view of the
Orient. I had been dreaming of the pyr
amids and the Nile, but they were yet
further on; instead, I saw a city full of
strange people, strange costumes, bewil
dering sights. I had read of the Arabs,
the Turks, the Bedouins, the Egyptians,
the Abyssinians, the Nubians, and the
Soudanese. I had seen some of them at
the great fairs at Chicago and St. Louis;
I had come in contact with some of them
at Gibraltar, but I was not prepared for
the multitude of curious sights that met
my gaze at Port Said. It was novel, and
1 looked wUh the same eager Interest that
a child looks on a circus parade, fearing
lest he miss anything; it was bewilder
ing; it was fascinating and I wanted
more. »
Speaker Cannon*s
• Career
By Frederic J. Haskin,
• mate of the usefulness to society of
. Messrs. Bryan, Gompers and LaFollette.
• • •
There are many men, no doubt, who
are able to give a perfectly impartial es
’ timate of Mr. Cannon's ability and
statesmanship, but there is none who will
do it. Either Mr. Cannon is the good old
•! Uncle Joe who is standing bravely at the
i; head of the conservative forces fighting
; Bryanism, Socialism and the devil; or he
jis an antiquated Tory striving to ob-
■ j struct every movement in the interest of
: i public progress and modern economics,
i ■ Os course he is neither one nor the other
' j —he is not the only hope of conservatism
11 nor the only enemy of progress, for some-
■ times he is progressive and sometimes he
s' opposes the conservatives. One thing,
I however, is certain. He is always a Re
; publican.
II • • *
• i Mr. Cannon will be 74 years old when he
•' celebrates his next birthday. May 8. He
i was 68 when he was first elected speaker,
i the oldest man ever called to the chair
11 of the house. Yet he is as vigorous today
' in mind and body as are most men of
50, and 50 is young in congress. He does
i ' not appear to feel the handicap of his
■ years in any fashion, and he is ready at
any time to prove to the Insurgents
• that he is capable of putting up a very
high grade of fight.
i• • •
I He was bom in Guilford county. N. C.,
I in 1836. of Quaker parents. When he was
i four years old his parents moved to Indi-
I ana. his father being opposed to slavery.
: 1 At 14 years old Cannon went to work
iin a country store, and saved his money
: for the purpose of studying law. When
I he was 20 he went to Terre Haute to
.read law in the office of John P. Usher,
r jwho was secretary of the interior in the
Lincoln cabinet. Later he went to the
I Cincinnati Law school, where he was
I graduated in 1868. In the same year he
I removed to Illinois, living for a few
monflis at Shelbyville and then going t<-
i‘Tuscola. In 1861 he was elected state s at
•ltorney and was continued in that office
-.until 1868. In 1872 he was elected to
.Best Ears Corn From
Year’s 2,767,000,000 Bu. Crop
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Fred Palin, Winning Ear, Trophy, and the 10 Best Ears.
OMAHA. Neb.—ln the season just end
ed American farmers produced 2.767.000,000 1
bushels of corn, worth $1,720,000,- .
000. Considering quantity, quality and 1
price, this is the proudest record ot the j
American corn farm.
To have raised the best one ear of i
corn out of the tremendous crop is a i
distinction of no small magnitude. The j
i honor belongs to Fred palin, a farmer of ;
i Newton, Ind. To signify his splendid i
!a< hievement lhe National Corn exposition i
J here awarded him the $1.6(10 trophy shown 1
lin the picture above. The SI,OOO ear, each
■ kernel of which is worth sl.is also shown 1
! in the picture, and the pride of the pos» '
i sessor is not disguised in ids face. 1
conjgress, where he has served ever since
with the exception of the two years of
the 52d congress. In 1876 he removed to
his present home in Danville and aban
doned his law practice.
• • •
Os the men who served in the 43d con
gress the first of which Mr. Cannon was
a member, but four others remain in
public life. William P. Frye was then the
chief supporter of Speaker Blainf, Eugene
Hale was a Republican house leader. Ju
lius Caesar Burrows was "the silver
tongued orator of the house,” and Steph
en B. Elkins was in the house as a
delegate from the territory of New Mex
ico. Now Frye and Hale represent Maine
in the senate. Burrows is a senator from
Michigan and Elkins is a senate}- from
West Virginia. There is not a man left
in the house who was there when “Uncle
Joe” first took his seat. The names Frye,
Hale, Elkins and Cannon prove the valuo,
in congress, of long service.
• • •
Mr. Cannon served his apprenticeship, as
al young congressmen have to do, but ‘t
was not long before he was recognized
by the leaders as a man of parts. Ho
speedily climbed to a high position on
the committee on appropriations, of
which he was so long chairman and
where he won well-merited reputation as
a “watch dog of the treasury." He was
a candidate for speaker in 1889 against
Thomas B. Reed and William McKinley,
and again in 1899 against David B. Hen
derson. In 1903 his ambjtion was realized
and he took the chair' to preside over
the house, where he had so long served.
• • •
In the stormy days of the 51st congress
when Speaker Reed was revolutionizing
the character of the house, Mr, Cannon
was the chief floor leader and whip of
the party in the consideration of every
question but the tariff, where Mr. Mc-
Kinley led. In one of the hot debates
on the question of the power of the
speaker to court a quorum and compel
the attendance of members, Mr. Cannon (
replied to a remark of Mr. McAdoo, of
New Jersey, in language described at
the times as unprintable. The incident
was the cause of a bitter personal quar
rel between Cannon and “Billy” Mason,
of Chicago, that day, and led to at
tacks upon Cannon in all the opposition
press of the country, notably the New
York Sun. Cannon was renominated for
congress.the very next day after the in
cident occurred, and the matter was
made an issue in his district. He was
defeated that year, 1890, as were most
of the republican leaders and all but
88 of the republican representatives in
the house. Whether he owed his defeat
to the campaign waged upon that inci
dent, or whether it was the result of the
general democratic land-slide, is a con
troverted question. At any rate he was
returned to congress in 1892, another
democratic year, and has been coming
back ever since. No public man in the
history of the country has been subjected
to a more severe attack by the press
than was “Uncle Joe” Cannon in 1890.
He was even then “Uncle Joe,” and
that was 20 years ago.
In that familiar name one finds a key;
to his character and to his power. He
is one of the plain people, a lovable old
man whom his friends adore. Anybody I
would call him "uncle.” Now there isn't
a man alive who wopld dare to address
the senator from Maine as “Uncle
’Gene.” It would be tantamount to con-1
tempt of the supreme court, treason and
all high crimes and misdemeanors. Mr. I
' Hale is in the senate what Mr. Cannon 1
is in the house, the chief conservator
of the traditions of the party. Yet their
methods are as different as are the two
houses, or the two men.
• * •
Mr. Cannon never encouraged the sen
atorial ambition. He never looked upon
a transfer from the house to the senate '
as a promotion. Perhaps one of the
most remarkable features of his long
service is that he always has been jeal- |
ous of the rights of the house as opposed j
to the encroachments of the senate. It i
is true that Mr. Cannon's conception of >
the scope of the "rights of the house” |
differs radically from that entertained by I
many persons, but it is none the less
true that the speaker of the house
guards faithfully what he deems his
special trust.
• • •
Mr. Cannon is a product of the golden
age of the Republican party, one of the
half-dozen men still in public life who
entered politics as supporters of Lincoln ‘
The exposition awarded another Jl.OfO
trophy for the beat 10 ears. This fell to
J. R. Oberstreet. of Franklin, Ind. The
10 magnificent ears are shown in the
picture.
Falin said: “I put in seven years grow
ing that ear of corn. My parent stock con
sisted of Reed’s Yellow Dent as the male
plant, and the Alexander Gold Standard
as the mother plant. The Standard was
detasseled the first two years. This cross
produced the seed from which the world s
best ear came.
"The ear came from among those se
lected for seed. My wifq picked out the
winning ear. and I think that the credit
belongs to her.”
in his first campaign. But the attitude
of the Cannon mind is not so much that
of the Lincoln era as of that epoch of
fierce party strife which began with the
end of reconstruction and ended only with
the eclipse of the Democratic party dur
ing the last Cleveland administration.
In those days It meant something to be
a party man, and it was disgraceful to be
a turn-coat. It was the days of straight
tickets, no scratching and absolute boss
rule. The “independent voter” had not
appeared to disturb politicians and the
“uplift’’ and Its schemes and plans was un
heard of. Mr. Cannon Is true to the tra
ditions of his party and he has little pa
tience with new-fangled notions, unless
they will serve to advance party Inter
ests. Then he is as ready to take up
as anybody could be.
• • •
The one thing he does know how to do
is to fight. He knows how to deal heavy
blows, he knows how to take them.. In
1891 Mr. Theodore Roosevelt said: "We
cannot escape from the fact that is was
no credit to the Republican party of the
house that Mr. Cannon, of Illinois, should
be one of its leaders.” Yet it was r.ot
long until Mr. Cannon returned to the
leadership as a victor. One of the lead
ers of the house, Henry Sherman Boutell
has said of the speaker. “He has no cast
or hypocrisy. He never poses. He never
flatters. He never deceives.” And even
his bitterest enemies must admit that
there is never any difficulty in finding
out just where ,r Uncle Joe” stands. He
is again the center of a political fight
and the country may be sure that he
will not run away from it.
ashington Notes
BY RALPH SMITH .
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14.—Congressman
William M. Howard, of the Eighth dis
trict, was today reappointed regent of the
Smithsonian institution. The appointment
was made by Speaker Cannon. The other
regents on the part of the house are
Dalzell, of Pennsylvania, and Mann, of
Illinois.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 14.—Congressman
Gordon Lee today announced the appoint*
ment of Sidney Appleton to the Annapolis
naval academy. Appleton is the grand
son of Judge Joel Branham, of Rome.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14.—Mr. and Mrs
Frank B. Anderson, of Hawkinsville, are
enjoying their honeymoon In Washington.
They expect to visit New York and Bos
ton before returning to Georgia.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 14.—The comptroll
er of the currency has authorized the
Byrom National bank, of Byromville, to
begin business. Its capital Is $25,000. J. a
Byrom is president, W. H. Byrom and d.
D. Byrom, vice presidents, and W. E.
Dawson, cashier. i
WASHINGTON, D. C-, Dec. 14.—Con
gressman Lee, of the Seventh district,
today introduced a bill for the improve
ment of the Coosa river. The measure
carries $241,069 for a lock and dam at
Horse Leg shoals; $282,000 for lock and
dam No. 4, and $134,000 for a lock and
dam No. 5. All these are located on the
Coosa river below Rome.
The congressman has secured surveys
of the river and favorable recommenda
tions for the project, and if there is a
river and harbors bill at this session of
congress he hopes to get substantial ap
propriations for the work, which means
so much to Rome.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 14.—Con
gressman Hardwick has arranged for a
special hearing before the rivers and har
bors committee in his bills making ap
propriations to improve the upper Savan
nah river and to protect the city of Au
gusta from future floods. His bills pro
vide $350,000 for deepening the channel of
the river below Augusta, and approxi
mately $160,000 for the protection of the
river banks at Augusta.
The exact date of the hearing has not
been fixed, but it will be held in Jan
uary at a time convenient to the Augusta
flood commission and others interested
in the projects.
Mr. Hardwick will consult the wishes
of F. B. Pope, chairman of the fined
commission. Judge Joseph R. Lamar, Tts
attorney, and City Engineer Nisbet Wing
field.
