William Boyd Allison 
 
 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
 FEBRUARY 6. 1909 
 
 AND IN THE 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
 FEBRUARY 21, 1909 
 
Book .A. 45^1 52^ 
 
. :i ^ N 
 

HC 
 
William Boyd Allison 
 
 (Late a Senator from Iowa) 
 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 Sixtieth Congress 
 Second Session 
 
 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
 February 6, 1909 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
 February 21, 1909 
 
 Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing 
 
 WASHINGTON : • GOVERNMENT PRINTIN(; OFFICE : : I*^ 
 


 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 .S 
 
 6 
 
 Pnn'cedin^s in llie Senate. _ 
 
 Prayer l)y Rev. Edward K. Hale 
 -Memorial addres.ses by- 
 Mr. Dolliver, of Io\va_ 
 
 Mr. Hale, of Maine. . 
 
 Mr. Teller, of Cok)rado 
 
 Mr. Aldrich, of Rhode Island 
 
 Mr. liacon, of Georj^a ^ 
 
 Mr. Culloni, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Daniel, of \'irginia_ 
 
 Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire 
 
 Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts 
 
 Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina 
 
 Mr. Perkins, of California 
 
 Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota 
 
 Mr. Kean, of New Jersev 
 
 Mr. Depew, of New York 
 
 Mr. Heveridge, of Indiana 
 
 Mr. Ikirkett, of Nebraska 
 
 Mr. Smith, of Michigan 
 
 Mr. Borah, of Idaho 
 
 Mr. Cummins, of Iowa. 
 
 Proceedings in the House 
 
 Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, I). I) 
 Memorial addresses by — 
 Mr. Cousins, of Iowa 
 • Mr. Hepburn, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Clark, of Missouri 
 
 Mr. Cannon, of Illinois . 
 
 Mr. Hull, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Birdsall, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Haugen, of Iowa ^^ 
 
 Mr. Conner, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Hubbard, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Dawson, of lowal 
 
 Mr. Hamilton, of Iowa 
 
 Mr Kennedy, of Iowa 
 
 -Mr Smitli, of Iowa 
 
 ^4 
 4-' 
 4'> 
 ,S- 
 6.' 
 6S 
 
 7.S 
 
 Si 
 
 .Sj 
 
 91 
 
 <)4 
 
 loi 
 
 104 
 
 log 
 
 I 1.5 
 
 114 
 
 "7 
 
 1 M'- 
 
 '.s.s 
 
 '.^7 
 i6c) 
 
 '74 
 
Death of Senator William B, Allison 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE 
 
 MuXDAV, Ihccmhir 7, iqoS. 
 
 Mr. DoLLiVEK. Mr. President, it is a jjainful duty to an- 
 nounce to the Senate the death of Senator Allison. He died 
 at his home in Dubuque on the 4th day of August. 
 
 At a future time, at the convenience of the Senate, I will ask 
 that an hour be set aside for suitable tributes to his memory. 
 I offer the resolutions which I send to the desk, and ask for 
 their adoption. 
 
 The \'ice-PrEsident. The Senator from Iowa submits reso- 
 lutions, which will be read by the Secretary. 
 
 The resolutions were read, considered by unanimous consent, 
 and unanimously agreed to, as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of the death 
 of the Hon. \\'illi.\m Bovd Allison, for more than thirty-five years a 
 Senator from the State of Iowa. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary coniniunicate a copy of these resohilions 
 to the House of Representatives. 
 
 Mr. DoLLivER. Mr. President, as a further tribute of re- 
 spect to the memory of the late vSenator Allison, I move that 
 the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The motion was luianiniously agreed to, and (at 12 o'clock 
 and ijs minutes ]). ni.) ihe Senate adjourned inilil lo morrow, 
 Tuesday, DecenilKT 8, lyoS, at u o'clock nuridian. 
 
6 Proceedings in the Senate 
 
 Tuesday, December 8, igo8. 
 A message from the House of Representatives transmitted 
 resolutions of the House on the death of Hon. William Boyd 
 Allison, late a Senator from the State of Iowa. 
 
 Saturday, February 6, 7909. 
 
 The Chaplain, Rev. Edward E. Hale, offered the following 
 prayer : 
 
 Let us praise famous men and our fathers who begot us. The 
 Lord hath wrought great glory by them through His great power 
 from the beginning. Leaders of the people by their counsel and 
 by their knowledge of learning m,eet for the people, wise and 
 eloquent in their instructions. All these were honored in their 
 generations and were the glory of their times. There be of 
 them that have left a name behind them, that their praises 
 might be reported. And some there will be who have no me- 
 morial, who are perished as they had never been. But the.<;e 
 were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten. 
 The people will tell of their wisdom atid the congregation will 
 show forth their praise. 
 
 Let us pray. 
 
 Father, we praise Thee, we thank Thee, every day of our lives 
 we thank Thee, for the fathers who were before us, for the men 
 who made this country, for that country whose God is the Lord, 
 for the men who made this Senate and the House of Represent- 
 atives, who ordained this Government of the people, for the 
 people, by the people. 
 
 We thank the living God; and we ask Thee, Father, to be 
 with us, the children and the children's children of these men, 
 to lead us where we need leading, to teach us always, to en- 
 liven us with the Holy Spirit, with Th\- divine light. 
 
 We remember before Thee those men who in this Senate have 
 led it forward in dignitv and honor before this people. Bless 
 
Proceedings in the Senate ~ 
 
 them. Bless us. Be with tliis peoi)le, I-'alher. as a father with 
 his children. We ask il in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Our l"\ilher. who art in iK-axfU, haljowi-d \)c '\'\\\ naniu. I h\ 
 kingdom conu'. Thy will hi- dom- on tartli as it is dom- in 
 heaven. (live us this day our daily bread; and forj^ivt- n^ om 
 trespasses as we forgive those who tres])ass against us. And 
 lead us not into temptation, ))ut deli\er us from evil, for Thine 
 is the kingdom, and tlie power, and the i^lory. forever. Amen, 
 
 The \'ice- President l)eing absent, thi- President pro tcm])ore 
 took the chair. 
 
 Mr. DoLUVEK. .Mr. President, I offer resolutions for present 
 consideration. 
 
 The President pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa sub 
 mits resolutions and asks for their present consideration The 
 resolutions will be read. 
 
 The Secretarv read the resolutions, as follows: 
 
 Resolved, Thai it is witli dee]) regret and piofoimd surrow thai ilu- 
 Senate has heard tlie announcement of tlie dcatli of Hon. William H. 
 Alliso.v, late a Senator from the State of Iowa. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of tlie deceased the 
 lousiness of the Senate he now susjiended to enal^le his associates to pay 
 fitting tribute to his high character and distinguished services. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary transmit to the family of the deceased a 
 copy of these resolutions, with the action of the Senate thereon. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary comnnmicatc these resolutions t<i tlie 
 House of Representatives. 
 
 The resolutions \\vi\- considered by unanimous consi'Ut and 
 unanimoush' a'-jreed to. 
 
Memorial Addresses: William /-?. Allison 
 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 Address of Mr, Doluver. of Iowa 
 
 Mr. President: The death of Senator AlIvISon has removed 
 from American public life a statesman everywhere recognized 
 as among the greatest and most useful public servants of the 
 past fifty years. His career will always be famous, not only 
 because of the important questions with which he was asso- 
 ciated but also because his career in the Senate was longer 
 than that of any other Senator in the history of the Govern- 
 ment. If he had lived until the 4th of .March he would have 
 completed thirty-six years of uninterrupted service in this 
 Chamber. Prior to his election to the Senate he had served 
 eight years in the House of Representatives. With a break 
 of only two years he served in Congress more than forty-three 
 years. This unprecedented term of office not only gave to his 
 later years an extraordinary influence in the leadership of 
 national affairs but made his old age venerable, surrounding 
 him with the reverence of his colleagues and of all who were 
 his coworkers in the administration of national government. 
 His character commanded the respect of all, and his personalitv 
 attracted to him the good will and affection of all. 
 
 William Boyd Allison was born at Perry, Ohio, March 2, 
 1829; so that at the time of his death, August 4, 1908, he was 
 approaching 80 years of age. After completing his studies at 
 the Western Reserve College, he began the practice of law at 
 Ashland, Ohio, taking an active interest in politics and obtain- 
 ing a fair measure of success in his profession. Before he had 
 
Address oj Mr. Pollrnr, oj hnva <) 
 
 reached the age of 30 years, however, he luude up his mind llial 
 a better chance for distinction and success could be found in 
 the West, and accordingly he joined the great procession wliieh 
 was moving toward the new States beyond the Mississippi. Ik- 
 resumed the practice of law at Dubuque, Iowa, in 1857, and 
 innnediatelv came to the front as a leader in all the affairs of 
 thai thriving little city. He w^as recognized by his neighbors 
 as a man of unusual gifts and attainments. The same qualities 
 that gave to his later years such grace and charm of manner 
 surrounded his early manhood with a widening circle of friends 
 and friendly inlluencc. He was a delegate in the convention 
 which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency. Wlan 
 the civil war came on, a friend and neighbor of his youth in 
 Ohio, Samuel J. Kirkwood, became governor of Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Allison was already engaged in organizing a regiment 
 when the old war governor sent for him and pressed upon him 
 his duty to aid the State in the militarx' ])reparati()ns, which 
 were everywhere in progress, by accepting a special assignment 
 on the executive's staff. Senator Allison was often heard 
 to express his regret that he did not have the opportunity to 
 take the field with the troops which he organized, but the 
 record of the adjutant-general's office at Des Moines shows that 
 he rendered the country an invaluable service in doing, with 
 painstaking care, the work which was given him to do. So 
 universal was the recognition of his public service thai the old 
 Dubuque district chose him as its Representative in the ThirtN - 
 eighth Congress. This election to Congress brought liim to t la- 
 capital in the midst of the struggle for the national life. Ih 
 at once took up the hard problems with which the Govermnent 
 had to deal in supporting its armies aad caring for the i)ublic 
 interests connected with its administration. Ik- was, from his 
 t-ntrance into the House of Representatives. ;i le;uU-r in tliat 
 
lo Memorial Addresses: William B. Alliso)i 
 
 great popular assenihly. Ik- devoted himself with untiring; 
 energy to the practical questions with which the legislation of 
 those days was concerned. His favorite studies related to the 
 collection and disbursement of the public revenues and to the 
 intricate problems of llnance with whicli the Crovernment was 
 face to face every day. 
 
 He was a quiet, patient worker and student, and those who 
 remember him at that period of his public life have borne testi- 
 mony that his rise in influence in the House of Representatives 
 was steady and continuous from the beginning. It has been 
 truly said that the House of Representatives subjects its Mem- 
 bers to an ordeal so severe that no man can join the company of 
 its leadership without the unquestioned possession of the talents 
 and habits of mind which such a position exacts. Yet, even in 
 the first term of his service, Mr. Allis(;n commended himself to 
 his colleagues as a man fit for the highest responsibilities of 
 the House, and in his second term he was appointed a member 
 of the Ways and Means Committee, which at that time, even 
 more than it does now, dominated the proceedings of the 
 House. This position also gave him the opportunity to lay the 
 foundation of that profound knowledge of the revenue system 
 of the United States which made him an authority on that and 
 kindred sul)jects in this body. 
 
 A single illustration will show the general character of the 
 work which engaged his attention. He was the author — in so 
 far as one man may be said to be the author of a great public 
 policy — of the reform in the internal-revenue laws of the United 
 States by which the tax on spirits was delivered from the 
 frauds which for many years had almost extinguislied that 
 source of income, by making its collection both l)urdensome and 
 unmanageable. His scheme for the administration of the inter- 
 nul-rc-venue system, while it has been frequentlv modifu'd in 
 
Address oj M). l,)ollivct\ oj Io~ua ti 
 
 minor particulars hv subsc'C|UcMil legislation, remains imlil ihi^ 
 clay substantialh' as he framed it. 
 
 The conspicuous intluence of Mr Ai.i.isox in the Hou^e of 
 Representatives gave him such universal popular favor in Iowa 
 that at the end of eight years he declined renomination in order 
 to become a candidate for Senator. He represented the ambi- 
 tions of the younger men of the State, and his entrance into the 
 field as a candidate was in the nature of a challenge to the 
 political management which had long controlled the ])olitics 
 of the State. He was compelled to carry on his campaign under 
 many disadvantages, and while he did not succeed in his ambi- 
 tion, he established so wide an acciuaintance and gained so firm 
 a hold on the public good will that his friends counted his de- 
 feat as only a temporary reverse, and did not hesitate to ])resent 
 his name as a candidate two years later against James Harlan, 
 then the most famous and infiuential western man in public 
 life. This political battle has been ever since memorable in 
 Iowa politics, and when it ended in the election of vSenator 
 Allison it marked the beginning of a political era with which 
 his name and fame will always be associated in the history of 
 the State. 
 
 I desire now to say a few words about the personal charac 
 teristics which enabled this young man, without money or inlhi- 
 ential connections, to overthrow the formidable political inllu 
 ences which surrounded vSenator Harlan. supi)orte(l, as he was. 
 by the administration at Washington, of which he was in some 
 respects the most famous and honored champion in the Senate 
 of the United States. In the first place, it need hardly be said 
 that the people of Iowa recognized Senator Allison's fine 
 equipment and preparation for public aflairs. In the next place, 
 he had the peculiar (pialities of mind and heart which ins|)ire 
 among the vounger men of liie Stale a personal allegiance 
 
12 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 which followed him all the days of his hfe. His approach to 
 the people had in it a kindliness of manner and of speech which 
 gave him access to the hearts of men and made them feel that 
 he took an interest in their welfare and appreciated their sup- 
 port. In all this there was no affectation; it was the natural 
 expression of his character. The same qualities which the 
 youn<f men of Iowa found in him at the beginning of his career 
 kept him near to the people throughout his political life. He 
 never failed in helpful counsel to those who were seeking a 
 foothold in public affairs. He encouraged the younger men to 
 press forward to the goal of their ambitions. With him it was 
 a privilege, as well as a duty, to help others. 
 
 In the long list of those who have represented the various 
 Iowa districts in the House of Representatives since he left it, 
 there has not been one who did not look up to Senator Allison 
 as a friend and helper in his work. During the long period in 
 which he presided over the Iowa delegation he invariably effaced 
 himself and his own plans in his desire to aid his colleagues and 
 to give them a share of the prestige and recognition belonging 
 to the public service. It is not a common thing to refer to such 
 a matter on an occasion Uke this, and yet there ought to be a 
 public record made of it, that in his Senatorial career he never 
 sought to control the appointment of any man to an ofifice. He 
 regarded his colleagues in the House of Representatives as his 
 constituents as well as representatives of each community 
 wifhin the State, and so when the appointment of an Iowa man 
 to any office within the gift of the President was sought, the re- 
 quest came not from him, but from the whole delegation. And 
 with such a nice sense of fairness and justice were the offices 
 divided among the congressional districts that every portion of 
 the State found itself represented, and every Member of Con- 
 gress came to feel that vSenator Allison liatl no interest at stake 
 
Address oj Mr. Dollivcr, of Iowa 13 
 
 in the distribution of olTicial positions except the public welfare 
 and the peace and harmony of the poUtical partv of which he 
 was the leader. 
 
 It is an interesting;- and iuii(iue circumstance that throui^hout 
 his period of service in the vSenate he exercised in our local poli- 
 tics, in addition to his own vote in the conference of the delega- 
 tion, only that influence which arose from the belief of his col- 
 leagues that his motives in the guidance of their alTairs were 
 absolutely free from selfish interest. It is certain that this 
 characteristic of his leadership gave to Senator Allison a place 
 in the general good will of our people which not even the 
 infirmities of age and the near ap])roach of death were able to 
 disturb. It is certain, also, that the relation which he assumed 
 toward those with whom he was associated in public duties was 
 responsible for that freedom from jjersonal contention which he 
 enjoyed throughout his i)ublic life, and which in a certain sense 
 released his energies from the petty disputes of politics and 
 enabled him to give to his public duties an unencumbered at- 
 tention. He was happily situated. His reelections to the vSen- 
 ate came to him as a matter of course, without dissent, and 
 without controversy. The State of Iowa was free from a great 
 variety of disputed questions about Indians, public lands, forest 
 reservations and similar matters, which take up so much of the 
 time of Congress. 
 
 And so it came about that the larger l)usiness of the Govern- 
 ment was never out of his mind, until at length he was looked 
 upon everywhere as the master of the i)ractical details of legisla- 
 tion without a rival in this bod\-. ( )ther men were more elofiuent 
 than he; others jjossib!)- were more deepl\- \ersi-fl in the subtle- 
 ties of constitutional interpretation; but when it came to the 
 real conduct of the Government, (he raising of its revenues, and 
 their expenditure, the Senate and the country lumed instinc- 
 
14 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 tively to Senator Allison. W'c sometiiiKs think that the pro- 
 ceedings of Congress are all set down in the daily Record. So 
 far as what is said is concerned, that is partly true of the House 
 and altogether true of the Senate, but behind these daily pro- 
 ceedings, when great issues are at stake, upon which the opinions 
 of men are divided, the real proceedings of Congress lie outside 
 of the Record, in those interchanges of opinion which gradually 
 mold into form the propositions which at length find their way 
 into the statute book. 
 
 The most obvious thing about Senator Allison's biography is 
 the fact that his most valuable service, the service which enabled 
 the party to which he belonged to go forward in the discharge 
 of its responsibility to the country with a certain measure of 
 unity, was not put down in any written record, but belongs to 
 those hours of fruitful consultation, where the wisdom of the old 
 leader was proved equal to every emergency. It was because it 
 bore this relation to our public affairs that in his jjublic utter- 
 ances, in debate, and in speeches before the people he avoided 
 dogmatism even in its most attractive forms, and made room in 
 the expression of his opinions for those differences which he 
 knew would be encountered sooner or later, giving leeway for 
 composing those disagreements which he knew must be com- 
 posed before anything could be actually done. He was some- 
 times the object of satire in the press, and even on this floor — a 
 mild satire which he enjoyed as much as anybody else — because 
 he withheld the final statement of what he desired to have done 
 until he had completed the task of bringing the conflicting opin- 
 ions of the Senate to some proposition upon which a majority 
 could agree. 
 
 In that task, imi)osed upon him by connuon consent of his 
 colleagues, he would have been a failure if he liad begun by 
 advertising what he intended to do and by dis])araging the 
 
Address oj Mr. Dol/ivcr, oj Imva 15 
 
 views and suggestions of everybody elst\ Antl so it happened 
 that he lost the renown that belongs to a certain tvpe of states- 
 manship in gaining the inlluence which cnaljled him to l)ring 
 order out of every chaos of legislation, and thus to carry forward 
 the work of Congress. Thus it happened that while evervbodv 
 has understood in a general way the value of Senator Allison's 
 labors in the vSenate, only those who have been familiar with the 
 mechanism of our Government and the difficulties that lie across 
 the i^ath of every great proposal of legislation have given him 
 the full credit as a statesman to which he is entitled in the dis- 
 tribution of honors in the arena of legislative activitv. There 
 are upon the statute books a good many laws wiiich bear, in 
 popular parlance, the name of some reputed author. Vet it 
 requires very little knowledge of the course of legislation to 
 see how insecure such a title to fame actually is, for there is no 
 statute of importance which does not bear upon it the marks 
 of the labors of many men, and when it is named for anvone il 
 is usually for mere convenience rather than for a more substantial 
 reason. Oftentimes the real authors of the measure, those who 
 have given the most effective attention to its framing and its 
 enactment, are overlooked altogether. It was a peculiar trait 
 of Senator Allison' that while every important act of Congress 
 for a whole generation has had the benefit of his judgment and 
 bears the evidences of his legislative skill, yet he was never over- 
 anxious to ]ni{ his own name on any of them, or even to divide 
 with others the passing celebrity of their authorship. 
 
 Early in his senatorial service it came within the line of his 
 duty to frame the present government of the District of Colum- 
 bia on jirinciples that lia\e not only worked well liere, but have 
 become the basis of a reform in municipal government which 
 now promises to be general throughout the United Stales. \et 
 few citizens of the District, even among those whose memories 
 
1 6 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 go back to the time when the District government was oi)erated 
 for the benefit of contractors and local politicians, ever think of 
 Senator Allison* in connection with the reform which made the 
 modern city of Washington possible. Few men, even among 
 those who have written histories of the transaction, connect the 
 name of Senator Ai-i,iS(»\ with the act of Congress for the 
 resumption of specie payments; yet, although he was among the 
 younger Members of the Senate, he was one of a subcommittee 
 which framed that act, and his knowledge of the subject was 
 so generally appreciated in the Senate that he was appointed a 
 member of the Finance Committee and given a potent voice in 
 its deliberations from that time on. There were few men in 
 either House of Congress who gave to the coinage question a 
 profounder study than he; but it is not generally known that 
 we owe to him more than to any other man the adoption of those 
 measures which saved the United States from the uncertainties 
 which would have followed the free coinage of silver, at a time 
 when the majority of both Houses of Congress were committed 
 to that experiment. 
 
 In more recent years, as a member of the Committee on 
 Finance, Senator Allison occupied a foremost place among the 
 leaders who have shaped the financial and industrial policv of 
 the Government. His labors in the Senate, while including 
 practically every subject with which Congress has had to deal, 
 were confined mainly to the Committee on Appropriations and 
 the Committee on Finance. Pic became a member of the former 
 when he entered the Senate, while his services on the Finance 
 Committee date from the Forty-fifth Congress. In 1881 he 
 became chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and in that 
 position his most significant public service was rendered. That 
 great committee, especially in these later years, has not only 
 had to do with the national budget, but the pressure upon the 
 
Address of M>. DoUiver, of Iowa 
 
 17 
 
 time of Cono^ress has so increased I hat the appropriation l)ills 
 have often carried far-reaching acts of IcKMslation alTivtiiii; I he 
 greatest possible variety of subjects. It was in the work of 
 that committee that vScnator Allison was most at home. The 
 late vSenator Hoar says of him in his Autobiography of Seventv 
 Years : 
 
 He has controlled more than any other man, indeed, more than any 
 other ten men, the vast and constantly increasing pubHc expenditures, 
 amounting to more than a thousand millions annually. It has been an 
 economical and wise expenditure. That is a knowledge in which nobody 
 else in the Senate, except Senator Hale of Maine and vSenator Cockrell 
 of Missouri, can compare with him. 
 
 But the business of the Appropriations Committee did not by 
 any means absorb all his energies. vSenator Alliso.v was a 
 student of our tariff problems throughout his public life, and 
 for accuracy of knowledge and painstaking research no states- 
 man of his time outranks him. Among all the numerous 
 changes which have taken place in the tariff laws during the 
 last thirty years it may be with truth said that the hand of 
 Senator Alllson is seen in every one. He \vas a member of 
 the subcommittee which prepared the tariff law of 1883. 'I'he 
 historic revision of 1890, which gave to William McKinley a 
 parliamentary renown hardly overshadowed by the presidential 
 office, was more truly the work of the Finance Connuittee of 
 the Senate than of the Ways and Means Committee of the 
 House. In the previous Congress, after the Mills bill had 
 passed the House, it was referred in the vSenate committee to a 
 subcommittee, of which Senator Ai.ijsox was the chairman. 
 The whole bill, in form and in substance, w^as recast , and a vSenate 
 substitute prepared under vSenator Allison's immediate direc- 
 tion, with arduous labor lasting far into the smnmer, ap])roved 
 by the Committee on iMuance and reported to t hi' Senate bv 
 Senator Alliso.x. That measure became the l)asis upon wiiich 
 78135 — S. Doc. 766, 60- J 2 
 
1 8 Mcmoyial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 General Harrisons campaign for the Presidency was made. 
 It was debated in the Senate until the adjournment of Congress 
 in October, and in the session after the presidential election 
 Senator Allison's substitute for the Mills bill passed the 
 Senate. So that when the new Congress convened in the 
 December following, the Ways and Means Committee had 
 before it the tariff bill which, with only minor alterations, ]xissed 
 into history as the McKinley law of 1 890. 
 
 In the same Congress, the law reforming the customs admin- 
 istration, framed by a subcommittee of which Senator Alliso.x 
 was chairman, was reported to the Senate, and under his guid- 
 ance passed this body — first as an independent measure and 
 afterwards as a part of the Senate substitute for the Mills bill. 
 In the Fifty-first Congress Mr. McKinley introduced the meas- 
 ure with a few unimportant changes. It passed the House; the 
 Senate restored it to the exact form in which Senator Allison 
 had framed it, and it is known now as the administrative cus- 
 toms act of 1890. It will be seen, therefore, that the credit, in 
 a just measure, of laying the foundation of the existing admin- 
 istrative system applicable to our internal taxation, and to our 
 customs revenue as well, belongs to Senator Allison. His 
 incomparable genius for legislation was exhibited even after 
 his failing strength began to admonish him that the night was 
 coming when no man can work. He probably never set him- 
 self to a more difficult or a more important task than when, in 
 the Fifty-ninth Congress, after the pending amendment to the 
 interstate commerce law had torn the Senate into contending 
 factions, filling the country with all forms of clamor and 
 suspicion, the old leader, in broken health, but with faculties 
 unimpaired, brought Congress to a realization of its duty, 
 and, without sacrificing the convictions of any vSenator, 
 united all parties and all factions in the passage of that great 
 measure. 
 
Address oj Mr. Pol/ivcr, of hnca ,q 
 
 Wr niav not il.ml.l thai ilu-,v u,ll l.,- occasions in the lutuiv 
 wlicu the Senate will need the counsel aiul guidance ol Senator 
 Allison-. Hut it is not too nu.ch to believe that the lessons of 
 toleration and respect for the opniions of others which are 
 taught in the life of this great American statesman will never 
 lose their inlluence in the (^,overnnient of the Tiiiu-d Slates. 
 For, after all, it is not of the exploits of a parliainentarv leader, 
 nor the achievements of an experienced legislator, that we are 
 thinking to-day. It is rather the quiet, courtly life he lived 
 among us, the helpful things he did, the gentle and gracious 
 words he used to speak, which are in our hearts at this hour 
 and will be kept in our memories while we live. Alread\- the 
 Senate, departing from the custom of a long time, has directed 
 that a picture of him shall be hung in a corridor of the Capitol 
 by the side of the favorite statesmen of other generations. 
 
 The people of Iowa who followed him with loving confidence 
 for nearly half a century, even down to the valley of the 
 shadow of death, will build a monument to him within the 
 borders of the State which gave him his high commission, and 
 will ask permission to erect a statue here, that the affection 
 and reverence of the Nation which gave a crown of peculiar 
 glory to his old age may have a permanent expression in the 
 Capital where the great work of his life was done. 
 
20 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Hale, of Maine 
 
 It is not difficult, Mr. President, to make a proper estimate of 
 the character and public service of the late Senator from Iowa, 
 for the reason that, high as was that character and remarkable 
 as was his public service, all his great contributions to legislation 
 and liis protracted service and continuous unfaltering labor, 
 with their marked and influential results, were open as the 
 day. 
 
 Senator Allison's temperament and his connection with the 
 great working committees in both Houses of Congress, in each 
 of which he had long service, brought him to the consideration 
 of every really important question and subject which from year 
 to year has interested the American people. He dealt with 
 all these questions in a plain, straightforward way, and brought 
 to the task of maturing wise legislation unbounded good sense, 
 fidelity of purpose, and a capacity for sustained labor such as 
 no other man whom I have personally known in public life in 
 either House has ever possessed. 
 
 There was nothing sensational in his nature. He was not 
 excitable. He was not vain or egotistic. He never sought to 
 attract public attention. He never posed for the galleries. I 
 do not think, in his very long service, that he ever once gave 
 notice that on a selected day he would make a speech; but, from 
 the beginning of his career in Congress, he bent his whole mind 
 and summoned all his energies to the thoughtful consideration 
 of every question that arose involving the real interests of the 
 American people. And, as the years passed, this character 
 and temperament and this useful service made him more and 
 
Address of Mr. Hale, of Maim 21 
 
 more an authority in Congix-ss until at last, and for long vca'rs 
 in his later senatorial life, he stood without an equal or a rival 
 as the arbiter and director in almost every field of legislation. 
 
 His term of service in the two Houses, beginning in the middle 
 of the civil war and extending from that with hardlv a break 
 for more than forty years, covered a period which witnessed the 
 discussions and conHicts that arose over every great question 
 which for half a century has interested and aroused the people 
 of this Republic. The conduct o*f the great war, the reconstruc- 
 tion measures, the amendments to the Constitution, the restora- 
 tion of the States, the financial policy of administrations and 
 parties, the tarifT, the currency, the intervention by the General 
 Government into the business of corporations— upon all these, 
 the fullest information was at the fingers' ends of the late 
 Senator from Iowa. In any given emergenc\ he knew better 
 what to do and what could be done than any other Member of 
 Congress or of any branch of the Government, and it was well 
 for the Republic when his admonition and counsel were heeded 
 and his mental processes were crystallized into the laws of the 
 land. 
 
 He was a factor in the House of Representatives. He was 
 the unquestioned leader in the Senate. He headed great com- 
 missions that investigated important subjects in foreign lands. 
 He more than once declined service as a Cabinet ollicer at the 
 head of leading departments, and he came verv near to the 
 Presidency. He had almost jjerfect eciuipment for that great 
 place, and when he came so nigh and then missed, his calm mind 
 was never ruffled by his defeat, and no man. however near to 
 him or how well he might know his incomings and outgoings, 
 ever, either in action or speech, saw him infiuenced in his course 
 "by the memory of disappointment and failure. He would take 
 all things as they came to him. whether of success or failure. 
 
22 Memorial Addresses: W'lUuun B. Allison 
 
 and placidly abide the result. He knew how, as John lUir- 
 roughs exjjresses it, "to serenely fold his hands and wait." 
 
 His sterling qualities, joined with what I mav call great 
 shrewdness and unbounded tact, kept him from making enemies, 
 and yet jjreserved througli his long life the increasing res[x?ct, 
 regard, and affection of his friends. 
 
 What shall I say, Mr. President, about his other side? His 
 generous heart, the "unexhausted kindliness which glowed like 
 daily sunrise there," his ])atience, his charity, his magnanimity, 
 and the love which he felt for the friends who were nearest 
 and dearest to him, and the love which he inspired in turn 
 from them. 
 
 Into this domain 1 can not enter far. An acquaintance, 
 formed forty years ago, had ripened into what I believe was 
 a real friendship between Senator Allison and me. 1 dwell 
 with pleasure upon the years of this long attachment, but I 
 realize, Mr. President, that on my side of that friendship there 
 was fault, and that, I fear, too often. I waken in the night 
 and turn on m>- pillow with the sad recollection of my inade- 
 quacy. I was not as kind and considerate and gentle as he, 
 but his great mantle of charity covered my transgressions, and 
 in his heart was a wellspring of forgiveness. 
 
 How we shall miss him all of us know. For me, I am sure 
 that the remainder of my service will never be to me person- 
 ally what it was when he was present. It can never be what 
 it was when I was his companion and friend and he was my 
 exalted and accepted leader. 
 
Address oj Mi . Teller, of Colorado 
 
 Address of Mr. Teller, of Colorado 
 
 Mr. rKi:sii)i:NT: M\- ac(|iuiiiitaiK'r willi Si-nator Ai.i.inoN 
 began with nn- achnissioii to the Senate over thirty-two years 
 ago. He had then l)een a Member of the Senate for three years 
 and had already earned for hiniseU" an enviable position in tliis 
 bodv. I earlv learned to admire him for his strength of ehar- 
 acter and his nian\- excellent c|nalities of mind and heart, and 
 formed for him a sincere friendshij), which continned nnhroken 
 nnlil the day of his death. 
 
 It will be but a feeble tribute thai 1 shall pay to his memory 
 to-dav. I can onlv sav a few words, which will in nowise 
 express mv feelings as to the loss sustained by this body and 
 by the country at large in the death of this distinguished 
 Senator. 
 
 William Bovd Allison was born at Perry, Ohio, March 2, 
 1829. He attended the academy at Wooster, Ohio, two years, 
 and spent one vcar at the once somewhat famous Allegheny 
 College, Meadville, Pa. He conunenced the study of law in 1 848, 
 and in 1850 was admitted to the bar. In 1856 he supported 
 John C. Fremont for President, and in 1S37 he removed to 
 Dubuque, Iowa, and resumed the practice of law. He took an 
 active part in politics, was a delegate to the Republican state 
 convention of 1859, and was a delegate to the Republican 
 national ccmvention at Chicago in 18^)0. 
 
 He was appointed on Governor Kirkwoods staff at the com- 
 mencement of the civil war and assisted in the organization of 
 the Iowa volunteers. He was elected to the Thirty-eighth, 
 Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and l-orly-lirst Congresses. In 1870 he 
 
24 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 declined a nomination for Congress and became a candidate for 
 the United States Senate, but he failed of an election; in 1872 
 he was a successful candidate against the Hon. James Harlan, 
 and took his seat in the Senate March 3, i CS73. He was reelected 
 in 1878, 1884, 1890, 1896, and 1902. He received a majority 
 of the votes of his party at a primary election in June, 1908, 
 for reelection, and if he had lived would have been reelected. 
 He served thirty-five years and five months continuously in 
 the United States Senate, having been elected for thirty-six 
 years, making a record for length of senatorial service never 
 before equaled. 
 
 While a Member of the House of Representatives he took an 
 active part in the legislation of that jieriod, and in the Thirtv- 
 ninth Congress he became a member of the Committee on Wavs 
 and Means. On his admission to the vSenate, in 1873, 'it" was 
 assigned to the Committees on Appropriations, Indian Affairs, 
 and Pensions. He was chairman of the Committee on Indian 
 Affairs in the Forty-fourth Congress (1875) and became a mem- 
 ber of the Committee on Finance during the Forty-fifth Con- 
 gress (1877). 
 
 He became chairman of the Committee on Appropriations 
 during the first session of the Forty-seventh Congress (1881), 
 and retained that position for twenty-six years, and was chair- 
 man of the committee at the time of his death, which occurred 
 at Dubuque, Iowa, on the 4th of August, 1908, having been a 
 member of that imjjortant committee for the entire period of 
 his service in the Senate. 
 
 President Garfield tendered him the Treasury portfolio, which 
 he declined, and the same position was offered him in 1888 bv 
 President Harrison, but he did not accept it. 
 
 President McKinley offered him the position of Secretary of 
 State, but he declined this much-sought-after position in the 
 
Address of Mr. Teller, of Colonulo 25 
 
 public service, because he Ixlieved he eouhl he of ;,'realer heuefu 
 to the people of his vState and of the couiUrv at lar^a- in tlie 
 chosen field of his life work— the Senate. 
 
 During his senatorial service he gave uuicii consideration to 
 financial questions. In 1878 he was a nieniber of the Committee 
 on Finance, and was inlluential in securing the passage of an 
 act for the coinage of silver, usually denominated the " Hland- 
 Allison Act." 
 
 In 1892 he was the chairman of the American delegates who 
 attended the International Monetary Conference in Brussels, in 
 which conference he took an active and important part, contend- 
 ing for the use of both gold and silver in the monctarv svstem 
 of the world, and while his services in that conference secured 
 nothing for his contention, he demonstrated his knowledge of 
 and acquaintance with the history of monetary aflairs through- 
 out the world, and his services were highly appreciated by l)oth 
 bimetallists and mononietallists, especially of his own country. 
 While he doubted the ability of the United States alone to re- 
 store silver to its former relations to gold, he believed it (|uite 
 possible for that to be done by international agreement. 
 
 Although he was a bimetallist, when his party adopted in its 
 platform at St. Louis in 1896 the gold standard, he accepted 
 its determination and loyally supported its candidate for Presi- 
 dent with zeal and ability. 
 
 His long ser\'ice on the Committees on Appropriations and 
 Finance made him familiar with the financial and economic 
 conditions of the country, and at the time of his death he was 
 an authority in the Senate on all (|uestions concerning revenue 
 and expenditures. 
 
 He was a firm belie\er in the doctrine of ])rotectiou to Ameri- 
 can industries and American labor; he took an active part in 
 the preparation and jjassage of all tarilT laws that have been 
 
26 Memorial Addresses: William B. Alliso)i 
 
 enacted since he enterc-d public lite, vel he was tolerant of those 
 who differed with him on the subject and recognized in debate 
 and otherwise that his opponents were actuated by the same 
 patriotic sentiment in their opposition that he was in his sup- 
 port. He was kind and courteous in debate on all subjects, 
 and his influence was felt on all subjects which he supported 
 or (jp])osed. 
 
 He was kind and considerate in his intercourse with his 
 fellows. His death was a loss to the State he had honored bv 
 his service here and also to the nation. It may be said of him, 
 as Cicero said of another, " boni senatoris prudentia;" he had 
 the wisdom of a good vSenator. 
 
Address of Mr. Aldrich, of h'hodt Is/nnd. 
 
 Address of Mr. Aldrich, of Rhode Island 
 
 Mr. I'KicsiDFvVT: TIk- iudiiiiiciit of coiilnnporarics as to tin- 
 estimate that sliould proiJt-rly \)v ])laci-(i upon thr lilV and 
 services of a public iiian may not he infallible; tlic lines of our 
 perspective may be obscured by i)ersonal admiration or aflection ; 
 but making allowance for this, we can, I believe, feel sure that 
 the future historian, luivinj,^ in view the record of his work and 
 achievements, will give vSenator Allison' a place in the first rank 
 of the statesmen of his time. 
 
 He was a master of the arts of conciliation and construction. 
 Other men have been more brilliant in debate; others have 
 been more frequently in the public eye; the work of others has 
 appealed more strongly to the passions and sensibilities of men, 
 but no one has left a greater impress upon the useful legislation 
 of his generation than he. He had a wider and better knowledge 
 than any of all parts of our governmental machinerv. and he 
 knew better than any what provision was necessarv for its 
 successful and eflicient operation. 
 
 His active work in the vSenate was largely in connection with 
 the Committee on Appropriations, of which he was for so long 
 the chairman. The character and magnitude of his work in 
 this connection has been described by other Senators. Person- 
 ally 1 was more familiar with his service on the Committee on 
 iMnance. For twenty-seven years I was associated with him in 
 the active work of that committee, of which he was always an 
 influential member. These years of constant association and 
 close companionship were to me the source of ever-present and 
 unalloyed satisfaction and delight. Their memorv will ninain 
 
28 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 with mc forever. During Senator Allison's membership he 
 took a leading part in the ])reparation and chscussion of all the 
 legislation reported from the committee. Under his leadership 
 early in his public career the internal-revenue laws, especially 
 those in reference to the collection of the taxes upon distilled 
 spirits, were thoroughly reconstructed. In association with the 
 late Senator Beck and myself, he ])repared the customs adminis- 
 trative bill of 1888, which became a law two years later, and 
 which created a new organization and new methods for the col- 
 lection of the revenue from customs. These two acts furnished, 
 perhaps, the best evidence of the vSenator's constructive ability. 
 vSenator Allison took a leading part in the preparation and 
 enactment of the tariff laws of 1883, 1890, and 1897. 1 was 
 associated with him for months in the labor of preparation of 
 the tariff bill of 1888, which involved an entire reconstruction 
 of the methods of classifying and imposing the duties upon 
 customs, as well as a complete revision of the rates. This bill 
 furnished the basis of the act of 1890, known as the "McKinley 
 bill." 
 
 vSenator Allison reported from the committee the national 
 bank act of 1882, which made important changes in the system. 
 He took an important part in all the financial legislation which 
 was considered or adopted during his long service in the Senate. 
 He was a leading member of the subcommittee that prepared 
 and reported the gold standard act of 1900. He was a careful 
 student of all these subjects and the wide range of his knowl- 
 edge of all was remarkable. 
 
 1 have presented but a brief outline of the Senator's invalu- 
 able services in connection with the important subjects referred 
 to the Finance Committee, but the inlluence of the Senator 
 upon the legislation of the Senate was not, by any means, 
 confined to measures reported from the Committees on Appro- 
 
Address of Mr. Aldricli, of Rhode Island 29 
 
 priations or Finance. He gave to every ciuestion of inii)orlance 
 pending in the vSenate careful and ihoughtful consideration, 
 and his opinions on all were given great and controlling weight 
 by his associates. 
 
 The wisdom of his judgment and his intelligent industry 
 made him a leader of the Senate. An acknowledged leader, 
 he never paraded his powers of leadership, and was apparently 
 unconscious of their existence. His position in the Senate was 
 unique; he was oldest in service, wisest in counsel, the friend 
 and mentor of all. He was at all times genial and kind, con- 
 siderate and helpful of others. No one came within the circle 
 of his acquaintance without being attracted by the irresistible 
 charm of his personality, which never faded. He was ever 
 calm, patient, industrious. He was never aggressive or sensa- 
 tional in his methods, but always seeking through sensible 
 measures to secure the best practical results. 
 
 Through the death of Senator Allison the Senate loses its 
 foremost member. The loss to the Senate and the country 
 comes at a time when we can ill afford to be deprived of his 
 wisdom and the benefit of his experience. Confronted with a 
 rapidly increasing number of complex and important problems 
 for solution, may we not hope that, while we mourn the loss 
 of the counsel and assistance of our dear friend, the lessons 
 of his life will incite us to greater efforts and inspire us with 
 greater strength and faith to meet the exacting demands of the 
 future? 
 
30 ^Memorial Addresses: \\'illia))i B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Bacon, of Georgia 
 
 Mr. President: When last a similar duly and jjrivilege were 
 mine, standing a few months ago in this place, I offered my 
 feeble tribute to the memory of a young man 32 years of age, 
 whose service in the Senate had been of the brief space of less 
 than two months. 
 
 To-day, when performing the same office for another, I la\- 
 my brief offering upon the bier of the veteran Senator who, 
 when at the close of the last session of Congress he last passed 
 without the doors of this Chamber, had reached the eightieth 
 year of his age, and for more than thirty-five consecutive years 
 had represented his State in the vSenate. vStrikingly remark- 
 able indeed is the record of that service. 
 
 As has been already stated to-day, in its length it surpassed 
 that of any other vSenator from the foundation of the Govern- 
 ment to the present day. But remarkable as is the number of 
 years which, each as link joined to link, made up the lengthened 
 term, the character of that service was even more noteworthy 
 than was its unprecedented length. 
 
 Prepared by eight years of prior service in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives, the records of his work show that innnediately 
 upon his entry into the Senate he began actively and efficiently 
 the prosecution of labors which are usually undertaken by 
 Senators only after the lapse of years of senatorial service. I 
 will not particularize as to his great career in the vSenate during 
 more than a third of a century; but it is safely within the facts 
 to say that in the debates and in the final enactment of meas- 
 ures he strongly impressed his work upon every piece of im- 
 
Aihhcss oj Ml. J-iaco)i, oj GcoKfia 31 
 
 portaiU lc',dslati()u which was t-nacUd l)y Cons^rcss (hiriiii; the- 
 eventful jjcriod of his service here. 
 
 He was not (|uiek lo press Iiiniseh' lo I hi- front in the active 
 debates in the Senate. Xevertheless in the linal stages of ahiiost 
 every important controverted and dinicult question, his were 
 most frequentl\- the words which in the *.-nd determined the fate 
 of the measure, and, if successful, the shape it should finallv 
 bear; and w-hen, as w-as often the case, his party associates 
 were upon any question divided in their views and wishes, it 
 was he who was looked to by them to find the acceptable ground 
 upon which the factions finally united in harmonious action; 
 and where no political question was involved, his inllueiice in 
 the shaping of legislation was as potential with Democratic Sena- 
 tors as it was with those of his own political faith. Confidence 
 in his adamantine integrity, in his unswerving fidelity to the 
 public interest, in his extended familiarity with all governmental 
 affairs, and in the correctness of his well-poised judgment was 
 as implicit and as manifest in its practical expression on this 
 side of the Chamber as it was among his political fellows on the 
 other side of the aisle. 
 
 In the full enjoyment of this well-earned and general con- 
 fidence it is not to be wondered that he thus made his strong 
 impress upon the important legislation of more than tliree and 
 a half decades. 
 
 And yet, marked and notable as is this fact, if called upon to 
 specify the most distinguishing feature in his remarkable sena- 
 torial career, I would not point to his connection with and in- 
 lluence upon the great legislati\e e\ents of his day, each of 
 which stands out in historic prominence, but I would sa\' that 
 this most distinguishing feature was found in his unosten- 
 tatious, unwearied labor of thirtv-fixi- wars, his (!e\(»lion to 
 that wide-reaching work, re(|uiring continuous sludw ihought. 
 
32 MluioikiI Addresses: W'lllunn B. Allison 
 
 and care, and exactin<;j from liini ncver-Hagging induslrv, a laboi 
 prompted l>y an innate fidelity to dnly so natural that in liim it 
 was unconscious — a labor guided by large experience and e\enly 
 balanced judgment, through which in large measure the com- 
 plex, intricate, and \ast machinery of this great Government 
 has been during this long term of years kci)t in successful 
 operation. 
 
 His mind and memory were a great storehouse of knowledge 
 of the needs and resources of the Government, and the vSenate 
 at all times leaned upon him as upon a strong and all-sustain- 
 ing staff. His relation to the vSenate was that of the trusted 
 pilot to the ship, with vision keen and hand unerring, guiding 
 it past the sunken rocks and round the threatening shoals, 
 through the deepening channel to the safe and restful harbor. 
 
 Before disease had laid its wasting hand upon liim, vSenator 
 Allison was in his person unusually handsome and engaging. 
 His figure was large and well proportioned. His head was 
 massive and shapely. His features were clear-cut, and in their 
 expression there was the not to l)e mistaken evidence of both 
 gentleness and strength, each in marked degree. His courtesy, 
 both in debate and in ])ersonal intercourse, was unvarying. No 
 one who knew him can forget the kindly eye and the ever-ready 
 smile, the silent messengers which told of the tender and sym- 
 pathetic heart within. 
 
 ^Ir. President, in the years of my association with him here 
 1 have never heard one Senator say of him an unkind, an un- 
 generous, or a harsh word. His memory is to each and all of 
 us a cherished possession. We all loxod him as a brother and 
 we each venerated him as a father, and it is not a formal but a 
 heartfelt tribute of affection which we pav to him to-day. 
 
 vSir, in all these years I have been so accustomed to see him 
 here that it is difficult for me to realize that I shall not again 
 
Address of Mr. Bacon, of Georgia 33 
 
 see his familiar form in this Chamber, and at times I ahiiost 
 
 again look for him to enter and take his accustomed seat, the 
 
 second from the- aisle. And who is there who does not in mem 
 
 ory now see him walk from that seat across the front of the 
 
 desk and out by that door which leads to the room of the Com 
 
 mittee on Appropriations, the scene of his unremitting labors^ 
 
 Mr. President, my term of service here has been short indeed 
 
 when compared with his. And yet there are but 12 vSenators 
 
 now members of the body who were here when mv first term 
 
 began, and on March 4 that number will be reduced to 10. 
 
 Many of those who have gone from among us still survive and 
 
 are engaged in other fields, but not a few of them shall be no 
 
 more seen of men. As we look around, memory again places 
 
 them in their accustomed seats and again brings back to us the 
 
 echoes of the familiar voices of the men with whom, since my 
 
 brief ser\nce, w^e have labored and associated here. 
 
 Allison, Voorhees, Sherman, Harris, of Tennessee; Walthall, 
 Morrill, George, Hoar, Gear, Vest,- Gibson, Hawley, Palmer, 
 White, of California; Whyte, of Maryland; Piatt, of Connecti- 
 cut; Gordon, Gorman, Proctor, Jones, of Arkansas; Morgan, 
 Wolcott, Sewell, Pettus, Hanna, Mitchell, of Wisconsin; Mc- 
 Millan, Davis, of Minnesota; Mallory, vShoup, Earle, Bate, 
 Caffery. \'ilas, Bryan, Latimer, and Carmack. 
 
 Long indeed is the lengthening list of those who in the mists 
 of the vanishing 3'ears beckon us on to the shadowy land. 
 
 We are siicli stulT 
 As dreams are made on; and our little life 
 Is rounded with a sleep. 
 
 78135 -S. Doc. 766.60-^ 3 
 
34 Mcmoyial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois 
 
 Mr. President: To speak the praises of the late distinguished 
 Senator from Iowa, witli whom I served in Congress for thirtv- 
 two years, is to me a labor of gratitude and love. 
 
 Senator Allison, whose death we are commemorating to-dav, 
 was an American citizen of the very highest type. For half a 
 century he stood before the country as one of the foremost 
 statesmen, a man of perfect moral proportions, and one of 
 whose integrity, honesty, and purity of purpose there was never 
 either private or public question. 
 
 His career was remarkable in the annals of our public life — 
 indeed I am not sure but that in many respects it was the most 
 remarkable career of any statesman in our history. Awav back 
 in 1855 a delegate to the Ohio state convention, ])resided over 
 by John Sherman, that nominated vSalmon P. Chase for gov- 
 ernor of Ohio; an active supporter of Fremont in 1856; a dele- 
 gate and one of the secretaries of the conv^ention of i860 that 
 nominated Abraham Lincoln for President; Representative in 
 Congress ; Senator almost ever since ; his public life forms a com- 
 plete legislative history of the United States for nearlv fifty 
 years, and was coincident with the life of the Republican partv 
 from its very beginning. 
 
 I first became acquainted with vSenator AuusoN on becoming 
 a Member of Congress in 1865. He had preceded me one term, 
 and, although f)nly at the beginning of his second term, he was 
 made a member of the great Committee on Ways and Means, 
 and I found that even then he was regarded as among the 
 
Address oj Mr. Cullo))i, oj Illinois 35 
 
 ablest and most influential of the western Members. We at 
 once became friends, and it is a pleasure for me to think that 
 the friendship formed forty-live years ago continued until his 
 death. 
 
 There was never a more momentous ]ieriod in our history than 
 in the dark days of 1863, when Senator Alusox entered Con- 
 gress. The civil war was raging, there had been no decisive 
 Union victories, the battle of Gettysburg had not been fought, 
 and it was thought that the fate of the Union was trembling in 
 the balance (although I never myself believed that it was 
 written in the book of fate that this Union should be dissolved); 
 we were a divided nation, sorely afflicted, passing through a 
 baptism of tire and blood. He lived to see the Union saved, 
 the nation cemented more closely together than ever, to see the 
 countrv which he had served so long and so well increase three- 
 fold in population and wealth, and take a foremost place among 
 the nations of the world. 
 
 Senator Allison's conspicuous service in the House, as I 
 recollect it, and as the records show, pertained j^rincipally to 
 appropriations and finance, the refunding of the debt, reduction 
 of internal ta.xation, revision of the tariff, and kindred legislation. 
 
 From tlie very beginning of his congressional career he made 
 a specialty of matters pertaining to finance, and he finally 
 became one of the recognized authorities on financial questions. 
 He was not a high-tariff advocate. The sentiment in Iowa, 
 just as in Illinois, was not in favor of a high tariff. Hence it 
 was that during my service in both the House and Senate I 
 ■was alwavs glad to work in harmony with Senator Aijjsox in 
 reference to all matters pertaining to the tariff. 
 
 It has been said that Senator Ai.Msox was a conservative, if 
 I might term it as such, all his life, and so he was in a sense. 
 During his vounger vears, however, as a .Member of tlie House, 
 
36 AJemorial Addresses: ]\'i/lia))i B. Allison 
 
 he was not the quiet, conservative man, never saying an unkind 
 word in reference to anyone, that he was after he came to the 
 Senate. Indeed, on some occasions in the House he was notably 
 aggressive. 
 
 He was specially bitter toward President Johnson. I remem- 
 ber very well his speech on the violation of the tenure-of-oflice 
 act and the bitterness with which he attacked President John- 
 son. His language on that occasion was such that those who 
 knew him intimately here would scarcely believe he was capable 
 of uttering it. He denounced President Johnson in unmeasured 
 terms, and urged that he be impeached and removed from 
 ollice; that unless he was removed, his usurpations would con- 
 tinue until the republican government itself would be destroyed 
 and on its ruins a dictatorship established in the interest of 
 the worst enemies of liberty and law. 
 
 But to remain cool and calm in those days of bitterness was 
 more than could be expected of human nature. 
 
 One can scarcely realize now the intense feeling prevailing in 
 Congress in those days. The great President had just been laid 
 low by what was thought to be a conspiracy on the part of some 
 of the southern leaders. INIr. Allison supported, as I did, the 
 impeachment of Mr. Johnson. We were wrong. There was no 
 conspiracy on the part of the South to assassinate Mr. Lincoln. 
 And in later years I know Senator Allison often said it would 
 have been one of the greatest mistakes in our history to have 
 removed President Johnson. 
 
 Mr. President, I will be j)ardoncd for dwelling on Senator 
 Allison's service in the House, because his really great career 
 commenced when he entered this body in 1873. My excuse is 
 that there are many here, in fact all of us, who knew him more 
 or less intimately as a Senator, but there are so few, so very 
 few, who remember him as a Member of the House, and it so 
 
Address of Mr. Cu/lom, oj Illinois t,-j 
 
 happens that I am the only Member of either House who served 
 with Senator Ai.i.isox in the h'ortieth Conj^^ress and voted for 
 the impeachment of I'resident jolnison. 
 
 William H. Allison's career as a I^xMiator is historv. Ihe 
 history of our financial legislation since 1873 could not he writ 
 ten without there appearing on every page, as a doininatini; fac- 
 tor, the name of Allison. 
 
 When I entered this body in 18S3 he was alreadv u leader, 
 the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, which posi- 
 tion, I believe, he occupied longer than any other vSenator in 
 our history. Not only did he bear the great burden imposed 
 upon him as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, but 
 for many years he was one of the two leading members of the 
 Committee on Finance, the vSenator from Rhode Island being 
 the other. All during his public service I never knew him to be 
 wrong on public questions. He was always a safe man to 
 follow. 
 
 As has been stated by the Senator from Colorado [Mr. Tel- 
 ler], he was a member of the International Monetary Confer- 
 ence of 1892 and was desirous of settling the so-called "silver 
 question" harmoniously between the two ])arties, if it could be 
 settled, but, nevertheless, he was a firm believer in the gold 
 standard. When others faltered, when even the late President 
 McICinley doubted, he stood firm for the gold standard, and sub- 
 sequent history has proved that his judgment was correct. 1 
 do not suppose anyone will now seriously (luestion the service 
 he rendered his country in saving it from free silver in 1877. 
 He was a leading factor in the resumption of specie payment, in 
 the framing of every lariflF law from 1877 to and including the 
 Dingley Act, in the establishment of the gold standard, llnis 
 carrying out the party's pledge of 1896. His senatorial record 
 has been fully given by his colleague. 
 
38 Memorial Addresses: W'lllidDi I-l. Allison 
 
 He was a wise man. He liad an exlraordiiiarv control over 
 members in settling troublesome questions and bringing about 
 harmony in the vSenate. He had wonderful influence not onlv 
 with members of his own party, but with members of the oppo- 
 sition. Everyone had confidence in him. His statements were 
 accepted without question. 
 
 He never attempted oratory, but by cool, logical argument he 
 molded the opinions of legislators. He was one of those even- 
 tempered, level-headed, sound, sensible men to whom we natu- 
 rally turned when there were difficult questions to settle. We 
 all had confidence in his judgment, and his integrity of purpose 
 was never doubted. 
 
 By his wise conservatism as chairman of the Committee on 
 Appropriations he saved the Government untold millions of 
 dollars. At the same time he was not unreasonably economical. 
 He realized the growth of the nation and its growing necessi- 
 ties, and appropriated accordingly. 
 
 Senator Allison was repeatedly oflfered Cabinet positions, 
 probably more often than any other man in public life. Gar- 
 field and Harrison both urged him to accept the vSecretaryship 
 of the Treasury. Mr. McKinley desired that Senator Allison 
 should become a member of his Cabinet, but he declined, as he 
 had so often declined it before. The fact was, Mr. President, 
 he preferred to remain in the Senate. He found the work here 
 far more congenial to his tastes than the work of any other 
 office. 
 
 I always doubted whether he cared very much even for the 
 Presidency. On several occasions his friends had urged him 
 for the nomination, and on one occasion, at least, it seemed 
 almost certain that he would be the nominee. 
 
 His failure to secure the office of President never seemed to 
 troul)le him in the slightest particular. If he felt any disap- 
 pointment, which I do not believe he did, he never showed it. 
 
Address of Mr. CuUom, oj Illinois 39 
 
 My. President, Senator Aijjso.x took a keen interest in all 
 our national legislation, and there was not a great measure 
 passed in the Senate during his term of service that did not 
 receive his careful consideration, and, indeed, his genius for 
 suggesting happy compromises was instrumental in securing 
 the passage of important legislation entirely apart from finance 
 or appropriations. It was Senator Allison who suggested to 
 me in 1886 the necessity for the appointment of a special com- 
 mittee to investigate the question of the regulation of interstate 
 carriers, which resulted in the passage of the original act to reg- 
 ulate commerce, and it so happened, as Senators well remember, 
 it was Senator Allison who, during the last Congress, pro- 
 posed the compromise which resulted in the passage of the 
 Hepburn Act, perfecting the original act. I only give this as 
 an illustration of his influence in shaping general legislation. 
 
 He was the trusted adviser of President after President — 
 Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley, and Roose- 
 velt all called upon him. I do not suppose there was another 
 Senator who had to a greater extent their confidence. During 
 the critical period preceding the Spanish -American war, and 
 during the war, he was constantly advising with Mr. McKin- 
 ley, and later President Roosevelt followed the wise example 
 of his predecessor, and he would have been, had he lived, the 
 confidant of the President-elect, Mr. Taft, who, since his death, 
 has said that Mr. Allison was a warm friend of his father, and 
 during his own public life he consulted him as a son would his 
 father. 
 
 Senator Allison served longer in the Senate than anv other 
 man in all our history. He broke Benton's thirtv-vear record, 
 thought extraordinary at the time. He broke the long record 
 of the late Senator Morrill. Senator Morrill served twelve 
 years in the House and thirty-one years and nine months in 
 
40 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 the Senate, making a total continuous service in Congress of 
 forty-three years and nine months. Senator Allison served 
 eight years in the House and thirty-five years in the Senate, 
 making a total of forty-three years and five months, but a few 
 months shorter than Senator Morrill's total service in both 
 Houses. 
 
 He was a member of the Ways and Means Committee when 
 Senator Morrill was its chairman. He was a member of the 
 Finance Committee when Senator Morrill was its chairman, and 
 could have succeeded him. 
 
 They resembled each other not only in point of service and 
 in the peculiar nature of their service, but also in their kindly, 
 agreeable dispositions. But, unlike the veteran Senator from 
 Vermont, whose old-time ideas of powers and duties of the 
 Government made him hesitate to follow his party when it 
 advanced upon what he regarded as new paths, the late senior 
 Senator from Iowa was always fully abreast of the times and 
 was willing to follow his party even though it might take what 
 the more conservative would regard as an advanced position. 
 Senator Allison took a leading part in framing the policies of 
 the Republican party and, while not an offensive partisan, was 
 always a strict party man. Even though he was conservative, 
 he did not hesitate to follow his party to the full extent in the 
 policy of expansion. Indeed, the only case within my recollec- 
 tion when he voted against the almost solid Republican major- 
 ity in the Senate was on the ship-subsidy bill, when Senator 
 Allison and Senator Spooner, followed by their two colleagues, 
 very much to the surprise of every one, opposed the bill. 
 
 It has been said that the late Senator from Iowa was an 
 embodiment of American legislative history for half a centurv. 
 He was the colleague of many of the great men of the Repub- 
 lic — Sumner, Conkling, Morton, Trumbull, Thurman, Harrison, 
 
Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois 41 
 
 McKinlcy. lie entered \)\\h\\c life with C.arfiekl and Blaine and 
 remained a stalwart worker in the fornni of politics years after 
 Garfield reached the j;oal of his highest ambition, only to fall 
 by tile hand of an assassin, and until long after James G. Blaine 
 had retired to private life and passed away. These great and 
 brilliant statesmen all passed to the lieyond, while he still wore 
 the toga of senatorial dignity when death's message came to 
 him. 
 
 Along the course of his career from his early life, devoted to 
 the practice of the law% to the call of the people of his district in 
 Congress, and to the close of his public life, his was not the 
 showy brilliancy of a Douglas, a Blaine, a Conkling, a McKinlev, 
 but the steady quiet life of the industrious, useful worker and 
 successful legislator. 
 
 In the community in which he lived in the State of his adop- 
 tion, which would have continued him in the service as long as 
 he was willing to serve, in the House of Representatives, in the 
 Senate, in every relation in life in which he was called upon to 
 serve a part, everywhere and under all circumstances he was 
 respected for his abilities and honored for his service. 
 
 He was laid to rest in — 
 
 The sanctuary of the tomb, beneath the (|uiet of tlic stars, wrapt in tlie 
 dreamless drapery of eternal peace — 
 
 Lamented by tlie whole nation as one of the ablest, the most 
 practical, the mostiiseful of American legislators and statesmen. 
 
42 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia 
 
 Mr. PresidI'XT: A guide, a counselor, and a leader — so to 
 speak, a father in Israel — has left us in the vanished form of 
 William R. Allisox, to whom we had become so accustomed 
 that his j)rcsence seems to abide. He was a great Senator, even 
 as he was a good citizen and a noble American. He gave his 
 first fruits and the best fruits of his life to his people and his 
 country. He left no enemies here. We looked upon him with 
 friendship, and everyone found in him a friend. He was born 
 at Perry, Ohio, March 2, 1 829. He died at his home in Dubuque, 
 Iowa, on the 4th day of August, 1908, in the eightieth year of 
 his age. 
 
 At that time the ^lonetary Commission of the United States 
 were en route to Europe, and several hundred miles distant from 
 New York the wireless telegraph brought them the gloomv and 
 regretted news of Mr. Allison's death. 
 
 His career as a public ser\^ant had been very long and very 
 laborious. It was of an inestimable value to his vState and to 
 his country. The plain recital of his faculties and performances 
 would comprise the most fitting and enduring monument of his 
 great career. 
 
 As for myself, I shall go but lightly into details, but they 
 have been and will be better recited by others. 
 
 I served, however, with Mr. Allison as a colleague on both 
 the Appropriations and Finance committees. He was a master 
 on their business. I have had the opportunity of years to 
 obser\c' his course in the vSenate, and I have an abiding sense 
 of his conmiendable character and of his great and well-nigh 
 unexampled ser\ice. 
 
Address of Mr. Daniel, of \'irqinia 43 
 
 Ik' possessed a strong, ripe, well-trained, and ajijirehensive 
 mind. His form was comely and manly and his countenance 
 handsome and engaging. His face was ilhuuini-d hv kindly 
 eyes of brilliance and jiowrr. His apjK'arance betokened the 
 modest, dignified, and forceful gentleman, unobtrusive, but 
 inspiring respect and repelling undue familiarity. A stranger 
 might naturally assume from looking at him what he equally 
 was — a statesman. \\\11 orden-d in all his sayings and doings, 
 he might have made a mistaken impression on those who knew 
 him not, that he had more placidity of temper than of fire in 
 action. 
 
 The well-built and well-oiled engine makes the least noise, 
 because of its well-fitted mechanism and the superiority of its 
 workmanship, but it is the most precise and continuous in its 
 operations. The fire that moves it scatters the fewest sparks 
 and cinders if it be made of the best fuel. The sheen of marble 
 and steel are not indications that it is soft and imj^ressible. 
 On the contrary, it is only the outward expression of strong 
 fiber and power. It requires the most powerful instrumentality 
 of art to hew the stone and to make and temper the steel that 
 possess the finest polish. So in Allison the repression of 
 contentious words and ways and the observance at all times 
 of the amenities of life in all things were only the outward 
 demonstration of the great heart, the good sense, and firm 
 will that controlled him. 
 
 After his education at the Western Reser\-e College in Ohio, 
 and after studying law and practicing his initial years in that 
 State, he moved to Iowa in 1857, when a well-equipped voung 
 man 27 years of age. 
 
 When the civil war came on he served on the governor's 
 staff, but was ere long translated to Congress, where he found 
 the field that befitted his equipment and the bent of his genius. 
 
44 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 For four tt-rnis Ik- was a Rt-prcscutativi.- ; ihat is to sav, in 
 the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Fortv-first Con- 
 gresses. He then was elected to the vSenate for the term begin- 
 ning March 4, 1873, and was five times reelected, the last time 
 for the term which, were he living, would expire on the 3d of 
 March next. 
 
 Thus it is indicated that for a j)eriod of over forty years 
 Mr. Allison was identified w-ith the most critical and yet the 
 most achieving and progressive period of American history. 
 There was no great measure of all that time in which he did 
 not take an active part. 
 
 Several times his name was favorably commended for the 
 Presidency of the United States. No man of his time was bet- 
 ter qualified by information or devotion to dutv, bv dignitv 
 of character, or by the fine balance of mind and disposition to 
 fill that great office in the spirit of the true American citizen. 
 
 True, he was a partisan. The nature of our people and of 
 the institutions they have estabhshed has made partisanship 
 the standing rule. We are all partisans. Marshall as well as 
 Adams or Jefferson, Taney as well as Jackson, and Chase as 
 well as Lincoln were all partisans; but when they gave decisions 
 it was soon, if not instantly, recognized that they spoke the 
 law as they found it, and nothing but the law. The transient 
 assault on Taney, made in times of great commotion and per- 
 turbation, left him unscathed as soon as he was understood. 
 The tribute not long since paid to him by Mr. Justice Brewer 
 marks both the recipient and the bestower of praise as men 
 uplifted above all pettiness and all condescension that would 
 lower the standard of rightfulness and law. A true-hearted 
 partisan, who has the balance of conscience and justice, mav 
 be trusted, whether upon the bench or in executive office or in 
 legislative council. 
 
Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virqinia 45 
 
 William B. Allison had such an equitable mind that he 
 would have made a great chancellor had he been a judge, a 
 great minister had he been called to the Cabinet, and in the 
 executive chair none would have been surer to consider his 
 country and all its peoi)le first — all other things second. 
 
 Allison was a man of peace and a great peacemaker. Me 
 instinctively observed the wise admonition of Allen G. Thurman 
 to "keep a civil tongue in his mouth." He avoided the sharp 
 and bitter angles of speech as well as of practical affairs in 
 life. It was axiomatic with the ancients that the middle way 
 is the safe way. It is the wise way, the way that least tires 
 the traveler, and the way that least breaks axles and harness 
 and wheels. The most experienced and best lawvers have 
 always settled their cases, when they could, out of court, not 
 in it. It was laughingly said of a certain statesman that he 
 was '■"o prone to compromise that if a claimant demanded both 
 the Capitol and Library, he would compound by saying, "well, 
 take the Library and leave us the Capitol." Allison was not 
 that kind or any other kind of a weakling. When he stood 
 for a principle to which he was devoted, he was as firm as a 
 rock and believed that God Almighty hates a quitter. 
 
 Our Government is so vast and varied in its ramifications, 
 its finances and its expenditures are upon so prodigious a 
 scale, the increase of its population has been so unprecedented, 
 its Representatives in Congress and its Senators and the details 
 of their enormous work have been so multiplied, that conditions 
 have forced comprehensive changes in its methods of adminis- 
 tration. Government by committee has necessarily superseded 
 in practical effect the government of earlier days, where de- 
 bates were largely at will and any subject might be made one 
 of prolonged discussion. 
 
 Allison was a great administrator. As cliairman of the Ap- 
 propriations Committee, and as a meniljcr of the Finance Com- 
 
46 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 mittee, he constantly displayed his great utility, his capacity 
 to work, his patience in hearing, in studying, in analyzing and 
 clarifying details. His kind regard for all men and all cjuestions 
 were unsurpassed by any man I have ever known. 
 
 As a debater he wasted no time in his utterances, but was 
 always ready and equal to any task that the contingencies of 
 the floor of the Senate required. \A'hen he expounded a sub- 
 ject and advocated a theory he left little to be said l)\ those 
 who concurred and nothing to be assailed, save that side which 
 marks the line of fixed political demarcation. Of a fixed and 
 steadfast ]iurpose, he was never frivolous or fickle; but alwavs 
 possessing the poise and the gentle arts of good nature, he 
 pursued with an unbroken pace the things he aimed at with 
 the serenity of the spirit undisturbed by diverting circum- 
 stances. Like the unclouded day, the rays of his intellect and 
 of his information went forth to the world around him in tem- 
 perate life-giving beams. 
 
 Moderation and patience were his masterful virtues. They 
 are not the swiftest coursers in the chariot race, but they are 
 the surest footed, the strongest, and the most dependable in the 
 vast majority of the affairs of nations and of men. Neither the 
 individual nor the social body can find verifiable progress with- 
 out them. They wreck no trains; they cut down no trees to 
 get at the fruit. They do not break banks nor burn candles at 
 both ends; they join no "get-rich-quick" societies. Thev burv 
 no armies in K^ussian snows, they bring on no revolutions, and 
 they stir no schisms. They excite no hatred, but alwavs allav 
 it. They may not shine in the meteoric splendor that de- 
 parts as it illumines, but they do the great and wholesome 
 business of man's existence. They spread the ample board; 
 they provide food and raiment; they store the fuel that makes 
 summer bv the hearthstone of the winter time. Like the sun 
 
Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia 47 
 
 again, you may not see it move, but it is uiovinj,^ all the sauie, 
 and when the day is done it has done its work of vitality and 
 cheer over the wide landscape. These be virtues, the signal 
 virtues, moderation and patience, which are most of all things 
 to be commended and cultivated in a great republic, for the 
 republic, of all forms of government, is the most cpiicklv afTected 
 by the transient gusts of public opinion. 
 
 Mr. Bryce has said in his great work on our Commonwealth 
 that "America is the country where everything turns out better 
 than it ought to." We have broken all precedents in our 
 marvelous career, but as land diminishes and population in- 
 creases, as congested cities beckon the country boys and girls 
 to their excitements and adventures, the infertile countrysides 
 are the more and more deserted. Great problems of all sorts 
 arise before us and spectral shapes give menace and admoni- 
 tion. In such a period more men of the temperate mind and 
 balance of judgment, like Allison, are needed. While he ad- 
 hered strictly to party, his influences within the lines of his 
 party, and so spreading outward, were always exerted for concil- 
 iatory and for constructive and practical ends, and its own ac- 
 tion was restrained from yielding to the temptations of popular 
 and attractive things untested. 
 
 Our federative union is the greatest experimental station in 
 affairs political that the world has ever seen or devised. It is 
 because the vState is a separate experimental station to itself, 
 and nia\- at will try any one of the great bodv of suggested 
 ideas which are generated in the active minds of a progressive 
 people. Sometimes the experiment in a State is wonderfully 
 successful, and then the new idea is seized and considered and 
 adopted by other States and becomes a fixed and shining light 
 for the Nation. Sometimes the idea is disappointing, and then 
 it soon passes away into rubbish. Whether we improve our 
 
48 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 own splendid mechanism of government or not, America will 
 remain in future what it has been in the past — the name of 
 ()])p()rtunity. 
 
 I have not spoken of political differences of opinion with Mr. 
 Allison; it was needless. Without some such differences of 
 opinion progress would stagnate and such reforms as are wise 
 and just would become the death heads of lost opportunitv. 
 But in our differences we shall best make ourselves the soldiers 
 of the common weal and best advance our country and all its 
 people by adopting the moderate and patient philosophy for 
 which Allison above all men w^as distinguished. Thus shall 
 our country develop in wholesome peace. Thus will it ever be 
 ready for the demands of righteous war, and thus mav we ful- 
 fill the ideals of our fathers and meet the expectations of those 
 who succeed us upon the stage of action, In such w-ise, and in 
 such wise alone, can we best serve America that her fair form — 
 
 Shall rise and shine, 
 Make bright our days and light our dreams, 
 Putting to shame with lips divine 
 The falsehood of extremes. 
 
Address oj Mr. Gallingcr, of Xcw Hampshire 49 
 
 Address of Mr. GALLiNGERt of New HAMPSfflRE 
 
 Mr. Pkhsidext: A short time ago, in the houst- of a friend in 
 
 New York, I picked up a little book and opened it at this passage : 
 
 It is hard — 
 
 Said the doctor sadly — 
 
 but life holds many hard things for all of us. Perhaps if we lived rightly, 
 if our faith were stronger, death would not rend our hearts as it does. It is 
 the common lot, the universal leveler, and soon or late it comes to us all. 
 It remains to make our spiritual adjustment accord with the inevitable 
 fact. * * * The discord and the broken string of the individual in- 
 strument do not affect the whole except as false notes, but I think that 
 God, knowing all things, must discern the symphony, glorious with mean- 
 ing, through the discordant fragments that we play. 
 
 Mr. President, at best life's journey is a short one, and it is 
 well if, as the end approaches, we can look back over the way 
 and know that we have not lived in vain — know that kind words 
 have been spoken and generous deeds done, which have lightened 
 the burdens that some weary soul has been carrying. Him of 
 whom we speak to-day brightened many hearts by kindly words 
 and generous deeds. 
 
 Others will speak more particularly of the remarkable career 
 of our late associate, the Senator from Iowa, while I shall con- 
 tent myself with a few simple words of appreciation. 
 
 I ser\^ed in this body with the late Senator from Iowa for 
 seventeen years, being associated witli him in the work of the 
 Committee on Appropriations for a portion of that time, and 
 hence had an opportunity to closely observe him in the arduous 
 work that he performed. His service in the Senate was a long 
 one, and it was as valuable and conspicuous as it was prolonged. 
 78135 — S. Doc. 766, 60-2 4 
 
50 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 In all the history of the Government no Commonwealth has 
 been represented by a Senator who did more for his State and 
 the Nation than Senator Allisox accomplished. His great ex- 
 perience and wide knowledge of governmental matters enabled 
 him to practically direct the legislation of this body. Courteous, 
 patient, sagacious, and patriotic, he guided legislation with 
 consummate tact and ability and impressed himself upon his 
 associates as a man who could not be spared from its mem- 
 bership. How well we all remember the occasions when a few 
 sentences from his lips swept away heated controversies and 
 settled important questions. His calm demeanor and guarded 
 utterances, reenforced by his profound knowledge of legislative 
 matters, left little room for successful disputation. He carried 
 his points by the sheer weight of his wonderful intellectual 
 equipment, gained by long service and close study of public af- 
 fairs. Other men were more eloquent, but no man was more 
 sincere, logical, and convincing. In a quiet way he swept soph- 
 istry aside, and blazed the path to wise and beneficent results. 
 His loss to the Senate, as well as to his State and his countrv, 
 can not be adequately put in words, and its full appreciation 
 must be left to the contemplation of those who knew and loved 
 him as we knew and loved him. 
 
 As a public man Senator Allison was sui generis. He had 
 no rivals as a legislator. His management of the great appro- 
 priation bills excited the wonder and admiration of his col- 
 leagues, as also did his capacity for long-continued and arduous 
 work. Probably this body will never see his like again, and 
 of him we may well say, with a change in the name, as Byron 
 said of vSheridan : 
 
 Long sliall we seek his likeness — lopg in vain, 
 And turn to all of him which may remain, 
 Sighing that Nature form'd but one such man, 
 .^nd l)roke the die — in molding Allison. 
 
Address of Mr. GnUinqer, of Ww Hampshire 51 
 
 But notwithstanding we felt that we could not sjiare him, he 
 is gone, and the place he so long honored in tlie vSenate will 
 know him no more. We will remember his virtues- his kindh 
 word, his cheery smile, his hel])ful advice, his gracious and sin- 
 cere friendship — and, remembering all, it will be strange indeed 
 if the memory of this great and good man does not inlluence 
 our lives and elevate and ennoble our acts. For myself, I feel 
 to-day as I felt when the news of his death reached me in a 
 little country town in Xew Hampshire, that a jiersonal loss had 
 come to me — that a good friend and a wise counselor had gone 
 out of my life. Allison is dead, and yet it must be that Allison 
 
 lives 
 
 I can not say, and I will not say, 
 
 That he is dead. He is just away! 
 
 Willi a cheery smile and a wave of the hand 
 
 He has wandered into an unknown land, 
 
 And left us dreaming how verj' fair 
 
 It needs must be, since he lingers there. 
 
 And you — ! you, who the wildest yearn 
 
 For the old-time step and the glad return — 
 
 Think of him faring on, as dear 
 
 In the love there as the lov'e of here; 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Mild and gentle, as he was brave. 
 When the sweetest love of his life he gave 
 To simple things; where the violets grew 
 Pure as the eyes they were likened to; 
 The touches of his hands have strayed 
 As reverently as his lips have prayed; 
 When the little brown thrush that harslily chirred 
 Was dear to him as the mocking bird; 
 And he pitied as much as a man in pain 
 A writhing honeybee wet with rain. 
 Think of him still as the same I say. 
 He is not dead — he is just — away. 
 
52 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts 
 
 Mr. President: Advancing years impose their penalties upon 
 every man. In their silent action there is a terrible certainty 
 and an unsparing equality of distribution, but among all their 
 warnings, among all the milestones which they place to mark 
 the passage of time, none is more mournful than the task of 
 reading the letters and biographies of those whom we have 
 known and loved, or the sad duty which compels us to utter in 
 public our words of praise and affection for the friends, the 
 companions, the long-trusted leaders who have gone. Yet all 
 these trials must be faced as we look into the eves of Fate or 
 listen to its knocking at the door. All that we can do is to 
 meet them seriously and solemnly, yet in the right spirit, with- 
 out empty and helpless lamentations. 
 
 The death of Senator Allison has brought these familiar 
 thoughts to my mind, old thoughts, indeed, but ever new, and 
 recurring now with a painful frequency as I reflected what a 
 long and affectionate friendship was ended, what a blank space 
 was suddenly made in my daily life by his departure. 
 
 I recall with great vividness my first meeting with Senator 
 Allison at dinner in 1874, at the house of Mr. Samuel Hooper, 
 a distinguished Member of Congress representing one of the 
 Boston districts. The party was a small one, consisting only 
 of our host, his nephew, myself, Senator Conkling, and Senator 
 Allison. I was a boy just out of college and Mr. Allison 
 appeared to me a person of great age and dignity. As a matter 
 of fact, he was only forty-five, which seems to me now quite 
 young, and he had but just begun that career in the Senate 
 
Address of Mr. Lodge, oj Massachusetts ^:^ 
 
 which was destined to prove so long and so memorable. Mr. 
 Hooper's nephew, a classmate and lifelong friend of mine, and 
 I sat by and listened to all that was said that evening with 
 deep and silent interest. The talk was very good and well 
 worth listening to. To those who remember the men it is need- 
 less to say that Mr. Conkling took the unquestioned lead in the 
 conversation, and that when he criticised, as he frequentlv did, 
 he spared no one. 
 
 Young men, without much thought of the pain or iniustice 
 which may be inflicted, enjoy sarcasm and satire and wit at 
 the expense of others. Youth is not, as a rule, a tender-hearted 
 period, and Mr. Conkling showed plenty of sport in discussing 
 not only his enemies but those whom Cosimo dei Medici de- 
 clared were more to be feared by every man — his friends. Mr. 
 Allison himself did not escape. My remembrance of Mr. 
 Conkling and of the character of his talk is very sharp and 
 clear-cut. and that is all. My recollection of Senator Allisox 
 is equally distinct, but it brings with it a gentle memorv of the 
 kindness of a distinguished and much older man to a young 
 fellow whom he never expected to see again, of a sense of humor 
 as kindly as it was keen, of a good nature which took even Mr. 
 Conkling's gibes with a quiet dignity and easy patience, very 
 pleasant to witness and very pleasant still to recall. Perhaps 
 it is not unprofitable, either, to remember these things, for I 
 think that among the qualities manifested that evening, thirty- 
 five years ago, a lesson in good manners, in self-restraint, and 
 in personal dignity might be discovered without undue delving. 
 
 I have spoken of this little incident, quite unimportant 
 except to myself, because the qualities which I then saw, as I 
 thought, in Mr. Allisox were really among his most conspicu- 
 ous attributes. He did not wear his heart upon his slee\e, hut 
 his gentleness, his humor, his innate kindliness were as apparent 
 
54 Memorial Addresses: W'i/liiun B. Allison 
 
 to the casual aiul humble stranger as to those who knew him 
 best. He did not cover them with austerity, solemnity, or 
 pomposity and reserve them only for the benefit of the leading 
 actors upon the great stage where his life was passed, but he 
 gave them freely to all the world, and made the world thereby, 
 so far as his influence went, a happier place to live in. 
 
 After 1 came to Washington it was my good fortune to know 
 Senator Aijjson better while I was still in the House, and for 
 fifteen years I have seen him constantly and intimately everv 
 day of each session. The nearer view changed in no respect, 
 although it enhanced, what my first brief glance of him had 
 revealed. But years of a common service disclosed to me what 
 I had only dimly perceived before, his qualities as a public man 
 and as a statesman, for he was universally admitted to deserve 
 the latter title long before the last hard condition which turns a 
 successful politician into a statesman, as pointed out by Mr. 
 Speaker Reed, had been fulfilled. It is of Mr. Allison in 
 this capacity that I desire to speak to-day. Others here will 
 trace the stages of his career and recount his ser\'ices better 
 than I. His life will be told by his biographers in the time to 
 come with adequate materials and in the large historical pro- 
 portions which it so well deserves. My purpose is a very 
 modest one, merely to attempt to give my impression of Mr. 
 Allison as a statesman and of the type of public man which he 
 l)resented in his long, useful, and honorable service of more 
 than forty years. That service was crowded with incessant 
 work, for no more industrious, no more conscientious man ever 
 lived. The hardest suffering of his last year was the sense that 
 he could not do all the work which pertained to his high posi- 
 tion as he had been wont to do it. 
 
 The great measures to which, as the years passed bv. his 
 name was attached would be an imposing list ; and if we were 
 
Address oj Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts 55 
 
 to add to this those in which he had a large, sliaping, and even 
 controUing part, it would fill pages of our Record. His monu- 
 ment as a lawmaker, a great fimction when projjerly fullilled, 
 is to be found in the statutes and the history of the United 
 States during the last forty years. But his most valuable work, 
 if we would look at it as a whole, as his ])ersonal contribution 
 to the welfare of his fellow-beings, is not conspicuous in the 
 printed pages of books of law or books of history, now that he 
 is dead, any more than it was in the mouths of men while he 
 was living. To value him rightly w^e must understand the Sen- 
 ate and its daily work. The brilliant oration, the violent dia- 
 tribe, the coarse invective, the vulgar abuse are spread in 
 large letters and in long columns before the public eye; and 
 except in the case of a great speech, contributing to the set- 
 tlement of a great question, they fade as quickly as the tints of 
 the rainbow on the breaking wave and are rarely able to find 
 in the days when the account is made up even the slight 
 remembrance of a historian's footnote. No mistake is com- 
 moner than that which confuses notoriety with fame. Fame 
 may be the last infirmity of noble minds, but it is built upon 
 the rocks of deeds done, while notoriety is always fleeting and 
 generallv vulgar. Mr. Allison's fame rests securely not only 
 upon the great historic measures in which he had a leading 
 share, but upon his steady work done here day by day, quietly, 
 diligently, thoroughly, without the glare of headlines, for the 
 most part unobserved and largely unappreciated by the Amer- 
 ican people, who profited so greatly by its results. The Senator 
 from Maine [Mr. Hale] has a favorite phrase of description in 
 regard to some of those who have served here or who serve 
 here now. When he would praise highly, he says such a man 
 is "a good Senator." This has nothing to do with character 
 or disposition, or with virtue, public or private, but means tliat 
 
56 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 a vSenator does the work of the vSenate well — the work of carry- 
 ing on the Ciovernnient, of advancing good measures and 
 arresting bad ones, the obscure work, the essential work, in 
 which there is much labor and little glory and which demands 
 constant attendance and unflagging attention. Tried bv this 
 exacting test, who would hesitate to say that for many years 
 Mr. Allison was our best Senator? 
 
 He was a party leader, a wise adviser and framer of policies, 
 but he was also, and above all, one of the men who carry on 
 the Government. They are not many at any time and they are 
 absolutely essential at all times. In the midst of political strife, 
 in the tumult which attends the rise and fall of parties, to use 
 the English phrase, "The King's Government must be carried 
 on." Whatever storm may rage, however bitter and loud mav 
 be the strife of contending factions, the public debts must be 
 paid, national credit maintained, the army and navy kept on a 
 proper footing, the mails must be delivered, and the revenue 
 collected. No matter what happens, some one must be at work 
 "ohne hast, ohne rast" to see that these things are done in due 
 season. Macaulay has said that Attila did not conduct his 
 campaigns on exchequer bills, but we do; and what is more im- 
 portant, we maintain the orderly movement of our Government 
 in that way from day to day. It is a heavy burden and the 
 country owes much o those who bear it. This was Mr. Alli- 
 son's task during more than the lifetime of a generation. Be- 
 yond anyone in our time, perhaps beyond anyone in our history, 
 did he bear this great responsibility, and he never failed in his 
 duty. For thirty-six years a member of the Committee on Ap- 
 propriations, for twenty-five years its chairman, he became a 
 sort of permanent chancellor of the exchequer. In the long list 
 of eminent men who have filled that great office in England 
 there is not one who has surpassed him in knowledge, in the 
 
Address of Mr. Lodge, of Massachuselfs 57 
 
 dexterity and skill with which he drafted laws and reconciled 
 conllictin^^ views, in linancial ability or in the strength of ca- 
 pacity with whicii he gauged the sources of revenue and adjusted 
 expenditures to income. No one ever applied to him the cluap 
 title of "watchdog of the Treasury," whose glory comes merely 
 from barking so as to split the ears of the groundlings and 
 whose niggard and unenlightened resistance to every expendi- 
 ture, no matter how meritorious, usuall\- causes enormous and 
 increased outlay in tlie end. Mr. Ai.mson was too great as well 
 as too experienced a man to think jxarsimony was statesman- 
 ship, and not to know that a wise liberality was as a rule the 
 truest economy of the public monev. 
 
 Very few i)ersons, even here, realize what labor, what know! 
 edge, what experience he brought to his work. \\'e saw a great 
 bill reported, we watched him handle it with a tact and skill 
 which I have never seen equaled, we noted that he was familiar 
 witli every item and could answer every question, and we were 
 satisfied with the result and did not pause to consider what it 
 all meant. To achieve this result implied a minute knowledge 
 of every branch of the Government and everv detail of expendi- 
 ture which had cost days and nights of labor and \ears of ex- 
 perience. Scrupulous honesty, of course, was his, but that 
 would have gone but a short distance without the trained intel- 
 ligence, the unswerving diligence, the discij^lined mind which 
 controlled the disposition of the millions upon millions that 
 passed unscathed through his strong, clean hands. Moreover, 
 he was always here. The standing joke about his caution and 
 his avoidance of unqualified statement, which no one enjoyed 
 more than he, grew out of certain temperamental attributes. 
 But it is well to remember that, however guarded he was in 
 speech, he never failed to vote, which is the real and final index 
 of political courage and of constancy of opinion and conviction. 
 
58 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 He may have put clauses of limitation into what he said, but he 
 never shrank from, never evaded, a vote. 
 
 Presidents and cabinets, Speakers and House chairmen came 
 and went, but he remained at his post until we regarded him in 
 the field of finance and appropriation almost, as was said of 
 Webster, like an institution of the country. Six times did the 
 legislature of Iowa elect him to the vSenate. Pride in the State, 
 pride in him, and personal affection counted for much in their 
 action; but I can not but think that they realized also their 
 responsibility to the country which prized so highly the services 
 of their Senator. It is the fashion, just now, to decrv legisla- 
 tures, but we shall wait long before we find any form of elec- 
 tion which will represent as truly the real will, not only of the 
 people of a State, but of the people of all the States, as did the 
 legislature of Iowa during those thirty-six years. It will be 
 a sorry day for Government and people alike when we lose 
 that permanence and continuity, that directing and guiding 
 force, which such careers and such service as Mr. AivLison's 
 have given to the Senate. It is such careers as his which have 
 made the vSenate what it has been in our history, and if, under 
 pretense of making it more popular, we are subjected to schemes 
 which open the door wide to those who would commit fraud 
 and to those who would spend money without stint, we shall 
 not only see the popular will distorted, travestied, and de- 
 feated, but the country will be deprived of the long-continued 
 services of such men as Mr. Allison, which have been and are 
 of inestimable value to the United States. 
 
 Where, then, shall we rank him? To put him out of or 
 above the class to which he rightfully belongs would not be the 
 part of love and affection, but of vain eulogy, which perishes 
 with the breath which utters it. He did not stand in the class 
 with Lincoln, savior of the state, greatest, as an English historian 
 
Address of Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts 59 
 
 has said, of all the figurt-s of the nineteenth eenturw He did 
 not reach that lonely height. Nor was he one of the class of 
 men like Bismarck and Cavour, builders of nations, relentless 
 wielders of armies, masters of all the subtle arts of diplomacy. 
 Mr. Allison belongs to that class of statesmen of which the 
 history of the English-speaking race furnishes, happily, many 
 examples. They are the men who carry on the Government 
 and who have made possible I lie practical success of free repre- 
 sentative institutions. Wise, farseeing, prudent, devoted to 
 their country, and abounding in good sense, they command 1)\- 
 their absolute honesty and cajjacity the entire confidence of 
 senates and parliaments. Among the chief statesmen of this 
 class Mr. Allison holds his high place. vSuch a verdict as this 
 ma>- at this moment sound cold, but it has one great merit, 
 that of truth, and the more we consider it the more we shall 
 understand what high praise it carries with it. 
 
 We Americans take great pride in our country, and no people 
 has better cause for pride. In no country is patriotism more 
 intense. We never hesitate to give expression to our love of 
 country under all conditions, sometimes with a vehemence 
 whicli lends to make others think that we doubt our own sin- 
 cerity, and with a disregard of time and place which outsiders, 
 at least, are prone to deem crude and tasteless. Yet, although 
 it sounds Uke a paradox, we are at the same time curiously 
 distrustful of ourselves and seem almost void of self-confidence 
 in judging the work of Americans. We oscillate between the 
 extremes of unintelligent praise, given merely because that 
 which we praise is American, and trembling hesitation in award- 
 ing proper place to real achievement. The higher we rise in 
 the scale of intelligence and education, the more timid we seem 
 to become, and we look over our shoulders and criticize and even 
 sneer at American performance because, apparentlv, we feel 
 
6o Memorial Addresses : William B. Allison 
 
 that we may be laughed at by somebody or because we suspect 
 that we are something apart from and beneath the standards 
 of the civiliz.ed world. For no better reason than that we have 
 at times praised foolishly and extravagantly we are shy of 
 praising rightly and justly. We shrank away from Walt 
 Whitman until men like Rossetti and Symonds and Stevenson 
 and Swinburne had spoken, and then we only slowly acknowl- 
 edged that the Long Island carpenter was a great poet and one 
 who had become a real and original force in the splendid annals 
 of English verse. As with the poet so with the painter and 
 sculptor, the writer and the statesman. We yield easily to the 
 provincial temptation to hail with exultation the heaven-born 
 genius who generally never justifies his title, and we doubt and 
 hesitate and pause in giving due place to the work of a life- 
 time, deepfounded on all that is best in our inheritance, slowly 
 and painfully built up by talents steadily applied and by sacrifice 
 of self to a noble purpose. 
 
 If Mr. Allison had done the work and held the place in 
 England that he did and held here, his memoirs would appear 
 in fit and stately volumes like those which recount the life of 
 the late Lord Granville, whom Mr. Allison resembled in service 
 and character, although the fields of their activity were different. 
 Had he been a great English statesman, as he was a great 
 American statesman, his statue would have its place here in 
 the Capitol, the scene of his labors, as at Westminster we find 
 the statues of English prime ministers and parliamentary 
 leaders, many of whom Mr. Allison surpassed in all that goes 
 to make a statesman. I trust that this may yet be done, but I 
 greatly fear that we shall go on adding to the freaks in marble 
 and to the effigies of the temporarily illustrious which now 
 crowd against those of some of our really great men and only 
 serve to disfigure one of the most beautiful rooms which 
 
Address of Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts 6i 
 
 modern architecture has jrivcn to the world. I say all this of 
 Mr. Allison, not in the beaten way of eulogy or tribute, but 
 because 1 wished, 1)\- historical standards and, so far as possible, 
 with the coolness of history, to vindicate the place of a man who 
 was a great pubHc servant, a statesman as eminent as he was 
 modest, and to whom this country owes a large debt, not merel\- 
 for his lifelong labors, but for the example he set to us all and 
 the dignity he gave to the Government of the United vStates. 
 
 And yet, when everything has been said, strive as hard as we 
 may to govern ourselves by the tests of history and to award 
 to Mr. Allison the place which was rightfully his, and which 
 all men should acknowledge, at the end it is the man of whom 
 we think to-day and not the vSenator. His death meant a 
 personal loss to each of us. His abilities, his honesty, his 
 unstinted devotion to the country, his fine character, his keen 
 sense of humor, we do well to tell them over. He fully deserves 
 it all. But what history or posterity can not feel or know is 
 the one thing we feel most and know best. He inspired love 
 and affection. He was beloved by all who knew him, and to 
 us here his death leaves a blank which can not be filled. Great 
 powers were his, but the greatest of all his attributes was that 
 kind, warm heart, that goodness to others which cast a spell 
 over everyone who came within his inlluenci-. 
 
 His life was gentle, and the elements 
 
 So inix'd in him that Xature might stand up 
 
 And say to all the world, "This was a man." 
 
62 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Tillman, of South Carouna 
 
 Mr. PkiiSiDENT: I have had no opportunity or, indeed, 
 desire to undertake to prepare any studied or labored tribute 
 to our dead colleague. It was only yesterday afternoon that 
 I was invited by one of the Iowa Senators to participate as a 
 speaker on this occasion. I had intended to offer a few brief 
 sentences of unstudied praise as a tribute to Senator Allison's 
 niemorv anvwav, and what I shall say will make up in sincerity 
 what it lacks in polish or literary merit. 
 
 I have had the honor to be a member of this body for four- 
 teen years, and during eight of those years I have been a mem- 
 ber of the Committee on Appropriations. Of course previous to 
 becoming a member of that committee I had observed the Sen- 
 ator from Iowa in his everyday work here, and had learned to 
 love and admire him for his many noble qualities; but in the 
 more intimate relationship of the committee work I grew fa- 
 miliar with the marvelous qualities of industry, patience, alert- 
 ness, and capacity which so markedly characterized him, and 
 I grew acquainted with other personal phases of his character 
 which rarely or never were shown in the Senate. While he was 
 gentle and patient always, and courteous as a habit, and, in 
 fact, incapable of being otherwise than courteous and kindly, 
 he had about him a humor, an appreciation of what we call a 
 "joke," such as I have seen surpassed by few men. 
 
 Those who have associated with him privately will recall the 
 gleam of the eye, the arching of the brow, the stoop of the head, 
 while he looked at one, as it were, over something, with which 
 he would speak a sentence replete with wit and humor, and, 
 while not laughing at his own exhibition of it, would seem to 
 question you as to whether or not you had caught it. 
 
Address of Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina 63 
 
 In our inlcrcoursc I had occasion, hundreds of times, to won- 
 der at his memory. The reacHness with which he would refer 
 to laws passed almost when I was a box was almost marvelous. 
 He would call on his clerk to bring s<)methin<r or he would make 
 reference to some statute long since passed, (pioting it almost 
 verbatim, illustrating the familiarity with our legislation which 
 his long service and retentive memorv enabled him to exhibit. 
 He was always more than kindly and j)unctiliouslv observ- 
 ant of the courtesies due to a man of the minoritv party. 1 
 have associated with chairmen of committees, on which I was 
 one of the minority, who were very different in this regard, who 
 seemed to feel that because their party was in powder and they 
 themselves in a majority on the committee it was not worth 
 while to pay attention to or consider objections or suggestions 
 from those who were in the minority. 
 
 It was never so with Mr. Allison. He would observe toward 
 a minority member of the conmiittee a greater courtesy and con- 
 sideration than he frequently did to members of his own jjarty. 
 It was this uniform kindliness and desire to be friendly and 
 obliging which made him so dear to every man in this Chamber, 
 and I do not hesitate to speak it as my belief that he was as 
 dear to the Democrats here as he was to the Republicans. 
 
 Mr. President, we have had in the last two years great losses 
 in this body. The long catalogue of names, illustrious and other- 
 wise, which the Senator from Georgia [Mr. Bacon] recited in 
 his remarks, shows how rapidly the vSenate changes. The vSen- 
 ator from Georgia and I came into the vSenate together, and 
 he mentioned the fact that there were only eleven men here of 
 longer service than ourselves, and after the 4th of March there 
 will be only nine, as two of those who are of longer service will 
 no longer be with us after that date. Thus we see that in these 
 fourteen years seventy-odd vSenators have disappeared from our 
 midst, many of them, a majority, I believe, into the grave, some 
 
64 Memorial Addresses: Williarn B. Allison 
 
 have retired voluntarily, while others in the vicissitudes of 
 politics have been left at home by their people. 
 
 I want to call vour memories for a brief while to four re- 
 markable men who have died within the last eighteen months — 
 Morgan, Pettus, Allison, Proctor — two from the North and two 
 from the South land. They were all essentially types of the 
 best that American civilization has produced. It is doubtful if 
 there ever existed a greater contrast in some respects than be- 
 tween Senator Allison and Senator Proctor. One was as genial 
 and as peaceful in his attributes as a June day; the other was 
 like the granite mountains of his State — somewhat austere, 
 quiet, undemonstrative, but as full of the milk of human kind- 
 ness as any man I have met here, and withal possessing an 
 inherent strength which commanded respect, while there was 
 no effort at all on his part at anything like ostentation. 
 
 I recall my surprise — for it was very shortly after my en- 
 trance into this body — on hearing the speech which Senator 
 Proctor made after his visit to Cuba on a personal inspection 
 On his return to Washington he made a report as though he had 
 been a military officer sent by the Government to go there and 
 come back and tell us what the trouble there, w^as about and to 
 give his conclusions. There was nothing of bitterness in that 
 recital and there was much of the judicial temperament, calm, 
 clear, concise, and forceful, and the English was so choice that, 
 knowing vSenator Proctor as a man of affairs, a man who per- 
 haps had not had as great advantages as others, I felt con- 
 strained to go and tell him that he ought to be elected professor 
 of belles-lettres in some university, because very few of those 
 who pretend to teach English could approach him in such a 
 production as that. 
 
 I come now to two other great men whose deaths we lament, 
 whom we all miss here. We all realize that the two Senators 
 from Alabama had reached and crossed beyond the fourscore 
 
Address of Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina 63 
 
 mark, while the other two, Mr. Allison and Mr. Proctor, were 
 very near it. They have all fallen like ripened heads of golden 
 grain. Senator Morgan had inii^ressed himself upon this body 
 as a man of the profoundest attainments in knowledge of gov- 
 ernmental afifairs and history, and was, in fact, considered by 
 all as a kind of walking encyclopedia upon whom one could call 
 at any time for anything in connection with American history 
 or jurisprudence or legislation and get the desired informatioii. 
 The last of the four men, Mr. Pettus, was in some respects the 
 most remarkable of the group, not in brilliancy of intellect, 
 though his mind was as clear and pellucid as an icicle, but in a 
 sturdiness, a strength, a vigor, and a frankness and simplicit>- 
 that endeared him to all of us almost from the day of his en- 
 trance here; and my purpose in one sense in recalling these four 
 figures to your memories for a brief while is to direct attention 
 to the most beautiful compliment or deserving tribute that I 
 have ever heard on this floor from one Senator to another, living 
 or dead, and in this instance it was from a Senator to one who 
 was not then dead, but has since, like himself, "crossed over 
 the river." 
 
 It was in the debate on the increase of salaries bill, when 
 Senator Pettus felt called on to speak of his colleague, who was 
 then ill at home, and to remind the Senate of his long and ardu- 
 ous labor and of the immense amount of work he had done here 
 in the quarter of a century during which he had served the 
 South and the people of America. And after reciting the fact 
 that he was a great lawyer, as we all know, and what his prac- 
 tice yielded him at the time when he ceased to be a practicing 
 lawyer and came to the Senate as a public servant, he went on 
 to state that it was almost certain had .Morgan remained at the 
 practice of the law he would have been a very wealth_\- man by 
 that time. And then, reciting the fact from his personal knowl- 
 78135— S. Doc. 7C6, 60-j T 
 
66 Memorial Addresses : William B. Allison 
 
 edge, because thev both lived in the same town, vSclma, that his 
 
 property was worth just about what it was when he came here, 
 
 with a fervor of voice which rang through my soul like a fire 
 
 bell in the night, he said: 
 
 The people of Alabama are proud of him because he did not aajuire 
 great wealth here, as some men have done. 
 
 That sentence ought to be graven on Morgan's tomb. 
 
 Watching Mr. Allisox as I did, seeing the method which he 
 followed in handling the appropriation bills involving hundreds 
 of millions, the patience with which he investigated every item 
 that was under consideration or if a new item was proposed 
 by some one, and remembering that after all these years of 
 handling those billions and billions of dollars, with oppor- 
 tunities to have had some of it stick to his hand, had he been 
 venal, he died not rich, I wish to bear testimony, as far as my 
 feeble voice can go, to the fact that if there were ever honest 
 men in Congress William B. Allison was one of them, and the 
 people of Iowa should be proud that he did not die rich. 
 
 Mr. President, as I look around this chamber and remember 
 .the men with whom I have associated who are now dead and 
 gone, and remember also' that within the recent past I have 
 been face to face with the dread Angel Azrael, have looked over 
 the fence, as it were, and have seen people digging mv own 
 grave, I have had brought home to me with telHng force the 
 beauty of this little poem by Charles Lamb. There are only 
 three or four stanzas. I have not taken the trouble to look it 
 up. I read it forty years ago and I may not quote it with entire 
 accuracy : 
 
 Ghost like, I paced 'round the haunts of my childhood. 
 Earth seemed a desert I was bound to traverse, 
 Seeking to find the old familiar faces. 
 
 ***** 
 How some they have died, and some they have left me, 
 And some are taken from me; all are departed ; 
 All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. 
 
Address of Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina 67 
 
 There are so many familiar faces that I can recall in mv more 
 or less brief serx-ice here that are gone that these thoughts come 
 to me, and then I think, further, of that plaintive wail in The 
 Lotus-Eaters, where Ulysses and his companions, who were 
 searching for home, trying to find their way back to Greece, 
 came to the island in the sea of which Homer speaks, and the 
 words of Tennyson come up ; 
 
 Death is the end of life; ah, why 
 
 Should life all labor be? 
 
 Let us alone. Time driveth onward fast, 
 
 And in a little while our lips are dumb. 
 
 Let us alone. What is it that will last? 
 
 All things are taken from us, and become 
 
 Portions and parcels of the dreadful Past. 
 
 Let us alone. What pleasure can we have 
 
 To war with evil? Is there any peace 
 
 In ever climbing up the climbing wave? 
 
 All things have rest, and ripen toward the grave 
 
 In silence; ripen, fall and cease: 
 
 Give us long rest or death, dark death, or dreamful ease. 
 
 We all know, when we take the time to think, that death is 
 inevitable, but we are happily constituted in being able to for- 
 get it and pursue our paths here and discharge our labors and 
 duties as best we mav. 
 
 All I can say in regard to the career of the dead Senator, who 
 we here do honor to. is that none of us can hope to surpass 
 him in length of service or in value of service to his country; 
 and it ought to be the purpose and desire of each of us to 
 emulate that great man's character, and as far as possible to 
 imitate his virtues. 
 
68 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Perkins, of California 
 
 Mr. President: When William B. Allison went over to 
 the "great majority" the country lost a statesman of large 
 experience, high character, and acknowledged ability, and the 
 Senate a most useful and helpful member. 
 
 He recalls to all of us the eminent men of the past generations 
 who made the Senate of the United States the greatest deliber- 
 ative body in the world, and he will be entered on the roll of 
 those who have most diligently and efficiently- ser\-ed the 
 Republic. 
 
 A native son of the great West, he was educated at a college 
 which, by its name, brings back to mind the time when Con- 
 necticut claimed as its own the region now embraced within the 
 boundaries of the State of Ohio. In that State he studied and 
 practiced law until the adventurous spirit which led to the set- 
 tlement and development of the Western Reserve impelled him 
 to join those who formed the advance civilization on the conti- 
 nent, and at 28 years of age he took up his residence in Iowa, 
 in which State he very soon became prominent, and which he 
 served in one capacity or another up to the time of his death. 
 
 Only four years intervened between the time when he became 
 a citizen of Iowa and the outbreak of the civil war, and when 
 that great struggle was impending he was a member of the staflF 
 of Iowa's governor and aided in organizing the volunteers who 
 were to go to the front. 
 
 Two years later he was called to represent the vState in Con- 
 gress, and since 1863 he has been, with the exception of two 
 years, a Member of one or the other branches of this great legis- 
 lative body. 
 
Address of Mr. Perkins, of California 69 
 
 In 1873 he was chosen to succeed United States Senator 
 James Harlan, and for thirty-five years he has represented the 
 great State of Iowa in the Senate of the United States, exceed- 
 ing by eight years the next longest term of service. 
 
 Forty-three years of his life were devoted to active work in 
 national legislation, and from the very beginning that work was 
 fruitful of good, and its benefits will extend far into the future. 
 
 The first term of ser^nce of Mr. Ali.isox in the House of 
 Representatives demonstrated in a most marked manner his 
 peculiar qualifications to deal with the great financial questions 
 which came before Congress, and he was appointed a member of 
 the Wavs and Means Committee and there served during those 
 years when our finances were in a most critical condition. 
 
 The experience he there acquired and the work he did during 
 his subsequent service in the House on that important com- 
 mittee gave him that profound and accurate kno^\•ledge which 
 later made him the leading authority in Congress on questions 
 of a financial character. 
 
 The refunding of the public debt, the remission of the most 
 burdensome internal taxes, and the readjustment of the tariff 
 were some of the vital problems which he assisted in solving, to 
 the lasting benefit of the United States. 
 
 When he came to the Senate he was, in consequence of his 
 large experience and wide knowledge of such public business, 
 assigned to the Appropriations Committee, of which he became 
 chairman in 1881, retaining that distinguished post up to the 
 time of his death, with the exception of a few years during 
 which the Democrats controlled the vSenate. 
 
 He had hardly entered the Senate when he was called upon to 
 participate in the most important legislative service since the 
 civil war — that which brought about the resumption of specie 
 pavments in 1875, making our depreciated currency as good as 
 
yo Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 gold in all the markets of the world. For his work in the 
 Senate caucus committee, which framed the resumption act, 
 he was placed on the Finance Committee, of which he could 
 have been chairman, but he preferred the chairmanship of the 
 Appropriations Committee, in directing the labors of which he 
 has been instrumental in eflfecting some of the most important 
 legislation of his time. 
 
 It was also during his earlier years in the vSenate that his 
 inlluence was felt in a most marked manner in preserving to the 
 United States the gold standard in the face of the violent and 
 sustained attacks of the free-silver advocates. It was his 
 amendment, preserving the gold standard while providing for a 
 limited amount of silver coinage, which saved the battle for a 
 sound basis for our national'credit, and has been of inestimable 
 benefit from that day to this. His action then and later was 
 based on the conviction that the disuse of silver as a standard 
 of value by the commercial nations of the world would bring ruin 
 upon us should we adopt that metal as our own standard, un- 
 less all other nations with whom we traded should likewise 
 change their monetary basis. That fundamental idea influ- 
 enced him in all of his subsequent efforts to place beyond the 
 possibility of successful attack that standard of values which 
 is recognized in all the countries of the globe. 
 
 Great, also, were his services in connection with the framing 
 of the ^IcKinley tarifif and the amendment of the Mills tariff 
 bill, for his experience in the House had made him an acknowl- 
 edged expert in solving these complex and difficult problems 
 which tariff legislation gives rise to. The act reforming the 
 internal-revenue laws of the United vStates was also prepared 
 b>- him, as was the law giving to the District of Columbia its 
 present form of government, which has worked so successfullv 
 since 1874. 
 
Address of Mr. Perkins, of California 71 
 
 Among the later instances of liis genius for legislation niav 
 be pointed out the recent law increasing the power of the Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission. To that bill, as it came from 
 the House, hundreds of amendments were proposed, which, if 
 adopted, would have swamped the measure and defeated the 
 object aimed at. 
 
 The danger was avoided by an agreement to adojil onh- the 
 Allison amendments which acc<Mnmodated the difTerences of all 
 except the few holding the most radical ideas, and, as amended 
 by him, in which amendments the administration concurred, the 
 bill became a law. Such are some of the instances of vSenator 
 Allison's genius for legislation, particularly legislation that 
 contributes to the well-being of our country for long vears after 
 its enactment. As a constructive statesman he had no superior 
 among his contemporaries. 
 
 The value to the United States of Senator Allisox's services 
 is very great indeed, for his influence has been felt in shaping the 
 most important legislation of the past forty-five \ears. To 
 that influence is due in a great measure the fact that practicallv 
 no mistakes have been made, and that we now stand on the firm 
 foundation of those laws which he had a very conspicuous part 
 in forming; and that these laws have proved to be the sure 
 basis for our progress and prosperity is due to the fact that 
 Senator Alliso.\ constantly strove to establish sound and cor- 
 rect principles of government, irrespective of policies, political 
 affiliations, or political pressure. 
 
 He rose far above considerations which weigh heavilv with 
 men of narrow minds and more selfish character, and considered 
 solely the good of the entire country and the well-being of its 
 entire people. vSuch was the spirit in which Abraham Lincoln 
 so administered the law that his name will forevermore be 
 linked with that of Washington in the hearts of the American 
 
72 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 people. It was this fine qualit)" which has made the memory of 
 William McKinley dear to every patriotic American. 
 
 That minute and sure distinction between statesmanship and 
 mere political expediency which is the certain index of a mind 
 raised far above the mud in which political self-seekers wallow 
 was apparent in every act of William B. Allison's public life. 
 His aim was not party advantage, but the good of the nation; 
 not the success of political schemes to redound to his own ad- 
 vantage in power or prestige, but the peace and well-being of all 
 the people; not to secure the applause of the unthinking crowd, 
 but to attain that greatest reward for public service — the con- 
 sciousness that he has been faithful to the Constitution and to 
 the best interests of the Republic. All who knew him here 
 recognized that such were the motives which actuated him in 
 all he did, and it was this knowledge which compelled that 
 respect and confidence which were felt for him as a leader; 
 without such respect and confidence his great ability would not 
 have ser\'ed to raise him to the high position he attained. 
 With the recognition of his absolute unselfishness, his leadership 
 was gladly acknowledged and remained to the end unques- 
 tioned. 
 
 During these recent years which may be called the "era of 
 villification," when there appear to have come to the surface in 
 all ranks of life, from the very highest to the very lowest, in- 
 dividuals whose sole desire seems to be to attack men in public 
 and private life who have achieved what is commonly called 
 "success;" when accusations of dishonesty and falsehood are 
 made recklessly and thrown broadcast to the world; when men 
 in high station have been subjected to more searching examina- 
 tion and more unreasoning criticism than perhaps ever before 
 in our history. Senator Allison stood high above the rushing 
 stream of defamation and innuendo, no drops of whose dirty 
 water soiled the spotless garments that he wore. 
 
Address of Mr. Pcrkius, of California 73 
 
 Every Member of this body has had reason to appreciate the 
 fine character of vSenator Allisox and the higli standard he 
 placed before himself as that wliicli should i)e lived uj) to bv 
 men in ])ul)lie life; and we can do no htller than to make- his 
 character the standard for ourselves, and to strive to measure 
 up as nearly to it as he did to the standard set for himself. 
 
 Those of us who, as I have, came into more intimate relations 
 with him through membership on the same connnitlees, have 
 had the opportunity for learning at close range all of his great, 
 ennobling, and endearing qualities. My association with him 
 for more than twelve years on the Committee on Appropriations 
 has given me a chance to know how ardent was his patriotism, 
 how conscientious was his performance of jniblic dul\-, how 
 great was his patience in investigating every question which 
 came before the committee, and how carefully were his judg- 
 ments formed. His courtesy and deference to every Member of 
 the Senate, the willingness to hear and consider objections to 
 his proposals, the kindness and consideration with which he 
 expressed differences of opinion, endeared him to each one of 
 us and strengthened our regard for him and our confidence in 
 his judgment. 
 
 The longer we knew him the surer we were of his absolute 
 unselfishness, and from time to time some fact would become 
 known that like lightning flash would reveal the height on 
 which he stood above the wild turmoil of political ambitions. 
 He time and again declined a Cabinet i:)Osition, believing that 
 he could render more effective service to his vState and count r\ 
 in the Senate. 
 
 At one time, I am assured by a distinguished man who knows 
 whereof he speaks, he could have received the nomination for 
 the Presidency, which nomination would have been equivalent 
 to an election, if he had been willing to make a concession wliicli 
 
74 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 in no way reflected on his honor, but whicli was simply not in 
 consonance with his idea as to his pubhc duty. Without hesita- 
 tion he refused the great office, and that refusal was never 
 regretted. 
 
 His ambition was to to serve his country according to his own 
 high standard of duty. To make concessions for the sake of 
 personal aggrandizement was to him failure in his life \vork, 
 and he died, as he had lived, faithful to the people of the Repub- 
 lic, maintaining to the last its high ideals and traditions, 
 leaving a name that will hereafter always be found in the list of 
 the ablest, the most useful, and the most honored of its citizens. 
 
Address of Mr. Nelson, of Miniiesota 75 
 
 Address of Mr. Nelson^ of Minnesota 
 
 Mr. I'kHsiDHNT: W'Ikii vStiiator Ai.i.isox died, on the 4th of 
 last August, he closed a legislative career which Ix-gaii in 1863 
 and extended over a period of nearly forty-five years, a career 
 the most notable and pregnant in all our legislative history. 
 He entered the legislative arena during the great stress of the 
 civil war, bore his share in the hard and sad task of reconstruc- 
 tion, bravely aided in refunding and liquidating our great debt, 
 strenuously participated in restoring our currency to a specie 
 basis and, ultimately, to a single monetary standard, and was 
 most acti\-e in promoting our industrial and economic progress 
 and development by judicious legislation. When he entered 
 the public service the population of a divided country was a 
 little over 30,000,000; when he left us forever the population of 
 a reunited country was nearly three times as large, and during 
 this period our territorial possessions had been augmented to 
 the extent of more than 700,000 square miles, more than one- 
 fourth of our entire territorial area. 
 
 Since the constitutional birth of our nation, those years of 
 his public service were the most eventful and pregnant in all our 
 history, calling for the highest degree of legislative wisdom and 
 constructive statesmanship. The vitality and integrity of our 
 country was on trial, in one form or another, all the time. The 
 menace of secession was followed by the menace of repudiation 
 in various forms, and that b\- the menace of concentrated, arro- 
 gant, and lawless capital. 
 
 The conservation of our system of government in its puritv 
 and in its original design is a continuing task, requiring well- 
 equii)j)ed sentinels constantl>- on guard. And of these sentinels 
 
76 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Senator Allison was one of the most faithful and best ecjuipped. 
 As a legislator the greatest sphere of his usefulness was found 
 in the committees dealing with our finances, our revenues, and 
 our expenditures. On these great committees and in their work 
 he was a leader and exercised a dominating influence. In the 
 parliamentary governments of the Old World, like that of Great 
 Britain, such legislative tasks are simpler and much easier. 
 There the ministry prepare, formulate, and l)ring in their sup- 
 ply bills, and their budgets are all ready for consideration, re- 
 quiring, in most instances, but a scanty revision and minor modi- 
 fication. Under our system such bills are formulated, amended, 
 and modified by the members of our great committees, thus en- 
 tailing a most painstaking and strenuous task on the legislators. 
 While the Senate does not originate such bills, yet its power 
 of revision and amendment is unlimited; and we who have for 
 some time been Members of this body know how carefully the 
 Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Finance 
 scrutinize, review, and oftentimes largely and most beneficially 
 amend such bills. This is a work of the highest and utmost 
 importance, and one that enters into the most vital functions 
 of our Government and concerns the prosperity and well-being 
 of all our people. The adjustment of revenues and expenditures, 
 enough of the one and not too much of the other, is a most 
 delicate and far-reaching task; one that, in the verv nature of 
 the case, can not be subrogated to any other, and requires the 
 highest degree of legislative skill. And in this great work 
 vSenator Allison was unexcelled. While his legislative vision 
 and care extended to all parts of the great field, vet in this 
 special work he stood without a peer. Careful and ixiinstaking, 
 scrupulous and fair, no item was too big or too small for his 
 consideration. He was faithful to the uttermost, and frowned 
 upon all needless and wasteful expenditure. 
 
Address oj Mr. Xclsou, of Minnesota 77 
 
 While he was not an orator in the common acceptation of 
 the term, yet he was a clear and most forceful debater, carrying 
 conviction to all within tlie reach of his voice. And he had that 
 rare gift, which some great orators lack, of being always in 
 earnest and sincere. He never spoke for the mere sake of 
 speech, or for the purpose of appearing in the public limelight. 
 There was no hungry look in his e>es for the press gallery and 
 no yearning to drum up a crowd in the galleries. He rarely, if 
 ever, gave notice of a speech. He was, in every respect, the 
 antipodc of those legislators who limit their task to the delivery 
 of an oration or two during the session, and who seem oblivi- 
 ous to all else and hardl> ever ]nit in an appearance in their 
 committees. 
 
 A legislative bodv composed of such members would, at the 
 end of a session, no doubt be possessed of a large volume of 
 orations, but a rather scant and imperfect volume of statutes. 
 They are not, as a rule, the men who formulate and pass legis- 
 lation. They are the mere bric-a-brac of the legislative cham- 
 ber—ornamental and fine to behold, but of little practical use. 
 It is the men of the other type— of which Senator Allisox is the 
 best and foremost example — who prepare, formulate, and pass 
 the essential and requisite legislation of the country. Such men 
 prepare bills, meet with the committees to carefully consider, 
 revise, and correct the same, and attend to their passage 
 when reported. Men of this type arc the really useful men of a 
 legislative body — the men who bring about results, and who are 
 not the mere coiners of fine phrases. 
 
 A good legislator has a double duty entailed upon him. He 
 must not only aim to promote the passage of good and whole- 
 some bills, but it is also his duty to prevent the passage of bad 
 and unwholesome legislation. 
 
 We all know from experience that there are, at times, meas- 
 ures pending that would be detrinienlal to the welfare of the 
 
78 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 people, and in snch cases we never ought to hesitate to put a 
 veto upon tlieni. Senator Allison, while he was alwavs ready 
 to promote the ])assage of wise, remedial legislation, never hesi- 
 tated to oppose and defeat measures which he deemed unwise 
 and unsafe. He was always alert, and no bill of anv importance 
 on the calendar ever escaped his notice and attention. The 
 range of legislation is so vast and extensive that most legislators 
 can do little more than study and acquaint themselves with 
 measures coming from the committees of which thev are mem- 
 bers. As to other measures, they have to rel>-, to a great extent, 
 for information and guidance, upon the members of the com- 
 mittees from whence such bills come. Senator Allison was an 
 exception to this rule. He was not only thoroughly conversant 
 with measures coming from the committees of which he was a 
 member, but he seemed to be well acquainted with every bill on 
 the calendar. He was always on legislative guard and picket 
 duty. He was always ready to hail every pending bill and to 
 ask: "Who goes there?" If the proper countersign was not 
 given, the measure found no favor. 
 
 By most men he was, no doubt, classed as a conservative; 
 but his conser\'atism was not of the kind that was hostile to 
 necessary and true reform. It was rather of the kind that 
 reformed what was crude and ripened what was unripe in the 
 field of legislation. His conser\'atisni was of the kind that 
 toned erratic and visionary radicalism to a sane and practical 
 level. Great reforms often appear, in the first instance, in a 
 crude and indigestible embryo, but they furnish the inspiration 
 to the calm, prudent, and wise statesman, from which he 
 evolves, in practical and effective shape, a genuine and sub- 
 stantial measure of reform. The rabid radical may furnish the 
 crude ore and the combustion, but the calm and wise statesman 
 furnishes the flux that brings forth the true metal. Senator 
 
Address of Mr. Xc/soii, of Mnniesota 79 
 
 Allison was a iiR'inber and k-ader of this class of statesmen; 
 and how vahiable and intensely usefnl such men are. 
 
 Legislative bodies, like individuals, are sometimes intensely 
 emotional and apt to be carried away from the true course by 
 excessive feeling. Senator Allison was less given to the emo- 
 tional and erratic than most men, and hence he was always the 
 safest and best of leaders. Ik- liad the happy facultv of calmly 
 listening to and weighing all arguments, pro and con, and then, 
 with deliberation, reaching a conclusion that was, as a rule, 
 sound and the only proper course to pursue. No safer or more 
 vigilant master than he ever trod the bridge of the legislative 
 craft. When he stood there the true course was alwa\s taken, 
 and all rocks, shoals, and quicksands were avoided. 
 
 He was possessed of another rare quality accorded to but few. 
 He could bring about results, in the face of contention and 
 opposition, with less friction and less heartache than is given to 
 most men. And this came from his equipoise, his patience, his 
 calmness and serenity, and from his careful consideration of the 
 feelings and impulses of his associates. 
 
 The army recruit, if he enters a raw battalion as crude and as 
 little trained as himself, makes but slow progress in becoming a 
 real soldier; but if he enters a battalion of trained and veteran 
 officers and men, he speedily becomes a trained and reliable 
 soldier, especially under the guidance and instruction of trained 
 and experienced officers. What is true of the army recruit is 
 true even to a greater degree of the legislative recruit. The 
 legislative nestors, rather than the rules, train and make effec- 
 tive, by precept and example, the recruit who. enters this 
 Chamber. And when these legislative veterans are possessed of 
 warm hearts, kindly natures, and helpful dispositions, as was 
 Senator Allison in a high degree, what a blessing they prove to 
 the new member. He encounters no chilly frost from such a 
 
8o Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 veteran, and under his auspices he partakes of the legislative 
 sunshine, parts with the feeling of isolation which is apt, in the 
 first instance, to possess him, and feels that he, too, is an im- 
 portant factor in the curriculum of legislation, and, as a conse- 
 quence, he soon becomes a useful member. 
 
 Senator Allison was the best and most benignant of drill 
 sergeants for the new member. I remember, with gratitude, the 
 kindly manner in which he received me when I first entered the 
 Senate and how helpful he was to me on many occasions; and it 
 was all so natural and so unaffected — a very part of his nature 
 and make-up. As he was to me, so he was to all new members. 
 Like all great and good men, he was neither vain nor boastful, 
 nor given to the pursuit of mere glory. He wrought from a 
 sense of duty and with an eye singly to the welfare of our coun- 
 try and not from a sense of glory. 
 
 He was, quietly and without ostentation, brave, fearless, and 
 energetic in the performance of his great duties. As a states- 
 man, his grasp and vision was wise, comprehensive, and safe. 
 As a legislator, he was unexcelled in mental and moral equip- 
 ment, in strenuous and incessant activity, and in accomplishing 
 lasting and beneficent results. His death has left a vacuum in 
 this body that is hard to fill. His most lasting monument will 
 be found in the annals of Congress. Of all the great men who 
 have ser\-ed in the Congress of the United States, he was bv all 
 odds the most useful. Others there may be who shine with a 
 brighter though more flickering luster, but no one with a light 
 so clear, so invigorating, so strength producing, so continuing 
 as Senator Allison. He remains as a guiding beacon for legis- 
 lators for all time to come. 
 
Address of Mr. Kccui, of New Jersey 
 
 Address of Mr. Kean, of New Jersey 
 
 .Mr. President: Other Senators have portrayed the life and 
 matchless services that vSenator Allison performed during his 
 long service in this body and in the other House; a service be- 
 ginning March 4, 1863, m the administration of Lincoln, and 
 extending to August 4, 1908. He passed through the eventful 
 scenes of the civil war and those growing out of it, and was of 
 unequaled service to his country. To him we owe man\- of the 
 most valued acts of legislation that have been passed during 
 his long term of public life, but 1 desire to say onl\- a word to 
 pay a tribute of friendship to his memorv. 
 
 My personal acquaintance with Senator Allison covered a 
 long period of years, for 1 had the pleasure of knowing him 
 for many years before I came to the Senate, and the almost 
 daily association with him here makes me feel his loss most 
 grievously. 
 
 In looking back over the last few years I hnd it hard to miss 
 so many valued friends distinguished in public life. Hanna, 
 Sewell, Piatt, Morgan, and many others; and now the senior 
 Senator, to whom we all looked up with respect and admira- 
 tion, has gone. 
 
 How often in the future we shall miss his genial jK-rsonality, 
 which made him welcome everywhere; his wise counsel; his 
 calm judgment; his wonderfully keen intellectual grasp. The 
 Senate in which he served so long and so well mourns him, too. 
 
 Time goes, you say? Ah, no! 
 .Alas, time stays; we go. 
 
 78135 — S. Doc. 76O, to-j 6 
 
82 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Depew, of New York 
 
 Mr. PrEvSIDEnt: We raise the curtain to-day upon the most 
 momentous events in the history of the Republic. The life of 
 our Nation can be broadly divided into three eras — its creation, 
 its preserv^ation, and its development. The two last are vividly 
 recalled by the career of Senator William B. Allison. He 
 entered Congress in 1862 and died a vSenator in 1908. Never 
 during recorded time has so much been done for liberty, hu- 
 manity, and progress as is crowded into this period. The whole 
 world is its debtor, but the United States is our retrospect at 
 this hour. 
 
 We are here, in the assembly honored by his membership and 
 the Hall which witnessed his activities, to pay tribute to the 
 memory of one of the most influential statesmen of these won- 
 derful years. He took his seat in the House of Representatives 
 when the future seemed darkest. A solid vSouth and divided 
 North, disaster to the Union cause in the field and threatened 
 intervention by Europe, our credit seriously impaired and wide- 
 spread discontent, created a situation full of peril for the preser- 
 vation of the Union. The continent trembled under the tread 
 of armies greater in number than any before marshaled in mod- 
 ern times, and the shock of battles between brothers, each willing 
 to die for his idea, had desolated every home in the land. Lin- 
 coln voiced the first and greatest necessity — to save the Union — 
 in these memorable words: 
 
 I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the 
 Constitution. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they 
 could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there 
 be those who would not save the Union unless thev could at the same 
 
Address of Mr. Dcpcw, of New York f^;^ 
 
 time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. .My paramount object in 
 this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy 
 slavery. If 1 could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would 
 do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if 
 I could save it by freeing some anil leaving otliers alone, I would also do 
 that. 
 
 He stood like a rock against aljolitionists and radicals who 
 would have him try to free the slaves at a time when ])ublic 
 sentiment wotild not have sustained him and the loss of Union 
 supporters would have been fatal, btit when all saw it was nec- 
 essary to save the Union he issued the emancipation jjroelama- 
 tion. 
 
 The success of the national cause in the civil war placed the 
 Union upon firmer foundation, to be made secure for all time 
 by the reconstruction of the States and the acceptance by those 
 in rebellion of their equal enjoyment of American citizenship 
 and unity in loyalty for the old flag. Our Government was 
 then the least in power and consideration among nations. But 
 it advanced by leaps and bounds until at the peace of Ports- 
 mouth between Russia and Japan, brought about by President 
 Roosevelt, we took front rank and won the right and recogni- 
 tion of voice and vote in all matters afifecting the welfare of the 
 world. 
 
 People prosper and nations advance according to the wisdom 
 of the policies and measures which govern them. The waste of 
 war must be stipplied by credit and money. The count rv re- 
 quired revenue bills to enlarge its income; the development of 
 its resources to furnish the basis for increased taxation, and a 
 currency system in harmony with great industrial nations. It 
 was in these fields that Senator Allisox did most w-ise, benefi- 
 cent, and far-reaching work. Happily his State of Iowa, ajjpre- 
 ciating his value to the country, kept him continuouslv in tlie 
 Senate. The record and rewards of his career were dm- to 
 neither luck nor chance. He won and held place and increasing 
 
84 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 power by ceaseless industry, rare judgment , tact, which amounted 
 to genius, and the graces which command loyalty and love. In 
 the House he was on the Committee on Ways and Means, and in 
 the vSenate for twenty-six years a member of the Committee on 
 Finance, and for thirty years on the Committee on Appropria- 
 tions, and for twenty-five years its chairman. In these ])ositions 
 he had always before him problems of revenue and expenditures 
 of the Government, ujjon which rest its stability, credit, and ^ 
 prosperity. They appealed to him because of natural gifts for 
 these questions, and by study and experience he acquired such 
 mastery over them that he became an acknowledged authority 
 and accepted leader. 
 
 He believed that industrial independence and internal devel- 
 opment, increase in national wealth, and a higher standard of 
 living for labor than ever known, could be had only by a pro- 
 tective tariff. He was the clearest and soundest of the many 
 able men who have contributed to the legislation or literature 
 of this question. The ^lorrill bill, enacted in 1861, had per- 
 formed invaluable service in replenishing the Treasury during 
 the war and stimulating ])roduction and manufactures after. 
 But the marvelous growth of our industries in both volume and 
 variety called for a new adaptation to present needs. While 
 McKinley was the unrivaled expounder and advocate of the 
 merits of the measure which bore his name, it was the ripe 
 learning and constructive genius of Allison which framed and 
 perfected the law. He pointed out the weakness which was 
 afterwards developed in the Wilson bill, and his report warned 
 Congress and the country of the disastrous results which fol- 
 lowed its enactment. The universal recognition of his talents 
 for initiative and upbuilding made him a member of the sub- 
 committee which perfected the Dinglex bill, which has been in 
 force since 1897, and to him was assigned the charge of its 
 
Address of Mr. Dcprd\ of New York 85 
 
 passage in llu- Senate. In this brief review is seen the master 
 mind and skilled hand in legislation for the tariff during the 
 thirty-live years it was on trial. He saw his polic\- at times 
 crippled, and once nearly destroyed; hul witli faith whieh never 
 wavered and courage which never faltered he plead with the 
 people and labored with their representatives until the fruition 
 of his opinions and experience had ripened into law. He lived 
 to witness for ten years the most extraordinary progress and 
 prosperity ever known in any land — the result, as he believed, 
 of the triumph of his principles. 
 
 But the Senator's activities were in ever}- branch of revenue 
 legislation. He i)rcparcd in 1868 the internal-revenue law 
 which with few modifications is still in force and witii the least 
 possible burden upon the i)eople yields large returns to the 
 Treasury. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton was the greatest of constructive states- 
 men. With little of precedent for guidance, he formed out of 
 cha6s a model system of constitutional government and devised 
 the details for its administration. He was the father of pro- 
 tective principles, and his report on that subject has been the 
 inspiration of all subsequent discussion and legislation. His 
 methods and rules for the management of our customs re- 
 mained unchanged for a century. Primitive conditions in the 
 importation of foreign goods had grown and expanded until 
 our commerce had so far outgrown the regulations which had 
 controlled it for a hundred years that modifications adapted 
 to modern situations were necessary. The work had been 
 undertaken many times and failed, and was finally jilaced in 
 the hands of vSenator Allisox. After two years of patient 
 effort he succeeded in enacting a law wholly i)repared bv him- 
 self which, without change, has been the guide of our customs- 
 revenue ser\'ice from 1890 until to-dav. 
 
86 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Senator Allisox was a disciple of Hamilton. He revered his 
 memory and was a profound student of his works. At a time 
 when the people were wildly following the ignis fatuus of vision- 
 ary finance, Allison kept his faith in sound economic princi- 
 ples. He early saw that material development and progress 
 were temporary and delusive imless based upon a stable and 
 unfluctuating standard of value. We came out of the civil war 
 with our currency upon foundations as insecure as the earth- 
 quake soil of Messina, and feverish speculation followed by 
 disastrous panics was our perpetual peril. A loyal sentiment 
 that the irredeemable greenback had saved the Union nurtured 
 faith in fiat money and the virtues of the paper mill in main- 
 taining values. This and the silver heresy threatened political 
 oblivion to all who opposed them. The Senator's fight for sound 
 money illustrated the practical ability of his statesmanship. He 
 could bow to the storm and not be bent. He saw no merit in so 
 attempting to stem the tide as to be swept into outer darkness 
 and lost to sight and memory. He preferred to go with and 
 guide it — the most difficult of tasks. It required from 1865 to 
 1875 before the people could be educated to belief in a specie 
 basis. That decade was as full of peril to our industries as the 
 civil war had been to our nationality. The resumption act was 
 the work of John Sherman, but his ablest and most efficient 
 associate was Senator Allison. 
 
 That law made our depreciated currency as good as gold in 
 theory, but not in fact. The enormous output of silver alarmed 
 the mining industry because the supply was exceeding the de- 
 mand. Besides the selfish interests of the mine owners, some of 
 the best minds in tlic country became advocates of the free and 
 unlimited coinage of silver. The farmer was persuaded it would 
 double the price of his products and pay ofif his mortgages; the 
 debtor that it would reduce the amount of his loans, the work- 
 
Address of Mr. Pcpew, of Xew York 87 
 
 man that it would double his wages, and by the mysterious 
 alchemy of a government stamp, its purchasing power would 
 not diminish with its falling price. Both Houses of Congress 
 were captured by its fallacies and popularity. Popular passions 
 had not run so high since the civil war. Wise and prudent men 
 saw that the success of the scheme would drive out gold, put 
 the country on a silver basis, and after a wild carnival end in 
 bankruptcy. vSenator Allison saved the situation by securing 
 the assent of a majority for a limited coinage of silver, bought 
 by and belonging to the Government. The working of this com- 
 promise demonstrated the folly of a double standard and 
 brought the people to see that except the opinion of the world 
 could be changed we must come to gold. In hastening that 
 event our friend performed invaluable and lasting service. The 
 successful legislator must adjust the bill he proposes or has in 
 charge to the diverse views of his colleagues without impairing 
 its essential object. He yields, harmonizes, and conciliates, but 
 gets in the main what he wants at the time or gains a step for 
 further advance when the majority are brought to his view. 
 
 Senator Allison was past master of that art. He knew the 
 Senate. Its capricious moods were his opportunitv. His pa- 
 tience was never exhausted, the serenity of his temper never 
 ruffled. He could grant to an adversary an amendment with 
 such grace and deference to superior judgment that the flattered 
 enemy accepted a few suggestions from the master as a tribute 
 to his talents. The post-mortem revealed his mistake. 
 
 As in the gold standard, so whenever a principle was involved, 
 the vSenator's mind was clear from the beginning; but it re- 
 quired, step by step, twenty years before the idea captured the 
 country. The strongest criticism of his career was his willing- 
 ness to compromise; but the Constitution of the United vStates 
 was a compromise between the large and smaller Slates. The 
 
88 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Missouri Compromise of Henry Clay in 1820 was the salvation 
 of the Union — secession then would have succeeded; but forty 
 years devoted to instilling into youth love for the Nation and 
 the flag, and the growth in population and resources ot the free 
 States, welded the Union beyond the possibility of disruption. 
 
 The country reunited in faith and loyalty, the industrial and 
 financial systems which had commanded his unequaled talents 
 for a third of a century triumphantly established and working 
 out the beneficent results of prosperity, production, and happi- 
 ness upon which he had based faith and prophecy, the old 
 statesman might have been content. 
 
 Nations, like individuals, "pass this way but once." Golden 
 opportunities .at the milestones are lost or won. The triumphs 
 of one generation make trouble for the next. Progress and de- 
 velopment create new issues and statesmen confront fresh prob- 
 lems with every advance. Railroad mileage had increased with 
 the growth of population and extension of settlements. These 
 lines are the arteries of commerce and had been consolidated into 
 great systems. Evils existed in some of them which angered 
 the people against them all. Government ownership or govern- 
 ment control were leading issues. The President and his ad- 
 visers prepared a large scheme of government control. It was 
 threatened, on the one hand, by conservative forces which fight 
 all change in existing conditions, and radical reformers who 
 would jiut on the measure drastic amendments so far-reaching 
 and confiscatory as to involve years of litigation and inxite an 
 adverse decision from the vSupreme Court. The veteran victor 
 of a hundred legislative battlefields was called into counsel. 
 The suggestions of vSenator Allison perfected and passed the 
 rate bill. It has stood the test of the courts. It has largely elim- 
 inated the evils of railway management, and the j^eople and 
 investors recognize its wisdom. 
 
Address of Mr. Pcpim', oj Sew York 89 
 
 Senator Allison was never spectacular. He was modest and 
 retiring to a degree. Many of his colleagues filled large sjiaee 
 with their speeches in the Congressional Record, while his 
 monument was in the statute books. Because of the radicalism 
 of their proposals, or their eloquence in debate, or their manu- 
 facture of epigrams, others had headlines and cohunns in the 
 press, while this tireless and unheralded architect of the public 
 welfare was standing guard over the treasury or making laws 
 which marked epochs in our history. 
 
 He rarelv missed a vote. When the bell rang for a roll call, 
 coming from his constant labor in the room of the Committee 
 on Appropriations, he was among the lirst to enter the Senate. 
 His name was next to the top 01 the list. He never waited to 
 find out how the question was going, but answered promptly, 
 and that answer often decided the fate of the measure. He had 
 the courage of his convictions and not of a majority behind him. 
 
 He represented an agricultural State whose people often 
 differed with him on economic and financial questions. But 
 a singularly broad-minded and intelligent constituency recog- 
 nized his honesty, character, and greatness, and loyally returned 
 him again and again to the seat in which he shed such luster 
 upon Iowa. His closing hours were passed in the supreme 
 happiness that after thirty five years of continuous service in 
 the Senate and after passing the limit of fourscore the people 
 had commissioned him for another term. 
 
 If, as I believe, those who meet in the activities of this life 
 are reunited hereafter, it was a wonderful band of immortals 
 who greeted Allison. President Lincoln had consulted him on 
 measures for raising money to carry on the war; Johnson on 
 constitutional amendments, civil rights, and general anmesty; 
 Grant on the reconstruction of the States, finance, and a gov- 
 ernment for the District of Columbia, still working satisfactorilv 
 
90 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 and wholly devised by Allison; Hayes on the resumption of 
 specie payments; Arthur on the policy of a tariff commission, 
 Harrison on the McKinley tariff legislation and closer relations 
 between the republics of the Western Hemisphere bv a Fan- 
 American Congress; Cleveland on the repeal of the purchase 
 clause of the Sherman silver law, and McKinlev on tariff, cur- 
 rency, the gold standard, and grave questions arising out of 
 the acquisition and government of Porto Rico and the Philip- 
 pines, all of them era-making measures. Three of these Presi- 
 dents had urgently invited him to join their Cabinets, and twice 
 the Presidency had been almost within his grasp. When he 
 first obtained the floor in Congress, he addressed Speaker Schuv- 
 ler Colfax, and when he spoke last, forty-five years afterwards, 
 Vice-President Fairbanks in the chair recognized the Senator 
 from Iowa. vSeward, Chase, and Stanton, John Sherman 
 James G. Blaine, and Thaddeus Stevens were his associates and 
 intimates. When the future historian writes the storv of this 
 remarkable period and portrays the actors in that great national 
 drama who contributed to its distinction, he will place among 
 the few in the front rank the name of William B. Allison. 
 
Address of Mr. Beveridge, of Indiana 91 
 
 Address of Mr. Beveridge, of Indiana 
 
 Mr. President : luillness of years, great work well done, wealth 
 of honors, the respect of a Nation — all these were vSenalor 
 Allison's when that kindly angel men call "Death" folded 
 him in the arms of rest and bore him to the Father and to 
 recompense. 
 
 Older friends have spoken of his labors for the Republic; I 
 shall not go over that again. In the country's written laws and 
 accomplished purposes his wisdom hves. Sound and farsecing 
 counsel is as real a power as fleets afloat or armies in the field. 
 It is more — it is the mind that guides all the material forces of 
 the world. Sure judgment was the strength and worth of this 
 great public man. 
 
 More than most, he knew the value of patience. Panting 
 eagerness nor stolid " do-lessness " did not disturb his calm. He 
 had forbearance alike for those who would drive the ship too 
 fast for safety and for those who would put out the fires beneath 
 her boilers. He knew that both were partly right and both 
 were partly wrong; and he saw that from the conllict a steady 
 force would come that, uniting the wisdom in both views, would 
 bring the vessel safe to port. And so his was the statesmanship 
 of the moderate, and therefore the statesmanship of the effecti\o. 
 
 I never saw Senator Allison a single time that I did not 
 think of those great words of Kmerson; 
 
 Teach me thy mood, O patient stars 
 
 That climb each night the ancient sky, 
 And leave on space no trace, no scars, 
 
 No sign of age, no fear to die. 
 
92 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Sitting at the feet of this Gamaliel of the Senate one felt that 
 from his earliest youth lie had made these immortal "lines his 
 nightly prayer and ihat the responding heavens had answered 
 it. For he was never irritated. He stood on heights from 
 which he could see all opinions and behold the Supreme Intelli- 
 gence fitting them together. It was this broad vision that 
 made him so valuable as an agent of that Higher Power which 
 in the end marshals all forces for the final general good of man. 
 
 With our narrower outlook and heated with zeal for our smaller 
 views, many of us feel that unless these views, and these alone, 
 prevail the country is lost; and this is well, for without the fire 
 of faith in our own thought no headway is made. And vet, 
 when all is done, we find what we thought to be different and 
 hostile plans have, by some mysterious power, been woven to- 
 gether in harmonious design. 
 
 And so we come to know that hospitality to ideas is the largest 
 wisdom. At our intellectual firesides an idea always should be 
 welcome; a fact always should be an honored guest. No matter 
 whence thought or knowledge come, no matter in what garb 
 they are clothed, bid them enter and turn them not away, for 
 we may be entertaining angels unawares. Crabbed prejudice is 
 the enemy of progress and truth; kindly patience is the friend of 
 both. And so the kindly and patient man is he whom both prog- 
 ress and truth befriend. And such w^as Senator Allison. 
 
 Tell me — 
 
 Said the ancient ruler to his wise men — 
 
 tell me one single thing that is true forever. Give me but one sentence 
 that time will not jirove false. 
 
 And the wise men answered: 
 
 And this, too, shall pass away. 
 
 At first it seems that this is so. Men go and are forgotten, 
 
 no matter how great they are; governments decay, races perish — 
 
AdJnss of Mr. I^cvcridqc, of huiiaua qi, 
 
 all sccni to pass away. Hut they do not jiass, in very truth. TIk- 
 iioi:)lest thou,!.;ht in all this univcrsL- is that each man and woman, 
 humble or high placed, pours his or her life into those supreme 
 jilans which live forever. And so, with the sure knowletlge that 
 whether our work be small or, like vSenator Allison's, be great, 
 it still is more lasting than the stars. Let us go forward with 
 humility that we can do so little, but with i)ride and thankful- 
 ness that we have been chosen to do our small part as servants 
 of th& Master Workman. 
 
 With such belief and wisdom our friend and leader finished 
 his tasks, and at the end kindly patience and forbearing toler- 
 ance were his companions still. PVom earthl\' \'ision all of us 
 are going, and (piickly; we know not which one of us is soonest 
 to be called. 
 
 "Spin, spin, Clotho spin I T.achesis, twist! and Atropos, 
 sever" — only fate can tell who shall be next. But when we go, 
 may each of us go as went Senator Allison, our work well done 
 and manfully, leaving behind no hate; our finished lives like his,' 
 a blessing and an example; and having his faith that whatever 
 befalls still- 
 God's in His heaven: 
 All's right with the world. 
 
94 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Burkett, of Nebraska 
 
 Mr. President: In response to the invitation of vSenator 
 Dolliver, who has spoken so eloquently and feelingly, and in 
 obedience to the promptings of my own heart, I wish to offer a 
 few words in testimony of my appreciation of the life and char- 
 acter of Senator Allison. I can not add to the story of his 
 life, for it has been told by those who have been in closer touch 
 with it. I can not extol more fittingly his virtues and achieve- 
 ments than has been done by those who have sat side by side 
 with him for many years in these chambers of legislation and 
 who have borne with him the burdens, endured with him the 
 criticism, and shared with him the approval of the great Ameri- 
 can people. 
 
 Ordinarily the disparity of our ages and the comparative 
 briefness of our association in public life would dictate that I 
 should respect his memory in silence while others spoke. But, 
 Mr. President, there were ties that bound him to me in life, and 
 those memories impel me to speak a word of love and apprecia- 
 tion now. I can not remember a time when his name was not 
 familiar to me, nor a moment when his life was not an inspira- 
 tion to me. The State that honored him so long was my birth- 
 place, among the people that loved him so well are the friends 
 and acquaintances of my youth, and in the soil of the Common- 
 wealth where we buried him rest the remains of my loved ones 
 that have gone beyond. And to-day, Mr. President, there are 
 still in that State those near and dear to me who would have 
 me speak for them, if not for myself, of half a century of asso- 
 ciation and affection almost filial. .\nd, Mr. President, I mav 
 also very appropriately remind Senators that Senator Allison 
 
Address of Mr. Burkctt, oj Scbraska 95 
 
 was especially near and dear to many of the citizens of my own 
 State. Nebraska has drawn from every State in the Union and 
 from every country in the world to people lur j^rairies, but 
 owing to her proximity, as well as the similarity of physical 
 conditions, Iowa has furnished an umisually lar^e quota of our 
 population. When the great army of pioneers from that State 
 crossed the Missouri River they brought with them a prick- in 
 Senator Allison, whose career was just beginning, and which 
 thev have followed affectionately for forty years. His friend- 
 ship is among the fond memories of many of them, and his life 
 has been an inspiration to many more who were not fortunate in 
 a personal acquaintance. 
 
 And as I have listened to these eulogies to-day, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, my mind has traveled back to the earlier days of my own 
 life, for I have heard from the lips of his distinguished col- 
 leagues in this great Chamber here the same sweet story of his 
 kindness and honorableness, of his patience and energy, of his 
 high-mindedness and his devotion to duty, that I heard as a boy 
 around the fireside of my old Iowa home. From Senator 
 Allison's life there are many lessons that we may learn; in 
 fact, there seems no virtues as a public man and a good citizen 
 that he did not possess. Patience, perseverance, devotion, cour- 
 age, integritv — he had them all. Bombast, deceit, treachery, 
 jealousy, haughtiness — he lacked them all. His power was love, 
 not fear; faithfulness to duty, not sordid ambition. vSome men 
 have won the applause of their fellow-men by fear; some have 
 won it by power; some have won it by rare ability and bril- 
 liancy of speech; but good old vSenator Allison won it with 
 love. His kindliness of heart and fraternal sympathy attracted 
 him to all men. At home and abroad, in Iowa and in Wash- 
 ington, in the palace and in the cottage, forty years ago and 
 until death called him home, ])eople loved him. 
 
96 Memorial Addresses: Willium B. Allison 
 
 Mr. Presick-nl, lliosc of us who aUeiuled his funeral learned, 
 perhaps for the first time, that nearl\- all his dear ones had 
 preceded him in death, and yet we remember also that his 
 mourners were legion. From every part of bis Commonwealth; 
 aye, from the remotest i)ortions of the Republic, there came 
 men to ])ay the last sad tribute of love. I{very State in the 
 Union is indebted to Iowa for giving to the country Willi. \m 
 B. Allison, and one of the bright spots in her escutcheon for- 
 ever is his honor and his fame. He w-as honored by a State 
 and he honored a Nation. His fame was broader than his 
 State, his rank among men was higher than the position he 
 held, and his honor was greater than the honor of his office. 
 Not all men who have been honored have been honorable, for 
 public life is honorable to such only as honor it, and the scroll 
 of fame is for those only who can write their own names upon 
 it. Public life makes some men famous and others infamous; 
 some men noble and others base and ignoble. Holding public 
 office is only an opportunity, and belongs to no man who does 
 not feel its responsibility and who is not determined to measure 
 up to its obligations. 
 
 It is a means and not an end; for while it affords opportunity, 
 it carries no guarantee. It opens the way, but bears no bou- 
 quets; it offers a throne, but never lays a crown. True, it may 
 not always have been so esthetically contemplated; it may have 
 been given at times as a decoration or a prize for ignoble things; 
 it may have been sought as the end, wdth little concern as to 
 the means emploved. Men may have been elected without qual- 
 ification for its duties and without purpose of qualifying for 
 them, but in the end the prize is cheap and valueless unless at- 
 tended with honorable purpose, lofty ideals, and sacred devotion 
 to duty. It is not unjust to any man to say that American his- 
 tory affords no career longer in time, more successful in achieve- 
 
Address of Mr. Burkttt, of Nebraska 97 
 
 mem. hight-r in ideal, purer in motive, and more heloxed in 
 memory than that of Senator Aij.isox. I'or more than forty 
 years he bore the l)nr(lens of Iiis eoimtry, and upon his name 
 there is no blemish and upon his honor there is no shame. He 
 (hspensed the people's millions, and upon his reputation no 
 •awkward aspersion hangs." Between the people's extrava- 
 gance and the people's purse he stood, and during all the years 
 that he directed the approjjriations there was no dehcit in the 
 Public Treasury. He saw the ordinary expenditures of the Gov- 
 ernment grow from sixty millions to more than six hundred mil- 
 lions, but not a dollar of deficiency or of misappropriation 
 reflects upon his judgment and integrity. 
 
 As I ha\e contemplated the more than forty years of his mag- 
 nificent {Hiblic career, I have thought of the growth of the Re- 
 puljlic in that time and of the obligation to the men of his gen- 
 eration. What years this last half century have been; what 
 visions he saw and what dreams he realized; what enormous 
 tasks have been accomplished and what stupendous problems 
 have been solved. In those years we have extended out terri- 
 tory, multiplied our resources, trebled our population, quad- 
 rupled our railroad miles, multijilied our foreign commerce by 
 six and our domestic commerce by ten. We have watered the 
 prairies, drained the swamps, and harnessed the pent-up energy 
 of the mountain. We have peopled the prairies with cities and 
 congested the cities with the people's enterprises. Inventive 
 genius has revolutionized industry and mechanical development 
 has multijjlied the people's power. From inconsequence inter- 
 nationally, we have become the political masters of the world; 
 and contemporaneous with it all, we trace the evolution of social 
 and connnercial and political ideals unto the magnificent 
 standard of to-day. The demand upon the genius and con- 
 science of men has never been greater, in m\- opinion, tlian dur- 
 7^i35~"^- Doc. 766, Ck) — 2 7 
 
98 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 ing those prolific years that Senator Allison exerted his great 
 influence upon the affairs of men. 
 
 It required cool heads and strong hearts, big minds and 
 steady ner\^es to pilot our ship of state during this eventful half 
 century. If men were more patriotic in the olden days of the 
 Nation, it is only in the meaning that we give the word, if 
 they were wiser it is only in our estimate of the relative impor- 
 tance of the problems they solved. I confess that to m\ mind 
 the patriotism that establishes a flag is of no higher order than 
 the patriotism that sustains it and enlarges it and multiplies 
 its significance in the power and opportunity and possibility 
 of the people that it stands for. Popular government is not pre- 
 ser\^ed by any different patriotism than that which conceives it. 
 To me it required no greater wisdom and genius to write a con- 
 stitution than to develop a continent under it, assure its per- 
 petuity and maintain its integrity of purpose and direct its 
 successful operation. It was during the life of Senator Allison 
 and to which he gave so much of his great intellect that we 
 unburdened ourselves of traditions and prejudices and pro- 
 vincialisms that hobbled us in our earlier national life and 
 became, in fact, the mighty nation that the founders of the 
 Republic ordained that we should be. It was during those vears 
 that we threw off the yoke of colonialism, brushed aside the 
 obstacles of jealousy and sectionalism, made facts of the ideals 
 of the Constitution, and started out upon a conquest commercial, 
 industrial, and political, unequaled in its achievement in all the 
 ages that the world has stood. We adjudicated many of the 
 conflicts of thought that formerly handicapped us and developed 
 a system of practical jurisprudence for political and industrial 
 purposes. Well may we pause in our triumphant march of 
 national supremacy upon this sad occasion and reflect upon the 
 course we have traveled and pay due homage to the generation 
 
Address of Mr. Burkett, of Nebraska 99 
 
 of men who iiiloted our craft in what has been the greatest lialf 
 century of all the world's history. Mr. President, in my opin- 
 ion in all the annals of historv there is portrayed no people 
 anywhere that equaled in valor and self-sacrifice and energy 
 and perseverance, and lofty ideals and noble pur{)oses. the men 
 and the women of the last fifty years. Well may we pay a 
 tribute to our fathers and gather inspiration if we can for the 
 performance of our duty in the day of our responsibility. 
 
 I have thus spoken, Mr. President, prompted not by sentiment 
 alone, although I confess the thought tends to make one senti- 
 mental; nor, indeed, Mr. President, have I spoken because of 
 apprehension for the future. But we are so young and vigor- 
 ous as a nation, so hopeful and buoyant as individuals, and so 
 proud and victorious as a people that, like boys at play, we 
 almost defy the laws of health and safety, and in our manhood 
 we almost forget the guiding hand that was around us and 
 about us directing our toddling steps, shielding us from danger, 
 and perfecting us in the jwwer and glory of our matured man- 
 hood. I shall not be understood as despairing of the future, 
 for, in the appropriate words of another, "To despair of America 
 would be to despair of humanity." I am optimistic upon the 
 growing virtues and capacity of men, and believe that each 
 generation is an improvement upon anything that has gone 
 before it. That is the highest tribute to any generation, that it 
 left the world and mankind better than it found them. But 
 aside from that, I have such faith in an all-wise and all-sufficient 
 Providence that has hitherto attended our course, that gave to 
 us the constructive genius of Washington, the preserving 
 genius of Lincoln, and the promotive genius of Senator Allison 
 and his contemporaries, to believe that we shall not lack in 
 men of power and coriscience to perpetuate the ideals that have 
 hitherto directed our achievements and shaped our destiny. 
 
loo Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 I presume Senator Allisox had some faults, although it 
 always seemed to me that they were less obtrusive and less 
 complained of than those of any other man I ever knew. I 
 presume he had his shortcomings, although they were not 
 greatly apparent. I presume that during his long and eventful 
 career he has felt the sting of ingratitude and the heartburnings 
 of unjust criticism. Such is the penalty of {)ublic life, and such 
 it will always be. 
 
 If such penalties were visited upon him, he bore them bravely 
 and uncomplainingly, and in the grandeur of his stature of mind 
 and heart he arose above them and the authors of them. He 
 was too big to be mean to his enemies, too big to be impa- 
 tient with his traducers, too big to denounce his culumniators, 
 and too big to quarrel with them. He was forgiving when 
 others were vengeful, unrelenting when others were dismaved, 
 thoughtful when others were noisy, and tolerant when others 
 were extreme. He never leaped without looking; he never con- 
 demned without reason nor acted without knowing. It was 
 these qualities of mind and heart that retained for him the 
 love and loyalty of his people at home and qualified him for the 
 great achievements of his life work. 
 
 We may erect monuments to his memory, and we may extol 
 his virtues, but, Mr. President, the impress of his memorv and 
 virtues will live long after our little monuments shall crumble 
 and our ])odr words shall be forgotten. More enduring than 
 anxthing that we can do is the monument of love that he 
 builded for himself in the grateful hearts of the American people, 
 and more lasting than what we shall here say is his own indelible 
 inscription upon the institutions and laws of his country. 
 
Address of Mr. Smith, oj Michigan loi 
 
 Address of Mr. Smith, of MicraoAN 
 
 Mr. President: As I have lisiemd to the ckxiucnl eulogies 
 on the late vSenator Allison, I luue thou,ij;ht numy times during 
 the afternoon of the great value of such a personality to the 
 world, and I have congratulated myself over and over again 
 that it was my privilege to personally know this truly great 
 man. 
 
 During the years of my public service I have heard much, 
 praise of dead colleagues, but never such a wealth of touching 
 eulogy more appropriately bestowed than upon Iowa's noble 
 son. 
 
 I have recalled to my mind the Ixautiful relationship exist- 
 ing between vSenator Allison and all his colleagues. That 
 kind, gentle, helpful, lovable nature went out to the vounger 
 Members of this body with unstinted generosity and marked 
 effect, and I do not wonder that the older men here came 
 to love him so dearly and have been so deeply moved bv his 
 departure. 
 
 But, Mr. President, I have also thought manv times during 
 this day of the consolation and the comfort that it must afford 
 the brilliant young colleague of that great statesman to feel that 
 during all the years of their association he was so loyal, so kind, 
 so considerate, so sympathetic with every aspiration and desire 
 of his aged colleague. True and loving to the end, under all 
 conditions and at all times, in sickness and in health, com- 
 forting him in his last and lonely battle with the dread reaper, 
 the junior Senator from Iowa [Mr. Dolliver] filled the final 
 hours of his friend with a radiance and i)erfume difiicult to 
 descril)e, and the gentle ministrations which we witnessed here 
 
I02 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 will for many years to come constitute one of the priceless 
 traditions of this Chamber. 
 
 Senator Allison's life was a struggie. Born in poverty, he 
 fought his own way up the ladder to the topmost round, never 
 forgetting the steps by which he climbed. His life gives the lie 
 to the pretense of men that there are no longer opportunities in 
 America for the humble and unpretentious. His brilliant ex- 
 ample is an inspiration to us all. I hope the great body of the 
 American people may draw from it the lessons which it richly 
 affords, and that in the estimate of the people public men will 
 be treated with kindlier consideration and more accurate judg- 
 ment by reason of this noble and unselfish life, consecrated to 
 the general weal. 
 
 Mr. President, I attended the funeral services of the late 
 
 Senator at his home city. I witnessed with my own eves the 
 
 depth of feeling which was showered upon him. I saw the streets 
 
 filled with those who loved him, standing in silent testimonv to 
 
 their deep affection, paying the last great tribute to his matchless 
 
 life. I saw his body lowered to its last resting place and heard 
 
 the lamentations of those he served. Upon that historic mound, 
 
 which overlooks the valley and by which courses the Mississippi 
 
 in its silent march to the sea, Willi.vm Boyd Allison sleeps the 
 
 long sleep. I have wondered many times whether, in the 
 
 alchemy of nature, there was to come again a man of similar 
 
 mold. 
 
 It is said of Napoleon that after the battle of Toulon, weary 
 
 and tired and unable longer to withstand the call for rest, he 
 
 sat down upon the battlefield, and sitting fell asleep. The old 
 
 guard of the Little Corporal formed a hollow square about him 
 
 and watched with patient vigil until the rest came to his tired 
 
 eyes. So in the vState that Allison honored so highly, as time 
 
 began to furrow his brow and rechisel his faultless features, as 
 
Address oj M) . Smilli, oj Michigan 103 
 
 his giant frame gave way under the weight of great responsi- 
 bihties, the old guard of Iowa formed a hollow square about 
 him and watched over him and protected his illustrious name 
 with a wealth of manly atlection and genuine enthusiasm which 
 must have rendered his last days sweet and choice indeed. 
 
 All of us must grow old, the snow must fall upon our heads; 
 it is so ordained; but must we falter and say — 
 The night has come, it is no longer day. 
 
 The night has not yet come; we are not quite cut off from 
 labor by the failing light. 
 
 Chaucer, at Wocidstock \vith the nightingales, 
 At sixty wrote the Canterbury Tales; 
 Goethe at Weimar, toiling to the last. 
 Completed Faust when eighty years were past. 
 These are indeed exceptions; but they show- 
 How far the gulf-stream of our youth may flow 
 Into the arctic regions of our lives, 
 Where little else than life itself survives. 
 As the barometer foretells the storm 
 While still the skies are clear, the weather warm, 
 So something in us, as old age draws near. 
 Betrays the ])ressure of the atmosphere. 
 The nimble mercury, ere we are aware, 
 Descends the elastic ladder of the air; 
 The telltale blood in artery and vein 
 Sinks from its higher levels in the brain; 
 Whatever poet, orator, or sage 
 May say of it, old age is still old age. 
 It is the waning, not tiie crescent moon; 
 The dusk of evening, not the blaze of noon. 
 * * * * 
 
 And as the evening twihght fades away 
 The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day. 
 
 The life of this great statesman, simple, pure, modest, and 
 unaffected, kindly, gentle, and just, is a benediction to us all. 
 He has crossed the great river, made wider by our affections 
 and deepened by our tears. The world is i;)oorer for his going, 
 and heaven has a new attraction for us all. 
 
I04 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Borah, of bAHO 
 
 Mr. PKn;sir)i':xT: Perhaps there is no greater distinction, no 
 higher honor within the reach of men in these days than that 
 which may be gathered in the faithful discharge of official 
 duties. It seems to me that the man who takes office under a 
 republic, modest as the emoluments must be, onerous and ar- 
 duous as the duties are, and, with an eye single to the honor 
 and glory of his State and his Government, works patientlv on 
 to the close of his earthly existence, is entitled in every sense 
 to the commendation and love of his fellow-men. He has-given 
 to his country all — his time, his ability, the benefit of his watch- 
 ful, untiring leadership, the uplifting and protecting influence 
 of his patriotism. It must be said that when the end comes, 
 the highest obligation which one owes to his country has in full 
 been liquidated. 
 
 Senator Allison met in full measure this high standard of 
 public duty. He came to the public service in earlv manhood. 
 He gave to the public ser\'ice not only the best, but all the years 
 of his life^resting not even for the final journey, although un- 
 derstanding well thaf notice of the departure had been ser\^ed. 
 Here, bowed and worn and broken, he died, active, vigilant, 
 and faithful to the very last. Holding to the end the gratitude 
 and love of his great State, the admiration and confidence of 
 the Nation, and the trust and veneration of his colleagues, he 
 passed quietly from our midst as one well worn and wearv with 
 the work of the day retires for the slumbers of the night. The 
 most welcome death to the veteran must l)e the death which 
 finds the armor on. 
 
Address of Mr. Borah, of Idaho lo.s 
 
 Senator William B. Allisox was born March 2, 1829, two 
 days prior to the first inauguration of Andrew Jackson as 
 President of the United States. At the same time, out in the 
 wilderness of the West, there was trudi^ing alongside of his ox 
 team, searching out a new home in his adopted State of Illinois, 
 one who was in due course of time to become the most remark- 
 able figure of the centuries, the dominating influence of whose 
 indescribable genius was to change the current of history and 
 and rearrange the forces of American civilization. 
 
 The historian, commenting upon the election of Andrew Jack- 
 son, tells us that it marked the dawn of a new era in American 
 politics— the era of control of our politics by the masses in the 
 true sense of the term. A strange heresy had existed among 
 some of the leaders of prior days. It was extensively believed 
 that only the highly educated and the property holders should 
 have a voice in the Government. It has been said by one high 
 in the councils of the Nation, "The people should have as little 
 to do as may be about the Government." Bv another, 'The 
 people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended 
 patriots." And yet another, "It would be as unnatural to refer 
 the choice of a proper character for Chief Magistrate to the 
 people as it would be to refer the trial of colors to a blind 
 man." Most of the States had provided a proper! v ciualifica- 
 tion for voters. 
 
 The election of Jackson marked the first real ui^rising and 
 victory of the forces which rejected those doctrines — the first 
 signal triumph of those to whom reference was often made as 
 the "uneducated" and "propertyless rabble." And, strange as 
 it may seem, this conflict was to go on in different ways, by 
 instrumentalities peculiar to the choosing of a power the secret 
 of whose counsels we can not know, until (he countr\- boy, raised 
 from amid the "uneducated" and "propertyless" niassi's to be 
 
io6 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 their Chief Magistrate and devoted friend, was upon the field 
 of Gettysburg, with slavery in its last throes writhing at his 
 feet, to announce the fulfillment of this dispensation in words 
 that still live and will never die: "The government of the peo- 
 ple, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the 
 earth." 
 
 Under the inspiration of these sublime teachings Senator 
 Allison grew to manhood. In the midst of the culminating 
 scenes which made these doctrines the universal principles of 
 the Republic, he prepared to enter public life, and in the heroic 
 days of their final embodiment into our great Charter he reached 
 the full stature of American statesmanship. Thus prepared 
 and equipped, when the Nation, reunited and her people whoUv 
 free, entered upon that period of her marvelous material growth; 
 when deserts were to become empires of wealth and trackless 
 plains be changed into great States; w4ien the restless pioneer 
 should unlock the imprisoned riches of the mountains, and rail- 
 roads and telegraphs and telephones should compound us into 
 one compact and indomitable industrial force, and all this bring 
 up for solution the complex problems of modern legislation, he 
 was to become a conspicuous and masterful figure. Cautious 
 and conserv'ative, wakeful and resourceful, an adept in the sci- 
 ence of legislation, and a marvel in the adjusting of the differ- 
 ences of men, he was to become for years a leader in the greatest 
 legislative body in the world. There was nothing here of mo- 
 ment during his long service concerning which men did not seek 
 his counsel; there was no vexed problem, no profound question 
 of policy but his experience and his wisdom, his patience and 
 his patriotism could master. 
 
 There is a story in classic literature that a sculptor while 
 patiently working with lingering anxiety upon an obscure por- 
 tion of a statue was asked why he dwelt so long and with such 
 
Address of Mr. Borah, of Idaho 107 
 
 care upon that portion of the work which jxrhaps no human 
 eye would ever behold. The inspired artist replied: 
 
 This liiddcn finish excites most my zeal, for here the gods will look for 
 the evidence of fidelity and genius upon which Ihcy will either deny or 
 give to me imniortalitv. 
 
 One of the older vSenators said the other day we should hang 
 upon these walls his picture i)ainted by some great artist, and 
 perhaps his beloved State may some time conclude to place for 
 him a monument here in the Capitol; but his claim to immor- 
 tality is to l)e found hidden away among the statutes, found 
 here in the long story of the faithful, painstaking service, where 
 without ostentation or acclaim he lingered with uncommon zeal 
 to the hour when the last session closed at which he was per- 
 mitted to attend. Here is his monument; he erected it him- 
 self, and no one will erect another half so lasting as the one 
 which grew to such sublime proportions under his own hand 
 and direction. 
 
 • Mr. President, generously each generation remembers and 
 recounts the achievements of the heroes of war. The myste- 
 rious power of the martial spell sometimes sleeps, but never 
 dies. Yonder in the hall of fame the soldier and the statesman 
 stand side by side, but the visitor lingers longest before the 
 figures which call up the great battle scenes of the Republic. 
 We do not complain that it is so; but can there be a finer fiber 
 of manhood, a service to one's country calling for a keener 
 sense of duty, a more robust and resolute courage, a higher 
 order of patriotism than are revealed and exemplified in the 
 great careers of civil life? The questions and problems dealt 
 with involve the physical and moral well-being of countless 
 thousands. The enemies of the Nation with whom they must 
 contend do not march under foreign colors, but subtle, specious, 
 and insatiable throng, in robes of citizenship, the corridors of 
 
io8 Memoridl Addresses: William H. Allison 
 
 the Capitol. It is not a question of interposing skill and valor 
 against an open enemy, but of standing guard in every hour 
 against the power and inlluenee of those \vh(j would gratify 
 personal ambition to the disadvantage of the Government and 
 the permanent loss of the common rights and privileges of the 
 people. It involves the almost superhuman task of reconciling 
 the conflicting demands of the great commercial interests that 
 industry may have its just reward and every element of thrift 
 and frugality their compensation. In the halls of legislation, 
 more than any other place in the world, government fights its 
 battles with selfishness and greed, with reckless expenditure, 
 with special ])rivileges, a conflict never over and never won, a 
 conflict calling for poise of character, steadfastness of purpose, 
 and a patriotism as loyal as ever displayed on the field of battle. 
 A man who occupies a place of responsibility and command 
 in such a conflict for thirty-five years and passes on without 
 reproach and unscathed has earned glory enough for one man. 
 His place in history is secure. 
 
Address of Mr. Cummins, of Iowa 109 
 
 Address of Mr. Cummins, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Pri-sident: As I rise to say the last word upon this 
 occasion, after listening to the beautiful tributes that have 
 been inspired by afTectionate hearts, illuminated by loving 
 memories and vivified by eloquent lips, I am conscious of the 
 despair which must always be felt when the hand attempts to 
 gild the true gold or lay its crude colors upon the lovely shades 
 of the lily. In the few moments at my command I shall not 
 undertake to review the life of William B. Allison. That 
 work has already been faithfully done, and I venture to view 
 the subject from another standpoint. 
 
 Every day and every hour somewhere the flowers of aflfection 
 are 'being laid upon the last resting places of those who have 
 gone to their reward upon the other shore. Every day and 
 every hour somewhere sad hearts are pouring out their stores 
 of love upon the memories of those who have discharged 
 nature's last and greatest debt. Notwithstanding, however, the 
 universality of the ceremony through which we are now passing, 
 I think it may be truthfully declared that this hour is unlike 
 the hours which humanity ordinarily gives to the retrospect of 
 an honorable, useful life. It does not often happen tlial in ren- 
 dering a just tribute to the memory of one whose activities have 
 forever ceased we are compelled to survey the history of a 
 long and overwhelmingly imi)ortant period in the history of {)ur 
 country's affairs. Generally it is appropriate upon such an oc- 
 casion to do no more than to touch with lo\ing tenderness the 
 character and tjualit\- of tlie man. In this instance, however, 
 
no Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 the whole scene changes, and there rises up before us, whether 
 we will it so or not, forty-five years of a nation's life, years that 
 have no parallels, no companions in all the annals of the earth. 
 
 Standing here and looking backward over these years I can 
 see, it is true, the noble and commanding figure of the man 
 whose work we are commemorating, clothed in the garb of his 
 integrity of purpose, his openness of heart, and his amiability 
 of temperament, but in the foreground I see more clearly still 
 the procession of events covering nearly a half century of time; 
 and in this march, the most wonderful which civilization has 
 ever undergone, one man has kept step day after day and year 
 after year, steadying the column here, closing the broken ranks 
 there, and cheering and encouraging it everywhere. 
 
 To have merely lived in manhood from March 4, 1863, the day 
 upon which William B. Allison entered the Congress of the 
 United States, to August 4, 1908, the day upon which he died, 
 as a citizen of the United States was to enjoy an opportunity 
 the like of which the world never gave to mortal man. To have 
 borne a part, however obscure, in the drama of self-government 
 throughout these years, as the Republic staggered under the 
 blow of the civil war, as it felt its way through the perils of 
 reconstruction, as it readjusted its financial policy, as it grap- 
 pled with the problems which growth, prosperity, and wealth 
 created, was to be distinguished above the men of any other 
 time. To have been a prominent and conspicuous leader, to 
 have been a safe and valued counselor, to have been strong and 
 helpful in determining the fortunes of the Nation throughout 
 these years in which we emerged from obscurity and securely 
 occupied the highest station known in the historv of mankind, 
 was to attain the loftiest pinnacle of human honor, and this is 
 the crown which a just and grateful j^eople will bestow upon 
 the memory of William B. Allison, 
 
Address of Mr. Cummins, of Iowa m 
 
 Of his specific work in the House of Representatives for eight 
 years, and of his greater work in the Senate for nearly thirty- 
 six continuous years, I shall not speak. I must view his public 
 service as a whole; and looking at it from that exalted stand- 
 point, I do not hesitate to say that his name is deeplv engraven 
 upon the tablets of fame. I rarely venture upon an analysis of 
 a claim for greatness, simply because greatness is incapable 
 of analysis just as it is incapable of comparison. Without 
 violating this rule, I may say, however, that safe and permanent 
 progress in a country like ours requires varying types of men. 
 It requires the quick, bold leader who does not reflect long, who 
 reaches his conclusions with a rush, and who presses inces- 
 santly on because he is so sure that he is right that he knows 
 that all persons who differ from him must be wrong. vSuch a 
 man is oftentimes in error, sometimes intolerant, but without 
 him the Republic could not live. There is another man equally 
 important to the welfare of the people. It is the man who 
 gathers up all these proposals for advance and for change, who 
 reflects upon them with exceeding care and deliberation, who 
 discovers their weaknesses and supplements their imperfections, 
 who molds differences into harmonious action, who bridges the 
 distance which separates those who insist upon the quickstep 
 all the time from those who want to camp all the time; and 
 such a man was vSenator Allison. I do not attempt to rank 
 these types. Sufiice it to say that both being essential in the 
 economy of the world, both extort our praise and admiration. 
 
 The Senate never had a member more deeply attached to his 
 associates or more devoted to the work of his oflice than Mr. 
 Allison. I remember one incident of this attachment and de- 
 votion which greatly impressed me. About the first of the year 
 1897 Mr. McKinley, the President-elect, commissioned me to 
 bear an invitation to Senator Allison to become the vSecretary 
 
112 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 of vStatc ill the incoming administration, and he enjoined upon 
 me strongly the necessity of suggesting to Senator Allison 
 that it was his dut\- to aid the administration bv accepting the 
 place offered to him. In a long j^ersonal interview, I pressed 
 this phase of the matter as I had been asked to do; and I shall 
 never forget the reply I received. It was a tender expression 
 of the affection he felt for his fellow-members in the Senate, 
 of the friendships and intimacies that had grown up through 
 a long course of years, of the faith and trust he had in them 
 and they in him, of the impossibility of severing the bonds 
 which time had knitted, and the ease and pleasure with which 
 he performed the duties so familiar; and having summed up 
 all these things, he looked me squarely in the eye and asked 
 me this question: " Do you now think it is my duty to go from 
 the Senate to a new field of activity.'*" and I unhesitatingly 
 answered him, "No." 
 
 He was a gentle man in the truest sense of these words. He 
 was a courteous man, not only to those of high degree, but of 
 low degree as well. He was a modest man and vaunted himself 
 not at all. He was a gracious, kindly man, and counted no 
 labor too severe that promoted the welfare of his friends. He 
 was a learned man, for he not only studied the historv of his 
 country, but the greater part of it he had helped to make. He 
 was an honest man, and did the right as it was given to him to 
 see the right. His l)ody rests in an honored grave, and his 
 memory is not only a benediction to the people of his State, 
 but is treasured throughout the length and breadth of the land. 
 
 Mr. President, as a further evidence of respect, I move that 
 the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The motion was unanimously agreed to, and (at 4 o'clock 
 and 58 minutes p. in.) the vSenate adjourned until Monday, 
 February 8, 1909. at 12 o'clock m 
 
Proceedings in the House 
 
 1 1 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE 
 
 Monday, December 7, igo8. 
 A message from the Senate, by Mr. Crockett, its reading clerk, 
 announced that the Senate had passed the following resolutions: 
 
 Resolved, That tlie Senate has heard with profound sorrow of tlie death 
 of the Hon. Willi.^m Bovd Allisox, for more than thirty-five years a 
 Senator from the State of Iowa. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these resolutions to 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to tlie memory of the deceased 
 Senator, the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 Mr. Hepburn. Mr. Speaker, a message from the vSenate has 
 given official announcement of the death of Willi.am B. Alli- 
 son, late a Senator from the State of Iowa. In behalf of the 
 delegation from that State, I offer the following resolution and 
 ask its present consideration. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow and sincere 
 regret of the death of Hon. Willia.m Hovd Allison, who served with dis- 
 tinction for eight years as a member of this body and continuously for 
 more than thirty-five years as a Senator from the State of Iowa. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the Senate. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memorv of our deceased 
 colleague, Hon. Wii^li.'VM Bovd Allison, the House do now adjourn. 
 
 The resolution was agreed to. 
 
 Accordingly, at i o'clock and 2 minutes p. m., the House 
 adjourned until to-morrow at 12 o'clock noon. 
 78135— S. Doc. 766, 60-2 8 
 
114 Proceedings in the House 
 
 TuiiSD.w, Jiinuary ig, igog. 
 Mr. Cousins. Mr. vSpeakt-r, I ask unanimous consent for the 
 present consideration of the follo\vin(,f order. 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Order No. 17. 
 
 Ordered, That there be a session of the House at 2 p. m., Sunday, Feb- 
 ruary 21, for the deHvery of eulogies on the character, life, and i)ublic serv- 
 ices of Hon. \ViLLi.'\M B. Allison, late a member of the United States 
 Senate from the State of Iowa. 
 
 The order was agreed to. 
 
 Monday, February 8, igog. 
 
 The committee informally rose; and Mr. Foster of Vermont 
 having taken the chair as Speaker pro tempore, a message from 
 the Senate, by Mr. Crockett, one of its clerks, announced that 
 the Senate had passed the following resolutions: 
 
 Resolved^ That it is with deej^ regret and profound sorrow that the Senate 
 has heard the announcement of the death of Hon. Willi.am H. Allisg.x, 
 late a Senator from the State of Iowa. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the 
 business of the Senate be now suspended to enable his associates to pay 
 fitting tribute to his high character and distinguished services. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary transmit to the family of the deceased a 
 copy of these resolutions, with the action of the Senate thereon. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House 
 of Representatives. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of tlie deceased 
 the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 Sunday, February 21, ignp. 
 
 The House met at 12 o'clock m., and was called to order by 
 Mr. Smith of Iowa, as Speaker pro tempore. 
 
 The following prayer was offered by the Chaplain, Rev. 
 Henry N. Couden, D. D.: 
 
 Almighty God, our Heavenly Father; in whom we live and 
 move and have our being; we would pour out the oblations of 
 our hearts in gratitude and praise to Thee, the dispenser of 
 
Proceedings in the House 115 
 
 all good gifts, and hallow Thy name in a faithful and unselfish 
 devotion to Thee and our fellow-men, and thus i)rove ourselves 
 worthy of all the gifts Thou hast bestowed upon us. We thank 
 Thee for that spirit down deep in the hearts of men which 
 recognizes and appreciates the nobility of soul in their fellows, 
 which displays itself in a faithful ser\'icc to the public weal, 
 for this special ser\nce to-day, sacred to the memory of men who 
 have conspicuously ser\xd their country in the Congress of the 
 United States, and passed on to their reward. Grant, oh most 
 merciful Father, that their example may serve as beacon lights 
 to guide us and those who shall come after us to high and noble 
 living. Comfort the friends, colleagues, and families of the 
 departed, and help them to look forward with bright anticipa- 
 tions to that larger life beyond the grave, where there shall be no 
 more parting, and where God shall wipe all tears from all faces, 
 and where peace and happiness shall reign forever. In Jesus 
 Christ, our I^ord. Amen. 
 
 Mr. Smith of Iowa took the chair as Speaker pro tempore. 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. The hour of 2 o'clock having 
 arrived, the Clerk will read the special order. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Ordered, That there be a session of the House at 2 p. m. Sunday, February 
 2 1, for the deUvery of eulogies on the life, character, and public services of 
 the Hon. \\'ilu.\m B. Aluson, late a Member of the United vStates vSenate 
 from the State of Iowa. 
 
 -Mr. Cousixs. Mr. Speaker, I offer the resolutions which 1 
 send to the Clerk's desk. 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 House resolution 5<V. 
 
 Resolved, That the House has heard with jirofound sorrow of tlic death of 
 Hon. \ViULi.\M B. Alliso.n, late a member of the United States vSenate from 
 the State of Iowa, which occurred at his home in the city of Dubuque, 
 August 4, 1908. 
 
ii6 Proceedings in the House 
 
 Resolved, That the business of the House he now suspended that oppor- 
 tunity may be given to pay tribute to his memory. 
 
 Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the deceased and in 
 recognition of his distinguished public service the House, at the conclusion 
 of the memorial exercises of the day, shall stand adjourned. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the vSenate. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to the family 
 of the deceased. 
 
 The resoltitionj? were agreed to. 
 
Address oj Mr. Cousins, oj Iowa 117 
 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 Address of Mr. Cousins, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Speaker: ( )ur custom of nicmorializiiiL,^ Mt'inbers of Con- 
 gress who die while in the pubHc service has been commented 
 upon extensively. Differing opinions are entertained in Con- 
 gress itself, and more widely differing views throughout the 
 country; but as for the observances of this particular hour, no 
 question will be raised, either in or out of Congress, as to the 
 propriety, the fitness, or the willingness of all our countrymen, 
 and, indeed, of other countries, to set apart a portion of this day 
 for opportunity to pay tribute to a statesman \\ho ser\-ed his 
 country in the United vStates vSenate for a longer period of time 
 than any other man in all our history — William B. Alliso.v. 
 That fact is prima facie evidence that he deserved the prefer- 
 ment bestowed upon him. 
 
 His Creator sa\'ed him and prolonged his life for nearly a full 
 decade beyond the mark of three score years and ten — from 
 March 2, 1829, to August 4, 1908— and all mankind, especially 
 his countrymen, are wishing to-day that he could have been 
 spared longer for continuance of his unprecedented usefulness. 
 Long before I ever held or dreamed of office, he was the first 
 of the really strong men in public life whom I had opportunity 
 of knowing, and he was the most unselfish and genuine friend 
 I ever knew intimately in eminent and exalted station. He was 
 like a father to all young men of his adopted vState, and lie 
 ne\er lost the loyalty of any one of them who knew him and 
 who had any sense of gratitude. 
 
ii8 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Coming from Ohio, he fitted well into the hard-working, 
 serious, and patriotic citizenship of Iowa. 
 
 Senator Allison, like most of us, had to work, and he always 
 had S3'mpathy for those of the younger generation who he knew 
 were born to toil. He never ran ahead of the column. He 
 stood shoulder to shoulder with his colleagues. He did not seek 
 distinguishment, but deserved it always when it was bestowed 
 upon him. 
 
 Thus he came into the confidence of all men — by modest v and 
 honesty and industry and tolerance, and by such solicitous and 
 faithful interest in the public welfare that all men the country 
 over finally came to trust him and respect him. 
 
 First, a Representative in Congress for eight years; then, after 
 one defeat, our Senator; then came the longest and most useful 
 career in all our history — nearly thirty-six years in the Senate. 
 Early in his senatorial career his ability was most fitly exercised 
 in a sensible and practicable system of government for the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, and then in an internal-revenue system that 
 has sur\'ived throughout many years of trial with few improve- 
 ments. Then at last he came to that great and large responsi- 
 bility and usefulness of shaping tariffs and of appropriating 
 necessary and stupendous sums of money for our foreign and 
 domestic needs and obligations. And in that great capacity and 
 practice he acquired a knowledge and familiarity that surpassed 
 all others in our history. 
 
 With a memory that was marvelous, with industry the equiv- 
 alent of our fathers', and with a mind intent upon equity and 
 justice, he became the trusted counselor in fiscal affairs and in 
 matters of appropriations, so that he was relied upon as the 
 prudential adviser on the m^ost intricate and dilTicult subiects 
 of our Government. 
 
 The late Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, writing his autobi- 
 ography in 1903, six years before the death of Senator Alliso.n', 
 
Address of Mr. Cousins, of Iowa 119 
 
 whom he knew well and personally lor more than fortv \ears, 
 
 recorded this significant and deliberate estimate: 
 
 His chief distinction has been gained by a service of thirty years in 
 the Senate. He was out of public life two years, and then was elected 
 to the Senate, where he has been kept by the State of Iowa, niaintain- 
 m^ the confidence of his State and of his associates in public life During 
 all that time he has done what no other man in the country, in my judg- 
 ment, could have done so well. He has been a member of the great 
 Committee on Appropriations for thirty years, most of the time chairman, 
 and for twenty-six years a member of the Conmiittee on Finance. He 
 has -controlled, more than any other man, indeed more than any other ten 
 men, the vast and constantly increasing public expenditure, amounting 
 now to more than one thousand millions annually. It has been an econom- 
 ical, honest, and wise expenditure. He has been compelled, in the dis- 
 chari^e of his duties, to understand the complications and mechanism of 
 public administration and public expenditure. That is a knowledge in 
 which nobody else in the Senate, except Senator Hale of Maine and vSenator 
 Cockrell of Missouri, can comi)are with him. He has by his wise and 
 moderate coun.sel drawn the fire from many a wild and dangerous scheme 
 which menaced the jjublic peace and safety. 
 
 On the day when this great friend of all of us departed it 
 happened I was traveling in a foreign land. A clergyman of 
 that country, reading from a paper, said aloud, "Another good 
 man gone, Allison of Iowa." Observing my concern, although 
 a stranger, he passed to me the paper containing the dispatch 
 that chronicled the sad and sudden information. It was im- 
 possible for me to reach our State in time to lay a flower upon 
 the most distinguished and respected grave which the city of 
 Dubuque has ever known, and I am content that I never saw 
 the face of vSenator Ali.isox after his serene and amiable spirit 
 had departed. 
 
 There never was in all our world a kindlier countenance than 
 his when animated with the glow of life and health and with 
 that peculiar cast of gentle and serene nohilitv. His intelligent 
 and lofty spirit shone always in his faultless face, and his hand 
 was always warm with a fatherly and genial grasp. 
 
 It was my great good fortune to travel with him in many 
 countries of the world and likewise here at home. iCven when 
 
I20 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 nearly So years of age he was a most interesting companion, bet- 
 ter than most of the young men of our day, because his memory 
 was stored with rich and vivid reminiscences of early days and 
 of public life and characters. The proprieties of this occasion 
 do not offer opportunity for details of his conversations, but the 
 memory of them shall never be obliterated. 
 
 His life, as indicated by his countenance, was noble and 
 serene, even to the very last of his useful and unselfish service; 
 and save for one or two unspeakable political attacks which 
 emanated from a debauchery of our modern journalism, his 
 great and generous heart was never hurt by hostile comment. 
 
 The fertile and appreciative State of his adoption registered 
 most emphatically, not long before his dying hour, pronounced 
 approval of his life and noble services. 
 
 After more than forty years of powerful and devoted service 
 to the Nation, thrice bidden to the Cabinet, once almost nomi- 
 nated for the Presidency, he stood at last a master in the con- 
 sideration of the details of free government amongst a great 
 constituency and amongst his colleagues in the Congress, as a 
 mighty oak tree stands in the midst of a forest, bending at times 
 and bowing with lofty and respectful salutations and with 
 stately and dignified humility, which always and forever in our 
 world betokens wisdom. 
 
 We scarcely dare inquire of history what shall finally be the 
 destiny of the republics of our world; but with such lives and 
 characters as the wise and patient one whom we memorialize 
 to-day, the generations of the future centuries may look back- 
 ward with all confidence upon an example of intellectual indus- 
 try and honesty, and then look forward with an inspiration that 
 should lift them to a greater and a nobler destiny and maybe 
 to an approximately perfect day when intelligent and modest 
 righteousness may govern in our world. 
 
Address oj Mr. Ihphurn, oj Iowa 121 
 
 Address of Mr. Hepburn, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. vSpkakek: My personal acquaintance with .Senator Aij.i- 
 sox covered a i)erio(l of more than fifty years. I met him verv 
 shortly after his removal to I lie .State of Iowa, in the city of Des 
 Moines, during the first session of the general assembly ever held 
 in that city. With him I assisted in casting the vote of Iowa 
 in the Republican National Convention of i860 that nominated 
 Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency. During a long portion 
 of these fifty years of which I have spoken I knew the late 
 .Senator intimately, and I have often thought that he was most 
 fortunate in the period of the world's history in which his great 
 services were rendered. He was fitted for service in that period 
 by his early life and early associations. He was born and reared 
 and educated in the Western Reserve. Gentlemen who are 
 familiar \\4th the history of that portion of our countrv know 
 that in that region flourished as in no other portion of the 
 United States, fifty or more years ago, that love of libertv, that 
 discussion of liberty, of equality of men, of their rights under 
 the Constitution and under the broader constitution of God's 
 law, developed later in the terrific strife and in the adjustment 
 of the questions settled later, calling for the exercise of the 
 highest possible genius. 
 
 Senator Allison's first political thought came at a time 
 when men were discussing the wisdom of the legislation known 
 to be embodied in what was then called the " Kansas-. \ebraska 
 bill," the discussion that brought Ijloodshed, chaos, and an- 
 archy into one of the territories that challenged the attention 
 of the world, that led to civil strife and to all of the sanguinarv 
 
122 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 scenes on the battlefields in this country between 1861 and 1865. 
 He did nnich in the organization of armies, or at least the 
 operation of the great armies that participated in that struggle. 
 He serv^ed as a special aide to the governor of Iowa in the raising 
 of troops during the period when 43,000 men were put into the 
 field — 40 per cent of the entire military force in that State. 
 
 One can readily see that in this siidden transition from the 
 days of peace to the days of war, calling for such great muster- 
 , ings of men, great effort was required. 
 
 Senator Allisox, after the raising of this vast force, took his 
 seat in this House and served contirmouslv for eight years. 
 During that period every question that was involved in the 
 legislation that led to that outbreak of war, to the conduct of 
 that war and to that pacification of the country that resulted 
 from reconstruction of the States after the war occurred, and 
 all were familiar to him, just as was all of that legislation that 
 involved the building up of the resources of the country, pros- 
 trated as it was by the expenditure of so many billions of 
 money, and the loss of so much of the vital and wealth-creating 
 forces as this country suffered during the four years. 
 
 Senator Allison was familiar with all of that earlier legisla- 
 tion. He was familiar with all the efforts resulting in consti- 
 tutional amendments. He was familiar with all of that legis- 
 lation that gave us the sinews of war to successfully stand the 
 expenditures of three and one half million dollars in a da v. 
 He did much toward that pacification of which I have spoken — 
 that reconstruction of States. It gave to him a wonderful ad- 
 vantage, first, because most of the themes that were discussed 
 were emotional themes in a great degree; the theme of libertv, 
 of equality, of the rights of men under the Constitution and the 
 laws of nature. The necessity of preserving the Federal Union, 
 the certaintv of destruction to the individual States should 
 
Address of Mr. Hepburn, of Iowa 123 
 
 their bond of union be severed, all of these questions, familiar 
 to him, enforced upon him by study, by observation, by feeling, 
 bv conscience, enabled him to know and not merely to assume 
 or guess. 
 
 There is an idea among men that Senator Allison was a man 
 who lacked positixeness, and many anecdotes are told of him, 
 often mere matters ot fancy, that would indicate his lack of 
 positiveness. And yet 1 undertake to say that among all of 
 the distinguished characters that this country has produced, 
 with regards to matters of importance, matters that he had 
 thoroughly weighed, where he had arrived at a conclusion, there 
 was no man more positive than he was. His convictions were 
 to him a certainty about which he had no difficulty or hesitation 
 in giving expression. A cautious man, not giving a hastv 
 conclusion, he waited until the arrival of that condition of 
 thought that was the result of study; and when it came, the 
 conviction was one that he did not hesitate to express. 
 
 I think that probably the times in which he lived gave him 
 this power. He was aided in it, too, by the certainties that 
 he had in his mind. The man who lives in public life after 
 this and who desires to know of the stirring events that were 
 in the life of vSenator Allison must go to the records; research 
 alone can enable him to secure that fund of information that 
 will be the basis upon which conclusions must be built. Not 
 so with the Senator. All these great questions were part of his 
 life; all of these great questions were happenings of his daily 
 occupation. He simply had to indulge in introspection, and 
 stored away in the pigeonholes of his memory were all of these 
 great facts that made him so useful in his day and generation. 
 
 It is not claimed by the friends of vSenator Allison that he 
 was a brilliant genius. But those who knew him best know no 
 man of all his contemporaries was more useful to his country 
 
124 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 than was the late Senator. He was a man who did not beget 
 love, but who did invariably inspire respect and confidence. 
 The best proof of that is to be found in the almost reverential 
 manner in which his colleagues regarded him. Reference has 
 been made to his unselfishness. 
 
 He was always willing that every one of his colleagues should 
 have his full share of whatever there was that he thought might 
 be beneficial to him. He was always ready to cooperate with 
 his colleagues in seeing to it that their rights were observed, 
 and that was one of the secrets of his strength; that was one 
 of the reasons why the people of Iowa were content — ave, more 
 than content; glad — seven times to express their preference 
 that he should be their representative in the Senate of the United 
 States. He never had controversies with his colleagues. He 
 always had the support of them all. Can you think, gentle- 
 men, of any time in all of the history of our State and its political 
 contentions when those gentlemen that ser^-ed in the Congress 
 of the United vStates with him were not ready to testifv to his 
 worth and ready to assert their content that he should still be 
 the head of the column^ 
 
 Mr. Speaker, he was a great character; great in his life, 
 useful in his life, and useful in his death; because his life and 
 character will be an inspiration to many and many a vouth. 
 teaching him that the door of opportunity here is wide open to 
 all who have the courage and the energy to serve and to achieve. 
 
Addnss of Mr. Clark, of Missouri 
 
 12; 
 
 Address of Mr. Clark, of Missouri 
 
 Mr. Spicakkr : Missouri and Iowa are two of the greatest vStates 
 car\'ed from the Louisiana Purchase. They He side bv side and 
 are bound closely together by ties of interest and of blood. 
 Iowa's first two United States Senators were Missourians— Col. 
 George W. Jones and Gen. Augustus Caesar Dodge. Both were 
 from Ste. Genevieve, Mo., in which town, when it contained not 
 over 1,000 inhabitants, lived simultaneously six men and boys 
 destined for the high distinction of serving in the vSenate of the 
 United States. The most renowned of the six was Col. Thomas 
 Hart Benton. When Senators Jones and Dodge arrived in 
 Washington to take the oath of office, they discovered, to their 
 dismay, that they had lost their credentials. Colonel Benton, 
 the dean of the trans-Mississippi delegation in Congress, who 
 had known them in their youth, smoothed their wav bv mo\-ing 
 that they be admitted without credentials, and it was so ordered. 
 Though a majority of Missourians are, and always have been, 
 of different political faith from vSenator Willi.\.m Boyd Aij.iso.v. 
 we have always agreed with lowans in pride in his blameless life, 
 his high character, his fine ability, and his conspicuous career. 
 He was Missouri's neighbor and her friend. 
 
 A well-informed Missourian can not think of Gen. Francis 
 Marion Cockrell without also thinking of Senator Willi.am Boxu 
 Allison-, and a well-informed lowan can not think of Senator 
 Allison without also thinking of General Cockrell. because 
 these two eminent men for more than a quarter century were 
 bosom friends and alternated in the powerful position of chair- 
 man of the Senate Appropriations Connnitlce. 
 
126 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Senator Alijsox served longer in Congress than any other 
 man in tlie one hundred and twenty years under the Constitu- 
 tion, a total of forty-three and one-half years, eight in the 
 House and thirty-five and one-half in the Senate, thus leading 
 Senator Justin S. Morrill, of \'ermont, by a few months. Senator 
 Morrill served ten years in the House and a little over thirty- 
 two years in the vSenate. They and Gen. John T. Morgan, of 
 Alabama, are the only men ever elected for six full consecu- 
 tive terms to the Federal Senate. Death alone prevented vSena- 
 tor Allison's election for a seventh full term, as he had been 
 nominated for that unprecedented honor. 
 
 Colonel Benton was the first Senator to ser^-e five full terms. 
 He was for a long time popularly known as "The thirtv vears' 
 Senator," and when he wrote his invaluable book he entitled it 
 "A Thirty Years' View." His record was never equaled till 
 March 4, 1897, when Senator Morrill began his sixth consecutive 
 term in the House of the Conscript Fathers. Only Senators 
 William Boyd Allison, Justin S. Morrill, John P. Jones, 
 Francis Marion Cockrell, and John Tyler Morgan have equaled 
 Benton's record for consecutive Senatorial service. In addition 
 to these, only John Sherman and William M. Stewart have 
 equaled Benton's length of Senatorial service. Missouri is the 
 only State that has given two men thirty years of senatorial 
 service each. Benton was defeated for a sixth term because he 
 quarreled with his party, and Cockrell was defeated for his sixth 
 term because the political complexion of the Missouri legislature 
 was accidentally changed. 
 
 In passing, it is both apropos and interesting to state that 
 only three men have served more than thirty years in the House: 
 Judge William S. Holman, of Indiana, General Ketcham, of New- 
 York, and Mr. Speaker Cannon. On the 4th of March General 
 Bingham, of Pennsylvania, will enter upon his thirty-first year 
 of service in the House. 
 
Address of Mt. Clark, of Missouri 127 
 
 The chances are that it will be one hundred and twenty years 
 before another man equals Senator Allison's length of service 
 in Congress. In order for his career in that regard to be dupli- 
 cated, there must be a man worthy of the place and more 
 popular with his party than any other man in his State, and 
 it must also happen that his party holds the legislature con- 
 tinuously — at least control it every time his successor is to be 
 elected. It is rare that one jmrty controls the legislature of a 
 State continuously for thirty years. Indeed, at one of his re- 
 elections Senator Allison won by only one vote. In Great 
 Britain several men have served longer in the House of Com- 
 mons than Senator Allison has served in Congress, but their 
 system is different. There a man may be elected by any con- 
 stituency. Here he must be a resident of the State from which 
 he is elected to serve in either branch of Congress. In that 
 way the British always keep their strongest men in the Com- 
 mons. At the last general parliamentary election the Liberals 
 made such a clean sweep that the leader of the Conservatives 
 was defeated in two districts and was compelled to appeal to a 
 third before he could be elected. It was hinted that he was 
 elected even then only through the connivance of the Liberal 
 chieftains. 
 
 For a score of years Senator Allison was a presidential pos- 
 sibility, and for a decade a presidential probability. It has 
 been frequently stated that but for the objection of one of the 
 present Senators, who was himself a candidate for the jircsi- 
 dential nomination in 1888, Senator Allison would have been 
 nominated instead of Gen. Benjamin Harrison that year. At 
 least twice was vSenator Allison pressed to accept a Cabinet 
 ])ortfolio. He refused the tempting offers. 
 
 In the summer of 1899 I had the extraordinary and highly 
 prized experience of conversing with two illustrious Americans 
 now gone to their reward — Hon. James Harlan, of Iowa, the 
 
128 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 last man noniinaled for a Cabinet ])osilion by Abraham Lincoln, 
 and Judge John H. Reagan, of Texas, then the onlv survivor 
 of the cabinet of Jefferson Davis. 
 
 I happened to speak in the beautiful little city where Senator 
 Harlan resided. After the speaking, somebody told me at the 
 hotel that the Senator, then a feeble man, was pleased to have 
 visiting public men call on him. vSo I asked my informant to 
 arrange an interview, which he did. 
 
 Senator Harlan had gone from the Senate to the Cabinet, 
 and had the rare good fortune to go from the Cabinet back into 
 the Senate. 
 
 vSo during the conversation I asked him if a man m the prime 
 of life who liked a political career, being in the House or Senate 
 and feeling that he had a good chance of remaining therein, 
 would be wise in exchanging it for an appointive position. 
 
 He replied that he had been unusually fortunate in being 
 sent back to the Senate after leaving it for the Cabinet, and 
 his advice to such a man as I described would be not to exchange 
 a seat in House or Senate, provided he held it by what appeared 
 to be a certain tenure, for any appointive position except the 
 Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court of the United States 
 or for any elective office except the Presidency of the Republic. 
 Most assuredly that was a high estimate to place on the value 
 of a seat in either House of Congress. Whether Senator Harlan 
 ever communicated that idea to Senator Allison I do not 
 know; but I do know that Senator Allison's conduct was in 
 harmony with Senator Harlan's idea. 
 
 Senator Allison was not in the lime light as nuich as sev- 
 eral of his senatorial contemporaries, for there was no element 
 of the spectacular in him, but he accomplished more, perhaps, 
 in the way of legislation than any of them. Wherefore? Be- 
 cause he was conservative in all things, extreme in nothing; 
 
Address of Mr. Clark, of Missouri 129 
 
 conciliatory, not aggressive; kind and affable in manner; he 
 took things by the smooth handle; he acted on one-half of a 
 famous adage by speaking softly, even if he did not carry a 
 big stick. In the constitution of his mind and hv habit he 
 was as much of a compromiser as was Henry Clay, and when 
 we remember that most legislation is by compromise, we can 
 readily understand his success. 
 
 To him belonged the blessing \-ouchsafed to peacemakers in 
 the Sermon on the Mount. His country owes him much, because 
 through his conciliatory tactics many valuable laws were 
 placed upon the statute books. His party owes him more, 
 because, by.gentlcness and skill, liy patience and forbearance, he 
 composed many quarrels and feuds witliin the i)olitical family 
 to which he belonged and which, if not composed, inight have 
 rent the party in twain. It is said that his constituents will 
 erect monuments to his memory in both Iowa and the city of 
 Washington. He is well entitled to both. He served them well, 
 and they honor themselves in honoring him. In this beautiful 
 capital of a mighty nation there are too many statues of soldiers 
 and too few statues of statesmen; for "Peace hath her victories 
 no less renowned than war." 
 
 Iowa has always been rich in public men. vShe has ever had 
 and now has one of the strongest delegations in House and 
 Senate. She has given to the service of the Republic many 
 soldiers, jurists, orators, and statesmen. It is no exaggeration, 
 no flattery, to say that of them all Senator Wiijj.wi Boyd 
 Allison achieved the widest and most enduring fame. 
 78135 — S. Doc. 766, 60-2 9 
 
130 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois 
 
 Mr. SpKaker: In the hurry and press of business incident to 
 the closing hours of the short session of Congress I have had 
 no opportunity lo prepare, as I should like to have done, a 
 fitting eulogy on the life, work, and character of Senator Alli- 
 son; and yet I can not allow the occasion to pass without paying 
 some tribute, however feeble and inadequate it may be, to his 
 memory. 
 
 I became. a Member of the House of Representatives about 
 the time when Senator Allison was transferred from service 
 in the House to the Senate of the United States. Before I had 
 the honor of serving in the House I knew him by reputation, as 
 the people generally in the Republic knew him. It was eight 
 years after the commencement of my ser\dce in the House 
 before I came in contact with him in the consideration of the 
 details of legislation. That contact came in the conference 
 room, in the process of settling disagreements between the 
 House and the Senate in connection with the enactment of the 
 great appropriation bills, as well as legislation of a general 
 character. Thus for twenty-eight years, I may say, during 
 every session of Congress I met him and grew to be very well 
 acquainted with him. 
 
 During a period of service somewhat more extended than the 
 usual length of service of a Member of the House of Representa- 
 tives, I have found no man better equipped as a legislator than 
 Senator Allison, and few so well equipped. He brought to the 
 discharge of the duties of his high oflftce the best kind of sense — 
 great connnou sense. 
 
Address of Mr. Canyion, of Illinois 131 
 
 We hear a great deal about common sense. Sometimes out 
 in Missouri and Illinois we use the term "horse sense" when we 
 mean common sense. Then we talk about men of extraordinary 
 ability — geniuses. The man of uncommon sense is very un- 
 common, and we all know that men of uncommon sense some- 
 times have not much of common sense. The common sense 
 with which vSenator Allison was endowed might well be called 
 •uncommon common sense," an attribute which, in my judg- 
 ment, is better than genius. 
 
 A man of good, sound judgment, and possessing a well- 
 balanced mind, I think Senator Allisox rendered to the Repub- 
 lic more valuable service than perhaps any other man who 
 serv-ed in either House or vSenate during his long career. 
 
 Most people are born and live and die without making them- 
 selves amenable to the penal code. A great many men are 
 called honest because they do not go outside the letter of the 
 law, because they are not grafters, because they do not use 
 their positions in public or private life for getting something 
 without rendering an equivalent. But there is a higher grade 
 of honesty than mere material honesty, and that is intellectual 
 honesty, and when you say that a man is intellectually honest, 
 in my judgment, you give him the highest possible praise. 
 Senator Allison not only had integrity in the ordinary sense 
 of the word, but he was intellectually honest. 
 
 Men in public life who do valuable work in many instances do 
 not receive credit for it. I have known many cases where men 
 as members of commissions and committees have spent davs, 
 weeks, and months working with great industry and with rare 
 ripe judgment for the public weal, contributing from their 
 knowledge and experience toward correct legislation, without 
 one in ten thousand of the people of the great Republic knowing 
 or appreciating their labors. 
 
132 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Perchance some man with far less equipment for the public 
 service, without knowledge as to what he is talking about, may 
 by accident or design coin a catchy jihrase; it goes into the 
 record, gets a headline in the daily press, and lo and behold, 
 for the day that man attracts attention; whereas the men who 
 are in fact responsible for legislation and the shaping of policies 
 destined to affect every hearthstone in the country frequently 
 are never heard of. 
 
 Senator Allison, of course, was heard of and was well known; 
 but I have no hesitation in saying that the full value of the 
 service he contributed to the Republic, compared with that 
 which brought him into public notice, is not known by i per 
 cent of the people. 
 
 After all, I do not complain that such is often the case. He, 
 if living, would not complain of it. You recollect that the 
 Master, when calling for disciples said unto a certain man. 
 Follow me," who replied, "Lord, suffer me first to go and 
 bury my father." But Jesus said unto him, "Follow me, and 
 let the dead bury their dead." So it has been through the 
 history of the race. 
 
 Now and then a man, perhaps a great warrior, sometimes a 
 great statesman, attracts the attention of the historian, and may 
 dwell in history according to his real or supposed merit for a 
 generation or two generations or possibly a hundred years; 
 whereas hundreds of his colaborers may be forgotten long 
 before one generation has passed by 1 do not complain of this. 
 History can not record the acts of every citizen w^ho performs 
 service for the Republic. There would be no place to store the 
 books that would have to be written to make such a record. 
 Therefore, in my judgment, the men who in private life or in 
 public life, by industry and fidelity and the exercise of good 
 judgment in the public service, have made their contributions to 
 the w-elfare of the nation and the civilization must understand 
 
Address of Mr. Caruion. of Illinois 133 
 
 that, save in the rarely exceptional cases, when they cross over, 
 they will be forgotten So he it. Such men have the gratifica- 
 tion of their own approval and that of their immediate friends, 
 and the gratification of knowing that thiv have labored to bring 
 about better conditions; and they must be content with the con- 
 sciousness that they have wrought to the best of their ability, 
 and made their contributions to the present and the future good. 
 To this class of men belonged vSenator Aluiso.n. In a long 
 association with him in the conference room and elsewhere, I 
 have never known him to try to play to the galleries. I have 
 known him when there had been conference after conference 
 over contested points and disagreement after disagreement 
 quietlv to smooth awav the differences and effect a compromise. 
 
 He rarely wore the lion's skin; and yet upon occasions he 
 demonstrated that he had red corpuscles in his blood, and could 
 fight if necessary With the lion's skin ready to be donned, as 
 it rarely was with him, for he was not the type of man to employ 
 brute strength, he would use the arts of diplomacv to work out 
 results. 
 
 Several times the State of Senator Allison presented his 
 name to the national conventions of his party for President. 
 All the efforts made by his friends to that end failed; but I 
 doubt if their success would have contributed anything to 
 Senator Allison's reputation as a statesman. 
 
 One of his friends years ago complained that Allison did not 
 help himself in his ambition by a show of fight by some dra- 
 matic episode that would have appealed to the hero-worshipping 
 instinct in humanity. He said: 
 
 If Allison IkuI only knocked some man down and kicked liim some- 
 time, he would have been President. 
 
 I\rha])s that is so, but I am glad such an incident was never 
 recorded. It would not have been in hannonv with Aij.ison's 
 character. He was not that kind of a man. He did not suffer 
 his i)assion to get the better of his judgment. He was ever 
 
134 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 master of himself, and in that way became the leader of men of 
 judgment and character, and it requires a great man to lead bv 
 judgment rather than by appeals to the imagination His 
 strength was not in passion, nor ev^en in the semblance of pas 
 sion. He was not an actor, and had no histrionic power He 
 was a cjuiet worker, a counselor, and he was ever readv to 
 aid and ])ul forward others for the dramatic work, while he 
 remained in the background, giving the quiet influence that 
 aided the actors to make the best appearance on the stage 
 
 As President, Allison would have been wise, and his admin-' 
 istration would have represented the best spirit of the times; 
 but he could not, even in that great place, have accomplished 
 so much for the country as he did in the Senate, where he 
 worked quietly and effectively to shape legislation to the best 
 interests of the whole people. 
 
 He had little of that pride of opinion which make men insist- 
 ent upon their own way of doing things and fearful of what is 
 called ' inconsistency." He came into public life called a free 
 trader," but for many years was one of the stanch defenders of 
 protection. He was a gold-standard man, and yet introduced 
 the Bland -Allison silver -purchase bill He was opposed to 
 expansion, and yet was one of the ablest defenders of the Phil- 
 ippine policy of President McKinley and President Roosevelt. 
 He saw his first duty as a patriotic servant of the people and ac- 
 cepted the will of the majority as the voice of command, and he 
 was ever ready to do the most patriotic service of the time of 
 action, regardless as to whether it fitted into his preconceived 
 ideas on the particular phase of a great (luestion He was not 
 an opportunist, seeking to ride the waves of public opinion; but 
 when conditions were created, he was ready to do the most 
 patriotic service required to bring about results. 
 
 Senator Allison did not compromise; he harmonized. He 
 did not surrender ])rinciples. He looked at both sides of a ques- 
 
Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois 135 
 
 tion to find the best part of both contentions. He did not care 
 for technicalities or names, but lield to great jirinciples with 
 tenacity and a (Hscriniinating iiitelHgence rare in poHtical de- 
 bate, where great (|uestions are so often (Hscussed in ]xission 
 rather than with sober judgment He never took the position 
 that he alone could be right and all his associates wrong; that 
 is the attribute of the barbarian 
 
 Allison represented the highest type of civilization, the 
 harmonizing of differences among men to make possible a 
 Government where the will of the majority is the highest law 
 of the land. 
 
 He has crossed over, and another whom I have in mind has 
 crossed oyer; and therefore there can be nothing improper in 
 what I am about to relate: On one occasion, after he had 
 struggled in bringing his brother Senators to assent to a certain 
 important provision which the House was insisting on, one of 
 his colleagues on the conference committee said: 
 
 Senator do you believe that so-and-so will obstruct an agreement on 
 this conference report? It is now the last night of the session, and he has 
 the power to defeat it. 
 Oh, no- 
 Said vSenator Allison, in his quiet wav — 
 
 I have already fixed that. I liave yielded to his request, and he is to 
 have time to show the wisdom of the compromise 
 
 The compromise was made and the legislation was had. 
 
 I have already spoken longer than 1 anticipated, though there 
 is much more 1 could say. He gave the best that was in him to 
 the perpetuation of sound i)olicics for the welfare of the Nation, 
 and devotedly and faithfully represented his State. Iowa is 
 fortunate to-day in the Representatives she has in Congress, as 
 the gentleman from Missouri has well said, and she will be in- 
 deed fortunate if, in the future, she can be as well represented 
 in both House and Senate as she has been in the past and is 
 to-day. 
 
136 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. HuLLt of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Senator Allison, for more than half a century 
 as a citizen of Iowa, endeared himself to all by his courtesy, his 
 ability, and devotion to the duties of high station. In his 
 death the State lost her most distinguished son and the nation 
 one of her ablest and most trusted leaders. 
 
 My acquaintance with Senator Allison' practically began 
 when I came to Congress as the result of the election of 1890. 
 I knew him before that as a great Senator, as a public servant 
 in whom the people of the State had absolute confidence, but I 
 have always felt that my real acquaintance with and knowledge 
 of the man began with the relationship which comes to those 
 who are working in harmony in the great legislative body of 
 the Senate and the House. 
 
 As a new Member of Congress, I went to him for advice and 
 counsel, and never in vain. Generous, considerate, kind, and 
 wise, he helped every one of his colleagues who needed his 
 assistance. To my mind a misconception, even in his own 
 State, has grown up in regard to his characteristics and the 
 habits of his mind. One of my colleagues earlier in to-day's 
 proceedings referred to the fact that he was called and thought 
 of by certain men as without firmness; in other words, accusing 
 him of being a "trimmer, " 
 
 After an intimate acquaintance with vSenator Allison for the 
 last eighteen years, I want to sa>' that that charge against him 
 is absoluteh- without foundation. He accompHshed great re- 
 sults without the blare of trumpets and sounding of drums; 
 he accomplished greater results than would have been possible 
 
Address of Mr. Hull, oj Iowa 137 
 
 if lie had gone at the business lie sought to accomplish by first 
 arousing antagonism. He serv-ed his country not only during 
 the time and stress of the civil war in this House, but he ser\'cd 
 his country in the Senate of the United States when great prob- 
 lems affecting the credit of the nation were involved, and in 
 place of antagonizing in trying to accomplish what we all now 
 agree upon without regard to party as being right, he sought 
 to avert the danger of impairment of the credit, depreciating 
 the currency, by compromise that avoided an infinitely worse 
 condition of affairs than those brought about through his 
 efforts. 
 
 I think the great Senator from Iowa, by his ability to man- 
 age and harmonize and bring together confiicting interests, per- 
 formed ser\-ice to his Nation that has not been excelled in all 
 the years of its past. Without his guidance the Republic wouJd 
 have gone ujjon dangerous rocks. 
 
 The first time I met Senator Allison was during his first 
 canvass for the Senate of the United States. He was defeated 
 in that campaign. Another distinguished lowan was selected. 
 In the next vacancy he was again a candidate, and successfully, 
 and from that day on during his political life Senator Allison 
 never was compelled to attend a session of the legislature in 
 order to secure his reelection. The people of Iowa saw to that. 
 His work in the House had given a broad foundation on which 
 he could build his future political activity. His work in the 
 Senate commended itself to the people of his State so that he 
 stood without a rival in their affections. During all this long 
 leadership his voice was always for harmony among his asso- 
 ciates and for justice to all the people. 
 
 It is a pathetic figure that I recall to-day of only a year ago 
 when, stricken with disease, he was attending to the duties of 
 his high office and the discharge of the responsibility of his 
 
138 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 great leadership in the vSenate with the idea among some that 
 the people of Iowa were tired of his services. Without com- 
 plaint and without a moment's hesitation he pursued the even 
 tenor of his way, discharging with great ability all the duties 
 of his commanding place in the vSenate. When doubt existed 
 on some lines of legislation — the Congress and the Executive 
 not ill full harmonv — the great Senator from Iowa pointed the 
 way to harmony and success. 
 
 Nothing could induce him to desert his post in the vSenate of 
 the United vStates. Nothing could induce hirp to say a word 
 of criticism against any member of his party in his vState. He 
 toiled on here until the very day of the adjournment, in the 
 early part of June; and I know it is a gratification to every 
 citizen of our great State, without regard to party, without re- 
 gard to faction, that the people of that great vState of the West, 
 by a majority vote, gave him a certificate of confidence that was 
 the greatest comfort to him in the last months of his life. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, Senator Allison lived for fifty years in the city 
 of Dubuque. Senator Allison lived for half a century in the 
 State of Iowa. When he was called to pass to the other side, 
 the people of the State and the people of his city, in the outpour- 
 ing of mourners at his grave, gave absolute proof that he stood 
 foremost in their affection, not only as a statesman, but as a 
 man. 
 
 He had peculiar ability as a statesman; he had most winning 
 t|ualities as a man; and it seems to me that when you balance 
 up his great life, a life of public service far beyond what is 
 usually given, that you must, when you see the affection for 
 him which was held by the people of Dubuque, many of whom 
 had known him from their infancy to their manhood and woman- 
 hood; when you see that great outpouring of people, regardless 
 of party, regardless of faction, all bearing tribute of their love 
 
Address of Mi . 1 1 nil, oj Iowa 139 
 
 at his last resting place in the cemetery of that city of his choice, 
 overlooking tlie majestic Mississippi River, near his old friend 
 and associate, Colonel Henderson; when you see this \ou can 
 say, " Here was a man." 
 
 And it does seem to me, Mr. vSpeaker, that in the estimate of 
 his life, in the estimate of what he has done, more time must 
 elapse before a true and just estimate can be made. We are too 
 near to many of the great measures he fought to enact into law; 
 but in the lapse of years the students of history will see that 
 this unpretentious vSenator from Iowa, this great Senator from 
 Iowa, this constructive statesman of the United States, will 
 take his place among the great public servants of the Republic, 
 and his name will be revered more and more by all students of 
 our political history as the years go by. That those who come 
 after him may be as conspicuous in ability, as strong in leader- 
 ship, as true to conviction, is the earnest hope of all citizens of 
 our great State. 
 
140 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Birdsail, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Speaker: Hon William Bovn Allisox was born on a 
 farm near Perry, \\'ayne County, Ohio, March 2, 1829, and 
 died at his home in Dubuque, Iowa, August 4. 1908. His child- 
 hood days were spent like those of other country boys, in labor 
 upon the farm and in attendance upon the district school. He 
 then attended Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pa., and the 
 Western Reserve College, at Hudson, Ohio In 1850 he began 
 the study of law at Wooster, Ohio, and the following year was 
 admitted to the Wayne County bar. 
 
 The commencement of his political career was as a delegate 
 to the Ohio state convention in 1856, which convention sup- 
 ported Fremont for the Presidency. 
 
 In 1857 he came west to Iowa and located at Dubuque, im- 
 mediately entering upon the practice of his profession, in which 
 he continued actively engaged until elected to Congress. He 
 was an able lawyer, and the published records of the Iowa 
 courts attest the fact that he was engaged as counsel in many 
 important cases. Mr. Allison had, however, a natural apti- 
 tude for politics, and soon established himself in the confidence 
 not only of the people of his immediate communitv, but of the 
 State at large. In i860 he was sent as a delegate to the na- 
 tional Republican convention at Chicago, was one of the secre- 
 taries of that convention, and aided in the nomination of 
 Lincoln for the Presidency. 
 
 Allison was an early friend of Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood, tlic 
 war governor of Iowa, and upon the breaking out of the civil 
 war was appointed a member of his staff and rendered valuable 
 
Address of Mr. Birdsall, of Iowa 141 
 
 sendee in recruiting and enlisting a regiment in northeastern 
 Iowa for the war. In 1862 he was elected to Congress and 
 served by successive terms until March 4, 1871, declining re- 
 election. He was promptly elected to the Senate of the United 
 States for the term commencing March 4, 1873, and served con- 
 tinuously in that body until his death, on August 4, 1908. 
 
 In June, 1908, he received the indorsement of the Repul)lican 
 party of Iowa for reelection as his own successor for the term 
 commencing March 4. 1909. 
 
 His term of service in the Congress of the United vStates is 
 exceeded by that of but one other man in the history of our 
 Nation, and his term of continuous service in the Senate ex- 
 ceeds that of any other man who ever served in that great bodv. 
 
 What a period in American history, my colleagues, is covered 
 by his service here and in the Senate. With what events and 
 what names his career is indissolubly connected, and how inti- 
 mately he was associated with them. When he entered this 
 House the clash of arms resounded throughout the Nation; 
 brother was battling with brother in internecine conflict; the 
 Constitution was being sorely tried by the convulsions of a 
 Nation engaged in purifying itself. He saw that Nation re- 
 deemed, the Constitution sustained and made supreme in the 
 land. He lived to see the clouds of error pass away, the mists 
 of prejudice and passion dissipated. He lived to see a govern- 
 ment of the people, this monument to liberty and human free- 
 dom, wrought out through so much blood and treasure, builded 
 upon a safe and secure foundation among the nations of the 
 earth. 
 
 He helped to adorn the entablatures of that monument with 
 the best fruits of peace and national progress, and to transmit 
 it to posterity unstained and undinuned, carved with an 
 imperishable record of valor and achievement. 
 
142 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 In this House he was the colleague of Blaine, Stevens, and 
 Garfield. In the Senate, of Bayard of Delaware, Logan of Illi- 
 nois, Morton of Indiana. Ingalls of Kansas, Hamlin of Maine, 
 Conkling of New York, Sherman and Thurman of Ohio, Cam- 
 eron of Pennsylvania, Edmunds and Morrill of Vermont, Howe 
 of Wisconsin, and other great men whose names adorn our 
 history for the past thirty-five years. 
 
 Thrice oflfered Cabinet positions, he thrice refused, preferring 
 to remain in the Senate and in the service of that great State 
 whose people had learned his worth and loved and honored him. 
 
 He was the trusted counselor of Presidents and Cabinets 
 from Lincoln to Roosevelt. No narrow system sunk him to the 
 vulgar level of the politician. No domestic difficulties, no 
 domestic weakness, surrounded him; but, aloof from the sordid 
 occurrences of life, his sole ambition was the welfare of his 
 country, and to this end he gave a lifetime of unremitting toil. 
 He was a master of tact, and succeeded in subduing conflictsin 
 the Senate when genius and talent failed. 
 
 He was for peace, but never at the sacrifice of principle. A 
 leader in his party, seeking no self -advancement, his counsels 
 were respected and his advice usually followed. He was the 
 peaceful Warwick of American politics. 
 
 The handiwork and brainwork of Senator Allison, found run- 
 ning through the statutes of the past forty-five years, attest his 
 industry and capacity as a statesman and legislator. Our laws 
 are but a refle.x of the policv and manners of the age in which 
 we live, and furnish the only reliable index to posteritv of our 
 achievements. The Tables of the Hebrew law, the Institutes 
 of Menu, the Code of Justinian and that of Napoleon alike, 
 furnish but a reflection of the genius, habits, civilization, and 
 morals of a people. So the past forty-five years of American 
 progress, the habits and morals of our people, will be reflected 
 in the statutes of its lawmakers. 
 
Address 0} Mr Birdsall, oj Iowa 143 
 
 He was a moderate in legislation, hnt neither a laggard nor 
 obstructionist. He loved the Constitution and believed it the 
 ark of our safetv, but welcomed reforms along anv lines that 
 could be safelv pursued within the limits of our fundamental 
 law. He welcomed progress, but also held fast to that which 
 had been found sound and safe in governmental action and had 
 little patience for those who wanted to see if the machine would 
 run when broken. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, as a nation we are set upon a hill in sight of 
 all the other nations of the earth. We are working out here an 
 experiment in self-government upon a scale never before at- 
 tempted anywhere on earth. Ninety millions of people now — 
 200,000,000 at the close of the present century— scattered over 
 an area as large as all Europe, with a climate and with inter- 
 ests as diversified as are those of England and Russia, Norway 
 and Spain, it is for our posterity to determine whether this 
 vast population will hold together under the form of a republic 
 or whether centralization will get the better through actual or 
 disguised monarchy; whether shifting corruption is better than 
 permanent bureaucracy, and as our great cities increase in 
 population the specter of want and the gaunt figure of famine 
 will stalk through the land and socialism and communism claim 
 to be heard. Truly, America has a great future before her — 
 great in care, great in toil, great in responsibility, great in true 
 glorv — if she be guided in wisdom and righteousness, great in 
 shame if she fail. 
 
 Well for us and our posterity if men of the Allison mold 
 shall shape our destiny as a nation and are on guard to pilot 
 the "ship ot state." 
 
 Senator Allison* was a gentleman of the old school, a phi- 
 losopher of the new school, with the manners of Chesterfield 
 and the learning of Parr, and combined with it all the gentleness 
 and modesty of a woman. He was a worker. 
 
144 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 He honored toil and dignified labor because he knew that 
 within its warp and woof was contained the destiny of mankind. 
 He had received the poor man's heritage, "Strong hands and a 
 still hardier spirit. " 
 
 Reared upon a farm, it was there, amid the fragrance of the 
 clover blossom and the pertume of a thousand flowers, where 
 reflection went hand in hand with honest toil, that were laid 
 those habits of industry that became the chief characteristic 
 of his after life. By the light of the faggot he commenced in 
 early life to store his mind with useful knowledge and in all 
 his years kept garnering to that fund until his mind became a 
 vast storehouse of information useful to his fellow-men. 
 
 The faculty of his mind for detail seemed infinite, and I believe 
 it can truthfully be said that no other man in the public life 
 of the nation, either past or present, possessed so much knowl- 
 edge of the intricate details of government. An event, a 
 fact, a figure once impressed upon his memory seemed to be 
 indelible and always capable of recall at his command, enabling 
 him, though not an eloquent man, to express gigantic sentiments 
 of instructive wisdom. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the ancients deified their great men by dividing 
 the stars into constellations named for them, that their memo- 
 ries might ever be before them; later pyramids and obelisks 
 were built for the same purpose. Now monuments and com- 
 memorative tablets are erected to perpetuate the memorv of the 
 dead; but the greatest monument to any man is that builded 
 by his own hands and engraven on the hearts of the people. 
 
 Three generations of men in the State of Iowa have known 
 and loved Senator Alliso.n', and his name and memorv are 
 engraven on the hearts of our people. 
 
 On the day when his remains were taken to their final resting 
 place his home city was in mourning; business suits were hung 
 
Address of Mr. Birdsall, 0} Iowa 145 
 
 in the closet; not a wheel in a factory stirred; not an olVice or 
 place of business opened its doors. Thousands of people lined 
 the way from his home to the cemetery, and with howed heads 
 attested their regard for a neighbor and respect to his ashes, 
 while throughout our entire State a great and grateful people, 
 their pulse beating in mournful unison, paid reverential homage 
 to our illustrious dead. 
 
 The record of his life will furnish an inspiration to youth, 
 a lesson to age. A public life unsullied, a private life stainless 
 as the stars, for he can say unto his heavenly friend, "I have 
 kept unfringed my nature's law; the only written chart thou 
 gavest me to guide me I have steered by to the end. " 
 
 Amid the vicissitudes, allurements, and temi)tations of public 
 life he demonstrated "that even in a palace life ma\- be led 
 well." 
 
 He died in the fullness of his years, ripe for the sickle, and 
 ready for the Reaper. The world is better for his having lived; 
 heaven will he richer for his ha\-ing died. 
 
 With what further forms shall the great law oi change and progress 
 clothe its workings, gently so have good men taught into the new, the 
 eternal flow of things, like a peaceful river of the fields of heaven shall 
 journey onward in perpetual peace. 
 
 78135— S. Doc. 766, 6o-.' ID 
 
146 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Haugen, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. SpEakI'K : Time will not now permit me to say all that I 
 would like to say of the life, the services, and character of this 
 great, grand, and noble man; but Senator Allison's public 
 and private life, as well as the character and magnitude of his 
 public work, have been so eloquently and well described by his 
 friends, both in the vSenate and House, that I will not particu- 
 larize as to his eight years of service in the House and thirty-fiive 
 years in the vSenate, but will confine myself to a brief but sincere 
 and loving tribute to his memory; not as a formal duty, but as 
 a heartfelt tribute of affection — to speak of him as I knew him; 
 to speak the truth as he would have one speak of him. Know- 
 ing him intimately, and admiring him as I did, and having 
 studied his grand life and character, I know that if he could 
 have a voice as to the character of this day's e.xercises, with his 
 sense of pro])riety, his high regard for truth, honor, modesty, 
 dignity, and integrity, he would not countenance false praise 
 or desire that he be pictured in other than true colors. 
 
 With a life so bright, a character so pure, so many grand and 
 noble qualities manifest in every walk of his life, both private 
 and public, we have sufficient material to draw from to paint 
 the most beautiful picture of a true man imaginable. I got to 
 know him well, and the better I knew him the more 1 adored 
 him — the more I loved and felt for him. 
 
 I first met vSenator Allisox about thirty years ago. He had 
 the usual experience of men in politics, and especially of men 
 who do great things well. He was then misrepresented, ma- 
 ligned, and made the target for criticism, abuse, slander, and 
 
Address of Mr. Haugcn, of Iowa 147 
 
 libel invented by malicious enemies; but his onward and up- 
 ward march was not to be impeded; he could not l)e despaired, 
 nor could his usefulness be destroyed. Violent and unjust criti- 
 cism was entirely ignored and disregarded; he steadily worked 
 along the lines of duty as he saw it; misconception and misrep- 
 resentation of his purposes vanished; year by year he became 
 stronger; the whole country came to understand that he was a 
 great man and worth\- of the most implicit confidence. Not- 
 withstanding the fact that he was thus maligned, misrepre- 
 sented, and misunderstood, his noble character, his patriotic 
 and faithful ser\ices endeared him to his countrymen and gave 
 him a most prominent place of honor, not only in our country's 
 history, but in the hearts of the American people as a states- 
 man, a citizen of the highest type of character, and as a pure, 
 grand man. He was held in most exceptional esteem and admi- 
 ration by not only the people of his own great State, but his 
 popularity went far beyond the borders of his own State and 
 country to remote parts of the world. 
 
 Twelve years ago, when a member of our state legislature, 
 when Senator Allison came up for reelection to the United 
 States vSenate, and was also prominently mentioned for Presi- 
 dent of the United States, I first became intimately acquainted 
 with him. He was then at the zenith of his power, both men- 
 tally and physically. 
 
 Like most great men. Senator Allison was plain, simple, 
 unassuming, unpretentious, and unselfish. "Simplicity belongs 
 to greatness." 
 
 He was a thorough, kind, and obliging gentleman, of ability, 
 purity, integrity, and the highest type of character; always 
 genial, kind, cheery, generous, patient, considerate, and helpful 
 to others. He always had a kind word for all, and was always 
 ready to lend a helping hand, not for selfish purposes, but that 
 
148 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 he mitrht the belter serve them; not aggressive or sentimental 
 in his methods, but always calm, patient, and industrious, with 
 a clear, broad mind, good judgment, and keen vision, ever seek- 
 ing to secure the best practical results. His natural talent, his 
 good common sense; yes, his uncommon good common sense 
 and intelligent honesty, so correctly described and beautifully 
 pictured t)\- the Speaker; his large store of knowledge of the 
 needs and resources of this Government, acquired during his 
 long term of service in the Senate, prepared by eight years in 
 the House of Representatives; his good judgment; his never 
 questioning integrity; his unswerving fidelity to public interests; 
 his unfaltering faith and rectitude of purpose, dominated by 
 the noblest and loftiest ideals; his firm determination to do 
 justice and right; and, above all things, his abiding devotion to 
 truthfulness, always shunning deceit, conceit, and cunning prac- 
 tices, made him an unusually popular and valuable servant to 
 his country. 
 
 He was blessed with extraordinary intelligence, endurance, 
 and foresight; a wonderful intuition and powers of comprehen- 
 sion; a most pleasing jjersonality and an agreeable \'oice. Sen- 
 ator Allison, with so many grand virtues assembled, coupled 
 with his never resisting charm of personality, became an acknowl- 
 edged authority and an accepted leader. With his ripened 
 experience, naturally the Senate and country looked to him for 
 guidance and as an adviser and leader. As stated by one of his 
 colleagues, "He was to the Senate that of a trusted pilot to 
 a ship. " He was for years one of the foremost Americans and 
 statesmen, and his work and achievements left an indelible im- 
 pression upon his countrymen, and history will give him a place 
 in the front rank of the statesmen and citizens of his time. 
 
 As a statesman, Mr Alliso.x, in many respects, had no 
 superior. His great work was largely in the Committees on 
 
Address of Mr. Haugen, of Iowa 149 
 
 Appropriations and Finance, but his work and influence were 
 not confined to measures coming before those two great com- 
 mittees. He gave every question of importance careful and 
 thoughtful consideration, which gave him a most comprehensive 
 knowledge of national and international affairs and a thorough 
 understanding of ever\- imjiortant cpiestion that arose, and he 
 always had at his command the detail and history of all impor- 
 tant matters which led up to the issue. He was resourceful, ever 
 ready to yield to better reason when it was made manifest ; a man 
 with a clear and practical mind, a remarkable degree of genius 
 and common sense, honest in thought and purpose, honest with 
 the world, honest with himself, true to his neighbors and friends, 
 a most attractive personality, with warm and glorious impulses, 
 and most delightful in his companionship, all of which drew his 
 friends close to him. 
 
 Though an acknowledged leader— a place and power achie\ed 
 not by accident, but by his genius and deeds well done, the vir- 
 tue of honor, truth, labor, and devotion to dutv — he never souo-ht 
 distinction by advertising himself or by pushing himself ahead. 
 Apparently he was unconscious of his power, standing, and posi- 
 tion. He was not one of those who passed himself to the front 
 in active debate; his usually good common sense and his knowl- 
 edge of human nature and men enabled him to determine when 
 and how to mo\Q, and it was generally in the final stages of the 
 settlement of complex and ditTicult questions that his master art 
 in construction and conciliation was applied with skill and effect, 
 and that in the end his words and suggestions determined the 
 fate of the question. 
 
 While he possessed to a full degree the power of great initiative, 
 and was essentially a creator, not a destroyer, vet his master 
 art was conciliation. He sought no compromise with wrong. 
 "What was right was right; what was wrong was wrong. He 
 
150 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 occupied no middle ground when the question of right and 
 wrong was involved. He was a total stranger to the art of 
 demagogy and duplicity. He was not an orator. His life work 
 was not that of framing beautiful sentences, yet he was a 
 speaker of uncommon power. His fancy was not rhetoric or 
 to become an orator; he cared little for eloquence. He was a 
 student; his aim was to get at facts, to fully understand and 
 solve conscientiously and in a practical manner all questions 
 with which he had to deal. He was one of the clearest, cleanest, 
 and soundest minded of men, and with his ripened knowledge 
 little attention was given to his speeches in advance, but they 
 were shaped and fashioned as he delivered them. With his 
 thorough knowledge of all questions, without previous prepara- 
 tion, he would at times speak for hours with great energy and 
 fluency, mastering the subjects discussed with plain but forceful 
 and orderly arranged language; and his able and logical pres- 
 entation of facts and lucidity of utterances always received 
 sympathetic attention, and his speeches proved most effective. 
 He was a good politician as well as a great statesman; he 
 had a good memory for names and incidents. Prominent and 
 influential as he was, naturally his advice and counsel was 
 sought in determining political policies as well as in shaping 
 legislation of national and international importance. His 
 advice, counsel, and help were not desired by politicians and 
 statesmen alone, but many people in all walks of life were bene- 
 fited by it. As Carrie Harrison, an intimate friend of his, 
 writes me: 
 
 Many and many a time at his home his reception hall was crowded with 
 people. Women in tears beseeched his advice and help as they would that 
 of a father or priest, and he considered their petitions as a father would 
 those of his own children. 
 
 And as has been referred to here to-day, he was to the Iowa 
 delegation like a father. He filled a great place among the 
 
Address of Mr. Haugen, of Iowa 151 
 
 greatest men of his time. His death seemed a most unusual 
 public loss. From vSenator Allison's life and character there 
 are many lessons we may learn. Among the choicest memories, 
 those that I will forever cherish, are his confidence and uninter- 
 rupted friendship, his noble life and character, and liis deeds 
 well done. 
 
 That he was respected, loved, and mourned by all classes in 
 his country; that his honesty, character, patriotism, loyalty, 
 and greatness were recognized, was fully demonstrated at his 
 funeral at Dubuque, Iowa; and evidences of the regard and 
 warm friendship entertained by his countrymen were made 
 manifest by the multitude of people at his bier, coming not 
 only from friends and neighbors in his home city and vState, 
 but from the remote parts of the whole country, there to pay 
 their last sad tribute of love and to express a deep sense of 
 bereavement. 
 
I S2 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Conner, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Speaker: The death of a prominent citizen inevitably 
 results in bringing his life before the bar of public opinion for 
 criticism and judgment. This is especially true as to one who 
 for many years has been a conspicuous actor in the affairs of 
 his country. 
 
 The estimate which the people form of a public man while 
 living is less reliable than after his death. During his life his 
 enemies are apt to minimize his virtues and his friends to mag- 
 nify them; but after his death the world calmly and dispas- 
 sionately weighs both the good and evil in his life and judges 
 him fairly and impartially. 
 
 Fortunate, indeed, is the man who, after a long public career, 
 when overtaken by death, has it universally said of him that 
 his life made the world richer, and his death made it poorer. 
 
 Senator Allison was a distinguished citizen of the Republic, 
 and while in a sense he belonged to the State of Iowa, because 
 his home was there and from there he bore his commission, 
 yet in a broader sense he belonged to the Nation. 
 
 For almost half a century prior to his death he was a national 
 character, giving his time and services for the benefit of the 
 whole country. While the State of Iowa is proud to claim him 
 as her son, she recognizes the merit of the claim that he belonged 
 to the Nation at large. 
 
 Iowa has produced many distinguished men and is proud of 
 their achievements, but comparing them with Senator Allison, 
 it is safe to assert that from the standpoint of statesmanship 
 
Address of Mr. Conner, of Iowa 153 
 
 and lejjislatixt' ability, not one of them was his equal, and it is 
 doubtful if the Nation durinj;^ his time produced his superior. 
 
 Senator Allison's usefulness to his country and his capacity 
 to serve it have not up to this dale been fully appreciated. 
 Time, however, will bring his splendid qualities as a statesman 
 and lawmaker to be fully recognized. 
 
 The elements in him which contributed to his success were 
 those which are generally found in great characters. He was 
 possessed of a strong mentality, which enabled him to readily 
 grasp and solve the great problems which from time to time 
 have presented themselves during the last fifty years. 
 
 He was honest from principle and habit, and not as a matter 
 of policy. No one ever came in contact with him without being 
 impressed with his good faith and sincerity. His habits of 
 industry were known to everyone familiar with his life. Not 
 one of his colleagues in Congress kept in closer touch with the 
 details of legislation, and no one more assiduously perused the 
 daily Congressional Record for the purpose of keeping posted 
 on pending legislation. 
 
 It was because of these facts that his colleagues leaned upon 
 him and trusted him to guide them in important matters of 
 legislation. It was not an infrequent occurrence, when com- 
 plicated matters were pending in the Senate, for Senator 
 Allison, by a timely suggestion, to solve the diflficulties which 
 confronted that body and to bring about legislation of a 
 wholesome character. 
 
 He was universally courteous in his demeanor, always respect- 
 ful in his treatment of those with whom he came in contact. 
 The genial smile which Ughted up his face when in conversation 
 won for him the lasting friendship of those who met him. 
 
 It is a great compliment to the State of Iowa to have it said 
 that the uninterru])led service of Senator Allison in the Senate 
 
154 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 of the United States was longer than that of any other man, 
 and a still greater compliment to have it said that his services 
 were of greater \alue to his country than those of any other man. 
 His life should be an example for the young men of the country, 
 and we will all do well to emulate the virtues of this wise and 
 illustrious statesman. 
 
Address of Mr. Hubbard, of Iowa 155 
 
 Address of Mr. Hubbard, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Speaker: We have just commemorated the l)irthday of 
 Lincoln. To-morrow we recall with gratitude the name of 
 Washington. The very greatness of these heroes has removed 
 them, in a measure, from the common air, and they are become 
 revered and symbolic names, typifying the making and saving 
 of the Iinion. 
 
 We, friends, are assembled here to fondly recall the face and 
 memory of a great man, once our friend, so newly gone that his 
 touch and smile are still familiar, his voice still lingers. I can 
 not analyze with weight and balance the elements that made 
 Senator Allison' great. He himself, I have been told, looked 
 back half humorously, half in wonder, at the career which had 
 lifted the obscure country lawyer, starting without wealth, 
 friends, or favor, to the leadership of the Senate, to an untitled 
 premiership in nearly every administration for forty years. To 
 a friend he spoke of this with modest pride and patriotic wis- 
 dom. To him his life was but another proof of the creative 
 power of free institutions, taking our native clay and from it 
 making and shaping men as men are needed. He said that the 
 glory and safety of the Republic is that it is not governed by 
 great men, but by common men, whom it raises to the heights 
 of sacrifice, wisdom, and power, as the exigency requires. 
 
 Mv mind refuses to dwell upon his greatness. I mark him 
 not in this hour, when I need but close my eyes to see his grave, 
 by the laws he made, by his long years of distinguished public 
 service. But tears are near and lips tremble when I see the 
 indwelling spirit of iIk- man. How gentle and patient that 
 
15^ Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 kindly wisdom, which inade you your own adviser, you scarcely 
 knew how. How friendly and unobtrusive the counsel — felt 
 rather than heard. His ver\- presence ended strife and appeased 
 contention. 
 
 I can see him now as he greeted your coming with out- 
 stretched hand, with welcoming smile, with never-failing, heart- 
 felt courtesy. His hand shall clasp our hand never again, his 
 smile never more shall light our way; his memory shall dwell 
 with us enduringly. 
 
 He is at rest. He dwells in peace. Peace, perfect peace be 
 his. 
 
Address oj Mr. Dauson, of Iowa 157 
 
 Address of Mr. Dawson, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. SpUAKER: It was my good fortune to be associated with 
 Senator William Boyd Allison in close, confidential relations 
 for a period of six years. That association gave nie an unusual 
 opportunity to obser\'e his life and character and to measure 
 the importance of his service to the people and to the Nation. 
 And if what I have to say of this distinguished statesman shall 
 exceed in length the tributes usually paid on occasions of this 
 kind, I ask the indulgence and the pardon of the House, because 
 my words are prompted by a sincere appreciation of his high 
 and unselfish public service and a deep and abiding affection 
 
 for the man. 
 
 His record as a statesman and public servant will probably 
 never be surpassed. It was a ser\nce not simply remarkable 
 because of its length, but even more remarkable because of its 
 importance. He entered this House as a :\Iember when the 
 Union was shattered by secession and the Nation in the throes 
 of civil war; and an appreciative constituency kept him here for 
 four terms and then promoted him to the Senate, where he 
 served for a longer period than any man in the history of the 
 Republic. Six successive times did the legislature of our State 
 choose him for this high station, and only a few weeks before 
 his death the grateful people of Iowa, by a decisive majority in 
 a direct primar\-, renewed his commission for six \ears more. 
 
 To review the public career of Senator Allison would be to 
 write the history of the Republican party from its birth to the 
 present time; it would mean a review of practically all the 
 important legislation enacted In- Congress during the past forty- 
 
158 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 five vears. The history of those years is without a parallel in 
 the annals of time; it is the brightest half century which any 
 nation has enjoyed since the dawn of civilization. The mile- 
 stones which mark the progress of the Republic during that 
 period are the great policies for which that party has stood: 
 Free soil, free men, the Union, the payment of the debt, honest 
 money, protection to American industry, internal development, 
 the gold standard, the maintenance of law, and government regu- 
 lation of great corporations. Under the operation of these poli- 
 cies we have become the most rich and powerful Nation on 
 earth, and our development is the marvel of the civilized world. 
 
 Senator Allison not only had an important part in shaping 
 these great policies, but no man in the Senate had a larger hand 
 in that more difficult and exacting task of embodying them into 
 the statute law of the land. 
 
 One writer expressed it tersely w-hen he said that — 
 
 He has not made as much noise as Alexander, or as much trouble as 
 Julius Caesar, but he has written into the statute books of his country more 
 useful legislation than any legislator who has e\'er lived in this country or 
 in any other government. 
 
 His first conspicuous service to the Nation, after assisting in 
 the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for President in i860, was 
 in starting the movement to permit soldiers in the field to vote 
 at the election in 1862. He induced Governor Kirkwood to call 
 a special session of the Iowa legislature, which passed an act 
 permitting soldiers at the front to vote. The action of Iowa 
 was immediately followed by other Northern States, thus in- 
 suring a Congress in harmony with Lincoln's administration. 
 
 He bore a more influential part than any other man in all 
 the financial legislation from the establishment of the national 
 banking system in 1864, onward to the resumption act of 1875, 
 the coinage act of 1878, down to the gold-standard act of 1900, 
 and yet, because of his unwillingness in life to claim the credit 
 
Address of Mr. Dauson, of Iowa 1^9 
 
 which was rightfully his due, his name is popularly linked with 
 only one of these great fiscal measures — the Bland-Allison Act 
 of 1878. 
 
 We are all more or less familiar with that act, but few appre- 
 ciate the far-reaching importance and the momentous conse- 
 quences to our currency system which resulted from that portion 
 of it drafted by Senator Allison. The Bland bill, as it passed 
 the House of Representatives, provided for the free and unlim- 
 ited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to i, and in this form 
 went over to the Senate and was referred to the Committee on 
 Finance, which then consisted of nine members— four free- 
 silver men, four gold-standard men, and William B. Allison. 
 A flat vote on one sicle meant free silver, with the result of mak- 
 ing silver the single and sole standard of value; on the other 
 side, a deadlock between the two Houses of Congress, with con- 
 tinued agitation and uncertainty on this vital subject at a time 
 when the country was greatly disturbed over the question. In 
 this crisis in the monetary affairs vSenator Allison came forward 
 with two amendments which obviated both of these difficulties, 
 saved the countr\- from the catastrophe of unrestricted silver 
 coinage, and laid the foundation for the absolute acceptance of 
 the gold standard. 
 
 In brief, these amendments provided for the limited coinage 
 of silver by the Government and a conference of the nations of 
 the world looking to international bimetallism. Subsequent 
 events amply proved the wisdom of these amendments. After 
 they had been adopted by Congress, both political parties 
 accepted the proposition for an international conference and 
 incorporated it in their platforms down to 1896, when the 
 supreme test on the silver question w^as made. 
 
 In plain, understandable English the result of these two 
 amendments was, first, the plan for limited coinage on govern- 
 
i6o Memorial Addresses: William B. Allisoii 
 
 mciit account, which strengthened the basic principle of the 
 gold standard and pushed to the rear the demand for free and 
 unlimited coinage of silver; and, second, the proposal for an 
 international agreement removed the money question from 
 partisan politics until such time as the logic of events had made 
 the gold standard impregnable. 
 
 I need not review the fierce political battles that raged in 
 two presidential campaigns over the money question. It is 
 enough to say that when the lamented President McKinley, on 
 March 14, 1900, affixed his signature to the gold-standard act 
 and made it a law he wrote "finis" to the liveliest and most 
 exciting chapter in the monetary history of the United States. 
 Senator Allison had a large part in writing that law, and its 
 successful operation up to this time is known to all. 
 
 Less familiarity exists, however, with one feature of that 
 law, a provision which marks a new epoch in the historv of 
 governmental financiering. The refunding provision of that 
 law^ which was drafted by Senator Allison, not only uplifted 
 the standard of our national credit, but actually saved to the 
 Government the enormous sum of sixteen and a half million 
 dollars. The Allison refunding plan has demonstrated the 
 ability of this Government to float a 2 per cent bond at par and 
 to reduce the interest rate on more than one-half of its bonded 
 indebtedness from 3, 4, and 5 per cent to 2 per cent. 
 
 When the Allison refunding amendment to the gold-standard 
 act was presented it w-as characterized by not a few prominent 
 Members of Congress as "rainbow chasing," and the skepticism 
 extended even to the then Secretary of the Treasury. It was 
 attempting the unattainable, they said, to ask holders of gov- 
 ernment bonds to surrender 4 and 5 per cent interest and accept 
 2 instead; and was not at that moment England's choicest 2f 
 per cent bonds and Germany's imperial 3 per cents selling 
 
Address of Mr. Pincson, of Iowa i6i 
 
 below par? Some even characterized the proposition as vision- 
 arv, but its author persevered, ami thu ameiidniout l)ecanie a 
 part of the law. 
 
 In iheorv the plan seemed to be unworkable; in practice it 
 demonstrated that American credit is the hii^hest in the world, 
 llnder that amendment 5646,250,150 of the imblic debt was 
 refunded into 2 per cent bonds at a net jjrofit to the (lovern- 
 ment of $16,551,037.54. Up to this time more than one-half of 
 the ])ublic debt has been converted from an a\era>:e of 4 ])er 
 cent interest to 2 per cent, and if \"ou will examine the bond 
 quotations in the daily papers you will note that these 2 per 
 cent bonds were quoted yesterday above par. 
 
 This tremendous fiscal operation has gone on without the 
 slightest iar to the money market and practically unl)eknown 
 to the public generally. 
 
 These examples of his conspicuous serxice to his country in 
 financial legislation are only two of a large number of similar 
 instances, both great and small, which might be cited to show 
 how and why he attained his distinction as one of the greatest 
 economists and financiers in the world. That he was so re- 
 garded is evidenced by the distinguished service he rendered 
 as chairman of the International Monetary Conference of 1892 
 at Brussels and by the in\ntations extended to him by Presi- 
 dents Garfield and Harrison to enter their respective cabi.iets 
 as Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 But equallv distinguished and valuable was his service to the 
 Republic in connection witli the revenue and tarilT laws, a 
 service which bv unanimous consent won for him the title of 
 the "Greatest tarilT expert in the nation." He possessed the 
 broadest, deepest, and most comprehensive knowledge of tariff 
 and governmental finaiiee of any statesman of his lime. 
 781.^5— S. Doc. 766, <^K>-.' II 
 
1 62 Memorial Addresses: IVilliajn B. Allison 
 
 There is no class, of legislation more intricate than that 
 relating to the tariff. The first consideration must be the 
 broad, general effect on the economic situation. To determine 
 this requires the most careful consideration of the effects to 
 be produced on the various industries involved, and no general 
 tariff revision is made without affecting more or less directly 
 every industry in the country. Questions of prices to con- 
 sumers as well as to producers, the upbuilding of commerce and 
 industry, the raising of revenue, the effect on foreign and home 
 markets, the relations of treaty obligations, and countless other 
 considerations great and small present themselves in bewilder- 
 ing confusion. 
 
 With the preparation of every one of the hundreds of para- 
 graphs in each of the dozen or more schedules of a tariff bill 
 comes pressure from those directly affected. From absinthe, 
 aconite, and acorns down to zaffer, Zante currants, and zinc 
 there are approximately 5,000 articles included in a tariff bill, 
 and every man who buys or sells, imports or exports, produces 
 or consumes any of them has an inalienable right to be heard, 
 and most of them are not backward in coming forward to 
 assert it. 
 
 Thirty-eight years' service on committees which formulate 
 and perfect tariff bills made this ordeal oft-recurring to Sen- 
 ator Allison. Patient, thoughtful, and thorough attention to 
 the endless details of frequent complete tariff revisions, to 
 say nothing of partial revisions and attempts at revision which 
 failed, followed by the prodigal expenditure of adroitness and 
 skill in piloting the bills through the tortuous channels of 
 legislation, and the nerve-racking task of finally adjusting in 
 conference the complex differences between the two Houses — 
 this is the price he paid for this title which the public bestowed 
 upon him. 
 
Address of Mr. Piru'soti, of Iowa 163 
 
 In iS()5 he was assigned to the Coniinittee on Wavs and 
 Means by Speaker Colfax — an unusual honor for a Member in 
 his second term. He continued as a nunihtr of that connnittee 
 during the remainder of his service in this bodv, and served on 
 the Finance Committee in the Senate from 1877 uj) to the time 
 of his death. He has played an important part in the prepara- 
 tion and passage of every tariff bill for the past fortv-five 
 years. 
 
 A careful search of the records will disclose the fact that 
 much of the tariff legislation written into our statute books 
 during the last half century was actually penned bv the hand 
 of Senator Allison. As an example of his constructive ability 
 in this direction, I might call attention to the fact that he wrote 
 the tin-plate schedule w^hich was first embodied into law in 
 the McKinley tariff act of 1890 — a schedule around which 
 raged more fierce political discussion than any in recent times. 
 This schedule was denounced and defended from one end of the 
 country to the other, and there are many people who believe 
 that the heated denunciation of this particular paragraph of 
 the McKinley bill, which made it a national issue, followed as 
 it was by the building up in our country of a great industrv, 
 was one of the most important factors in elevating the beloved 
 and now lamented McKinley to the Presidency of the United 
 States. 
 
 Be that as it may, it is a matter of record that Senator 
 Allison was the author of this particular schedule. It will be 
 recalled that the Democrats bad control of the House in the 
 Fiftieth Congress, and under the leadership of Hon. Roger O. 
 Mills, of Texas, this House passed what is known as the Mills 
 bill (H. R. 9051) — a complete revision of the tariff. The bill 
 went to the Senate and was referred to the Finance Committee. 
 The Republicans had control of the vSenate in that Congress, 
 
164 Memoridl Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 and when this bill was reported to the Senate, July 21, 1888, by 
 Senator Allison, the House bill was all stricken out, and in its 
 place w^as a revision of the tariff based on the jirinciple of pro- 
 tection. An entirely new bill had been drafted by the Finance 
 Committee, and in that bill appeared the first attempt to put 
 a duty on tin plate. In the steel schedule of that bill is the 
 following paragraph: 
 
 147. vSliects or plates of iron and steel, or taggers iron or steel, coated 
 with tin or lead, (jr with a mixture of which these metals, or either of them, 
 is a component part, by the dipping or any other process, and commer- 
 cially known as tin plates, terne plates, and taggers tin, i cent per pound. 
 
 The Mills bill and the Senate substitute failed of enactment, 
 the two Houses being unable to agree. 
 
 In the succeeding Congress (the Fifty first) the Republicans 
 had a majority in both the House and Senate, and the McKinley 
 bill became a law October i, 1890. That bill, as reported to the 
 House and finally passed, contained the tin-plate paragraph 
 above quoted verbatim et literatim. 
 
 It is no reflection upon the Committee on Ways and ■Means or 
 upon its distinguished chairman that they incorporated into 
 their bill this paragraph and many others which had been care- 
 fully worked out by the Senate committee in the previous Con- 
 gress — they simply accepted the judgment of the other branch 
 of Congress, formally expressed two years before. 
 
 While Senator Allison had a large and important part in 
 writing the laws which produced the revenues, he had an 
 equally important part in controlling the expenditures of the 
 Government. From the time of his entry into the Senate in 
 1873 to the date of his death he was a member of the Commit- 
 tee on Appropriations and for nearly twenty-five years its 
 chairman. During his incumbency as chairman he bore the 
 tremendous responsibility of scrutinizing the approjjriation of 
 nearly $ 1 5 ,000,000,000. 
 
Address of M> . I)aiL'so)i, of hnca 165 
 
 Chairmanship of the Committee on Ap])ropriations means 
 constant toil and labor and the performance of more legisla- 
 tive drudgery than falls to the lot of any other committee. 
 Senator Allison's sagacity and painstaking endeaxors in this 
 influential position undoubtedly saved his country millions of 
 dollars. Not a penny of private gain ever came to him by his 
 public service. He lived and died a poor man. 
 
 The highest tribute which can be jxiid to a man's service in 
 Congress is the estimate of those with w^hom he associates, and 
 in all the history of the Senate no man has ever attained greater 
 inHuence or higher respect and confidence of all his associates, 
 without regard to party, than did Senator Ai.lisox. 
 
 For several years prior to his death he was unanimously 
 selected as chairman of the Republican caucus and also chair- 
 man of the committee on the order of business, commonly 
 called the "steering committee." In addition, he was empow- 
 ered by the caucus to designate the other members of the steer- 
 ing committee and to name the committee on committees. 
 The functions of these tw-o committees, in executing the will of 
 the majority party, is of the most far-reaching importance and 
 consequence. 
 
 As is well known, the committee on committees has control 
 of the assignment of Senators to committee places; in short, 
 determines the personnel of the standing committees of the 
 Senate. As to the steering committee, no reference to it is 
 found in any of the government publications, and yet it is one 
 of the most potential factors in the whole congressional legisla- 
 tive machine. It is the safety valve, the governor, and the 
 brakes on the wheels, all in one. On broad lines, it determines 
 what legislation shall be pressed for passage and what shall 
 slumber in pigeonholes. It is a shaper of party policy — the 
 watchdog of legislative enactment. 
 
i66 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 In intrusting the selection of these two committees to Senator 
 Allisox, more power over legislation could not well be con- 
 ferred u])()n one man under a republican form of government. 
 Certainly the United States Senate, regarded by some as the 
 greatest legislative body in the world, could not bestow a 
 greater badge of honor and confidence upon anvonc. 
 
 And with what consuunnate wisdom and fairness did Senator 
 Allison make up these powerful committees. I recall his 
 method of choosing the steering committee of lo members. 
 With approximately 60 Republican Senators, they were divided 
 geographically into groups of 6, beginning with New England 
 and going through to the Pacific coast. From each of these 
 groups of 6 Senators he selected i member of the steering com- 
 mittee, thus giving to every section of the country a representa- 
 tive upon this governing committee. 
 
 It was this unfailing spirit of fairness, coupled with wisdom 
 and unerring judgment, which enabled him to do great things. 
 The guiding star of his life was that brief sentence of Bacon's: 
 "Knowledge is power." 
 
 Upon every important subject of legislation as it came up he 
 worked with unflagging zeal to store his well-ordered mind with 
 all the information available, and he never stopped until he 
 had completely mastered the subject in detail. A close ob- 
 server, a careful student, a clear thinker, and eminently prac- 
 tical, he proved all things and held fast to that which is good. 
 As a consec|uence, those who were less informed, having implicit 
 confidence in his judgment, were content to follow his lead, and 
 I have never heard of anyone going wrong by so doing. 
 
 For many years he sat at the head of the table of the leaders 
 of the vSenate — the beloved and undisputed arbiter of that bodv. 
 When important measures of legislation were threatened with 
 defeat because of the pronounced differences of men, when com- 
 plex legislative si-tuations arose, Congress instinctively turned 
 
Address of Mr. Dawson, of Iowa 167 
 
 to Senator Allison to smooth over the rough places and point 
 the way out of the dilVicuhy. He possessed that rare faculty 
 of hannoiiizing the a])parenlly irreconcilable views of radical 
 and obstinate men; his wise counsel saved manv a worthy 
 measure from failure. He was enabled to do this by his solid 
 qualities of character, his well-poised mind, his clear j)ercep- 
 tion, his patience, integrity, honesty, and single-minded devo- 
 tion to the interests of the i)eople. 
 
 Others might wrangle, but he never lost his temper. Others 
 might impugn the motives of men, but he was ever mindful of 
 the rights of his fellows. He occupied a place above the strife 
 and contention of factions; he was the embodiment of ])rudence, 
 patriotism; always calm, serene, optimistic. 
 
 With the quiet dignity of unconscious power he modestly 
 performed his tasks — doing great things, but doing them quietly. 
 To him the modern idea of glory measured by newspaper head- 
 lines was distasteful, almost repugnant. So content was he 
 with the mere satisfaction of duty faithfully performed that 
 he would not even allow his friends to claim for him the credit 
 which was rightfully his. 
 
 It was in the committee room, where the real work of Con- 
 gress is done, that his greatest impress on legislation was made. 
 I dare say that within the four walls of the inner room of the 
 Senate Committee on Appropriations more important legisla- 
 tion has been put into final form and more crises in the affairs 
 of the Republic have been wisely met and solved than in any 
 other spot in this capital. And in it all the wise conservatism 
 and keen foresight of Iowa's most distinguished statesman have 
 been determining factors. 
 
 While performing these larger tasks for the Nation, he was 
 never unmindful of the interests of his State and her individual 
 citizens. No man in all the history of Iowa has been so helpful 
 to as many people, and an appeal from the humblest citi/.en met 
 
1 68 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 the same- hearty and considerate attention as did the greater 
 affairs of his Hfe. If the httle things which he (Hd for others 
 could all be brought together, it would form the greatest monu- 
 ment which can be erected to the conscientious devotion and 
 zeal to this faithful public servant. 
 
 But vSenator Allison is loved not only for what he did, but 
 for what he was. He had a most attractive personality. 
 Amiable in disposition, cordial in his bearing, his unfailing 
 courtesy, quiet temperament, and charm of manner won for him 
 the lasting esteem and admiration of all with whom he came 
 in contact. His private life was as free from blemish as his 
 public life was from the breath of scandal. A prodigious 
 worker, he found relaxation and recreation in the quiet of his 
 library here in Washington or at his home in Dubu(|ue, with the 
 companionship of his friends and his books and papers. 
 
 When George Washington died it was said of him that Provi- 
 dence left him childless in order that he might be in a closer 
 sense the Father of his Country. vSenator Allison, when bereft 
 of his chosen companion, gave his whole life to the service of 
 his country and his country alone. His highest ambition was 
 the happiness and welfare of the people. 
 
 His memory will always be cherished not only for his great- 
 ness but for his goodness. Long association demonstrated to 
 me that the strongest personal trait of this great man was his 
 kindliness of heart and the consideration he invariably showed 
 toward others. I never heard him utter an unkind word of a 
 fellow-man, and he never harbored resentment toward another, 
 no matter how great the provocation. 
 
 Possessed of a nature at once amiable and unselfish, he won 
 his way into the affections of the ])eople Ijy his sinceritv and 
 strength, his generosity and kindliness. He was a living 
 exemplification of the Golden Rule, and his lovable character 
 and noble spirit has enshrined him for all time in the hearts of 
 the peoi)U- of his State and country. 
 
Address of Mr. Hamilton, of Iowa 169 
 
 Address of Mr. Hamilton, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Speaker: Not liaviiio- been j^ersonally ac(|uainlc'(l with 
 Senator Allison and only serving one session in this House 
 while he served his last term in the Senate, I can not speak of 
 him personally, but only as one of his constitutents who for 
 years held him in high regard, though dilTering politically. 
 Senator Allison's name in his home State was known by every 
 man, woman, and child. It was known to be revered, whether 
 they agreed with him politically or otherwise. He was looked 
 upon as being conscientious in whatever work he undertook to 
 accomplish. And it seems to me the life and success of everv 
 man in this world is measured by wiiat they accomplish and 
 not by what they profess. Senator Allison made no vaunting 
 profession, but steadily worked at his task until he had accom- 
 ]ilished as nearly as possil)le the purpose in view. He was not 
 one of those statesmen that we hear spoken of as a man who 
 keeps his ear to the ground, but he was of that class of states- 
 men upon whom, after the man who keeps his ear to the ground 
 and has perhaj)S mistaken the current there received and 
 stirred by agitation the minds of the populace and caused all 
 sorts of turmoil and disturbance, it rested to pour oil on the 
 troubled waters and to bring out of this chaotic condition the 
 legislation necessary for the progress and prosperity of his 
 country. 
 
 This was the sphere he occupied as a statesman. Not an 
 agitator, but one who steadily ground out tho.se things which 
 are absolutely necessary for the general welfare of the whole 
 count-ry. Xo( only did Ik- <)c-cu])\ this position as a statesman 
 
I JO Memorial Addresses: Wi/ltani B. Allison 
 
 in the halls of legislation, but my friends ui)on the lloor of the 
 House well know that he occupied a like position in one of the 
 great political parties of this country with whom he had cast 
 his lot — that political party which, whether we admit wisely 
 or unwisely, has brought forth practically all the legislation 
 for the last forty years, that has controlled the affairs of this 
 country. In that political party he was also a peacemaker, 
 and in their partisan difficulties, in their political strifes, it 
 was he, not only in the State of Iowa, but in the Nation, that 
 many times the leaders of his party went to in order that 
 they might smooth over the difficulties that had arisen. 
 
 He always had a keen appreciation of the many diversified 
 interests of the country — realizing that in order to carry out 
 that principle, "the greatest good to the greatest number," it 
 was necessary to concede many points in order to harmonize 
 all. Like many others, he at one time possessed the ambition 
 to be President of the United States. He, however, did not 
 allow his personal ambition to overcome his never wavering 
 devotion to his party or his country. Personal ambition with 
 him was secondary to public service. 
 
 Therefore I say upon this occasion that he was one of that 
 class of men that the country most needs— a man who, as has 
 been stated here to-day, is capable of taking hold of the loose 
 ends that have been unraveled by the strife of others, and by 
 his power of compromise, his power almost of convincing a 
 man against his will; by that power which he possessed he has 
 done more, in my judgment, toward the legislation that has 
 been placed upon the statute books of this country in the last 
 forty years than any other one man in this Nation; and, as I 
 suggested a moment ago, while not personally acquainted with 
 Senator Allison, when I attended his fimeral and saw^ the 
 thousands of his neighbors and friends who lined the streets as 
 
Address of Mr. Ham ill on, of Iowa 171 
 
 his remains were taken to their last resting place, I could not 
 help realizing that he was a man of a kind heart and of a loving 
 disposition, else not this deinonstration. 
 
 I will sav in conclusion that he has left us a statesmanship 
 to be emulated, but one dilTicult to surpass. 
 
172 Metnorid/ Addresses: W'illiaiu B. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Kennedy, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I heard vScnator Harlan relate how William 
 Boyd Allison came to enter congressional life. He had taken 
 quite an active interest in public affairs in Iowa and had ren- 
 dered valuable service to Governor Kirkwood in raising troops 
 to be sent to the front during the w-ar. Early in the sixties he 
 was a candidate for district attorney for the district of Iowa, 
 and having received the indorsement of the two vSenators from 
 Iowa, he came to Washington to look after the matter of his 
 appointment, and while there was a guest of Senator Harlan. 
 For some reason the senior Senator found it necessary to with- 
 draw his indorsement, and of course he failed to receive the 
 appointment. Mrs. Harlan, realizing how keenly he felt the 
 disappointment, suggested that he return to Iowa and secure 
 the nomination for Congress. He acted on the suggestion and 
 returned as a Member of the next House, thus starting a con- 
 gressional career which, in length of service, has not been ex- 
 ceeded in the annals of American statesmanship and, in the 
 point of accomplishment, not excelled in the past half century. 
 
 It was not my good fortune to have had a personal acquaint- 
 ance with Senator Allison until I came to Washington as a 
 Member of the Sixtieth Congress. I remember, however, the 
 first visit I had with the Senator, when I called at his apart- 
 ments on his invitation. In talking over the matter of what I 
 expected in the way of committee assignments, lie suggested 
 that I ask for an assignment to a committee where the work 
 would be congenial, stating that it was not within the compass 
 of the human mind to fully master all the subjects of legisla- 
 
Address of Mr. Konwdy, of hnca I73 
 
 tion; that this was an age of specialists, aiul a Member c.uld 
 sen-e his country best by striving to thoroughly familiarize 
 himself Nvith some particular line of work. 1 th.mght at that 
 time how much Senator Allisox had accomplished by follow- 
 ing that course during his life in Congress. 
 
 Early in his careen- he secured membership on the two great 
 committees of appropriations and fmance and became an au- 
 thority on matters pertaining to the work of those committees. 
 Senator Allisox had a natural aptitude for legislation. His 
 industry, tact, patience, and consideration for the views of 
 others were vahiable assets when it came to harmonizing differ- 
 ences of opinion on some important matter of legislation. It 
 has been said of Senator Allisox that he put the finishing 
 touches on more legislation than any man who has ser^'ed in 
 Congress in the past twenty-five years. 
 
 It'' is seldom a man receives the full measure of credit for 
 work performed during his lifetime by the generation in which 
 he lived, but future historians, in reviewing the work of Con- 
 gress for the past half century, will accord to Senator Allison 
 no inconspicuous place in the galaxy of American statesmen. 
 
174 Memorial Addresses: ]\'i//uuii J-l. Allison 
 
 Address of Mr. Smith, of Iowa 
 
 Mr. Speaki;k: William B. Allisox was reared and largely 
 educated in Ohio, but it was Iowa that gave him to the Nation 
 and to history. It was Iowa that gave him that long tenure 
 of public place essential to enable the country to understand 
 so great, but so quiet and so unostentatious, a man. 
 
 The State of Iowa is not without her pride in her great Sena- 
 tors, Grimes, Harlan, Wright, Wilson, Kirkwood, and Gear, and 
 her great jurists, Miller, Dillon, and McCrary, and her great 
 soldiers, Curtis and Dodge; but never, perhaps, will the historv 
 of Iowa contain another name of which she will be so proud as 
 that of William B. Allison. 
 
 His early life did not differ from that of thousands of Ameri- 
 can boys born and reared on frontier farms. Born of Scotch- 
 Irish parents, David Robinson, jr., one of Allison's school- 
 mates at Worcester x\cademy and Western Reserve College, in 
 a letter to Miss Carrie Harrison, quotes Judge John Baxter, 
 late United States circuit judge, as saying that Senator Allisox 
 was reared on the Shorter Catechism, the Westminster Con- 
 fession of Faith, and a pretty light diet on Sunday. In the 
 lapse of nearly four-score years he never escaped from the 
 influence of that training, and was molded l)y it all the davs 
 of his life. 
 
 When there came at the close of the dark ages an awakening 
 of the human intellect, there was produced an age of scholas- 
 ticism; and from that time to our own a familiarity with the 
 classics has been regarded as almost the one essential of a liberal 
 education. It was only yesterday that this notion began to be 
 
Address oj Mr. Smith, oj hnva 175 
 
 abandoned at the universities. William H. Allison, i)raclieal 
 even in his boyhood, was never a brilliant suecess in the elassies, 
 but excelled all his associates in sucli practical studies as 
 orthography and mathematics. 
 
 His public service as a Rejiresentative of Iowa commenced 
 in i860, when, with the Hon. William V. Hei)l)urn and many 
 subsequentlv noted in Iowa's history, he re])resented that vState 
 in the convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the 
 Presidency. Forty-four years later he headed the Iowa dele- 
 gation to the convention that nominated Roosevelt and Fair- 
 banks. 
 
 He became a Member of this House March 4, 1 863. The other 
 Iowa Members at that time were : 
 
 James F. Wilson, long chairman of the Judiciary Committee, 
 one of the managers on the part of the House in the impeach- 
 ment of President Johnson, and later for many years the col- 
 league of Senator Allison in the Senate. 
 
 Hiram Price, who bore the reputation of being better able to 
 tell what the people of the country wanted and would demand 
 than any man in pui)lic life in his time. 
 
 J. P. Grinnell, a sturdy enemy of slavery, whose name has 
 been given to a prosperous Iowa city and to an excellent and 
 growing college within that State. 
 
 John A. Kasson, long celebrated in American politics, and a 
 distinguished American diplomatic representative abroad, still 
 living in this city. 
 
 There was also Judge Hubbard, the brilliant and al)le father 
 of the present Member from the Eleventh District of Iowa. 
 
 That was an illustrious company Mr. Allison met in his hrst 
 Congress: Thaddeus Stevens, Owen Lovejoy, Henry Winter 
 Davis, Elihu B. Washburn, George W. Julian, John A. J. Cres- 
 well, George S. Boutwell, Henry L. Dawes, Reuben Iv. I'enton, 
 
176 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 Robert C. Schenck, James A. Garfield, William D. Kelly, James 
 G. Hlaine, vSehu)ier Colfax, vS. S. Cox, and George H. Pendleton. 
 
 Surrounded by sueh men William B. Allison became, in his 
 second term, a Member of the Ways and Means Committee of 
 this body. That committee was then of even greater importance 
 than now, for it had all its present jurisdiction and all that of 
 the Committee on A])propriations, and all the appropriating 
 jurisdiction of the Committees on Military, Naval, Foreign, and 
 Indian Affairs, and of the Committees on Agriculture and Post- 
 Oflices and Post-Roads. 
 
 To acquire so soon an appointment on such a committee, even 
 in the time of peace, would have been unusual, but to have 
 acquired it during the civil war in a Congress embracing such 
 distinguished men as I have mentioned and many more was, 
 indeed, extraordinary. 
 
 Mr. Allison serv^ed eight years in this body and more than 
 thirty-five years in the Senate. His service in the Senate was 
 longer than was ever accorded any American citizen, and his 
 combined service in the two Houses was longer than that of any 
 other man in American history, save one. Those who have 
 known him best in his later life, when sobered by time and 
 responsibilities, have always regarded him as distinctly con- 
 servative, but in his early history he was constantly referred 
 to as an earnest radical. 
 
 In 1878, w^hen a free-silver bill had passed this House and 
 the political parties -were vying with each other in their efforts 
 to pander to the sentiment for free silver, it was William B. 
 Allison who had the courage to defy public sentiment and to 
 defeat that ])roject, now substantially unanimously conceded 
 to have been a highly vicious one. For more than thirty 
 years W^illiam B. Allison has been the most powerful single 
 
Address of Mr. Sviitli, of Iowa 177 
 
 individual in cither House of Congress, and the statenuiit of 
 AVilliam l\. Curtis is the simple truth, that — 
 
 William B. Ai.lisdn has written imm- inln ihc laws ..1 his cniintry than 
 any other statesman in any nation <<i ihe WDfid. 
 
 Wiij.iA.M H. Ai.i.isox was never spectacular; but he was an 
 able, higlvminded, earnest, patriotic man, with suiueme confi- 
 dence in his country and its future; and it is no exaggeration 
 t:) say that while others have with greater dash and brilliancy 
 accomphshed more in a given length of lime, his ability and 
 nearly half a century of service have enabled him to render his 
 countrv more of valuable ser\'ice in the aggregate than has been 
 rendered bv any other man in the American Congress in all its 
 history. 
 
 So applicable to Senator Allisox are the words of Garfield 
 concerning Senator Sherman, I use them with but sUght neces- 
 sarv modification : 
 
 "You ask for his monument. I point you to forty-five years of 
 national statutes. Not one great beneficent law has been placed 
 on our statute books without his intelUgent and powerful aid. 
 He aided in formulating the laws to raise the great armies 
 and navies which carried us through the war. His hand was 
 seen in the workiuanship of those statutes that restored and 
 brought back the unity and married calm of the States.' His 
 hand was in all that great legislation that created the war 
 currencv, and in the still greater work that redeemed the 
 promises of the Government and made that currency e(iual to 
 gold. For forty-five years he has trodden the perilous heights 
 of public duty and against all the shafts of malice has borne 
 his breast unharmed. He has stood in the blaze of 'that 
 fierce light that beats against the throne,' but its fiercest ray 
 has found no llaw in his armor and no stain upon his shield." 
 781.35— S. Doc. 766, 60-2 12 
 
1 78 Memorial Addresses: William B. Allison 
 
 If all the countless hosts of those who have known and loved 
 William B. Allison were asked what his most distinguished 
 characteristic was, each would in substance say, "His kindliness 
 of soul." 
 
 This man made every acquaintance a friend b}' his loving 
 kindness. This dear, kind, lovable old man left no immediate 
 family to mourn his departure, but the people of this nation 
 had become to him as Iris family, and, molded by a mother's 
 Christian teachings and mellowed by age, his loving kindness 
 took in all the children of the Republic; and so, when he died, 
 although neither father nor mother, nor sister nor brother, nor 
 wife nor child of his blood attended the obsequies, the people, 
 whose friend and beloved he was, sincerely mourned. 
 Truly, 
 
 Kind words are more than coronets, 
 
 And simple faith than Norman blood. 
 
 o