The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-06-17
REED AND The PRESIDENCY.
From the Phiiadelphia Bulletin.

from the fh!iadeiphia Bulletin.
The failure OF Thomas b. Reed as a can
didate for the Republican presidential
nomination again serves to confirm the
superstition concerning the speakersi,ip as
a barrier to advancement to the white
house. No occupant of that post was ever
in more favorable position toward his
party and the country, apparently, than
Reed was in last December, when he oe-
came speaker for the second time, and
when his friends may be said 10 have
begun his canvass in his behalf for the
presidency. But the same ill-luck that
has attended the ambition of every man
who has held the speakership, with ,he
single exception of Polk, has followed
Speaker Reed; and. like Clay and Blaine,
the admittedly ablest of all the Republi-
can leaders of the day is likely to dream
in vain the dreams of presidential great
ness.
In force of character in Intellectual
strength and in the higher qualities of
leadership Reed has stood. as he stands
today, foremost in his party. There Is
not a shadow of a shadow on his per-
sonal character; he has gone through
twenty years of fierce contention in the
house of representatives with unchal-
lenged probity: he has been the author Of
a great parliamentary reform which even
his opponents have adopted, and to mis-
tremendous force of will may be ascribed
the passage of all the vital Republican
legislation when the party was last In
power. 1t Is not too much to say that
among thoughtful Republicans who have
studied closely the characteristics of party
leaders there Is none whose mental re-
sources have commanded so much ad.
miration and, at times, astonishment as
those of Speaker Reed.
\ II Il
1t Is, indeed, this marked ability and
superiority, together with independence Of
character and a contempt for the petty
things of politics, that have served most
to diminish his chances as a candidate for
the presidency. The American people
have generally hesitated to put the power
Of the executive office in the hands of
strong men with that peculiar faculty of
domination and mastery possessed by
Reed; and he has done nothing to iatter
away this latent distrust by the tricks Of
the demagogue. The result has been that
the managing polircians, as a rule, have
held aloof from him, while the people have
turned to Mckinley largely because of his
simple and, perhaps, more amiable traits
of character, and because of a belief on
their part that he Is "closer" to them
than the big, self-willed and towering
man from Maine could ever be.
H H
That Speaker Reed has been disappoint-
ed in his ambition has probably caused lit
tie surprise to intelligent and disinterest-
ed men in his party, who saw from the
start the disadvantages which his very su-
periority would entail upon his canvass.
1t Is from them that he will receive a gen.
erous recognition for his character, his
services and the part he has played in
helping to bring the Republican party In
the past four years to its present vantage
ground. The house, under his guidance
in the past six months, has been help, not
a hindrance. to the party; it was prompt,
unprecedently prompt, In its transaction
Of business and in its performance of its
duty in coming to the relief OF the coun-
try with revenue and financial legislation,
and the difficult task of directing an
overwhelming majority of the house on
the eve of presidential campaign without
injury to the party behind 1t has never
been better performed under the pecu-
liar circumstances that have marked the
relations of the senate to the house, and of
both to the executive. Tom Reed may be
heard from more effectively in 1900. as his
friends believe, but not likely. The chances
for the presidency will always be against
men of his mould and brain. They are
stronger with the discriminating few than
with the masses of their countrymen.