The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-12-09
THOMAS BRAtKErr REED

IHUH As BRAt AEI L KEEN
One of the few real great men of
America was the late Thomas Bracket
Reed. He was a man of blood and of
bone, of ability CT the highest order. a
man of sincerity, possessing in mark
ed degree the courage of his convictions.
No political opponent ever doubted his
honesty, his integrity, his courage. In
stormy days he was the leader of his
party in the House. He did not lead
with great tact, he was not considerate
of the rights of minorities, but he led
with the sort Of leadership that COM
mands admiration. even where approval
of method is withheld. The Democrats
did not approve the Reed rules" which
he forced upon the House, but nobody
ever doubted that Mr.. Reed believed they
were necessary to transact his business,
or that he would carry them through
even if it produced revolution.
Mr. Reed voluntarily surrendered the
exalted position he held in his party and
retired to private life because he did
not approve the policy of Imperialism
believed it was an unwise and wrong
policy. He did not choose to become a
Democrat, and he withdrew from public
life.
Mr.. Reed was man of marked ability,
honest, upright. straightforward and had
the respect of all Americans of all parties.
The Philadelphia North American says
of Mr.. Reeds career:
when Thomas Bracket Reed retired
from the National House of Representa-
tives in 1899 to pursue the practice of law
in New York. the most commanding
figure in public life during the proceed
ing decade passed from the stage.
"He had virtually completed his Con-
gressional career. Ten years more as
Speaker of the House. or as leader of the
Republican side on the floor could have
added nothing to his reputation or given
him higher place in history than he
already had.
yet there had been little in Reeds
early life TO attract attention to him.
He was born in Portland, Maine, in 1889.
and was educated at Bowdoin College. AS
a student there he was known during the
first years as an indolent youth, given
to dreaming rather than to hard study.
Upon his graduation Reed began to
study law, but interrupted his course to
serve during the latter part of the re-
bellion as volunteer paymaster in the
navy. He was admitted to the bar in
1865 and practiced in Portland There
he held various local and State offices,
including that of Attorney General of
Maine, until he was elected TO the Forty
fifth Congress in 1876.
''As Attorney General of Maine and
as a member of the House of Represen-
tatives he was known as an able lawyer
and ready debater, but until he was
elected Speaker of the Fifty-first Con-
gross and became the centre of the
stormy scenes that made the sessions of
that Congress memorable he was scarce
ly known to the country at large.
Reed remained in Congress long
enough to see the bitterness engendered
by the struggle of the Fifty-first COM
pletely obliterated, and when he laid
down the gavel at the end of the Fifty
fifth Congress it can well be questioned
whether he-was not the most personally
popular man in the House.
at was his so-called autocratic rule
that gave him the sobriquet of Car
Reed.
81 feature of the Reed rules that was
priced by the man from Maine almost
as dearly as the principle Of counting
a quorum was the provision which gave
practically autocratic power to the COM
mittee on rules, of which the Speaker
was chairman and which he dominated.
This body had in practice, almost abso-
lutte control of the business of the House
and, although the Speaker would reply
to such storms of protest as would oc
casionally break out by reminding the
body that it had made its own rules and
that a majority could unmake them, he
was very careful to see that the majority
never had that opportunity.
Mr.. Reed was always a profound stu
dent of sociological and political affairs
and he has contributed able articles to
magazines on a variety of subjects. He
leaves a widow and one daughter, who
is herself a member of the New York
bar"
The WASHINGTON Post of Sunday, in
editerially speaking of the late Thomas
B. Reed. says of him:
History will classify and appraise
-