Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-03-12
REED SORELY DISTRESSED
The Speaker Wept at the
Close of Congress.
WANTED A UNANIMOUS VOTE
The Man from Maine Was
Severely Called.
The Measures He Had Set His Heart On
and Ruled to Favor Were All shelvcd--
a Disappointed Man.

tatives like all his predecessors, since it
has been the custom to make such gifts,
instead of caucus vote of thanks,
driven through under the party whip.
This is only saying that Speaker Reed
is human, but it seems to be necessary
to say SO, because SO many Republican
editors write as though they believed he
was superhuman. Sitting al their quiet
desks and reading apparently no other
newspaper than the Congressional Record,
they treat the Speaker as though he eS-
pressed his whole nature in decisions on
points of order and valedictory remarks
from the chair, Or, If they go beyond
the Congressional RecOrd, il is TO read
the Speakers elaborate dcfences of him
self in the periodicals, or, at the most,
the carefully colored dispatches in the
Republican organs.
Then they imagine an impossible per-
sonage, and write about him as Thomas
i. Reed. The being they set forth is far
above or below all ordinary human life.
He il as calm, confident, consistent and
contained as II Chinese idol, and just as
Indifferent to the praise or the censure
of men. He does what seems right in
his own eyes, and does not care who
opposes or who favors him, nor what is
said OF done in opposition, but rides
right on with the judicial aspect of a
Thur!ow and the vindictIye determine
ticn Of Jctfreys, but always far
superior to men and things.
"l}ut, remember, little Lucy" Roscoe
Conklng is reported to have said TO an
admiring small girl brought to see him
by her admlring father, Remember"
pointing his long foretinger to hcaven)
'tlint there is a greater than Roscoe
Conkling." This seems to be about the
attitude Of the mythical Reed. All this
seems very funny here, where we have
known Reed when he was not Speaker
or even famous, and are aware that he
Us 1t man of like passions as themselves.
Reed had certain measures which, as
Speaker, he wanted to pass, notably the
so-cailed Mckinley Tariff bill and the
sc-cnlied noar-L Lodge Force bill, both of
which ought to be labeled Thomas
Bracket Reed.
WHY REED CHANGED THE RULES
He knew that he could not get these
and other schemes like the Subsidy and
the Direct Tax bills through without
changing the time-honored rules and
customs of the House of Represents
tives. So he changed them, first evoly-
ing the remarkable theory that the
minority in the House of Representa-
tives had no rights which the majority
were bound TO respect. He said in CON
yersation before he had fully determined
on the course he pursued that the peo-
pie lad elected the majority to repre-
sent the whole country ard that the
minority practically represented nothing
and was simply corps of observa-
ton" That was at time when Speaker
Carlisle and other candid men on both
sides Of the House ridiculed the reports
that Reed proposed to cast the
minority vote for the maiority's
measures. That was one Of the thousand
conversations a Washington correspond
ent has which he can never publish till
they have become common places or
"reminiscences. But do not think for
moment that Reed carried out his pur-
pose with unmiXed and undisturbed
satisfaction. Far from it. BY the self
control which his strong will made pos
sible he preserved usually, though not
always, an appearance of imperturba-
biiity before the House. Sometimes he
flushed with anger or paled with
chagrin, and often his tongue betrayed
his manner with word. But, whatever
his outward appearance may have been,
he felt keenly every word of the CON
domination with which the leaders of
the opposition covered his successive
usurpations
HE WRITIED UNDER CRITICISM.
He often left the chair and the House
and went out to his own room in the
rear lobby or to his den downstairs
because he could not stand the pain of
his wounds any longer, and there in his
retreat he gave vent to his feelings with
out restraint. The fact is that Reeds
nature is unusually sensitive. Under
his thick covering Of flesh, behind that
large, placid moon-face, is as much SEN
sibility as wit. He felt the arrows Of
the enemy as man like Cannon never
could. And with all his feeling of SUI
pcriority which gave him that arrogant
manner he longed for popularity and
praise. 1t was his personal manner
which alienated so many men on both
sides.
His way of giving or of denying
favor was simply insufferable to many
men, who, rightly or wrongly, regarded |
themselves as his equals. 1t shows the
strength of his desire for applause that |
when he found that no Democrat had |
friendship enough left to propose vote |
OF thanks he insisted upon the Repuhli-
cans voting him the official praise, the |
hollowness of which no one appreciated |
more keenly than he, as he saw on the |
roll-call in the affirmative the names of |
Republicans whom he knew had de-
nounced him privately as emphatically |
as any Democrat for the lack of that |
very dignity and impartiality for which
the resolution thanked him. But-you
remind me-l2eed is no longer speaker
No, thank Heaven, though cannot tell
yet who will be.
BATHED IN TEARS.
There was scene in the Speakers
private room, just after the gavel had
fallen to knock out the Congress, which
will be remembered by those who were
present. The Speakers farewell address
was bold, strong, even defiant, but
towards the close his voice trembled
After declaring the House adjourned
without day, he stepped quickly from
his place and hurried to his private room.
Many of his partisan admirers followed
him. As hardy as he has always been,
the events of the last hour of the session
We're trying to him. He assumed
manner Of indifference towards the re-
Duke OF the minority, when each in turn
cried "No" in response to the roll call
on the resolution of thanks. Yet he
was by no means indifferent When
his friends found him in his room, they
his hands and patted him on the
back, pouring forth protestations of
warm regard and of eternal LOYALTY.
Then suddenly there was pause In the
ADMINISTRATIONS. silence snttlnd ,,a,,,, H. |