The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-02-02

familiar TO hin He hal been arrested in
Texas on a charge of Srnpersonat.ng ran
who had served IN the same company win
him IN the war. HIS application for q pen
SION was not made n the name under when
n served. bat In another name which aii-
fereSs In only one letter from the name o.
the other man. This change OF name 1e
explained IN q satisfactory manner Ia
support q his statement that he was nos
pe-soratsng another. ne had the other man
as a vines ard the captain OF his COM
pany also testified IN his favor But the
grand Jury had indicted him. and he seem
"a in a fair way 70 go 70 the penlielfiary-
Mr. Allen was so much interested n the
case when he read the letter that he mate
an investigation ard laid the result before
Mr. Reed. who became equally iaterssleh,
and went personally 70 the department. OF
Justice and intercedei for the man. ne
result was an investigation by spee-al
agent which demonstrated pretty PLAINLY
that the man was the victim OF persecution
frv over-zeaious agents of the pension Of
fee. and the prosecution was stopped
What Mr. Reed did for this stranger Is
Characteristic: he has done the Ike again ana
again. and his good offices have been.
sought very often by Democrats in MS
~tafe He would as soon do kindness to
a Democrat as for Republican. where no
political principle was involved. ms Goes
not include the getting of appointments
for his constituents. Mr.. Reed has MS own
ideas about the civil service tie oeheVes
every officehoider should be Kept IN place
so long as there are duties TO perform anu
he performs them well He does not believe
in a civil pension hist: but he thinks the
salaries paid to government employees
should be arranged on a different scale
that smaller salaries should be paid new
appointeeS. and that salaries should IN
crease with years Of service. with proNl-
sion that a certain percentage oil salaries
should be held back by the government 10
form an Insurance fund TO provide for sup
erahnuated clerks Experience has shown
that government clerks will not provide
for themselves. and il is quite likely tnat
congress will adopt some day plan IKE
that which Mr.. Reed favors.
Mr. Reed is an interchangeable worker IN
whatever he undertakes. He bears the
strain of hard work better than most men,
probably because he is such an eXceilent
sleeper He makes IL rule to get seven
or eight hours sleep a night No one cails
him In the morning unless there is an emer-
gency. One morning during the last con-
yress. Mr. Allen waited until II 40 Tor Mr..
Reed to appear. He knew that Mr. Reed
had been UP very late the night Defofe ait
er an exhausting day in the house, speak
ing on the Sherman repeal Dill; ne Knew
also that Mr.. Reed was anxious 10 take
mart i'm that days session of the mouse.
SO at twenty minutes before noon ne Went
into his bedroom and spoke TO him. when
Mr.. Reed learned what time it was he
Jumped out of bed, pulled his clothes on
in a hurry, and without waiting Tor break
fast hurried downstairs and into can. lie
was at the capitol few minutes after IL
O'Clock. and said afterward that he never
felt better than he did that day.
Sleep has recuperatye power Tor MT.
Reed. However exhausted he may be at
the end of the day. good nights rest VIII
make a new man of him. In the tifty-
first congress. when the speakers duties
were much more severe than now MT.
Reed used sometimes to slip into his room
when the house had gone into committee
of the whole and, without word, stretch
himself on a leather-covered coucn. IN
less than a minute he would be sound
asleep. Mr.. Allen would drop the latch
of the door, and Neal, the colored messsn-
ger outside, whose excuses for the sp edk-
ers inability 10 see you are harp-iike IN
their melody, would place himself on guard
For fifteen minutes or more there would De
silence in the speakers room, broken only
by the faint rustic of papers at Mr.. Aliens
desk and the heavy breathing of the sleep
or. Mr. Reed can go 10 sleep at any hour
OF the day or night when he needs rest
and easily cancels the debt he owes TO ma
tUre for a straight twenty-four hours or
labor or any other unnatural strain.
Only once at this session Of congress as
the speaker robbed himself Of sleep with
oct making up for 1t later. That was when
he was making up the committees. He
was at work then night and day, late and
early. The story of the way the committee
places were distributed has not been told
yet. ! am going TO tell it here. Ii is an
illustration of the method Mr.. Reed pur-
sues in disposing of the business before
him. That he is d man of method IS made
evident by the tale that is told of his
school teaching DAYS, when it is said he
kept a boy in after school on the last day
OF the session because he did not know his
lessons. His methodlcalness is still better
shown in his work speaker of the house.
In the first place Il must be stated that il
is not true. as reported. that Mr. Reed had
much of the work of distributing COM
mittee places mapped out before he came
here. He was resting this summer and he
gave little thought to committee selections.
He probably fixed ia his mind the chairmen
OF the principal committees-Di ngley for
ways and means. Hit for foreign affairs.
Cannon for appropriations. But the rank
and file he had not considered at all. on
his way 10 Washington City Mr.. Allen pro-
cured some large sheets of cardboard from
a Massachusetts, manufacturer. on these
he pasted the names of the members of
the house. arranged alphabetically from
the printed list prepared by the clerk Mr..
Reed had received a great many requests
from members that they be appointed on
particular committees. There were fifty
requests for membership on the rivers and
harbors committee-for some of the com
mittees there Were no requests at all He
had received also from many quarters in
dorsements of certain men for certain
committee places. There were requests.
too. from state delegations. All these re-
quests and recommendations were entered