James M. Griggs (late a representative from Georgia) : memorial addresses deliverd in the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States sixty-first Congress, second session : proceedings in the House April 17, 1910 : proceedings in the Senate May 28, 1910 / compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing

KON. JAMES M.GRiGGS.

JAMES M. GRIGGS
(Late a Representative from Georgia)
MEMORIAL ADDRESSES
DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE
OF THE UNITED STATES SIXTY-FIRST CONGRESS SECOND SESSION

Proceeding* in the House April 17, 1910

Proceedings in the Senate May 28, 1910

COMPILED UNDER. THE DIRECTION OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1911

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Proceedings in the House----------..-.---- --------

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D---------------

Memorial addresses by

Mr. Roddenbery, of Georgia.------------------

Mr. Howard, of Georgia.--------.--.-----------

Mr. Hardwick, of Georgia..--------------------

Mr. Clark, of Missouri____._____------

Mr. Pou, of North Carolina.---..-_------_..

Mr. Hughes, of Georgia____-.-.

-_--..

Mr. Ellerbe, of South Carolina.-- ------------

Mr. Robinson, of Arkansas..-------------------

Mr. Edwards, of Georgia.-------------.--------

Mr. Goulden, of New York.-___----------_..

Mr. Brantley, of Georgia.-----------------.----

Mr. Lee, of Georgia--.-----------------.-------

Mr. Adamson, of Georgia.---------------------

Mr. Bell, of Georgia.----.-. ----------------

Mr. Bartlelt, of Georgia------.-----------. .

Mr. Michael E. Driscoll, of New York _____...

Mr. Alexander, of New York_-------------_.

Mr. Kahn, of California_-..._____---------

Proceedings in the Senate-.----.-.---------,----..---..

Prayer by Rev. .Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D.-----------

Memorial addresses by

Mr. Clay, of Georgia------..---_.---.-__--_--

' Mr. Curtis, of Kansas.-.-----------------------

Mr. Overman, of North Carolina.---------------

Mr. Dixon, of Montana......--..-.--..-..._--_-

Mr. Bacon, of Georgia...--.--.....__....--..

Page.
5 5,8
10 15 21 24 28 32 35 38 42 49 51 58 '62 71 75 81 86 88 91 91
93 98 100 104 107

[3]

DEATH OF HON. JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE
THURSDAY, January 6, 1910. The House met at 12 o'clock m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., as follows:
Trusting in Thy loving kindness, O Father, we draw near to Thee for that uplift of the spirit which shall put us in harmony with Thee, that we may go forward doing the work that Thou hast called us to do, with faith and confi dence in Thee and faith and confidence in the work Thou hast given us to do.
Once more, O Father, by the sudden death of one of the Members of this House, beloved and honored by all who knew him, we are reminded of the shortness of life and of its uncertainties, and we pray for him, his soul, and for the mourning widow and his children, that they may be comforted as Thou alone canst comfort, drawing them to the larger life, where they shall as a family once more be brought together, to live with Thee and to do Thy will, in a realm of love and peace and harmony, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Mr. LWINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, it becomes my painful duty to bring to the attention of the House the lamented
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
death of my late colleague, Hon. JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS, a Representative in Congress from the State of Georgia, who was suddenly and unexpectedly stricken at his home in Dawson, Ga., on yesterday afternoon.
It is not my purpose now to indulge in remarks of eulogy or tribute to his memory and character, but at some future time I shall ask that a day be set apart that fitting tribute may be paid to the life, character, and public services of our deceased colleague.
I now offer the following resolution, which I send to the desk and ask to have read. . The Clerk read as follows:
House resolution 197
Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of the death of the Hon. JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS, late a Representa tive from the State of Georgia.
Resolved, That a committee of 28 Members of the House be appointed by the Speaker to Yake order superintending the funeral of Mr. GRIGGS at Dawson, Ga., and to attend the same with such Members of the Senate as shall be appointed by the Senate.
Resolved, That the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to take such steps as may be necessary to carry out these resolutions, and that the necessary expenses in connection therewith be paid out of the contingent fund of the House.
The SPEAKER. The question is on agreeing to the reso lution.
The question was taken, and the resolution was agreed to.
The Chair announced the following committee in pur suance of the resolution:
Charles D. Edwards, Dudley M. Hughes, W. C. Adamson, L. F. Livingston, C. L. Bartlett, Gordon Lee, William M. Howard, Thomas M. Bell, Thomas W. Hardwick, Wil liam G. Brantley, Sereno E. Payne, John Dalzell, Samuel
[6]

PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE.
W. McCall, Ebenezer J. Hill, Henry S. Boutell, James Car son Needham, William A. Calderhead, Joseph W. Fordney, Joseph H. Gaines, Nicholas Longworth, John W. Dwight, William R. Ellis, Champ Clark, Oscar W. Under wood, Edward W. Pou, Choice B. Randell, Robert F. Broussard, and Francis Burton Harrison.
The SPEAKER. The Clerk will report the additional reso lution.
The Clerk read as follows:
Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the House do now adjourn.
The SPEAKER. The question is on agreeing to the resolu tion.
The resolution was agreed to. Accordingly (at 12 o'clock and 52 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned.
MARCH 10, 1910. Mr. RODDENBERY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the present consideration of the resolution which I send to the Clerk's desk. The Clerk read as follows:
Ordered, That there shall be a session of the House on Sunday, the 17th day of April, at 12 o'clock, to be set apart for eulogies on the life, character, and public services of Hon. JAMES M. GRIGGS, late a Representative from the State of Georgia.
The SPEAKER. The-gentleman asks unanimous consent for the present consideration of the resolution which has just been read. Is there objection? [After a pause.] The Chair hears none.
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS

SUNDAY, April 17, 1910.

The House met at 12 o'clock m.

'

The following prayer was offered by the Chaplain, Rev.

Henry N. Couden, D. D.:

Eternal God, our heavenly Father, from whom cometh all the deep, tender affections and manly virtues which strew life's pathway with achievements great and glorious, and which bind mankind into one great family, so that when one member suffers all suffer and when one rejoices all rejoice with him, we thank Thee that though the Members of this House come from widely separated dis tricts, representing diverse interests, strong in their party affiliations, each stamped with an individuality all his own, yet friendships are formed which break through all barriers and unite them in a lasting brotherhood. So when the angel of death comes and claims his own all hearts are touched and vibrate with deepest emotion. Hence in response to those feelings we are here to-day in memory of one who made himself a place in the hearts of all who knew him.
Help us, we beseech Thee, to strive earnestly day by day to fulfill our highest and noblest aspirations, that we may leave a record which shall inspire those who come after us to pure, noble, useful lives. Comfort all who knew and loved him. Be especially near to the bereaved wife and fatherless children; comfort them by the blessed hope of the Gospel, that they may look forward to a reunion with their loved one in some other ^of God's many mansions, and Thine be the praise, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. -

[8]

PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE
The SPEAKER. The Clerk will read the special order. The Clerk read as follows:
On motion of Mr. Roddenbery, by unanimous consent, Ordered, That there be a session of the House on Sunday, the 17th day of April, at 12 o'clock, to be set apart for eulogies on the life, character, and public services of Hon. JAMES M. GRIGGS, late a Representative from the State of Georgia.
Mr. LrviNGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I offer the following reso lutions.
The Clerk read as follows:
Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended, that opportunity may be given for tribute to the memory of Hon. JAMES M. GRIGGS, late a Member of this House from the State of Georgia.
Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguished career, the House, at the conclusion of these exercises, shall stand adjourned.
Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate.
Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to the family of the deceased.
The question was taken, and the resolutions were unani mously agreed to.
The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Georgia [Mr. LIVINGSTON] will take the chair.
Mr. LIVINGSTON assumed the chair as Speaker pro ternpore.
[9]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES
ADDRESS OF MR. RODDENBERY, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER: During the short period of my official association in Washington nothing has so impressed me with the fickleness of life's tenure and the certainty of death as the frequently recurring occasions that com mand the accustomed routine of national legislation to cease its functions that reverence may be done the mem ory of those who but yesterday, in the vigor of life, standing in these aisles, gave utterances, from vibrant hearts, to patriotic speech.
We have now come to record the final mark of official respect to the life and character of my distinguished predecessor, Hon. JAMES MATTHEWS GRIGGS, late of the. State of Georgia.
So far as I may, Mr. Speaker, without disregarding the demands of duty and hitherto unvaried customs, I desire to yield the lime of the House absolutely to my colleagues, the honorable Members who served in Congress with Mr. GRIGGS, that they may speak of his public services and avail themselves of this opportunity fitly to honor his memory.
No re'sume' of the many notable qualities appertaining to the life and career of Mr. GRIGGS would do justice to either that omitted to emphasize the intimate relation which for 13 years existed between him as a Representa-
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ADDRESS OF MR. RODDENBERY, OF GEORGIA
live and his immediate constituency as the represented; .and it is equally imperative that note should be made of the feeling of proprietary interest which the masses of the people of his district felt that they had in his public career. Hence the House will indulge me, in speaking of Mr. GRIGGS, to direct my remarks to personal observations on his relation to his people at home; and the expression "at home" must be interpreted to com prehend the total area of the 18 counties comprising the district whose citizens for many years yielded to him political fealty and official trust.
The life of Mr. GRIGGS at home was marked for its frankness and simplicity. His greatness in office erected no barrier between him and the humblest citizen; while, under our theory of government, he was a representa tive of the "whole people," in point of actual fact, he enjoyed throughout his public career the unique char acteristic of being regarded by each one of the "whole people" as an individual representative. His intimate personal acquaintance at home was restricted to no cer tain portions of the district; he knew the people not casually, but his individual knowledge of them was marvelous. He seldom met a citizen of the district whose business, whose lineage, and whose name he did not know. The people did not " know of him " they knew him; he did not only have a general familiarity with his district he knew it and personally recognized his constituency, man to man. His faculty of recognition was naturally acute and by cultivation it had attained almost to perfec tion. It may be doubted if any Member of the House more nearly approximates a personal acquaintance with the individual person or constituent than did the lamented Member whose life and character we now review.
His friendships were fast not a mere political friend ship but the ideal and genuine attachment which we
[11]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
encounter more often in pretense than we perceive in fact. The man who was once drawn to Mr. GRIGGS never, found an abatement of friendship; he attracted men to him by his marked personality and held them always by the magnetism of the man.
It is no marvel among the citizenry at home that thou sands stood aghast at 'the announcement of his death which, like the shadow of an unheralded eclipse, dark ened the dawning of a new-born year.
I have known him in both district and State political contests to enter into vigorous struggles, always contend ing aggressively for his opinions and insistently for his views, and nevertheless, unlike most men, he would emerge from the conflict to find his opponents none the less his personal friends and oftentimes all the more his future political allies. Few men possessed this quality of magnetic attraction in so pronounced a degree; it was a present asset that always enabled him to discharge in full measure every personal political liability, and such was the integrity of the man that no obligation to bis friends was ever repudiated.
He was a master in the art of controlling the conduct of men and bringing them to see as he saw; herein lay much of his success in public life and made him through out his career a potent factor in molding the course of political events in his State.
Still speaking of the characteristics of Judge GRIGGS as they are known at home, he never forgot the service of a friend and he seldom, if ever, sought to inflict a pen alty upon a political foe. He had no personal enemies. This was not because he was a negative character; in deed, as has already been observed, he was a positive equation in every relation; such was his candor in an tagonism and fairness in controversy that no man, though differing in political opinion, could bear toward him
[12]

ADDRESS OF MR. RODDENBERY, OF GEORGIA
personal ill will. When the shadows of an evil moment would begin to weave an ill-hued veil to entangle his friendships, the very sunshine of his countenance would dissolve it, the ever-abounding geniality of his nature would dispel it.
This speech enters upon a too hallowed labyrinth to indulge over fulsome praise, but mark you, Mr. Speaker, I am adverting to traits and qualities as expressed in the life of your late colleague as lived at home, whence can be summoned unfaltering witnesses in numbers countless to vouchsafe verity.
The solicitude of Mr. GRIGGS for the desires of his con stituents was only equaled by the certainty of his success in gratifying them. It is said of him that the most unim portant inquiry from a resident of his. district would unfailingly receive acknowledgment by the first mail, and I know, as a fact, that it was no unusual occurrence for him to journey from Georgia to Washington to give attention to the request of a constituent, and it mattered not to him that the particular constituent was of insignifi cant political influence. Friend and constituent were interchangeable, if not synonymous, words with Mr. GRIGGS, and the calls of either for his aid never had inaction for a reply nor irresponsiveness for an answer. When those who had claims upon him commanded, he responded. Although political exigencies, of necessity, required his friends to do much for him, he had an antipathy to accepting the good graces of others without reciprocal deeds in return.
His friendships were intense, and the quality of inten sity was often manifested by doing for others, even to extremity. Where it could be done without public detri ment, he would cause to be temporarily abolished a post office to relieve a friend of embarrassment; he would overcome the strict rules of military enlistment that an
[13]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
erring volunteer lad might be given back to his family; and he would work a relaxation of the rigid exactions of naval regulations in order that a repentant boy in the Philippines might cross the Pacific seas to gladden a Georgia home.
Thus through the medium of little things yet great things he forged enduring friendships and exhibited the real bigness of his heart and tenderness of his soul. A strong personality, the charm of magnetism, gift at anec dote, a readiness of wit, an aptitude at repartee combined with native intellectual endowment to make him strong and popular with the people of his State and invincible at all times in the second congressional district.
Xfter 20 years of acquaintance and association, some times opposing his views, I am qualified to testify to his great ability, and if I were obliged to record an opin ion as to the one most pronounced personal quality of this remarkable man it would be that throughout a long and eventful public career his fidelity to his friends was never tainted with a breath of suspicion nor veiled in a mist of doubt.
So long as kindness of heart, loyalty, geniality, candor, and whole-souled magnanimity are virtues to be coveted, so long will these distinguishing traits of character of JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS constitute a human narrative well worthy of assiduous study and a religious emulation.
Having discoursed thus upon a lamented fellow-citizen and public servant, restricted peculiarly to a review of his most distinctive characteristics at home, I now com mit a further consideration of his life, character, and labors in Congress to those present who enjoyed the distinction of contemporaneous service, knowing full well that fitting tributes wiU be bestowed and that when this House shall adjourn it will mark the official closing of the volume of a life whence we may learn the surest way to. the hearts of men.
[14]

ADDRESS OF MR. HOWARD, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER : JAMES MATTHEWS GRIGGS was born at Lagrange, Ga., March 29, 1861, and died at his home in Dawson, Ga., on the 4th day of January, 1910. He was educated in the common schools of Georgia and at the Peabody Normal College, at Nashville, Tenn., from which institution he was graduated in May, 1881. GRIGGS was a man fully 6 feet tall, broad shouldered, deep chested, and erect body, large head, high and broad forehead, fair complexion, light-blue eyes, an open countenance; bright, happy looks beamed constantly from his face, which easily relaxed' into genial smile or jovial laughter. The motions of his body were quick and his eyes restless with alertness. He was withal a handsome man, with engaging manners and such abundance of vitality as made him easily a leader in whatever company he was placed. Fatherless in his early boyhood, and poor from distressing losses of his parents from war, life to him was a battle before his youthful body had developed to the weight of armor needed in its conflicts. The schools which he had an opportunity to attend were as good as any of the Georgia communities of the time afforded, but it was a time of poverty and desolation everywhere, dur ing which the facilities for education were meager, and common schools, from the lack of means and equipment and skilled instructors, were conspicuously deficient, yet GRIGGS at 20 graduated from the Peabody Normal Col lege at Nashville, Tenn., where his proficiency had earned him a scholarship, with a mind as well trained by the work of schools as any man of his day and State.
[15]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
He was to me a striking illustration that it was more the boy than the school. Textbooks and drilling helped in the training and development of his faculties, but his splendid intellect was not the product of the school but of nature; what was true of the boy was magnified in the man, and his quickness of perception, rapidity of thought, and unfailing memory were the great and basic qualities of the mind that would have shone superior and resplen dent had his misfortunes of boyhood been greater than they were and had they deprived him of all the benefits the schools conferred.
His first effort at self support was as a school-teacher, and, quickly following this, he began the study of law, and in this field in his brief career he mastered it in the twofold aspect of a science and a profession. Like so many of the poorer, but talented, young men in Georgia, he was forced to make his start in the country, not in the crowded city, where many influences are necessary to the rapid advancement even of men of talent. Being poor, he could not meet the expenses of living while he waited for the rewards of his toil.
GRIGGS settled first at Alapaha in 1884, in the county of Berrien, now many times multiplied in its population and richer in wealth than when the young man entered it a briefless barrister, and even with the aid restricting the cost of living to the emoluments of his profession, he found it necessary to devote some of the time not demanded by the law to the publication of a newspaper. He did not tarry long at. Alapaha, but removed in the following year to the more prosperous town of Dawson, where his talents enabled him to realize from his greater opportunities richer rewards, both in money and pro fessional experience. In 1888 he was elected by the legislature of his State to the office of solicitor general of the Pataula judicial circuit. In this office his duties
[16]

ADDRESS OF MB. HOWARD, OF GEORGIA

required him to attend the sessions of the superior court of a dozen counties and prosecute all crimes within their jurisdiction. This was an exceptional opportunity for his signal talents. In addition to a knowledge of the law, the successful discharge of the duties of that office required firmness and courage. With a knowledge of human nature generally and capacity to discern individual traits of character he combined the power both of close analysis and clear statement so necessary to persuade and convince juries. So successful was he in the administra tion of his office that after a term of four years he was reelected in 1892, and in 1893 resigned to accept the appointment by the governor of Georgia of presiding judge of the Pataula circuit, and was twice thereafter elected by the State legislature judge of that circuit, which office he resigned in 1896 to become a candidate for Congress.
The rapid elevation which marked his career is a tribute to more varied qualities than I have yet ascribed to him. To his qualities of mind and his attainments as a lawyer he added qualities of heart which completed his character to that roundness and attractive proportions which ac counts for his personal popularity and secured his nomi nation and election to Congress when 35 years of age. He had already held offices and discharged their varying duties with such wisdom and consequent public approval as is seldom accorded to men so young in years. His service here began with the meeting of the Fifty-fifth Congress in extraordinary session, in March, 1897 a ses sion memorable for the enactment of the Dingley tariff act. His convictions on the tariff were those of his party, both in 1897 and in 1909. He believed in tariff for revenue and voted and spoke his convictions by that formula of his party's faith. His first committee assignment was to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, and his

73502--11------2

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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
work there was diligent and his policy progressive. No man contributed more than he during his service to the rapid extension of rural free delivery. He represented an agricultural district of the richest possibilities, rapidly growing in population and in wealth. Visiting the homes of farmers whose condition and wants he not only knew, but sympathized with, his efforts were the result of an appreciation of the benefits of the service in developing the country and adding to the comforts of the country home. Perhaps no congressional district in Georgia was more rapidly filled with rural routes than his, and no State in the South had the benefit of this service generally so soon as Georgia, largely due to his faithful and efficient advocacy of the rapid extension of the service. He was one of the first to recognize and advocate that the rural carrier should be adequately paid for his services and to propose by bill and advocate by speech a rural parcels post.
His mind grasped with comprehensive power all the problems of government and his horizon of decision was as wide as the country itself. While partisan in the sense that he was loyal to his party and its creeds, he was tol erant of the man who opposed his views. He-was uncom promising with a principle, but never lost the largehearted quality of fraternity with those whose opinions differed from his own.
In a way this accounts for the fact that he had personal friendships with the Republicans and Democrats alike, and his personal intercourse was not confined to his party associates. His manner was frankness itself and his dis position one of utmost geniality. He knew men by intui tion and rarely made a mistake in his judgment or mis placed his confidence. He could not live in estrangement from any man. His resentment of offense was quick, and so far as humanly possible, just, but his conduct toward
[18]

" ADDRESS OF MR. HOWARD, OF GEORGIA
men was not based upon grudges; his daily life was the fresh inspiration of a heart void of all malice and memory purged of bitter recollection. Considering his remarkable activity of mind and body, the vast number of people he knew intimately, he had his share of disappointments in men, but he did not live his life bound up by them. He was always ready to make an investment of hope in his fellow man which required charity of judgment to expect a return. Quick of mind, warm of heart, and impulsive in action, it was not surprising that in a body like the American House of Representatives, a body of rapidly changing units, he was perhaps the most popular figure on either side throughout his career in the House.
GRIGGS was elected chairman of the Democratic congres sional- campaign committee in 1902 and again in 1906. This position made him a national figure, and he met the responsibilities of it with marked success. He widened the circle of his acquaintance with prominent men and overcame by talent and tact the prejudice against intrust ing the delicate task of party management to the hands of a southern man. He succeeded here as he did everywhere because he had an intellect adequate to his task and a free dom from prejudice that rendered him tolerant of all shades of opinion with his party and persuasive in com bining the remotest sections by a sympathy that embraced them all. He did not do the laborious work of the student and there is no large accumulation from his pen or recorded speech. His contact with life was with men. He gave and received impressions by personal touch and not through the abstractions of contemplation. His influence was that of mind and character acting in complex combi nation upon mind and character, flashing its signals through eyes and countenance, and making them audible with laughter and in speech. He had, as every strong man has, his intimate personal friends, and he kept them so
[19]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS because there were no locked chambers in his heart. Who ever enjoyed the favor of his confidence and friendship had the privilege of knowing the whole man to the deepest recesses of his soul. To his companions his coming was always looked for with anticipations of delight, and when he had come he diffused hope where there was gloom; more of courage, if there was fear; more of comfort, if there was sorrow. His was a strong, joyous life to which every weaker nature clung, and all of us having recollec tions of him and experience with him mourn his taking off.
[20]

ADDRESS OF MR. HARDWICK, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER: I shall not undertake to-day to give a biographical sketch, however brief, of our late colleague and friend, JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS. I shall not under take to discuss his public career generally or his long and brilliant service in this body. Others will doubtless per form these labors of love for our dead friend. It is not of Judge GRIGGS, the able lawyer, the forceful prosecuting attorney, the impartial and incorruptible jurist, that I would speak. It is not of Congressman GRIGGS, the influ ential and powerful Member of this body, serving his State and district through seven consecutive terms of valuable and efficient effort, and retaining through it all the confidence and love of his constituency and his asso ciates, that I would speak.
It is of JIM GRIGGS the man, the companion, the friend, that I would speak, and whatever simple tribute my tongue or pen can frame shall be laid not at the pedestal of the monument with which a grateful constituency has already commemorated his public virtues, but at the feet of that picture of him that memory has left to those of us who were his closest associates and warmest personal friends during the years of his service here. Gifted to a most remarkable degree, dowered by nature with that peculiar combination that makes a man loved by his fel lows, I doubt if any man has served in Congress from any State, in the whole history of this body, who was more widely known and more universally loved by his fellow Members.
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
Quick wit ted and keen tongued as he was, his wit had a kindliness in it that sprang from a warm heart and a generous nature; and though the shafts from his bow were often barbed, there was a kindliness in the graceful way in which the archer sped -them that robbed them of their sting, even when they reached the mark. Full of anecdote and fun, full of life and action, full of anima tion, and of vivacity as he was, our friend had upon him that hall mark of a really good fellow he could both tell and appreciate a joke upon himself.
Politically I often differed with him, although we were both members of the same party, but personally I always loved him.
In political battle he was as brave and as fearless as an old-time knight, but when the storms of battle had passed away they left no bitterness in his soul, and one of the chief elements of his strength was the possession of a mind broad and big enough to be thoroughly tolerant of the views of those who did not agree with him and of a heart too loyal, too true, and too tender to cherish or retain animosity toward his fellows.
The finest tribute I can pay his memory to-day is to say that those of his associates who knew him best mourn him most.
He was not of the hypocritical, self-righteous tribe of scribes and pharisees, but was a generous-hearted, warmnatured, red-blooded man, and intensely human and always lovable was the personality we now miss and mourn; fortunate, indeed, will each of us be if when the fight each of us is making shall h'ave finally ended and we stand at last before the Omnipotent Judge we shall leave behind us as many sincere, loving, faithful, mourning friends as our late colleague has left behind him, at home, in this body, and wherever the currents- of his life have touched.
[22]

ADDRESS OF MR. HARDWICK, OF GEORGIA I loved him as a man. I miss him as an associate. I mourn him as a friend. To-day, while we are giving this expression of our sorrow at his death, our friend has already lifted the impenetrable curtain that veils eternity. Its time-old mystery is mystery no longer to him. Its unknown shores are no longer chartless for him. He has solved the mystery of human life and mortal death and to those of lis who have a faith that after death there is life everlasting, the hope does not seem vain or ill founded that our friend, with his lovable personality, his splendid qualities of mind and heart and character, has found both forgiveness and favor in the eyes of that Great Judge who never errs.
[23]

ADDRESS OF MB. CLARK, OF MISSOURI
Mr. SPEAKER : For many years Georgia has been denomi nated " The Empire State of the South," a most honorable and fitting sobriquet. Her size, her fortunate geographical situation, and her vast and varied natural resources no doubt first suggested the title.
From the day in that far-away year of 1733, when Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe planted his colony, down to the present day, when Georgians have controlled the affairs of Georgia, her public men in both State and Nation have been of the highest type. She has had and has still her full quota of distinguished orators, advocates, jurists, statesmen, editors, soldiers, and writers, and the constituencies back of them are among the best citizens of the Republic.
In the way of national positions Georgians have filled every post of honor save the Presidency and Vice Presi dency of the United States. In 1824 one of her most dis tinguished sons, William H. Crawford, narrowly missed the Presidency, while in 1860 another of her sons, Herschell V. Johnson, was the nominee for the Vice Presi dency on the ticket with Stephen A. Douglas. Everybody will remember that still another of her sons, Alexander Hamilton Stephens, was vice president of the Southern Confederacy. According to the opinion of Col. Thomas Hart Benton in his Thirty Years' View, in which he wrote of the great events of three decades, all of which he wit nessed and part of which he was, Crawford would have
[24]

ADDRESS OF MH. CLARK, OF MISSOURI
won the most coveted of all political prizes had he not been stricken with paralysis in the nick of time.
The situation was this: There were four presidential condidates Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Wil liam H. Crawford, and Henry Clay a masterful quartette, all claiming to belong to the Jeffersonian party. In the Electoral College they stood in the order named; but none received a majority, which fact threw the election into the House, where each State has 1 vote. The Constitu tion provides that under such circumstances only the three highest candidates go before the House. Clay, standing fourth, was shut out It is my opinion that had he gotten into the House he would have been elected, for'he was then Speaker and exceedingly popular and was a prime favorite in New England. It will be observed that there were three southern or southwestern candidates and only one northern candidate. Clay being shut out, the south-

westerners were much inclined toward Crawford, Clay being intensely jealous of Jackson, and Benton sympa thizing with Clay for. two reasons first, because of kin ship by marriage; second, because of a certain bloody shooting scrape at Nashville, in which Thomas H. Benton and his brother Jesse shot Gen. Jackson almost to death. Just as Crawford's prospects appeared brightest he suf fered a paralytic stroke, which put him out of the running, and John Quincy Adams became President
When I first came to Congress in 1893 Georgia had a very strong delegation in both House and Senate, as she has to-day. Of all that delegation Col. Livingston is the sole survivor. Charles Frederick Crisp was Speaker. Had he lived, the chances are that in him would have been found the available southern man for President for whom we have been searching so long. He was not much given to epigrams, and yet I heard him utter one so full of good sense as to deserve a place with King Solomon's Proverbs
[25]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
or " The Wisdom of the Ancients." Shortly after I began my service here I was leaning against the Speaker's stand talking to Mr. Speaker Crisp. A very dull Member was making a very dry speech. I asked the Speaker how that man broke in here. He replied:
When you first come here and look over a new House, you wonder bow half of them get in; but when you have been here two years and have become well acquainted with the membership, you will discover that, barring a few accidents, they are strong in specialties.
That is one of his philosophic sayings which I have treasured up in my mind, and it has had much influence upon me in judging new Members.
Eighteen hundred and ninety-four and 1896 were revo lutionary years in American politics, especially in Demo cratic politics. Judge GRIGGS came to Congress as one of the first fruits of that revolution. Young, robust, hand some, capable, genial, graceful, enthusiastic, he was the type of his people and seemed destined for a long life. A more amiable man never sat within these walls or lifted up his voice here. If he had an enemy among his fellows, I never heard of it. His genial manners, his kindness of heart, and his fine ability made him popular here, as he was at home. Twice he was made chairman of the Demo cratic congressional campaign committee, and he died a member of the great.Committee.on Ways and Means. The failure of his health prevented his taking as active a part in the tariff hearings and the tariff debate as he otherwise would have taken; but he rendered one very valuable service in those hearings. Before the committee secured authority from the House to subpoena witnesses and swear them, some of the volunteer witnesses spun yarns which would have put Munchausen himself to blush. Men who started with little or nothing in the manufacturing busi-
[26]

ADDRESS OF MR. CLARK, OF MISSOURI
ness and had become multimillionaires would testify with straight faces that they were not making anything. Many, indeed, declaring that they were losing money every day. Of course their statements were preposterous and nobody believed them.
The rest of us tried to trap and entangle them, and to extract the truth from them, but we did not make much headway. At last Judge GRIGGS succeeded in a way thp.t was highly amusing. Just after one of them began, GRIGGS interrupted him, and with a face solemn as a graven image, said:
I want to ask you just one preliminary question Are you making any money?
His question was so sudden and unexpected that every body smiled. It was considered a good joke, but the wit ness was surprised into telling the truth by confessing " that he was making money. Judge GRIGGS had struck the lead. By the time he had interrupted a dozen or so, and had made them state in the beginning that they were mak ing money, succeeding witnesses anticipated his question by voluntarily stating in the very beginning that their business was profitable. By that simple question Judge GRIGGS rendered the country great service.
Had he died in the spring or summer of 1909, nobody would have been surprised, for it was generally known that he was in wretched physical condition; but when he appeared at the convening of Congress in December, 1909, after the rest of the long vacation, he seemed to be in per fect health, so that his death came as a clap of thunder out of a clear sky.
He has solved the great mystery of death, which, after all, is not so great a mystery as the mystery of life.
[27]

ADDRESS OF MR. Pou, OF NORTH CAROLINA
Mr. SPEAKER : So vast is the machinery of this Govern ment, so perfectly constructed, that there is not even a moment's pause in its running when the greatest among us is taken by the hand of Providence. While the newturned earth is yet fresh on the grave of our deceased friend, while we yet so vividly remember his beaming face and recall his witty sayings, while recent copies of the Record still carry his name, let us pause a moment to exchange recollections of one who was loved best by those closest to him, whose circle of friends expanded as the years of his service grew, who was respected by all, who died leaving behind him here not one solitary enemy, but genuinely regretted by his coworkers in this Chamber.
Mr. Speaker, I do not rise to-day to go through the form of expressing my regrets at the death of JAMES M. GRIGGS merely because we have a custom of holding these memo rial services. I shall not indulge in extravagant expres sion of praise. I know very well that down in his Georgia home there are hearts so broken that the whole world seems desolate and comfortless. But the memory of this man being pleasant to dwell upon, I have thought that this hour will not be spent in vain in recording our estimate of our deceased colleague. What is said to-day will con stitute largely the chapter in his life of his work here a chapter which, in recording the simple truth, may be read with pride by his people and his posterity.
[28]

ADDRESS OF MR. Pou, OF NORTH CAROLINA
Of course I am one of those who only knew JAMES M. GRIGGS as a colleague in this Chamber, but after I became associated with him on the Ways and Means Com mittee I was brought into very close contact with him, and I will say right now that during my life I have met few men with a personality so attractive or an intellect so bright
Even as a member of the minority his influence was felt, and had the party to which he belonged been in control he would have been a force in making and shaping legis lation.
There was a vein of humor running through his nature which he could not suppress and which made his com panionship always entertaining. Being a man of large intellect, he believed in dealing with all things from a broad standpoint. His character and the working of his fine mind were illustrated in a most striking manner dur ing the hearings on this Payne bill, now the law of the land.
He believed that import duties should be lowered. I am sure every member of the committee will always remem ber his examination of witnesses who came before the committee during those hearings. His ready wit, his sense of humor, his strong common sense time and again relieved the tedium of the toilsome task which we were all trying to discharge as best we could. He sought to prove the correctness of his position by a series of ques tions which at once went to the very root of the matter under consideration.
I think that very few men are possessed of genuine wit. It is a rare quality, and when used as a weapon very dangerous.
It can not be acquired and perhaps but little cultivated. Like great orators, witty men are born, not made. The man endowed with this rare gift should never use it unless he is quite sure that his use of such a keen and effective
[29]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
weapon is tempered, is controlled by the influence of a great heart a heart that feels the throb of brotherly love yes, a heart which is filled with that love which passeth all understanding. Such a man was our deceased colleague. He lit no fires of hate, inspired no conflicts, and his gentle nature looked at things with kindly eyes. There was no offense in his remonstrance, no sting in his boundless sense of humor.
He was proud of his State and her people. Whatever Georgia produced was a little better than the same thing produced anywhere else.
He often spoke of his State and her people and I know he was speaking the sentiment of his heart. A surgeon was using the knife on the breast of one of Napoleon's soldiers. "One inch deeper," said the soldier, " and, doc tor, you will find the Emperor." If the throb beats of the heart of JAMES M. GRIGGS could have been translated into letters they would have spelled the name of the great State which, in part, he had the honor to represent I would say a few words more. The deep grief of those in the bosom of his home might find just a little solace if they could know how the tidings of his death were received by his colaborers on Capitol Hill. The death of no man could have called forth more sincere expressions of sorrow and regret.
Mr. Speaker, these memorial exercises serve a good pur pose. They are recurring reminders of the uncertainty of life. They warn us not to forget in the daily conflicts in which we are all engaged; in party struggles for success; in the clash of ambitions; in the perpetual struggle for place and power that, after all, in this whole world there is nothing great but God.
[30]

ADDRESS OF MR. Pou, OF NORTH CAROLINA
Those who are strong in strife have fought in vain unless the motive behind that strife be absolute purity of purpose.
The spirits of just men made perfect on high the army of martyrs that stand by the throne and gaze in the face that makes glorious their own know this surely at least.
Not one of us measures up to the standard of a correct life. So it is with you, Mr. Speaker, so it is with me, so was it with our friend. What is the end of it all? Unless there exists an equity in the laws of God upon which frail, weak humanity can cast itself, one is shocked to contem plate the fate of the race of man.
This equity which was proclaimed by the Man of Galilee is the world's best hope. The day will come when before its mighty influence armies will dissolve and navies disap pear, and in that day war between nations will be but a horrible memory of the long ago.
Surely, a man so good as our dead friend, with so much of the milk of human kindness in his heart, so honest and honorable, did not fall outside the limits of this saving influence destined one day to subdue the world.
[31]

ADDRESS OF MR. HUGHES, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER: In the great scheme of life, created by an Almighty God, in which the idols of to-day are but mem ories of to-morrow, and where the to-morrows are so soon to-days and to-days yesterdays, it is often our lot to mark the passing of a friend and to acknowledge our great loss in his death by expressions of the love and admiration that we bore for him while living. To-day these expressions are to memorialize the life of the late Hon. JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS, of Georgia. His life is not only a part of Georgia, but of this Union.
After receiving a common-school education he was graduated from the Peabody Normal College, at Nash ville, Tenn., at the age of 20 years. In 1883, three years after his graduation, he was admitted to the bar of his State and soon began the practice of law, occupying part of his time with journalistic work. After seven years in the general practice of law he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney for the Pataula judicial circuit, thus beginning his official career as a representative of the people, which lasted until his death. In 1893 he resigned this office to assume the duties of judge of the same circuit, and in 1896 was elected to Congress, after resigning the judgeship, where he remained as long as he -lived.
4
During his entire life he was ever devoted to duty and an untiring worker. His ability is shown by his many accomplishments. As solicitor-general he proved to be one of the most powerful prosecuting attorneys his State has ever known, and whenever he entered a case he threw
[32]

ADDRESS OF MR. HUGHES, OF GEORGIA

the whole power of his brilliant intellect into it with a telling force, which was so often irresistible. His fair ness as a prosecutor was of such a character that a pris oner could find no better friend than he if innocent, nor no worse enemy if guilty. He stood for a strict enforce ment of the law and a fair administration of justice.
As a judge he was preeminently qualified, being well versed in the law, entirely impartial, and possessed an indefatigable energy. His wide knowledge of the intri cacies of the law enabled him to meet any exigency, his impartiality to meet it fairly, and his energy to meet it promptly. He served in this office until his resignation, and was never opposed for reelection.
But it was neither as lawyer nor judge that I knew and loved him so well. My acquaintance with him was only casual before I began my service here, and it was not until then that I came to appreciate the real worth of the man. His great ability, which had won for him such an enviable reputation as lawyer and jurist, soon placed him among the leaders of this* body. His fairness and impartiality stood him in good stead here, and his friends were not limited to the Members this side of the center isle, but his popularity extended across the bounds of party lines, and he numbered many of his political opponents as his personal friends. He was essentially a big man, and not given to the small ways of a narrow mind. He could at once grasp the great national problems that come so con stantly before this body, and exercise a masterly skill in his treatment of them. He was devoted to his duty and. constantly watchful of the interest of his State and dis trict, delighting to give his personal attention to the smallest want of his most humble constituent His promi nent committee and party appointments are but testi monials of his unusual worth as a legislator. His high place in the councils of his party and his universal

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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
popularity in the House made it possible for him to accomplish great good for his State and district, as well as render valuable service to the Nation.
From the time I came into the House my desk was next to his, and he made a most pleasing desk mate. He was possessed of one of the most pleasing, magnetic personali ties that I have ever known, and his disposition was fault less. I never saw him in any mood except the hap piest, and his good humor seemed always present. He possessed the three qualifications which are necessary to a perfect friendship charity, gratitude, and mental power, equal to any emergency. And this was the JIM GRIGGS that I knew so well; the kind, big-hearted, brainy JIM, who was ever ready to do a kindness and. always anxious to return a favor.
His home life was everything that could be wished, and marked by his family's great devotion to him. He was a most lovable man, and I feel a distinct personal loss in his going. His death was peculiarly sad, coming when it did, he having barely crossed the meridian of manhood and when the star of his possibilities was just in its ascendancy, rising to nobler and greater achievements.
In his death the Nation has lost an able officer; his State and district, an earnest advocate; and his family, the greatest losers of all, a loving husband and noble father.
[34]

ADDRESS OF MR. ELLERBE, OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Mr. SPEAKER: It shall not be my part to-day to dwell upon the life and work of the late JAMES M. GRIGGS.
I come but as a friend to pay a loving tribute to the man and no( the Member. Others will do that far better than I.
To live in hearts we leave behind Is not to die.
It seems, Mr. Speaker, as if it were yesterday that my friend was seated in this Hall. I can almost hear the echo of his cheerful greeting and see the pleasant smile of wel come with which he always met me.
If JAMES M. GRIGGS had a fault it was surplus of kind ness. This disposition was innate. The Almighty created him with a heart so full of generous impulses that it drew to him friends as the needle is drawn to the pole. He left a memory that is sweet, and enlightens and cheers those friends as the sun brightens and cheers all that it touches.
No man in the House had more of those qualities which bind men together, which draw the love and fidelity of those who are kindred spirits. It was through these quali fies that GRIGGS did his best work for his district. It was always a privilege to serve him, because his- colleagues felt sure of appreciation of any favor done for him and sure that in return he would always give them his best service.
He died at his post. The commission with which the confidence of his constituents had invested him still
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
clothed him with authority when he was called hence so suddenly.
The mystery of his taking off we can not fathom. These losses are the most bitter and yet the most useful lesson that we can learn.
The friend of our soul is taken suddenly in the midst of health and strength and hope. It is an arrow which strikes very near our own hearts. It is a voice of warning crying " Be ye also ready."
As life runs on the road grows strange . With faces new and near the -end
The milestones into headstones change 'Neath every stone a friend.
When on the last day that Mr. GRIGGS spent in Washing ton we sat together at luncheon, talking of the future and the work that we were planning to do before the session ended, I little dreamed that I would see his face no more, and that never again would we meet in the fellowship which had been so pleasant a part of my life here.
The deceased was not without faults. No doubt, Mr. Speaker, that he, like many others, when he came before the people had to pass through an ordeal of adverse criti cism and perhaps denunciation. In these days no sooner does a man become a candidate for an official position than the arsenal of calumny is ransacked for the most poisonous of arrows to wound, if not destroy, and he perhaps did not escape that ordeal; yet I appeal to those who knew him whether in all his official career a taint of suspicion ever rested upon the integrity of his character.
His influence and wonderful personality will be missed from the councils of his country.
But death is the one thing inevitable. It can neither be bribed with gold nor bewitched by beauty.
[36]

ADDRESS OF MR. ELLERBE, op SOUTH CAROLINA. It is implacable, impartial, without remorse. It snatches the rosy babe from the mother's arms, outstrips the fleetness of youth, and claims the strong man for its own. And so it comes to pass that in every household there is a vacant chair and at every step we stumble over the grave of a loved one. It is only left us to live so that when our summons comes we will leave behind us friends whose sorrow will be real and a place which no other can fill, as did JAMES M. GRIGGS.
[37]

ADDRESS OF MR. ROBINSON, OF ARKANSAS
Mr. SPEAKER: JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS, in whose mem ory this service is held by his colleagues and friends, was a native of Georgia, having been born at Lagrange March 29, 1861. Like many other men who have served their country efficiently, his education was begun in the public schools. He graduated from the Peabody Normal Col lege, at Nashville, Tenn., in 1881, and for two years was engaged in teaching school and studying law. In 1883 he was admitted to the bar and soon afterwards began the practice of law. His political career began in 1888, when he was elected solicitor general of his judicial circuit. He was reelected in 1892, but resigned the following year. Shortly afterwards he was appointed judge of the same circuit, and was twice reelected.
In 1896 he resigned the office of judge and was elected to Congress, where he continued in service until his death on the 5th day of January, 1910. Mr. GRIGGS was chair man of the Democratic congressional campaign commit tee in 1904 and 1906, and his management of the cam paigns in those years demonstrated his grasp of national political issues.
Few men of his age have had a more varied political experience. There are some features of his career that are common to the lives of many public men. The foundations of his education were laid in the public schools of his native State, and his entrance upon a pro fessional and political career was preceded by a valuable
[38]

ADDRESS OF MR. ROBINSON, OF ARKANSAS
training acquired in teaching school. How many of the best men in public life began their careers as schoolteachers.
No man who has served in Congress during recent years has enjoyed more completely the confidence of his col leagues and associates than Mr. GRIGGS. His personal popularity was almost universal. Possessed of strong mental faculties, he was liberal in his views, charitable toward opposition, and forceful in his expressions. A lovable man, devoted to his family, and faithful to his friends.
In studying his character we recognize that those traits which made him universally popular were his spirit of good fellowship and loyalty in his friendships. He was not only courteous and genial to his intimate friends, but uniformly considerate toward new Members.
The new Member of Congress is a peculiar, interesting, and distinctive specie. As a rule, when he enters upon the duties of his office he is charged with a sense of responsibility and depressed by a consciousness of ineffi ciency. The manner in which some of the older and experienced Members uniformly treat and regard new Members has not often been the subject of frank com ment. There is a poison which blights the strongest soul and withers the fairest aspirations. It is not opposition, not denunciation, but humiliation.
When the new Member first arrives in Washington to engage in his congressional duties he finds himself con fronted with countless difficulties, innumerable details of routine duties which as the years go by gradually become familiar to him, but which at first are always embarrass ing and sometimes overwhelming. Lawyers skillful in the advocacy of causes before juries and courts find them selves impotent before committees of Congress. Men who have succeeded in business affairs elsewhere experi-
[39]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
ence.bitter disappointment in the signal and utter failures which seem to attend their sincerest efforts here. I think a congressional career is somewhat analogous to college life. The new Member of Congress occupies a similar relation to that of the freshman. The process of hazing through which he is carried is not very different from the experience of the student; its result is often the same humiliation. How many men of recognized ability, inspired by a sincere purpose to discharge their duties faithfully and efficiently, who expect prompt recognition here of their good intentions and their well-meant efforts, who secretly expect to attain prominence, sink to that level of mediocrity which, while it gives immunity from bitter censure, also consigns many a proud soul to obscu rity. The attitude of experienced Congressmen toward the new Member is sometimes if not usually caused by indifference, but the new Member frequently attributes it to contempt. They pass him by with formal recogni tion. His loftiest flights of oratory are sneered at as grandiloquent. With a certainty that is unfailing he will finally find his proper level, receive deserved recognition, and, as a rule, accept the final judgment of his colleagues as to his ability and worth without complaint. Yet every Member was once a new man and can recall with pleas ure the old Members who received him kindly and treated him with great consideration.
Prompted by a natural spirit of fellowship and good nature, JAMES M. GRIGGS always had a word of encourage ment and assistance to the new Member. He once said to me that the happiest feature of his service here was experienced in aiding new Members. It was this more than anything else, in my judgment, that made him per manently popular.
After all, this is a great forum, not a training school. Weaklings can not long survive here. It is pleasant to
[40]

ADDRESS OF MR. ROBINSON, OF ARKANSAS
recall that our departed friend softened the asperities and tempered the adversities of the untried and the aspiring among his associates. The successful and the renowned always have a fair share of the approval and the commendation of their fellows. But he who has not triumphed, but is beginning a great struggle, never forgets a strong hand lent in kindly aid or a good word spoken to cheer.
As one who enjoyed an intimate friendship with Mr. GRIGGS, I learned to love him for his generosity and his loyalty. His career was comparatively brief, yet during the less than 50 years that he lived he witnessed many momentous military and political events. He was born just at the beginning of the civil war. His child ears heard the measured tread of armies dashing to conflict. His youthful eyes gazed in astonishment on neglected fields and desolated homes. His early years were embar rassed by lack of opportunities common to every southern community during the period of his youth, yet he acquired a good education and bore an honorable part in the restoration of the South. He lived long enough to see the country reunited and the sun of a new glory shining in noonday splendor on the fields and homes of Georgia and of all the South. He was a just judge, an efficient legis lator, a good citizen, and a faithful friend.
[41]

ADDRESS OF MR. EDWARDS, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER: In his able and eloquent memorial ad dress delivered in the House on April 9, 1910, eulogizing his friend, the late Judge De Armond, the Hon. Champ Clark, among other things, said:
The high places to which Phelps, Bland, and De Armond rose in both the House and the country is another illustration of the value of long service--value not only to themselves, but to their con stituencies and to the entire Republic.
What he said of these gentlemen is true also of Judge JAMES M. GRIGGS, to whose memory we pay these tributes of respect to-day, for he, too, measured up to and exceeded the expectations of his loyal constituency, and was per mitted to remain here for many years to serve the country, increasing all the while in his usefulness, until death claimed him. In the same speech referred to above the Hon. Champ Clark said further:
Men should not be sent hither simply to gratify their own per sonal ambitions, but because they can be of service, and having proved that they are of service wisdom dictates that they should be kept here so long as they continue to be of service; and it may be confidently asserted that the value of the services of a man of capacity, character, industry, and good habits increase in exact proportion to his length of service. New England understands this thoroughly. So do the cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburg. When a Representative from any of those places demonstrates his fitness here he is retained until he retires, dies, or is promoted. Five times in succession Philadelphia has had the distinguished
[42.1

ADDRESS OF MR. EDWARDS, OF GEORGIA
honor of furnishing the " father of the House "--Kelley, Randall, O'Neill, Harmer, and Bingham. Should Gen. Bingham, the present " father of the House," for any reason cease to be a Member, the title of " father of the House " would pass to still another Pennsylvanian, the Hon. John Dalzell. These facts should furnish much food for thought to every constituency in the land.
The late Judge GBIGGS represented a constituency that seemed to recognize the force of what Mr. Clark said, and hence kept him here continuously from the Fifty-fifth to the Sixty-first Congress, he being a Member of this Con gress at the time of his death, and I believe it can be safely stated that Judge GRIGGS continued to grow in usefulness to his constituency and to the Republic with each suc ceeding Congress.
Hon. JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS was born at Lagrange, Ga., on March 29, 1861. He was a lawyer by profession, and at one time was engaged in the newspaper business. He entered politics early in life, having been elected as solicitor general of the Pataula judicial circuit in 1888, in which he demonstrated his abilities as a prosecuting attorney so well that he was reelected in 1892. He resigned this position in 1893 to accept the appointment tendered to him to be judge of the same circuit. He made a splendid, judge, and was elected to that position twice without opposition. He resigned the judgeship in 1896 to make the race for Congress, and was elected to the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, Fifty-eighth, Fiftyninth, Sixtieth, and Sixty-first Congresses, and was serv ing as a distinguished Member of this, the Sixty-first, Con gress at the time of his death. The people had confidence in him. He was a great man, and merited their confidence and love. In every position of trust and honor to which the people elected him, he proved worthy of their trust, and dignified the positions with his splendid ability and faithful service.
[43]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
A deep gloom was cast over the entire membership of the House and Senate when the news of his death, which occurred at his home at Dawson, Ga., on January 5, 1910, was flashed to Washington over the wires. As a member of the great Ways and Means Committee of the House, the most important committee of the House, Judge GRIGGS had worked very hard while the tariff bill was being framed and passed in the extra'session of this Congress, and became somewhat run down in health and strength.
He returned to Washington last December, however, at the opening of the present session, and seemed well and strong again. He left here on December 17 for his home, where he spent the holidays, and was at home at the time of his death. His sudden death was a great shock and a sad blow to his friends and those who knew him. .The Washington Post, in speaking of his death, said:
Universal sorrow was expressed by Mr. GRIOGS'S colleagues in the House of Representatives--both Democrats and Republican*-- to-day, after they had read of his sudden death at his home in Georgia.
The same paper stated:
Representative Champ Clark, of Missouri, the minority leader, voiced his deep personal sorrow and declared that Mri GRIGGS was a brilliant and hard-working Member, who would be mourned by all who knew him and greatly missed in the councils of the House.
Mr. Speaker, when Judge GRIGGS died the Nation lost a great man and the party lost a great Democrat. He was as big hearted and generous a man as I have ever known. He had the gift of making and retaining friends, and he had as many warm personal friends in Georgia as any man of his time. There is no doubt in my mind that if he had been spared a few more years his ambition to be governor of Georgia would have been gratified.
[44]

ADDRESS OF Mn. EDWARDS, OF GEORGIA
I had heard and read much about him, but it was not my pleasure to know him personally until after I was elected to Congress. He did me a kindness before I knew him which I shall never forget, and which I shall appre ciate as long as I live. Shortly after my election to the Sixtieth Congress a committee of insolent negroes in an insulting way demanded of me a private conference, which I declined. It was thought by some who were look ing for my political downfall that they saw in the incident an opportunity to crush me politically, and consequently undertook to work an issue out of it. Sharp criticisms were fired at me by a few for my failure to meet this negro committee. I was young and it was among my first polit ical experiences. My friends seemed a bit slow at first to rally to me, and the fire kept up.
As soon as Judge GRIGGS saw an account of the affair, he sent me a long telegram telling me I was right and to " stand to my guns," giving me cheer in my fight and nerv ing me for the fray. God knows I appreciated that tele gram, and only death will close my memory of his thoughtfulness and kindness to me at that time, which helped me to win out before the people. On coming to Washington I met him. Again he was thoughtful and kind and aided me in every way he could in getting onto my work as a Member of the House. We became fast friends. In his death I lost one of my best friends, and I was grieved to get the sad news of his death.
If a friend, he was as loyal and as " true blue " as friend could be. Nothing was too good for his friends and noth ing was too great a service for him to do to oblige his friends.
The high esteem in which he was held by his constit uents was attested by the honors they conferred upon him by electing him to high offices of honor and trust The high esteem in which he was held here in Washington was
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
attested in the fact that he was given promotion after promotion, serving upon important committees all the way up to that of the Ways and Means Committee of the House, on which last-named committee he rendered great service to his party and the country in his fight for a downward revision of the tariff to a revenue basis and in his fight against the present tariff law. The more his fellows knew of him the more they liked him and the more they were impressed with his ability and worth as a statesman. He served twice as the chairman of the national Democratic congressional campaign committee, a great and merited honor, in which position he rendered valuable service to the Democratic Party.
Little did I expect when I last saw my friend, Judge GRIGGS, that he would be so soon called to his reward in the great beyond. I saw him as he left the House on the last day he was here preparing to go home to his wife, children, and loved ones for the holidays. He seemed full of life and gave promise of many more years among us. But this " marked man among men" was even then marked for the grave, full of happy anticipations of his holiday visit to his home and his loved ones, and he knew not that death was so near at hand. So it is with us all we just go on preparing to live and take little thought of the final day. As the vacant seats here are marked with crape and a floral design, we are all reminded that another one of our fellows has been called hence. We mourn his loss and wonder, " Who next? " In the short time I have been here I have seen many seats draped in this House; and I never see the vacant chair, the crape, and the flowers that I do not ask the good God to let me so live that when His summons to me shall come, if it is my lot to be the next, that I may be ready and prepared to go. No words that we can utter here will benefit or changes matters for our friends who have gone before.
[46]

ADDRESS OF MR. EDWARDS, OF GEORGIA
The record has been made up, and the reward is accord ing to the life that has been lived. Judge GRIGGS was a Christian and a member of the Baptist Church. He was a devoted husband and a kind and loving father. He was devotedly attached to his family and they to him, and his death to them was a grief which only experience in the loss of our own loved ones can fit us to feel or describe.
A monument is being builded by his friends to the memory of the late Judge GRIGGS in the district which he served so long and so well. This is a mark of esteem, and it is generous and right for his constituents to so honor the memory of this good man, who served them with such signal ability. But he built a monument for himself which will be more enduring than a tablet of bronze or a shaft of marble, and that is a monument that will live into the eternities; he builded it for himself and left it as his monument a good name and a good character.
The Bible tells us that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. Our dead friend had chosen and made for himself " a good name," which will live in the history of this country forever.
It is a sad and unfortunate experience in the career of most public men that there are those who are ever ready to condemn and criticize. A good name is a priceless possession, and to a man of pure, noble character there is nothing dearer, nor can such a character be builded in a day. If men here were measured by what they are and judged by their record as it really is, instead of too often being misrepresented and misunderstood, there would unquestionably be far more pleasure in serving our country here. Through the weapon of innuendo and misrepresentation it is possible for "character sharks," and the world is full of them, to literally blast the repu tation of a public man who has been faithful and earnest
[47]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
in his service to his people and the country in less time than it takes to tell the story of it after the dastardly deed has been committed. No pain is half so keen as that experienced by an honest man whose life and pur poses are pure as that experienced by him when his motives are impugned, and yet it is the unfortunate lot of almost every man who holds public office in this coun try. Why should it be thus? Why not do unto others as we would have others do unto us? If the world was half as ready to give credit where credit is due as it is to pick flaws and find faults, there would be far more happiness abroad in the land.
I am of the opinion that no man, unless he is a God fearing man, should be elevated into any office of trust and honor by the people; and that when such a man has been, found and placed in office that the good people ought to rise up in their might and rebuke those who would tear down the good name of that faithful servant. Right prevails always, but sometimes not until great injury has been done. God rules, and He never forsakes his own. He has prospered this country because we are a God fearing people, and sad will be the day for us when we drift away from God and His teachings. God needs men in His cause, and the country needs and should have godly men in every position, from the lowest to the highest.
Judge GRIGGS was "a good man, and always stood for what was right. He was a man of strong convictions, and he had the courage of his convictions. He has left his impress upon the laws and history of this land and has left behind him an enviable reputation.
He was a great lawyer, a great judge, a scholar, and a statesman. He loved his State, and the people of that State loved and will miss him. He loved and served his country and his countrymen loved and honored him, and he will be sadly missed in the councils of the Nation.
[48]

ADDRESS OF MR. GOULDEN, OF NEW YORK
Mr. SPEAKER : We have met to-day to honor the memory of our late associate, JAMES M. GRIGGS, of Georgia, who died January 4, 1910. It was my privilege to serve with him for seven years, and as our seats were close together I saw much of him. At the opening of the Fifty-eighth Congress he was one of the first to extend the hand of welcome to the stranger. He was ever willing to aid a new Member in the discharge of his duties. I recall many valuable suggestions that enabled me to avoid pit falls that lay in my path, and that would have retarded the modest achievements with which I have been cred ited. My heartfelt thanks are due to our late beloved col league whose life and deeds we commemorate to-day. He was in the prime of his manhood, and, until the disease that finally took him from us, was one of the most rugged and healthy Members of this body.
His life, one of usefulness to his State and Nation, should have enabled him to pass man's allotted time of three score and ten on earth.
His sphere of duty, like that of all industrious mem bers of legislative organizations, was growing wider and stronger year by year in this body. While a partisan in politics, he possessed the courage of his convictions, as demonstrated by his vote and voice on the floor of the House of Representatives on more than one occasion. He stood for principle, and never bent the truculent knee to expediency. His acts as a Member during his long service here demonstrate his character as a states-

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[49]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
man. As a member of the great Committee on Ways and Means he was always in accord with his party. His deter mined opposition to a high protective tariff and in favor of one for revenue only met with the hearty approval of "his party associates and won the respect of his political opponents on the committee.
His genial personality, his engaging manners, and his bright, witty conversation made him one of the most popular men in Washington. Well do I recall in my early days in Congress of our colleague being interested in a matter of considerable importance to his section in the way of fast mail-service soliciting help to pass the measure, of hearing Members on both sides of this Cham ber saying: "Yes; I will support it, because JIM GRIGGS wants it."
In my own case, on account of a similar measure being before a committee of which I was a member, and to which I was opposed, when I explained the matter he promptly replied with a smile, "You are right, and I would not ask you to favor my proposition under the circumstances." If possible, he was a better friend after than before that occurrence. This showed one of the admirable traits in the character of our late colleague.
His cheerful disposition and friendly manner did not leave him even when suffering from the pains of the illness that finally ended his life. It was always with a. pleasant smile and a hearty "Good morning" that he met his friends. His untimely death is seriously felt by his dear ones, to whom he was devoted; by his many friends and by his former associates, who loved and admired the manly, unselfish character of their colleague.
With deep affection for the memory of our departed brother I place this brief, simple tribute of respect to the late JAMES M. GRIGGS, with the hope that his life may prove a blessing to his friends.
[50]

ADDRESS OF MR. BRANTLEY, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER: A merciful Providence decreed that the last dread summons to our late colleague, JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS, should find him resting in the bosom of his family in his own home, in the little city of Dawson, Ga.
If he was expecting the summons, no one knew it but himself, for to all others it came not only without warn ing, but with fearful and dreadful suddenness, and found them unprepared. That day in last January on which he lay down for a short rest was no more calm and peaceful than was the gentle sleep that seemed at once to come to him. He lay down expecting to arise from a refreshing slumber, with the joy of life thereby renewed, but the refreshment that came was that of life eternal, for life ended as he slept. As the twilight quietly and almost imperceptibly shades into the darkness, so did his sleep of life pass away into the sleep of death. So gentle was the touch of the messenger, Death, that he had come and gone before those who watched knew that he was near. Whatever of storm and tempest our beloved colleague may have encountered in life, they were forgotten and atoned for in the beautiful quiet 'and peace of the end that was vouchsafed to him.
It was his privilege in his last glimpse of life to look upon the scenes, the faces, and the things that he held most dear, for when the curtain of life went down for ever for him it was these faces and these scenes that last disappeared from view.
[51]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
No truer friends or more loyal hearts or more sincere mourners ever gathered around the bier of a departed one to sing the last songs and to utter the last prayers than assembled in the church at Dawson on the 7th day of last January to pay the last tribute of love to all that was mortal of dear JIM GRIGGS. They were his neighbors, and they knew and loved him. They were his real friends, the ones who had aided and encouraged and ever pushed him upward and upward. His success was their success and his triumph was their triumph. They were proud of his achievements, but it was a pride born of love, for his heart was theirs and their hearts were his. They loved the man, and they mourned his death.
Grief and sorrow were everywhere, and well might they be, for there had been stricken down in the zenith of his power and usefulness a distinguished citizen and a trusted and tried friend. The mourners were not all from Dawson. They were there from many places, for the love for him who lay dead was not local only. It extended throughout his district, and wherever he was known, and from far and near came bruised and aching hearts to swell the woe of grief that was universal. Great as were the deeds in life of him for whom they mourned, we might well ask if there was not in the hour of his death the greatest of all his achievements. Surely a life has been worth the living when its ending could provoke so much of sorrow and of mourning as were here seen. Words were not needed, extravagant eulogies were unnecessary to point the feeling that swelled each heart present almost to the bursting point. There could be no greater tribute to worth and real manhood, and no grander demonstration of loving confidence than this great concourse of people, silent and subdued, paying tributes of honor and love, by their presence, to one who
[52]

ADDRESS OF MR. BRANTLEY, OF GEORGIA
never more would smile upon them and who no more could serve or aid or love.
What manner of man was this, so much loved by his neighbors, and in whose memory this House has met to-day? The answer is upon the tongue of every one who here served with him. He was a manly man; he was a man who loved his fellow-man, and by his fellowman was loved in turn. In this simple statement is told the secret of his success. The same qualities that brought him the confidence and esteem and trust of those who sent him here, gave him that same confidence and esteem from those with whom he served here.
A great divine once said that God and one man might constitute some religions, but that to constitute the Chris-
religion God and at least two men were required, Jbr^the reason that Christianity is the service of
is served by serving His creatures, and really and truly serve Him. We pht discover anything that poor to the greatness, the glory, or , y. We can be Christians and nly by loving and serving our
.t the proper study of mankind which we live has beauty and fountain, of hill and valley and fable riches of stone and wood and i.asures of forest and mine and of |. is a beautiful world, filled with it and sound and touch; but all |>ss compared with the humanity the noblest, as he is the greatest, Fwho lives but to feapt upon and fches of the earth, with no thought foes not know life and is a stranger
[53]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
to the teachings of the Almighty. Our dear friend who has gone from among us knew this great lesson of life. Whether his knowledge came to him by intuition or whether he learned it through his own observation be comes immaterial. That he knew it and measured his conduct by it his life reveals.
The great thought of his life was humanity, and so it was that he had a ready smile, a cheerful word, and an extended hand for all who approached him. His mis sion was to scatter sunshine and to plant seeds of kind ness. The gift of wit and jest was his to a large degree, but his jest was ever a merry one and left no sting behind. His flow of humor dispelled the clouds of care wherever it went, and as he moved about from place to place and from man to man he banished gloom and despair and made light the hearts that were heavy. Men loved because he was always glad. His joy was living.
He first took his seat as a Mei 15, 1897, at the extra session the session called to enact the Dj that day until death claimed January, in the forty-ninth yea tinuously a Member of this body, ering almost 13 full years of actH met and knew practically every him here. Genial and whole-soi humanity, and craving companioi for him to know his associates heJ him to know and be in touch wit] Few men have ever had a place enjoyed to.a greater degree than] the friendship, and the personal membership. The tributes paid hir outpourings of the hearts that trulj
[54]

ADDRESS OF MR. BRANTLEY, OF GEORGIA
Cheerful and light hearted as he always seemed to be, Judge GRIGGS was no idler in the serious work of life, as the achievements to his credit so well show. Looking back upon the short span of life allotted to him, we find a record of which any man could well be proud. Fortune, nor family, nor influence gave him the proud position that was his, but he claimed and won it through sheer force of ability and unwearying energy. The great distance that lay between his humble start and the goal he finally reached would have dismayed a less stout heart, but fail ure formed no part of the program he mapped out for himself, and, undiscouraged by his surroundings and with unfailing hope, he pursued adversity until adversity fled. In the great school of experience he learned to master and overcome each difficulty that he encountered, until at last honors were his for the asking, and fame and dis tinction and acknowledged success became his just portion.
He successively filled the office of prosecuting attorney and circuit court judge, and his record was such that the people of the second congressional district of Georgia gave to him seven successive terms in Congress, and only stopped because he died. That their trust in him was fully justified, those of us who knew him here can well attest
From that day during his first term when he arose iri the House to protest against the frequency with which the South was being received back into the Union, protesting that one time was enough and that the South was in the Union to stay, and as loyal as any other section, his stand ing in the House was secure. In that same speech he gave a fleeting glimpse of the humor that was ever in him when he defined the Mason and Dixon line as the line separating hot bread from cold.
[55]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
His long and arduous service here on the Post-Office and Post-Roads Committee will ever mark the fidelity with which he worked. The rural delivery of the mails enlisted from the start his active support, and he lived to see during his stay here the appropriation for this service grow from $40,000 per year to almost as many million dollars per year.
Faithful, diligent, and active, the time came when he was called to a place on the Ways and Means Committee. He took an active part in the hearings before this com mittee preceding the enactment of the present tariff law, and Republicans and Democrats alike agree that in the service there and later in the House, when the tariff bill was on its passage, he was moved and actuated by loyal devotion to his conception of the Democratic faith and to the interests of the section of the country in which he lived. The needle was never truer to the pole than was he to the people who trusted him, or than he was to the political party whose commission he held. His partisan ship, however, was not of the narrow and bigoted kind, for he was broad minded and patriotic enough to know that "he serves his party best who serves his country best"
It was his broad statesmanship and his intimate knowl edge of men that caused him upon two occasions in 1902 and in 1906 to be placed at the head of the Democratic congressional campaign committee, an honor worthily bestowed and well deserved, as the results of his admin istration demonstrated. His place here was a high one, and it, like all others he ever held, was of his own mak ing. He was the architect of his own fortune, and as he builded only in the hearts of men, he was a great archi tect and a master builder, for none knew better than he the real heart of the true man.
[56]

ADDRESS OF MB. BBANTLEY, OF GEORGIA
Words fail us when we attempt to pay to him the tribute that love suggests and that his worth demands, but we know that his name and his fame are secure not alone with us, but with all who knew him, even though we spoke no word to-day; and we know also that his deeds are spread upon the imperishable records of our common country, and will live long after we, too, have followed in the way that he has led.
When the present, the Sixty-first, Congress convened there were present 32 Members of the House who came first to the Fifty-fifth Congress, the Congress of which Judge GRIGGS was first a Member, and of this 32 it so chances that 16 of them were Democrats and 16 Repub licans. It is somewhat remarkable that this even division should have existed, but it. serves to emphasize the fact that no division to-day exists in the purpose for which we have met, for in the loving esteem in which Judge GRIGGS was held party lines were unknown. JIM GRIGGS, as we knew him and called him, knew no party in the personal friendship he gave and received.
We do not claim for him that he was without fault, but in the greatness of his virtues the smallness of his faults have to-day been swallowed up and lost forever. Full well, too, we know that such weakness and frailties as he had were of the flesh and not of the heart If harm they did, it was to him and not to mankind. His ideals were high, his purpose was noble, and his heart was clean. He stood in the way of no man's success. He strove to help and not to hinder. His life was useful, and the memory of it will be helpful and encouraging in the days to come, for he taught that the love of humanity is the highest and noblest of all virtues, and that honesty of life and of purpose is ever a shield and protection against every slander and calumny.
[57]

ADDRESS OF MR. LEE, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER : A life of great usefulness came to an end when JAMES MATHEWS GHIGGS closed his eyes in death. The people of the second congressional district of Geor gia lost the services of an able Representative who had conscientiously furthered their interests in and out of Congress for a dozen years, and his State is the poorer in the passing away of one who added luster to her name. He had not yet reached the measure of a half hundred years when the grim reaper cut him down. But, sir, the value of a man is not to be gauged by periods of time, but by deeds alone, and by the application of this stand ard we shall approximate the true worth of our departed colleague and friend.
His life has been sketched so fully that I need not ad dress myself to that grateful task, but it will be no less a pleasure to review briefly the career of a man who wrote success on all he undertook. Mr. GRIGGS had been a school-teacher, an editor, and a lawyer. In the lastnamed profession he achieved an enduring reputation. He readily assimilated the fundamental principles of jurisprudence, and whether as prosecuting attorney, or pleading for a client, or as a judge on the bench, he applied them with rare insight to the case at issue. His pleadings were always incisive, his judgments illuminat ing. He had the rare gift of getting right at the heart of a controversy, the results of which were logical deduc tion and expression luminant with clearness. Had he remained on the bench he would have been sure of mounting to the topmost round of the ladder.
[58]

ADDRESS OF MB. LEE, OF GEORGIA
There was, however, in his composition that which made him eager for the more exciting domain of politics. Thus, while the bench lost an able judge, his party gained an able exponent of its doctrines, his district a most val uable representative, and the Congress of the United States a diligent legislator. He proved his mettle in many a hard-fought campaign, and his conquering quality was proved by the fact that his career in this House was not interrupted from the day he first entered it until the day of his death. For nearly 14 years he served his people, and there is none among us that served more faithfully.
There is no assembly anywhere in which a man's real worth is more quickly and more clearly made manifest than in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States. Of course passing success is vouch safed to some, but lasting recognition falls to him only whose gifts of mind, and whose integrity in all the vicis situdes of legislative shifts and combinations disclose the man of commanding power. From the very moment of his advent here these qualities were observed and appre ciated. In the first session of the Fifty-fifth Congress he was assigned to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, and on that committee he served with dis tinguished ability for ten years.
On that committee there is no opportunity for display; it is essentially a committee for hard, prosaic work. In numerable problems of legislative and administrative reforms constantly present themselves; appropriations larger than those for any other branch of Government work have to be discriminatingly provided; hundreds of millions of dollars subjected to proper application. In either branch of Congress the Post Office Committee stands for the unremitting hard work of every one of its members.
[59]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
Mr. GRIGGS soon established himself as one of the most valuable members of this committee. To the labors that devolved upon him he brought unflagging industry and zeal; a ready grasp of all the points involved in any given question; an absolute honesty of purpose to reach a proper judgment. He worked early and late on the tasks allotted to him, and when his work was done it bore the stamp of completeness.
It is but natural that conspicuous service on so impor tant a committee should bring promotion. In the Six tieth Congress Mr. GRIGGS was appointed on the most important committee of the House that on Ways and Means and he held that assignment at the time of his death. The same diligence that had marked his service on the Post Office and Post Roads Committee and the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures was dis played here in even fuller measure.
The supreme opportunity of his whole congressional career came to him in the first session of the Sixty-first Congress, when the present tariff law was framed and elaborated. To the thousand and one intricacies con nected with that piece of legislation is required unre mitting attention for the solution of the many problems involved in the construction of .the different schedules.
On the floor of this House JIM GRIGGS, as he was affec tionately called by his friends, was as efficient as he was. in the committee. He was a fluent debater, ready at all times; never taken unawares by an opponent. He held his own without trouble in any controversy in which he became involved. He was always an entertaining speaker, for he knew how to mix philosophy and humor in telling proportions. While in debate, giving blow for blow, his assaults left no smarting wounds, for the sting of the moment was quickly forgotten under the neverfailing impress of a kindly nature.
[60]

ADDRESS OF MR. LEE, OF GEORGIA In his private life he was greatly beloved and a delight ful companion. His was a sunny disposition, under whose influence those about him were irresistibly im pelled to a like state of mind. He had wit with a gentle sarcasm. He was popular to a degree among his fellows, a man perfectly at home in every company, and who could make men feel at home with him. I am conscious, Mr. Speaker, of having done but scant justice to the many excellent traits of character of our departed friend. But whatever is spoken here is in reality but the gratification we have in paying tribute to one we knew. He himself is his most eloquent eulogy, and to us is only left the regret that he should have been cut off at the very time of life when such a man's mental powers are in their fullest fruiting.
[61]
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ADDRESS OF MR. ADAM SON, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER: Judge GRIGGS and I had been constant, warm, and intimate friends practically ever since our boyhood. He was born at Legrange, Ga., in the district which honors me with its suffrage.
Springing from the best Americanized English stock his advent into this world was most auspicious in its location. From the organization of Troup County and the foundation of Lagrange, the county seat, both have been celebrated for the character of their population in point of refinement of manners, benevolence of feeling, general intelligence, and moral worth. Splendid archi tecture and well-ordered groves and" flower gardens adorned the town and vicinity. Music, learning, and elo quence elevated the sentiment and spread their influence far and wide. There Ben Hill lived and made his fame as lawyer, patriot, and statesman. There David B. Culberson was given to the world.
Excluding a host of other great men, living and dead, Lagrange could here close her contribution to the earth's list of great men with Hill, Culberson, and GRIGGS and still not suffer by comparison with any other city on earth. Starting life amid such surroundings, young GRIGGS un doubtedly had inspiration enough, but he was poor, the child of a widowed mother, and not her only burden. Fortunately she was equipped mentally, physically, and religiously for her task supporting and educating for her country such a boy. Highly educated herself, and ornamented with all womanly virtues and graces, as well
[62]

ADDRESS OF MR. ADAMSON, OF GEORGIA
as armed with determination and skill to form and carry forward her plans, she moved with her children to the adjoining county of Coweta, blessed equally with Troup County in the high-toned, splendid character and pro gressive disposition of her people. In fact, those two counties, the county of GRIGGS'S birth and the county in which he was reared and educated, occupy high position in that Heaven-blessed region stretching from east to west about a hundred miles in width, entirely across the State, long and far-famed as middle Georgia, which, with out exaggeration, has given to the world more good and useful, truly great men and lovely women than history accredits to any other equal portion of the earth's surface in the same length of time.
In far-off Mexico in the days of the Montezumas a high order of Indians, also battling against the conquest of Cortez, had been stirred by fable and tradition about a goodly land to the far northeast, abounding in fatness and all the advantages that could make life attractive. Routed from their ancestral lands, they journeyed for generations, after the manner of Israel in the wilderness, wandering as far north as the Wabash, and then, chang ing their course, ultimately realized their hopes by taking possession of the land of promise on the banks of the Flint and Chattahoochee and Tallapoosa. In this lovely land and matchless clime they lived and loved and roamed. When the English found them here they called them Creeks, on account of the numerous streams water ing the land. Many of these streams take their rise in Pine Mountain, which itself surpasses imperial Massanutten, although, being surrounded by a vaster stretch of better country than even historic Shenandoah Valley, it must be lovelier and grander, else there would not be so much contrast to aid its majestic appearance. Rising suddenly from the lovely and fertile plains, it extends for
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
40 miles east and west, varying in width from 5 to 15 miles. The many and varied springs issuing around its base will in the future furnish water for 50 thrifty towns and cities. The qualities of those waters, as well as their abundance and variety, will ultimately make them famous throughout the world. If they were in Germany, Switzerland, or even in the Northern States, and could be accompanied by their climate, they would attract hun dreds of thousands of health and pleasure seekers to scatter their wealth in that favored clime. In exchange for the five counties organized from the lands around that mountain Georgia ceded to the United States both Ala bama and Mississippi, completing the negotiations for which the great chief Mclntosh was assassinated on the banks of the romantic Chattahoochee, and to compel compliance with which the intrepid and immortal Gov ernor Troup conducted the only successful contest ever maintained against the United States by anybody or any power. The Federal Government removed the Indians, and that territory now comprises most of the counties of' the district in which Judge GRIGGS was born, and also the one which he represented in Congress. None of those counties are yet a hundred years old, and yet their splen did people have filled the w.orld with their fame.
At Senoia, in Coweta County, young GRIGGS'S mother arranged to maintain herself and children and at the same time provide for their education. Well did she perform her work of love and sacrifice, but her labor brought abundant reward in the accomplishments of her son. As well as any other woman, she deserves to have applied to her the scriptural beatitude:
Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
[64]

ADDRESS OF MR. ADAMSON, OF GEORGIA
GRIGGS always asserted that he did not study his books much, but studied mischief more. As he must have been a very boyish boy, that is possibly true, but he managed somehow to acquire considerable training and gather much valuable knowledge, so that he was able to make good time in completing his course in college. When he went to work in the world he met with unvarying suc cess. For a while he taught school, giving satisfaction, making reputation, and earning good salary, which was much needed. He was an editor for a while, then he read law and was admitted to the bar and opened an office in Berrien County. Clients immediately flocked to him and he prospered from the beginning. He began to feel in his soul an inspiration akin to the promise made to Job
Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase.
Then he moved to Terrell County, married a good woman, who helped his good mother make him a still better man. He was well calculated, with such help, to make a good impression among new neighbors and asso ciates, for, like Joseph, he "was a goodly person and well favored." Like Saul
There was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he.
In fact, it could be truthfully said of him as of Absalom
From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him
And his mental strength and activity were in just pro portion to his physical perfection.

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[65]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
When first impressions chain the attention a distinct advantage is gained, and fortunate is the man worthy and alert enough to hold that advantage by his future deportment. GRIGGS was thus fortunate. He was soon made solicitor-general of the circuit, and discharged the duties of the office with great efficiency, integrity, and distinction. Then he became judge of the circuit, wherein he presided with ability, dignity, justice, modesty, and mercy until elected to Congress in 1896. His services here for 13 years are known of all men. His superior in intellect has not occupied a seat in either House of Con gress during my experience here. His manners were so pleasing, his heart so kind, his intercourse with his col leagues so courteous and cordial and honorable that all were his friends. He knew every man in the House, and first and last contrived to render some service or kind ness to most of them. Consequently, he was well fortified in their esteem and gratitude, so that any reasonable thing he wanted or proposition he maintained received the support of the House. He was perhaps the most pleasing, versatile, and ready speaker in this body. Full of anec dote, illustration, good humor, yet never silly, never dry nor tedious, and always pointed " thrice armed," because " he had his cause aright." He could bring in the Mem bers and fill up the seats when he arose to speak, and hold attention and carry his hearers with him at will as long as he cared to hold the floor. He was broad and patriotic, as all great minds are. He loved the flag and the Union, loving both a great deal more ardently than some sectionalists and centralists who prate about them for what they get out of them or hope to get out of them.
He loved a constitutional Union, working in dual har mony as planned by the fathers, and could never reconcile his mind to countenance that heresy professed by some as patriotism which would utilize the Union and the Federal
[66]

ADDRESS OF MR. ADAMSON, OF GEORGIA
Government merely as the means to persecute, abuse, hold, and exploit portions of our common country for selfish sectional and financial purposes. He loved the flag as the emblem of a grand, indissoluble Union of sovereign independent self-governing States, to protect which con dition the Constitution and the Union were formed. He rejoiced always that the flag itself did not carry upon its face to mar its beautiful folds the stains and disgrace inflicted on our history and country in the last 50 years under the false plea of exercising patriotism and preserv ing the Union. The pure patriot and true supporter of the Union is he who comprehends and appreciates the con dition of civil liberty and boon of local self-government guaranteed in perpetuity to all the States and by all the States to one another through and by the powerful arm of one common Federal Government using the strength of all the States for that purpose in administering the dele gated affairs of the Union. Such a patriot was Judge GRIGGS, so plain, honest, and void of deceit he never failed to call down an unseemly demonstration of the spurious brand of patriotism and fraternity.
He believed that every community ought to do its duty, contributing not only good citizenship, but material and lasting improvements to the general goodness, prosperity, and greatness of a common country, and he was the kind of a man and lived and hoped to help make the kind of liberty-loving people described by the prophet:
Their nobles shall be of themselves and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them.
He was such a bright, handsome, and promising boy that his elders took notice of him, talked with him, encour aged and inspired him with desire to take station with them. That, of course, was helpful and fraught with no evil nor raised any obstacle among wise men. Unfor-
[67]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
tunately it carried with it the disadvantage usually encoun tered by precocity, that his ambition and aspirations brought him in competition with older men who could not brook rivalry by a youngster. So that often in his career he had to suffer from the resentment and envy of older men who bitterly resented his phenomenal success and progress. His record is made up. In every period of life he was a complete success. As a lawyer and solicitor he was one of the best. As a judge he was never accused of injustice nor oppression. He could not be denounced as one of
them that decree unrighteous decrees and that write grievousness which they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from judg ment and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless.
But as of Samuel, the just judge, it could have been said of him:
Thou hast not defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand.
As a Member of Congress he came fully up to the stand ard of courage, integrity, patriotism, and statesmanship set up by the great men who organized this Government and conducted its destinies to greatness and glory in the exercise, enjoyment, and protection of liberty, justice, and fairness for 70 years. Verily, he was the beneficiary of the same loving care and providence the Lord described to David through Nathan the Prophet:
I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have, cut off thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.
[68]

ADDRESS OF MR. ADAMSON, OF GEORGIA
He was the "soul of honor, but full of self-respect and extremely sensitive and jealous to resent and rebuke inten tional wrong or discourtesy, yet courteous and genial; the most considerate of men, he accorded to everybody fair treatment and unselfishly deferred to the wishes and con venience of others. He was the best poised man I ever knew. Nothing could disturb his equanimity. Though vexed and chagrined beyond ordinary endurance, he could disguise his feelings, and, though inwardly moved by pas sion, even the deepest anger, no facial expression nor out ward symptom betrayed his emotion. Though brave as the bravest, he was discreet and adroit He never courted trouble of any character, but his moral and physical cour age was such that, having done all he could to avoid conflict, he was ready, if it came, to dispose of it earnestly, properly, and swiftly. His conduct most exactly followed the advice of Polonius to Laertes:
Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear't that the opponent may beware of thee.
His intellect was not of the laborious or plodding order. His mind ran and leaped, sometimes flying with the celerity of the lightning to unerring conclusions. He did not have to reason and figure out problems; his intuition was equal to that of a woman, who can usually see the end from the beginning and announce the conclusion when men first begin to reason. If he had been a hunter, he would not have ridden all day to the music of the hounds following the quarry, but would have leisurely ridden straight across forest, field, fence, and gorge and taken the exact position to be "in at the death." His facility to apprehend at a glance any situation, to detect instantly salient and weak points, and his alacrity to reach accurate results without labor and toil brings to
[691

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS mind another great and immortal genius 'of whom Pol lock thus speaks in comparing him to--
Others, though great, Beneath their argument seemed struggling; whiles He from above descending, stooped to touch The loftiest thought; and proudly stooped, as though It scarce deserved his verse.
Pollock says in further describing him:
And on the loftiest top Of Fame's dread mountain sat; not soiled, and worn, As if he from the earth had laboured up; But as some bird of heavenly plumage fair, He looked, which down from higher regions came, And perched it there, to see what lay beneath.
[70]

ADDRESS OF MR. BELL, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER: I accept this opportunity to pay my tribute to the memory of one who in life was my warm personal friend, and whose death I feel keenly. It might well be said:
Those who knew him best loved him most, and those who knew him little loved him much.
JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS, born at Lagrange, Ga., March 29, 1861, was educated in the common schools of Georgia and at Peabody Normal College, at Nashville, Tenn., from which institution he was graduated in May, 1881. From the time he taught a country school at Martin, Ga., in his early life, up to the time of his death he filled many important and high positions. He was a lawyer by profession, and after a brief but successful practice at the bar he was elected prosecuting attorney for the Pataula judicial circuit, in 1888, in his native State; was reelected to this position, after which he resigned and was appointed judge of the same circuit and twice reelected without opposition. In 1896 he resigned the office of judge and was elected to the Fifty-fifth Congress, and succeeded himself six times to this high position.
It was my pleasure to serve several years in Congress with Judge GRIGGS, during which time I was intimately acquainted with him, and my knowledge of hjm con vinced me that we had no stronger advocate of the great principles for which we stand than he, and surely no man
[71]
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
had a higher sense of justice and right. His record in Congress is convincing of his brain and ability, and his desire to treat everyone fairly was indicative of his great heart and soul, and his removal from the activities of public life is a distinct loss to Congress and to the Nation.
He was full of humor, which went hand in hand with his knowledge both of men and books, and a more agree able companion, a more interesting man in conversation, it would have been impossible to find; but his charm as a companion and friend rested on those deeper and stronger qualities without which the most compelling charm is fleeting and superficial.
He was eminently loyal to country, to party, and to friend. I have had many heart-to-heart talks with him about his public career, %md the one thing uppermost in his mind and heart was to leave a good name, believing, as he said, that " a good name is more to be desired than riches." I remember distinctly on one occasion he was telling me of a proposition a friend had made'him to aid him in a matter he was directly interested in, when he turned to me and said:
You are also my friend, and do you think it would be per fectly proper for me to accept this proposition, as I do not want to do anything which is not right and free from criticism.
I could see nothing wrong in the proposition, but found afterwards he did not accept it, as he felt some scruples about it Such traits of character do not belong to the weak, and no man could be thus moved without feeling in his heart that " it is not all of life to live nor all of death to die." His personality was one of his strongest points, and no man ever made stronger friends than he. He carried sunshine with him wherever he went, and all with wliom he came in contact loved him and had the highest regard for him. He was a good counselor, and
[72]

ADDRESS OF MR. BELL, OF GEORGIA
his judgment was never at a discount, and his conclusions were clear and unmistakable.
It is hard that we should be separated from one so noble and true, but we must bow to the inevitable, and with pleasure look back upon his eventful life and trust that his great soul has returned to the God who gave it.
I attended the funeral of my friend and witnessed the last sad rites which marked the passage from this world of this truly great man. The .vast throng of people there to pay a last tribute of respect to their departed leader and friend was a touching scene, for there the high and the low, the rich and the poor, brought me face to face with the fact that the people who knew him best loved him most, and that, indeed, a great man had departed this life. The floral contributions bore eloquent testimony of the high esteem in which he was held by the people all over the district which he so ably represented. We can hardly bring ourselves to a sense of realization that our friend has gone from us, but it is true, and the great soul of this brother has passed to the beyond, " from whence no trav eler e'er returns," but we are steadfast in the hope that he is--
On the other side of Jordan, in the sweet fields of Eden, Where the tree of life is blooming.
Ah, life, what art thou, With thy smiles and with'thy fears? And what is love, That kisses youth and lingers through the years? And what is death, That chills each heart and stills all troubling fears? Dost thou not know, thou wanderer of mine? Dost thou not barken to the breath of spring And hopes that thrill and pine?
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
Dost thou know enough, that life is good; That life is joy untold, As free and broad as sunset ray? A clay it is, for thine own hand to mold; To make or mar it, as you may. And what is love? ' Ah, foolish child, to ask it in thy mood. What it is thine own heart knows, And strives to do its bidding. It serves thee well and tenderly. What else it is thou c'anst not know. And what is death? Ab, friend of mine, seek far and well Before you turn from me. A dream is but a rose's breath, so pure and free; And so is death. Tis but a dream, A sleep, a tender kiss, A pillow for thy care and tear; It is not, then, amiss. And what is life? And what is love? And what is death? Seek no more, nor worry with thy queries, For life is love, and love is death, And death is peace and sweet Sweet rest for one who wearies.
[74]

ADDRESS OF MR. BARTLETT, OF GEORGIA
Mr. SPEAKER : The lateness of the hour, the completeness with which my colleagues and those who have spoken have covered the subject of the life, characte'r, and public services of our dead friend, whom we have met here to-day to memorialize, admonish me that there is scarcely anything left to say; but I would not obey the promptings of my own* heart were I not to add a few words to what has been said.
To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods?
That was written of the heroic deed of an illustrious Roman soldier who fought the enemies away from the gates of the Eternal City.
Our friend at the time of his death was not a soldier, but when the sudden summons came, like a flash of light ning from a clear sky, we can but recall and say, " How can man die better than facing fearful odds? " as he did for nearly fourteen years in this Chamber, with all his armor on and always ready in defense of the theories and principles of his fathers and his people, whom he so ably represented.
I knew JIM GRIGGS from his early boyhood. I knew him when he was a struggling young lawyer and an editor. I knew his grand parents, because they were born in the
[75]
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
good old county of Jasper, in middle Georgia, my own native county. It was there, nestling among those red hills of Georgia, amid the oak and hickory groves, within a few miles of where his father was born, that distin guished and immortal orator of Georgia, to whom refer ence has been made, Benjamin Harvey Hill, first saw the light; who moved from Jasper County to Lagrange, where our deceased friend was born and reared. He was a Georgian, and within the warp and woof of his body was woven the strength of iron of our old red hills. From her hymettus he drank the honey that made his tongue utter eloquent words whenever he spoke. Born just at the beginning of that great struggle that convulsed not only this Bepublic, but gathered about the conflict the gaze and wonder of the world, he never knew his father, because upon a battlefield in Virginia that father laid down his life in defense of the principles that he and his comrades fought for, to preserve constitutional liberty and the rights of the States to control and govern their own affairs.
Left, like the mothers in the balance of that country, in poverty, in distress, and amid devastation, the mother struggled to rear her two boys until JAMES GRIGGS grew to manhood, and by teaching himself and by deprivations and the struggles of his mother he obtained an education. t When a member of the Georgia Senate well do I remem ber he appeared in 1888 before that body and asked to be elected as solicitor general of the Pataula district. He then made the beginning of a career which has become illustrious and great, and would have been more illus trious and greater but for his untimely death. His genial appearance, his frank and honest appeal to the members of that legislature so won their hearts, so challenged their admiration, that there was no resisting voting for him, and he was overwhelmingly elected and began his public service then.
[76]

ADDRESS OF MR. BARTLETT, OF GEORGIA
As judge on an adjoining circuit I presided for weeks in Pataula circuit trying cases in which he, as solicitor general, represented the State. Important cases of seri ous magnitude, some of them capital cases, came up for trial in which he represented the State. He was always fair, he was always just, he was always earnest, and when convinced that the law had been violated, that the man was guilty, he left no fair or honest means unresorted to to' secure the enforcement of the law.
His power before the jury was remarkable. Some men have power like the smooth flowing water of a deep stream that moves slowly on; some like our friend have greater power similar to that which has been referred to as possessed by Benjamin Harvey Hill, of a great strong-flowing current which rolls over everything that opposes it.
I happened to be in Atlanta in 1893, when, being upon the bench, I received information that there was a vacancy in the Pataula circuit and that an effort would be made to appoint some man then named for a judgeship. I immediately wired to my friend, JIM GRIGGS, that he was the man who should be appointed. Upon the reception of that telegram he immediately set to work to secure the indorsement of the bar of his own circuit, and with the aid of the lawyers at Macou and elsewhere in the State, when the resignation came the governor was not able to resist the insistence of the lawyers and people to appoint JAMES M. GRIGGS to the vacancy.
I watched him on the bench as judge, because he was called to preside in my city to try quite a number of cases in which I was disqualified to preside by reason of previous employment, and no member of the bar, from the youngest to the oldest, from the newcomer to the most experienced, ever had a word of complaint or anything except words of praise and commendation for his upright-
[77]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
ness, for his patience, and for the care and attention which he gave to the hearings of the cases and the justice of the decisions which he rendered.
Some people were disposed to say, by reason of the' fact that he was jovial, good-natured, always in good humor, apparently never devoting himself to study, that he was not a good lawyer. That is a great mistake. In those cases tried in my circuit where he presided, involv ing large amounts of money and intricate questions which a country lawyer and a country judge, as he was, on a country circuit, rarely had occasion to investigate or to try; in the cases in which he rendered these important decisions appeared not only local counsel, but eminent counsel from New York.
Those decisions rendered by him were all upheld by the supreme court of our State to which they were appealed, for his keen, good common sense always guided him, and, generally, to a correct judgment
And so he went on from student to lawyer, lawyer to editor, editor to solicitor general, to judge, and, finally, in 1896, the people of the second congressional district sent him here, in this, the greatest representative body of all the nations of the earth, to represent that .district and that glorious people and their interests here, where they have been represented by men of distinguished character and ability, such as Henry G. Turner, Smith, and others.
He scarcely had taken his seat before he became acquainted with the membership upon both sides. No man during my stay here has formed friends, associates, and companions on both sides more quickly than he. Recognizing his ability and devotion to the interests of the party to which he belonged, the national congres sional committee twice elected him chairman, and while we all believed that the task was herculean he discharged the duties of that office and that position with fidelity and

ADDRESS OF MR. BARTLETT, OF GEORGIA
ability, and in each case, in each election, he reduced the membership of the opposition from what it was before the election was held. I do not desire to detain the House much longer. Like all of us--
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
We do not undertake to say that our friend was with out fault. Who is there who is? No man who ever breathed the air of Heaven has been in the ages past or will be in the ages to come, without fault. Only one, and he was God-like and God. Our friend's faults were never undertaken to be concealed; but his virtues, the manly traits of his character, his devotion to principle, his love for his friends, his ever readiness to lend his hand to charity and to forgive an injury, so overshadowed his faults that we can well omit to refer to them here to-day. His work is done, nobly done. Never more in the temples of justice or the halls of legislation or on the hustings will be heard the cheering and eloquent tones of his voice. Yet we feel convinced that the lessons of his successful life and the virtues and many manly qualities of character he exhibited will not be forgotten, for--
The dead are like the stars by day Withdrawn from mortal eye:
But not extinct, they hold their sway In glory through the sky.
Plato, the great philosopher, Plato who, though he had no revelation and no religion taught by the Bible, yet felt and saw that the soul was immortal. Instinctively he knew it, and he said:
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us; 'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter And intimates eternity to man.
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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought! The soul secured in her existence smiles At the drawn dagger and defies its point; The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years. But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds.
Our friend is gone. Thanks be to the religion of this day, both in the Old Bible and .the Revealed, we know, and our friend knew and believed, as Plato did, that the soul is immortal and will live hereafter, for Christianity and revealed religion teaches us and taught him--
To the dead He sayeth, arise; To the living, follow me;
And the voice still soundeth on From the centuries that are gone
To the centuries that shall be.
That voice has called our friend; it has called him higher, to " follow me," and he has obeyed.
[80]

ADDRESS OF MR. MICHAEL E. DRISCOLL, OF NEW YORK
Mr. SPEAKER: While the House is in session for the express purpose of doing honor to our departed friend and colleague, permit me to pay my humble tribute of respect to his memory, and to state in a few words my high appre ciation of his many manly virtues and great ability as a jurist and legislator. Those of you who have thus far spoken are Democrats, and all, save one, southern Demo crats. You loved him for his loyalty to his friends and his genial and sunny disposition, and for his rare good fellow ship and sweet and wholesome nature, and admired him for his genius for organization and wise counsel, as well as for the distinguished service he rendered his party and the country.
Let me, as a northern Republican, speak of him. Dur ing the last 25 years much has been said and written of the new South, of the enterprising and progressive spirit of its people in many fields of industrial activity and their readjustment to the new and different conditions which were forced upon them by the abolition of slave labor and the discontinuance of the old system. The people of the North have been intensely interested in their awakening into new life and energy from the temporary paralysis which seemed to afflict them for some years after the war, for we rejoice in the progress and prosperity of all parts of our common country. It was but natural that the elder
s.'
statesmen and the old planters and slave owners should sulk in their tents with their abandoned hopes and live

73802*--11------6

[81]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
out their remaining years in bitterness and despair. To the generation which grew to manhood after the close of the war is mainly due the credit and glory of regenerating the Southland and starting it on its present career of splendid and permanent achievement.
To my mind our late colleague typified, and in a com prehensive sense personified, the new South. We served together 10 years and I was fairly well acquainted with him, for he was big hearted, whole-souled, very approach able, and companionable. He was born on the 29th of March, 1861, only 14 days before the firing of the first hostile gun which inaugurated one of the most determined and destructive wars that have ever been waged between men. He was born in Georgia, in the heart of the Con federacy and at a time when the people of the Southland were inspired with hope and faith and sublime confidence that if war must come they would succeed in the arbit rament of arms, for it is inconceivable that men, and women too, would have maintained that unequal struggle so long and so bravely and sacrificed so much did they not believe in the eternal justice of their cause.
Mr. GRIGGS'S buoyant and hopeful disposition and tem perament and resolute courage illustrated what I con ceive was the prevailing opinion in his State and through out the South during the months which elapsed between Mr. Lincoln's election to the Presidency and active hos tilities. Though an infant in arms during that dreadful conflict, it doubtless made some impression on his plastic mind. The martial spirit in preparation for that war pervaded every hamlet in the South. Georgia responded to the call for volunteers with the flower of her youth. This child in the cradle saw them recruiting, training, and marching away toward the North and the front. His infant ears became attuned to the martial strains of Dixie, which he learned to love. Then later on and ere he
[82]

ADDRESS OF MR. DRISCOLL, OF NEW YORK
reached the age of 4 he heard from the invading hosts the dominant and inspiring air of Marching Through Georgia, when Sherman broke through the shell of the Confederacy and made his triumphant march from Atlanta to the sea.
Georgia suffered in that war. Her homes were burned, her property appropriated, and her fields laid waste, and she lay crushed, exhausted, and bleeding at the mercy of a conquering army. Her political status was unsettled. She tried to secede and failed. Practically she was neither in nor out of the Union as a State. She was under military government during the period of read justment. Her white population was decimated by the ravages of war, and many who survived were crippled and enfeebled in health. Her people were desperately poor and discouraged, and for a time they remained pur poseless and torpid. Then, as by magic, from the wreck and ruins of their material prosperity, from the annihila tion of their political ideals, and the travail and humilia tion of defeat and reconstruction they arose in their might, girded up their loins, and resolved to face the future and the.new and different conditions.
Mr. GRIGGS was one of the effective forces in this move ment. He was now a strong, sturdy, and handsome boy approaching manhood, a splendid development of body and mind, and a typical representative of the new South in its determined effort to look forward and accept the situation which was forced upon them, and reestablish their prosperity in harmony with the changed political and industrial conditions. He was no.t only a type, but a development a product of the regenerated and virile South. He was one of those young men who resolved not to waste their energies in vain regrets, but to face the future with stout hearts and resolute determination to rebuild the business and commercial interests of their
[83]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GBIGGS

State and to restore her to her place of influence and

power in the councils of the Nation. His energy, buoy

ancy, and refreshing optimism encouraged his people in

their renewed efforts, and his genial disposition, good

cheer, and attractive personality did much to soften the

i

asperities engendered by that dreadful conflict That

he imbibed with his mother's milk and inhaled with the

1

southern breezes a deep prejudice against the people who

wrought such havoc in his land was but natural. But his

j

broad and open mind and willingness to consider a ques-

3

tion from the other's viewpoint, and his natural disposi-

|

tion to be friends with all, enabled him to subdue this

I

prejudice. He did his part toward the obliteration of the

Mason and Dixon line and in bridging the bloody chasm

created by the war, and for that he deserved the gratitude

.

of all his countrymen.

He had a pleasant word and cheerful smile for all. He

was generous and charitable, open-hearted and open-

handed to the limit of his means. The man who lives only

to grasp and hoard, whose god is gold, and never has

enough, misses much of the sweetest joys of living, for he

becomes narrow, sordid, mean, and hardly honest; while

he who lives to get and give, who works and earns and

spends on those he loves, whose heart is warm and hand

is open, always ready to help and comfort a brother in

distress, lives a happy life and full; and when his sum

mons comes to pass away he is missed and mourned by

multitudes of sincere friends. Such a man was the late

JIM GRIGGS.

In wit and humor, jest and repartee, he had few equals

in the House; but so free was his heart from malice and

his tongue from venom that when he shot his darts and hit

the mark they never rankled in his opponent's breast; and

he had no foes. He was a laughing philosopher, to whom

it was a delight to scatter sunshine and make men happy.

[84]

ADDRESS OF MR. DRISCOLL, OF NEW YORK And yet to him life was not all a joke or continuous holi day. He was a serious-minded man, with definite aims and purposes. He had strong convictions, which he was ever ready and able to defend. The storm and stress in which his early years were spent did not embitter his soul or make him a carping critic. He spent no time in looking backward or in contemplating what might have been, but promptly adjusted himself to the new conditions, resolv ing to make his way and forge ahead. As student, teacher, writer, attorney, solicitor, judge, and Congressman he was a marked success. With fine natural gifts and earnest, faithful, well-directed work, he made his way upward and onward; and at an age when most men are looking forward with hope and confidence to the realization of their ambitions his summons came. He died in the har ness and in the full tide of his activities and usefulness. His record is made, of which his district and his State may be justly proud; and he will long be remembered with esteem and affection by his colleagues on both sides of this Chamber.
t85]
^

ADDRESS OF MR. ALEXANDER, OF NEW YORK
Mr. SPEAKER: My opportunity for knowing Mr. GRIGGS was limited to the corridors, the cloak rooms, and the floor of this House. I did not have the pleasure of sharing his home life'or of serving with him upon a committee, which is the mating ground of Congress. And yet I felt that I knew him well, for no one could be about him almost daily for a decade without catching the joyous spirit that gov erned his treatment of men. Indeed, he was one whose biography, though it might convey some impression of what he did and of the influence of his work and of his life, must necessarily fail to give any adequate impression of his personality.
To unlock the treasures of his delightful nature one had to see and hear and know him as he appeared among men. He belonged to those who speak most by what they do not say. His smile, his sympathy, his love of helping, his social qualities, and his humor, always of a generous and suave sort, made at home in all circles, and the companion and friend of everyone. He was unaffectedly true to a nature constantly sincere and kind and simple. It was due to this quality of his personality that expressions of sor row after his death came from men of all parties and all classes, and in the contemplation of his life it is this sense of his character which will remain most distinctly and firmly. It can be said of him as it has been written of another: "His wide blue eyes were as gracious deeds;
[86]

ADDRESS OF MR. ALEXANDER, OF NEW YORK old sunsets lingered in his cheeks; he was honesty in bloom one of Time's elect who asked no bribe to be glad, wished naught that noonday cloud had not; sweetened insipid hours with gratitude for being, took ills as promises of better things, and smiled throughout the day in token of a kinship with all mornings from the first"
[87]

ADDRESS OF MR. KAHN, OF CALIFORNIA
Mr. SPEAKER: The grim reaper has been active during the present Congress. His aim has been directed at shin ing marks. His shafts have, stilled the heart throbs of distinguished Members on both sides of the center aisle.. And these memorial ceremonies which have occurred with such distressing frequency in recent weeks but serve to remind us that--
We are no other than a moving row Of magic shadow shapes that come and go 'Round with the sun-illumined lantern, held In midnight by the Master of the show.
But helpless pieces of the game he plays Upon this checkerboard of nights and days; Hither and thither moves and checks and slays, . And, one by one, back in the closet lays.
Mr. Speaker, it seems but yesterday that our lamented colleague, JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS, full of the vigor of life, occupied his seat upon this floor. It seems but yes terday that we heard his cheery, infectious laugh; it seems but yesterday that we listened to the words of counsel that fell from his lips. It is hard to realize that he has gone from among us; that he has answered his last roll call; that he has taken his "station in the silent halls of death."
While I did not know Judge GRIGGS intimately, I had learned to esteem him highly. It was always a pleasure to listen to him in debate. His native good humor and his strong personal magnetism naturally drew men to him and made him a host of friends. It was therefore
[88].

ADDRESS OF MR. KAHN, OF CALIFORNIA
to be expected that the announcement of his untimely death should have cast a gloom, over the entire member ship of this House. I say his untimely death, for he was cut down in the very prime of life. With his robust phy sique, we all felt that he would conquer in his struggle with the " angel of the darker drink " and that he would be spared to his country and his State for many years of usefulness. But it was not to be.
I can readily understand why he was beloved so devot edly by his constituents, and why they delighted to honor him. Although constantly engaged in attending to the larger wants of his country and his State, he was never above attending to the little matters in which those con stituents had a personal interest. Even while he lay upon his sick bed at his home in Oawson he did not cease to interest himself in their individual wants. I know that from actual experience, for during that period of illness he wrote me, on several occasions, in behalf of one of his constituents who had gone to San Francisco to live. And after all, there is no doubt but that it is the fidelity dis played and the close attention given by the Member to the seemingly trifling matters in which individual constitu ents are interested that measure his standing in his own district.
There is nothing that I can add to what has already been said of our late colleague. Those who were more intimately acquainted with him than I have sung his vir tues in language much more eloquent than mine. He rests peacefully under the red sod of his beloved Georgia. The oak and the hickory sing an eternal requiem over his grave. To those who were nearest and dearest to him, I would say, in the language of California's distinguished poet, Bret Harte--
Think it not all a too presumptuous folly, This spray of western pine.
[891

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS Mr. BRANTLEY. Mr. Speaker, I desire to ask unanimous consent that general leave to print on the subject of to day's eulogies be granted for 10 legislative days. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Members have heard the request of the gentleman from Georgia that permis sion be given for 10 legislative days to any Member who desires to print remarks on the subject of to-day's eulogies. Is there objection? [After a pause.] The Chair hears none, and it is so ordered. In pursuance of the resolutions already adopted, the House will now stand adjourned until 12 o'clock to morrow. Accordingly (at 2 o'clock and 37 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned.
[90]

PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE
SATURDAY, May 28, 1910. The Chaplain, Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D., offered the following prayer:
Our heavenly Father, in communion with Thy faithful servants who, having striven to do Thy will on earth, have gone to Thy nearer presence, we offer unto Thee our prayer of grateful homage and of heartfelt adoration. We thank Thee for the life of Him whom our lips shall name, and rejoice in the witness of such as have put their trust in Thee and were not ashamed. Make us worthy, we pray Thee, of the fellowship of those who in newness of life dwell in heavenly places, and unite our hearts in love that we may live in Thy presence, now and forever more. Amen.
Mr. BACON. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate the resolutions of the House of Representatives which are on the table.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. 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, April 17, 1910.
Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended, that opportunity may be given for tribute to the memory of Hon. JAMES M. GRIGGS. late a Member of this House from the State of Georgia.
[91]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguished career, the House, at the conclusion of these exercises, shall stand adjourned.
Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate.
Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to the family of the deceased.
Mr. BACON. Mr. President, I offer the following resolu tions and ask for their adoption.
The resolutions were read, considered by unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as follows:
Resolved, That the Senate expresses its profound sorrow on account of the death of the Hon. JAMES MATHEWS GMGGS, late a Member of the House of Representatives from the State of Georgia.
Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended, in order that fitting tributes may be paid his high character and distinguished public services.
Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso lutions to the House of Representatives and to the family of the deceased.
[92]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES

ADDRESS OF MR. CLAY, OF GEORGIA

Mr. PRESIDENT: After Congress adjourned in December

for the Christmas holidays I immediately left for Georgia.

The next morning I found on the same train with me

Hon. JAMES M. GRIGGS, a Member of Congress from Geor

gia, and we spent the day together on our way to Atlanta.

There we parted. I went to my home in Marietta, Ga.,

and he went to his home in Dawson, Ga. This was the

last time I ever saw Judge GRIGGS.. Little did I think this

would be our last meeting: He was apparently in good

health. He had gone through a fierce political campaign

for reelection and had been triumphantly elected by an

overwhelming majority over a very strong opponent,

which was the highest evidence of his popularity in his

district.

t

When I left him, so far as I could see, he was in perfect

health, and his jovial disposition clearly indicated that he

was happy and hopeful as to his future usefulness. I

thought he had before him many years of honorable

service for his country. On the morning of the 6th of

January, 1910, the wires flashed the news throughout the

country that Hon. JAMES M. GRIGGS was dead. He died at

his home in Terrell County, in the bosom of his family,

on the evening of January 5,1910.

The announcement of his death brought sadness not

only to the people of his district, but to his host of friends

throughout Georgia and his former associates in Congress.

[93]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
When Judge GRIGGS died, a most remarkable man passed away. Judged by his achievements his life has had few parallels.
He was a comparatively young man when he died. I had known him since 1882. When I first knew him, he was a teacher striving to make money to get ready to engage in the practice of law. He was born on the 29th day of March, 1861, in Lagrange, Ga., consequently he was in his forty-ninth year at the time of his death. He was the son of a widow without money, but in his youth he determined to secure an education by his own efforts, and he did so. He graduated from the Peabody Normal College at Nashville, Tenn., in 1881, and spent 2 years teaching and at the same time studying law. He was admitted to the bar in 1883. He died within less than 27 years after he became a lawyer. During these 27 years his achievements were most remarkable.
He was elected solicitor general of his circuit in 1888, and I was a member of the legislature at the time, and had the pleasure of voting for him. He was reelected in 1892, but resigned the office the same year and was . appointed judge of the circuit. He was twice reelected to this office. He resigned the office of judge in 1896 to become a candidate for Congress, and after a spirited con test was elected by a large majority. He retained his seat in Congress until his death, and, had he lived, would doubtless have been reelected. Thus it will be seen that Judge GRIGGS held public office for nearly 22 years pre vious to his death. He was solicitor general, judge, and Member of Congress. Judge GRIGGS was never defeated for public office by the people. He was chairman of the Democratic congressional campaign committee in 1904 and 1906.
As solicitor general he was a vigilant and forceful prosecuting attorney. As a judge, he enforced the law,
[94]

ADDRESS OF MR. CLAY, OF GEORGIA
but was just and merciful. As a Member of Congress, he was industrious, attentive to the wants and needs of his district, popular with his associates, and had the happy faculty of making and retaining his friends. He was a practical legislator, possessing an unusual amount of com mon sense; he knew how to control men, and the records will show that Judge GRIGGS secured for his district public buildings, rural free-delivery routes, and almost every thing needed in this line, and left little work of this kind for his successor. For years he was a member of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. He was thoroughly familiar with the workings of the Post Office Department and a stanch friend of the rural free-delivery service. He has often said to me that it was the ambition of his life to see the mail carried daily to every farmer in his district before he left Congress. Had he lived a few more years this work would have been completed. He had already secured appropriations for public build ings in most of the towns in his district where they were needed. He was wide awake to the wants of his constitu ents. Before his death he had been made a member of the Ways and Means Committee of the House, and had his life been spared he doubtless would have become a most powerful and useful member of that great committee.
When we study the life of this gifted and remarkable man, we necessarily ask the question why he was so popu lar with the masses? How was it that he was successful in all his aspirations for public office? Why was it that he accomplished such satisfactory results for his district? I knew him for 27 years, and during this entire time we were personal friends.
He had his faults. I believe in perfect candor on all occasions. I will tell you why, in my judgment, his life work was crowned with success. Judge GRIGGS believed in 'the universal brotherhood of man. He studied human
[95]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
nature. He had the happy faculty of teaching men to think as he thought and to see as he saw. He taught those who came in contact with him that he was their friend, and men trusted and followed him because they had confi dence in his integrity. Judge GRIGGS was the friend of the masses. He was not selfish. He was happy when he was doing some kind deed for the humblest citizen of his district. He was brave, generous, magnanimous, tender, humane, and loyal. He loved the great masses of the people. He sympathized with them in their struggles and in their aspirations. He sought diligently to make their burdens easier and to secure for his constituents every thing that would advance their happiness.
Judge GRIGGS at all times was thoroughly in touch with the plain people of his district. His kindness of heart, his ready and expansive sympathy were qualities that marked every step in his career. He was for the whole people of his district and served them 'faithfully. His native endowments and his knowledge of human nature kept him in close touch with almost every voter in his congressional district. In social life he was cheerful, kind, and considerate. These qualities made him the idol of the people that elected him to Congress for seven con secutive terms.
Judge GRIGGS in political warfare struck hard blows, but he never cherished malice. After the contest was over he was ever ready to do every possible kindness for his antagonist. He was a most powerful debater on the political hustings. He neither gave nor asked quarter. He was a man of splendid native ability. In joint debate he was at his best. He possessed a pleasing and pene trating voice, a sound logic, and sustained his positions with great clearness and force. I repeat that he was a most remarkable man. His career was not an accident. It had its origin in a strong and noble mind. Every aspi-
[96]

ADDRESS OF MR. CLAY, OF GEORGIA
ration of his political life was crowned with success. No ordinary man could have achieved the wonderful success that crowned his efforts. He could master the most diffi cult problems with little effort In debate he was able and always well tempered and just His intellect was original and constructive. When he talked he had something to say, and he used no surplus words. His speeches were never long, but short, incisive, and to the point His audiences would follow him with delight
I had the pleasure of enjoying his friendship for 27 years. His devotion to his friends was beautiful. He was always ready to fight their battles, and he never deserted them in the hour of trouble.' I have been his guest and knew something about his domestic life. He married Miss Theodosia Stewart, of Randolph County, Ga., and his wife and two children survive him. A beautiful and accom plished daughter has passed away since his death. Mrs. Griggs is a lady of rare personal attraction, a refined, devoutly religious, and highly cultured woman. She was to her husband a devoted and dutiful wife, a faithful and loving companion. To my certain knowledge Judge GRIGGS was a most affectionate and devoted husband, an indulgent and loving father. I have seen him in Wash ington with and without his family, and he was never happy when away from them.
His devotion to his family was fully appreciated by his friends. The news of his death was received everywhere throughout Georgia, and especially in his district, with most heartfelt expressions of sorrow and sympathy. His loss is an irreparable one to his family, his State, and his district, and his name will ever be remembered with gratitude by the people whom he served so well.

78602* 11 7

[97]

ADDRESS OF MR. CURTIS, OF KANSAS
Mr. PRESIDENT: It is a privilege to pay tribute to the memory of Judge JAMES M. GRIGGS. He was a splendid and leading type of the noble and useful American citi zen which forms the bulwark of this Nation to-day. It was my good fortune to know him well. It fell to my lot many times to oppose him on great and important ques tions, and I early came to recognize the sincerity ef his convictions. The elements within him, and which contrubuted to his success, were those which are always dis covered in the analysis of great characters. Possessed of a strong mentality, he was enabled to readily grasp and solve the difficult and important problems which from time to time presented themselves to him. He was hon est from principle and habit, not as a matter of policy. None came in contact with him without being impressed with his good faith and his readiness and ability to defend logically and firmly his position. His industry was a mat ter of knowledge to all familiar with his life. He was a student and reached results by clear and analytical proc esses, which made him formidable in debate and valuable in consultation. Not one of his colleagues in the House of Representatives kept in closer touch with the details of legislation than did he. He probed deeply into the ele ments composing every proposed enactment, whether of far-reaching or local character, and his allegiance or opposition to any measure was based not on selfish or narrow grounds, but on broad and patriotic principles as revealed to him from his point of view. He was ever
[98]

ADDRESS OF MR. CURTIS, OF KANSAS a defender of the faith within him, yet he was an inde fatigable seeker for that which was just and right and best in any matter to which he gave his attention.
Mr. President, in the years of my association with Judge GRIGGS as a Member of the House, I have heard none say of him an unkind, ungenerous, or harsh word. We all loved him as a brother, and it is a formal but a heartfelt tribute of affection and esteem which we to-day pay him.
Mr. President, the strongest eulogy which could be uttered for our late friend is that evidenced by the high degree of confidence imposed in and affection entertained for him by his own people. They feel that they have lost a true friend and a tried and faithful servant, whose watchword was duty, and in carrying out that duty he allowed no personal inclination or sacrifice to stand between him and what he believed to be the right
[99]

ADDRESS OF MR. OVERMAN, OF NORTH CAROLINA
Mr. PRESIDENT: Death makes no distinction of persons or places. Its dark shadow hangs over the halls of Con gress, over the home, over the palace and the hovel alike. It sooner or later sweeps down with its silent, chill, destroying wing over every spot whithersoever man jour neys in our short earthly pilgrimage and carries us away to the unknown, from whence no traveler has ever returned. The sun shines on, the flowers continue to blossom, nature's springtime breaks forth in song, the world goes on, all oblivious of widows' tears, orphans' sobs, and the sorrows and burdens of life. We are soon forgotten, save that now and then some traveler may stop to read words of praise of those who participated in the history of the past.
Within a few weeks we have been called upon to hold exercises in this Chamber to the'memory of three dis tinguished men of the House of Representatives, all three of whom were conspicuous for their ability, their patriot ism, splendid achievements, and long service in Congress David A. De Armond, Francis W. Cushman, and JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS and it is in the memory of the latter I wish to pay a simple tribute, leaving it to others of his own State and to those who knew him more intimately to give a history of his life more in detail, to draw a true picture of the man and his achievements for which he was cherished, and for which he will be remembered.
These men came from diiferent sections of our coun try Cushman from the Pacific slope, De Armond from
[100]

ADDRESS OF MR. OVERMAN, OF NORTH CAROLINA
Missouri, and GRIGGS from the far South and while widely different in their characteristics, they each had made a national reputation for himself, honored their States that had honored them, and were honored and loved by their immediate constituents as few men in public life are.
Mr. GRIGGS was a commoner in every sense of that term. He was one of the people. He loved his people and his people loved him. While he loved with true devotion his own State, Georgia, he loved his country, and no sectional or party prejudice could swerve him from doing that which he conceived to be his duty under any and all circumstances. There was no honor his people would not have conferred upon him. They trusted him and made him their leader, and he never betrayed their con fidence. So jealous was he of their rights and so dili gently did he look after their interest that they continued to honor him from time to time. They first made him their prosecuting attorney. They then made him a judge ( to preside over their nisi prius courts, and then they sent him to the Fifty-fifth Congress. Still trusting him for he never betrayed them seven times they conferred this great honor upon him.
He died at his home in Dawson, Ga., during last Janu ary, while he was still a Member of Congress. He passed away at his own home, in the midst of those splendid people among whom he cast his lot, surrounded by his own devoted family and loving friends, lamented by the people of his whole district as few men ever have been. His faithful wife, his friend and life companion, for whom he always showed such great respect and devotion, was with him in the last hours to administer to his comforts.
To say that he was a successful lawyer, a diligent prose cuting officer, an impartial judge, a faithful party leader, an able Representative in Congress, is in itself a great
[101] .

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
tribute to pay to any man. JAMES M. GRIGGS was all of this, and more. He had a sunny disposition, he was kind, open-hearted, open-handed, generous to a fault, and always approachable.
In politics he was an uncompromising Democrat, and he stood high in the councils of his party, both in State and Nation. He was looked upon as one of the leaders of his party in the country, and was twice made chairman of the Democratic congressional committee. Soon after coming to Congress his ability was recognized, and he was placed upon some of the most important committees of the House of Representatives. At his death he was a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, which is considered the most important committee in the House, where he served with conspicuous ability. His work and influence were not alone confined to the committees on which he served, but he frequently debated with eloquence and ability the great questions which from time to time came before the Congress to be settled. He was a fluent speaker, possessor of a store of rare wit, was quick at repartee, and , had all of those splendid qualities which make a popular and eloquent speaker, which always please the people and captivate the audience. He was loved and esteemed by both Democrats and Republicans, and I doubt if there was any man in the House of Representatives who was loved more by both sides of the Chamber than JAMES MATHEWS GRIGGS.
Mr. GRIGGS was a member of the Baptist Churcht which he loved, and to the cause of Christianity he was always a liberal contributor.
" He did as he thought best for his country, which he loved with all his heart under a sense of duty to God."
Death is the lifting of the thin veil separating time and eternity, and as he left this earth he simply went upon the other shore, " across the river to rest under the shade of
- [102]

ADDRESS OF MR. OVERMAN, OF NORTH CAROLINA

the trees." His place is vacant. His name is recorded among our public men who lived in the past.
Mr. President, it is sad to contemplate that our friends and associates, " like the leaf which chill autumn breeze tears rudely its hold from the wind-shaken trees," one by one are passing away.

To the past go more dead faces Every year,
As the loved leave vacant places Every year.
Everywhere their sad eyes meet us; In the evening's dusk they greet us, And to come to them entreat us
Every year.

You are growing old, they tell us, Every year;
You are more alone, they tell us, Every year.
You can win no new affection; You have only recollection, Deeper sorrow and dejection
Every year.

But the truer life draws nigher

Every year,

And its morning star climbs higher

Every year.

'

Earth's hold on us grows slighter,

And its heavy burden lighter,

And the dawn immortal brighter

Every year.

[103]

ADDRESS OF MR. DIXON, OF MONTANA
Mr. PRESIDENT: During the pressure of the public busi ness that always attends the closing days of a session of thg National Congress, we pause this afternoon to pay tribute to the memory of one of our recent colleagues at the other end of the Capitol.
It was my pleasure to have served four years in the House of Representatives with JAMES M. GRIGGS, who so ably represented the second Georgia congressional district for a period of 13 years.
When I entered the House in 1903 he was already counted one of the leaders on the Democratic side of that body, holding membership on the important committees and always active in the work of the House. The recogni tion by his party associates of his ability as a leader of men and his knowledge of public measures and political conditions led to his election as' chairman of the Demo-
\
cratic congressional committee in the campaigns of 1904 and 1906.
He was stricken down in the very prime of an active life and at a time when his long public service had enabled him to be of great value to his State and to the country at large. " His work was not done, but his column is broken."
He had reached that point in long, continuous congres sional service which leads to a fuller measure of accom plishment than falls to the great majority of the Members
[104]

ADDRESS OF MR. DIXON, OF MONTANA
of the Federal Congress, as the average term of service in the House of Representatives only reaches the short period of three years and in the Senate only seven years.
In reading the biography of the Members of the House and Senate, it is remarkable to see how the earlier life history of the individual Members so closely coincides.
Laying aside the recital of military service, in either the Union or Confederate armies, that formerly, almost with out exception, was included in the biographical history of most Members of Congress, and in the great majority of cases you will read something like this: " Graduated from college," " taught school," " studied law," " admitted to the bar," " elected prosecuting attorney," " member State legislature," " elected judge," and then follows the recital of " elected to Congress." In other words, the life story of most of those who have served under the Dome of this Capitol shows the working of the processes of elimination and strikingly confirms the immutable law of " the sur vival of the fittest" in the warfare of politics. Leaving out the recital of " member State legislature " and you find Mr. GRIGG'S biographical sketch conforming in every detail to the standard of congressional biography.
Congressman GRIGGS was a typical product of the postbellum period of the new South. He was an infant in his mother's arms when the reverberations from Fort Sumter awakened the Nation to the fact that the struggle for its very existence was at hand. His first recollections were those of the tattered and defeated veterans returning from the broken ranks of Lee and Longstreet. He saw and felt the terrible results of that conflict in the wasted fields and desolate firesides of his native State. .He was born at a time when his youthful energies were given to the restora tion of the industries and homes of Georgia.
He lived to see his native State proudly bear the title of the "Empire State of the South." As a worthy and
[105]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS distinguished son of that State, which honors the names of Crawford, Johnson, Stephens, Hill, Crisp, and Gordon, he bore his part with honor and fidelity.
JAMES M. GRIGGS fought well the battles of life and won more victories than fall to the lot of most men. In his death his country, his State, and the Nation have suffered a serious loss.
[106]

ADDRESS OF MR. BACON, OF GEORGIA
Mr. PRESIDENT : During my term of service in this body the Senate has been three times called upon to pay its tribute of respect to the memory of a deceased Repre sentative from Georgia, and in each case it has fallen to my lot to speak the last official word to be uttered of them in the Halls of Congress.
Each of these Representatives was the victim of a sud den death. One of them lost his life in a tragic accident, while each of the other two fell under a sudden and unseen stroke of death, with no preceding illness.
The first of these was Charles F. Crisp, who had as Speaker ttnd through a recognized leadership reaped the highest honors in the House of Representatives, and at the time of his sudden death had through a popular pri mary election been already practically chosen to a seat in this Chamber as a Senator from his State.
The second of these was Rufus E. Lester, then the longest in service from Georgia in either Senate or House, who, in his tragic death, closed a most distinguished and useful career in the Representative branch of Congress.
The last, whose loss we now mourn, JAMES M. GRIGGS, was a younger man, cut off in the very meridian of his life, in the midst of the full development of all his powers. He was with us during the present session of Congress. In December last, at the beginning of the session, he was in his seat in the House of Representatives. When, a few weeks later, the holiday recess was taken, he went
[107]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
to his home in Georgia, there to meet with his kindred and friends in the joyous Christmas season. And there, before the close of that season, consecrated to festivity and loving greetings and unrestrained pleasure, while all hearts were still beating high with its joys, suddenly, as a bolt from the sky, the light of his earthly life went ou(, in the darkness of unending night.
I had known him personally from his early young man hood. He was born in. La Grange, where I had passed my schoolboy days. In my earliest meeting with him he had excited my interest by telling of the house in that town where he was born, one that I well knew as the home of my former family physician, a cottage which set back some distance in a garden almost hidden in the foliage of trees and shrubbery, and midway between it and the street gate a little brook spanned by a rustic bridge.
I remember him well, just out of college, a ruddycheeked, blue-eyed, light-haired youth, full of enthusiasm and eager expectancy. At that time I was a member of the Legislature of Georgia, and it was during its' sessions that I met him at the capital of the State and grew to know him and to mark him as one of the coming young men of the Commonwealth. Even then, boy as he was, eagerness for political life, with its exciting struggles and its varying fortunes, had already stirred and quickened his pulses. Through the mists of the years, the vision of which stretched out before him, imagination beckoned him on to the arena of political contention, and his eager ear caught the echo of the future strife in which he saw himself an active participant. Through this natural bent, so it was that, although then effervescing with youthful spirit, nevertheless he sought and enjoyed the compan ionship of maturer men who were in public life. His interest was marked in their talk of political battles fought and campaigns to be waged.
[108]

ADDRESS OF MR. BACON, OF GEORGIA
And this brings me to note at this point a curious para dox in his make-up and development It is that, while the early development of his bent for political life caused him, when scarcely more than a lad, to seek the com panionship and association of oldef men, his youthful tastes and spirits, his love of boyish fun and frolic, remained with him not only then, but throughout his life, so that in his last days the man of 49 years ha'd in his daily habit and demeanor all the exuberance and gayety of spirit of an enthusiastic boy of 20.
The joyous, cheerful spirit was so habitual with him and was- so written upon his countenance that, when in more serious mood, his gravity had the appearance of being assumed. Indeed, this sunny temperament, this joyous habit, which were his throughout life, were perhaps his most striking personal characteristic. His happy moods were infectious, and his companionship was a very antidote to dullness and despondency. To him life was not a dreary, dismal round, whose duties and burdens clouded its sunshine.
His cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirit never failed him. While giving due time and heed to the serious things of life, dull care and weary despondency were no welcome guests with him, and he drove them forth with jest and mirth. From every situation, however adverse, he drew the happiness of life, even as the honey sucked from the poisonous flower. He shirked not the duties of life, nor did he avoid its conflicts and struggles. On the con trary, he sought them and bravely met them with sturdy and never failing courage, a smile upon his face, a song upon his lips.
As valuable as it is rare is the combined gift of both wit and genial, unwounding humor, and richly was he endowed with them a sparkling wit, combined with the kindly humor which can be known only to one of generous
[109]

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES: REPRESENTATIVE GRIGGS
and sympathetic heart. With him they were ever in con stant play, bringing pleasure to all and pain to none. His wit was keen and ready and his humor bright and rollick ing, and these, spiced with a large and varied fund of anecdote, joined to a rare faculty and skill as a raconteur, made him personally indeed a most delightful companion.
Friendship with him was not an empty affectation, a hollow pretense, worn upon the sleeve and laid aside when no longer valuable to serve a purpose. It was with him a vital growth from deep-struck roots. There was no more widely known man in Georgia than he, and there was no man within her borders who could number as his own a greater number of personal friends. Had he lived, there was in the State nothing of public honor or of political preferment that was not within his reach.
Devoted to his public duties as a Representative, diligent and faithful in their discharge, bound to his people by the strong cords of long and faithful service, of confidence in his fidelity and in his ability, and as well by the unseverable ties of personal friendship-and long personal inter communion and association, in his congressional district he was invincible. It is no idle word when I say that no public man has fallen at his post who has been more deeply and more sincerely mourned than has he, by the devoted people whom he has so long and so faithfully served.
Mr. President, the touching and loving tributes of his colleagues of the House and Senate, all of them long his personal and political associates, have told the story of his life, and it only remains for me to speak the final word. And, sir, as I speak it my vision turns to the plains of south Georgia where he sleeps; and I see again, as I saw in my childhood, the wide stretches of field and forest, and I hear again, as I heard as a child, the soughing of the south ern pines. When apparently no breeze stirs their thick-
[110]

ADDRESS OF MR. BACON, OF GEORGIA
set and lofty tops, when all else is still, to the listening ear there strangely comes down from their towering height the continuing, awesome, distant sound, mysterious as the never-silent murmur of the sea shell, solemn as the weird moan of the far-off waves.
And there, sir, safe in the loving keeping of his own sorrowing people, and above him the ever-recurring requiem of the soughing pines, may he rest until again awakened to a brighter and a still happier day.
Mr. President, I offer the resolution which I send to the desk.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Secretary will read the resolution submitted by the Senator from Georgia.
The Secretary read the resolution as follows:
Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the Senate do now adjourn.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on agree ing to the resolution submitted by the Senator from Georgia.
The resolution was unanimously agreed to, and (at 2 o'clock and 58 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until Tuesday, May 31,1910, at 11 o'clock a. m.
[Ill]