The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-03-22
SIZES Up TON REED
ingalls, CauSticaIIy DiSpoSeS of
the CauStiC Man.
BOASTS PUBLIC FUNERALS
Reasons Why Inauguration
Day Should Be Changed,

in the Journal, says Of Speaker Reed:
There Is no luxury SIS expensive as a
caustic tongue. 4 steam yacht and a
private car are economical il compari-
son. Half an hour of irony cost Blaine
the presidency. A wound to self-Iove
never heals. A sneer IS never forgotten
nor forgiven by It's victim. No cynic or
scoffer has evet sat at the head Of the cab
met table-nor ever wlM. 1t is the soft
answer which turns away the wrath Of the
populace. Mckinley probably never dis
paraged an adversary. or spoke slightIngly
or contemporary of a rival.
'SThe speakers smile Is always sar-
donio he Is at no pains to conceal his
resentments. He damns with faint praise
if he praises a ALL and If ne assents, Il
is with a civil leer. His remarkable pow
ers as a parIiamentarian and presiding
officer have kept down instruction so far,
but Their are indications Of revolt. He has
stretched the prerogative.s of the chair to
extreme tension in the promotion or sup
preston Of measures approved or con-
demned by his personal judgment, without
regard to the wish Of Inajorlties. AS
Louis XIV. was the state, Reed has been
the house.
Perhaps from conviction, possibly from
disappointment at the result of the St
Louis convention, ne has set himself in
open or covert hostility 70 the policy Of
which it is compelled to meet in conse-
quence Of the war which Mr.. Reed did
everything in his power to prevent until
coerced by his associates.
ut was noted that his valedictory, in
which he ranked his station as next to the
presidency, received most demonstration
from the opposition. The Republicans
were lukewarm. Too many of them had
felt the iron hand. The speaker would
DO well to read the Spanish proverb:
What have I done that mine enemies
should praise me" %
Continuing, the ex-senator says Of the
scandal of public funerals"
When great men die, statues and COL
umns and trophies rise as naturally over
their ashes as blades of grass above a
PEASANTS bones. Eulogy and elegy attend
their obsequies, and the pealing anthem
swells the note Of praise
Honor and respect to the dead are in
stinctive, and the higher the civilization
the more impressive the observance. No
humane spirit begrudges the expense or
the trouble Of the ceremony. Senators
and representatives in congress are not
necessarily, nor always, great men, but
they have great functions. They are NOR
tai, and when they die are entitled to be
properly inferred. How far the cost
Should be betrayed from the public treas
ury was at one time an open question, but
custom has fixed the precedents. and now
there is no charge upon the estate of the
deceased except the burial lot and the
gravestone.
Gradually the homeward journey has
increased in extravagant sumptuousness
till it has taken on the characteristics Of
holiday excursion. To transport the re-
mains and the relatives of Mr.. Dingley.
with the committees and their attendants.
required a special train of four cars, at an
expense of $3.50. The contingent outlay
brings the total up to $500.
The deceased was total abstainer.
and an order was issued excluding all IN
toEcants from the funeral train. but an
eminent statesman in the escort ordered
q large purchase of whisky at Ports
mouth, just before crossing the boundary
into Maine, which is a prohibition state.
The same mOurner also insisted upon
champagne. ana II was furnished. and the
bills for both We're paid from the United
States treasury.
ITO bear the dust Of Representative
Crawford to Texas only one car was re-
qured but 10 alleviate the grief of the
committees the government was Obliged to
furnish four hundred ten-cent cigars |
among other sob and fluid consultations. |
''Garfield's funeral was one of the orgies
Of the century. The revelIy began before
the train was out of the PENNSYLVANIA
yards, and kept up all the way to Cleve- /
land. the next noon. Cards. chamnaene /
and cigars were abundant. and wild hilar- /
ity grew wilder as night came on. The
train slowed toward midnight at a rail-
way platform, at a country station. where |
the veterans Of Grand Army post were +
kneelins around their flag. Illuminated by
torches, in reverence for the dead prasi
dent. and from the open windows Of the
car reserved for the bacchanaIians came
shouts OF laughter. the cliuk Of glasses
and the din Of the saloon and the -ambIinr /
he'll. One renowned legislator. now no
more. reached Cleveland in such state
that If became necessary to imprison him
IN stateroom and apply the ice pack 10
reduce him 10 such d condition that he
could be hurried TO a retreat and preaared
Tor the ceremonies Of the following d4v.'
Following are Mr. INGALLS,, 1,iau-s -, 80,