The Portland daily press., 1890-11-01
Speaker Reeds -FOUR.

gentleman living In this city. who was
in Chicago ON the evening Of October oath,
describes the reception which Speaker Reed
met there as simply tremendous in its enthu-
siasm and in the crowds that turned out to
greet him Meetings were held in the two
immense armories, each capable of accommo-
dating thousands of people. The Portland
gentleman did not succeed in attending
either meeting for the reason that he could
not get into either armory. The crowds ex.
tended, he says for a block from the armor
les. This Chicago reception is but one,
though perhaps the largest, in the series of
receptions which have greeted Mr.. Reed In
one of the most remarkable campaign tours
eyer made by an American statesman. Be-
ginning In Lowell, Mass, on the eighth of
october MIR. Reed made two speeches in
Massachusetts, before going to New York,
where he spoke at Utica on the 18th, then at
Rochester and Buffalo In New York, at
Wooster. Alliance, Medina and Massilon, in
OHIO; at Logansport, in Indiana; at Cham
paign, Bloomington and Galesburg, In Illi-
nois; at Burlington and Cedar Rapids In
Iowa; again la Illinois at Chicago and Rock
ford at st. Paul In Minnesota; at Eau Clare,
Black River Falls, Reedsburg, Baraboo,
Madison and Waukesha in Wisconsin, and
at Adrian in Machigan. Since the
eighth Of October he has spoken In eight
great states and In more than twenty-five
cities and towns, travelling during the same
time between one and two thousand miles,
A few OF these speeches have been brief ad-
dresses to audiences attracted to railway
stations by the fame of the speaker; but the
greater number have been long and carefully
considered addresses delivered to vast au-
diences and reported at length to be printed
and scattered broadcast among the voters of
tne great states which he has visited. The
purely physical endurance displayed in such
a campaign Is wonderful. But more wonder
full still has been the cheering and inspiring
effect which this brilliant dash of great
leader has had upon the whole Republican
column. In Massachusetts, and New York
his meetings were among the greatest in the
records of the party; in the West In many
places, as at Massilon and Champaign, the
crowds that have greeted him have been un-
precedented. The st. Louis Globe Demo-
crat describes the meeting at Champaign as
AZ imhChoO CUuCUuIbo VI ttu tuOuSduu p6O-
pie gathered from all that portion of Illinois.
Ten thousand people make vast concoursa.
In Iowa as in Illinois his meetings were at
tended by crowds that came long distances
In excursion trains; and in the city of Chi
cago the largest buildings would not hold
the crowds.
To Mr.. Reed personally these manifesto
tons of popular approval must of course be
gratifying; but we have no doubt that they
are still more gratifying to him as a patri-
otto Republican and American. He has in
his course in Congress proceeded upon the
assumption that the Republican party is the
party Of progress and that 1t has right to
expect of its leaders disinterested, loyal and
courageous work. By the receptions In the
West he Is learning that his assumption was
correct; that the Republican party is the
same living. patriotic force that it has al.
ways been; that 1t is ready now as always in
the past to respond to the courage of the
leaders who take their lives in their hands
and venture forth. The party may not sue
coed In this election in carrying the strong
holds which the arts of Democratic politi
clans have erected by their gerrymanders
and false counts; but it will have made
fight that will prepare the way for future
victories.