The Washington critic., 1890-03-27
nAnn1soN sNuns RnEp.
a stormy Interview Between the
President ana the speaker.

a stormy IntorVicw between the
President ana the speaker.
The correspondent Of the Philadel-
phia Times yesterday sent the folio wing
story to that paper;
Speaker Reed and President Harrison
had an interesting interview this morn
ing at the White House. Since the time
when Reed and Harrison had their tifI
over the appointment of collector for
Portland, Me, the Speaker has given
the White House a very wide berth.
Accordingly when q messenger de-
livered a note bearing the seal Of the.
Executive Mansion TO Mr.. Reed at the
Shoroh0m this morning he was agree
ably surprised.
The first thought that crossed his
mind was that the President had con
Guided to offer the olive branch and in
his minds eye Reed rehoarsed the dig
niied little speech with which he would
accept the tribute to his greatness. He
was so elatcd with his good fortune that
he actually forgot to dig his hands into
his trousers as he lounged uncon-
cernedlv up the walk towards the
White House. No flags were hung ont
in his honor and through some over
sight the Marine Band had not been
notified and he was obliged to be con
tent with the servile acknowledgment
of the minions whose duty 1t is to show
visitors through the mansion.
Once inside the Presidents library
this aspect changed. To Mr.. Reed
President Harrison was plain Mr.. Harri-
son, and he received the great rcformer
, with open arms. Lets to business,
/ was Mr. Reeds remark after the courte-
sizes of the day had been exchanged and
| to business they went. Soon the sounds
/ of angry voices were heard in the cor
ridor and il was reasonable to suppose
that the expected olive branch had not
quite come up TO Mr.. Reeds cXpecta-
tions.
1t was n regular knock down and
drag out sort OF an argument. Preei-
dent Harrison realized that he had done
Mr.. Reed an injustice in refusing to ap.
point his friend as collector at Portland,
and he was anxious to make amends.
| This sounded pleasant TO Speaker Reed
and his grin of anticipation began to
/ assume voluminous proportions. Reed
admitted that he had been treated
rather shabbily in the matter but as the
President was inclined to make amends
he would accept the offer What was
he going to do for his favOIite conslitu-
ent
The answer made the big Speaker
/ gasp for breath. Mr. Harrison wa,
1 going to give him nice little Consulate
where he could eat figs and enjoy him
self generally at the expense of tht
Government. Did MI. Reed like the
prospect? A picture of the Speaker
face at that moment would have been g
study to any one who could catch it.
He informed the President as soon q.
he could control himself that he could
reserve the Consulate for somebody
else. lie would have none of il. HI
wanted Mr.. Harrison to distinctly un
derstand that Speaker Thomas b. Rec,
was as big man as either of the Sen
ators from the State of Maine, and un
less he received as much consideration
as those two gentlemen President II arri
son might regret his folly some day
Until he could be assured that his maj
would be offered place equally as goot
rs the Collectorship of Portland h
must decline to have anything to d
with the Chief Executive.
President Harrison actually shivere,
with the frigidity of the atmospher
with which Mr.. Reed enveloped him
self and his Good day, sir" fell frou
his lips in solid chunks of ice. MI
Reed was so engrossed with his un
pleasant rebuff that he failed to see tha
both fires went out as he passed then
on his way to the door. Senator Quay
expression of disgust was smile Of 10,
compared with Speaker Reeds coun
tenance as he brooded over the fancieC
insult offered him. One fact is certain
twill take more than colectorshi,
to bridge over the unpleasantness exist
ing between the President and th
Speaker of the House of Represents
tives