UNCLE JOE CANNON i own thus, JOSEPH GURNEY CANNON Speaker of the
House of Representatives MR. CANNONS FOREWORD I am one of the great
army of mediocrity which constitutes the majority. I have made
little effort to separate myself from that majority, and it has not
been difficult for me to keep in sympathy with the average citizen,
for I have always belonged to that class, if it is a class. All -
my experiences have been as an average man. Many of my friends have
urged rne to write a book, but aside from a great respect for the
cau tion of Job when he said, f Ob, that mine adver sary had
written a book I have never in my dis cussion of public affairs
conformed to a literary style. I have jollo ued the methods adopted
when riding a western circuit, a sort of catch-as-catch can
argiiment. To write is foreign to all my tastes and inclinations. I
never wrote a speech and held it in respect long enough to deliver
it. If rny experiences in public life, and my asso ciations with
the men who have accomplished imich in legislation in the last
fifty years, are of value to the present generation, the story must
be written by some one else. I have gone over the record of my span
of life with Mr. Busbey in a reminiscent way, and he has sifted the
grain from the chaff. It is my story, but his book. J. G, CANNON
EDITORS NOTE My husband, L. White Busbey, who died in Oc tober,
1925, was, during Mr. Cannons Speaker ship, his, private secretary.
How he came to receive that appointment he tells in a diary entry
made at the time DEAR BUSBEY Tlease call at the Speakers Room
before 11 30 or after the House ad journs today. J. G. CANNON tc ln
response to the above note, dated November 10, 1903, I called at
theSpeakers Room on my way to the Press Gallery. Mr. Cannon had
been elected Speaker the day before, and his room was crowded with
members. His greeting to me was, Fm glad you have come. I want you
to take that desk. You are Secretary to the Speaker I was taken by
surprise as I had never sought public office, had never done any
secretarial work and had no desire or intention to give up my work
as the Washington correspondent of the Chicago Inter Ocean. I so
told the Speaker. Oh, thats all fixed responded the Speaker. vi
EDITORS NOTE I stopped in Chicago on my way east and Hinman, the
Editor of the Inter Ocean, agreed to loan you to the House when I
explained we needed you. You are not to be a secretary, for I never
had one, but I need an assistant who knows men and meas ures, has
political sense and the confidence of the Press Gallery. You are to
be Speaker in this room and stand between me and the outside world
that thinks it has business with the Speaker. You are also to be
the man responsible if there is any news in this place and the boys
in the gallery do not get it I had known Mr. Cannon as I had known
other public men in Illinois and the West, not more inti mately.
There was nothing personal about the selection. Mr. Cannon wanted a
man of my train ing, and I seemed to fit in. The editor of the
Chicago Inter Ocean wired me that he had con sented to Mr. Cannons
request because it was of a character that could not be refused a
draft on the office for government service. ec You will the Speaker
went on, find your hands full, for so far as I have looked into the
matter the Speaker has control of the south half of the capitol,
manages the police, runs the res taurant, settles the contestsover
committee rooms and is a general Poo Bah. Thats you. So take the
oath EDITORS NOTE vii Thus began my more intimate acquaintance with
Mr. Cannon which continued for twenty years. Many o Mr. Cannons
friends in Congress and his other admirers in public life had
repeatedly urged him to write the story of his career, believ ing
that it would be a valuable contribution to American political
history. That he could never be persuaded to do. It was then
suggested to Mr. Busbey that lie, with Mr. Cannons consent, should
be his biographer. To this Mr...
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