REED, Thomas Brackett, American states man: b. Portland, Maine, 18 Oct. 1839; d. Wash ington, D. C., 7 Dec. 1902. He was graduated from Bowdoin College•n 1860, winning the first prise in English composition. He then took up the study of law, went to California in 1863, and was admitted to the bar there. In 1864 he was appointed assistant paymaster in the United States navy and assigned to a gunboat patrol ling the Tennessee, Cumberland and Mississippi rivers. On receiving his discharge from the navy, he returned to Portland and established a law practice. His interest in public affairs and ability as a speaker soon made him promi nent in the Republican party in Maine and in 1868 he was elected to the lower house of the State legislature, where he served two years. He then entered the State senate and before his term had expired, was elected attorney-gen eral of Maine. From 1874 to 1877 he was city solicitor of Portland and in 1876 was elected to Congress and served there continuously until his resignation in 1899. He first attracted at tention in April 1878 by a speech in opposition. to a bill to reimburse William and Mary Col lege for losses sustained at the hands of the Federal troops during the war. From that time his readiness in debate, knowledge of par liamentary law and marked executive ability made him a power in the House. In 1885-89, while the Republicans were in the minority, he was their acknowledged leader on the floor and in 1899 was chosen speaker of the House. The Republican majority was small and the business of the House continually delayed by the ((fili bustering)) course of the Democrats. Speaker Reed did not hesitate to enforce strict rulings against such tactics and ordered the clerk to count as present all members actually in the House, whether they answered to the roll-call or not. This aroused the strongest opposition
from the Democrats; his conduct was de nounced as tyrannous and illegal and the epi thet of ((Czar)) applied to him. His rulings were, however, sustained by the House and later by the decision of the Supreme Court; and in the next Congress, when the Demo crats were again in power, he had the satisfac tion of seeing his rules adopted by the party that had so violently denounced them. In 1895 and 1897, he was again elected speaker and this time his conduct of the business of the House met with the approval of both parties. As speaker, he had a powerful influence in con structing and guiding legislation, though his name is connected with no single important measure and he raised that office to a position second only to that of the President of the United States. He was a consistent opponent of free silver and was largely instrumental in defeating the free silver bill of 1890. He was also a strong advocate of the policy of protec tive tariff but was opposed to the administra tion policy in regard to imperialism and the questions resulting from the Spanish War. To this fact his resignation from Congress in 1899 is sometimes attributed. In 1896 lie was a prominent candidate for the presidency and at the Republican National Convention received 84% votes, being second to McKinley. After 1899 he was engaged in the practice of law in New York. He contributed frequently to the magazines, edited a series of volumes on ora tory entitled 'Modern Eloquence,) and pub lished 'Reed's Rules of Parliamentary Pro