2654 CONGRESSIONAL -RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRTJARY 10,
By ~Ir. RIORDAN: Petition of tile National Com·ention for were at Concord bridge, in the Lincoln com}lany, of which his Extension of t!Je Foreign Commerce of the United States, for a fl:\ther was lieutenant. maximum and minimum tariff-to the Committee on Ways and He was di tinguished among the great lawyers who then Means. adorned tile :Massachusett bar. The Commonwealth elected .Also, petition of Kational Wool Growers' Association of the llim to te t in Charle. ton tlle constitutionality of certain law·· . United States, again t forest re erTes on land not covered al of South Carolina relating to the imprisonment of negro sea ready with fore. ·ts-to the Committee on Agriculture. men, but the temper of tl}e times prevented the carrying out of By Mr. VOLSTEAD: Petition-of Charles Leaman et al., for the purpose. amendment to tile free-alcoilol law-to the ommittee on w·ays Hanard College ·cllo e him to protect it interests when the and Means. legislature sought to change its corporate f--orm, and of hi erv By :\Jr. ZE~OR: J?aper to accompany bill for relief of Annie ice tilen Pr~esident Walker . aid: "Otiler men ha\e sened the E. Curt -to tile Conimittee on Invalid Pensions. college; Samuel Boar a\ed it." He was a member of the l\las achusetts legi ·lature and was for one year in Congres~ •. uc ·eeding Edward E\erett for the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Middlesex district in 1 3G. In 1812 Samuel Boar married ·a daughter of Roger Sherman, SUNDAY, Feb1:ua1'y 10, 1907. -of Connecticut. His tllree . on were all lawyers. Edward, af 'l'ile House met at 12 o'clock noon, and 'vas called to order by ter practicing for a time ucces fully on the Pacific coast, came Hon. WILLIAM C. LoYERING, of ·uassachusett ·, Speaker pro tem back to Concord to spend hi. remaining years in llis garden and pore. among llis book . EbenezE"r Rockwood filled a large place in The Cilaplain, Rev. HE~RY N. Cm:IDE~ D. D., offereu tile fol tlle puWic affairs of :Ma saellu ·etts and of the nation. He was lovdng 11rayer: a great lawyer, was judge of the court of common pleas, justicP. Almigilty God, our hea...-enly Father, we are met ilere oii thi of tlle supreme judicial court, Attorney-General in Grant's first lloly day in memory of the men to whom the hour is set npart Cabinet, and Member of Congress. Lowell well described llim tllat their \irtue may be extolled and a proper aud ju t esti when he said : mate placed upon their public service that those who come after The· jedge who covers with his bat them may be in ~ pired by their example. More wit and gumption and shrewd Yankee sense Thi is fitting, since tile life and perpetuity of our Retmblic Than there are mosses on an old stone fence. depend upon individual loyalty and patriotic sen·iee. The life Tile third son, George Frisbie Hoar, wa. born in oncord in and character of the ·e men measure up to the high estimnte of. 182G and mo\ed to W orce ter in 1849, for the reason, as he has American cltizen hip: We thank Thee for what they
RocKwooD HoA.R brought to the National Legislature of his aboYe all "·as tile trait that bu. been spoken of by other. here country mauy rich gift of mind and ·baracter. lie bad the to-day, and that was tile absolute integrity of hi mind·. :Uo. t broad and liberal culture gh·en by the university course of Ilnr men baye bone!':tJ', a.- we commonly know the term, but bone::;ty Yard, widened an they have been a band of brethren ani:I friends, increasing the in staff of two governors of t'he Commonwealth, once serving as judge flue-nce of the old Commonwealth by cordial cooperation in e>ery advocate-general, besides being president of a military board of thing that has made for her interest or for the interest of the adyisers during the Spanish war. In these· capacities he was ful country as her people concei\e it." It was in that spirit of filling the high duties of Am~rican citizenship, inherent in his friendship and fraternity that RocKWOOD HoAR became a mem nature from the ancestral stock from which he sprang in the ber of our delegation. ·we perform no perfunctory duty to-day town of Concord, where the earlier conflicts of the ReYolution and shall foreyer sacredly cherish the memory of this friend first awakened the pah·iotic nature~ of the sturdy farmer-s to the who ·pro\ed him elf so kind and helpful an as ociate. His noble laying of the foundation of the Republic which it was his ambi manhood and lo>able personality can not fail to be a genuine in- tion to serye faithfully and well. piration during the year. that are to come. It is therefore in He was assigned by Speaker CANNON to the Committees on deed fitting that w_e should record_here our affection for him and Elections and on Revision of the Laws. These committees were our appreciation of his honorable and useful life. engaged in a line of work which was congenial to him, and I frequently heard his associates speaking in the highest terms of . 1\Ir. OLCOTT. 1\Ir. Speaker, I want to add but-a word or his very faithful and efficient service. If llis life had been two as h·ibute to the memory of RocKWOOD HoAR. I count it spai·ed, the entire membership of the House would have had ari as one of the pleasantest experiences that I have had in this opportunity to have estimated his public serTice by the standard Congress that in the distribution of seats it was my good for which those associated with him in committee ,,~ork were en tune to be placed next to him. I think I neyer in my maturer abled to place upon him. The work of the revision of the laws years haYe made an acquaintance which so quickly ripened into is of great· import-ance, and during the long period of his first friendship. Seeing him eyery day, talking with him during · session in Congre s he gave to that work his best talent. The much of the ses ion, I can say that from his expressions and result has been printed, and it will add to the glory of his from his actions I think he was a man who never offended his earthly accomplishments, and it will · be of immense advantage own conscience. I do not think that there would haye been· any to countless millions of his countrymen in their future trans consideration that would have made Mr. HOAR do anything· that actions in the courts of law and in the extension of their com he did not believe was right. There was another sterling qua 1- mercial relations in the activities of business life. ity in him. He had that pride of great and distinguished an l\lr. HoAR seemed to enjoy his work here. lie was ambitious cesh·y that made it his ambition not only not to sully tile repu to be useful because of the good he could do for others. 1.'1lere tation of that ancestry, but to add ·to its luster. His pride of was no apparent selfishness in his nature. His wife and chil ancestry did not beget upineness, but it stimulated industry dren seemed happy and contented, and to the ordinary citizen and ambition to do well. there-would seem to be every element which marked the pros~ The last time that I saw him was on the other side of the pect of success and a long and brilliant career. But the all water, and he was looking forward with such anticipation of wi ·e Ruler of the Universe, -by causing " the silver cord to be pleasure at returning here to his work, especially upon that loo ed and the golden bowl to be broken," finished the work which committee of which the gentleman from Kentucky [i\ir. SHER human wisdom had regarded unfinished. We can not penetrate LEY] has spoken, that it was as if he could scarcely \vait to tile m3·stery of death. . It attacks the youth, with his years of haye ·the time pass when he could get back here in harness hope and promise of future fulfillment, and sooner or later all again. But it was not to be; and so not only his friend& from must yield to its dread call. And we who are permitted to Massachusetts, but all who have had any association with llim remain to fulfill our earthly careers must take up the burden on ·committee or on the floor o{ this House, must think of him where our; colleagues haYe laid it down. only as ·a de~r and tender memory. It was my privilege to be appointed one of the committee to pay the last tribute of respect to his lamented father, and also Mr. GREENE. Mr. Speaker, as we meet to-day for the pur I was assigned to the same sad duty to my departed colleague. pose of recording our words of tribute to the memory of one Tile services of both were held in the same churcll. The citizens 6f our lamented colleagues, I am reminded of tile liDCertainty of /of Worce ·ter attended the obsequies in large numbers, and there human life and llow brittle is the thread which binds u together was an expression of grief that per>aded the entire community. in our earthly careers. I shall cherish the memory of our departed colleague, and will As RocKwooD HoAR had always resided in a portion of the ingly pay this feeble tribute to his worth and work. Commonwealth of .Massachusetts remote from tile_city in which I reside, I had seldom met him until be took his seat in the 1\Ir. HOUS'.rON. Mr. Speaker, in the first days of the Fifty first session of the Fifty-ninth Congress and began his Congres ninth Congress I met for the first time RocKwooD HoAR. It sional life. Frequent conferences of the Massachusetts delega was my good fortune to be assigned to committee work with tion upon matters relating to the political and material intere3ts tllis man. As members of the same subcommittee of tile Com of the State brought me into more intimate relations with him. mittee. on Revision of the Laws, requiring detailed and con I llad known his father, the late Senator Hoar, for many tinuing work, we were thrown \ery closely together, and I had years, and I t}?ought I discerned in the son some of the promi the opportunity in the intimate association in which we were nent features which made the father one of the best beloved necessarily thrown to observe very fully the manner of man he of the long line of public seryants who had been called upon to was. The character of this coinmittee work seemed congenial to serve the great Commonwealth in the stirring periods of the the tastes and preference of the man, and he at once im nation's life. . pressed me with the enthusiasm and spirit that inspired bini in RocKwooo HoAR had convictions upon public questions .which the work. He brought to this labor a great deal of knowledge be never hesitated to assert. Sometimes I noticed, when the and research. In addition to the marked ability that was mani roll was called, he and I were found recorded in opposition to fest there was a sense of justice that stood out so prominent each other, but I always felt that he had been guided by his in all his expression of views that his opinion corn.tnanded at conscientious convictions. His father had never sought ·to look tention and respe<;:t always. lie. was earnest, set in no sense for popular acclaim, and Massachusetts always held him in the dogmatic or arbitrary. Wllile he was tenacious and loyal in highest esteem, and her citizens gaye to him their continuous his views, yet he was ever painstaking and careful in the con _confidence and support even when· many of her most prominent sideration he gave to the opinions of others. He was a modest men were inclined to look upon some public questions in a man man, a trait so becoming to man as well as woman. ner very much different than he had freely and frankly ex _There are mru1y here who know the life nnd character of the pressed himself. distinguished dead better than I, but I trust that although a RocKwooD HoAR gave promise- of a distinguished career, and if stranger to him until a few short months before his death that his life had been spared to the general allotted period of manhood, it is meet that I should express my regard for the man and pay his record of accomplishment would have brilliantly adorned the my tribute of respect and love to his memory to-day. Wllen I pages of history. He had barely passed the half century of life, had known him a few days I felt that I had met a man and a and apparently had many years of usefulness before him. i-Ie brother. My heart went out to him in perfect trust. He was came from sturdy Puritan stock. Naturally he was a student. gentle, cordial, and kind, yet there was a manly dignity about With his home training and the advantage accorded by the public him that spoke courage and strength. His was a charming per school system of the city of Worcester he was enabled to graduate sonality. · In manner he was affable and without resh·aint; in from Harvard College in his early youth, and only a few years conversation he was winning indeed. thereafter he engaged in the practice of law, became assistant His ready speech flowed fair and free district attorney, and subsequently dlstrict attorney, which last In phrase of gentlest courtesy. position he occupied at the time of his election to Congress. He came from a family noted in several generations· for His -quiet demeanor and peacefu,l appearance would not lead their patriotism· and distinguished public service. To those who one to think that he had an aptitude for military life, but he served cnme in contact with RocKWOOD HoAR it is unnecessary to say as a private in the Massachusetts militia and also on the military that his early environments and advantages were of the high- ::X:LI--167 - 2658 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 10, est ordeT. He was the res-ult of the best conditions of our But this nomml and: happy condition ended with the genera· day· and times and a cr.edit to our civilization. He bore the tion which included among. its members Judge Ebenezer Ro k vi ible. stamp of thiS degree, and it is a matter of just pride to wood Hoar and George Fhsbie Hoar. The· former left tw.:.. sons, belong to a race and a civilization.. of· which he was the· natural Samuel and Sherman. Samuel Hoa:r, like so many of his product. . ancestors, was a d.i'3tingmsbecl lawyer, and his eQd came ud Ilis public se1:vice and life history I leave tp others to tell. denly, when he was hardly past the prime of life; while Sher I only speak of the man-the individual, as he impressed me. man Hoar, after being elected to Congress at an age when he, While be was a worthy scion of a noble st-oek, with a lineage was scarcely ellgible, ended his life prematurely as a result illustrious and great, yet in him was illustrated that- of disease contracted in: pToviding for and caring for our siek Kind hearts are more than coronets soldiers returned from Cubru. during the Spanish war. The only And simple faith than Norman blood; remaining son of the family of his generation, and Senatm:· for while be was of noble lineage and gentle blood, to my Hoar's only son, was be wilo e memory we- are gathered. to-day. mind: the riche t grace and strength of his life and character to pay tribute to. It will be seen from what I have said that was imparted by his ow~ kind heart and gentle faithful oul. RocKwooD HoA.R labored under that peculiar disadvantage· which In his right hand he can·red gentle peace those descended from or onnected with very di tingui bed And he was- persons must always faee, and e ·pecially when, as in his cru e, the distinguished person is a father; for not only does be ha1e To. those that sought him sweet as summer. to meet the natu:ral criticism that wllatever he does, either a a I sought him and so I found: him. I conceived for him an p1:1blic man or in any semipublic capacity, is largely influen ed, affectionate regard that will abide with me. It enlarges the if not entirely due, to. the recognized wisdom of the senior, but ideals of life to have known such a man. It glves. a richer in the case of a. son he 1ery often, and prpperly, refrains from conception of manhood, and, to myself, I hold it a bles ing to assumino- public positions or semipublic dutie for which lie is ha1e known him. Thi acquaintance was of short dlll'ation amply fitted, feeling that such a course migllt adverNely influ seven months embraced it-b1:1t that time was long enough for ence the future of his father. There is little reason to doubt me ·to form a lofty estimate of the· man, and I esteem it a that such motives governed RocKwooD HoAR in hi career prior privilege to bring my offering to-day and join in .with those to hi election to Congress; for until his nomination to that office, who :knew him long and well in paying my bumble tribute to which occmTe 1907. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOOSE. 2659 All the members of his family bud a broad i·eligious tolerance. those lives to which all look up, and when in the initial drawing His honored father especially, among his ancestors, displayed of seats in the first session of this Fifty-ninth Congress I found this quality to a marked degree. While having strong and pro myself immediately in front of a genial, dignified, courteous, nounced views regarding the future life, nothing met his vigor fine-appearing man, it was one of the great additional pleasures ous opposition more quickly or more surely stirred his combative of this service to find that that man was the son of Senator temperament -than any attempt to restrict religious belief or Hoar. I appreciated it as a privilege at that time to be asso practice. RocKwooD HoAR displayed tl:le same characteristics. ciated with one from such a distinguished ancestry, but it was He TI""as a liberal, a Unitarian in his religious belief, but being only a matter of days before I learned to appreciate it as a a liberal did not mean that he was vague or indefinite in his pleasure, npt only to associate with the son of Senator Hoar, ~iews or careless in their practice. He TI""as the reverse, but he. but to form an acquaintance which ripened into friendship with would have :fought with all hi resources any attempt to force RocKwooD HoAR. Our late friend was one of the most human on others views in which they did not believe or any attempt to men who ever came to Congress. I never met a man who ex discriminate against his fellow-men because their creed differed celled in doing the right thing in little things as did. he. On the from his own. 1\either did be proclaim one standard and live public side eyery thought was for his service here and for his another. service to his district. I had myself been educated in a school of Other members of his family, almost without exception, had practical politics, and yet it had never occurred to me, nor to ~igorous prejudices and were combati~e to an unusual degree. colleagues of mine similarly situated, to send the CoNGRESSIONAL They bad-a .capacity to utter bitter sentences as well as an un RECORD to the fire houses in my district because there the men usual loyalty toward those TI""hO had been tried ·and found nqt would have time to read them, but RocKwooD HoAR thought of wanting. RocKwooD HoAR had this latter quality. He may that. He .had a large delegation from his district, ladies, come have lwd the second; though if so, be was extremely chary llere during Easter vacation. Any man with the means could about using it. But in place of the first he had a charming ~d have thought of the delightful lunch which he gave them in the genial personality, and was entirely de~oid of prejudfce and of Capitol, but 'few besides RocKwooD HoAR would have bad the .the combati~e temr>erament to which I have alluded. Therefore, additiona-l thought of giving to each one a session pass for the if my estimate is not overdrawn, there is ample reason why the gallery signed with llis own hand. He was loyal to his friends. people of Massachusetts should have been shocked at his· liD There TI""as a subject in which he and 1 were interE>sted, in whicll timely taking away in the prime of life, for I believe political our views were in accord. One day coming into the Chamber he conditions 'Yere such that he might have been· returned to this said, " :My friend, Mr. So-and-so " (here to-day), " is to make House again and again, better and better prepared to represent smile remarks on this subject this afternoon on the opposite side. his Ileople up to the highest standards of the past. There is also You have given a good deal of thougllt to this subject, and if good reason why the Members of this House, without limitations you are mean enough to do it you can ask him que.3tions and to party lines, should feel that they ha~e met a personal loss, make suggestions that might tend to annoy or confuse him in -for his honored name, his genial, sterling character, his gracious some parts of it. If you do that, you will ha~e me to deal with presence and bearing had drawn all to him in a way which as long as we both stay here in Congt:ess. He is sincere and promised unusual popularity and usefulness in Washington. entitled to his views and is entitled to have them go to his Yery few men ha ~e commenced thei-r Congressional careers people in the way he wishes them, and I want to say to you that under more fa~orable auspices; very few have done more in one . so far as you and I are concerned you interrupt him this after s.bort. year to convince those associated with them that their noon at peril of our friendship." · ·preparation was complete for a successful legislative career. It is hardly necessary to say that after that, knowing Mr. HoAR, I did not attempt any but helpful interruptions. 1\Ir. PARSONS. Mr. Speaker, in these days when so many On that same subject be prepared a speech better than has doubts are expressed of the value to the individual and the ever been delivered in this branch of Congress in relation to that nation of inherited wealth, it is -refreshing, by contrast, to subject. He prepared it with toil, labor, thought, and genius. ·meditate on the life, character, and services of RocKwooD After the final vote had been taken he took it from his desk, HoAR and in them observe the boon to the individual and tile handed it to me, and said, "BENNET, I wish you would read nation of inherited wortll. that." I did, and I said, "HoAR, why didn't you make that Seldom will it happen that a Member of this House is the son speech? It woulq have put you in the front ranks of the Mem of a former Member who, too, was the son of a former Member. bers of this House in the Fifty-ninth Congress, no matter how RoCKwooD HoAR was all this and more. In his veins coursed long others have served." He said, "Those are my thoughts, the blood of the embattled farmers who fougllt at Concord my belief, and that· is the way I voted, but the gentleman who IUdge. Fit indwelling place was he for that- led the opposition was from my own State and is my friend. Spirit that made those heroes dare In some ways I did not think he was being treated fairly, and •.ro die and leave their children free. I did not desire to nor would I add to his defeat the humiliation With a strong character, well-trained mind, wide experience, of an attack from a member of his own delegation." gentlemanly bearing, and high purposes, be combined sense Allusion has been mad~ here to the· occasion· when Mr. HoAR · of humor and geniality of .soul that made his companionship a was almost alone on this fioor in a rising vote. I happened delight to ·his friends. In the short serYice that fate permitted · through the fact of sitting so close to h4n to be a very near wit ·llim here many had come to recognize these qualitle:--. The first ness on that occasion. He was a modest man, and it was a •time that he wa called to the Chair in Committee of the 'Vhole, hard thing .to do, and as I sat in my seat here I hu·ned around the unusual compliment of applause was paid him, and that and looked at him and saw him standing in the aisle gripping from both sides of the Chamber. Had he lived two character the desk on either side, with every muscle tense, but stiU istics of his 'yould have becol)le increasingly prominent. One standing. would have been his usefulne s as a legislator, due to his One "·ho has traveled through Massachusetts even to a lim ability, industry, experience, and inherited knowledge of gov ited extent can understand, I think, the spirit which animates ernment. The other would have been his obedience to con-· such as our friend. It is the survival of the town meeting; it is science-his courage to speak and vote as he was gi~en to see reenforced by constant inspection of the memorials of brave the right, whatever the odd . A mnn of his upbringing, his deeds. It is in a way helped by the very air of the State. We .culture, and his nobility of tradition had a perspective not lose much here· through the. going of ItocKwooD HoAR. I am possible to mnny. He would ha~e tood a bulTI""ark for the best glad that the occasion occurred to TI""llicll my colleague from the in Anglo-Saxon evolution. He TI""Ould have been strong in- Thirteenth distl'ict alluded, when be TI""US greeted with applause The strength that can not seek on taking the chair, and I am confident that when that applause By deed or thought to hurt the weak. came the most sm·prised man in the House was its recipient. Of RocKWOOD HoAR there can. TI""ell be said what TI""as written He never fully realized his position .in the henrts of his friends, of auother of 1\Jassachusetts's noble sons : and such a tbken as that helped somewhat, I am glad to know, He left the example of high powers nobly used and the remembrance his realiza tlon of how he stood. of a spetless name. · But wllile he TI""as loyal to his friends mere friendship never led him on a vote. As my colleague from the Fifteenth district l\Ir. BENNET of New York. Mr. Speaker, it is said that Oli\er bas said, we all know that llis vote was in accordance with his Cromwell once in answer to. an inquiry from a vorti·ait paintE>r conscience. as to how he wished to be paintE:'d said, "Paint me with the wart." One day the friend of his on the opposite side of the Chamber Our friend, I know, possessed a similar spirit and was one of to TI""hom I have referred came and asked me to vote with him those who could best nfford to exhibit it. Like my collenguc on a matter, not of large moment nnd to which I llad given, I from the Thirteenth di trict, I had before coming to Congress regret to say, rather scanty attention. I promised to do so and read and re-read witll pleasure. with interest, and with profit, I did so. After .my name on the roll was called came :Mt·. tJJO autobil.>graphy of the late Senator Hoar. His was one of Ho.A.&'s, ~d ·when his name was called lle voted the opposite 266D CO~GRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. }fEBRUARY 10, ~-uy. .[ turned to him in some sm·prise and said, u W:b.y, HoAn, and Concord repose the remains o.f my .father's ancestors who Wby ·didn't you 'Vote with our f 1907. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. ·2661 where great and good manhood scarcely touches high twelve;he right. He was ever courteous, generous, and kind. While his yet lived a. life and in a time wherein his fifty years wrought a carriage was that of a proud man, his head was never held so century of accomplishment. In high ideals be honored his day high as not 'to see the humblest of his fellows as he passed them and generation ; under the light of splendid example he nourished by. As indicated at the beginning of my remarks, I was not hi household, and in manly devotion to duty he rounded out a acquainted with his early life, but if bis boyh-ood and early life of satisfying success. manhood are to be judged by that period of his life familiar Uan is no star, but a quick coal to me, I am constrained to believe that no aet of his ever brought O·f moxtal fire ; sorrow to a loving mother's heart or a flush of shame to a proud Who trlows it not, nor doth control A faiht desire, father's face. I am sure that he impre sed himself upon every Lets his own ashes choke his soul. one and everything with which he bad to do in a most favorable manner, and, in my judgm-ent, if be had not been stricken down [Mr. TffiRELL addressed the House. See Appendix.] in the flower of his manhood he would have made an imprint upon the institutions. of his country that the relentless forces Mr. MACON. Mr. Spea:ker, I did not have the pleasure of of time and tide only could have effaced. He was too broad of knowing the distinguished and lovable subject o-f this memorial mind and great of soul to be a petty partisan or a narrow sec occasion until I met him at the beginning of the present Congress, tionalist, and in none of the many conversations that I bad with and I account myself greatly the loser because I was not fortu him did I ever hear him utter an unkind word concerning any nate enough to know him at an earlier period of his life, for after secti-on of our Union or any of its citizens. While he was -su being intimately associated with him as a member of the Com premely proud of his native State, he did not regard -it as the mittee on the Revision of the Laws of the United States for se1en wheel that moved the world or its capital city the hub around long months I was constrained to belie>e that the world had been which it revolved. made better by the worthy life he had lived, and hence an who He believed in the rights of individuals, communities, and had been denied an acquaintance withhim had been deprived of States, and be thought that eTery indi\idual, community, and many of the social pleasures that come to mankind through the State, no matter where domiciled or located,_possessed the very a\enues of intimate association :with the earth's noblest and gen same rights and was entitled to the very same considerations. tlest sons. From the first moment of om acquaintanee I was Little did I think, when he gave my ,hand a wa1·m, friendly firmly irppressed with the fact that a gentleman born and bred, clasp at the close of the last session of Congress, that it was in '\\hom there was no guile, bad joined the forces of legislative fo"r the last time. But the fates decreed that -it should be, for life, one who fairly lived the sacred sentiment of that grand old o-nly a few short months after our friendly parting. the sad sono that was sung in the long ago by stainless tongue upon news came to me that he had depm·ted this ·life. But, sir, I am Judea's lofty heights= .. On earth peace, good will toward men." in a measure consoled by the thought that he so lived while He was blesse<;l with an open, honest face; a bright, intelligent upon this earth that when he came to die be did not go to his eye; a mellow, winning voice; a proud, manly bearing; a cour gra...-e like a "quarry slave, scourged to his dungeon," but, com ageous, but S'\\eet spirit that was as full of fraternalism as any forted and sustained by thoughts of noble deeds well performed. one it was ever my privilege to know, a fraternalism that was he was able to " wrap the drapery of his couch about him and intended by its Creator to be as free and as pure as the waters lie down to pleasant dreams." thn.t flow from the fountains of eternal life, as barmD-nious among Mr. Speaker, truly a just man bas been called to his well men as the notes of the song bird that are warbled forth as he earned reward. Peace to his ashes and joy to his soul. rises from his night of rest and flaps the morning sun rays into a Ob, may the shaft that keeps silent watch over his sacred . · thousand glittering gems, as sweet and as sacred as _the music tomb. he able to withstand the tempest's ·fiercest blow; muy the that is fltmg by angelic fingers from the trings of angelic harps. sun slline brightest above the spot '\\here lies his precious re The fraternalism that animated and controlled his every act mains: and may flowers sweetly bloom around his untimely would have stayed the murderous hand of a. sin-cursed Cain, grave until time, in .its last revolution, breaks on eternity's would have stifled the impetuous words of an angry Lot, would bore, and his great soul rest in the bosom of his Lord forever ba1e prevented tb:e theft of the birthright from innoeent Esau, and forever, is the earnest prayer of his southern friend. would ha\e stopped the sale of Joseph into Egypt by his brethren, and would have brought a blush of shame to the Mr. BUTLER of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, it is with feelings ch-eek of unrighteous Saul to have even thought of hurling a of pleru;ure mingled with sadness that I unite with others in javelin at the bead of the youthful and sweet-spirited. shepherd thi:s House in paying ju-st tribute to the memory of Hon. ·nocK boy of the plains. The kind of n·atern.alism that found lodg "WOOD HoAR, late Representati\e from the Sta.te of Massachu ment in his noble breast. thougb often- and bitterly assailed, setts, whose life and character 'we are here to commemorate and thank God hn. survived the tyrarmy of tyrants, the cruelties of whose death we deplore. . bigot kings, the vices of avarice and greed, and the inhumanity Although my personal acquaintance with him was limited and of man to man. It ·bas· put bread into the mouths of millions of short duration, I esteem it as a high privilege to unite with of hungry souls and has clothed as many tattered forms. Ab, others who had known him longer and better in commemorating :Mr. Speaker, if such fra-ternalism as that that guided and con his many virtues. · trolled the acts and words of the lamented RocKwooD HoAR I first met the distinguish.ed Congressman at the beginning of was lived and practiced by the peoples of the world e\ery hovel the first session of the Fifty-ninth Congress, and although would become a palace and every man and woman a saint. Duty sh·angers fit the time, our acquaintance soon ripened into warm seemed to be his only taskmaster, and faithfully and efficiently personal friendship. did he meet and discharge _e\ery obligation that was laid upon During that session I bad the honor to ser\e with him on the him by that exacting O\er"eer. When assigned to the Committee Committee on Elections No. 2, before which contests of a very on the Revision of the Laws, he disco\ered that its work bad heated and highly partisan character were pending. Although been sadly neglected for several yeats, ·and hence he found we differe<;l as widely as the north pole from the south on ques more than a double task before him if he and his colleagues on tions of public policy, he pro\ed himself to be a . man w~o could the committee were to revise the laws during the life of the rlse above the clamor .of party prejudices and base his judg Fifty-ninth Congress. It was his ambition that ere the -gavel ment on important questions arising before the committee on fell to tell of the close of the Congress that the laws would truth and justice, with an eye single and alone to the right be ha1e been re\ised and the work of the committee ended. He tween the opposing parties. therefore entered upon the duties before him with great fidelity, With marked ability and fairness he examined the evidence energy, and superior intelligence, and never.did be fail or falter with a view of eliciting the truth. This accomplished, his action in his work, no matter how many or how long the hours of labor was prompt and decisive. or how voluminous or arduous the task. His Congressional His service as a Member of this House began with my own, career was short, but it was as successful, as complete, and and during the first session he was prompt in his attendance, ac useful as that of any Member of that body of which I have tive in the discharge of his duties, and displayed the ability and knowledge whose term of ·service was not longer than his. courage worthy of the high position he occupied in the councils of I therefore beg of his constituents to know that in his election the nation to which his people had honored hinL no mistake was made and that in honoring him they honored In his untimely death this House bas lost one of its most use themselves to a high degree. He was alike the son of an illus ful 1\Iembers, his district a Representati\e of whom the peo-ple trious sire and of a proud State, but the knowledge of that fact weTe justly proud, and the nation a statesman who promised to did not seem to make him feel that he was any better than the become one of its most brilliant. humblest citizen of our broad land, if that citizen was only His political career was of short dUTation, but during that time honest. He despised bigotry, and pharisaical ,Professions were be ·showed himself to be a man of the hignest integrity and ability.) abominations in his sight. He possessed none of the elements a gentleman in the true sense of the word, who was destined to ot the demagogue and under all conditions dared to do the carve his name high up on the roll of honor. 266~ CO;NGRESSION:AL RECORD- · H_OUSE. FEBRUARY 10, We join with his family and tllose who knew him best, as well ancestral honors or wins new distinction. We vote with au as the nation at large, in mourning his untimely death. added interest, not of reason, out of sentiment, for the man who e grandfather we har-e voted for before. We all exult l\lr. LOVERING. Mr. Speaker, we gather to do mot1rnful with the broadening girdle of Scott's White Lady of Avenel. reverence to our late colleague, RocKWOOD IIoAB. And so we all take more than common delight, and our judg His life was all too short to fill out the full measure of its ment and . our sentiment alike are captivated, when ,,.e see the promi e. He wa a man of whom it could be said that, bad talents and character of a great father renewed and perpetuated Ile lived, he would have tro 1907o OONGR.ESSIONAL RECORD- HOUSE. 2663 for the veteran of 1861-1865 returned him to this House, where ants released. With promptness he procured bail for all of the be remained up to the time of his tragic death. - parties and sent them back to their homes, and in many cases It was not my good fortune to ~now him intimately. I knew where they had not the money to pay their railroad fare, he him best as my father's friend. They had been collll'ades in the quickly and cheerfully adyanced it to them. In the course of ci\il war and had marched and fought for the same cause, and had time he succeeded in haying all the prosecutions dismissed, and suffered all the hardships and pri\ations of a Confederate sol all this he did without money and witbout price if the defend dier's life. I ha\e heard him often say: " RUFE LESTER was as ants were men of limited means. bra\e a soldier as e\er shouldered a mu ket and a. frie-nd as true All his public service has met the approbation of his country as steel." It was his uns'-'er\ing loyalty and de\otion to his men, and our great and good friend has reared a monument in friends that made l\Ir. LESTER so formidable in a political contest. the heart and affections of the people more la ting than marble Not that thi attribute was his only political asset, for he bad and more enduring-than bronze. . many others, but it is· a strong point that goes to make up the We often attempt to perpetuate the memory of our departed character of any man. And just here, :Mr. Speaker, I desire to friends by erecting stately shafts which may portray them in · ad\ rt to a circumstance to show in what .b.igh and affectionate grandeur to future generations, l>ut all these in the course of regard be was held by Members of this House. I did not haye to time will yield to the silent forces of nature and dissolye. and wait for these solemn and impressiye senices to be told that our crumble into dust; even the little spot of ground that holds our lamented friend occupied a position here that would be b-ard to sacred dead will some day be forgotten, not while we U\e, but fill. Hardly had I taken the oath of office .as a .Member of this generations to come after us . will forget, and the marble slab body when gentlemen came to me from different parts of the that marks their final resting place will perish from the face House, and, without regard to party affiliations, expressed senti of the earth and be swept into the sea of oblivion, but the im ments of sincere and profound sorrow at his death. But I "will press of a great life upon the cb:1ra.cter of one's counh-y "will not attempt on this occasion to speak of his record here. That suni\e the wreck of matter and the shock of time." I will lea\e for more eloquent lips than mine-for his colleagues The remains of our departed friend rest in the city he lo\ed from Georgia and other fellow-Members, who day after day had so well, near where the waters of the Sayanna.h empty into the felt the warmth of his friendly greeting and the pressure of his sea. Such is my bumble tribute to tile memot-y of Georgia's strong, manly hand. gallant son. · He lacked but little in liYing out his allotted time, threescore years and ten, for be was born in Burke County, Ga., December The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. OYERSTREET of Georgia) . 12, 1837. After a course in the common schools of his native The Chair will now recognize th-e gentleman from Georgia [:Mr. county he entered Mercer UniYersity, Georgia, from which be B.ARTLETT]. graduated in 1857. Two years afterwards he . was admitted :Mr. B.ARTLE'l'T. 1\lr. Speaker, on the occnsion of the me to the bar in Savannah, l>ut -in 1861, upon the first declaration modal exercises in this Hou ·e on the life of the late Senator of war, he entered the military senice of the Confederate Colquitt, Hon. RUFUs E. LESTER, then a Repre entati\e of States, enlisting with the Twenty-fifth Georgia Regiment, and Georgia, said: remained until the end. At the close of the great struggle, in "l\lr._ Speaker, we come at this hour to speak a word for our which he took a conspicuous part, and during the gloomy days dead. Ko prai~e or censure can affect him in memory of whom of reconsh"llction, when the rapacious carpetbaggers and un we lift our \Oices to-day. The lesson of his lif.e, like the lesson saYory scalawags swarmed in Georgia as did the locusts in of the li\es of all men, is for the liying. 1\lerely. to haye Jiycd E"'YPt of old, he stood in the State legi lature shoulder to and to. baye died, to have moved through the short span of life, boulder with other true and tried sons of Georgia in defense teaches nothing except tbat. fact imprinted on the face of na of southern civilization ancl white supremacy until the people of ture to be seen of all men, that there is a. life and a death. my natiYe State succeeded in driv-ing out the harpies that p-reyed But good deeds and a life that exemplifies \irtuous qualities im upon her \itals. Than he there was not in all the State during planted by the Author of all Good in the human mind make that the trying days of reconstruction a more potent factor in bring ·n1luable h·ibute to humanity that gives a life its \alue to- the ing order out of chaos, and when duty called he obeyed and never world ancl giyes good title to fame and immortality to which all flinched. For eight consecuti\e years he served in the upper men aspire. * * * branch of the general assembly of Georgia with signal ability, "Laying aside the implements of war, with nothing sa\ed and from the first he was conspicuous as a leader in the discus but honor, the citizen soldier resumed his civic duties with a sion of all important legislation. Twice he was elected president perfect adjustment to the conditions. * * * of the sen11te, and he made a model presiding officer. It is said " He served his people. They honored him living arid mourn of him · that "in the chair he was· impartial,· firm, courteous, him deacl. In the Pantbeon devoted to illush·ious memories "·e quick, and clear in his decisions, and being thoroughly versed place his name." in parliamentary usage, was rarely reversed by a majority of This was the last speech he made in this House. Physical the ena.te on appeal froin any ruling." infirmity prevented him from again addres ing the House. 1\lr. Speaker, in order that the country and the world might Thus he spoke of a. Georgian who- had been a Confederate sol better know what manner of man he was I quote the words of dier, go\ernor of the State, and Senator of the United States. ex-Go\ernor Allen D. Candler, of Georgia, his schoolmate and life ·wEll might I quote these words of our.dead colleague on this occa long friend. Said be: "I do not hesitate to say that with my sion, now, and say no more, because they so well typify his own intimate knowledge of the man and his character, acquired in life. But it is proper that more shall be spoken by me. those cl-Ose and intimate associations in school, in the army, in On the 16th day of June last, as the summer day ended and the State senate, and in the Katlonal Congress, I haye never ·twilight shadows gathered around, there passed fTom earth to known a. truer man or one more loyal to his State, his country, immortality the soul of RUFus EzEKIEL LEsTER. Ripe in years, · and conviction of right, and I d-0 not believe that all the gold of haying nearly reached the allotted span of three score years a.rrd . Ophir or the diamonds of Golconda could ever have tempted him ten, there ended the life of as generous, noble, chivalrous, and to betray a friend, a trust, or an honest conviction." Surely courageous a man as it was eYer my fortune to know. such words as these come from a heart that speaks the tl"Uth. He had served his county, his State, and his people in many In 1883 he was elected mayor of the city of Savannah, and po itions, and in all was faithful, true, and devoted. Born and he was reelected twice consecutiyely afterwards, resigning in reared in that civilization which was peculiar to the South, he 1889 upon being elected to the Fifty-first Congress of the United to his dying day held fast to a.11 those ennobling qualities which States. In the office of mayor he displayed executive ability of have peculiarly marked the men of that generation. Born in the highest order, and his administration will go down in history Burke County, Ga., on the 12th of December, · 1837, his early as one of the wisest and best the city ever bad. education was obtained at the country schools of that county. If there is one specific deed for which the people of my imme He then entered 1\Iercer Uni\ersity, then located at Penfield, Ga., diate section will hold him in grateful remeinbrance1 it is the and graduated from that university in 1857) at the age of 20 prompt, brave, and in\a.luable serviee rendered by him in 1873 years, receiving the highest honor given to his class. Enter to a large number of our citizens who were .summarily arrested ing the law office of Wilson & Norwood, at Savannah, Ga., he for violating certain provisions of what was known as "the en began the study of law under tbis firm of distinguished Georgia forcement act of the reconstruction laws." These men were ai lawyers. He was admitted to the bar in 1859, becoming a junior rested by United States marshals, ruthlessly taken to Savannah member of the firm of Wilson & NoFwood. He at once began without an opportunity of giving bond or saying good-by _to the practice of his chosen profession, which he continuafly fol their families, and were about to be enchained in a felon's cell. lowed, except during the four years of the ciYil war, from 1861 When Colonel LESTER beard of this the hot southern blood cours to 1865, and until after he entered Congress in 1889, after which ing through his yeins in the meridian of his manho-od began to he retired :Erom actiye practice, but continued to be a member bell with resentment and indignation, but the c~lmer judgment of the firm of Lester & Ra Yenel to the day of his death. He which he- had prevailed, UJ?.d he set at work to have the defend- was also a. member of the firm of Flemil)g & Lester, the seniOT 2664 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUA-RY 10,- member being a eli tinguished Georgia judge. The firm of ing their issue was passed, at least $10,000,000. of them \Yere Lester &·· nafenel was formed in 1880, and, as stated, continued neYer intended ta be used, and were never issued IegaUy, but until the time of ~Jr. LESTER's death. were issued fraudulently. ·when the people of Georgia r.ame Wilen Georgia seceded and war was declared, and the Southern to their own again the our e of the young senator was vin States formed the Southern Confederacy, youncr LESTER illlii:le dicated, and the governor who had issued these fraudulent bonds (liately entered tile Confederate army, enlisting in the T\Yenty took flight, nild aftet· a full investigation these bonds were de fiftll Georgia Regiment of Volunteer Infanh·y, commanded by clared to be yoid and not binding upon the State, and all recog Col. . C. 'Vilson, and soon thereafter was promoted to the posi nizell the fraud perpetrated by the legislature and the executiYe tion of first lieutci..1an.t. During the first two years of the war which 1\Il'. LESTER ought to prevent. After leaving the State be sened under General Mercer and General Walker, in the enate, and declining reelection, he began again the practice coast defense on tile Atlantic seaboard, llaving been promoted of his profession and took front rank at the SaYannah bar,' a to the office of adjutant of the regiment. 'Vhen General bar \Yhich at tl;lat time was not surpassed .in any city fot~ ability, 'Yalker's brigade was transferred to the western army of tile character, and worth. Within a year, howeYer, the people of Confederate States, in 1863, Colonel LESTER became a member Sa'Yannah called him to the mayoralty of the city, and during of tllat army and participated \Tith ·it in tile operations around six years he sened in that capacity. Yicksburg and the battles around Jackson. During this cam The .necessities of the city were such that economy and reduc vaign be was again promoted to the office of acting assistant tion or expense were demanded. 'Ibis he promptly aided in adjutant of tile brigade commanded by General Wilson, who doing, an.d in order to set the city an example of reducing ex had ucceeded General Walker. · lie followed the fortunes of penses he commencett by reducing his own salary. For six years this army and was actively engaged with it in the battle of he sened that city, and gave them an administration which was Chickamauga. It wa at this battle that he displayed that hone t, faithful, clean, nnd above suspicion. He fOlmd time came, reporting ngain for duty as soon as be was sufficiently of the fir t district of Georgia, although hi N increa ing years and re overed. Being too weak to return again to the field and take physical affliction greatly weighed upon him. Had he survived active part in the operations in the field, he was appointed in until the end of his term, he \YOuld haYe been a Member of this S}1ector-general under. General l\Iackall, at 1\Iacon, Ga., \Yhere House for eighteen yeru·s. He had intenued 'i"oluntarily to retire. be remained on duty until the surrender of General Lee at Ap It was impos ible to defeat him in his district, and but one effort pomattox. After the surrender at Appomattox be returned to was made to do so during the entire period of his service. The SaYannall and resumed the practice of his profession. To use loYe and de-.;-otion. of his people to him were beautiful. He had his own language on another. occasion : · al\Yays serYe distinctly marked the old-time southern· gentleman. He cher pathetic, as yondet; sinking sun sinks to rest in the glowing west, so thy body draped in the Stars and Bars goes down to sleep in its grave ished no animo itie ; be was courteous and gentle-:-as gentle of glory, and to it we bid a sad good night. as· a woman-and at all times the same true and loyal friend But the light of thy bright intellect shall suffer no eclipse, the flame ami devoted to his duties. Whatever the position be filled, that burned on the altar of thy loyal heart .shall be kindled again on high, and some happy day, to thy glorified spirit, we shall say "_good whether as the . oldier in the ranks, the officer -in command, morrow, dear friend, God bless you and keep you, now and forever." be was the same brave, conscientious, and faithful devotee to duty. 'Whether as citizen, legislator for the State, mayor, Repre Mr. Speaker, it is appointed unto man once to die-: Both sentative in Congre , the one thing that · controlled· his action nature and the revealed word proclaim this sad and unalterable was to discharge the duties these various positions imposed; and truth. The decree is universal and irrevocable. Neither sta right we]] did he perform them, with a conviction ·and a co.urage tion, nor position, nor acquirements of the highest order will that few have equaled and none surpassed. In the defense of exempt us. Wordly things can furnish us no aid; human love his convictions be was ever ready to stand up and face all oppo can not succor us. sition and every danger. The boast ·of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, Posses ing so niany rare and generous attributes it is not ..And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hom·. · strange_that he should have found warm friends amongst those The paths of glory lead but to the grave. with whom be associated here and everywhere,' and that some of those warmest friends should have been his political oppo Frequently and constantly are we here reminded of this nents. Everybody loves a truly noble and brave man, and l\fr. truth. · LESTER '\_Vas both noble and brave. It bas been well said- The angel of death has constantly hovered over the National .. He who is truly courageous fears but" two things-God and himself: Capitol during the F,ifty-ninth Oongres , the darts of the insatiate he fears lest his own rash passions or mistaken views may lead him to archer fly swift and thick into the ranks of the national repre do what is wrong; but once assured that be is ri~ht he cares. not for sentatives-thrice bas the Senate been called upon to mourn one man or many men, be cares not for their rtdicule or contempt. That which you think is right, do; that wbicb. you think is wrong, the loss of one of its members-and each recurring Sabbath finds avoid, without regm·d to the smiles or frowns of any or all others. the House devoting itself to memorial services for ·some col Only so can you prove yourself courageous. league whg has fallen a victim to the fell destroyer who has No braver man, no more courageous man than RUFus E. LEs entered it and stricken our comrades from the roll. TER ever came within my knowledge and none ever lived, in Well may we pau e to reflect how h·ansitory, bow unsatisfac my opinion, and though endowed with many other noble and tory are the prizes for which we so arduously and ardently · attractive traits and virtues his chief characteristic was his strive and struggle; ambition's rewards are at last empty. courage. He was resolute, fearless, and independeD:t· He never Power, reward, fame, all are valueless when we stand face to Crooked the pregnant hinges of the knee face with the great enemy of' mankind, and our tired, unsatis Where thrift might follow fawning. fied spirit turns from all these to seek something more enduring. lle yielded to neither blandishments on the one band nor to in What is life--a bubble, floating on that silent, rapid stream, timitlation on the other, but stood erect, manly, brave, unmoved. Few, too few its progress noting, till it burst and ends the dream. But brave as be was, courageous as he was, neither his cour But we have the belief in the illllilortality of the soul, which age nor his bravery could overcome the great enemy of man takes away from death its terrors. It is this which makes us kind. His work on earth is done, and be is at rest IJelieve and rest secure in the assurance -that the grave is not Peace to his memory. the end of man. " Te shall not go hence and be no more seen; .And from hea"\'en of heavens above and we are comforted with the reflection, which our revealed God speaketh with bateless breath " My angel of perfect love religious teachings assure, that death is "but the midcUe point Is the angel men call Death ! " between two lives-between this and another." Our · faith But his name and fame will survive with those other heroes, looks beyond the grave and inspires us with the hope and con eloquent and distinguished men who have made Georgia's his fidence of immortality. tory illustrious, and whose fame does not belong to Georgia or Our own intuitive consciousness and the almost uniyersal the South alone, but to the whole country-to the Republic-a belief of mankind are in accord with the Scriptures in assert reunited, indivisible, indestructible Republic-a Republic that ing that the soul of man shall survive the tomb. The poet bas shall never die. given expression to this consciousness of immortality in the We can not lift the veil that shuts from the public view the following lines : · Oh ! listen, man I private grief in the family circle. "e will, however, be per A voice within us speaks that startling word, mitted to say that our hearts go out in sympathetic love to-day " Man, thou shalt never die ! " Celestial voices to the lonely woman who was his helpmeet all the days of his Hymn it into our souls : according harps By angel fingers touched, when the mild stars manhood life, hers the desolation of an irreparable loss, but Of morning sang together, sound forth still with the con. olation that his life, his character, his ·worth, his · 'l'be song of our great immortality; deeds, will always be cherished by all ,.-bo knew him. Peace Thick clustering orbs, and this our fair domain, The tall dark mountains and the deep-toned seas, be with her. .Join in this universal song. Mr. Speaker, we carried his body to the city where be lived, Oh ! listen re our spirits . dJ:ink it in and the whole city, with closed stores, closed shops, assembled From all the air . 'Tis in the gentle moonlight; "l'is floating midst day's setting glories: night, to pay reverence to him and to weep at his grave. We buried Wrappe~ in her sable robe, with silent step him in Bonaventure Cemetery, beside the grave of his daughter, Comes to our bed, and breathes it ih our ears ; and :Masons, Knights of Pytbias, Odd Fellows, lawyers, citizens, Night and the dawn, bright day and thoughtful eve, All time, ali bounds, the limitless expanse, both 'vbite and colored, were present to show to us, to the com .~s one vast mystic instrument, are touched mittee, and to the ·world how they loved him and bow they By an unseen living band, and conscious chords mourned his lo s. I will call attention to one simple fact at Quiver with joy in this great jubilee. The dying bear it ; and as sounds of earth the grave and to the ceremonies which were there performed. Grow dull and distant, wake the passing souls After the solemn ceremonies of the Masons and other orders 'l'o mingle in this heavenly harmony. had been performed at the grave, the coffin was lowered into the grave, one portion of it wrapped with the Stars and Stripes Mr. BURTON of Ohio. :Mr. Speaker, it is a deplorable fact and the other with the battle flag of the Confel;leracy. that a man's worthiest deeds rarely receive dese!:ved recognition'~ Beneath .the moss-draped limbs of Bonaventure's funereal while be lives. · In the busy whirl the passing throng is all too oaks the last sad rite of the church bad been uttered. Knights. indifferent to the merits of contemporaries. It is not until after Odd Fellows, and Masons had successively paid their tribute of the final leave-taking that the world realizes bow great its loss re pect. wheu a good man dies. It is meet to-day that we should review A moment's hush fell on the vast concourse and in the whis the life of om~ deceased colleague, :Mr. LESTER. · In his allotted pering winds overhead one who loved him and loved his friends span of a little less than seventy years be was nssociated. with heard far voices calling to him from many quarters to speak and bore a prominent part in many very important events. He for them a fond farewell. 'Vith faltering speech this is what was one of that multitude of young men, North and South, who he aid: turned aside from professional duties to the titanic struggle of Befos:"a this solemn ceremony is finally concluded let me say a few the greatest of civil wars. The all-absorbing demands of the words for those who could not be present this afternoon, for the hun conflict caused them to withdraw from chosen occupations and dreds and thousands of his absent friends throughout the district. I have met them in the town, at the ct·ossroads, around the hearth- from cherished hopes to take part in a great war which must decide great principles. ~~~n~e:~~::u~ns~~nt~~e~~~~eg/~~~~S ~~iLE~~~~~enances light up at He entered the Confederate army. There was a time when For all of them, for each of them, I would say, as I stand by this open grave: there was a marked repulsion between the Union and the Con RUi'US E. LESTER, brave as a lion, true as steel, kind, generous, sym- federate soldier, but time, ·which gives clearer judgment and 2666 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 10, greater charity, will teach us to forget all tlle animosities of the both sides in the great conflict, that .there is a type which will past. Time buries hatreds. It allays asperities and forever not be reproduced? Do we not owe to them a special homage puts an end to distrust and ill will. We shall. recognize, and, for their ·courage, their devotion to duty? _ While the life of a indeed, we now recognize., that heroic devotion to a cause can public man in its influence is more or less ephemeral, because not arise from perverseness, but only from consCience and from he is soon almost forgotten, yet in. the iife of our deceased courage, and thus we can bare our heads and speak with honor friend there will be an inspiJ.'ation and a source of hope to all and with praise of the living and the dead who fought on either those who knew him, nnd who, like him, seek to meet the re side, and at the final roll cull it is not an extravagant stretch of sponsibilities of life in the pathway of duty and of truth. our imagination to believe that the bells of heaven will ring while the blue and the gray march side by side to the great l\Ir. SP.ARKMAN. Mr. Spen.ker, the poet hn sung in melan white throne. Wounded in the struggle and defeated, he re choly strains : turned with broken hopes to civil. life, but his merits soon They are· slipping away, . the sweet, swift years, gained recognition, and after a b1·ief interval he was elected a Like a leaf on the current cast. member of the Georgia senate, where he served for ten years in With never a break in their rapid flow a very trying period, during three years of which be acted as Into- the beautiful past. presiding officer. Those of us who have been longest here will This is a. sad truth, and yet it does not tell the whole story, remember that during his service in this body on occasions he for goiJJg with them and departing as they depart are the mil presided in Committee of the Whole House, in all of which he lions of earth into that past which receives the ev-er-retreating showed his ability and fairness as a presiding officer. One of years. . his decisions especially bas been accepted as a precedent in the How often are we reminded of this melancholy fact here and settlement of very important principles of parliamentary law. elsewhere? Each year's history records the death of many ac In a brief interval after the close of his service in the senate of quaintances, perchance many clo e per onal friends. Every day his State he was elected mayor of Savannah, and in those diffi a flower is plucked from the garden of time; a bt·each made in cult problems which pertain to municipal government· he mani some happy home or friendly circle ; a jewel stolen from some fested the essential qualities of fidelity to his tru t and execu treasure of love. Each hour-yea, each moment-some reaper in tive ability and the posse ion of that progressive spirit which the summer field of life is himself taken by the re.aper Death, should prevail in a growing city. There were no aspersions on who in his gleanings is no respecter of per ons or station. his name while mayor of Savannah; there·was no scandal aris It may be the youth, hopeful and generous, with the morning ing from the awarding of contracts. There was no one who sun full in his face, or the man, honorable and ht1e, who has could criticise the honesty or fearlessness of his course. One reached the summit from 'Jhich he may look dorrn the heights of the most striking instances of his career as mayor was the he has climbed or the declivity he must descend; or it may be saving of an intended victim from lynching. the weary toiler of many ·summers, rich with labor's returns and With a soldier's courage and prompt decision he pointed out crowned with many honoi'S-for none are spar~d, but all are a dead line, and with a soldier's word of command ordered that sought and gathered by the grim Reaper. none hould pass it, thus sanng a human life so that it might At our homes, in the communities in which we live and move, be dealt with in the ordinary course of justice. His career in we so frequently hear the sound of mourning, so often are reqllii'ed Congress is known to many of us. It lacked but little of to stand. at the graye of some friend or acquaintance while the eighteen years. I regret to say that during the eleven years sod has fallen over the "cold and pul. eless clay." And here, in which I knew him best he was a victim of fell disease and too, in these histOl.'ic halls has death found many of its shining suffered from those limitations which pertain to ill health. marks. How often in the past decade, indeed in the past year, Phy ical pain and weakness deprived him of that energy and have we paused in the daily proceedings of this body to note alertne s which had belonged to him in earliel' days and in the fall of an as odate here and pay the last h·ibute of love his mental activities there 'vere those caves of gloom that shut and respect to some departed friend and collearne who has been out tbe brightest rays of hope. The general consciousness may cut down by the ruthless, untiring hand of deatb. be expressed in the words addressed to the rebel angel : " Fallen Of one among the last of these it is now my sad duty to Cherub, to be weak is to be miserable." Few realize the dimjn speak. On the 16th day of June last, within two weeks of the ished energy and the disappointed hopes which ill health im close of that history-mah.-ing session of the Fifty-ninth Congress posed on l\Ir. LESTER. which ended with that month, RUFus E. LESTER, of Georgia, Yet in it all there was a patience, a fortitude, a devotion to was taken from the field of his labors here to the great beyond. duty on his part, which not only won for him admiration; but He was born in the State of Georgia in 1837, during a period rendered his service as a legislator a most useful one. I re of American history and in a section of the South which has. men:ibe·r having several times said to him while the committee given the country some of -its brightest intellect and grandest of which we were member was engaged in inspection trips. characters. His biography is embraced within ten lines ot the "This will be an arduous day, l\Ir. LEsTER; you must not feel Congressional Directory, and yet in these ten lines i the epitome compelled to go out 'vith the rest of us ; woUld you not prefer of a life work of which any might be proud:. to re t? " But :Pe was always on hand. A desire to perform Graduated at Mercer University, Georgia, In 18:>7.:_ the work in vrhich he was engaged gav-e him the same prompt ness and regularity a that which was displayed by younger and lt goes on to suy- healthier men. admitted·to the bar in Savnnnu.h nnd commenced the practice of law in 1859 ; entered the military service of the Confederate States in 1861 ; Accordingly, while he ·did not hav-e that ruggedness which remained in the service until the end of the war; resumed the practice belongs to perfect health, he displayed in the consultations of of law at the close of the war; was St::lte senator from the first sena the committee room a poise and an intelligent comprehension torial district of Georgia 1870-1879 ; and pre ident of the senate during the last three years of service; was mayor of Savannah fro-m January, of the commercial ' needs of the country, which gave to his 1 .3, to January, 1889 ; was elected to the Fifty-first, Fifty-second, judgment the very highest value, so that in the work of the h"'ifty-third, Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fiftb. Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, and committee he bore an important part, notwith tanding his Fifty-eighth, and reelected to the Fifty-ninth Congress. infirmity and his disadvantages. He deserves tbe praise due Modestly expressed, and yet how muc-h of history and of to a man who wa!b always patriotic, always careful, and alwnys st.'ll'tling event , of duty done as be saw it, of privation and wise in the consideration of great public questions. hardships, of gallant deeds and blood-stained battlefields, do After all, it is not so much as a soldier or as a legislator, but these brief words contain. Elaborated as it might have been, as a man that we remember tho. e with whom we have associa it wo·uld have compri ed an account of early struggle for an tions, and in this particular Mr. LEsTER merited our special com education and for that distinction which soon came in his mendation. lle was an affectionate husband. He at all times chosen profession. It, too, would have recounted the dis enjoyed his home the surroundings of the domestic circle, and tinguished and honor.a}?le part he took in one of the greate t found there his chiefest delight; and we tender, one and all, to military conflicts ever recorded in the annals of the past, in his bereaved widow and to his grandchildren our tribute of which the cllivalry of the South met the valor of the North sympathy and sorrow not only because they have lost one who in bloody battle until the southern cause went down at Appo bore so important a part in public affairs, but much more because mattox; but, neverthele s, a conflict, inevitable, perbap , which of the irreparable loss to their home life. has left the country grander and stronger and better. Those cruel words employed in describing nature-- Then, too, it would have contained an account of a career So careful of the type she seems, no le illustrious in civil life. Few have ::;hown as bright or So carele s of the single life,' attained high~r distinction than he in the legislative halls of indicate how transient is the life of each individual. his State. Entering there in the dark days of reconstruction, One by one we shall be taken away from this Chamber, and. he rendered his State a. most valuable service in assisting 10 our work must be done by others who succeed us. But is it not raise her from the depths into whicp. she had been thrown by true that in lr. LESTER, and of iliose who with him served on unfriendly hands and in placiDg her feet on that highway of 1907. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 2667 progress which she bas since followed, until to-day she is I was one of those, Mr. Speaker, whose sad duty it was to a.ln·east of the most flourishing Commonwealths in the Union. accompany his remains to their last• resting place, and when Lea·dng tbis useful field of labor, his biographer could turn I saw the vast throng, young and old, rich and poor, merchant with equal satisfaction to bis career as mayor of the city of and laborer, profe sional man and layman, who attended the Savannah, a. position held by him with honor and distinction funeral at tiJe church and followed the cortege to the grave, for six years-from 1883 to 1889-during which time Sayannab each paying solemn but loving tribute to his memory, I saw made rapid tt·ides in her wonderful career of progress. In this again revealed that wonderful bold he bad upon the people capacity no one eyer served the city in which be bad his borne among whom his life had been spent and for whom his work for a half century with greater distinction or more to the bad been done. We bore his body to Bonaventure, that beauti ati faction of the people of that progressiye southern city. ful resting place of Sa~annah's dead, and there, clo e to the But, Mr. Speaker, it i here perhaps that his biogmpher· could city he lo:ved so well and near that historic stream for whose find some of the best material for the life history of R(TFUS E. commerce he bad done-so much, we laid him to rest beneath the I .. ESTER. His long seryice in Congress, extending oYer nearly soil of his native State, there to sleep while comrade and fri~nd two decades, shO\TS the esteem in which he was held by his covered his bier with loving flowers and draped his grave with fellow-citizens, while the results of his efforts in their behalf tile battle-scarred flag which he followed through years of justified the high Yalue placed by them ' upon his services. Few bloody strife. It was a scene long to be remembered, and just l!aye been· able to do so much; none perhaps have accompli hed as the early summer sun was sinklng in the west we left him, more for his State than did he during his stay in Congress. with the soft southern winds singing his requiem, to sleep until l\Iany matters of legislation attest the truth of this assertion; the Ia t trump shall sound. Yes; only to sleep, for l!.e is not but if his fame as a legislator in State and nation bad naught dead. else upon w1;licb to stand it could rest securely upon the work lie sleeps, but in that sleep beneath the sod, No dreams shall come, those dreams that banish sleep ; be did for the counh·y, his State, and his borne city in the im N"o watchers there, naught save the eyes of God, proyement of the harbor at Sayannab. Greatly-inadequate when 'J.'o watch his slumber long and still and deep. he entered Congress for the commerce centering there, be, Then mourn him not as dead ; he can not die, through his untiring energy, bad improyements initiated and And mourn him not as sleeping in that day, IIe wakes, he lives, not far in yonder sky, carried out which haye made that barbor one of the fin est of But near u , though unseen, he waLks to-day. tbe South Atlantic seaboard, and thus conferred a lasting benefit l\Ir . . Speaker, it is true that death is a mystery, but "life is" upon the commercial interests not only of that locality, but of also "a my tery a deep as death can ever be," and it can not tile wbole country as well. be tllat all there is of this mystery of life is encompassed in But his labors did not end here. He neYer tired in his the .·hort stretch between the cradle and the grave. Certainly effods to benefit bis constituents, and the whole State received man, with his hopes and aspirations, with his rich endowments the benefits of .his fidelity to Georgia and ller people. Indeed, of mind and lleart, such as our friend had, is not "lik~ the if I were to undertake to name his leading cbaructeristic, I beasts that perish." would say it was absolute fidelity to the interests be repre . We may not fathom this mystery of life, nor yet that of deatll, • ented; only another way of saying be did llis duty. IJut "·e do belieYe that beyond the grave there is a brighter He was among the earliest acquaintances I met when I came world. \\here friends and the beloved ones on . earth may meet here as a :Member of the Fifty~fourth Congress, and aside from again. ··If a man die, shall be Jiye again?" has been asked by senices 'he so often and so kindly rendered me I was greatly l1l'OJ)bet and priest, by king and people, while down the ages impre sed even then with his loyalty to his people. That mag t.qe aus,Yer has come fr-om divine lips: "After death there is nificent public building which Savannah po. esses, togetber life; after the grave the resurrection morn." with the harbor and other interests there, were then receiYing " Bebold. I show you a mystery ; we shall not all sleep, but his attention, and from that time until his death he never for \Te sball all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, a moment lost sight of them. Though in failing health during at t)Je la t trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead the last years of llis life, scarcely a day passed that found his shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." seat unoccupied by him on this floor. The last conYersation I eYer had with him ''as at his desk l\Ir. LI\INGSTOX l\Ir. Speaker, llUF s EzEKIEL LESTER was a few hour before be met with the accident that, in his en born on the 12th day of December, 1837; graduated at 1\lercer feebled condition, caused-];lis death. A movement \Vas then on UniYcrsitr in 18u7; admitted to the bar and began the practice foot to establish a subh·easury somewhere in the soutbeastem of la\v nt Savannah, Ga. lie entered the Confederate army in part of the country, and his desire was that I should indor. e 1 61, sen-ing to the close of the civil war. He served his .State the claims of Savannah for this subtreasury. I promised him from the first senatorial district from 1870 to 1879, and for two to do this and kept the promise, but never saw him again in :rears of that time was president of the senate. Ile senecl the life. The next day, or night, the summons came, and Georgia ci tr of Sa vannab as mayor for six years. He was elected to the lost one of its best friends and brightest ornaments; but in going Fifty-first Congress and continuously up to and including the hence he left behind him monuments to his fidelity and energy Fifty-ninth Congress. In all this seiTice, both to the State of which will la t for generations to come. Georgia, the Confederate States, and the United States, there is But his civic and military career did not fill _up his entire uot left a blot or stain upon his fair name. He was sociable, life, nor were his achievements in public life the only monu strictly honest, kind, and ol;>liging. In all his intercourse with ments be builded to his memory, for in his private life he 'vas IJi s fellow-men, both in pri·(ate and public life, he was not obtru beloved wherever known as he was admired iB. his public career. .:h·e, exacting, or censorious. He was not a kicker-a character lie was a devoted husband, an affectionate father, · spending i.·tic \Yhi ciJ renders some of our public men di agreeable and com every moment he could spare from his public duties or busine s varatiYely useless. lie was not a seeker of favors at the expense U.emands with his family. Kindly in his disposition, generous of other . He was not unreasonably selfi h. It was always ·a in his feeling , ·sincere and unswerTing in his friendship, just pleasure to meet him for an hour of greeting and pastime. There in his dealings with his fellow-man, he had few, if any, enemie , was nothing repulsive in his appearance or manners. His days and left his memory enshrined in the heart alike of constituent, of service in the House were trying and embarrassing on ac acquaintance, and friend. count of his afflictions, :ret he bore it all in the eli charge of his Of his professional career I will leave others more familiar duties without a murmur. Peace to his ashes. Respect and rev with that part of his life to speak, but it may not be amiss for erence to his memory. me to say that he was as successful in the practice of his pro fe sion as he was in any other undertaking during his long Ur. ADAMSON. 1\lr. Speaker, I wish to bear testimony to and actiYe career. He brought the same talents, the same en the excellent character of Colonel LESTER as a man and a public ergy, the same good juugment and devotion to duty to bear seiTant. I shall leave others, more familiar with that part of upon the practice of his profession that be did to public duties, tbe subject, to speak of his distinguished career as a oldier whilst his IJonesty and his fairness with his clients, his pro four years, in which he struggled as a member of an immortal fessional brethren, and the court brought him the respect and band against unnumbered odds of men and means, and lost that the confidence of all. fight in defense, as he believed, of the eternal principles of local It is of men such as be one loves to speak. Richly endowed self-go\ernment and the integrity of constitutional safeguards with those qualities of mind and heart which ennoble the race which bad ne\er before been disputed but warmly advocated to which he belonged, ever pursuing the path of duty until suc by his adversaries, and which, as passion and prejudice fade cess full and complete crowned his efforts, his life should- be :1\Yay before advancing enlightenment and patriotism, are one an inspiration to the young and the old alike whereyer its his by one again being recognized, invoked, and utilized, even, by tory is written and read. From it comes an infl\'ience for good those who physically prevailed in that contest. which will be felt far beyond the district in which he lived and A.s be was seyeral years my senior and we resided on opposite which will long survive the grave in which he lies buried. sides of the State, I knew nothing of him until I reached man's 2668 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 10~ estate and entered upon the practice of law more than thirty ginning of the great ciT"il war he · enlisted as a Confederate year · ago. He was then. and bad been for many years, promi soldier in the Twenty-fifth Georgia Regiment of Volunteer In nent and acti\e in Georgia politics and legislation, honored and fantry, and fought through the whole war until its close. lo\ed throughout the State a an upright, honest, and lo~able Shortly thereafter, ha\ing returned to the city of Santnnah man, able and faithful lawyer, and legislator both efficient and and resumed the practice of his profession, he was elected in profound. Long subsequent ervice as mayor of his beautiful 1868 to the senate of his State, and sened continuously in that and beloved home city by the sea demonstrated his great execu distinguished body for eleven years. ti\e ability. It was, however, only as a 1\Iember of Congress The last three years of his service he was president of that that I came to know him well and to love him. The first week senate. He refused to stand for reelection, and shortly there of iny official sen·ice he came to me, a new l'.fember, so ready to after was elected mayor of the city of Savannah. He ser\ed receive and appreciate such kindness, and offered assistance and continuously in that position six years and until his election, in encouragement, and ne\er to his dying day ceased to help and co 1888, to Congress. He was continuously reelected and served in operate in the most kindly and effective· manner in anything I this Ho1.1se up to the time of his death. Such, speaking broadly, \"i·ished to accomplish, his last journey in life being taken was the career of our friend and colleagu·e, one covering almost with his committee, at my in tance, to the district I represent to half a century of distinguished service to his country, as a sol · in\e tigate and promote the -interests of my constituents. I feel dier, as a lawyer, and as a legislator. that I ha1e lost a friend, indeed. Others may speak more fully As a soldier he was the bravest of the brave. He knew no of his domestic life, but as I often enjoyed the society of him and call but duty, and he dreaded nothing but God and conscience. llis elegant wife, who helped him so much to be good and useful, He rapidly rose in rank and participated in many important en I greatly admired his tenderness and devotion as a husband and gagements. On the bloody field of Chickamauga he was twice father. · · wounded, llad two horses killed under him, and still he fought As a legislator, ills course and conduct -were most admirable. on, and the surrender found him on the soil of his native State, lie was \Oid of petty jealousy and envy of his fellows. He was Georgia, at Macon, conquered but dauntless as of yore. He re exquisitely considerate of his colleagues. He was calm, dignified, turned at the close of the war to his city, where he had been and polite as Cllesterfield, but persistent and indefatigable in his licensed to practice law, to resume his practice and turned his indu ·try, always intelligent and well ordered. He rarely failed back upon these bloody years of his record as a soldier. in -w,bat he undertook, for he undertook nothing but '"'·hat was In the language of a great orator: right and never failed to do what was necessary to accomplish it I have but one sentiment for soldiers, living or dead, and that is, when once undertaken. He was willing to do what he could to cheers for the living and tears for the dead. advance and rise as his merit justified, but he- realized that tllere In his chosen profession of the law he a1 o rose rapidly, tak· were others, and felt willing for them to rise and ad,·ance also. ing high rank in his section as one of the leaders of the bar of He would ·corn a personal adyanta 1907. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 2669 the last dread summons comes no entreaty, no tears, no be and lasting success. Mr. LESTER stayed here because his peo seeching can stay or impede the departure of him who has been ple knew him. The eighteen years of service to which he was called; and as we can not restrain, neither can we recall. called was a tribute to his character. All the honor of his The friend and associate whom yesterday we knew we know length of service, however, was not to him alone, for bis people to-day and to-morrow no more forever. In the broad way of in honoring him likewise honored themselves. Creditable as life, where in conscious manhood he walked upright and erect, it was to him to have and to bold the esteem and affectionate seen and known of all men, his figure no more appears. In the regard of those he served, it was equally creditable to them quiet, ~equestered paths of life, where we were wont to hold that they had the discernment to see and to know a worthy public sacred and s"'eet communion with him, the place where he was servant and the gratitude to reward him. is void. Out of our li-ves, out of each and ~very pathway of The city of Savannah is the home of cllivalry, of courage, and life of each and every one who knew him, he has gone. Only of patriotism. It i.s rich in the history of things done and in the the memory of him remains ; and as we can not preserve the lives of the men who did them. . It is a city that stretches back body, we meet to p·e1,·petuate in enduring and lasting form all to colonial days, and within its life is written the life of the Re of him that yet abides with us-his memory-the memory of public. It is a city of traditions and of memories that inspire to that which was good and attractive in him and that which gave lofty ideals, and it wa.s from this city that Mr. LEsTER came to him a place in om· hearts. Congress, a:o.d it was for this city that he gave the be.st service of It was my privilege to know Mr. LESTER before be came to his many years in Congress. Throughout his entire career he re Congress; it was my privilege to be his constituent during the mained true to the high ideals ot the people and the city be first four years of his service here, and it was also my privilege to served, and no stain or blot in a lifetime of public work bas ever be a delegate to the convention giving him his first nomination to appeared upon his record. No higher eulogy, no loftier. tribute Congress and to assist in that nomination. Little did I sup can be paid him than "to say, as we in all candor and truth can pose when, in 1888, I sat in the convention at Brunswick, Ga., say, he lived and died a clean and honest man. and assisted in his nomination that in a few years later I would The city from which 1\Ir. . LEsTER came preserves in marble and take my seat here to serve with him as his colleague. The bronze, in song and in story, in eloquent speech, and in faultless formation of a new district after the census of 1890, among the diction the memory of those who have proven themselves worthy, other results; gave me almost ten. year~ of service with him here. thereby preserving and perpetuating virtues and excellences as 'Vhen I entered the Hou e he was the dean of our delegation, an inspiration and an encouragement to the generations to fol and so be remained until the hour of his death, respected and low. In this city there may have been and may be those more honored by all his colleagues. gifted in fluent speech and polished phrase than our dear de olonel LEsTER lived almost the allotted time of man. Could parted friend; there may have been and may be those riper in he have been pe1·mitted to serve out the time for which he had deep and profound scbola.rship than he ; there have been and are been elected, almost full threescore yeaTs and ten would have very many richer in wordly goods than evel' he was ; and yet, I been to his credit. venture to assert, without fear of successful contradiction, that The years he lived were not idle yeru·s, as the achievements not one possessed a kindlier heart, a truer manhood, or a. more he won and the things he wrought so well attest. Throughout patriotic spirit, and not one ever gave to Savannah greater love his manhood, until the hand of affliction fell heaYily upon him than he gave. I venture to assert further that not one has to a few years ago, he was an active practitioner at the bar. He his credit more and greater substantial achievements for the ma there won and established for himself a reputation for ability, terial good and real prosperity of his city than is to the credit of for fairness, for aggressive earnestness in the cause he espoused, Ru'Fus E. LESTER. His record is made up; it is :finished and com and for a fearless discharge of duty that will li-ve through many plete, and a.s we can not add to it, neither can we t~e from it. so years of time. long as we reverence truth. His service here marks Savannah's In forensic battle he was a foeman worthy of any man's great commercial growth. The extension of her h'UDSportation steel, and his per... onal popularity was so great as to make him facilities, of her h·ade; the growth of her exports, of her bank almost an invincible power before the jm·ies in the many coun clearings; the erection of her stately buildings, the expansion of ties in which he practiced his profession. The verdicts accorded her power and infiuence are all h·aceable to the recognition and . llim, as shown by the court records, bear ilent testimony to the assistance that he, with tireless and ceaseless energy, from year strength and the power and, as well, the faithfulness of his to year, prevailed upon the Congress to show and to give to the senices at the bar. Long before his record as a lawyer was improvement of her great seaport; a recognition greater in some ma discovered it. When be passed away our country lost a very as naturally and as automatically as the air he breathed filled devoted and pah·iotic public seryant. his lungs. . He was ·as incapable of treachery or of double deal Colonel LESTER was a true southern gentleman-courteous, ing as he was of either public or private di hone ty. Brave as kindly, brave, the very soul of ·bonor. He bated hypocrisy. He a lion, tender as a woman, and simple-hearted as a child, he loved frankness, candor, and sincerity. The words spoken here worshipped candor and abhorred deceit, he loved the truth and to-day are not flattery. They are merited by a long and hon despised a lie, living his life under the clear skies · of the orable record which is without stain. For many years he had Almighty and fighting his battles in the open. not been well, and his work here was carried on in the face of As such a gentleman we loved Colonel LESTER in life and :;t.s difficulties which would have discouraged a less courageous such we mourn him in death. man. But he did not flinch. And he never inflicted his troubles Of his public services and public career I will not undertake upon his friends. He evidently believed with all his ·heart in to speak in detail, as others have already done so. I will only the gospel of cheerfulne s, and his genial presence always made undertake a very general summary. In his young manhood he the world seem brighter and happier. I sometimes think we devoted four of the best years of his life to the defense of his do not fully appreciate how helpful is such a temperament. country, as God gave him the light to see, under the Stars and ompanion hip with Colonel LESTER brought hope a.nd courage, Bars, and no .more knightly a oldier ever followed that fli, to ric drove away melancholy, and made life better worth living. We banner through seas of blood and carnage to its final furling, shall miss this man who, i.n spite of physical ills, always car with its honor unbesmirched and its glory lmdimmed by de ried sunshine with him. feat. The same steadfastness of purpose and loyalty of soul I can not trust myself to speak of the more intimate relations that marked his subsequent career distinguished his military of his life; but I do wish to extend my tenderest sympathy to record; returning to a desolated and impoverished home at the one whose love and genuine belpfulne s were indispensable for close of the civil war, he was one of the most forceful, active, hi. happiness and for his success. and influential of those patriotic Georgians who undertook It bad been my privilege on more than one occasion to visit and accomplished the work of bringing order out of chaos and with him the State of Georgia, and so I bad been given an op of redeemillg our State from the miserable misrufe of the portunity to witness the affection and respect in which be was hated and hateful caTpetbrigger and of the still more hated held IJy the people of a Commonwealth to whom be had rendered and still more hateful "scalawag." Iri 1870 be was elected a such long, devoted, and effective service. It is pleasant to re State senator fTom the first senatorial dish·ict of Georgia, and member that in his lifetime he knew there was so much of regard for nine years he rendered conspicuous and brilliant service to and appreciation. I was prepared, therefore, for the deep grief the people of Georgia as a member of that body. During the shown by the people of his city and State when I attended his last three years of his enice he was president of the senate, funeral. The people knew that they had lost a true and loyal discharging the duties of that office with uniform and unfailing friend, who had ever held their interests above his own. There courtesy and ·with broad and comprehensiYe statesmanship. was evidently a very clear realization of the loss which bad come In 1880 he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination to the city of Savannah, the State of Georgia, and to the whole for governor of Georgia, and had a large and enthusiastic fol counh'y-. lowing; but the convention being unable to make a nomination The passing years will show more and more clearly how great between himself and the late General Colquitt, he declined to is that loss. He represented with absolute fidelity a noble con allow his name to be used as a candidate in the bitter and stituency, which will ever hold in grateful remembrance this unseemly wrangle that followed. A short time after thjs he manly and u eful life. was elected mayor of Savannah, Ga., and served as its chief ex Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail ecutive for six years continuously, his record as mayor being Or knock the breast, no weakness, no contempt, Dispraise or blame--nothing but well and fair ; clean, forceful, and satisfactory to the people of his city. In And what may quiet us in a death so noble. 1888 the people of the First Congre sional district of Georgia elected him as their Representative to the Fifty-first Congress 1\Ir. HARDWICK. Mr. Speaker, it is with no little diffidence of the United States, his service beginning on :\farch 4, 1 9. that I venture to offer my simple tribute to the memory of Col From that date until his death, a period of a little more than onel LESTER. Others who have already spoken knew him longer seventeen years, he served continuously as a Member of this and possibly some of them knew him better, but none of them House, vigilant in defending the rights and active in supporting respected him more highly or loved him more dearly than I. the interests of his immediate constituency, broad in his states I feel, therefore, that it is not only my duty as a Representa manship, liberal in his views,, and loyal in his devotion to the . th·e from Georgia, but my right as his friend to add my simple interests and welfare of the whole people. His most valuable wreath to the more complete, elaborate, and ornate tributes that servjce here was rendered in connection with river and harbor ha~e been paid him to-clay. legislation, be having been for many years a member of the Many men, Mr. Speaker, enjoy through life and at death a Committee on Rivers and Harbors, and for several years imme much bjgher l'eputation than they would have if their real char diately preceding his death its ranking Democratic member. acters were known. On the other band, still other men, whose To his active interest and to his earnest, untiring advocacy the reputations are not all that could be desired, would be much people of Savannah are largely indebted for the generous appro more highly esteemed if their t,rue characters were known. priations that have been made for her harbor, and to him the Fortunate, indeed, is the man who possesses and bequeaths to people of the entire State of Georgia are indebted for generous posterity the enviable combination of high reputation and real and unselfish aid and support for every de erving project that character. He leaves to his family and his people a heritage they have submitted to the Rivers and Harbors Committee. far richer and more ·desirable than lands and gold, than stocks As a Member of this House, few men have been so highly re and bonds. Our friend, Colonel LESTER, had this good fortune spected and so generally beloved, and the sorrow with which in a most marked degree. He not only left a high reputation, the entire membership received the announcement of his death, but, better still, he left to his family and his friends the con in June, 1906, ·was deep, sincere, and general. sciousness that that reputation was fully deserved, and was but Mr. Speaker, skeptical philosophy might suggest that for the the just reward of his noble character. pulseless brain and tbrobless heart of our late colleague and In every relation of life, civil and military, public and private, friend there is no morrow ; that when " dust to dust" is spoken professional and personal, he uniformly exhibited those splendid alL is said. I will not, I can not, subscribe to so cruel, ma traits .of character that made him so highly respected and so terialistic a creed. Death does not, can not, end it all. Some lmiversally beloved here and at home. Since his death I have where in the niisty realm beyond the night life's broken cord frequently heard Members of thjs House, on both sides of the is mended. Somehow, in the silent land beyond the grave, un Chamber, make this remark about him: " He was a splendid der divine guidance and in accordan,ce with divine law, the type of the southern gentleman of the old school." To my spirit will be cleansed of all its ~arthly dross and, glorified and mind, Mr. Speaker, this is the most splendid tribute that can be purified, shall stand at last in the presence of its 0reator and paid any man. It is the epitome of compliment, the climax its God! · of encomium, and I know of no case where it has been more "If this be not true, then indeed is all of our faith vain." If appropriately said or more justly deserved. "A southern gen it be true, each of us may cherish the hope that in the life Jet tleman of the old school ! " How eloquent are the words w.ith to come we shall meet in friendship and greet in love one of the the memories an,d traditions of the most courtly race of gen most gallant, loyal, and lovable gentlemen that it has ever been tlemen who ever lived upon this earth! Just and fair to his my good fortune to know. equals, polite and considerate of his inferiors, and recognizing no superiors save the God he worshipped and the woman he 1\Ir. THOMAS of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, as a North loved, the southern gentleman of the best type was a real Carolinian, I wish to unite with Georgia to-day in paying a last cavalier, like the kmghtly Bayard, "without blemish and with tribute of respect to Hon. RuFus E. ·LESTER, one of Georgia's out reproach." High and unpretentious courage filled his soul most distinguished sons, and to lay my wreath of rue and gar- 2672 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-.HOUSE. FEBRUARY 10, ------~------·------~------land of flowers upon his gra\e in the "Sunny Southland," where ning.style of public speaking: His voice is silvery and resonant, his logic the mocking bird sings and tile magnolias bloom. · conctse and clear-cut, and hts language terse and fluent. · Men have not been made firmer and mnre incere than-Lr:sTER. l'osses ·in"' a blended sim I shall not attempt to coin phrases of speech, for, after all, plicity am} a~iabilit.y o~ manner, be is a most f~ar!ess ~d positive per the best eulogy I can pronounce is the heartfelt expression of son. An mctdent Will illustrate the man. and It 1s an incident as un my re pect and admiration for him. common as it is striking. Jle gave a client some advice about .(! deed that proved, after a stubborn liti~ation, to be unsustained by the t!Ourts.· During my service in Cong1·es with Colonel LESTER, it was Sen•t·al thousand dollars' worth or pt·operty was lost. As soon as he was my good fortune to be brought somewlmt frequently in contact able to do so Colonel LESTER handed his client a check for the amount and thus reimbursed his los . It was a noble act of punctilious pt•ofesslonal w.ith llim. When first elected to the Fifty-sixth Congres ·, upon integrity, arid it indicated an uncommon man. a trip to ·Florida I spent some clays in the beautiful city of A wry ·again says ln ilis ilistory : Sa\annah, Ga., with its handsome ayenues of foliage and ns phalt streets, and was entertained by Q.im. It was a pleasure The Ie~is!ature of Georgia, in 1877, was organized l>y the election of H on. A. 0. B.&.cox (now 'enator frOf? Georgia) ~s speaker of the house to me to meet him in the House during our sessions, and I lh·ecl and Ron. R UFUS E. LESTER as prestdent of the senate. Major BACO~ at the hotel at which he came to llis untimely encl. As a young had evidenced such extt·aordinary qualities for a pre !ding officer that he was ~ ho se n speaker without opposition. Colonel LESTER was al·o man, I was attracted by hi uniform courtesy and kindly and a fine presiding officer. directing the deliber·ations of a much smallet· dignifi~cl speech and manner. ·I regarded him as a gentleman body, the senate. and one easier to handle. but his parliamentary quali of the old school, a type of the true sou.thern gentleman ; as a ties were none the less thorou"'h than those of Speaker BACON. Col wise and discreet statesman ha\ing the best interests of the onel LESTER was also elected president of the senate in 1818 and 1870.· South and of his country at heart. In tile crusade against Governor Alfred H. Colquitt in one of 1\lr. Speaker~ I belie\e fully in a reunited country, .an · in the greatest and most exciting conventions e\er held within the separable union of so\ereign States o\er which float· now and State of Georgia, after a campaign in which the whole State was forever the Stars and Stripes ; but I also treasure all the memo aroused, Colonel LESTER was one of the most prominent candi~ ries, traditions, and history of that part of our glorious Union uates for governor. Had it been possible under existing condi in which I was born and reared. It· skies, it seems to me, are tions to nominate anyone . else but Colquitt it is likely tb~t brightest, its climate the most balmy, and its people I regard as Colonel LESTER would h:we been the nominee of the Democratic among the best and most consetTative citizens of the Republic. party. The con\ention, however, adjourned without any nomi I refer to the South with no feeling of sectionalism, but with nation bein"' made, Gov~rnor Colquitt being within a few vote· pride in her past glory and in ller present greatness and pros of tile _h..-o-thirds necessary; but having been, nevertheless, b.Y perity. Since Appomattox and the surrender of the Confeder resolutwn recommended as the choice of the party for governor ate army, when Robert E. Lee, ,the greatest captain .of modern w].lich choice was ratified at the polls. ' times-according to tile present occupant of the White House, Retiring from the State legislature, Colonel LESTER became greater than l\larlborough or ""ellington. and surpassing even mayor of Savannah, one of the most beautiful and prosperons his last great ad,·ersary, Gmnt-commanded his soldiers to lay cities of tile South, holding this office from 18 3 to 1889 and down their arms, tile South has risen from the ashes of war and from this position be was transferred by the 'Voice of the people resumed once again her proud position in the sisterllood of to this Hall as a R epresentative in Congress in 1889, servindo States. The great world's supply · of cotton, iron, coal, timber, from the Fifty-first to the Fifty-ninth Congress, both inclusiv~ marble, granite, are in her fields and forests and mountains, and As a member of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the the gt·eat world's factories must do their wol'k in her midst. In House of Representati\es he rendered valuable service in secur His own good time and in His mysterious way, througil the ing large appropriations for his city and State. storm of battle and humiliation of po'Verty and defeat, the Al Just prior to his death, meeting him in the corridor of the mighty has led the South out of the darkness into the light and Capitol, he informed me that ile would not be a candidate for showered His blessings upon her. We ha\e a so-called "new renomination, and I felt then it was most fortunate in view of South," but, wilile that is true-and our people have achieved his failing health that he should so decide. I pictured him in succes industrially after ha'Ving passed through the ci"Ucible of my mind returning to Georgia, there to live and die in his home, war--I would not forget tile sweet memories and traditions and surrounded by his loved ones and spending his closing years glory of her past. The old South possessed an infinite idealism in the pefice and quietude which he had so richly earned by his and consen·atism which may yet prove the salvation of the faithful service to his State, the South, and the nation. But Republic. · it was :r;tot so to be. His death, which he faced· as bravely as· Of this old South, and yet withal abreast of the times in his the enemy upon the battlefield, came before he was able to re work and activity, RUFUs E. LESTER was an exponent. His ca tire to the privacy of his home in Savannah, and fate decreed it reer did not begin until after tile war, but in his bearing and should come not only without warning, but in a terrible form. manner he always impres ed me as a representative of the His death was another case of ~icarious sacrifice. In his search old as well as the n~w South in which he was reared and for the little grandchildren he loved ·so well and who had been with whose history he was identified. Born in Georgia in 1837, his constant care, he met with the accident at the Cairo, in this graduated at l\lercer University in 1857, his active career began city, which terminated his earthly career. All that loving hands with his admission to the bar in 1859, and until the accident and kind hearts could do was tenderly done, but it was impo - which resulted. in his sudden death in June, 1906, his whole sible to restore his bruised body to health and strength. The life was filled with acti'Vity and distinction. He was an honest, shock which he received from his fall was too gr~at in his con brilliant lawyer, a fearless soldier, a faithful, able statesman. dition of health or under any circumstances ; and so, distant Colonel LESi'ER entered the military service· of the Confederate from the land he loved-the State of Georgia and the South tates in 1861, soon after his admission to the bar, and remained after a well-spent life, private and public, be passed into that in the service until the end of the· war, having risen to the rank "undiscovered country from whose bourn no. traveler retui"n ." of colonel of the Twenty-fifth Georgia Volunteer Infantry. As Had it been possible I would have accompanied all that was a soldier, as· well as in all his professional and public life, mortal of RUFUS E. LESTER to Savannah, but I was· compelled like the Chevalier Bayard, he· was "without fear and without to remain at my post of duty here. I accompanied him in my reproach." I am informed by his colleagues of the Georgia dele heart, however, from the capital city, across the Potomac, gation that he did not know the meaning of the word" fear." thence through Virginia and the Carolinas to the " Sunny I shall not recount the military service of my departed friend. South" to the beautiful Bonaventure Cemetery, under the arch It was as brilliant as his subsequent career as legislator, mayor way and avenue of moss which extends throughout that beau of Savannah, and 1\Iember of Congress. It is sufficient to say tiful God's acre through which we had driven some yem·s be that be sened Georgia and the South, which he loved, fighting fore. There in the soil of the State of Georgia, amid everbloom for the · principles for which . the South contended, in the Con ing magnolias, may· his ashes rest in peace to await the resur federate States army, from the very beginning of the civif war rection morning and the rising of the " Sun of rigbteou ne s until that last. fateful day at Appomattox, when that banner, with healing in his wings." bearing the St. Andrew's Cross and the Stars and Bars was Mr. ~peaker, a brilliant, useful, and unselfish career like that furled foyeyer in defeat, but unstained and undishonored. of RUFUS E. LESTER is an incentive to young men. His life was After the war Colonel LESTER resumed the practice of the law. a benediction to his family, the people of Georgia, auJ hi He was State senator from 1870 to 1879, being president of the country. But why mourn for him? In the beautiful words of State senate in 1877, 1878, and 1879. Longfellow, in his poem on Resignation, which have brought Avery, in his Histo~·y of Georgia, refers to Colonel LESTER as comfort and consolation to many in the hour of trial- follows: The air is full of farewells to the dylng Repeatedly sent to the senate by the polished constituency of his dis And mournings for the dead ; tt·ict, twice president of the senate, and one of the leading favorites for * * * * • governor in the last campaign, when Governor Colquitt was elected, i\lr. But oftentimes celestial benedictions L F.STER has richly deserved his unusual enjoyment of political leadership. Assume this dark disguise. He is one of the promising young men of the State, and the possessor * * • * * of ability, eloquence, and decision. Rather a small person, yet with an erect, What seem to. us but dim funereal tapers sturdy tigure, and an open, characterful face, he has. an unusually win- May be Heaven's distant lamps. · ) 1907. CONGRESSIONAL ·_RECORD- _ HOUSE. 2673. There is-no death! What seems so is transition·; ing fearlessly along the line in the thickest of it, distributing orders 'I'hls life of mortal breath - rallying the men·when broken, and setting an example to all of comage _ Is but a suburb of the life elysian, and devotion and of a cool and intelligent discharge of duty under the Whose portal we call Death. most trying circumstances worthy of all commendation. I -acknowledge' And so RuFus E. LESTER, in the silence and darkness of the myself greatly indebted to them, and especially ask their promotion to rec ding world, saw in the distance heaven's brilliant lamps and the r·ank of captain in the depar·tments in which they are ser-ving. - stood without fear before his maker, as be had stood fearless I ·can not refrain from quoting further from one of the clis before his fellow-man. tinguislled officers who fought along the line of gray : While I recount the services of the living, I can not pass unremem bered the heroic dead-the cypress must be woven with the laurel; The . l\lr. LEE.. l\lr. Speaker, time J)auses for those who wish to bloody field attested the sacrifice of many a noiJle spirit in the fierce speak of the \irtues of the dead, and the busy world, jealous of struggle, the private soldier vying with the officer in deeds of high dar- re traint a~ to other phenomena, suspends its energies in the ing and di tinguished courage. - pre ence of tlle dead. Wh_ile ' the river of death" shall float its sluggish current to the bea~t1ful .Tennes ·ee and_ the night wind chants its solemn dirges over Yesterday RUFUS EZEKIEL LESTER was with US pulsating with therr sold1er graves. therr names, enshrined in the hearts of their coun life and character ; to-day he is absent, and we look in vain for trymen, will be held in gmteful remembrance as the champions and de· fenders of their country who had sealed their devotion with their blood his familiar face. He once laughed in our joys and ·with ·bowed on one of the most glorious battlefields of om· revolution. . head sllared our griefs. He was hopeful when our skies were roseate with success, and with equal magilaniinity and gentleness Such was Rt.TUs EzEKIEL LESTER on tlle field of battle uncler put forward a protecting hand to ward· off a painful blow. the inexorable call of duty ; two wounds to his credit and two He was human to the core rind sensitj'le to the touch of every bors~s shot under llim to their death. Conspicuohs, courageous, human call ; he llad run the gantlet of life's greatest eA.'}Jerience heroic, LESTER on that clay pro>ed his fitness to li\e and pro\ed and gathered from each an element of cllaracter and an added tllat he need not fear to die. element of strength. - In the ci>il field he won an exalted name and character. In At l\fercer Uni\ersity, in his native State, lie spent years of his his O\\n State lle. sen-eel the people as a legi lator, being a mem early life storing his intellect with knowledge and forging those ber of the Georgia senate for ten years, during the last tllree of friendships with other Georgia boys whicll in after years added which he was president of that distinguished body: _ happiness to his life as well as succe · to his plans. - For two For six years he was m'Uyor of Sa\annall and for. nine con years more he dug into the mysteries of the law, layi-ng tll~ foun secuti>e terms was a l\lember of this body, in the last of which dation for that future life of· mutual combat and intellectual he came to his lamentable death. It is an idle task to attempt to strife which marked his career. enumerate llis senice as a Congressman of tlle United State - Then came the civil war, that onslaugllt of American against for it is well kno\\n to all that lle ne>er shirked resp-onsibilitY American, which for four years deluged our land witll blood. nor waYered in tile full and exact performance of e\ery duty To·the southern man there was but one thing to do, and·that was cle>Ol'ling upon llim. - . . to upllold the glory and traditions of the South. _ To the Georgian In llis long ser>ice as a member of the Ri>er and Harbor thi. was the impei·ative call of duty, and LESTER never faltered. Committee lle did excellent ,,-ork for his city and district, a Ile enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Georgia Regiment, and \lith it work that endeared him to the hearts of those wilo Ilad· made '~ent forward to the scene of war. In the camp life of the sol llim their Representati>e. · In this particular line of duty lle dier he was con picuous for his manline and his · l~egard for labored not only for the interests of llis O\\D eli trict .and State, duty. In battle lle was a shining mark, fighting \lith a courage but for the interestN of the entire South and for the whole tllat gave proof of his exalted character. - · country. While repre enting ·a district, and to a certain extent · At Chickamauga, where death and hell held high carnival for a State, he neyer forgot that his duties were dual and that he _days, LESTER seemed to be oblivious to all personal danger and to - was to acl>ance the interests of the \\hole country while battling fight with the insp!ration born of the thought that an honorable for intere ts purely local. - death is better than an inglorious life. 'Vhenever danger was In llis Congressional experience he co>ered many lonoo and in the line of duty, there was LESTER, and whenever be appea1;ecl faithful years and gained a wide acquaintance with publi~ men other hearts took renewed courage and pressed forward. against of tile entire country. So continuous Ila>e been his senices that what seemed to be an impregnable foe. at his death he was the nestor of the Georgia delegation, and hickamauga was a memorable fight ; fortune played for n among all tile Congre smen ali>e at tile time of his death onlv while with the blue,. then with fickle caprice turned j:.o the gray. ele>en could boa t of a longer ser>ice. -. - ~ In one place the heroes of the Union \\ere pressed by the heroes .He g~\Te . about thirty-four years of his life to his city, llis dis- of the gray ; in another the laurel of the gray \\ere S\\ept down trict, his State, and hi country. . by tile heroes of the blue. . I_n :var be did his best and achieved a glorious success; in For tllree days and nights tlle carni>al of death and destruc Cinl life he was equally as faithful and_\YOrked out for himself tiop continued, and the Twenty,-fifth Georgia -was a part of a a magnificent place in the affections of hi people. •. glorious brigade, with its colonel, Claudius C. Wilson, in com Judged by any Of tile standards . that humanity employs the mand. At 1 o'clock at night that brigade crossed the Chick life of RuFus E .. LESTER was an entire success. - amauga River and, "'ith the T\\enty-fifth Georgia in the lead, He has fallen like an oak in the midst of the forest, but the went forward to the fray. At tlle great road crossing, whose \\Orks of his hands will li>e foreyer. fom· arms were to serve as indices to the coining fray, Colonel A glory that comes only with death may be said to come too "Vii. on was ordered to take his brigade to the right and to unite late. Our friend was not so fortunate, for the refulgence of witll that of General Forrest and to obey his orders. Thus the· glory comes to him through long years of acti>e life sweetening T\\enty-fifth Georgia marched into the \ery gate of. hell, for its joys and mitigating its woes. · ' on that clay Fo_rrest's command was in the >ery thickest of tile In tlle district wilere he was born be li>ed a long mid hon fight. Hard pre sed was thi gallant commander at several ored life, and the great~st solace life llas for any man is the times on that memorable clay, each time to be relieved by the continued esteem of friends and neig}lbors through ad>ancing gallantry of Wilson' brigade, at the vanguard of which proudly years. wa>ed the colors of the Twenty-fifth Georgia. - At one time this regiment \\US on the \erge of annihilation 1\Ir. BELL of Georo-ia. Mr. Speaker, Col. RUFUs E. LESTER and wa forced to give back in sullen defiance, but, reenforced, it wa born in Burke County, Ga., in December, 1837. He grad vushed forward again to a position from \\bicb it could not be u.ated .from .l\lerse1' University in 1857 ancl commenced the prac dislodged, but at what a fearful cost-the battlefield \\US stre"·n tice of Ja·w m 18t:~9, and was a successful lawyer until be entered with the corpses of friend and foe and the li>ing fought \lith the Confederate senice, in 1861, in the war between the States. bleeding wounds, ghastly, yet ublime. . He rei:nained in the enice throughout the entire four years Night came, leaving Snodgrass Hill in the hands of Gen. of thi bloody and unfortunate ·conflict, and was a braYe. un George H. Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga," with all the flinching soldier. He was adjutant of the T\Yenty-fifth Regi~ rest of the everlasting, glorious field in the hands of the exulting ment of Georgia Volunteers. and \\On eli ·tinction as a fearle ·s gray. man and a loyal son of the South. After the storm came the calm, and in the reckoning \lith After tile close of the war he returned to Sa>annab and re the heroes Col. Claudius C. Wilson sent these words forward to sumeu the practice of his chosen profession. and b'l his clean headquarters : yet fearless metllod lle won an en>iable repu-tation for his sane I respectfully ask the favorable consideration of the major-general judgment in matters of law and public questions. commanding to the cases of my acting a sistant inspector-general First He filled many positions of trust and confidence in lli · nati>e Lieut. Robert Wayne, and my acting assistant adjutant-general' First State before he was elected to tile Fifty-fir ·t Congress, and Lieut. R. E. LESTER. 'l'he fir·st was .seriously wounded in the leg while succeeded himself eight times to this higll ·and llonoraiJle posi in the discharge of his duties, and Lieutenant LESTER was wounded in the head and abdomen under the same circumstances and had two tion. borses k1lled under him. They were both conspicuous in the fight, rid- It was not my privilege to haye known Colonel LESTER per- XLI--1G8 \ 2674 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. FEBRUARY 10, sonally and intimately except for the past few years, but my As a legislator be wns industrious and zealous in the dis knowledge of him leads me to say that I never knew a more charge of his \aried duties. · He accomplished much for his dis perfect, poli bed gentleman. He was one of the standard trict, the First Georgia, for his State, and for the country at bearers. of my faith in the innate nobility of mankind.· He was large. I had occasion to ask his help in certain waterway im gentle, yet fearle s; unassuming, but constant. His long life of provements. His answer was, " Certainly; anything that I can public usefulne s, his victories and defeats, sen·e to remind us do will be done," and it was clone largely with his aid. that we have lost a friend and an able legi lator. None of us He was the same generous, kind friend to others. He lo\ed can ponder this strong man's long service and constant devotion his fellow-men and in return was loved by them. When in to his tasks and duties and fail to realize that he was a great Savannah a few years since I discovered that it was thE! e man-great because be was good, for no man can be truly characteristics that made him so popular with his people. great witho..ut being good. He was a typical gentleman of the old school, a plendid We all recognized the singleness ·of purpose which actuated type of .American . citizenship. His v-oice is forever still; his him in taking hold of all public questions. His object was kind, lo\ing words will be heard no more, but his life's. work at all times to arrive at the truth, for be well knew that _will live in the history of his country and in the hearts of his truth alone would stand the test and the criticisms of an ever friends. He bas passed to the other shore, to the home pre alert public, and. the truth would ultimately avail any man in pared for him by the Great Father who showed his love for the discharge of the duties and coilfidence reposed in him. His men by giv-ing his only beloyed Son for their ransom. absolute fairness and honesty made for him many warm friends There is no death! What seems so is transition; and admirers, who to-day mourn his los . Never a sign of This life of mortal breath selfi bness, greed, or mercenary motives marked his career in Is but a suburb of the life elysian, this House. He was ever watchful of the interests of his con Whose portal we call Death. stituents and the welfare of his State and the Union. As a Union \etera.n, proud of the· heroism and bravery of the No narrow views ever actuated him and no selfish ambitions men engaged in the conflicts of the civil war, a common heritage ever swerved him fi·om the plain path of duty to his people and commemorating the deeds of our American citizen soldiery, I to the country. He bad the full confidence of every man in this place this tril.mte to the memory of my· late comrade, RUFl:S E. body, because it was well known to us that his honesty of pur LEsTER, of Georgia. po e, his zeal and firmness in his desire to promote good legisla tion could never lead him astray. He despised shams and crook 1\lr. HERM.A.J..~~. :Mr. Speaker, when the flag over this Capi edn~s , and in his efforts to prevent schemes and measures whicll tol fell to half-mast on the 18th day of June, 190G, we knew that he thought detrimental to the · best intere t of his country he another one of the Fifty-ninth Congre s bad pa . ed to that un would sometimes show that he was human.. discovered country and into that "temple not made with bands, He was generous to a fault, and I am told that no beggar e\er eternal in the bea\ens," to answer there to the everlasting roll left his door hungry, and that be was not atisfied with merely call. contributing money for the relief of the suffering and distressed, In this Chamber the sad announcement was made of the but, alway possessed of that superb benevolence which charac death of pur long and much loved a ociate-RUFus E. LEstER, terized him, be often during his life and the busy days of his of Georgia-as the re ult of a mo t unusual and fatal accident. career would \i i~ the humblest home and liberally bower com- A..nqther •of the innumerable cara\an gone before· bad . olved . forts upon the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the homeless, re the problem of life, and bad made clear to hiinself the hard membering the Bible injunction, " He that giveth to the poor, question from Job through the world's age , "If a man die, lendeth to the Lord." shall he li\e again?" We, too, shall han~ the answer, but only Is it strange that we mourn the loss of uch -a man as RUFus E. ·after we shall haYe · tra\eled the ame 1.·oad of our lamented LEsTER? Such an influence is a · heritage to any man, and cer associate and those who ba\e preceded him. Until then, a ·· on tainly a great consolation to his friends and loved ones who are scions, intelligent bein(J' ·, we can only .hope and belie\e that left to mourn him. · · we shall liYe ugain. We consult the evidences about us, we I recall how helpful he was to me., and his kind offices in my are impressed with the active, wondrous, and eternal working behalf will never be obliterated from my memory. He u eel to of the natural forces wbi h pervade the world in which we llavc ask me to sit and talk with him, which I did, no matter bow our being, we consider the s:icred lessons which come down to busy I might baYe been, and ·be would always gi\e me good ad us through Divine re\elation, and more than :rll we considt!r the vice, and admonished me that to be successful in the right way innate and instincti\e promptings -of our daily lives and the was to be true and deal fairly and face to face with all me:r;t and pirit which ani.mate · us, and thus . we belie\e in the imrnor- · ·with .all questions. tality of our souls, and in our feeble way to cherish the fnith It was my privilege, as a member of the House committee, to that after death we ball li\e again. While we do Jiye our follow him ro his last re ting place.. His funeral was attended uncei·tain li\CS on earth, w.e striYe to live wiser and better li\e , by all classes, the high and low, the rich and poor, and it was a and to that end to model our career after the precept and touching scene to witness his old comrades in war as they stood example of our upright, virtuou ' and succe ful fellow who with tear-dimmed eyes and sang- ha\e made the race and reached the goal. In this light we Jesus, lover of my soul, view our departed broth r. Let me. to Thy bosom fly. In doing thi we find in :Major LEsTER what honest character, He was buried in beautiful Bonaventure by tender, lo\ing faithful effort, energetic determination., and prompt attention in · bands, there to await the la t call in the great day of judgment, human affairs will accomplish in any worthy man's cureer. when he '"'ill recei\e that glad welcome, "Come, ye ble ed of Without those useful aids of wealth and family influence in early my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foun- life he found that to himself alone mu t he depend for succe s dation of the world." · if it should e\er come to him. The road was a bard and a rough one. Deprivation and dis Mr. GOULDEN. Mr. Speaker, in June last, when the unex couragement were more often hi companions than comfort and pected death of llUFus E. LESTER, _of Georgia, was heralded substantial cheer. But · such companions, unwelcome and re around Wa hington, many eyes were dimmed with tears. pulsiYe at the time, are in reality-though unconsciou to us He was JoYed andre pected by the thousands in this city wbo blessings in di gui e. They constitute the school of experience knew him. E\er genial, kindly hearted, be had a good, cheerful where all must leurn. It is a school which harden us, which word for e\eryone. To know~ him was to lo\e him. I could teaches self-dependence, self-reliance, frugality, patience, and not let this occasion pass without a few brief words of tribute forbearance. It compels us to persevere until we overcom by to the memory of our departed fi·iend. our honorable endea\ors the obstacles which confront us. In For three se ions of Congress it was my good -fortu:qe to sit such .an experience we acquire too, a feeling of sympathy for in the san:le tier of seats in tbe Rou e. In passing up and tho e in misfortune and for tho e who fail in the conflict. Of down the ai le be always stopped me to bid me a good morning ~Iajor LESTER it can be aid that he had all the e qualities. He or to say some kindly thing about the Bronx, my home borough, always bad a kind cheer and a helping band for the poor boy and of the city of New York. We had many mutual friends in and the struggling young man, and nothing so quickly arou ed our re pectiYe homes. After a visit to his beloved city of Sa his sense of justice as the abuse of the power of one ip. authority yannab be would come to my de k with affectionate words of over his subordinate. Rising from the ranks of the plain people, greeting from old friends, coupled with the invitation, "Come be was democratic in its mo. t comprebensi\e meaning, and be tlernao-ogic appeal made to arouse the public mind for the enact There. is no death ! An angel form · Walks o'er the earth with silent tread; ment of scbemes whicb in bis mind were inimical to the public He bears our best-loved things away, good. He was a clo ·e attendant upon his dutie~ in this Cham And then-we call them dead. ber a a Representatife of the people, and often when it seemed mo ·t painful to bim to walk in and out of the Capitol in tbe ~lr. LACEY. l\lr. Speaker, the tragic death of Colonel LEs Ia ·t year of his service; yet he was at his seat considering tbe TER brings us together to-day in his memory. work of the es ion and •oting on mea ures he thought the pub l\ly first service in this body was in the Fifty-first Con lic interests required. He belie\ed with the poet that; . gress, a body of men recognized as one of exceptional strength. Ile Colonel LESTER also began his service in the same Congress, That through the channels of the state Conveys the people's wish is great; and was honored by continuous reelection until his death. llis name is pure ; his fame is free. In the Fifty-first Congress no delegation exceeded in strength In revie"·ing tbe career of :Major LESTER in this body we are that of the Empire State of the South. Indeed, it is doubtful if forcibly rcmindecl of tbe brief tenure- of political life to the any other delegation equaled it in aggregate ability in that Con most of us. Looking over the 386 Members of this House, many gress. in their yotmg manhood and in the best of pbysical health with There were LESTER, Turner, Crisp, Grimes, Stewart, Blount, ambition and with talents equal to the best, an onlooker ~ould Clements, Carlton, Candler, and Barnes. When the pre ent conclude that a large proportion would still be found in their Congress con•ened only one of those ten names rell,lained upon pre ·ent places for many years to com~. .And yet the contrary the roll, and that was Colonel LEsTER. Nearly all the others is true. A retro~11e c t to only ejgbteen years ago to the Georgia had not only gone beyond the companionship of this House, but delegation then in Congress will suffice. had passed to the Great Beyond, including Crisp and Turner On March 4, 188!>, UuFus E. LESTER entered tbis body from the giants among them all. ' thnt State. His colleagues at thnt time were Charles Ji'. Crisp, Colonel LESTER had no more sincere friends than those who Jobn D. Stewart, Juuson \ Qlements, Allen D. Candler, Henry as l\Iembers of this House stood opposed to his political vie,-vs, II. Carlton, and George T .. Barnes. It seems but a short time many of whom were also opposed to him in the clark davs of since that I listened to their sturdy \oices in ans"'er to the the great civil war. ~ roll call or in debate. .And yet not a single one now remains . When death has come the survivors can always trace back here. They baye all gone from the ·e 11laces. RUFus E. LESTER the great chain ·of eyents that has led to the last and final was the last. I recall Charle F. Crisp when he was the hon scene ; but unconsciously and unknowingly we tread the road ored Speaker of this body, and who was one of the most e\en that leads -to the end of life. 1\fadam Sevigne, in describin"' ternpered, impartial, and just men that eyer 'yielded a gavel the drowning- of a friend in the Rhone, says : . "' in any deliberati•e assemblnge of fellow-men and peers. The day was stormy, but he would not be dissuaded. Death had an And there was Henry G. Turner, judicial, able minded, serious appointment with him in the whirlpool at the foot of the cliff and he must ~ ee p '?is engagen:ent. He entered the skiff alone, and the waters in. thought and action, ~d measured and logical in debate, witb have JUSt g1ven up then· dead. rarely a gesture and with few words of suaye and patronizing r ejoinder. It was the famous Speaker Reed wllo remarked of So with Colonel LESTER. The pleasant voices of children Turner that he regarded bim as tlle ablest jurist and scholar of thought to be in danger upon the roof, led him up the fatal Iadde; the Iloq.se. Then there was the· genial, good-huinored George T. to the skylight through which he fell to his death. Barnes, of large body and well-stored brain, and, abo\e all of He had gone throu