About Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1909)
4 The Semi-Weekly Journal, j KaMfM « <t« AOaau ro—.rn— •• «•*' u “ ! tar •< the Secood Class. JAMES K. GRAY. Editor and General Manager. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE. Twrlw moatba Bix wrfcs •* Three taoattoe “' The kBl WtftV J.mraal U Ta«taU; and Friday. and l» maUed «W Mt route, tor early delivery. it roe tains from all over Use worw. •—eat: by special leased »!«• U’® ““*£* J tai I ataft ot Aiatlngutafied contributor*. •Its atroog aevartmeau M special value to tea kame and Use tarn. Agents wanted at eWT postottlc*. Üborel eeaunMoa allowed. Outfit free. The ealy travails* repceeeeitatlees wa bare are J. a. Bryan. B. T. Bolton. C. C CoyU and M. H. Gilreath. We will be reapooalble only tor money yald to tea aboee named travel tad releases tatltea. laaeiaiiiiMinii' ,f ‘* "* ♦ NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS* ♦ The label used for addresatng ♦ ♦ your paper shows the time your ♦ ♦ aubocriptlon expiree. By renewing ♦ ♦ at leant two weeks before the date ♦ >w ou this label, you tenure regular ♦ ♦ service. * ♦ In ordering paper changed, bo ♦ ♦ sure to mention you old. an well as ♦ ♦ your new. address. If on a rural ♦ ♦ route please give the route num- ♦ ♦ bar. * ♦ Wo cannot enter subscriptions to ♦ ♦ begin with back numbers. Remit- ♦ ♦ tance should be sent by postal ♦ ♦ order, or registered mall. ♦ Address all orders and notices ♦ ♦ for this department to THE SEMI- ♦ ♦ WEEKLY JOURNAL* Atlanta. Go- ♦ 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 A IK-V O W"' flp ' p--, U . ?< ’ * 1 " '■ ■ is U»- Y Ji oKk - ‘• 1 f J HJ 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.
