Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-02-19
GREAT WILL Be REEDS FALL.
The Lawiess Speaker VIII be En-
veloped in Obscurity.

ings VIII be Used to Crush Him.
The Washington correspondent of the
the New York Herald writes his paper
Monday:
In the closing days of the Fifty-first
Congress behold the setting sun of MIR.
Thomas Bracket Reeds greatness.
AT noon on the 4th day of March Mr..
Reed not only ceases to be Speaker, but
ceases to be of any more Importance to
his party OF his district than reminis-
cence not altogether fragrant.
In other words he has answered for
himself the question which has often
been asked since the late election as to
what he will be in the next House.
He will be nothing,
1t is true he secured his reelection
before the great landslide, and will have
a seat in Congress, and a vote, and
answer to the roll call and all that.
But he cannot be leader, he cannot
shape his party's policy, he cannot
openly urge or oppose any legislation.
IL is hard to see how he can even rise
upon the floor to speak to the simplest
proposition.
This is not on account of the fierce
hatred he has aroused among the
1JtlllOLluto, lllOuGh tlluh 9AtCtdo
thing known in Congress since the war.
1t is merely the inevitable result of the
utterly lawless course he has pursued
as Speaker and the evidences of it with
which the Record is thickly sprinkled,
Having dug his own grave and nicely
finished it he is now about to tumble
into it.
How9 Why look at it. In the next
House, where the Republicans will be
in a minority, Mr.. Reed cannot venture
to oppose any step the majority may
wish to take; he is on record as favor
ing legislation just as radical whatever
it may be- He cannot speak for the
rights Of the minority; his constant
principle has been that the minority has
no rights. He cannot urge the enforce
ment of any rule; he is on record as
violating and trampling upon every
rule in the calendar. He cannot sickle
for any parliamentary point of order;
the Record is full of his rulings over
turning every point of order from both
sides and in one day. He cannot even
rise TO question of personal privilege;
his creed has been that only the mem
bers Of the majority have privileges.
There is no question, great or trivial, in
which he can assert his right to be
heard. He has denied that right to his
political opponents almost every day
since he first welded the gavel.
Imagine Tom Reed protesting against
the practice of dragooning legislation
through the House, or supporting a fill
clustering movement.
Imagine him speaking against the
theft of a congressional seat or in favor
of adequate debate Of any proposed
measure.
Imagine him uttering a defence of
freedom of speech in the House, or de-
Tending the minority from the bru-
tally af superior numbers.
Not even that forehead of brass and
heart of iron would be proof against
| the storm of iibes and ieers and reading
| from the Record that would call out.
The feeblest and most obscure mem
Der of the next House with some of Mr.
Reeds rulings in his hand will have the
Lord Jetfreys of the present House com
pletely at his mercy.
Recognizing that their enemy has
wound himself around and around with
chains and delivered himself into their
hands, the Democrats will not fail to
make Of him a signal example. Their
first idea when they knew they would
control the next Housa was to revenge
themselves upon their enemy by making
him the last member of the committee
on revolutionary claims and the com
mittee on expenditures in the post-oflice
department and nothing else.
They see now the error of making a
MARTYR of man who has provided for
himself much better method of pun
ishment
In the next House Mr.. Reed will be
assigned to the leading Republican place
on all the important committees and be
recognized in every way by the Demo-
Gratis as the minority leader.
How could they make his humilia-
ton more complete or revenge them
selves more exquisitely?
There will be balm enough in that
memorable spectacle to soothe the hurts
of the most bitterly aggrieyed Democrat
in the House.
To understand the depth and ferocity
of the hatred with which the average
Democrat regards Tom Reed you must
bear in mind that he has not only
strained his authority as Speaker to the
utmost limit to browbeat and tyranize
the minority in the present House, but
he has carried his partisan malignity
into his private relations with members
and broken down the last vestige of the
amenity there used to exist between the
two sides.
You must bear in mind that Mr..
Reeds immediate predecessor, Mr.. Car
Isle, was not only courteous and
! t,f,licbad rro,tloTnon in all bis pfAoia |
and private relations with members, but
as Speaker ruled the House with abso-
lutte and judicial impartiality.
You must bear in mind that except
few strictly partisan measures which
have been dragooned through the House
Reeds dpmineering course has not eX
pedited any business, so that, as mat
ter of fact, the appropriation and other
necessary bills are further behind now
than they have been at any short session
for many years.
You must bear in mind, therefore,
that there is no apparent excuse OF
justification for Reeds tactics except
his personal hatred for Democrats.
The Democrats return this hatred
with interest, and at last they have got
hold of the long end of the stick. Mr..
Reeds time has about come.
l think he realizes this as we'll
as anybody. l think that on the first
day of the reasssembling of Congress,
when the faces on the Republican side
were SO long that if put end to end they
would reach 81 times around the earth,
as one observer expressed. think he
saw very well then that his rule was
over. Except on one or two occasions
he has not since then resorted to any of
his old tricks. 1t has not been neces-
sary to kick down any more doors