The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1902-12-12

INTO the polil1cal held and mad
him member of the Maine hous
of representatives. From tina
time until 1899 he was out Q
: politics only one year.
In 1870 he went from the lowe
to the upper house of the stat
Legislature and before the close O
the year he became attorney-gen
eral of the state, an office he hell
for three years.
In 1877 he was elected to Con
gress, and until 1899 the first dis
trict had no other representative
there. After the first one all Mr.
Reeds nominations were unanimous
and the only hard fghth had fol
reelection was in 1880, when the
Greenback craze swept over the
country and defeated the Republi-
can state ticket. Two Of the other
Congressional districts elected Dem.
ocratic- Greenback representatives
that year.
AS early as 1881 he began to be
talked of for the Speakership, al
though he had been in Congress
only four years. Tn 1885 and 1887
he was the Republican nominee,
but the House was Democratic. He
was the recognized leader of the
minority during those years, and in
1889 a Republican House elected
him to the Speakership.
When he entered upon his duties
as Speaker he found himself at the
head of a narrow majority, trying
in every way to obstruct the will Of
the Republicans. In order to COM
plete the quorum on a yea and nay
vote he ordered that the names of a
number of Democrats who had re-
fused to respond when their names
we're called should be recorded. BY
that rule the doctrine which gave
the minority power to rule was
shattered. That ruling was re-
peated many times. He~was styled
a "czar." and was subjected to
much Remuneration in the violent
scenes that followed his rulings,
but he paid little attention to the
abuse. -Four years later the Dem
ocrats in control of the House
adopted the quorum-counting rule.
The principle of the action had
been previously sustained by the
Supreme Court.
In the Fifty-second and Fifty
third Congresses the Democrats
we're in power, and Reed was again
the leader of the minority, as we'll
as chairman of the Committee on
Ways and Means.
In 1890, as Speaker, he prevented
the passage of the free silver coin
age bill in the House, and again,
three years later, held the minority
solidly against any attempt to put
the country on silver basis.
Mr.. Reed was elected Speaker
again in 1895, the Republican
caucus giving him its unanimous
vote, and again his firmness
showed itself. At the end of the
session Democrats as we'll as Re-
publicans said that he had done
his work well, and Democrats We'd |
with one another to offer the
customary vote of thanks to the
Speaker. In 1891. at the close of
the first session of which Mr.. Reed
was speaker, not Democrat
would vote for the resolution.
In 1896 Mr.. Reed was a candidate
for the Republican nomination
for the Presidency, but was de-
feated. At the same time he
threw himself into the compaign
with all his energy, delivering
speeches in many states. The
Fifty-ifth Congress was again Re-
publican and again Mr.. Reed was
reelected Speaker.
Mr.. Reed held the post of speak
er until August, 1899, when he
resigned from the House, and a
short time afterward he began the
practice of law in this city as a
member Of the firm of Reed,
Simpson, Thatcher & Barnun1.
His last public speech was made
a little more than a week ago, at
the birthday dinner of Mark
Twain.
Mr.. Reed was the author of
Reeds Rules" published in 1894,
and editor of "Modern Eloquence,
published in ten volumes in 1901.
He was also a contributor to the
ma Uaziues. He was a member of |