His eighty-ninth milestone finds “Uncle Joe” Cannon viewing life from the sidelines. His mind apparently has lost none of its sprightliness but now he is an observer where one he was a doer.
And a rather humble observer he is too. When he was in the thick of events, humility was not one of his attributes. Then he did not hesitate to force his opinions upon a recalcitrant Congress to defend his views with vigor.
Now he confesses with unwonted humility: “The world is moving so fact with new inventions for our comfort and convenience that I find it hard to keep pace.” He refuses outright to discuss politics, contenting himself with an expression of confidence in the “good hard common sense of President Coolidge.
Such a role hardly befits Mr. Cannon even in retirement. It does not suggest the vivacious and dynamic “Uncle Joe” of popular tradition. It shows how heavy are the hands which age has laid upon him and how complete in his reconciliation to retirement.
--Asheville Times
From page 4 of The Durham Sun, Sunday morning, May 17, 1925. Joseph Gurney Cannon, born in Guilford County, N.C., in 1836, was a powerful Illinois politician and leader of the Republican Party. He served 23 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and was Speaker of the House from 1903 to 1911. He died Nov. 12, 1926.
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020732/1925-05-17/ed-1/seq-4/#words=MAY+17%2C+1925
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