'M"W y Class Eh(o^ ^^^^fS^s'ion^^} HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES {"no"i478" SAMUEL L. GILMORE (Late a Representative from Louisiana) MEMORIAL ADDRESSES DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- TIVES AND THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES lis. SIXTY-FIRST CONGRESS THIRD SESSION ,1 - ' Proceedings in the House January 29, 1911 Proceedings in the Senate December 6, 1910 COMPILED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING WASHINGTON 1911 -2, «^ '^l -J > cV *? NX- ^ TABLE OF CONTENTS Page. Proceedings in the House 5 Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 6,7 Memorial addresses by — Mr. Dupre, of Louisiana 9 Mr. Kahn, of California 18 Mr. Estopinal, of Louisiana 20 Mr. Pujo, of Louisiana 23 Mr. Borland, of Missouri 25 Mr. Ransdell, of Louisiana 28 Mr. Broussard, of Louisiana 31 Proceedings in the Senate 35 [3] HON. SAMUEL LOUIS GILMORE jlATH C Proce; Mr. Ransii lowing rcs.i 111! ijMU l.*» . , which the Clerk will report. llic Clerk read as follows: I' tin: .-Lii'- 'U . HesolViil. Senate and ir )<■ r-jir r. ropy u. The iii«iM!i.i ^' lowing The •^TLAi resolution, ■ The Clerk r*.u ; Hesolic'l. Tliat as a t the d<'i-, 1-. .1 Senators .: adjoura. The ' o'clock . !2 o'clock II DEATH OF HON. SAMUEL L. GILMORE Proceedings in the House December 5, 1910. Mr. Ransdell of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I offer the fol- lowing resolutions. The Speaker. The gentleman from Louisiana offers the following resolutions, which the Clerk will report. The Clerk read as follows : Hesoived, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of the death of Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore, late a Representative from the State of Louisiana. Resolved, Ttiat the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. The resolutions were agreed to. Mr. Ransdell of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, 1 offer the fol- lowing resolution. The Speaker. The gentleman from Louisiana offers a resolution, which the Clerk will report. The Clerk read as follows: Hesoived, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased Senators and Representatives the House do now adjourn. The resolution was agreed to. Accordingly (at 12 o'clock and 49 minutes p. m.), the House adjourned until 12 o'clock noon to-morrow. [5] Memokial Ai)[)1(e,s.si;.s : Rei'kesentative Gilmoue December 6, 1910. The House met at 12 o'clock noon. The Chaphun, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered the following prayer : Almighty Father, ever ready and willing to hear the prayers of Thy children, we draw near to Thee, seeking Thy blessing that we may know Thy will and have the disposition and the strength to do it that we may fulfill the obligations of the hour. Be veiy near, we beseech Thee, to all who are in sorrow and distress everywhere. Especially be verj- near to the families of those who were bereft of their dear ones during the recess and whom we knew as Members of this House to love and respect. Help them and us to look forward with bright anticipations to that other life where we shall dwell together in peace and happiness forever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ,^ „ January 13, 1911. Mr. Broussard. I ask for the adoption of the order which I send to the Clerk's desk. The Speaker. The gentleman from Louisiana asks for the adoption of the order which the Clerk will report. The Clerk read as follows: Ordered, That there be a session of tlie House at 1 o'clock p. m., Sunday, January 29, 1911, for the delivery of eulogies on the life,' character, and public services of the Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore,' late a Member of the House of Hepresentatives from Louisiana. The order was agreed to. [6] Proceedings in the House Sunday, Jaruiorij 29, 1911. The House met at 1 o'clock p. m., and was called to order by I\Ir. Broussard, as Speaker pro tempore. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., as follows: "Hear my cry, God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I ciy unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I." In response to a natural impulse of the human heart, O God, our heavenly Father, we come to Thee in prayer as a fitting preparation to this memorial in honor of a deceased Member of this House. Though brief his career, it was highly commendable and promised larger possi- bilities, since he had served his State and Nation with singular ability and distinction. Cut off in the prime of life, we mourn him as a useful citizen, a faithful public servant, a Christian gentleman, a colleague, a friend, a husband, a father. Grant, O most merciful God, that his life may be a cherished memorial to all who knew and loved him; and help them to look forward to a brighter day in a fairer realm, to the joy of an eternal reunion. And Thine be the praise, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will read the order of the day. The Clerk read as follows: On motion of Mr. Broussard, by unanimous consent, Ordered, That there be a session of the House at 1 o'clock p. m., Sunday, January 29, 1911, for the delivery of eulogies on the life, character, and public services of the Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore, late a Member of the House of Representatives from Louisiana. [7] MeMOHIAL AlJDRliSSES : ReI'HESENTATIVE (iILMOUE Mr. Dl'pre. Mr. Speaker, I offer the following resolu- tions, which I send to the desk and ask to have read. The Clerk read as follows: Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore, late a Member of this House from the State of Louisiana. Resolved, Tliat as a particular mark of respect to tlie memory of the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguislicd public career, tlie House at the conclusion of these exercises shall stand adjourned. Resolved, That the Clerl< communicate tlicse resolutions to the Senate. Resolved, Tliat tlie Clerli send a copy of tliese resolutions to the family of the deceased. The Speakefi pro tempore. The question is on the adop- tion of the resolutions. The resolutions were agreed to. [8] MEMORIAL ADDRESSES Address of Mr. Dupre, of Louisiana Mr. Speaker: The mailed hand of death has knocked twice at the door of the second congressional district of Louisiana in little more than two years. Oheying the final summons, on December 26, 1908, Robert Charles Davey, long the faithful Representative of his people and the well-beloved associate of his colleagues upon the floor of this House, started on the long trail which leads — who can say whither? Twelve months and seven days thereafter, on July 18, 1910, his successor, Samuel Louis Gilmore, was himself called to undertake the same uncertain, yet inevitable, journey. His tenure in this body was brief, and he did not have the opportunity to display those qualities of mind and heart which would unquestionablj' have assured him a high rank as a lawmaker and a fixed place as a companion and a friend; but for nearly two decades he was a commanding figure in Louisiana, at its bar and in its political arena, and he left in the State a host of admiring friends, who have freely and generously testified in the public prints, before the courts, and in private intercourse to the high order of his professional ability and to the unusual magnetism and charm of his striking personality. One of those who knew him well, who for more than nine years was his assistant when he was city attorney of New Orleans, has all unworthily been chosen to fill his [9] Memorial Addresses: Hepuesentative Ciii.MORE seat among you. To-day he asks your brief indulgence while in mayhap halting words, but in all sincerity and reverence, he offers a tribute to your dead brother and to his personal friend and political benefactor. Samuel Louis Gilmore was a native Louisianian, hav- ing been born in New Orleans on July 30, 1859. He came of that gifted and versatile race which has fought suc- cessfully all battles but its own. His father, Thomas Gilmore, of north Irish birth, was a prominent member of the Louisiana bar, of cultured tastes and literary instincts. The latter tendencies were accentuated in his son, and he has often told me how the hours, supposedly devoted to preparation for school work, were spent in the well-stocked family library. In early youth he nur- tured a consuming ambition for the stage — an ambition rudely blasted by his father, with that strange prejudice against the actor which from the earliest times has per- sisted almost to our own daj'. But the child is father to the man. Swerved from liis own choice of a profession, all of his life he remained a close student of the great dramatic authors and an intelligent and analytical devotee of the contemporaiy stage. His early education was received from private instruc- tors, and later he was graduated from the New Orleans public high school. His collegiate course was completed at Seton Hall College, South Orange, N. J., an institution then and now standing high among sectarian colleges, where he received the degrees of bachelor and master of arts. Naturally turning, when his own preference for a pro- fession coukl not be realized, to that in which his father had gained reputation and fortune, he matriculated in the law department of the University of Louisiana, now Tulane University; was graduated therefrom, admitted [10] Address of Mr. Dupre, of Lofisiana to the bar of the Stale, and became, with his brother, a member of the firm of Thomas Gilmore & Sons. Shortlj^ afterwards he was married to Miss Martha Frazer Nohin, of an old and respected southern family, who, with a daughter and son, survive him. Mr. Gilmore first made his enti-y into public life in the heated State and municipal campaign of 1888, long to be remembered in the annals of Louisiana politics, and was in that year named first assistant by Hon. Carleton Hunt, then city attornej' and sometime a Member of this House. The memorable contest that shook Louisiana from turret to foundation stone and that ended in the abolition of the Louisiana State lottery coming on about this time, he threw himself with youtliful vigor and ardor into the fight against the lottery, and by 1892 had become so im- portant a political factor as to be named presidential elector by the reunited Democracy of Louisiana. Sever- ing his connection with the city attorney's office in that year, he formed a law partnership with the late John M. Baldwin under the name of Gilmore & Baldwin, which endured until the latter's death. Thereafter he con- tinued the practice alone, his professional abilities being devoted principally to the discharge of the duties of the public ofiice he was so soon to fill and so long to hold. Through the election of 1896 the administration of municipal affairs in the city of New Orleans was turned over to a reform movement known as the Citizens' League, and Mr. Gilmore, who was affiliated with that movement, was, because of his previous record as assist- ant city attorney and because of the high position which he had attained as a lawyer, chosen city attorney of New Orleans. From that day until his death he was a central figure in New Orleans politics, and consequently in the politics of Louisiana. In 1899 he was chosen, in a hotly [11] Memorial Addresses: Hepresentative Gilmoke contested primary, leader of the fourteenth ward of Orleans Parish and represented it in the councils of the Democratic Party until the day of his death. The ward in question forms part of the residential district of New Orleans; its citizcniy is especially char- acterized hy independence of thought and action. Those familiar with political conditions in New Orleans, and especially those who have had occasion to aspire to office from that political subdivision, know that to maintain supremacy in the fourteenth ward means continued pres- ence on the firing line, with a cool head, a steady aim, and a courageous spirit. These qualities Mr. Gilmore possessed in a supreme degree, and his leadership, while repeatedly challenged, was never successfully attacked. He was reelected city attorney in 1899, again in 1904, and had just entered on his fourth term, to which he was elected in 1908, when he was elevated in March, 1909, to the Sixty-first Congress. The Speaker of the House, recognizing his long experi- ence as the legal adviser of a great metropolitan city and his close familiarity with municipal problems, assigned him, though a new Member, to the Conunittee on the District of Columbia. That committee, charged as it is with the responsibility of initiating and recommend- ing legislation for the Nation's Capital, is one of the most important in this body. It offers scope for the best talent, since we all recognize that municipal government is the weakest link in the chain of our American institutions, and the aim of that committee accordingly should be to have the local government of Washington conducted along the most advanced and progressive lines, so that other municipalities, struggling under their own burdens, may seek inspiration and relief from this city's municipal administration. [12] A[)DHKss OF Mr. DrpRE, of Loi isiana Mr. GiLMORE would have proved a valuable factor in the civic uplift of this community had his connection with the District Committee endured for any length of time. His service in the extra session of 1909 gave him no opportunity in this direction. In March, 1910, he was stricken with illness and went to New Orleans for treat- ment. He never returned to Washington. His friends knew of the serious condition of his health, but never realized the fatal character of his ailment. I saw him last about the middle of May, and he appeared much improved and was himself confident of his early recovei-y. In June he went to Abita Springs, a resort in the famous ozone belt, near New Orleans. For a time he rallied, but only temporarily. His vitality continued to ebb until on July 18, 1910, the end came to him. As Matthew Arnold puts it: His cabined ample spirit Fluttered and failed of breath, To-night he doth inherit The vasty hall of death. His mortal remains rest in the historic Metairie Ceme- terj', in that Crescent City he loved so well. Mr. GiLMORE was assistant city attorney for 4 years and was city attorney for 14 years. His claim to be remembered by his people for the public services he rendered rests upon his record in that otFice. Using that record as a criterion bj' which to measure these services, he is entitled to grateful recognition by the people of New Orleans. He came to the office at a crisis in his city's history, when the old order was changing and a new era of higher civic ideals and larger material developments was to succeed. The general assembly of 1896 enacted a new charter for the city of New Orleans. It fell to him to [13] Memorial Addresses: Representative Gilmore interpret the provisions of tliat charter to the executive and aldernianic oHicers of tlie municipality and to uphold and sustain his progressive and beneficial interpretations in the courts. This he did with signal success. His great abilities as a la\\'>au' and his marvelous skill as a diplomat were never used to better advantage than when, early in his term, he brought about a satisfactory adjustment of the garbage controversy, by which an iniquitous, medi- eval system of street cleaning was abrogated. He argued in the Supreme Court of the United States the case of The City of New Orleans against The Texas & Pacific Railroad, which had been pending in the courts for many years and had at each previous stage been decided ad- versely to the city's contentions, and secured from that august tribunal a decision which wrested a large por- tion of the river front from the monopolistic control of a railroad company, under a grant from a carpet-bag legislature. When the contract with the wharf lessees, who, for their own enrichment, had throttled the business of the port, expired, he was foremost in the movement to put our harbor facilities under public control, and to his far- seeing wisdom is largely due the present admirable system of docks and wharves that have aroused the envy of our competitors and the commendation of public and private experts in these matters. He was one of a few brave spirits who conceived and fostered the idea of a municipally owned Public Belt Railroad, spanning our entire river front, and in time to encircle our entire city, by which the self-interest of trunk railroads is held in check and the business of the port cheaply and expedi- tiously handled. Through good and ill fortune he and his associates clung to and fought for the Belt Railroad, whicii is to-day in successful and practical operation in New Orleans. [14] Address of Mr. Dufre, of Louisiana His last professional appearance was made in behalf of this same Public Belt Railroad when, in February', 1910, after his election to Congress, he came to New Or- leans to argue, without compensation, in the supreme court of the State the city's side of the case of Mayor against Louisiana Railway & Navigation Co. The recent decision of the court denying that company's claim and further clinching the public ownership of an important section of our river front, rendered only two months ago, sustaining thoroughly Mr. Gilmore's contentions, is a splendid posthumous tribute to his public spirit and to his legal ability. The last 15 years have been for the city of New Orleans its age of renaissance. Millions of dollars have been ex- pended in great works and public improvements. These expenditures have been made under legislative authority, and the statutes authorizing them have all been judicially tested and upheld. Every one of these statutes were drafted, viseed, or approved by Mr. Gilmore, and were argued and discussed by him when they were under con- sideration by the Louisiana General Assembly. The acts of that body from 1896 to 1910 contain a lasting monu- ment to his remarkable grasp of municipal problems and to his shining ability as a lawyer. Whatever other differences of opinion have existed as to his merits, I have never heard Mr. Gilmore's legal abilitj' disputed or questioned. He was a man of excep- tional natural endowments; he had been carefully edu- cated along general lines and had been firnily grounded in the basic principles of the law. Early after his admis- sion to the bar he was called upon to cope with great private and public questions, and with advancing years and increasing experience and responsibilities he broad- ened and widened in his mental outlook until he was [15] Ml-MOrUAI. AdDRKSSLS : REPHIiSENlATIVE CilLMOKD able to look upon the broad horizon of a question, his vision unobscured by the attending mirage of technical- ities and unimportant details. Added to his other quali- fications were a persuasiveness of style, an elegance of diction, an ease of deliver^', a courtliness of manner, and an evenness of temper that greatly strengthened the cogency of his arguments and the logic of his conclusions. I should say that his most striking characteristic as a lawyer was a marvelous resourcefulness. An adversaiy rarely caught him off his guard; but if it so happened, in a flash he had closed his armor and had himself become the aggressor from some unsuspected coign of vantage. The case was never lost witli him until a rehearing had been finally denied by the highest appellate tribunal. Mr. Speaker, 1 knew Mr. Gilmore well. 1 enjoyed 10 years of close personal and official intimacy with him. He was my friend, faithful and true. 1 loved him in the flesh, and 1 mourn him now as he sleeps " in that cool rest house down the glen." Let me bring to a close these re- marks by quoting from an editorial that appeared in the New Orleans States of July 19, 1910, from the pen of one who from personal association could write of his kindli- ness of heart and generosity of spirit. Is there one of us who, dying, would not hope to receive and to deserve so beautiful a tribute? 1 quote: He was a man of unusually attractive personality. He loved the beautiful in life. He was passionately fond of the best litera- ture. If there was a slirine at which he worshiped, it was that of intellectuality. He dcliglited in companionship and found his rarest pleasure in communion with spirits of like intellect. Yet he was democratic to the core. A southern gentleman in that best sense of the word, he was a Chesterfield in manners, and he made no distinction in his treatment of his fellow beings. The rich and the poor, the high and the low, the mighty and the humble, alike found at his hands gentle reception and chivalrous consid- [16] Address of Mr. Dupre, of Louisiana eration. He was not without faults. Who of us is? He made enemies. ^Yhat strong man ever did not? Now, however, that he has been cut down in the flower of his maturity, at the thresh- old of a new career that promised to bring him fresh honors, his stricken family and his host of friends will cherish only the radiant mentality and the lovable personality with which the Creator endowed him. [17] Address of Mr. Kahn, of Cai.ifornia Mr. Speaker: Again we have met to pay tribute to tlie worth of a departed colleague, and I esteem it a duty to lay upon the shrine of the late Samuel L. Gilmore a brief tribute of respect. Mr. Gilmore came to the House full of honors. His people time and again had shown their ap- preciation of his splendid ability as an attorney and his sterling integritj' as a citizen, until finally he was elected by them to membership in this House. For 13 years he had been the city attorney of New Orleans. In that position he was called upon to engage in many legal contests that were of vital interest to the citizens of that community. These contests enabled him to become thoroughlj^ famil- iar with all questions of municipal law. He was an ex- pert in that line of legal learning. It was therefore but natural that when he was assigned to committees in this House he was given a position on the Committee on the District of Columbia, a position for which he was pecu- liarly fitted by reason of his knowledge of municipal law. It was on that committee that I first had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. He immediately impressed one as being a gentleman of the broadest culture. He seemed a true type of that class upon whom no greater compliment can be bestowed than by referring to them as gentlemen of the old school. After a few moments of conversation with him one realized that he was a man of splendid literary attainments and profound learning. The members of the Committee on the District of Colum- bia, although permitted to know him but a brief period of [18] Address of Mr. Kahn, of California time, learned to esteem him highly. As a matter of fact, it is through their associations on committees that the Members of the House get to know each other best and to form the closest ties. The news of his death was a great shock to all of his colleagues on the District Committee. He was only 51 years of age when he passed away. He had just arrived at that period of his life when man is supposed to be in his prime, when man is supposed to have the greatest faculty for doing things. But the grim reaper cut down Mr. Gilmore just as he had crossed the threshold of the more active life. We mourn his loss, and it must be a satisfaction to those he left behind — those who bear his name — that he served his citj', his State, and his countrv' with marked ability and patriotic devotion, and that his memory is revered and honored by those who were permitted to know him and who learned to esteem and respect him. [19] Address of Mr. Estopinal, of Louisiana Mr. Speaker: Samuel L. Gilmore departed this life, after a brief service in this body, at the early age of 50. While but a small child when the gloom of war o'erspread our country and but a youth during the time of that darker gloom and greater desolation — the period of re- construction, racial turbulence, and political and govern- mental abandon — he was able later on to use his splendid legal mind, his energy, and his strength of youth to help rearrange the disordered legal and financial structures of city and State into order and system to meet the new conditions, that they might be responsive to the spirit and march of material progress to which our city and State were just awakening when he attained his majority. But it is sad to reflect that, wliile many of us who helped to bear the brunt of both of these trj^ing ordeals are still active, he has sunk beneath the sod in an untimely death. Equipped by education, association, and in the possession of a splendid legal attainment to take a leading part in the deliberations of this honorable body, he is taken from us in his early service, leaving but a faint mark of what time and longer membership would doubtless have deepened into lasting impression. Indeed, it is no over- drawn conclusion to say that had his years of service in this House lengthened out until he had reached the ripe age of manj' of the ablest Members of this body he would have taken front I'ank in eloquent presentation and in shaping constructive legislation. [20] Address of Mr. Estopinal, of Louisiana His education — that is, his legal education — was largely obtained under the direction of and in association with Hon. Carleton Hunt, who was one of Louisiana's bi'ightest legal minds; and when Mr. Hunt was city attorney Samuel L. Gilmore was his assistant. Afterwards, for 13 years, Mr. Gilmore was the legal adviser of the city of New Orleans as its city attorney. There were many com- plex and varied legal questions affecting the relation of the city to local public utilities, railroads. Public Belt Railroad development, levee matters, shipping facilities, and regulations of the river front. These he managed to solve with consummate ability and greatly to the advan- tage of our city. Mr. Gilmore was soft of speech and courth' in manner, ready and eloquent in debate, and the Congress of the United States was an arena in which he would have shone. Though we lived in the same section of the State, and he represented in part the city of New Orleans, a part of which forms the most populous portion of my district, there were many who knew him more intimately than I did. I will quote the tributes that were paid to him at the time of his death by three of those who were closely associated with him in his work as citj' attorney. Mayor Behrman said: Occupying, as he did, the office of city attorney when I first assumed the duties of chief executive of New Orleans, we became most intimately associated. He was a man of wonderful per- spicacity, profoundly learned in the law, and possessed of excep- tionally sound judgment. A gentleman of the old school, whose natural culture and refinement were enhanced by his great intellect and excellent literary attainments, he won the admira- tion of everyone and held the love and esteem of his host of friends. His remarkable abilities were recognized at all times during his public career. [21] Memori.\l Addkessks: Representativ'e Gilmore Judge I. D. Moore said: He was a brilliant and able lawyer and a lovable man. Hon. H. Garland Dupre said : To know him was not only to admire his wonderful intellect and ability, but to love him for his admirable qualities as a man. His ability was generally recognized, but to thoroughly appreciate Mr. Gilmore we had to know him as I did. Powerful in intellect, gentle in heart, I deeply feel his loss. Mr. Speaker: There is no death! What seems so is transition; This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life clysian. Whose portal we call death. [22] Address of Mr. Pujo, of Louisiana Mr. Speaker: For the third time within the last two years the Louisiana delegation in the lower branch of Congress have met in sad and solemn exercises in com- memoration of the life and character of a worthy Repre- sentative of the people of our State. In the stress and turmoil of this complex life those not closely allied by ties of friendship to departed Members might be prone to forget their fellow service in the legislative work of this great countrv'. But by wise provision, founded upon the wisdom of human experience, it is the practice of the House to set aside a day upon which there shall be given expression of the respect in which a departed colleague was held and of the esteem and affection entertained for him. Our lamented colleague, Mr. Gilmore, served but a short while in this Chamber. Having been elected to fill an unexpired term, he became a Member after the formation of committees, and, although a stranger to congressional life, his character and attainments and political experience and wisdom had preceded him to the city of Washington. He was assigned to membership on the Committee on the District of Columbia, which he was well qualified to fill by reason of the fact that he had alwaj's lived in a large city and had been for many years city attorney for one of the greatest cosmopolitan centers in America. He had but little time to take the rank in the House to which his abilitj^ and skill as a lawyer and parliamentarian would no doubt have ele- vated him. A man of good education, grounded in the [23] Memorial Addresses : Representative Gilmore jMinciples of his chosen profession, the hiw, and skilled in its most intricate branches, there is no doubt but that his achievements would have shed luster upon his name and added fame to his standing as a civilian and as a man versed in the science of government. I will not attempt to review his life in detail, which duty has been discharged by his successor in a far abler manner than if attempted by me; but I feel on this sad occasion that it is my privilege to contribute these few words in behalf of the memory of one whose acquaint- ance, though slight, ripened into friendship as soon as it was given the opportunity of being influenced by his nobility of character, loyalty of purpose, unsurpassed courtes}', and unvarying kindness. Mr. GiLMORE did not enjoy good health after his arrival in Washington, yet he was attentive to the discharge of his duties, agreeable and pleasant with his colleagues, although he no doubt knew at the time that he was approaching with measured and no uncertain steps the portals of the grave. It must surely be the supreme test when one is brought face to face with the knowledge that he will soon be called to the voiceless tomb that he mur- murs not at his fate, but calmly faces the future and his Creator. This great contentment of mind and heart must in the providence of God be founded upon belief in the resurrection. I join in tendering to his family mj^ most sincere sympathy in this hour of their bereavement and irretrievable loss. [24] Address of Mr. Borland, of Missouri Mr. Speaker : I am here to pay a tribute of respect to the memorj' of our late colleague in this body and to my late colleague on the Committee on the District of Columbia, Mr. GiLMORE. During the short time that Mr. Gilmore was a Member of this bodj' his service was devoted to the Committee on the District of Columbia, where I was asso- ciated with him. I believe that his previous career and his experience as a public man had especially fitted him for the great problems of municipal government. It is a matter of regret to his colleagues on the committee that he could not longer have devoted those talents to the work for which he seemed to be so eminently fitted. In the brief time that he was with us he had little opportu- nity to display his abilitj', so as to make felt in this Capital City and in the Nation the talents which he had brought to that work. He seemed to his fellow members of the committee a man of great depth of mind, and accompany- ing that, as is so often the case, was great frankness and simplicity of nature, gentleness, earnestness, and integ- rit}'. I suppose that during the public career, which he seems to have fdled with the respect and affection of his fellow citizens of that great southern metropolis, he had no opportunity to accumulate a store of this world's goods. It is not often that a public man, if he devotes himself ear- nestly and honestly to the work to which his life should be dedicated, can be financially rewarded. But I have no personal knowledge of the fact. I assume it to be .true that his public service was as the public service of many another man — a financial loss. But here in this great country, which has demonstrated to the world the success of free government among men, it has also been demon- Memorial Addresses: Representative Gilmori: strated to the world that public service can command from men of honor and from men of character and from men of ability the highest type of service, which is re- warded only by the esteem and respect and affection of their fellow men. Upon that principle the perpetuity of our Government is founded. If it were true that men would serve their country only when the financial reward was greater in that direction than in others, there could be no free gov- ernment. The more than a century of success of the American Government is founded upon one example after another of disinterested, self-sacrificing effort upon the part of public men. I undei'stand that our late col- league for many years served his city as its law officer, and bi'ought to it not only the love and affection he must have borne for his city, but the love and affection that he evidently bore to the great profession to which he belonged. He brought to the Nation, when he came to our midst, the same qualities that makes a man a good citizen and a useful member of the community in which he lives. There is no other tribute, no higher tribute, that can be paid to a man than that. There is no other reward that a man can seek than that. Men devote their lives to the accumulation of wealth, and, as must inevita- bly follow, whether from the original possessor or others, that wealth disseminates itself a blessing throughout the community. Other men devote their lives to the solving of the great problems of the human race, and more directly those efforts are stamped upon all the history of our country. It has been said by Sallust — Let man, who boasts himself so much superior to the beasts of the field, strive earnestly to accomplish something, that he pass not over life in silence, like the cattle who turn their faces to the ground and serve only their stomach. [26] Address of Mr. Borland, of Missouri II' there were no other trait or talent in man but the service of the economic wants of the body, men of the type of our late colleague could not be developed, but it is a type, an index, and a symbol of the divine destiny of the human race that it rises above the economic needs into the higher needs of the human soul. For a thousand years the English-speaking people have been struggling up from the abyss of feudalism to the mountain heights of individual liberty and free government. They have struggled up by the efforts and by the force of men who were willing to lay their lives and their talents upon the altar of human advancement. We can do no less on this occasion than to lay our tribute of respect upon the altar before the remains of one who has done his part to leave his mark upon the great and glorious historj' of his coun- try and of the race. [27] Address of Mr. Ransdell, of Louisiana Mr. Speaker: The hand of death has been very heavy upon Louisiana in the Halls of Congress during the last three years. Gen. Adolph Meyer, of the first district, was taken on the 8th of March, 1908; Judge Robert C. Davey, of the second district, on the 28th of December of the same j'ear; Senator Samuel D. McEnery, on the 28th of June, 1910; and Samuel L. Gilmore, Judge Davey's suc- cessor, left us to return no more on the 18th day of July, 1910. Out of a little band of seven Representatives and two Senators, four of our brethren — nearlj' one-half our host — have gone to answer their final summons and pay the last debt to nature in the short space of a little more than two years. I well remember the sad occasion when we met here last to pay our final tribute to the memory of the well- beloved Bob Davey. On that occasion Mr. Gilmore, whom we are now mourning, was the principal speaker. His address was most eloquent; it was filled with beauti- ful thouglits, and delivered in a sonorous voice, with so much sweetness and grace, that it appealed strongly to all who heard him. That was the only time I ever heard him speak, but that effort stamped him as an orator of rare powers. It was not my pleasure to know Mr. Gilmore well. Though both of us were Louisianians born and reared, our homes were in widely separated parts of the State, and I could not say that I knew him at all until he came to this House. His service here was brief, and he suffered so much from ill health during the greater part of it that [28] Address of Mk. Ransdell, of Louisiana I had little opportunity to become well acquainted with him, while he had neither time nor occasion to impress upon the House the splendid qualities of mind and heart which made him so beloved by those who knew him best in his Louisiana home. I do not think Mr. Gilmore ever spoke in the House except on the occasion of the eulogies in honor of Judge Davey. If he did, I do not remember it. It was very unfortunate for him that he was cut oflf so early in his career here, verj' unfortunate for Louisiana; for, sir, if we are to judge of his career in this body, had he served for several years, by the successes which met him in his chosen profession of the law, there is no doubt that great honors would have come to him and most bene- ficial results to Louisiana and the Nation. Mr. Gilmore is remembered as a lawyer, and only as a lawyer, so far as the outside world knows of him. And the same pains- taking care and attention which he always gave to his legal business, the same studious habits, the same hard work, the same logical mind he ever applied in attending to every detail of the intricate law questions with which he so often and so successfully grappled would surely have made a great impress upon this House had he been given the usual term of service of the Members who leave an enviable record behind them. Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives is a mighty business establishment, a vast beehive with many branches, each closely connected with the other and so interlaced as to form a great comprehensive whole, ca- pable of producing many varied and most beneficial re- sults. There is no place, sir, in this House for drones or weaklings, but a magnificent opportunity for men of brain and power, men of loyalty and truth, men whose sole ideal is their country's good, and who at all times [29] Memorial Aodresses : Hepresentative Gilmoke stand for what is right. Sir, if we are to judge of Sam Gilmore here by what he was able to accomplish at home, by what he did for New Orleans and Louisiana during his long service as city attorney, this field would have proved a splendid one for him and great results would have come from his efforts. It seems very unfortunate for Mr. Gilmore, his family, his State, and his country that he was cut down in the zenith of his power on the threshold of success, when he had just reached the place that gave full vent to all his eminent abilities. But God knoweth best! Let us bow in humble submission to the inscrutable decrees of His superior wisdom. Mr. Estopinal assumed the chair as Speaker pro tempore. [30] Address of Mr. Broussard, of Louisiana Mr. Speaker: Samuel L. Gilmore was boi-n in the city of New Orleans, July 30, 1859. He was educated in the public schools of that city, and, after graduation from the Central Boys' High School, took the degree of bachelor of arts at Seton Hall College, South Orange, N. J., in 1877, and two years later the degree of master of arts at the same institution. Returning to New Orleans he matricu- lated in the law department of Tulane Universitj', from which institution he was graduated in 1880. Mr. Gilmore died on July 18, 1910, at Abita Springs, in Louisiana, whither he had gone in a vain effort to regain his health and strength. To those who were associated with him his death was not altogether unexpected. Dur- ing his short service in this House he had made several efforts to attend his duties; but his health was such that each effort resulted only in impressing his friends more and more that if he were expected to become a valuable Member he should take a much-needed rest and be given medical attention. The fact that the opportunity of displaying his remark- able ability in this body was denied him was a distinct disappointment to his numerous friends and admirers in Louisiana. For many years Mr. Gilmore practiced law in the city of New Orleans, commencing in 1880, shortly after his graduation from Tulane; first with his father, himself a distinguished lawj^er, after whose death he practiced his profession for a while alone. Subsequently, however, he [31] Memorial Audhesses: Representative Gilmore again entered into partnership with different la\\^'ers of eminence, members of the New Orleans bar. It was in 1888 that Congressman Gilmore occupied his first public position, the Hon. Carleton Hunt, then city attorney of New Orleans, appointing him as his assistant. With that peculiar talent which he always displayed, his earnestness, his studiousness, his assiduous application to his duties in his chosen profession, the late Represent- ative soon became noted for his thorough knowledge of municipal law. In 1896 he himself was elected city at- torney, and reelected in 1900, 1904, and 1908; and it was only on March 15, 1909, that he severed his connection with the city attorneyship, having resigned to succeed the late lamented Congressman Robert C. Davej', both for the unexpired term and the full term. In neither elections, either at the primary for his party's nomination or tlic election proper, did Mr. Gilmore meet with any opposi- tion. Such was the regard in which he was held by tlie people of the second congressional district of Louisiana. Prior to his election as city attoi'ney Mr. Gilmore was very widely known in Louisiana. In 1892 he was elected one of the presidential electors; in 1908 he was a dele- gate to the Denver convention, and as such seconded the nomination of William J. Bryan as the Democratic nomi- nee for the Presidency. No one could present a case more strongly, more effec- tively, and more thoroughly than could Mr. Gilmore. In his case he overlooked no point of law, and he never harassed any court before which he appeared by a repe- tition of his arguments. He was a Shakespearean scholar, and at one time liad prepared for the stage. Mr. Gil- more'.s studies in that direction, his suavity of manner, his fluency of language, his purity of diction, and his uniform courtesy to his opponents, supplemented by a [32] Address of Mr. Broissard, of Loiisiana thorough knowledge of the law and the facts of his case, always made him an interesting debater and a dangerous adversary. Apart from the distinctive loss suffered by Louisiana in his untimely demise, it will forever remain a matter of deep regret to his admirers, among whom I class myself, that an opportunity was not afforded him to display his remarkable talents on this floor. ADJOURNMENT Then, in accordance with the resolutions heretofore adopted (at 2 o'clock and 1 minute p. m.), the House adjourned until Monday, January 30, 1911, at 12 o'clock m. [33] Proceedings in the Senate December 6, 1910. Mr. Foster. Mr. President, I ask that the resolutions of the House of Representatives relative to the death of Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore, late a Member of that body, be laid before the Senate. The Vice President. The Chair lays before the Senate resolutions of the House of Representatives, which will be read: The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: In the House of Representatives, December 5, 1910. Resolved, That the House lias lieard with profound sorrow of the deatti of Hon. Samuel L. Gilmore, late a Representative from the State of Louisiana. Resolved, That the Clerl< communicate these resolutions to the Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. Mr. Foster. Mr. President, I send to the desk the follow- ing resolutions and ask for their immediate consideration. The Vice President. The resolutions submitted by the Senator from Louisiana will be read. The resolutions were read and unanimously agreed to, as follows: Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sensibility the announcement of the death of Hon. Samuel Louis Gilmore, late a Representative from the State of Louisiana. Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- lutions to the House of Representatives. [35] ^.(p LB Mr '12