Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1891-03-21

ROIhINO COulO nave D66Q IN D6Iu6r
taste than the remarks of Speaker Reed
in declaring the house of representatives
adjourned without delay says the
Chicago Times: There was not the
slightest indication of bitterness
over the refusal of the democrats to join
In the customary resolution of thanks
to the presiding officer for his impartial
ity. There have been thirty-one speak
ers, beginning with F. a. Muhlenberg,
OF Pennsylvania, whose first term Of
Office expired precisely one hundred
years before Mr.. Reeds did, and it has
grown into custom to bury ah animosi
mosities at the last moment. No one at
all familiar with the proceedings of the
Fifty-frst Congress expected this to be
done in the present case. AS matter OF
fact there was no special ill-feeling to-
ward the speaker. Personally he is pop
ular. But to indorse him would have
been political qualification.
Mr.. Reed entered upon the duties of
the speakership with the avowed pur-
pose o. carrying out in good faith the
logic OF the popular election. The peo-
pie had chosen to restore the republican
party to power in every branch of the
government, and he proposed that the
policy of legislation for which the repub-
lican party stood should be embodied in
the bills passed by the house, and in
this he was successful. II the senate
had done its duty with equal fidelity
there would not today be pledge of
1888 unredeemed. Even now there is
only one and for that one the senate
alone is responsible. The fifteenth
amendment is dead letter throughout
the south, but not through any fault of
Reed or failure of the house. What the
people voted for at the polls IN 1888 his
speakership stood for, and that with a
consistency and force which is sublime
TIE next house will be democratic 1t
remains to be seen whose example the
speaker OF that body emulates. that of
Reed or Carlisle. The former will uu-
dOubtediY be the leader of the minority
on the floor of the house, and to be con-
sistent the majority will allow him to be
the "Czar" of the house, but consistency
is not democratic jewel. 1t is entirely
safe to say that if the speaker should be
true to principle of the rule of the ma
iority Thomas B. Reed will not hesitate
to offer the customary resolution of
courtesy.
4 writer in the Atlantic Monthly for
March claims that the Premier. in our
form of government, is the speaker of
the house. and not the secretary of
State. He is right about 1t. By virtue
of his power to appoint the committees
he is second in authority only to the
chief magistrate; and, as this writer sug-
gests, he may come TO have even more
real power in this country, as has already
come TO be the case in England. The
premiership is more regal in power than
the throne itself. But Mr.. Reed never
approached in autocratic authority the
present "Czar" at Springfield. Imagine
for a moment the speaker of the Fifty
first Congress absolutely blocking the
wheels of legislation at Washington two
months. Had he done so howl of ex-
ecration would have gone up from one
end Of the land to the other. Instead of
hindering legislation his disturbing
characteristic was that he facilitated it.
On that record he may well be proud to
stand, and the vote of thanks in which
every republican congressman heartily
joined only expressed the sentiment of
party throughout the country.