Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/488



T has been my fortune to meet with “Uncle Joe,” as it is the custom to call him, the autocrat of the House of Representatives, upon two occasions. In 1905 I was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which met in Chicago and nominated Roosevelt and Fairbanks for the presidency and vice presidency. “Uncle Joe” presided over the convention. There were 30,000 people within the vast building; very few of the speakers could make themselves heard and there was more or less of bustle and disorder.

From the platform, a long and narrow boardwalk was extended out into the midst of the vast assemblage, from the far end of which the speeches were made. Failing to secure silence by ordinary appeals, “Uncle Joe” got down on his hands and knees and pounded with his gavel on these boards. The attitude caused a laugh, attention was attracted to him and away from the buzz of conversation and the maneuver succeeded. I made a speech nominating Fairbanks. Elihu Root and Chauncey M. Depew had spoken and when “Uncle Joe” introduced me he did it with a reference to “three of a kind,” which no doubt called up familiar associations in the minds of some who were present.

I met him again in the summer of 1909. The Honorable I. P. Wanger brought him to Norristown, where he had a reception and made an address at the court house. We then went in automobiles over the camp ground at Valley Forge, and then to the King of Prussia Inn. As it happened, Jack O'Brien, the noted pugilist, was at the inn preparing for 468