Evening star., 1927-05-16
CHAPTER XIV.

our Speakers, Mr.. Cannon
remarked, as, on his way
- from the chair to his room
he paused before the por'
trait of Thomas B. Reed in the Speak
er's lobby. He was a born leader, a
natural ruler OF men, and in my
opinion no man who presided over the
House before or since compares with
him. His was the greatest intellect
combined with the greatest courage,
the keenest appreciation Of humor and
the greatest command Of sarcasm ]
ever knew.
1--WE owe him a great debt. When
he came to the chair minority could
defeat the majority. few men could
tie up legislation, the rules were made
to prevent business rather than to
disnatch it. Single-handed he car
ried through a revolution. In two
days he overturned the whole system
and made the House the business-like
body it has ever since remained. This
he did in the face of such a nation
wide tempest Of wrath as no Speaker
before or after ever had to face.
Onlv a man of undaunted courage
could have done this. Only a man Of
great ability could have created
code that was accepted by his parti-
sans and in time by his opponents;
that received the sanction or the
courts and the approval OF the COM
mon sense Of the people.
Praises Reeds Election.
"Though he defeated both Mckinley
and me for the speakership, and
though then thought I was at least
as good a man for the job as he,
came to see how lucky 1t was for the
country that Reed became Speaker in
stead Of Mckinley or Cannon. Per-
haps. after all, wisdom resides in a
caucus rather than in an individual.
Reed was the man for the place at
that time. I don't think Mckinley
was: he was too amiable, too sweet
tempered, too reluctant to encourage
innovation. I am quite sure / was
not. It required Reed to count a
quorum.
"Few men in our political history
have been SO savagely aspersed and
so bitterly. denounced as Reed. He
was the object of the most extreme
partisan attack and venomous abuse.
He was the original American po-
iitica1 sczar,' to millions of people
he was tyrant worse than any
Rome ever had, who believed ne
was brutal In his manner and con-
yersation, that he took mean advan-
tage of the Democrats simply for
politics; that he stopped at no dis
honesty II it would help his party and
tnjure his enemies.
"I remember an incident that
showed the impression lodged in the
minds Of the public. Reed sat one
night at dinner next to a pretty
woman, the wife of a prominent Demo
cratic Senator, whom he met for the
first time. At the beginning she was
almost silent, replied very curtly to
his conversation and showed plainly
enough her dislike; but as the dinner
went on she came under his charm
and her manner changed completely.
Before the dinner was over she said
to him with some confusion:
Apologies to Speaker.
"Mr. Speaker, want to apologize
TO you. From what I had heard,
thought you were a dreadful person
and resented having to sit next to
you. and now
And now,' Reed drawled out you
resent that Isforgot to bring my horns
to dinner
ssPerhaps because of the false i'm
preston that was created, perhaps be-
cause or the intense prejudice which
was never effaced, the country did not
properly appreciate Reeds greatness
and he holds only a secondary place
in the American hall of fame. Still
hs would probably have been nomi-
mated for the presidency instead OF
Mckinley had he not been the victim
of treachery.
when the House met in December.
1889, we had a majority OF four only, !
40 close to the vanishing point that
the Democrats openly boasted they
would prevent us from passing any
legislation against their wishes. But
no one doubted that they could do 1t.
Not only could they filibuster in the
way the Senate does, but they could
prevent any business from being done
by simply remaining silent when the
clerk called their names on the roll.
Even if every man in the House was
in his seat, the clerk could only re-
port the names Of those who voted,
and il sufficient number did not
answer to their names the Speaker
would have to rule that there was no
quorum to do business. There might
be many more than quorum present,
but the roll call would not show 1t
and business could be paralyzed by
q mere silence.
''The Democrats announced their in
tention of doing this very thing. We
had gone into power on the tariff is
SPECIAL NfiTIfyES