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Show f I THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE - - JOE CANNON i V mm ., .,,.,, J By a Friend and Neighbor Prof L N Smith, of the New Jersey Academy. H Speaker Cannon Is a native of Indiana, though now representing Illinois, attended school near the home of Dr. .lolm Franklin Englc, of the A. C. of U., and as a "Sucker" comes from the hometown of Prof. 1. X. Smith. It Is with some pride that Ilooslers' claim Mr. Cannon, and he is a living example that all Iloosleis arc not as the local exponent of Democracy bellces Terry S. Heath to be. Ed. note. Hon. Joseph O. Cannon who has lcccived the unanimous indoiscment of his colleagues for the speakership of the House of Representatives will piobably lecehe moie attention during dur-ing the next few months than any other man in Washington, if not In the nation. As speaker of the House J Mr. Cannon Is In a position to wield WmJl' more Inlluence in national affahs than Tt' any other man with the possible exception ex-ception of the I'lesldent. Everyone Is anxious to know something some-thing about the antecedents and hls-toiy hls-toiy of a man who has such an influence in-fluence In his eountij for its weal or woe. Mr. Cannon was born In Xoith Caio-lina Caio-lina sixty-sen on jcti, ago. His pai-ents pai-ents wcie membeis of the Society of Friends, geneiallj known as quakcis. Thcj had been compelled to leave their caily homo in xsew England on account of religious persecution, and together with others of tho same sect, had made a settlement In North Caiollna. While Mr. Cannon was still a boy, the Cannon family moved to Indiana There the lad worked on a farm In summer, and attended the district school In winter, meanwhile acquiring those habits of industry and economy which have been tho best capital of all our self-made men. He also attended at-tended the Fi lends Academy at the little town of Wooinlngdalc for a few terms vvhcie he fitted himself for a clerkship In a countiy store. Doubtless the discipline in self lcllance on the farm, the knowledge of human nature acquired In the store, and the inspiration of the Academy woie Important factors In later successes of this typical American. Ameri-can. At the age of nineteen tills joung man, having sacd a few bundled bun-dled dollars, began the study of law with a well-known law firm of Teirc Haute. At the age of tweuty-two he was admitted to the bar, and the next j ear opened a law oillce in Tuscola. Illinois. Tuscola was a small town in a sparsely settled prairie countiy, famous fam-ous alone for Its corn Holds and wild fowl. Its recourses, like those of our j oung attorney, wore to be developed by cultivation and hard work. To practice law in Illinois in the days previous to the printed decisions of the Supreme Court of the State requited a kind of ability and Ingenuity In-genuity not unlike that which Is essential to success In any other pioneer woik. As some one has said, "Wit and eloquence counted for more before a Jury or a popular assembly In those days than a knowledge of the legal points Involved." However, Mr. Cannon was not less thoiough as a student of law when he was keen and resourceful in wit. His leputatlon as a law) or steadily incicased and within a few years he was regarded as one of the best lawyers In that paitof the State. As early as 1800 Mr. Cannon became interested In politics, and in that year, rode on hoiseback tluough the prairie swamps to Decatur to attend a convention, that endorsed Mr. Lincoln Lin-coln for I'lesldent. Soon after this event he was elected prosecuting attorney for Douglass county, a position posi-tion which beheld for the next six or eight .veais. In 181:2 this ambitious joung lawyer, then but thlrtv-slx years old, was elected a lepresentallvc fiom the old fourteenth Illinois Congicsslonal DIs-ti DIs-ti let. Kiom that time on he has been lc-eieeted to Congress with the e.x- ccptlon of a single term, when the Farmers' Alliance made a temporary bicak In the old party lines, and elected elect-ed an obscuie farmer-banker In his place. When It Is lccalled that Mr. Cannon got his early legislative tialnlng with such men as Blaine, Hoar, Garlleld and many otheis almost equally famous, It will leadlly bo seen that few men In public life at the picscnt time have enjojed similar pilvileges. . It must have been an Insphatlon to the j oung congressmen from "out west" to be associated with these statesmen in the national legislature and to come In contact with Morton, Logan, Sherman, Sumner and otheis who had already won fame In the service of their country. We can easily believe that the political ambitions ambi-tions of the coming statesman weic tired to an Intense heat as he listened to the debates of Blaine and Oaillcld, the giants of the nmtb, with Hill and Lanian, the giants of the south. Theic wi:uh giants in those dajs, and theie wcie occasions that Incited them to battle like giants. To have been a witness to events that oceuir-cd oceuir-cd In the halls of Congress In the decades de-cades Immediately following the civil war, was to have been favored as few men of our day have been favoied. The. political stoim center was the national capital, but ItsclTect extend- ihI to all parts or tho countiy, anil the questions that gave ilso to the fiercest struggles in Congics-s, had to be fought out on the stump. Indeed It was necessary to light over many times during the campaigns that followed the civil war, the questions that giew out of that war. It was dining this Intensely Intcicstlng period of our national life that Mr. Cannon began his political career. It Is no exaggeiatlon to say that "Joe" Cannon, as lie was then calted by his friends and constituents was one ot the most foiclhlc stump speak-cis speak-cis and effective campalgucis in what is now known as the "middle west." And while Mr. Cannon was alwavs aleit between sessions In looking after his political fences, he was no less caicful to look after the needs and wishes of his constituents when Congress Con-gress was In session. It was his ability as a keen f.tr-slght-cd politician that made It possible for him to serve hlsdistiict, his state and his countiy M long and so elTcctlvely as a legislator and statesman. When Mr. Cannon Ihst went, to Congress it was generally conceded that the west had little Inlluence In the legislative alTahs of the country compaied with that of the cast, on account of the ficqucnt changes In the personnnel of her representatives and senatois. It soon became uppaicnt that Mr. H Cannon possessed unusual ability, as H a debater; that he was clear headed H and fair-minded in legislative mattets; H that he wasoneof the most Indefatlgu- H able woikeis In the House, but If he H had not retained his seat long enough M to make himself thoroughly known rM and familiar with men and measures, M as well as with the "Ins" and "outs" iH of legislative pioceedlngs, he could H not have attained his present position . H in the public mind and sci vice. ,H ''ultimately for his constituents, H and for the whole countiy, the foimcr H have shown their appieclatlon of his M woith mid ability by ictalnlng him all M these vc.us as their lcpiescutatlvo. H Foitunateh for Mr. Cannon him- M self, he has peislslcntly lcfuscd to accept any other position than the H one with whose needs and lcquirc- M ments he has lung been familiar. H Whcthei he saw the day fiom afar H when he should become thhd man in H position In the nation and tho second H In power It matters not, but that he H has attained such a place by haul H woik, ic:il ability and sterling iutcglty M Is a fact that lias piaclically become M hlstoiy. M |