Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1902 — THOMAS BRACKET REED DIES AT WASHINGTON [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THOMAS BRACKET REED DIES AT WASHINGTON

Famous Ex-SpeaJker of the House of Representatives Succumbs to Bright's Disea.se. DEAD MAN WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST INTELLECTVAL GIANTS OF AMERICA Pathetic Death Scene, When the Brilliant Mind Fights for Life Long After the Body Has Become Inert—Sketch of the Career of the Maine Statesman.

Thomas B. Reed, former speaker of the House of Representatives, died In his room at the Arlington in Washington a few minutes after midnight, Dec. 6, of acute Bright’s disease, precipitated by an attack of appendicitis. He had been entirely unconscious since 11 o’clock and all day had been in a half conscious condition. About 5 o’clock in the afternoon his kidneys refused to perform their functions altogether, and from that time the physicians were constantly with him, although there was no hope. After 5 o’clock he had frequent flashes of consciousness, lasting for some little time. During these intervals his voice, which had so often thrilled great audiences, filled the sickroom. Scraps of legal argument, fragments of points of parliamentary procedure and political axioms came from his lips, although he knew it not and was unable to recognize even his wife and daughter,

is not enrolled on the list of the country’s great statesmen, there will certainly be no one to dispute his claim to a place among those who in their day pnd generation exercised powerful influence over their fellows. It is, indeed, doubtful whether any other party leader has possessed so much authority in shaping the legislation of his time as did Mr. Reed during the six years that he was the Speaker of the House of Representatives. By strength of brain and force of personality he made the office supreme, and then he filled.it supremely. And that is why Reed was “czar” in the speech of both friend and enemy during his reign. Absolute, uncompromising Integrity marked him in all his political life, so that however much he was criticised by men who disagreed with him, he was never feared as an enemy of his government. And with it all he gained as much fame for some of the qualities

who remained at his side to the last. His brain fought for life long after the body was doomed and almost inert. There was no death struggle, no convulsion, but after 11 o’clock, when all actual consciousness was lost, the body, physically great though it was, began to lose its warmth, while up to the end came the lightning flashes from the great intellect. Mr. Reed died without knowing his lllneßs was fatal. He had had Bright’s disease for years, but no one knew it. With proper care he might have lived ten years longer. If the attack of appendicitis had not reacted on the kidneys he might not have died for some little time. The indomitable will fought valiantly against the inevitable, and during his last moments the Maine giant lived the sentiment which he expressed when requested to withdraw from the presidential rttce of 1896: “Gtd hates a quitter.” But the fight was against overwhelming odds and the mind which was beclouded during the day lapsed into unconsciousness at 11 p. m., and the intellect which blazed so many brilliant flashes was clouded forever. For an hour before Mr. Reed passed over the river he was unconscious and did not recognize the devoted wife and loyal daughter, who had vainly endeavored to nurse him back to health. The patient did not suffer from convulsions, as is usual in Bright’s disease. He did not know his condition was so serious that death would ensue and this brilliant mind was handed back to its maker without leaving a tender farewell to his loving ones, nor expressing a single phrase which would have been handed down to posterity. »

HIS LIFE AND CAREER

Thomas Bracket Reed One of America's Intellectual Giants. Mr. Reed was one of the noted figures of American pqlitlcs. If his name

he displayed in private life, his wit, his literary ability, his good-fellow-ship, as for his public achievements. Mr. Reed was born in Portland, Me., Oct. 18, 1839. In that city eight generations of his ancestors had lived, the first of the line being .George Cleeve, who was the pioneer settler of Portland, going there in 1632. Thomas Bracket Reed, Sr., the father of the dead statesman, was a watchman in a sugar house. He sent his son regularly to school, nevertheless, and the lad was graduated from the Portland High School at the age of 16. Thence he went to Bowdoin College. The story is that in those days young Reed looked forward to becoming a. preacher, but he soon got that idej> out of his head, and in fact he is shjd to have loafed much of the time during his first three yearß in college, working hard enough, however, in the last year to be placed among the honor men of his class. For a time Mr. Reed taught school In one of the good old red schoolhouses, in which teachers headed toward fame always thrashed big pupils of whom nothing is ever heard again. He had that experience. Then he went to California for a year, and was admitted to the bar, but he found he liked Maine better. He returned home and toward the end of the civil war served, a year in the navy as acting assistant paymaster. He then began to practice law in Portland, and in the course of two years he made himself well enough thought of to secure for himself a nomination to the lower branch of the Maine legislature. He. was elected and it is a notable fact that ever after that time until his voluntary retirement in 1899 he had always a public office Of some kind to fill. Two terms in the legislature were followed by a term in the senate, and three years as attorney general of the state. He then became solicitor for the city of Portland. I His twenty-two years of continuous

service in Congress began in 1877. The preceding year, after a hot struggle in the party convention, he had se-i cured the nomination and had won; his district by 1,200 votes. His renomination for term after term was always unanimous, and only once did he have' a real fight for election, and that was' in 1880, when the Democratic-green-back movement was exceedingly strong in Maine. { Mr. Reed gained fame even in his first term in Congress by his clever cross-examination of witnesses before the Potter committee appointed by the Democrats as the result of the HayesTilden controversy. In the succeeding Congress Mr. Reed was given a place on the judiciary committee, and in his third term, so rapidly had he risen in standing, that he became chairman of that important committee. His work there in reporting bills concerning claims and railroad land forfeitures has had its worth attested by uniformly favorable decisions from the Supreme Court. The next three Congresses were all Democratic, and Mr. Reed became the recognized leader of the minority, twice receiving the Republican caucus nomination for Speaker. In 1889, however, the political whirl had come and Mr. Reed was elected Speaker of the House in the Fifty-third Congress. His situation was a most perplexing one. His party was in control by a narrow majority, and the opposition was strong and determined. The difficulties might well have seemed insurmountable, but Mr. Reed had the knowledge and the courage combined to enable him to become master. Democratic obstruction was the thing that he had first to throttle. He did it to start with by his famous reversal of the long-standing rule of the House In regard to quorums.

The custom had been to make use of the fiction that a Congressman present in the room was not present at roll call unless he chose to answer. In this way the opposition could block action, although its members were present watching every move in the game. “Czar” Reed simply ordered the clerk one day to record as present all the Democrats who were in the room and who had refused to answer to roll call. Then pandemonium began. The Democratic side of the House was in an uproar, but Speaker Reed, gavel in hand, did not lose his temper. “I deny your right, Mr. Speaker, to count me present,” shouted Representative McCreary of Kentucky. Mr. Reed answered:

“The chair is merely making a statement of the fact that the gentleman is present. Does he deny it?” For two days he refused to permit an appeal to the House from his decision, but when the appeal came he was sustained, and so thoroughly did he make his point that in succeeding Congresses with the Democrats in power his rule was maintained. The victory on this point established the right of the majority to transact business, and more than that, it made the majority assume full responsibility for the way in which it exercised its power. From 1895 to 1899 Mr. Reed was again Speaker of the House. This time his autocratic rule, which had been submitted to before because of its apparent necessity, grew steadily more irksome to his fellow Republicans. He retained it, however, despite this, because of his popularity, and the Democrats, who in 1891 had refused to vote for a resolution of thanks to the retiring Speaker, in 1897 offered the resolution.

In 1896 Mr. Reed was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President. He was defeated by McKinley, but did not become disaffected toward the party by his ill success; and he went vigorously to work for the ticket, making speeches in ten different states; from Maine to Kansas. He resigned from Congress Sept. 4, 1899, in order to associate himself with a New York law firm and accumulate for himself modest wealth. Although he had not been extravagant, he had lived up to his income, which, In addition to his salary as Congressman, had been formed solely of a salary from insurance companies as arbitrator and from his literary work. What little he had saved had been lost in unfortunate investments, made by a trusted friend a few years before. Mr. Reed was married at Portland. His wife’s maiden name was Miss Susan Merrill, and she was the daughtei of a Portland clergyman. The only child of the couple was a daughter, Miss Kitty Reed, who was at her father’s bedside during his fatal illness.

THOMAS BRACKET REED.

Ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Who Died at Washington Dec. 7.