The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-09-05
Mr.. THOMAS B. REED
In Defense of the House OF
Representatives.
THE DEMOCRATS ARE DENOUNCED
And the Republicans Praised-He Lauds His
Own Tyrannical Rulings-The Lodge
Force Bill Commended.

arrived here this afternoon. He received
ovations at several points along the road
where the train stopped to day. To night
he was welcomed at the city hall by a
crowd Of three thousand people and made
an address, the substance Of which is as
follows:
Speaker Reeds address was devoted to
review of the work of the present House
of Representatives. He spoke of the
threats Of the minority before the as
senmbling of Congress ana their. declara
tons that they We're to rule in utter disre
gard of the will of people," and of all the
filbustering tactics, they were prepared to
employ.
1.-The House of Representatives, he said, |
'is not body quick to do business under
any set of rules. Its large numbers and |
diverse interests will always make it slow |
and cumbersome but a system which en-
ables member to hold the whole House at
bay until the going down of the sun, and
then to hold ituntil physical exhaustion sets
it free and one fifth to hold it forever was
evidently absurd, rendered elections useless
and called halt to civilization. If there is
to be anything in popular government 1t
means that when the people have elected
one party to keep control OF the House or
Senate, that party shall have both the
power and responsibility. 1t was with far
, other ideas of public duty that the minority
set out at the opening OF the session. Not
only were no measures to pass which
did not have their approval, but
no rules, even of procedure, were
to be permitted except those which
seemed suitable to beating the party.
/ So we began without rules. After two
, months opposition they found that under
| he sar had hnnn
) built up by the American people in conso
nance with their institutions, the public
! business was going on every day without
their consent, and they began to clamor for
the very rules they had denounced. l need
not describe to you the scenes of disorder
l preliminary to the establishment of the
sound business principles of the House. 1t
is enough to say that good work was done
and the House has taken a large stride
4 toward business and the performance of
]. its duty. Any time these last eight
Y months have been subject to much indis-
e criminate praise and much indiscrimiuate
D blame. One is just az much deserved as
: the other. Great events DO not turn on one
D man. The House of Representatives was
S ready and ripe for change and the people
n stood ready to approve. What all the
Q world wanted was easy to do, am not
n greatly proud to be speaker, but l am
/ proud with all my heart to be
r one of that magnificent majority
S of the House of Representatives of the
: F'ifty=firSt Congress which for nine long
l. months has never for one momont faltered
IN it's duty. We have achieved all the Re
o publican party promised and more. We
% promised the people that the tariff should
n have fair and exhaustive treatment; that
IS the principle OF protection should have full
n recognition, and we have kept that promise
ID BY the customs administration bill wise
r, and discriminate effort has been made to
ID secure to our manufacturers and mer-
n chants the complete benefit of the rates of
s. duty imposed by the law. Two years ago
I'd the Democrats in the House admitted,
owing to change in the method of manu-
facture the wool industry was tottering to
q. fail unless wool and worsteds were
i put upon footing of equality.
q Nevertheless, for the purpose of
+ adding to the votes for the Mills bill,
n. which could never pass, they sacrificed the
ic wooden interest and without delay and
~ without waiting to strengthen their own
70 bill by the support of the worsted interest
= Major Mckinley and Governor Dihgley
a pushed through measure of justice which
"a has rescued so many OF our woolen mills
Is from disaster and ruin. But these bills
u useful as they are, were but forerunners Of
~ the tariff bill The Mckinley bill was no
u u made in closet; it was not the product o.
ie one man who tried to know everything. L
lss any tariff bill was ever the result of the
sh States the Mckinley bill was.
r. Another great achievement of tn,
IN House is the silver bill The Republican,
DIS had promised that all the silver dollar
should be furnished which could be kept a
value with gold. Such a bill fulfillin
that promise to the uttermost. now adorn
Sc our statute books as q tribute to the wis
,st conservatism of the Republican majorit!
-: of the House. Already silver seems to bt
lis Ginning to parity with gold with safet,
IS, to all interests of the country.
N "There was another promise to be KEEP
ar made long ago, and often renewed. Fo
years the Republicans have declared mos
righteously that there could not be in
republic duty more sacred than the dut
es. of upholding the right Of every citizen t
III participate in the government. Tn
a House, true to its duty, has passed bill
aS which, when it becomes law, will give
he the people of the United States the suffr
led ages of millions. 1t vii! enable votes to b
av cast and to be counted as cast. Then,
al, Mr.. Reed continued, ''every inch of GU
"a progression has been contested by oppos
% ton. The highway robbery of time Ia
,be been abolished; petty larceny has moi
.W Only strong, vigorous public sentimen
,or prevailing among all constituents will eve
Of do that. We spent two mouths and a hal
he in civilization, in preliminary struggle
he to settle the right of the majority to cor
lbe troll and in determining the rules of th
IN Houses proceedings. We were forced I
~ spend more time on contested elections
w - Our loss of time from conteste
oct elections will not be less tina
e aSr twenty days. One other cause
w loss of time will be Il surpris
perhaps to the community at large. Noma
would regret more than | to be though
wanting in all proper respect for the deat
ate and all proper reverence for departed con
G. rades and for the feelings of survir
ors friends; yet the method by which I'll
40 House shows this respect and pays tn
ter reverence is very costly to the nation.''
COG The speaker went on torshow that by I'll
Mi time the House gets through with eulogi'
an of members VINO have dleu during this Sc
ion sion twenty-one working days will ha,
been lost. He then went on to speak
o,,o another method of obstr uction-calling Il
Nv, roll. 'With $50 members it TAX
md twenty five minutes to make re
9 ra call Whenever the yeas and ma,
&c are ordered it means loss of ha
49, an hour. So far this session we have b;
mo 400 roll calls; 300 of these have been utter
yiT useless, mere wanton waste. Tire
- hundred roll calls mean twenty-five legi
asa lative days wastedi in mere useless callil
over of names, and all done to waste tir
Iea with the public business unfinished. b
lat III ciooins wnau Law w oaS, ~ WIN Il
Of pe Juso ~ Ioselioo .lle iio12u W oNon oa
of ioSu e " loe cav $3.50. ouo I IIo.i
pre- mas snown 'Ho ..I 20 ; aS any ..ou
:" Henceforth promise cannot be excused b
by performance. If we have broken t
II, precedent of an hundred years, we ha
eeu set precedent for another hundred veal
Inc nobler than the last, wherein respon
rse- bility will wait on power and wherein