The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-05

/ lie Is created Win seven reports from
! the Ways and Means. In the second
! speeches and interruptions, all on tariff
measures. He also found time to pro-
nounce a eulogy on Jona than Cpde-
graft. one of his colleagues. This is a
courtesy never Vouchsafed by Reed. In
/ his twenty years of service he never
paid a tribute to a dead associate.
/ Reeds career in the Forty-seVenth Con-
gress was characteristically aggressive.
/ Aside from making him chairman of
| the Judiciary, Speaker Keifer planted
him next to George NJ. Robson in the
| Committee on Rules. He had free
run of the floor, and was ever in evil
dence. He addressed the House twen-
ty-four times in the first session on
subjects ranging from testing ma
chimes, polygamy and rules to naval
appropriations and internal revenue.
The same number of short speeches
were made in the second session, cover
ing, among other measures, street rail-
way. paving assessments, sugar, dis
titled spirits and the tariff. His DOM
ineering spirit had full play, and he did
as much as any other man to give the
Keifer regime it's lurid reputation.
The Forty eighth Congress was Dem
ocratic 1t opened with a hot fight be-
tween John G. Carlisle and Samuel j.
Randall for the Speakership. the Ken
tuckian won, and William r. Morrl-
son went to the head of the Ways and
Means. while the great Pennsylvanian
was placated with the chairmanship on
Appropriations. Carlisle advanced Nc
Kinley to the third place in the minor
ity of Ways and Means. His seat In
the House was contested by Jonathan
H. Wallace. Henry @. Turner OF Geor-
gia, was Chairman of the Committee
on Elections. Turner reported against
the majors right to his seat and he
was thrown out by a strict party vote
on May 27. 1884. Mckinley summed up
his case himself in a speech filling
page of the Record. 1t was terse ana
telling, but of no avail in the face OF
party necessities. The Morrison bill
was the feature of the session. and
McKinley's dismissal, of course, re-
moved an opponent of the measure
and substituted a friend. The bill was
reported. however, before the major
lost his seat, and he had an opportun~
ity to deliver strong argument
against it, Referring to the feature
of horizontal reduction, he said that 1t
would be death to some and distress
to others. Take twenty inches off the
leg of the distinguished chairman OF
the Ways and Means" he shouted,
land you would still have a stump;
but take twenty inches off one of the
smallest persons in the House and you
would leave him without any stump
at ALL" This comparison was so pat
that it brought down the House. j.
Randolph Tucker exclaimed: THAT is
a good stump speech Mr. Mckinley
withheld his remarks for revision and
was ousted before they were printed.
Carlisle retained Reed in the Com
mitttee on Rules, and jounced him into
the place on the Ways and Means va
Gated by the man from Ohio. These
recognitions made Reed the acknowl-
edged leader of the minority on the
floor It's members obeyed him as inn
plicity as their predecessors years be-
fore had obeyed Thaddeus Stevens
Reed made his first tariff speech in
this session. He wrangled over the
appropriation bills, and made a speech
on the Alabama claims and on the
merchant marine. The latter squinted
toward ship subsidies. In the second
session he made forty-nine speeches
and Interruptions in nine weeks.
Mr. Mckinley returned to the House
in the Forty ninth Congress. His treat
ment in the previous Congress appar-
emily loosened his tongue. When the
House officially accepted the statue of
James A. Garfield he made an eloquent
address. He never dreamed that fif-
teen years afterward, while President
of the United States, he himself would
meet a similar fate. He also made
speeches on labor arbitration and on
the presidential succession bill. Car
| Isle replaced him on the Ways and
| Means, giving. Reed the preference in
rank. In the second session the Ohio
me mber made two speeches, one on
| behalf of his army comrades and the
other on the death of John A. Logan
Reed was now tine confirmed leader OF
the minority. It's members sprang to
their feet at the motion of his finger
and obeyed the wink of his eve. Never
was party more thoroughly loyal and
obedient. In this Congress Reed made
110 Interruptions and short speeches.
Then came the Fiftieth Congress,
Speaker Carlisle retained Reed on the
Ways and Means, with Mckinley still
at his heels. Reed and Joseph G Can
non represented the minority on Rules.
This was the Congress that presented
the Mills bill. Mckinley was very ac-
tive in the fight against it, while Reed
attended to parliamentary matters and
did the strategic work. He was a po-
litical Alexander at the head OF a
Macedonian phalanX. 1t is not too
much to say that the work of both
Reed and Mckinley made the ensuing
House Republican, and it is equally
safe to aver that their work in the
Fifty-tirst Congress made the sue
! ceeding House Democratic by a two
| thirds majority.
They were rivals in the contest for
the speakership Mckinley developed
\ DOsitiVe strength and that Nvac all