Mr. SPEAKER: Nothing that I can say in eulogy of
the late HENRY C. ADAMS can measure my admiration of him
as a man or give my real appreciation of his service as a
coworker in this Congress.
In an intimate acquaintanceship, covering his entire service
in Congress, I found him to be an affable, genial, candid, and
at the same time earnest and intelligent man. Toward all
great questions involving the interest of his fellow-citizens
his attitude was easily ascertainable. He concealed nothing,
and expressed his opinions with the utmost candor and with a
force which can come only as the result of intense earnestness.
As a companion, he was engaging; as a conversationalist, always
interesting; as a fellow-worker, always reliable, and as a public
servant he approximated the ideal. Of frail physique and always
in wretched health, it would not be hard to imagine him as a
person of morose and cross disposition. Ill health too often
embitters the sweetest disposition. With Mr. ADAMS it was not
thus; on the contrary, he was an optimist in his disposition.
He loved the beautiful, was moved to tears by music, and was
a disciple of that faith which regards the world as growing better
day by day, and sees in life something worth its living. He enjoyed
a good joke and delighted to entertain his friends with numerous
reminiscences of his own experience. All in all, his was a most
lovable character, and uplifted and ennobled those whose privilege
it was to come in contact with it.
In politics Mr. ADAMS was a Republican, and yet I feel that
it can be safely said of him that he was never a partisan in
the offensive meaning of that word. It was my pleasure to
serve with him on the great Committee on Agriculture for a number
of years, and yet I do not recall a single partisan utterance
as falling from his lips. To the members of this committee from
the South he was especially considerate. I take it that it was
not a tribute to them personally, but a liberal and intelligent
recognition of the wonderful agricultural and industrial possibilities
of that great section from whence they came. There never came
before that committee a proposition looking to the development
of the Southern interests which did not enlist his sympathy and
active help. He was absolutely nonsectional in his views, and,
if anything, he gave preference to the South.
No man on the committee, I dare say no man in the House,
was so thoroughly conversant with agricultural problems in
this country, both in their scientific and practical aspects,
as was the deceased. His whole life was given to a special duty
of agriculture in all its varied phases; his knowledge of it
was intimate, so much so that he was regarded in Congress and
by the country as an authority. To develop the agriculture of
the country, to make farm life pleasant, to educate and train
the farm boy and farm girl to a better conception of the manifold
advantages of farm life, to impress upon the country the value
of science in agriculture, to demonstrate the necessity of care
and intelligence as a prerequisite for successful agriculture
- all these, and more, made up the life work of this good man.
He was an enthusiast upon the subject, and though buffeted and
browbeaten by prejudice and misunderstanding, his optimism never
deserted him nor his faith in the coming of a time when ideal
farm conditions should prevail in this country leave him.
It was this enthusiasm, this belief that a good fight for
a worthy cause could not fail, which induced him to introduce
and
fight through Congress a bill doubling the appropriation
to the State experiment stations of the country. Who can forget
the earnestness, the vigor, the persistency, the tenacity which
marked his efforts in this behalf? Nothing could daunt him, nothing
could stem the tide of his enthusiasm. The opposition was brushed
aside by the justness of his cause and by the eloquence and earnestness
with which he presented it, and this one act, this one supreme
and triumphant effort in behalf of the American farmer, is sufficient
to make HENRY C. ADAMS one of the splendid characters of our
history. And when agriculture receives that recognition to which
she is entitled, when our farmhouses are filled with educated
and happy occupants, and when ideal conditions have been reached,
his name will be revered along with that of Morrill and Hatch.
Can any higher tribute be paid to any man than to give him equal
rank with those men in our history who have wrought most effectively
and wisely for the greatest industry of the nation? The time
will be when the name of ADAMS will be whispered in reverence
by every man who believes in an educated agricultural people.
Loyal to his friends, liberal in his views, independent in
his opinions, courageous in his convictions, an aggressive fighter,
a skillful debater, an eloquent advocate, an earnest worker,
a wise legislator, he was the embodiment of all the elements
essential to the highest type of American citizenship, and the
bright example of his life and work may well serve as a guide
star for those of us he has left behind.