The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-12-08

Thomas =. Reed has awak.
eucd sentiment of national
regret. He was an unique ae
well as a picturesque figure in Aineri-
can politics. His withdrawal from all
active participation IN political affairs,
so far from deadening the inc emory or
his forceful and extraordinary person
ality, actually kept his name and his
fame and his doughty deeds as a pro-
tagonist Of mco,nrronsing l,epubli-
can principles before the public III high
relief, from the day upon which he re-
signed the speukership until the hour
of his death. .tEd vet if we are 10 ana
lyze minutely Mr.. Reeds career. we
shall fail to find in ii any extraordinary
or indeed unusual marks of construct
i've or speculative statesmanship. Ills
range of political vision was not very
wide. His intellectual insight into
political and social problems WAS pom
derously solid. but not remarkably
perspicuous. He did rot trouble him.
self very much about prospective re-
suits. so long as the solution Of the
question he had in hand demanded
prompt and forcible immediate action.
His estimate of human nature, if not
very generous, was essentially just.
He cared little for the sensitivenesa
and self-complacency of the Individual
in dealing with the crowd. If he did
not regard the House of Representa-
tives as an inchoate mob, he adopted 4
onUip " ;r1
was irresistible because he made no
pretense or bones about it, His atti-
tude toward the house as speaker was
simplicity ITSELF yet only q strong man
with an abiding sense OF his own pow
ers and confidence in his own person.
ality could have assumed it and MAIN
tanned it as he did, session after ses-
sion. Tom Reed never said an i'll word
of anybody, or perhaps thought an un-
charitable thought of any human being.
yet he dominated one of the greatest
representative legislative bodies in the
world by a forcefulness of will and an
autocracy of discipline that some con-
gressmen openly declared to be lncon-
stitutional and tyrannous, and the most
complacent of whom found it 10 be
ilkSome.
Mr.. Reed had no love OF power for its
own sake. His resignation OF the
speakership was as sudden as it was
unexpected. The country had come to
look upon Tom Reed and the plenary
dspensation OF the chair as essential
to productive legislation. He might
have maintained that position until a
Democratic house was returned, at
whateve" time the future has that con-
summation III store for us. NIr. Reeds
private interests suffered while his
political ascenduncy was towering sky
ward. He was not rich enough to sac
rifice his professional prospects to the
dignity to which he was elected and he
was not poor enough to have regarded
the salary OF his office as a determine
ing factor III retaining the most innu-
entail and commanding political office
outside OF the presidency TO which q
citizen can aspire. What the law gained
in reabsorbine Tom Reed politics lost
1t is topic of much constitutional
perpleNity and altogether outside the
consideration of Mr. Reeds PERSONAL
ity, whether the speaker OF the House
OF Representatives should command
such enormous practical influence in
that assembly in addition to his noni-
inal and ritualistic functions. The evo-
luton OF official life proceeds upon TWO
lines. Some great Offices lose in influ-
encc with time; others gain with it,
The governing prerogatives of the King
OF England have lost almost every YES
tige of their original force. Even those
which they retain are almost useless
surviyals. The initiative of the presl-
dent OF the United States, on the other
hand, has enormously Increased. ut
least since the Civil war. The discre-
ton OF the speaker of the House of
Commons is negative, or in its widest
scope moral; that Of the speaker of the
House OF Representatives is directly
and pervasively dominating Mr. Reed
did not enlarge the powers uf the chair
He stimulated those that were feeble
and lesuscitated' these that were dor-
lnant, His predecessors had had eX-
actly the same powers and had used
them only tentatively in the same way
Speaker Reed breathed into them The
breath of his own superabunding Vital
ity and seemed to create what he in
snct simply revived. lie never denied
,r disguised that he was fundamentally
a partisan. He did not take refuge in
sham compromises. He did what he
did as he believed in the best interest
" the people, and because he was
rave, manly ana frank the people re-
sPected ana honored him, though not
% the limit Of his ambition and desire
The courts having practically de
,lived the postal authorities of juris-
iiction over the mails. at least in re-
iation TO certain frauds and reforms, it
Is up TO congress again 10 revise The
statutes.