The age-herald., 1899-02-21
WAR BETWEEN
 THE TWO HOUSES Speaker Reed and tho Senate Have
 Crossed Swords. THE NlCARAGUAN CANAL BILL Has Caused the Legislative Branches to
 Fall Out. SPEAKER HOLDS THE WHIP HAND The House Sustained the Chair, AL though It's Sympathies Are Not With the Czar-Rule Was
 Introduced by Polk.
SPEAKER HOLDS THE WHIP HAND


 Reed and the senate of the United States to cross swords in the matter of legislation. Speaker Reed has taken the stand that the Nicaraguan canal bill shall not become a law at this session, nd the senate, under the leadership of Senator Morgan, of Ala bama, is equally determined that it shall. If both are persistent then one of the im- portant measures. either the river and har- Dor bill, the sundry civil bill, will fail at this session. If it be the latter an extra session will be necessary without the aid of the army bill or any other measure now before congress.
 At the present time Speaker Reed has the whip handle He has it by reason of the fact that the house of representatives has sustained the ruling of the chair that to make a matter of this kind a rider to any of the other bills is contrary to the rules of the house. The house does not sympathize with the speaker in the matter, and it took the whole power of his high office to force 1t to submit to his ruling or that of his chairman of the committee of the whole.
 A Democratic Rule
 He was fortunate in the fact that the specific rule under which the decision was a democratic rule first put into the rules of the house by James K. Polk, of Tennessee, when he was speaker, and which has been adopted by every democratic speaker ever since. It was a democratic rule then by which tho Kicaraguan canal bill was killed when attached to an appropriation bill. It was a lucky thingfor Mr Reed that it was On account of this fact a majority of the democrats, or nearly majority, voted to sustain the chair. The house stands com mitted to the speaker in this matter then. The same rule will be invoked when the senate sends over to the house the river and harbor bill with the Nicaraguan canal bill attached to 1t as rider. The house will refuse to accept the rider If it is con- sistent, and if the senate stands firm, the measure fails.
 But in all likelihood the senate will take another tack and add the bill to the sundry civil bill and let the vote be taken squarely on that issue again.
 The Speaker Kept Busy
 Speaker Reed Is losing no time in keeping those who voted with him last week strong in their conviction that he is right, and that the rules must be sustained. There is no doubt in anybody's mind that the rule is a good one. and the ruling just one, the only question being whether it is not best to resort to revolution in this case, over ride the rules and upset the decision in or der to secure some legislation on the Nica- canal measure. Speaker Reed has always opposed the scheme chiefly for the reason, think, that he believes that 1t will be of benefit to the south. It is almost im- possible to measure the speakers vindic- tiveness toward the southern states. But he has allowed his animosity to the canal to go so far that the republicans them selves were the instigators of the revolu- tion.
 If the vote had been taken the day that Representative Hepburn appealed from the decision, there Is doubt that the appeal would have been sustained, but by delay ing the vote, as MT. Hepburn said after wards, it gave time for twenty or so mem- bers to come under the influence of the ''evil eye"
 Influences of the "Evil Eye"
 This is the influence of the "evil eye' term applied to Reed by many on his side now When he gets one member under his sway and influence, you can hear one mem- Der say to another: Well, so and so has met the evil eye and succumbed." The term was applied to him at the last ses- sion when an effort was made to over ride his ruling out the Cuban question. He would sit in his chair and let his eye won- der through the house. He would pick out members whom he thought to be waver- ing and would then beckon them to the chair. He does not try to persuade them. He simply lays down the law and abuses them without stint. He is really awe-in- spring and he has half of the republican side literally hacked Men will rebel in the cloak rooms and come out and vote with him as meekly as lambs.
 It is very significant that General Gros- vener has thrown down the glove to him. The white-bearded dean of the Ohio dele gation, the "Favorite of the King" as Reed derisively called him once, and which ap- pellation has hung to him ever since pro- voked great applause when he derlded the rules and stamped them as tyrannous and unjustifiable. He and Hepburn have never been together before, and their union might be the beginning of Reeds undoing.
 They are both powerful in the house, and, united, they could array strong opposi- ton to the present speaker. This has been talked bi-annually for the last four years, but when the time comes to elect speaker or name him for nomination in caucus the opposition meIts away as snow before an August sun.
 Gen. Grosvenor's Attitude
 But it must be remembered that in the past there has been no support back of this opposition, whereas now there is a deep-seated conviction that the speaker :s hostile to the administration. General Grosvenor is certainly the leader of the ad- ministration forces on the floor of the house, and his attitude toward Reed re- gently has been defiant. Should the break come Grosvenor would make the fight for the speakershp, and with the administra- tion back of him and with Hepburn's strength added to his he would make formidable opponent to the speaker.
 In keeping out the Nicaraguan canal bill and putting himself directly before the will of the people and their representatives, MT. Reed is playing dangerous game. If there was any merit in his objection or if his objection was merely temporary, then there might be some excuse made for him, but his present attitude will not change; 1t Is founded on a deep-rooted hostility to the scheme of building the canal, and come day, if the canal is to be built at all, Mr. Reed has got to be overridden and his rules upset.