Mr. SPEAKER: More than thirty years ago, while a
student at the University of Wisconsin, I first became acquainted
with HENRY CULLEN ADAMS. In his younger life, when I knew
him in Wisconsin, he manifested the same qualities of mind and
heart which distinguished him in his last days as a Member of
this House. An honest, open-hearted frankness, and extreme loyalty
to any cause which he espoused were perhaps his most marked characteristics
as a youth, as a citizen, and as a legislator. Indeed, Mr. ADAMS
possessed many of the qualities that justly make men great, beloved,
and distinguished. He was a loving and loyal friend and had arisen
to that height of soul development where he could forgive his
enemies. Quick to hear the voice of conscience he pursued with
fidelity the course which duty pointed with a boldness and courage
which elicited the admiration and praise of all who knew him
or watched his public career. This House, during his service
here, had frequent exhibitions of the zeal and fearlessness with
which he advocated those measures which he believed to be right,
and with which he fought in almost savage ferocity those things
in legislation and in the conduct of the business of the House
which he believed to be wrong.
Of old American stock, his soul was loyal to that perfect
law of liberty for which his fathers strove, and he always
granted to others all the freedom of thought and conduct
which he claimed and exercised for himself. He had no patience
with the methods by which men sometimes seek to hamper the exercise
of those rights of conscience which all men having any of the
elements of greatness recognize as our dearest heritage. He carried
this spirit of toleration into his duties here, and in all his
relations with his colleagues he was always courteous, gentle,
and manly, although he did not hesitate in debate to call things
by their right names and hit hard and directly from the shoulder
those things that aroused his opposition. In these things we,
his colleagues, may with profit follow in his footsteps.
Mr. ADAMS's public career properly began with his election
to the legislature of Wisconsin in 1883, but the work
which most entitles him to the gratitude of the people of
his State was that which for eight years he did as dairy and
food inspector of the State of Wisconsin. The knowledge and experience
gained by him in the conduct of that office proved to be of immense
value to the House and to the country during the last session
of Congress in the preparation and passage of the meat-inspection
measure and the pure-food bill, in both of which he took a prominent
part. In the death of Mr. ADAMS just at the most useful period
of his life the country at large has lost an able, an honest,
and a conscientious legislator, and the agricultural interests
of the country an intelligent and faithful friend and representative.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that without offense to his friends
of to the proprieties of this occasion I may speak of a matter
purely personal to Mr. ADAMS. Even when I knew him as a student
the disease which must have made a large part of his life a constant
pain and which ultimately caused his death had already fastened
itself upon him. This disease forced him to give up his university
course before it was fully completed and to abandon whatever
ambitious projects he may, in his early manhood, have cherished
for himself. He devoted himself to agricultural pursuits in the
hope, no doubt, that an outdoor life would restore him to perfect
health and strength. This hope was never fully realized. Although
handicapped by this lack of health and strength, he was always
most cheerful, and his fellow-citizens, recognizing his ability
and worth in spite of the disease which would have made of most
men hypochondriacs and invalids, continued to advance him from
one position of trust and responsibility to another where the
labor incident to his official duties so absorbed him as to make
him almost forget his physical ailment. To comparatively few
men has come in such great measure the confidence and respect
which those of his fellow-men who best knew him freely and generously
accorded to Mr. ADAMS. As I look over his life since I have known
him, and think of the terrible physical handicap under which
he labored, I am surprised that he was able to accomplish so
much that will be of lasting benefit to his State, to his country,
and to his fellow-men. But the years we spend in this world are
only the beginning of eternity. The grave is only the open door
to larger opportunity, to grander effort, to holier, nobler living.
Not as the light of a candle which flickers in the darkness for
a brief time and then goes out forever in this life of man, but
rather as the light of the sun which, after the work of the day,
goes down only to rise again upon other scenes, to warm and stimulate
other fields, other trees and flowers. And so as we pay tributes
to the memory of our departed colleague, let us hope that the
sun of life which in this world was somewhat obscured for him
by the clouds of physical weakness may have risen full orbed
and clear upon that immortal life into which he has entered.