Mr. SPEAKER: In compliance with a custom honored
in its observance we have met to pay our tribute of love to the
memory of a deceased colleague.
As the closing hours of the Fifty-ninth Congress approach,
with all the tumult and strife which usually attend the close
of
a session, it is eminently proper that we pause on this sacred
day and quietly review the life and work of one who served well
and faithfully the people who honored him, HENRY CULLEN ADAMS,
late a Member of this House from the State of Wisconsin.
His career here, all to short, was yet sufficiently long
to gain for him the cordial friendship and esteem of his colleagues
and, in turn, for him to demonstrate his ability as a legislator
in the National House of Representatives.
Mr. ADAMS from young manhood strove to make his life a benefit
to the community in which he lived. For a number
of years he was prominent in the public affairs of Wisconsin.
For four years he served that State as a member of its legislature,
during which service he aided in securing legislation intended
to protect the people from adulteration in food products, and
especially in dairy products. A farmer and the son of a farmer,
his natural instinct led him to become interested in the development
of the agriculture of the country.
As president of the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association and
also as the dairy and food commissioner of Wisconsin, in
which latter office he served for eight years, he devoted
his energy and his ability not only to the enforcement of the
laws, but in developing broader ideas among the dairymen of the
State and the consumers of the dairy products, in order that
they might work harmoniously together for the advancement of
the interests of an industry which is so vital to the prosperity
of our State.
It was during this period that the Congress of the United
States enacted a law to prevent the sale of oleomargarine
colored in imitation of butter. Those who were engaged in
that contest have always appreciated and been grateful for the
splendid service rendered in behalf of that legislation by Mr.
ADAMS. Whatever he became interested in he became a thorough
student of, and having devoted much time and study to that particular
subject, he was able to be of great assistance in demonstrating
the absolute necessity for that legislation and the equity and
justness of its enactment.
The people of the Second Congressional district of Wisconsin,
appreciating his ability, elected him as their
Representative in the Fifty-eighth Congress, and he was reelected
to the Fifty-ninth. His principal committee assignment was to
the Committee on Agriculture. To the work of that committee he
brought intelligent, broad-minded, comprehensive ideas. It was
largely through his influence that the increased appropriation
for the agricultural experiment stations through the country
was made, and, in fact, it may truthfully be said that he alone
was entitled to the credit for that legislation. His last great
work as a member of that committee was in the preparation of
what is known as "the meat-inspection act," passed
at the last session of this Congress. We know that Members of
the House honestly differed with each other over the provisions
of that act. Each of us was desirous of the enactment of an effective
law, and during the days when the fate of that measure hung in
the balance Mr. ADAMS, although far from well, devoted his every
energy to not only the perfection of the measure, but in harmonizing
the differences between Members in order that the bill might
become a law. His friends are pleased to know that the provisions
of that bill which represented his convictions have stood the
test of trial, and that the measure is producing beneficial results
to the people and to the country.
His work, however, was not confined to measures pending before
the committees of which he was a member. He took
an active interest in all matters of legislation, and we
all remember how pronounced was his opposition to the Philippine
tariff bill and the joint statehood bill.
Those who were closely associated with him knew that he regretted
sincerely the fact that his position on these two
measures put him in opposition to the Administration and
to the leaders of his party of the floor of this House. That,
however, did not deter him from pursuing the course his judgment
dictated, and it is to his everlasting credit and honor that,
as a legislator representing a district the equal in population
and intelligence of any other district in the country, he stood
in this forum and defended their interests and rights to the
best of his ability, regardless of its effect upon his own personal
popularity with the membership of this House. He had made a careful
study of those two questions. His judgment was formed after mature
and conscientious deliberation, and, having decided what he believed
was the right course to pursue, he never faltered or wavered
in the contest which was to follow.
He was a sincere man, a courageous man, an honest man; therefore
in the contests in which he engaged he fought
openly and fairly, but forcefully, for his convictions. Differences
of opinion upon matters of legislation were not permitted to
interfere with his social and personal relations with Members,
and those against whom he contended respected and honored him
the more for having been loyal to his convictions.
Lamentable, indeed, would be the condition if members of
a legislative body were to be influenced in their convictions
either by the clamor which comes from the multitude or the
glare which surrounds those high in authority. He who without
fear or favor pursues his course as his judgment dictates must
in the end be given credit for conscientious service. This was
characteristic of our colleague. During his long official career
he discharged the duties of every position which he occupied
from a firm conviction of the right, without fear or favor and
without considering what the effect might be upon his personal
career.
A few days before the close of the first session of the Fifty-ninth
Congress, realizing that he was far from well and that
his arduous labors here were undermining his strength, I
personally urged him to go away and rest for a few days, or even
to go home and remain for the balance of the session. This he
determinedly declined to do, insisting that under no circumstances
would he leave his duties at the Capitol until the session was
ended. He remained at his post of duty watching carefully the
legislation in which he was interested until it was finally enacted
into law. Then, upon the adjournment of Congress, he started
for his home, where, with his family, he hoped to find rest and
there regain his wasted strength and energy. But the task had
been too severe, the strain too great. His weakened constitution
gave way, and while en route to his home it was necessary for
him to be taken to a hotel in Chicago, where, after a short illness,
he passed away. Thus it may be said of him, as of those who defend
their country's honor on the battlefield, he died with his armor
on and in the service of the country he loved.
In his death the nation lost an able, conscientious, and
earnest legislator. In his death the State of Wisconsin lost
an
upright, honorable citizen, one who had done much for it
and its various interests. In his death the people of the Second
Congressional district of Wisconsin lost not only an able Representative,
but a faithful servant, one who was always careful in attending
to every duty and quick to respond to every request made by his
constituents. He never neglected the pension claim of an old
soldier or a soldier's widow. The teachers and children of the
public schools always received from him every courtesy he could
extend, and this was also true of all his constituents. To his
wife and children the loss is still greater, and we deeply sympathize
with them. They, however, have the consolation that in life he
commanded the respect, the admiration, and the confidence of
his fellow-citizens, and, while they mourn sincerely his untimely
death, they know that, after all, it is but the sleep from which
he will awake in a brighter and better place, where pain and
sickness enter not in.