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 ^^i^Won ^^} HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES {^No^l^'^ 
 
 WILLIAM W. WEDEMEYER 
 
 ( Late a Representative from Michigan ) 
 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE S'^l^ 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE 3 ^^^ 
 
 OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 SIXTY- SECOND CONGRESS 
 
 Proceedings in the House 
 February 16, 1913 
 
 Proceedings in the Senate 
 February 22, 1913 
 
 PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
 THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 1914 
 
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 NOV j3 \m 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Page. 
 
 Proceedings in the House 5 
 
 Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 5,8 
 
 Memorial addresses by — 
 
 Mr. Dodds, of Michigan 11 
 
 Mr. Willis, of Ohio 14 
 
 Mr. Foster, of Illinois 30 
 
 Mr. McMorran, of Michigan 33 
 
 Mr. Hammond, of Minnesota 36 
 
 Mr. Hamilton, of Michigan 39 
 
 Mr. Sloan, of Nebraska 45 
 
 ^r.'5. M. C. Smith, of Michigan 50 
 
 Mr. Sweet, of Michigan 54 
 
 Mr. Sharp, of Ohio 57 
 
 Mr. Ainey, of Pennsylvania 61 
 
 Mr. Samuel W. Smith, of Michigan 64 
 
 Proceedings in the Senate 73 
 
 Prayer by Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D 76 
 
 Memorial addresses by — 
 
 Mr. Tow nsend, of Michigan 79 
 
 Mr. Jones, of Washington 86 
 
 Mr. Ashurst, of Arizona 90 
 
 Mr. Kern, of Indiana 94 
 
 Mr. Smith, of Michigan 97 
 
 Address by former Representative John J. Lentz, of Ohio, 
 
 at memorial services held in Ann Arbor, Mich 66 
 
 [3] 
 

 HON. Y/ILLIAlvI Y/. WEDEMEYER 
 
DEATH OF HON. WILLIAM W. WEDEMEYER 
 
 Proceedings in the House of Representatives 
 
 Friday, January 3, 1913. 
 The House met at 12 o'clock noon. 
 
 The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered the 
 following prayer : 
 
 Help us, O God, our Father, to realize that we are 
 Thine, that nothing in life or death can separate us from 
 Thee. It is Thou who hast made us and not we ourselves. 
 Death comes all unbidden and touches the deeps of our 
 hearts. Comfort, we beseech Thee, the families con- 
 nected with this body into which the angel of death has 
 so recently come, that they may look forw^ard into the 
 bright beyond without doubt or fear. 
 
 Be with the family of the Member who is sorely 
 afflicted; restore him, we pray Thee, to health and strength 
 that he may pursue the useful walks of life. Keep us all 
 and our dear ones close to Thee in the faith and hope of 
 Thy ruling and overruling Providence. In the spirit of 
 the Lord Christ. Amen. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, information 
 has just been received, through the War Department, of 
 the death of Hon. William W. Wedemeyer by drowning. 
 Mr. Wedemeyer was returning from the Canal Zone. 
 Some time later I shall ask the House to set a time for 
 paying tribute to the life, character, and public services 
 of the deceased. Meanwhile I offer the following reso- 
 lutions, which I send to the Clerk's desk. 
 
 [5] 
 
Memorial Addresses : Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 The Speaker. The Clerk will report the resolutions. 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 House resolution 763 
 
 Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of 
 the death of Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late a Representative 
 from the State of Michigan. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk communicate this resolution to the 
 Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. 
 
 The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the reso- 
 lutions. 
 
 The resolutions were agreed to. 
 
 Mr. Macon. Mr. Speaker, I move the adoption of the 
 resolution which I send to the Clerk's desk. 
 
 The Speaker. The Clerk will report the resolution. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 House resolution 764 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
 the deceased Senator Jeff Davis and Representative William W. 
 Wedemeyer the House do now adjourn. 
 
 The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the reso- 
 lution. 
 
 The resolution was agreed to; accordingly (at 1 o'clock 
 and 27 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned until to- 
 morrow, Saturday, January 4, 1913, at 12 o'clock noon. 
 
 Saturday, January 11, 1913. 
 Mr. Hamilton of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I ask unani- 
 mous consent for the present consideration of the resolu- 
 tion which I send to the Clerk's desk. 
 
 [6] 
 
Proceedings in the House 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 House resolution 772 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of 15 Members of the House, with 
 such Members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to 
 attend memorial services for Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late 
 a Representative from the State of Michigan, to be held at Ann 
 Arbor, Mich. 
 
 Resolved, That the Sergeant at Arms of the House be authorized 
 and directed to take such steps as may be necessary for carrying 
 out the provisions of this resolution, and that the necessary ex- 
 penses in connection therewith be paid out of the contingent 
 fund of the House. 
 
 The Speaker. Is there objection to the present consid- 
 eration of the resolution? 
 
 There was no objection. 
 
 The resolution was agreed to. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton of Michigan. Now, Mr. Speaker, I send 
 the following order to the Clerk's desk and ask for its 
 immediate consideration. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Ordered, That Sunday, the 16th day of February, 1913, at 12 
 o'clock, be set apart for addresses on the life, character, and 
 public services of Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late a Repre- 
 sentative from the State of Michigan. 
 
 The Speaker. Is there objection to the present consider- 
 ation of the order? [After a pause.] The Chair hears 
 none. 
 
 The order was agreed to. 
 
 Thursday, January 23, 1913. 
 The Speaker laid before the House the names of the 
 committee to attend the funeral exercises on Mr. Wede- 
 meyer, of Michigan. 
 
 [7] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Mr. Doremus, Mr. J. M. C. Smith, Mr. Hamilton of Michigan, 
 Mr. Sweet, Mr. Samuel W. Smith, Mr. McMorran, Mr. Fordney, Mr. 
 McLaughlin, Mr. Loud, Mr. Dodds, Mr. Kendall, Mr. Willis, Mr. 
 Foster, Mr. Hammond, and Mr. Sharp. 
 
 Sunday, February 16, 1913. 
 
 The House met at 12 o'clock noon, and was called to 
 order by Mr. Doremus as Speaker pro tempore. 
 
 The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered 
 the following prayer: 
 
 Our God and our Father, our life and our hope, for in 
 Thy keeping is the destiny of men. We gather here to- 
 day in memory of men who by dint of industry and faith- 
 ful service proved themselves worthy of the confidence 
 reposed in them, and have passed on to the reward of 
 the faithful. It is well thus to commemorate their service 
 and record their history as an example to those who shall 
 follow them. Strengthen our faith, encourage our hope, 
 and inspire us to noble endeavors, that we may merit the 
 confidence of our fellow men and Thy loving-kindness. 
 Help us and their dear ones to say in all faith, Thy will be 
 done. 
 
 So long Thy power has blest us, sure it still 
 
 Will lead us on 
 O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 
 
 The night is gone, 
 And with the morn those angel faces smile 
 Which we have loved long since, and lost awhile. 
 
 In tlic spirit of Him who brouglit to light life and 
 imniorlalily. Amen. 
 
 The Clerk began the reading of the Journal of the pro- 
 ceedings of yesterday. 
 
 [8] 
 
Proceedings in the House 
 
 Mr. Hamilton of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I ask unani- 
 mous consent that the reading of the Journal be dis- 
 pensed with. 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. Is there objection? 
 
 There was no objection. 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will report the 
 first special order of the day. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 On motion of Mr. Hamilton, of Michigan, by unanimous con- 
 sent, 
 
 Ordered, That Sunday, February 16, 1913, at 12 o'clock m., be 
 set apart for addresses upon the life, character, and public serv- 
 ices of Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late a Representative from 
 the State of Michigan. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I offer the fol- 
 lowing resolution. 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will report the 
 resolution. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 House resolution 840 
 
 Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended 
 that opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of 
 Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late a Member of the House from 
 the State of Michigan. 
 
 Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
 of the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguished public 
 career, the House, at the conclusion of the memorial exercises 
 of the day, 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 resolution was agreed to. 
 
 [9] 
 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 Address of Mr. Dodds, of Michigan 
 
 Mr. Speaker: We are here at this time to pay a last 
 tribute of respect to our late friend and colleague, Wil- 
 liam Walter Wedemeyer. It is a sad and solemn duty 
 for us all, but for those of us who are from Michigan, his 
 home State, it is especially so. We knew him so well 
 and were so thoroughly interested in him and in his 
 future that his untimely death means much to us indeed. 
 Had we been asked, when we assembled here at the be- 
 ginning of the present session, to prophesy as to the one 
 of us who would be first called upon to lay down the 
 burdens of earthly life and pass over to the great be- 
 yond, I am sure that none would have named or had 
 in mind the brother who has actually been taken from us. 
 The youngest of us all; a giant in strength and, seem- 
 ingly, in power to endure; with conditions about him 
 apparently the most pleasing and self-satisfying, surely 
 ** Wedie," as we were wont to call him, would have been 
 the last one in our thoughts. But half of his life— as 
 lives do go — was gone; and we were of a mind that years 
 and years were yet to come to him in which, as in the 
 past, his life would tell for good. But what we least 
 expect most often comes; and now he is no more. " The 
 bubble which seemed to have so much solidity has burst, 
 and we again see that all below the sun is vanity." 
 
 Mr. Wedemeyer obtained his education in the Uni- 
 versit>^ of Michigan, where he completed both the literary 
 and the law courses, being well equipped when he left it 
 
 [11] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 for the vocation in life in which he was to engage — the 
 practice of the law. 
 
 My acquaintance with him began some 16 years ago, 
 when he was but 23 years of age. This was during the 
 first McKinley campaign, in the results of which he was 
 much interested, and always after we were earnest friends. 
 To know him was to become interested in him. It could 
 easily be seen that he was one of those to whom the many 
 talents had been given, and consequently much was ex- 
 pected of him in return. He seemed to know this, and 
 *' expecting no indulgence from others, he showed none 
 to himself." There was, therefore, much of realization 
 as well as promise in the life so unexpectedly ended. 
 Deputy railroad commissioner of his State before reach- 
 ing the age of 25 years, consul to Georgetown, British 
 Guiana, soon afterwards, and a Member of this great leg- 
 islative body before reaching the age of 38 years mark 
 him as a man in whom the people had much confidence. 
 Also, besides his other professional work at the time of 
 his death, and besides his work as a Member of Congress, 
 he was national counselor for the American Insurance 
 Union, a position of much responsibility. 
 
 Those who really knew the esteemed brother whose 
 loss we mourn know that he was no ordinary' man. In 
 all that goes to make the manly man — intelligence, 
 morality, kindliness of heart — he was the peer of any. 
 
 In politics he was a stanch Republican. Though always 
 for progression, he was for progression within his party. 
 
 He never pretended to be what he was not, but was 
 always sincere, true, and natural. 
 
 He was an honest man in thought, in purpose, and in 
 deed, and sham and falsehood were by him abhorred. 
 
 He was of a cheerful disposition and in a remarkable 
 degree possessed the power to impart that cheerfulness 
 to others. 
 
 [12] 
 
Address of Mr. Dodds, of Michigan 
 
 His work as a speaker in the McKinley campaign, be- 
 fore referred to, first brought him into prominence as a 
 State orator and ranked him as such among our very 
 best. Wherever he spoke he was admired both for what 
 he said and how he said it, and he invariably left his 
 hearers with a desire to hear more. Well informed, 
 clear in speech, logical and eloquent, and with a most 
 attractive personality, he had a singular power over the 
 minds of men, and thus he grew in favor. 
 
 He was a candidate for Congress in his district in the 
 year 1898 and again in the year 1902, and each time 
 lacked but a few votes of the number necessary to secure 
 for him the desired nomination, the election after nomi- 
 nation being regarded as certain. 
 
 At the primary election held in 1910 he secured this 
 nomination, and his election followed. That his service 
 here was for so brief a period is greatly to be regretted. 
 His fitness for the work was exceptional, and his life 
 here would have continued to be a life of usefulness and 
 one that would have brought him high distinction. But — 
 
 Again a prince has fallen in the fight — 
 
 The val'rous champion of the truth and right; 
 
 Determined, honest, level-headed, just, 
 
 Who broke no promise nor betrayed a trust! 
 
 His genial face with courtly kindness beamed — 
 
 By friends beloved, by all mankind esteemed. 
 
 Peace to his manly soul and sweetest rest 
 
 With that glad throng whom love of God has blest! 
 
 [13] 
 
Address of Mr. Willis, of Ohio 
 
 Mr. Speaker : I can scarcely make it seem possible that 
 our friend has gone away. I suppose I was associated 
 with Mr. Wedemeyer as intimately as any Member of this 
 House. Not a day passed but what he was in my office 
 or I was in his office. Not many votes were cast by either 
 of us while he was here without our consulting together, 
 and we have all become so accustomed to his presence 
 amongst us that we can scarcely realize that he has gone 
 away. 
 
 In the few minutes that I speak I shall undertake some- 
 thing that perhaps is unusual, perhaps out of place, but 
 it seems to me there is no better way of judging of a man 
 than by knowing something of his thoughts and some- 
 thing of the books that he reads. It has been written, 
 " As a man thinketh, so is he." Some one has said, " If 
 you will show me what you read I will tell you what you 
 are." 
 
 It will be forever a fond recollection to me that many 
 hours were spent by me with this strong, heroic soul in 
 the reading of things that he liked and that I liked; and 
 I am reminded just now of a little poem that he recited 
 to me many and many a time, from the pen of James 
 Whitcomb Riley, an old familiar poem, perhaps, which 
 yet expresses the thought I have in mind just now. I 
 can hear Mr. Wedemeyer's voice as he read this to me 
 the first time: 
 
 I can not say and I will not say 
 
 That he is dead. He is just away! 
 
 "With a cheery smile and a wave of tlie hand 
 
 He has wandered into an unknown land. 
 
 [14; 
 
Address of Mr. Willis, of Ohio 
 
 And left us dreaming how very fair 
 It needs must be, since he Hngers there. 
 And you — oh, you, who the wildest yearn 
 For the old-time step and the glad return — 
 Think of him faring on, as dear 
 In the love of there as the love of here; 
 ***** 
 
 Think of him still as the same, I say; 
 He is not dead — he is just away! 
 
 He read and recited that to me many times. It ex- 
 presses the thought I have at this moment. I think I 
 shall never be able to realize that Mr. Wedemeyer has 
 done other than simply " gone away." His life became 
 so mingled with my life that the fond recollection of it 
 shall remain with me through time and eternity. 
 
 My acquaintance with Mr. Wedemeyer did not extend 
 over so many years. I met him first, I think, in the 
 winter of 1908, although before that time he was w^ell 
 known in our State as a campaign orator and as a lec- 
 turer. I think it was in the winter of 1908 that he came 
 to Kenton, the county seat of Hardin County, in which 
 I live, to address a great banquet of the Young Men's 
 Republican Club. I became intimately acquainted with 
 him from the beginning. I remember, after the banquet 
 was over and the crowd had dispersed, that I went up 
 to his room, and the great, big, jolly fellow sat down 
 and we talked of our families, talked of politics, talked 
 of our hopes, ambitions, and disappointments, and 
 talked somewhat of literature. 
 
 I remember that he inquired of me if I had ever read 
 a little selection which he proceeded to recite with tre- 
 mendous effect and deep pathos. I read it now because 
 it expresses Mr. Wedemeyer's philosophy of life. He 
 would not have us wrapped in deep sorrow; that was 
 not his way of looking at things. He believed in taking 
 things as they are and making the best of them and 
 
 [15] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 doing what we can for people while they are on earth. 
 I remember in our interchange of thought upon this sub- 
 ject I recited to him this little stanza, which seemed to 
 meet with his approval, and which I have since heard 
 him recite many times: 
 
 A rose to the living is more 
 
 Than sumptuous wreaths to the dead; 
 
 In filling love's infinite store, 
 
 A rose to the living is more 
 
 If graciously given before 
 
 The hungering spirit has fled — 
 
 A rose to the living is more 
 
 Than sumptuous wreaths to the dead. 
 
 It expresses less beautifully and completely the same 
 thought as is expressed in the selection he quoted: 
 
 Closed eyes can't see the white roses; 
 
 Cold hands can't hold them, you know; 
 Breath that is stilled can not gather 
 
 The odors that sweet from them blow. 
 Death with a peace beyond dreaming 
 
 Its children of earth doth endow. 
 Life is the time we can help them. 
 
 So give them the flowers nowl 
 
 Here are the struggles and striving. 
 
 Here are the cares and the tears; 
 Now is the time to be smoothing 
 
 The frowns and the furrows and fears. 
 What to closed eyes are kind sayings? 
 
 What to hushed heart is deep vow? 
 Naught can avail after parting, 
 
 So give them the flowers nowl ^ 
 
 Just a kind word or a greeting; 
 
 Just a warm grasp or a smile — 
 These are the flowers that will lighten 
 
 The burdens for many a mile. 
 After the journey is over 
 
 What is the use of them; how 
 Can they carry them who must be carried? 
 
 Oh, give them the flowers now! 
 
 [10] 
 
Address of Mr. Willis, of Ohio 
 
 That was Mr. Wedemeyer's philosophy of life — to do 
 good 6very day, to make somebody happy, to lift a burden 
 here, to cheer some one with a glad jest or a happy smile 
 or a generous deed. 
 
 I may not speak at length of his services here in this 
 body, and yet what little I shall say comes from the heart, 
 because I think I knew pretty nearly what his positions 
 were upon public questions, because, as I have said, we 
 talked over most of the things that we would have occa- 
 sion to act upon. I simply refer, in passing, to one or two 
 of his speeches which I think were great speeches. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I have heard many splendid orators, but I 
 have heard few men that had more power with a great 
 audience than William W. Wedemeyer. There was a 
 magnetism of personality, there was a charm of per- 
 suasion of voice, there was a cogency of reasoning, of 
 sound logic that marked the great orator. As I have sug- 
 gested before, in Ohio he was well known, and whenever 
 it was announced that Wedemeyer, of Michigan, was to 
 address a meeting, the crowd was limited only by the 
 capacity of the hall. 
 
 That reputation which he had made as an orator, 
 almost nation wide in its extent, was fully sustained by 
 his services here. As I recall the first speech that he made 
 in the House, it was a speech relative to the investigations 
 that had been had concerning matters in the State Depart- 
 ment. I know that Mr. Wedemeyer with his accustomed 
 energy and attention to detail had spent days and nights 
 and weeks in going into every detail of that case, and his 
 heart was in it. While there was difference of opinion 
 here in the House relative to the merits of the controversy, 
 Mr. Wedemeyer felt that certain officials of the State 
 Department had been wrongly accused. He threw all the 
 weight of his mighty soul into the fight and made a great 
 
 11358°— 14 2 [17] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 speech, which all will remember who were fortunate 
 enough to hear it. 
 
 He was very active in the discussion that resulted ulti- 
 mately in the admission of Arizona and New Mexico as 
 States into the Union, and I think I violate no rules as to 
 secrecy relative to the proceedings in the committee when 
 I say that no man on the Committee on the Territories, 
 with the possible exception of the chairman, did as much 
 to bring Arizona and New Mexico into the Union as did 
 Mr. Wedemeyer. Constant in his attendance upon the 
 sessions of the committee, studying all the details, famil- 
 iarizing himself with the arguments, he was a power in 
 favor of the admission of those two new States. But the 
 thing in which he took the greatest delight was that group 
 of questions that we call the Alaska questions. Mr. 
 Wedemeyer was thoroughly familiar with the situation 
 in Alaska. He had visited the place, had talked with the 
 people, face to face; he had studied the question at first 
 hand, and he was enthusiastic in his belief as to the pos- 
 sibilities for the future in that great undeveloped empire. 
 If Members were not fortunate enough to be in the House 
 the day he made his speech on the Alaska government 
 bill, I dare say they would be well repaid if they would 
 hunt out the speech and read it now. It was a mighty 
 effort, and it shows Mr. Wedemeyer's breadth of view, 
 his strong grasp of public questions. 
 
 It is not necessary to call the attention of Members here 
 to the fact, because we all know it. But one thing that I 
 wish to call particular attention to and make a part of 
 this solemn record that we are making up as to his serv- 
 ices is his devotion to his duties. I have never seen in any 
 legislative body a inan who gave more careful, constant 
 attention to the public business than did Mr. Wedemeyer, 
 even when he was called away, as he was very infre- 
 quently. When he had to be out of the city, through his 
 
 18] 
 
Address of Mr. Willis, of Ohio 
 
 capable and efficient secretary, or through some of his 
 friends in the House, he kept in constant touch with 
 the public business. He knew exactly what was going 
 on, and always left instructions, if anything important 
 came up, to wire him and he would be here, no matter 
 what the cost. He gave constant attention to his work. 
 "We have seen him sitting at his desk here, through the 
 long day, always at work — always at work in the interest 
 of the people, in the interest of his constituents. I have 
 left my office many a time at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, 
 and going by Mr, Wedemeyer's office would find him at 
 work, studying some public question. I dare say, Mr. 
 Speaker, there has never been a man who served in this 
 House who gave his life more completely to the service 
 of the people who elected him than did Mr. Wedemeyer. 
 
 I have a little memento here to which I shall only 
 refer. I have shown it to some of the Members of the 
 Michigan delegation. It is just a little note illustrative 
 of Mr. Wedemeyer's intense devotion to his people and 
 of his extreme care as to details. He gave it to me on the 
 eve of his departure from this city forever, saying, as he 
 went away, that it was possible a certain bill in which his 
 people were vitally interested might come up while he 
 would be away. He did not think it would. He thought 
 he would be back before the bill would be considered, 
 but he handed me tliis written memorandum, requesting 
 me to attend to the matter if the bill came up. I shall 
 keep this memorandum until his son is old enough to un- 
 derstand what it means, and then I shall give it to George 
 as a token of the attention of his father to the public busi- 
 ness, his absolutely unflagging devotion to the interests 
 of the people who elected him. 
 
 Another thing to which I wish to refer in passing is 
 the profound interest which Mr. Wedemeyer had in the 
 Latin-American countries. Those of you who were fortu- 
 
 [19] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 nate in having an intimate acquaintance with him know 
 that he had studied that situation and that great question 
 thoroughly. As you are aware, for a time he was United 
 States consul to a South American country, and was en- 
 tirely familiar with that group of questions connected 
 with the Latin-American situation. 
 
 Not only that, but Mr. Wedemeyer studied and under- 
 stood world politics. As you know, he was of German 
 descent. He spoke the German language as fluentlj'^ as 
 he spoke English. He had traveled a great deal. He 
 was perfectly familiar with Germany, with Austria, with 
 France, as I have stated before, with Alaska, with Cen- 
 tral America, with Mexico, and with South America. He 
 understood the great problems of world politics, and he 
 had a grasp of those problems not possessed by many 
 men of his time. 
 
 I should like to speak a word of his personal character- 
 istics. The one I think of first was his intense, unyielding, 
 absolutely profound patriotism, in the widest and deepest 
 and best sense. As his colleague, the gentleman from 
 Michigan [Mr. Dodds], has said, Mr. Wedemeyer was 
 truly progressive in every thought, in every act. His 
 sympathy was with humanity. He was for the things 
 that benefited the great mass of the people, and it was 
 perfectly natural that it should be so, because he came 
 from the ranks of the common people. By his illustrious 
 living he has given an example to the youth of his State 
 of the possibilities of citizenship in this great Republic. 
 
 Mr. Wedemeyer made himself what he was. He worked 
 his own way through high school, college, and university. 
 His sympathies were with the common people. How 
 often have I discussed with him, how often have I heard 
 his eloquent voice ring out in behalf of the folks back on 
 the farm, the folks who live in the little villages. He 
 neither knew nor cared much about the requirements of 
 
 [20] 
 
Address of Mr. Willis, of Ohio 
 
 high society or about the blandishments of wealth; but 
 that great, strong, patriotic soul did know to its depths 
 the life of the common people, and there never was a 
 thought, there never was an act, while he was a Member 
 of this House, that was not in the interest of true progress 
 in absolutely the best sense. 
 
 I have said he was patriotic. Perhaps, carrying out the 
 thought I suggested at the beginning, I can best illustrate 
 that by reading another selection, from the pen of Moses 
 Owen, which he frequently read to me from this very 
 book. It is one from which he frequently read. Here are 
 a couple of stanzas that I have heard him recite with 
 tremendous, soul-stirring power. They tell the story of 
 the battle flags in the State capitol at Augusta, Me.: 
 
 Nothing but flags, but simple flags. 
 
 Tattered and torn and hanging in rags; 
 
 And we walk beneath them with careless tread. 
 
 Nor think of the hosts of the mighty dead 
 
 That have marched beneath them in days gone by, 
 
 "With a burning cheek and a kindling eye, 
 
 And have bathed their folds with their life's young tide, 
 
 And dying, blessed them, and blessing, died. 
 
 Nothing but flags; yet, methinks, at night 
 They tell each other their tale of fight; 
 And dim specters come, and their thin arms twine 
 Round each standard torn, as they stand in line. 
 As the word is given — they charge, they form. 
 And the dim hall rings with the battle's storm; 
 And once again, through smoke and strife, 
 ' These colors lead to a nation's life. 
 
 Mr. Wedemeyer was intensely patriotic, and he was 
 never happier than when he was doing something for an 
 old soldier — getting some adjustment made in his pension 
 papers or something of that kind. He was the true friend 
 of him who bore the burden of battle and of his widow 
 
 [21] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 and his orphans. Another characteristic was his love 
 for home, for wife and children — his firm grounding in 
 those things which in the life of this Republic or in the 
 life of any nation are absolutely fundamental. This man 
 proudly wore the stainless flower of his unsullied man- 
 hood. There was never a word nor a thought nor an act 
 but what was in harmony with the highest devotion to 
 the responsibilities and sacredness of his home. 
 
 How often have we seen him coming here, or into our 
 offices, all aglow, his face wreathed in smiles; he would 
 pull out of his pocket a letter scrawled in those unintel- 
 ligible lines that only the baby fingers know how to make; 
 unintelligible to others, and yet he seemed to understand 
 them all. Here was an undecipherable message from 
 little Josephine, or here was a loving note from Mary, or 
 here was a letter from George, telling of some of his 
 experiences in school. Mr. Wedemeyer carried those 
 letters around, doted upon them, read them to his friends. 
 He believed, I say, in those things that are finest and 
 sweetest and most permanent and enduring in this life. 
 
 He was a man that thought an almost infinite amount 
 of wife and children. His devotion to them was without 
 flaw or blemish. Perhaps that quality of his character 
 could be illustrated again by something in literature. I 
 remember well the circumstance under which he called 
 my attention to this that I am about to read. I had never 
 seen it before. He had invited me to dinner at his hotel, 
 and after dinner he invited me up to his room to read 
 me something. I went with him and he read this from 
 McCants. It was the way Mr. Wedemeyer spent the odd 
 moments, in reading things like this. I am reading these 
 ])aragraphs, Mr. Speaker, because I think they show the 
 character of the man in whose honor we have met to-day. 
 A man who puts in his time reading this kind of litera- 
 ture and thinking this kind of thoughts is not likely to 
 
 [22] 
 
Address of Mr. Willis, of Ohio 
 
 go far wrong. " Wedie," as we loved to call him, was 
 tender and sympathetic and home-loving. He understood 
 that the family life was the enduring foundation of the 
 Nation. Sad, sweet paragraphs like these I am about to 
 read appealed to him, and as he read them to me in voice 
 eloquently rich I was deeply moved : 
 
 A little winding railway in a southern county connects two 
 widely parallel systems known as the G. & G. The trains are 
 small and meek when compared with the long aggregations of 
 cars with which they connect at G. 
 
 But to the old man who sat to-day in one of the cramped, un- 
 comfortable coaches defects were not apparent. For 40 years 
 little cars like these had passed his door. Along this same road 
 he and Mary had taken their wedding trip. How proud he was 
 of her when they returned, and he had taken her home, where 
 his father and his father's father had lived before him. There 
 they had lived and labored together, going on Saturdays to the 
 village and on Sundays to the little church, and there Tom had 
 been born. 
 
 It seemed hard to realize that all this was long ago, for so 
 much had happened since then. No lusty boy would come rush- 
 ing to meet him to-day; the rocking chair where she used to sit 
 would be very still. The old man choked a little and wiped his 
 eyes with his cotton handkerchief. 
 
 He had not known what all this meant to him until he had left 
 it. He had been lonely, and Tom had persuaded him to go live 
 with him. But it was all so strange in this new place, so little like 
 he had pictured it. He said nothing. They were kind to him and 
 he must not seem ungrateful. He would not admit, even to him- 
 self, that he wished to go back, but he grew so silent, white, and 
 still that his son watching his wistful face was touched. 
 
 " Father," said he, " am I not your son? Tell me." And the 
 old man answered humbly, " Tom, I am old and getting childish, 
 but I want to go back. I've never lived anywhere else before 
 and — and she's there, Tom." 
 
 So to-day he was going home; back to the hills and trees; 
 back to his old house and graves; back where she had left him 
 to wait until she had called him; and the journey was almost 
 done. 
 
 [23] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 The sunshine crept across the car and the noise of voices 
 grew lower and lower. Somehow it was evening and he was 
 coming home down the long lanes between the fields. Over the 
 hills came the tinkle of bells as the cattle came home to the milk- 
 ing; here, running to meet him, was little Tom, the red stains of 
 berries still marking his face and fingers; and there by the gate, 
 the lovelight as strong in her eyes as on the day they were mar- 
 ried, stood Mary, the wife of his youth. 
 
 " I am late," he said, " and tired." 
 
 " Come," she said, "you can rest now; it is only a step more." 
 And — a long, quavering sigh of relief — and — he was at home. 
 The little rough train went jolting along and reached his station 
 at last. But when the conductor shook him he did not answer. 
 
 On another occasion when I was with Mr. Wedemeyer 
 in his room he read these fugitive lines from some author 
 whose name I have forgotten : 
 
 The poem was Eugene Field's Little Boy Blue, and at the very 
 first lines of it the old lady became all attention : 
 
 " The little toy dog is covered with dust, 
 But sturdy and staunch it stands; 
 And the little tin soldier is covered with rust. 
 And his musket molds in his hands." 
 
 Very slowly, as she read on, the tears came into her eyes and 
 dimmed the spectacles so that she could scarcely see the lines of 
 the second verse: 
 
 " ' Now, don't you go till I come,' he said, 
 
 'And don't you make any noise! ' 
 Then, toddling off to his trundle bed. 
 
 He dreamed of his pretty toys. 
 And as he was dreaming, an angel song 
 
 Awakened our little boy. 
 Oh, the years are many "- — 
 
 Yes; they are many! It was more than half a century ago now. 
 'Hw paper dropped from the old lady's hand and rustled to the 
 floor. There was no use in trying to read any more, for her 
 thouglit liad flown away now to the time when she had had just 
 such a Little Boy Blue as that. Since then she had had lots of 
 
 [24] 
 
Address of Mr. Willis, of Ohio 
 
 other children. Even now, as she sat there in the twilight, she 
 could hear the shouts of her grandchildren at play not far away, 
 but little Geordie had been her first-born, and somehow the others 
 were different, and nobody knew just how but herself. She had 
 daughters to console her in her widowhood, and when her mar- 
 ried daughter had died her children had been left. But with 
 little Geordie it was different. They only knew of him by the 
 little headstone in the graveyard; but to her — why, after reading 
 that little poem it seemed as though it were only yesterday that 
 he was toddling along beside her, rosy and bright and full of fun. 
 And he used to say just those things — she remembered. 
 
 " Why, mother," said her daughter as she came in, " you've 
 been crying! What's the matter?" 
 
 " It was nothing, dear," answered the old lady as she wiped her 
 eyes. " I was reading, you know, and it upset me a little. It was 
 only a bit of newspaper verse." 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I believe what I said in the beginning, that 
 if you know what a man reads and thinks you know what 
 he is. This man in this great city, with all its attractions, 
 amusements, entertainments, allurements, and blandish- 
 ments, in the odd moments of his time read this kind of 
 literature. He believed in the home and the things asso- 
 ciated with it that are the finest and tenderest and fairest. 
 
 Another thing I should call attention to was his unfail- 
 ing friendliness and sympathy. Mr. Wedemeyer knew 
 every Member in this House before he had been here two 
 weeks. He made friends; he could not help it. The ex- 
 pression of his countenance was a benediction; you all 
 knew him, and you knew him before he had been here 
 many days. He was friendly with everybody, and he took 
 an interest in the things in which his friends were inter- 
 ested. I can bear testimony to that through the many 
 conversations that we had. The contest in which I was 
 engaged, my chances for reelection, appeared to interest 
 him even more than his own affairs. William W. Wede- 
 meyer was one of the most unselfish men I have known 
 in public life. 
 
 [25] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Another characteristic was his unfailing good humor, 
 his ability to see the funny side of things. It was like a 
 burst of sunshine when he came to my room, always with 
 a smile, and he could tell a funny story, not a vulgar 
 story. I knew the man intimately for more than four 
 years — and I think I was close to him; I am sure he was 
 close to me — and in all the hours of our conversation 
 here and elsewhere I never heard him tell a story that 
 could not be told in the most polite company. 
 
 But, as I say, he saw the funny side, and he was a 
 splendid story-teller. One moment he would have an 
 audience convulsed with laughter; the next sobered with 
 his sound logic and beautiful diction. That was one of 
 the qualities of his character that it seemed to me stood 
 out prominently. 
 
 Another was his courage. There come occasions in this 
 House, Mr. Speaker, as we perfectly well know, there 
 come votes which it would be convenient to avoid. These 
 same things came to him, but there was nothing of the 
 shirk about him; he always stayed here and did his duty; 
 he never dodged a vote; he never evaded a responsibility. 
 He was a man of courage, a man of the highest moral 
 character, a man of the most abstemious habits, never 
 under any circumstances using intoxicating liquors or 
 tobacco in any form, and a man of absolutely unflinching 
 honesty; honest with himself, honest with his fellow man, 
 honest with his country, he typified all that is best in 
 American life. 
 
 On another occasion Mr. Wedemeyer invited me to come 
 to his room. 1 accompanied him, as I had done many 
 times before. He said, " 1 have found some tiling else I 
 want to read to you. It expresses a profound philosophy 
 and my own belief." Then he read these words. It is a 
 statement made by Victor Hugo on the question as to 
 
 [26] 
 
Address of Mr. Willis, of Ohio 
 
 whether we shall live again. Here is what Mr. Wedemeyer 
 read to me: 
 
 I feel in myself the future life. I am like a forest once cut 
 down; the new shoots are stronger and livelier than ever. I am 
 rising, I know, toward the sky. The sunshine is on my head. The 
 earth gives me its generous sap, but heaven lights me with the 
 reflection of unknown worlds. 
 
 You say the soul is nothing but the resultant of the bodily 
 powers. Why, then, is my soul more luminous when my bodily 
 powers begin to fail? Winter is on my head, but eternal spring 
 is in my heart. I breathe at this hour the fragrance of the lilacs, 
 the violets, and the roses as at 20 years. The nearer I approach 
 the end the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies 
 of the worlds which invite me. It is marvelous, yet simple. It 
 is a fairy tale and it is history. 
 
 For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose 
 and in verse; history, philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, 
 satire, ode, and song, I have tried all. But I feel I have not said 
 the thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the 
 grave I can say like many others, " I have finished my day's 
 work." But I can not say, " I have finished my life." My day's 
 work will begin again the next morning. The tomb is not a 
 blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight; it 
 opens on the dawn. 
 
 That was Mr. Wedemeyer's belief. There is one other 
 selection that he read to me, or rather recited, because 
 he was familiar with it, that expresses the same thought. 
 He recited these verses with great depth of feeling: 
 
 Sunset and evening star. 
 
 And one clear call for mel 
 And may there be no moaning of the bar. 
 
 When I put out to sea. 
 
 But such a tide as moving seems asleep, 
 
 Too full for sound and foam. 
 When that which drew from out the boundless deep 
 
 Turns again home. 
 
 [27] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Twilight and evening bell, 
 
 And after that the dark! 
 And may there be no sadness of farewell. 
 
 When I embark; 
 
 For the' from out our bourne of Time and Place 
 
 The flood may bear me far, 
 I hope to see my Pilot face to face 
 
 "When I have crost the bar. 
 
 I last saw Mr. Wedemeyer the night he left this city, 
 just before the holidays. We ate the evening meal to- 
 gether, and the conversation was cheerful and pleasant. 
 He was happy in the thought that he was soon to be at 
 home with wife and children, and the main topic of con- 
 versation as we sat together was the family, the wife, the 
 little children. There was somewhat of conversation con- 
 cerning the trip he was proposing to make to the Isthmus. 
 He was collecting some information for an address he 
 expected to make in the House on the Latin-American 
 situation and the Isthmian Canal. We had a very pleas- 
 ant hour together, and I bade him good-by yonder at the 
 gate at the Union Station. With a wave of his hand he 
 went away. That w^as the last time I saw my friend. 
 
 Worn with the worry and trial of a fierce political con- 
 test, he sought a season of rest in the Latin-American 
 countries he loved so well. But it was not so to be. The 
 strong bow had been bent to breaking. He was given 
 every attention at the hands of loving colleagues with 
 him, but the spirit was broken and the body weak. As at 
 the eventide he paced the deck and gazed upon the tropic 
 seas and looked up into the beautiful, mysterious, starlit 
 southern skies, the fugitive thoughts of his fevered brain 
 were of home and wife and children and how they might 
 best be provided for. Let us believe that as he looked 
 into the skies he read in the unspoken language of the 
 
 [28] 
 
Address of Mr. Willis, of Ohio 
 
 stars a mystic meaning which only the parting soul ready 
 to meet its Maker may know. Then in a moment the 
 weary soul was at rest, and our friend, ready and without 
 a tremor, met his Pilot face to face — that same good Pilot 
 who said: 
 
 I am the resurrection and the Hfe. He that believeth in Me, 
 though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth 
 and believeth in Me shall never die. 
 
 [29] 
 
Address of Mr. Foster, of Illinois 
 
 Mr. Speaker: When the word came that Mr. Wede- 
 MEYER was dead every Member of the House was shocked. 
 The people of the district he represented were appalled 
 at the sad ending of this distinguished man. His service 
 here was not of long duration, but short as it was he 
 proved himself to be a valuable Member. He was always 
 attentive to his public duties, endeavoring always to so 
 act that he might give that honest service to the people 
 he so well represented and to the country at large. His 
 speeches in the House showed that he thoroughly studied 
 the questions he discussed, and were always of a high 
 order, giving real information to the Members on this 
 floor. His beginning in life was an humble one. His 
 parents were of that honest, industrious German nation- 
 ality. When young he learned that in this life what was 
 worth having must be gotten only by hard work, and he 
 did not desire anything unless it came to him in an honest 
 way. As a young man he set out to secure an education 
 that he might be fitted in life so as to have an equal chance 
 with others. He studied law, and began the practice of 
 his chosen profession in his native city, and always kept 
 in mind the lesson taught by the law that justice should 
 be accorded to all men, whatever their station in life 
 might be, and advocated the principle of equal justice to 
 all. His actions were always open and fair. He detested 
 deceit, and had no patience with those who would practice 
 it. Kind and courteous at all times and tolerant of the 
 diflerence in opinion with those with whom he came in 
 contact, he tried in a kindly way to show by argument 
 that his views were right. He did not frequently take part 
 
 [30] 
 
Address of Mr. Foster, of Illinois 
 
 in debate, but his speeches on the admission of the Ter- 
 ritories of Arizona and New Mexico into the Union as 
 States and the bill to give a Territorial form of govern- 
 ment to Alaska showed that he was master of his subject 
 and that he was a firm believer in the right of the people 
 to rule and govern themselves, and not that a few should 
 say how the great majority should be controlled. It was 
 my fortune to attend the memorial exercises held at Ann 
 Arbor on the 26th day of last January, and it seemed to 
 me there was universal mourning over the death of this 
 good man, and those in all walks in life came out to the 
 service to do honor to his memory. It is unfortunate that 
 one so young and who could be so useful in life should 
 be taken away so early, yet to Him above must we look 
 for a reason of it all, which we can not now understand. 
 To his bereaved wife and children we can offer but little 
 in the way of consolation, but can only point to the life 
 beyond the grave, which we have faith that he now enjoys. 
 If we believed that death ends all, then, indeed, would 
 the going away of one of our friends be sad; but we be- 
 lieve that " in our Father's house are many mansions and 
 that He goeth to prepare a place for us." This life at best 
 is not long, yet there are those who accomplish much in 
 the short time they stay here. Our departed colleague 
 performed his part well. God in His fullness of love, I 
 have no doubt, has taken his spirit to Himself and he is 
 now at rest in that place where neither sorrow nor death 
 ever comes. Let us remember it is not always the best 
 to say of those who are gone that they lived long in the 
 world, but better to say they lived well. We think of our 
 friends when they die that they are gone forever, but they 
 have only gone a little while before us and we will soon 
 follow. May it be said of us we lived faithful to the duty 
 imposed on us. We kept the faith and made a good fight. 
 It does not matter so much to us how we die, but it is of 
 
 [31] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 great concern to us all how we live. Sometimes we are 
 apt to wonder why it is that our friends should be taken 
 away when it seems they have so much to live for and 
 there seems to be so much for them to do. But God moves 
 in a mysterious way — and yet let us not forget we live in 
 a natural world, subject to all the trials and troubles of 
 mind and body. Of all the monuments in the beautiful 
 Arlington there are none more fully signifying service and 
 what one can do and how little it matters to our bodies 
 after we are gone than the one erected to those whose 
 bones were gathered on the battle field and were uniden- 
 tified. Yet they performed their part in the world and 
 went down to death for the cause in which they believed. 
 Though their names are unknown here, yet I have no 
 doubt their good deeds are recorded above. This should 
 teach us the lesson that it matters but little to us after 
 we are gone whether we have the finest of marble shafts 
 erected to our memory or are buried in an unknown 
 grave, but that our friends may have the consolation 
 that we did our part in the world while we lived. Our 
 colleague lived a good, honorable, and useful life. His 
 private life was clean and above reproach. In his family 
 he was a kind husband and a loving father. William W. 
 Wedemeyer is not dead — he has just gone before. He is 
 waiting on the other side of the river of death. Some day 
 in the bright sunshine of the morning we shall see him. 
 
 [32] 
 
Address of Mr. McMorran, of Michigan 
 
 Mr. Speaker: One of the sad events of my 10 years in 
 public life occurs to-day, when I feel called upon to pay 
 tribute to one of the youngest Members of our Michigan 
 delegation, William W. Wedemeyer, who succeeded our 
 Hon. Charles E. Townsend on his election to the Senate, 
 and I think the sentiment of the entire Michigan delega- 
 tion was that Mr. Wedemeyer was a worthy successor to 
 Mr. Townsend, and that the second district of Michigan 
 had every reason to be proud of him as his successor. 
 
 When he came upon the floor of the House, with his 
 splendid physique, his commanding position, and his 
 genial manner, he won laurels with all those with whom 
 he came in contact, and every Member in speaking of 
 Wedemeyer spoke of him in the highest terms and as a 
 young man who would make his mark in the House. He 
 was appointed on some of the most important committees 
 in the House, especially the Committee on Territories, and 
 to him and his associates of that committee were com- 
 mitted the duty of perfecting legislation for Alaska, and 
 his report upon that subject was of a brilliant character 
 and demonstrated to his colleagues that he had made his 
 mark as a legislator. His arguments were forcible and 
 clear in behalf of legislation for that Territory. 
 
 William W. Wedemeyer was a fair illustration of the 
 opportunities offered to young men with perseverance 
 and ability in this great Republic. In his early manhood 
 it is said of him that he worked his own way through the 
 high school and also through the University of Michigan. 
 In Michigan he was looked upon as one of the coming 
 men of our State. 
 
 11358'— 14 3 [33] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 He had a great reputation as a public speaker and was 
 in great demand. As a campaigner he was not excelled 
 by any of the Michigan men. He also had a great ambi- 
 tion to represent his district in Congress, and when he 
 was elected with a large majority, I think no young man 
 ever felt more proud of his promotion than did Wede- 
 meyer. 
 
 In talking with him just before the campaign of 1912 
 I saw that he felt somewhat uneasy and was quite nerv- 
 ous over the possible results of the election. He said 
 to me on different occasions that he felt that his district 
 was largely "progressive," and just what the outcome 
 would be he was unable to say. He felt ambitious to be 
 returned, and after the campaign was over and defeat 
 faced him, on his arrival at Washington I met him on 
 different occasions and he seemed to be very much de- 
 pressed, especially so just before he started for Panama. 
 At that time he came to me and began deploring his de- 
 feat and could not understand it after all the hard work 
 he had put in, and I saw that he was uneasy and in a 
 moody condition. I endeavored to cheer him up by say- 
 ing to him that if I had his ability, his wonderful physique, 
 his ambition, and his profession, I should feel grateful to 
 my district that they had relegated me to private life, but 
 I saw I had made no impression upon him, and when I 
 saw the account of his trip to Panama it seemed to me 
 that he must have been out of his mind at times, as he 
 had every reason to look forward with pleasure to his 
 future life. He had a wife and three little children, who 
 I know were very dear to him; his wife especially was 
 all wrapped up in the future of their three children. He 
 had a nice little home at Ann Arbor, was respected by 
 his community, and that he should have thought it neces- 
 sary to end his life in the way he did, leaving the respon- 
 sibility upon his wife for the bringing up of that little 
 
 [34] 
 
Address of Mr. McMorran, of Michigan 
 
 family, leads me to think that he could not have been in 
 his right mind. 
 
 I had hoped that our Michigan delegation during my 
 career might not be broken by death, and when Wede- 
 MEYER came amongst us I think the delegation felt proud 
 of his association and little thought that his life was to 
 end at so early a period, and we can only hope in crossing 
 that great river to the great beyond that he has gone to 
 a more fitting scene than we have to-day on earth. 
 
 [35] 
 
Address of Mr. Hammond, of Minnesota 
 
 Mr, Speaker: William W. Wedemeyer was born near 
 the city of Ann Arbor, Mich., of humble parentage. He 
 went to school in the neighborhood of his home. He at- 
 tended the great university in the city of Ann Arbor and 
 worked his way through. He began the practice of his 
 profession in the same city, and became a respected and 
 eminent citizen of that community. He represented the 
 district in which that city is located in the United States 
 Congress. In childhood, youth, and later life he was 
 identified with that part of his State. 
 
 It was my fortune to attend the memorial services held 
 in the city of Ann Arbor. Never have I seen a greater 
 genuine tribute paid to any man than was paid to our 
 colleague on that day. Not only were the most distin- 
 guished men of the State present, but a great concourse 
 of people, made up of those who knew the boy and knew 
 the man. 
 
 I have heard it very often said by young men starting 
 out in life, " I feel that I can not do quite so well here at 
 home. I would like to go to some other place to make 
 my way." Not so with Wedemeyer. He stayed with 
 those who knew him from his infancy, and no word of 
 mine, and no other word that may be spoken, can tell a 
 better story of the worth of the man than the simple 
 statement that those who knew him best loved and ad- 
 mired him most. 
 
 I was on the boat going to Panama that carried Mr. 
 Wedemeyer there. I did not know him very well prior to 
 that trip. I had met him perhaps half a dozen times. Of 
 course, liis mind was tlien affected, but apparently there 
 
 [36] 
 
Address of Mr. Hammond, of Minnesota 
 
 are no two cases of mental disease that are just alike. 
 He could speak of his delusions logically and reasonably. 
 That he had delusions there is no doubt, but much of the 
 time his mind was clear. During the trip to the Isthmus 
 I learned much of the man. I should say that Mr. Wede- 
 MEYER was one of the most ambitious men I have ever 
 met. He was anxious to retain his seat in Congress. The 
 loss of it was a great disappointment. He was anxious 
 to play a part in public life, but he desired to make a 
 record embellished by valuable service to the people he 
 represented. He wanted to make a good record. He was 
 ambitious to serve his country well. Ambition is too 
 often allied with selfishness; but when a really ambitious 
 man is unselfish and desires to serve others and be of use 
 to them, the possibilities of his public service are almost 
 infinite. 
 
 Shortly after we left New York Harbor I went to Mr. 
 Wedemeyer's room with him, and he showed me there a 
 photograph of his wife and his children, and he spoke of 
 them in words of pride and love. It seemed that his 
 thoughts were centered upon two things : First, his family 
 and what might come to them in case anything should 
 happen to him; second, the blow to his prospects in 
 having his public career checked. He brooded upon 
 what he deemed his misfortune. Indeed, his greatest 
 delusion was, as my friend [Mr. McMorran] has said, the 
 belief that he could not be a great man, an able man, 
 and a strong man out of public life. He felt that too 
 much had been taken from him. He desired to stay in 
 public life, because he knew that he could be of service 
 to his country, because he knew he could bring honor 
 upon himself and happiness to his family. In all things 
 the family seemed to come first. He knew that his mind 
 was diseased. He believed that it was irreparably injured. 
 He thought he would never be a well and strong man 
 
 [37] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 again. Cherished ambitions gone, his mental strength 
 failing, he feared he would be a burden to his loved ones 
 instead of a help to them. Disappointed, grieving, sor- 
 rowing, another great quality of the man exhibited itself. 
 I said he was ambitious. He was unselfish as well. He 
 cared not what became of him if no others suffered. He 
 could not bear to live to do no good for others and to be 
 of no help to his family. 
 
 In the twilight of an early evening these thoughts came 
 upon him. He looked at the bright stars above, at the 
 black waters below, and, like a brave and courageous 
 soldier, he went to a soldier's death. 
 
 [38] 
 
Address of Mr. Hamilton, of Michigan 
 
 Mr. Speaker : On the night of January 2, 1913, word was 
 flashed back to land from the steamship Panama, bound 
 northward from Colon, of the death of William W. 
 Wedemeyer by drowning. 
 
 The tangled thread of life which his troubled mind had 
 been picking at for many feverish days and nights was 
 ended and the problem " to be or not to be " was solved. 
 
 At the meridian of his physical and mental powers 
 some lesion somewhere, some rift in the thin partition 
 between the normal and the abnormal, had let in strange, 
 insistent voices, urging him out into the unknown. 
 
 Then night settled down upon the sea and the ship with 
 its little company of passengers and crew, with their little 
 artificial social distinctions and their little plans for per- 
 manence, went on its way; but the soul of Wedemeyer 
 had gone out into the illimitable spaces of eternity, on 
 its way to the God who gave it, in the region where " there 
 shall be no night " and where " they need no candle, 
 neither light of sun, for the Lord God giveth them light." 
 
 From time immemorial life has been compared to a 
 voyage on which all set out with high hopes of treasure 
 and renown, and some drop anchor in the lotus eaters' 
 changeless land of rest and nothingness, and some are 
 wrecked upon uncharted rocks, and some are lured to 
 death by false lights; and some, gray with experience, 
 battered by storms and disciplined by danger, with furled 
 sails, come at last into the final port, where, whether only 
 a faithful light in a cottage window awaits them or the 
 boom of welcoming cannon greets them, the voyage is 
 
 [39] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 over and the cargo, whether of gold or " sand for Nero's 
 circuses," is discharged. 
 
 Wedemeyer, though young, had fared well and fared 
 far, and early in life had learned to be his own pilot. 
 
 Without money and without backing he had gained a 
 collegiate education and graduated from both the literary 
 and law departments of the University of Michigan by 
 dint of sheer hard work. 
 
 He spoke English and German with equal fluency and 
 had read deeply in the literature of both languages. 
 
 His mind had been disciplined by scholastic training 
 and by a postgraduate course in the practice of law and 
 the school of politics. 
 
 He had been in turn commissioner of schools for his 
 home county, deputy railroad commissioner of Michigan, 
 consul at Georgetown, British Guiana, for a short time. 
 Member of Congress for one term, and had been defeated 
 by a narrow majority in the election of 1912. 
 
 His father and mother had come from Germany to the 
 better opportunities of America, and their son illustrated 
 in his own career what an American boy, endowed with 
 energy and high ideals, can accomplish here, and his 
 career gave his name significance. 
 
 Names are useful to identify us as items in the census 
 list, but a name means little except as some one has given 
 it character. 
 
 If you pick out a man in a crowd and ask who he is you 
 are told his name, but that means little more than a 
 means of arbitrary identification, except as the man him- 
 self has made his name mean something, and it means 
 less wlicn he is labeled by inheritance with a name of 
 v^hich he is unworthy. 
 
 Whether he realizes it or not, everj'^ man is giving his 
 name a meaning every day by wliat he docs and by what 
 he says, confused though the meaning may be between 
 
 [40] 
 
Address of Mr. Hamilton, of Michigan 
 
 what others take him for and what he himself guesses he 
 may be. So names pass into history and become syno- 
 nyms of patriotism, heroism, war, or craft. 
 
 The name Wedemeyer stands to us who know for 6 
 feet of physical manhood, illuminated by a character for 
 honesty, courage, perseverance, steadiness, and sobriety, 
 trained by study and research, warmed by a genial humor, 
 and inspired by love for his family. 
 
 But, in a deeper sense, like Schopenhauer, we question 
 in vain who we are; and after all the arguments for cen- 
 turies of " doctors and saints " and scientists and philos- 
 ophers " about it and about," we " come out by the same 
 door wherein we went," and the conclusion of Paul con- 
 denses it all into a sentence, " If Christ be not risen from 
 the dead, then is your faith vain." 
 
 Andrew D, White quotes Bismarck as saying of his 
 early life: 
 
 Many an hour did I spend in hopeless despondency, beUeving 
 that my own and other people's existence was aimless and useless, 
 perhaps only an accidental emanation of creation, arising and dis- 
 appearing as dust from rolling wheels. 
 
 But if we gain courage by believing that we arc not 
 here by accident — that creation is not all a curious coinci- 
 dence — if we gain courage and self-respect by believing 
 that we are here by design of some supreme intelligence 
 which cares, then the ancient questions come back to 
 generation after generation — 
 
 Why must tragedies like this come upon us? 
 
 Why should fears and sorrows and temptations and 
 criminal impulses crouch and lie in ambush like beasts 
 of prey, not only in the human brain but all along the 
 way of life? 
 
 Why the prodigality and the waste of life? 
 
 [41] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Why the brevity of life — the swift, short interval be- 
 tween our coming and departure — between the beginning 
 of aspiration and the oblivion that closes over it? 
 
 Why, in this brief interval, do some, like motes, dance 
 in the sunlight and others strive always in the shadows? 
 
 And why are talents, wealth, and power distributed un- 
 equally? 
 
 And the wisdom of the ages, speculating about things 
 the knowledge of which is denied us, answers that eter- 
 nity is long, without beginning and without end; that all 
 is not ended here; that each is held accountable for what 
 is given to him; that if this world were a garden of plenty, 
 where there was no evil and therefore no choice between 
 good and evil, then there would be no merit in resisting 
 evil. 
 
 That, in our daily choice between good and evil, in our 
 bufl'etings with circumstances, in our fights " with beasts 
 at Ephesus," within us and without, we make character; 
 that without character we would be nothing, and that by 
 what we are we shall be known in eternity. 
 
 We say in sorrow it is not fair that one man should have 
 to go through life with hunger, disappointment, suffering, 
 and failure tracking his sinking footsteps, while another 
 keeps step with laughter, plenty, and success; but some- 
 how, as time ticks on, some of us come to understand 
 dimly — to see through eyes " red with the rust of unshed 
 tears" that perhaps success is not all of life and that fame 
 and wealth and power are not the best things in life nor 
 suffering and failure the worst things in life. 
 
 But if the hope of conscious existence after the death of 
 the body were to fade out of human life all this would be 
 meaningless — the logic of existence would be utterly 
 gone; the consolation of the weary and the oppressed 
 would be turned to ashes, and the cries of human anguish, 
 the prayers of human aspiration, would echo backward 
 
 [42] 
 
Address of Mr. Hamilton, of Michigan 
 
 upon a hopeless world from a black, impenetrable wall, 
 and the highest aspiration to nobler manhood would be 
 gone. 
 
 If the belief that there is another stage of existence, 
 where the day shall break and " the shadows flee away " ; 
 where the logic of life shall stand revealed; if the belief 
 that there is an existence beyond this visible, tangible 
 universe, where even man, sitting in judgment on him- 
 self, shall be obliged to recognize that he can not gather 
 what he has not sown; if the belief that there is an exist- 
 ence beyond what our senses tell us of, where what we 
 shall be shall have just relation to what we have been 
 here — if all this shall fade out of human belief, then the 
 very foundations upon which this huge yet delicate fabric 
 of laws, government, and social institutions is built would 
 slip from under us. 
 
 We say in sorrow it is unjust that a man in his prime, 
 at the beginning of a career, should be cut down; that the 
 hope men set their hearts upon should turn to ashes. 
 
 But shall the entity evolved out of yesterday and to 
 disappear to-morrow querulously argue why and where- 
 fore with the power that made it as it goes on its way? 
 
 Besides, who knows that a career has been cut short? 
 
 Tenacity of life is strong within us. We are seldom 
 ready to lay down our tools and go out and shut the door 
 forever; we always think we might have done more and 
 better work, that the revolving wheel of life might have 
 stopped at some lucky number, or that failure might have 
 been transmuted into success. 
 
 George Frederick Watts spoke of his paintings as "only 
 studies of the picture that might have been"; but who 
 knows? 
 
 Who knows when the years would have begun to tar- 
 nish the golden age of cooperating talent and power of 
 
 [43] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 execution into the dimness of age, senility, and incom- 
 petency? 
 
 Time and again we see evidences that even experience 
 is no safeguard against mistakes; that if life were patri- 
 archal in its length each day would still bring new prob- 
 lems, and that the longest life ends where it began — in a 
 dream of happiness never realized. 
 
 Old Jacob lived an hundred and thirty years. He had 
 seen the angels of God ascending and descending. He 
 had seen God face to face and still lived, and yet he told 
 Pharaoh that " the days of the years of his life " had been 
 " few and evil." 
 
 It all comes back to this: If this little space in eternity 
 which we call life is the beginning and the ending of it 
 all, then it is an inexplicable tragedy; if it is a stage in a 
 journey onward, then it is an opportunity. 
 
 [44] 
 
Address of Mr. Sloan, of Nebraska 
 
 Mr. Speaker: The end of the Sixty-second Congress 
 comes on apace. The week days and nights are filled with 
 pressing legislation, while our Sabbaths are crowded with 
 congressional memorials. No Congress of our history can 
 equal our necrology record — 6 Senators out of 96 and 
 19 Representatives out of 394. A mortuary loss beyond 
 that of the so-called hazardous occupations. Almost con- 
 stant attendance at sessions, away from usual comforts 
 of home, under the fitful and varying season and climatic 
 conditions of our National Capital, the tribute to the final 
 taxgatherer has been heavy indeed. Hurried home visits 
 for strenuous primary or election campaigns have se- 
 verely tested the human fiber. It is little wonder that the 
 weaker links of muscle or nerve have so often given 
 way. The figures presented should be at once a pathetic 
 plea against the Executive exercising extraordinary pre- 
 rogatives and the exactions of a critical constituency. In 
 the falling of this term's membership extreme age has 
 had little part, continued and lingering illness but little 
 more. The shock of physical accident has claimed its 
 victim. In most cases death has been but the climax of 
 toil and strain, resulting in mental or physical weakness, 
 not noticed by the rest until the weakened link had 
 snapped and a garland graces the deserted desk. Then it 
 is admirers speak and his colleagues mourn. 
 
 Congressman William W. Wedemeyer was among the 
 fallen. Among his colleagues perhaps one of the last ex- 
 pected to be summoned. Like many of us, he was a new 
 Member. In meeting my colleagues I judged after the 
 manner of new Members. Of the old and distinguished 
 
 [45] 
 
Memorial Addresses : Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Representatives we adapt our estimate to that resultant 
 measure of a public man made by press and platform. 
 Recause every man who enters here is subjected to that 
 leveling process based on praise or blame of colleague, 
 criticism or encomium of the press, and the bold utter- 
 ance, favorable or unfavorable, of the platform. Our 
 judgment, therefore, of the older Members is, in part, 
 ready-made. Rut new Members judge their fellows by 
 stature, personal appearance, and those peculiar qualities 
 beaming from countenance and seen in movement which 
 go to make up the individual. 
 
 I looked upon our late colleague from Michigan with 
 interest and admiration. He came from that lake-locked 
 State of the North, where so many men preeminent of 
 brain and brawn have not only graced the public capital, 
 but in the activities of the world made for themselves a 
 quality and name which might be termed " Magic of Mich- 
 igan." This is true not only of mature men, but our 
 brother's alma mater on every field of collegiate manly 
 sport has made the name of Michigan carry wdth it re- 
 spect of public, and often consternation to the opposing 
 team or crew. Tall, erect, powerful, vibrant with energy, 
 his features gleamed with intellectual force. When later 
 seen in his early congressional forensic efforts there was 
 predicted for him a great career, and for his State and 
 district a distinguished Representative. Toward the end 
 I saw him grow in power, influence, and esteem. To him 
 the future seemed most kind. 
 
 The exigencies of disturbed political conditions brought 
 about the defeat of many strong men and did not sjDarc 
 our friend. Defeat to him was a bitter draft in an 
 unwelcome chalice. More bitter to him than to many 
 others. Like too many, he erred in construing temporary 
 rejection as a reflection upon his record and ability. 
 That is not always a true test. The sovereign will is ex- 
 
 [4G] 
 
Address of Mr. Sloan, of Nebraska 
 
 pressed regardless of record, service, or ability. Being 
 sovereign, it brooks neither question nor criticism. So, 
 the rejected servant must not seek to measure too accu- 
 rately the consideration he has tendered for the favor 
 the public may extend. The public seldom makes de- 
 mand for us. She owes us no certain term. Her refusal 
 to extend should neither be criticized nor commended. 
 
 He was one of a congressional party leaving New York 
 for Panama, the scene of the world's greatest engineering 
 feat. It was at that point where Columbus sought to find 
 a passage to the Far East; but four centuries have taught 
 us that it must be made; it can not be found. Congress- 
 man Wedemeyer knew the tropic region, having ably 
 represented his country's interests in that vicinity before 
 his election to Congress. It was thought that the healing 
 breezes of the sea would give him rest and restore his 
 health; but six days on the main merely accentuated his 
 malady. So, the visit of our company to the great canal 
 and its activities were not shared by him. 
 
 On January 2 we left Colon for New York on the ship 
 Panama. It was a bright, balmy day. The Caribbean, 
 known to seamen as " that fretful mistress," was unusu- 
 ally calm and inviting. We rejoiced in the glad thought 
 that we were all " coming home." It was not thought that 
 one of our number was " going home." 
 
 We watched the receding landmarks as the sun sank 
 toward the other ocean. The Columbus Statue faded 
 from vision. Colon under its palms fell behind the hori- 
 zon, and as the night came down the signal lights of 
 Porto Bello alone told of solid earth. I talked with our 
 brother just before nightfall. To attempted quip and 
 labored joke he gave reluctant ear; but when I spoke in 
 the language of his fathers and recited verses in Teuton 
 tongue, he brightened and responded in kind, seeming 
 then more like the " distinguished Member from Michi- 
 
 [47] 
 
Memorl\l Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 gan " than I had observed for many days. Another hour 
 had not passed when the tragedy of the southern sea had 
 been enacted. 
 
 The sea had taken on a gentle roll, but it seemed with 
 no fretful anger wrought. It was not dark, though no 
 moon was there. The southern cross in majesty hung 
 pendent in its place. The guard on the hurricane deck 
 was low. His body fell athwart its rail. There was a 
 splash and he was gone. "A break in the wave, and he 
 passed from this life to a rest in the grave." In vain were 
 engines stopped; bootless the searchlight swept the neigh- 
 boring sea; and without result were boats, with hardy 
 sailors manned, sent on missions of search. 
 
 And our stately ship went on 
 
 To its haven under the hill, 
 
 But O for the touch of a vanished hand 
 
 And the sound of a voice that is still. 4 
 
 Sadness and gloom marked our homeward voyage. 
 Upon our memories was impressed that tragic scene 
 which, until the final summons comes to us, whether on 
 land or sea, will remain till we exchange those memories 
 for present knowledge of our brother in that — 
 
 Land far away 'mid the stars (as) I am told, 
 
 Where they know not the sorrows of time, 
 
 Where the pure waters wander through the valleys of gold 
 
 And life is a treasure sublime. 
 
 Unlike the oral musing of the melancholy Dane, he saw 
 no "sea of trouble"; he may have found a sea of rest. 
 We will not vaunt the stern philosophy of Aristotle nor 
 yet take comfort from the stoicism of Seneca. We have 
 a philosophy more modern and more comforting. It is 
 the philosophy of Him "who doetli all things well," and 
 who of us will say that it has not been so? 
 
 [48] 
 
Address of Mr. Sloan, of Nebraska 
 
 Had we our choice we would much have preferred that 
 a bell should have been tolled, a shroud provided, and the 
 body given to the earth; that a marble monument or 
 granite shaft should mark the place; that an acacian 
 shrub should stand above; and that flowers should be laid 
 by loving hands to link him with their lives. But now 
 only upon a chart marking distance from land, with 
 memoranda of latitude and longitude, can his tomb be 
 designated. 
 
 When we think of this place, near the historic shores of 
 the Spanish Main, there is an interest prompted in his 
 resting place. We know the coral reefs are there; layers 
 of whitest pearls are in the sunken caverns; shells of rain- 
 bow beauty gleam and gems of richest quality, by nature 
 placed, lie in the depths profound. In that vicinity lie 
 sunken treasure-laden galleons and rich argosies sunk by 
 sea-swept tempest or purposely sent to bottom to escape 
 the pirate's capture. Doubloons of rich old gold are 
 there; sparkling jewels dropped from shrunken fingers 
 and richest ornament by beauty worn all lie in the " hol- 
 low sounding and mysterious main." But the richest, 
 brightest, purest of all the gems and jewels as tributes 
 paid to that exacting and remorseless deep are the mind 
 and life of Congressman Wedemeyer, for whom we this 
 day sincerely mourn. 
 
 11358°— 14- 
 
 [49] 
 
Address of Mr. J. M. C. Smith, of Michigan 
 
 Mr. Speaker: The hand of death has rested heavily on 
 the Sixty-second Congress. Heretofore as I have listened 
 to kind words and loving tributes of Members of different 
 States delivered in memory of their dead brothers, I 
 thought that Michigan was extremely fortunate in hav- 
 ing no such oihce to perform. But at a time when we were 
 thinking least about it the hand of death visited our dele- 
 gation and took the youngest member, the one whom we 
 thought might be the last to go. I am especially pleased 
 to hear the tributes of love, affection, and esteem deliv- 
 ered here to-day not only from his colleagues from Michi- 
 gan but from other States. It shows the high esteem 
 and respect in which he was held by the Members of this 
 House. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, Congress- 
 man from the second congressional district of Michigan, 
 elected at the November election of 1910, was serving his 
 first term as Representative from that district when death 
 overtook him on his way back to Washington from 
 Panama. 
 
 Mr. Wedemeyer was born in Washtenaw County, Mich., 
 and after attending the district schools of that vicinity 
 he went with his parents to Ann Arbor, where, after 
 graduating from tlic high school, he worked his way 
 through tlie University of Michigan with the untiring 
 energy which characterized all that he did, and his be- 
 loved alma mater to him was always a personal pride and 
 the subject of his constant solicitude. Mr. Wedemeyer 
 was nearing the age of 40 at the time of his death. He 
 was a lawyer by profession, and liad won an enviable 
 
 [50] 
 
Address of Mr. J. M. C. Smith, of Michigan 
 
 reputation at the bar. He was a close student, a fine 
 orator, and a convincing speaker. Before coming to Con- 
 gress he had held many positions of honor and trust. He 
 had served as school commissioner of his county, and was 
 appointed deputy railroad commissioner of his State 
 under Gov. Pingree. Subsequently he became consul to 
 British Guiana, in South America. All of these positions 
 he filled with credit and honor. Trained in the severe 
 school of experience, when the morning sun of life, so 
 full of hope and promise, seemed to be rising and shin- 
 ing most brightly, when success seemed so certain, when 
 the public was so expectant of his superior ability and 
 his great intellectual powers, he laid down the burdens of 
 his activities amid the cherished hopes of his friends 
 that to him would be long life and long future usefulness, 
 and he passed to the great beyond, a loved, esteemed, and 
 greatly admired friend, husband, and father. His life's 
 work and duties are ended, but the many deeds of kind- 
 ness and of worth performed by him will remain an in- 
 spiration to us all and to those who come after us, and 
 especially to those who, single handed and alone, must 
 battle for position and honor. That the world is made 
 better by his efforts, that his pure, upright, and noble 
 life will lead others to higher walks, let us firmly believe. 
 Let us cherish the hope that all will be well in the future 
 and that we may perform our full duty, face our tasks, 
 and as citizens take up the duty of performing better our 
 part. Emerson says: 
 
 There is no record left on earth, 
 Save in the tablets of the heart. 
 
 William Wedemeyer was a man of exemplary life and 
 high culture, and endeared himself to all by his cheerful, 
 jovial, buoyant nature. He was a statesman; his State, 
 his colleagues, and his acquaintances expected much of 
 
 [51] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 him, and their admiration for him was akin to affection. 
 Large of stature and of heart, everybody loved him. 
 
 Mr. Wedemeyer was greatly interested in his congres- 
 sional work and duties. He practically carried his work 
 wdth him, whether at his room, his office, or on the floor 
 of the House, and found little time for diversion or enter- 
 tainment. We can almost see him now there at his desk, 
 when debate is the most strenuous and interest the most 
 intense, reading, writing, working — always busy. " That 
 is Wedemeyer, of Michigan," was pointed out in the gal- 
 lery and whispered on the floor of the House, when liis 
 large, stately, manly form passed down the aisle, ahvays 
 with a smile and a kindly word for all. 
 
 In the discharge of his trust the public welfare was his 
 greatest solicitude. He conversed freely with his col- 
 leagues concerning the details of the measures upon 
 which he voted, and his actions thereon were uniformly 
 right. Public life to him carried no secrets. He served 
 on the important Committees on Territories and on Ex- 
 penditures in the State Department. He worked hard to 
 give home rule to Alaska, and joined with his colleague, 
 the Delegate, Mr. Wickersham, in his greeting to that far- 
 off' land : 
 
 Hail from tlic land of the northern light, 
 Whose arctic halo illumines the night. 
 Hail from the land of the midnight sun. 
 Where the mighty Yukon's waters run. 
 
 Mr. Wedemeyer's extensive travels, scrupulous upright- 
 ness, and liigh sense of honor gave him particular fitness 
 for these positions. He was not returned to Congress in 
 the election of 1912, and while he felt the defeat keenly, 
 he seemed in good spirits and to be reconciled to the re- 
 sult, but overwork, a fall, and sickness undermined even 
 his iron conslitulioii. 
 
 [52] 
 
Address of Mr. J. M. C. Smith, of Michigan 
 
 It was my privilege to be present at the memorial exer- 
 cise held in his home city of Ann Arbor. There thou- 
 sands of his fellow townsmen, friends, and neighbors, 
 with many from other cities and States, met in University 
 Hall, where formerly he had received his college degree 
 with highest honors. They paid high respect and tributes 
 of love and esteem to his memory, and many testified to 
 the worth of his splendid life. 
 
 We do well to meet here to-day and in this Chamber, 
 the place of his last activities, to give expression to our 
 admiration of the man and do reverence to the memory 
 of our departed colleague. It is not given us to know or 
 to look into the future life. Possibly some of us hesitate 
 because death seems a long way off. However that may 
 be, it is certain to come, and as Covert said on an occasion 
 similar to this: 
 
 To the past go more dear 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. 
 
 But the true life draws nightr 
 
 Every year. 
 And its morning star shines higher 
 
 Every year; 
 Earthly hold on us grows slighter, 
 And its heavy burdens lighter 
 And the dawn immortal brighter. 
 
 Every year. 
 
 [53] 
 
Address of Mr. Sweet, of Michigan 
 
 Mr. Speaker: As one of the long-time friends of Wil- 
 liam W. Wedemeyer and one of his companions upon the 
 trip to Panama, I wish at this time to briefly express my 
 affection for him as a friend, my appreciation for him as 
 a man of extraordinary ability and promise, and my ad- 
 miration for his self-sacrificing heroism. 
 
 No one who had the good fortune to know Mr. Wede- 
 meyer intimately could fail to recognize in his friendship 
 a peculiar quality of loyalty and whole-hearted devotion 
 which ignored the existence of self-interest or political or 
 other barriers. He valued men for their intrinsic worth. 
 If they measured up to his standard of character and 
 devotion to duty, he took them into his great heart with- 
 out reserve. Such friends he found in all parts of the 
 State of Michigan, and such friends he found among his 
 colleagues of the Sixty-second Congress, who uniformly 
 reciprocated his sentiment and now mourn his untimely 
 decease with a deep sense of personal loss. 
 
 It is not my purpose to dwell upon the exti'aordinary 
 mental equipment of Mr. Wedemeyer or the success of 
 his brief but honorable career, which gave promise of 
 greater victories to come. I shall confine my remarks to 
 a single phase of his character, which was brought out 
 in the strongest colors during the last days of his life. 
 Those of you who knew him merely as a conscientious 
 worker in this House could hardly have realized the ex- 
 istence of the qualities to which I refer. Intimate friends 
 who were not witli him at the last could not have fully 
 understood and appreciated them. 
 
 Within a few days the whole civilized world has been 
 shocked at the news of the death of Capt. Scott, the great 
 
 [54] 
 
Address of Mr. Sweet, of Michigan 
 
 English Antarctic explorer, and his brave companions. 
 No narrow line of nationality prevents the free expression 
 of sympathy for these martyrs to the cause of science and 
 admiration for their courage and endurance. The news- 
 papers tell us that Capt, Lawrence E. G. Gates, whose in- 
 vincible bravery in the Boer War obtained for him the 
 title of " No Surrender Gates," a member of this band of 
 explorers, performed an act of heroism never surpassed 
 in the annals of history. With hands and feet badly 
 frozen he believed that he had become a drag upon his 
 companions and a menace to their escape. Leaving the 
 little hut in which the party had taken shelter, with that 
 simplicity which is characteristic of true greatness, he 
 remarked, " I am going outside and may be gone some 
 time "; and so he walked forth into the night and into the 
 storm, never to return. 
 
 Such acts of self-sacrifice are not limited to any age or 
 country. They are an honor to human nature. They 
 glorify mankind. 
 
 Those who were with Mr. Wedemeyer during his last 
 days know that one department of his mind was the vic- 
 tim of serious disease. They know that just as a wounded 
 soldier may sit and contemplate and freely discuss the 
 chance of saving a inutilated member of his body, so did 
 our friend endeavor to diagnose his own mental derange- 
 ment. They know that he was fully convinced that re- 
 covery was impossible and that the future held for him 
 no prospect of happiness for himself or of adding to the 
 happiness of others. More than that, they know that by 
 his own process of reasoning, which no argument could 
 overcome, he was convinced that from that time forth 
 his physical existence would be an ever-increasing burden 
 to those he loved best. 
 
 Deploring as we must the possible error of his reason- 
 ing no one doubts its sincerity. If relief for Capt. Scott 
 
 [55] 
 
Memorial Addresses : Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 and his party had without their knowledge been within 
 easy access, it would in no way have detracted from the 
 heroism of Capt. Oates. The all-important point is his 
 belief. We can never know the tortuous processes of rea- 
 soning which passed through the mind of our colleague, 
 but from what he said to me on the last day of his life 
 and from what he said to other members of our party, 
 as well as myself, during the days previous, I shall never 
 have any doubt that an intention to sacrifice himself for 
 what he believed to be the good of others inspired him, 
 and that the impulses of a great and generous heart were 
 substituted for the control of a brain which no one real- 
 ized more clearly than himself was diseased. 
 
 Sensitive, conscientious, modest, and unassuming to the 
 point of self-depreciation, he would be the last one to 
 claim credit for what he did, and if he had spoken a 
 final word it would have been like him to simply say, " I 
 am going outside, and may be gone some time." 
 
 [56] 
 
Address of Mr. Sharp, of Ohio 
 
 Mr. Speaker: Three weeks ago to-day, with the sky 
 overhead as beautiful and as clear as reigns outside of 
 this Chamber at this noonday hour, there was assembled 
 in University Hall at Ann Arbor a notable gathering of 
 mourners. Four thousand of that college town's people, 
 augmented by many men of prominence from all over 
 the State of Michigan and the National Capital, had come 
 to do reverence and express their sorrow at the loss of a 
 distinguished citizen. In that great assemblage were men 
 high in the State's and Nation's public life, and instructors 
 of the university of national reputation. On the platform 
 near the center and about whom were gathered those who 
 were to participate in the inemorial ceremonies sat the 
 venerable Dr. Angell, for a generation the president of 
 one of America's greatest institutions of learning. With 
 that calm dignity and serenity of countenance, the out- 
 ward manifestation of the spirit and nobility of character 
 within, the presence of this grand old man of learning 
 would in itself have sufficiently attested the regard and 
 high esteem in which he whose death we here mourn was 
 held among his own people. At the side of the venerable 
 Dr. Angell sat President Hutchins, the virile head of that 
 great university. On either side of him were seated dis- 
 tinguished men of Michigan who had come to express 
 their sorrow and in one common voice sound the praises 
 of the one for whom they mourned. In front of them 
 sat with bowed heads, first and nearest to the platform, 
 the closer friends of the deceased, and then the towns- 
 people, filling every chair in the pit and galleries of that 
 great auditorium — the scene on many occasions for a half 
 century of rare educational, musical, and festal events. 
 
 [57] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Beginning the ceremonies early in the afternoon, as one 
 speaker after another reviewed the life and character of 
 our departed friend and colleague, the setting sun, pour- 
 ing through the western windows, had flooded the cham- 
 ber of mourning with its mellow light before the exercises 
 were concluded. Of the speakers some, who had known 
 him as friend and fellow townsman, spoke of his early 
 struggle in life to secure the means by which he might 
 pursue his studies through the university; others, whose 
 acquaintance began with him in his early manhood, spoke 
 in feeling terms of appreciation of his sterling qualities 
 as a lawyer; while others, who had been his coworkers 
 in civic and political life, referred in terms of highest 
 praise to his achievements in that broader field of activity. 
 
 Such, my colleagues, were the scenes attending the 
 memorial ceremonies of the late William W. Wedemeyer 
 in his home town of Ann Arbor on that Sabbath afternoon 
 in counterpart to like ceremonies which we are attending 
 to-day. Though the cruel waves of a tropical sea, in a 
 most fateful manner, had robbed these ceremonies of his 
 poor body, yet to those who knew him he was just as much 
 present in spirit as though his living person was again 
 among them, and the memory of what he was will dwell 
 with them as long as they shall live. 
 
 It was President Garfield who said of Mark Hopkins, the 
 president of Williams College, where he attended, that to 
 have been merely acquainted and associated with him 
 was in itself a liberal education. With how much more 
 truth may it be said of the advantages, both as to the 
 moral and mental training, of one whose whole life has 
 been spent in the atmosphere and environment of the 
 great men who have since its beginning guided the des- 
 tinies of such an institution as the University of Michigan. 
 It has been said that poets and authors have in many 
 instances won their inspiration from the scenes surround- 
 
 [58] 
 
Address of Mr. Sharp, of Ohio 
 
 ing their childhood days, and we know that this must be 
 true to some extent with men of lesser fame. Who shall 
 say that that love of knowledge, those qualities of ster- 
 ling character, and that desire to be useful to his fellow 
 men did not spring from the inspiration of that institu- 
 tion quite as much indeed as from the knowledge of 
 books which William Wedemeyer imbibed from his 
 studies at Ann Arbor? May we not see in these attributes 
 a reflection of the influence of example which came from 
 association with those gifted men, and may we not — and 
 I speak as an alumnus myself of that grand old univer- 
 sity — also find an explanation for them in no small de- 
 gree, not alone in the very environment of a town upon 
 which nature has herself lavished so many charms in its 
 hills, dales, and charming sylvan retreats on the banks of 
 the Huron, but also from the daily contact with the towns- 
 people so enlightened and alive to the importance of ac- 
 cording to their students a most kindly and sympathetic 
 welcome? William Wedemeyer would have indeed been 
 recreant to his duty and false to his whole training had 
 he been anything else than the splendid example of 
 American manhood by which we knew him. 
 
 Others of his colleagues, who have been fortunate in 
 knowing him for a longer time than I, have to-day justly 
 spoken in praise of his services as a Member of this body. 
 From my acquaintance with him, I think it not unwar- 
 ranted to say for him that had the fate which governs 
 human affairs held in store for him more kindly things 
 and given to him a longer span of life his abilities and 
 sincerity of purpose would have placed him in the front 
 rank in the delegation which so ably represents his native 
 State. My first impression of him as he appeared in 
 earnest debate upon this floor never changed. Indeed, 
 that impression settled into a firm conviction that he was 
 destined to play an important part in the legislation of 
 
 [59] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Congress if his constituents had the wisdom to see in him 
 the promise which all of his colleagues could see. While 
 we mourn his loss to-day, my colleagues, not only to the 
 State and the Nation, but as deeply personal to ourselves, 
 yet may we not be comforted in the thought that though 
 that great mind, full of potential capacity — that temple of 
 reason — was tottering to a fall, yet his last act was, after 
 all, one of heroic purpose, and as he lived so he died, his 
 last thought one of devotion and one of conscientious duty 
 as husband and father, as the remnant of that clouded 
 intellect saw it to be, to those he so dearly loved? 
 
 [60] 
 
Address of Mr. Ainey, of Pennsylvania 
 
 Mr. Speaker: William W. Wedemeyer, statesman, 
 scholar, lawyer, citizen, husband, father, friend. With 
 no unequal emphasis in all his contacts he exercised high 
 qualities. 
 
 Like radii, each characteristic fell not short of reaching 
 the outer circle of well-rounded accomplishment, and 
 each complemented the other. His honesty of purpose, 
 his gentleness of heart, his inherent and studiously ac- 
 quired powers of mind were of the fabric of the man and 
 wore well, whether in the political, professional, or social 
 circles of his activities. What he was in the full sunlight 
 of his public career he remained in the twilight of his 
 own home. He had but one standard and this he applied 
 more rigorously to himself than his sympathetic charity 
 permitted him to do to others. He loved the good and 
 pure and noble, and of him it might well be said : " Be- 
 hold the upright man and just." 
 
 Not the sun of limited circumference, but its beams, 
 penetrating to distant realms, touch far-off worlds with 
 life and light. It is not the man of inch-measured height 
 and breadth, but the effulgence of a high and noble char- 
 acter whose rays radiate rare influence which, illuminat- 
 ing the pathway of others, affects the destiny of men and 
 nations. * 
 
 William W. Wedemeyer's life spanned the distances 
 separating him from his fellow men, and he brought 
 them within the touch of his keen mind and warm heart. 
 The ubiquity of his generous sympathies paralleled his 
 wide experience, deep learning, and rock-laid integrity. 
 
 [61] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Such a character is unique. It yields not readily to 
 analysis; it must be felt. The song of birds, the hum of 
 bees, the flutter of the butterfly, the tint of flower, the 
 sheltering shadows of the mighty tree, the murmur of the 
 brook, the roar of ocean are indivisible, and refuse a 
 revelation of their best to the contracted eyes of peering 
 science. 
 
 To seek to separate the man from his attainments, to 
 differentiate between his accomplishments and his ideals, 
 would be to lose the dominant note in the melody of his 
 life. Whether in one walk or another — in Nation, State, 
 or home — the motive was the same — he gave rich expres- 
 sion to a tried and experienced high-mindedness. 
 
 How may Ave lift up our sorrowing faces under our 
 bereavement? With what consolation may we reconcile 
 ourselves to this untimely loss? What philosophy is 
 there to alleviate the deadening pain which such parting 
 brings? It is diflicult for finite minds to harmonize need 
 and loss. 
 
 The great Nation, to the solution of whose problems in 
 the interest of its people he had dedicated his efficient 
 efforts; the large circle of friends and acquaintances who 
 relied upon his wise counsel and warm-hearted assist- 
 ance; the hallowed and loved circle of his own home find 
 the solution hard. 
 
 Is it not because it is difficult for us to divest ourselves 
 of our own desires? Work never ends, and ages would 
 not be sufficient for any man to complete a task. Man's 
 work is well done, then, when he has impressed upon it 
 the mark and plane of high ideal wherebj'^ others coming 
 after may find a guidance and an inspiration toward 
 accomi)Iishment, 
 
 My acquaintance lasted, it seemed to me, not longer 
 than a fragrant day of blossoming spring. We were 
 brought together through the instrumentality of a sym- 
 
 [62] 
 
Address of Mr. Ainey, of Pennsylvania 
 
 pathetic and mutual friend upon my advent to the Halls 
 of Congress. Many are the treasures which memory gives 
 of the too brief hours when mind and heart rambled 
 together along some chosen pathway of common interest, 
 where I was permitted to see and feel and know the high 
 and purposeful which linked his life to his country, home, 
 and friends, and now makes me rich in the recollection of 
 the last hour we spent together, when he sought me out 
 and told me of unselfish aspirations, where others occu- 
 pied chief part and place. 
 
 The Great Master who saw and understood the mystery 
 of the human heart revealed the underlying principle of 
 love. I may say, expressive of this truth, that hidden in 
 my heart of hearts I retain this jewel of my great affection 
 for his memory': 
 
 He was my friend. 
 
 [63] 
 
Address of Mr. Samuel W. Smith, of Michigan 
 
 Mr. Speaker: We are again forcibly reminded that in 
 the midst of life we are in death. 
 
 The news of the taking away of our colleague, as con- 
 veyed to me by Senator Townsend, was a great shock, 
 for when I bade him good-by in this Chamber on the day 
 he started for his home, to go, as he then expected, with 
 his wife to Panama, he never seemed better or more full 
 of cheer and hope. 
 
 It has been my good fortune to enjoy an intimate ac- 
 quaintance with him for many years. I have long known 
 his desire to be a Member of Congress, and it may be a 
 surprise, even to some of his most intimate friends, to 
 know that he was not enamored with congressional life, 
 for he has often said to me during his term of service that 
 he would be satisfied if he could serve another term, and 
 I think, eminentl}' satisfactory' as his services were, he 
 would have been content to retire at the end of another 
 term, to engage not wholly in the practice of his profes- 
 sion — the law — but also to pursue his literary work and 
 lecture, and in this he also would have been a pronounced 
 success. 
 
 It is given to but few men to make a more enviable 
 record than he has during his first term — faithful, honest, 
 patient, and industrious; always courteous and kind. 
 
 His popularity was as wide as his acquaintance, which 
 was extensive, and those of us who journeyed to his 
 home city, Ann Arbor, January 26, witnessed an outpour- 
 ing of the people in University Hall that was the highest 
 evidence of his popularity and the esteem in which he 
 was hold by all classes of people, who gave touching and 
 
 [04] 
 
Address of Mr. Samuel W. Smith, of Michigan 
 
 sincere proof of their great regard for their fellow citizen 
 and honored Member of Congress. 
 
 His wife, children, and friends can console themselves 
 in the years to come with the thought that our deceased 
 brother lived up to the full measure of all his oppor- 
 tunities, and that the world is brighter and better for his 
 having lived. 
 
 Friend and colleague, I bid you a last farewell, hoping 
 we shall meet in the great beyond. 
 
 11358°— 14 5 [65] 
 
Address of 
 Former Representative John J. Lentz, of Ohio 
 
 Mr. Willis. Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Ohio and 
 others who have spoken on this occasion have referred 
 to the memorial exercises held at Ann Arbor three weeks 
 ago to-day. Those exercises certainly were a wonderful 
 and touching tribute to the memory of a great man. Sev- 
 eral of the friends of our deceased brother have asked 
 that at least one of the many notable speeches made on 
 that occasion shall be preserved in permanent form. I 
 therefore ask unanimous consent to insert in the Record 
 the remarks of former Congressman John J. Lentz, deliv- 
 ered on that occasion. 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Ohio 
 asks unanimous consent to print in the Record the re- 
 marks of former Congressman Lentz at the memorial 
 services referred to. Is there objection? 
 
 There was no objection. 
 
 The matter is as follows : 
 
 Former Congressman John J. Lentz, of Columbus, Ohio, spoke 
 at the Ann Arbor Wedemeyer memorial exercises not only as a 
 close friend of Mr. Wedemeyer but also in behalf of the American 
 Insurance Union and in behalf of the Masonic bodies of the city 
 of Ann Arbor, as follows: 
 
 " Never before and probably never again shall I occupy the 
 same relation to any memorial service in honor of any man or 
 woman as that which inspires me to perform a threefold duty 
 to-day. I speak from a heart overflowing with gratitude and 
 affection, remembering the fidelity and cordiality of Brother 
 Wedemeyer's friendship from the 22d day of February, 1895, 
 when we first met in this hall on the occasion of my delivering 
 the Washington Birthday address on behalf of the law depart- 
 ment of this the greatest of all the American universities. 
 
 [66] 
 
Address of Former Representative Lentz, of Ohio 
 
 " I speak of Brother "Wedemeyer, mindful of the eloquent and 
 sympathetic words spoken by him in my own home on the 25th 
 of July, 1910, in the parting hour when my best friends carried 
 away from me forever the frail frame of her whose pure love, 
 brilliant mind, and sympathetic heart were the greatest treasure 
 and the brighest light that ever came into view upon the horizon 
 of my earthly career. 
 
 " I also speak as the chosen representative of the Masonic 
 bodies of this beautiful city of Ann Arbor, the home of his alma 
 mater and the home of my alma mater, and as the national presi- 
 dent of the American Insurance Union I speak of him as the 
 national counselor of its national board, governing the fraternal 
 and financial destiny of an institution extending its protection 
 and fellowship to the homes of 28,000 good men and women 
 throughout these United States, together with the tens and tens of 
 thousands of their children who, through their parents, have 
 learned to love the name of Wedemeyer. 
 
 " Our departed brother became a member of the American In- 
 surance Union on the 14th day of September, 1899, and was 
 initiated in Golden Rule Lodge of the Masonic order of this city 
 on the 12th day of April, 1900, and was passed and raised from 
 degree to degree through the Blue Lodge, the Chapter, the Com- 
 mandery, and reached the Shrine in the fall of 1906. 
 
 " My brothers of the Masonic order here advise me that he was 
 always willing to help at all of their functions and that he was a 
 strong and efficient factor in the growth of the Masonic order 
 here. Those of us who knew him away from his home in this 
 municipal center can appreciate how fully and how happily he 
 served our Masonic brothers in their every purpose and their 
 highest aims and ideals. From the beginning" to the end of his 
 Masonic career he demonstrated to each and every brother of that 
 order, as he has always demonstrated to each and every member 
 of every organization with which he was affiliated, that he was a 
 man, every inch a man, free-born, of good repute, and well 
 recommended and better and better recommended from day to 
 day as men knew him better and better in his increasing power 
 and influence and service. 
 
 " Our departed brother was no ordinary man. He was an ex- 
 ample and a leader in every walk of life. He was of heroic 
 stature, physically, mentally, and morally. His was a personality 
 so happy, so generous, so industrious that those who knew him 
 
 [67] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 best will never forget him nor will they ever realize that he has 
 taken his departure and entered upon a career still more active 
 in a sphere much larger than this our common mother earth. 
 Philosophers, theologians, and scientists have for thousands of 
 years discussed and analyzed the question of immortality. To 
 all who knew William W. Wedemeyer such discussions are vain 
 and futile, because it is impossible to think of him without feeling 
 and saying with one accord, ' Of course we shall meet him again.' 
 We are as sure of his immortality and of meeting his genial com- 
 panionable identity when we get into that future world ourselves 
 as we are of our personal identity to-day in this world. 
 
 " If it be true, as Emerson has said, that to be rich in friends is 
 to be poor in nothing, then well may we content ourselves and 
 congratulate his good wife and children with the suggestion that 
 William W. Wedemeyer was a millionaire in this world and he 
 will be a multimillionaire by the time we join him in the world 
 to come. 
 
 " It was Telemachus, of Athens, who said: ' 'Tis ever wrong to 
 say a good man dies,' and there is no member of the national 
 board or of the national cabinet or anywhere in the chapters of 
 the American Insurance Union who will not agree with this old 
 Athenian philosopher. 
 
 " It will be impossible to find anyone who knew our departed 
 brother, William W. Wedemeyer, who will not agree with us that 
 ' to know him was to love him.' His great, generous heart loved 
 all mankind. He exemplified in his work and in his personal 
 association with each and all of us the doctrine of * loving his 
 neighbor as he loved himself.' He was not only a true fraternalist 
 but a great fraternalist — a positive, earnest, industrious soul that 
 overlooked no opportunity and lost no opportunity to serve his 
 fellow man. 
 
 " He was too broad and too great in his sympathies and in his 
 generosity and in his religion to recognize class, faction, creed, or 
 sect. He believed in a God that taught him that ' He who serves 
 man the most loves God the best.' 
 
 " By every word and every act of our departed brother he 
 taught us the value, the beauty, and the holiness of ' courage, 
 lionor, courtesy, and fidelity.' By every word and every act he 
 taught us that he not only preached but practiced these great 
 virtues, and with it all and through it all he devoted himself to 
 our creed of ' help in need ' and ' all for one and one for all.' 
 
 [681 
 
Address of Former Representative Lentz, of Ohio 
 
 " Each and every member of the national board is proud of 
 the friendship, fellowship, and comradeship of our national 
 counselor, the Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, and proud of his 
 national distinction as a public servant, and grateful to his good 
 wife and his three little children for the many hours, days, weeks, 
 months, and years of his good time which they so generously 
 permitted him to contribute to the cause and upbuilding of the 
 American Insurance Union. We shall ever be grateful to his 
 good mother, who gave him birth on the 22d day of March, 1873, 
 and prepared him in his youthful years for a life and a career 
 of honesty and fidelity so noble, so pure, and so true to his 
 fellow man that we may justly claim for him what some dis- 
 tinguished Roman said of his friend: 'He was a better friend to 
 everybody than anybody is to anybody.' 
 
 " We feel sure that we do not overestimate the great work of 
 Brother Wedemeyer's earthly career when we say that his un- 
 timely death, before he reached the age of 40, was largely due to 
 the fact that ever since his boyhood he has crowded into each day 
 of his life two or three times as much work as is ordinarily done 
 by active and energetic men. 
 
 " In bearing testimony to his high ideals, his untiring energy, 
 his restless anxiety to do more and more each day for all 
 humanity, we feel justified in saying that it is not too high praise 
 to claim for him that as a public servant, associated with Gov. 
 Pingree and other distinguished men of the great Commonwealth 
 of Michigan, and also associated with the great and good public 
 men who make up the high and honorable body of our American 
 Congress at Washington, he accomplished more within the short 
 span of his earthly career than most men accomplish who live 
 God's allotted years of threescore and ten. 
 
 " We are proud to have had the fellowship of such a graduate 
 of the great University of Michigan, whose broad scholarship, 
 brilliant oratory, and eminent statesmanship won for him and his 
 alma mater a national distinction and prominence of more than 
 a master's degree. 
 
 *' Each member of our national board joins with the good wife 
 and children of our departed brother in tearful sympathy in a 
 bereavement over a loss that extends far beyond the walls of their 
 good home and touches every one of the 28,000 members of the 
 American Insurance Union, and touches all good men and good 
 women in the United States who appreciate and honor the 
 
 [69] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 memory of Brother Wedemeyer's generous, self-sacrificing, patri- 
 otic devotion to tlie betterment and advancement of his fellow 
 men. And each and every member of our national board mourns 
 with the members of his family and extends them the most 
 sincere sympathy and tenders them every possible assistance in 
 their bereavement. 
 
 "Remembering our good brother's happy personality, we can 
 best express ourselves in the words of James Whitcomb Riley: 
 
 " * I can not say, I will not say, 
 That he is dead — he is just away. 
 With a cheery smile and a wave of the hand 
 He has wandered into an unknown land 
 And left us dreaming; how very fair 
 It needs must be, since he lingers there. 
 Think of him still the same, I say; 
 He is not dead — he is just away.' 
 
 " In the words of George Eliot, we are sure that he has — 
 
 " ' Joined the choir invisible 
 
 Of those immortal souls who live again 
 In minds made better by their presence.' 
 
 " Or, in the words of Bulwer Lytton, let us say : 
 
 " ' There is no death; an angel form 
 
 Walks o'er the earth with silent tread; 
 He bears our best loved things away. 
 And then we call them dead.' 
 
 " In our common grief, our utter helplessness, we cry out in 
 the poetic thought of George Dyre Eldridge: 
 
 " * We come from the chambers of silence, the gift of the gods 
 is breath. 
 We go to the chambers of silence, the gift of the gods is death.' " 
 
 LEAVE TO PRINT 
 
 Mr. Hamilton of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I ask unani- 
 mous consent that all Members may have leave to print 
 on the life, character, and public services of the late Mr. 
 Wedemeyer. 
 
 [70] 
 
Proceedings in the House 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Michi- 
 gan asks unanimous consent that all Members may have 
 leave to print in the Record remarks on the life, character, 
 and public services of the late Mr. Wedemeyer. Is there 
 objection? 
 
 There was no objection. 
 
 adjournment 
 
 Then, in accordance with the resolutions heretofore 
 agreed to, at 4 o'clock and 6 minutes p. m., the House 
 adjourned until to-morrow, Monday, February 17, 1913, 
 at 12 o'clock noon. 
 
 Monday, February 24, 1913. 
 A message from the Senate, by Mr. Crockett, one of its 
 clerks, announced that the Senate had passed the follow- 
 ing resolutions: 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sorrow of the 
 death of the Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late a Member of the 
 House of Representatives from the State of Michigan. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the 
 deceased the business of the Senate be suspended in order that 
 proper tribute may be paid to his high character and distin- 
 guished public services. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these 
 resolutions to the House of Representatives and to the family of 
 the deceased. 
 
 Also — 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
 Mr. Rayner, Mr. Utter, and Mr. Wedemeyer the Senate do now 
 adjourn. 
 
 [71] 
 
Proceedings in the Senate 
 
 Saturday, January 4, 1913. 
 
 A message from the House of Representatives, by D. K. 
 Hempstead, its enrolling clerk, communicated to the 
 Senate the intelligence of the death of Hon. William W. 
 Wedemeyer, late a Representative from the State of 
 Michigan, and transmitted resolutions of the House 
 thereon. 
 
 Mr. Townsend. I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate 
 the resolutions received from the House of Represent- 
 atives. 
 
 The President pro tempore. The Chair lays before the 
 Senate the resolutions of the House, which will be read. 
 
 The resolutions were read, as follows: 
 
 In the House of Representatives, 
 
 January 3, 1913. 
 Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of 
 the death of Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, a Representative from 
 the State of Michigan. 
 
 Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
 Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. 
 
 Mr. Townsend. Mr. President, at the proper time I shall 
 ask that a day be set apart for the purpose of commemo- 
 rating in a proper manner the character and life of the 
 late Mr. Wedemeyer. I ask at this time for the adoption 
 of the resolutions I send to the desk. 
 
 The President pro tempore. The Senator from Michi- 
 gan submits resolutions for which he asks present con- 
 sideration. 
 
 [73] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 The resolutions (S. Res. 419) were read, considered by 
 unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sensibility the 
 announcement of the death of Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late 
 a Representative from the State of Michigan. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to 
 the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the 
 family of the deceased. 
 
 Mr. TowNSEND. Mr. President, I move, as a further 
 mark of esteem and respect, that the Senate do now 
 adjourn. 
 
 The motion was unanimously agreed to; and (at 4 
 o'clock and 55 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until 
 Monday, January 6, 1913, at 12 o'clock meridian. 
 
 Tuesday, January i4, 1913. 
 
 A message from the House of Representatives, by J. C. 
 South, its Chief Clerk, announced to the Senate that the 
 House had passed a resolution appointing a committee of 
 15 Members, with such Members of the Senate as may be 
 joined, to attend memorial services for Hon. William W. 
 Wedemeyer, late a Representative from the State of 
 Michigan, to be held at Ann Arbor, Mich. 
 
 Mr. TowNSEND. May I ask to have laid before the Senate 
 the resolutions which have just come from the House? 
 
 The President pro tempore laid before the Senate the 
 following resolutions of the House of Representatives, 
 which were read: 
 
 In the House of Representatives, 
 
 January 11, 1913. 
 Resolved, That a committee of 15 Members of the House, with 
 such Members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to 
 attend memorial services for Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late 
 a Representative from the State of Michigan, to be held at Ann 
 Arbor, Mich. 
 
 [74] 
 
Proceedings in the Senate 
 
 Resolved, That the Sergeant at Anns of the House be author- 
 ized and directed to take such steps as may be necessary for 
 carrying out the provisions of this resolution, and that the neces- 
 sary expenses in connection therewith be paid out of the con- 
 tingent fund of the House. 
 
 Mr. Town SEND. I offer the following resolution and ask 
 for its immediate consideration. 
 
 The President pro tempore. The resolution will be 
 read. 
 
 The resolution (S. Res. 430) was read, considered by 
 unanimous consent, and agreed to, as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of six Senators be appointed by the 
 President pro tempore, to join a committee appointed by the 
 House of Representatives, to attend memorial services for Hon. 
 William W. Wedemeyer, late a Representative from the State of 
 Michigan, to be held at Ann Arbor, Mich., on January 26, 1913, at 
 2 o'clock p. m. 
 
 The President pro tempore appointed as the committee 
 on the part of the Senate under the resolution Mr. Town- 
 send, Mr. Smith of Michigan, Mr. Jones, Mr. Kenyon, Mr. 
 Ashurst, and Mr. Pomei^ene. 
 
 Tuesday, January 28, 1913. 
 Mr. Townsend. I desire to give notice that on Saturday, 
 February 22, I shall ask the Senate to consider resolutions 
 commemorative of the life and public services of Hon. 
 William W. Wedemeyer, late a representative from the 
 State of Michigan. 
 
 Monday, February 17, 1913. 
 A message from the House of Representatives, by J. C. 
 South, its Chief Clerk, transmitted to the Senate resolu- 
 tions of the House on the life and public services of Hon. 
 William W. Wedemeyer, late a Representative from the 
 State of Michigan. 
 
 [75] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Saturday, February 22, 1913. 
 The Senate met at 11 o'clock a. m. 
 
 The Chaplain, Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D., offered 
 the following prayer: 
 
 Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee 
 for the Providence which brings us to this day of holy and 
 patriotic memory. In the light of the great example of 
 him whom Thou wast pleased to make the Father of our 
 Country, we here, with grateful and adoring hearts, con- 
 secrate ourselves anew to the service of this Thy people. 
 Receive our offering, we pray Thee, and grant that by Thy 
 grace this may be that happy Nation whose God is the 
 Lord. 
 
 O God, who dost commit unto us the swift and solemn 
 charge of life, we thank Thee for the life, the character, 
 and the public service of him whom our lips shall this 
 day name. We can not forget him who labored by our 
 side, who shared our counsels, and who brake with us 
 the bread of life. We honor ourselves, our Father, in 
 honoring him who honored Thee. Despite our loneliness, 
 we are the richer because such have lived. Though his 
 body is buried in peace, his name liveth, and his memory 
 is henceforth safely enshrined in our hearts. 
 
 We pray Thee, our heavenly Father, to comfort those 
 to whom this sorrow is most bitter and to whom this loss 
 is most sore. Grant, we humbly pray Thee, that their 
 hearts may evermore be in unbroken communion with 
 his emancipated spirit. Quiet their restless and yearning 
 hearts, until the day of the fuller life shall break and the 
 shadows of our earthly sorrows shall flee away. 
 
 In the name of Him who abolished death and brought 
 immortality to life, hear Thou our prayer. Amen. 
 
 [76] 
 
Proceedings in the Senate 
 
 The Secretary proceeded to read the Journal of yester- 
 day's proceedings, when, on request of Mr. Smoot and by 
 unanimous consent, the further reading was dispensed 
 with and the Journal was approved. 
 
 Mr. TowNSEND. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay be- 
 fore the Senate resolutions from the House of Representa- 
 tives on the death of the late Representative Wedemeyer. 
 
 The Presiding Officer (Mr. Page in the chair). The 
 Chair lays before the Senate resolutions from the House 
 of Representatives, which will be read. 
 
 The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows : 
 
 In the House of Representatives, 
 
 February 16, 1913. 
 
 Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended 
 that opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of 
 Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late a Member of this House from 
 the State of Michigan. 
 
 Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
 of the deceased and in recognition of his distinguished public 
 career the House, at the conclusion of the memorial exercises of 
 the day, 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. Town SEND. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions 
 which I send to the desk. 
 
 The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Michigan of- 
 fers resolutions, which will be read. 
 
 The resolutions (S. Res. 474) were read, considered by 
 unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sorrow of the 
 death of the Hon. William W. Wedemeyer, late a Member of the 
 House of Representatives from the State of Michigan. 
 
 [77] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the de- 
 ceased the business of the Senate be suspended in order that 
 proper tribute may be paid to his high character and distin- 
 guished public services. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these 
 resolutions to the House of Representatives and to the family of 
 the deceased. 
 
 [78] 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 Address of Mr. Townsend, of Michigan 
 
 Mr. President: I fear that the custom of memorializ- 
 ing those who die while serving in Congress is coming 
 to be more a perfunctory duty than a sad yet grateful 
 opportunity, but in rising to speak at this time I am 
 deeply impressed with the solemn privilege of expressing 
 to my colleagues and to the friends of the late Congress- 
 man William W. Wedemeyer my appreciation of his high 
 character and splendid ability. I realize, however, how 
 futile it is for the mind to attempt to frame and the lips 
 to utter thoughts which would adequately convey the 
 feelings, confused and inexpressible, which overwhelm 
 those who have not yet recovered from the shock of Mr. 
 Wedemeyer's tragic and most distressing death. 
 
 Death is not a stranger. He has visited every home. 
 He has knocked, or will knock, at every door, and neither 
 love nor knowledge nor power nor any other thing can 
 bar his entrance. He is no respecter of persons, and the 
 wise and the foolish, the great and the small, the rich and 
 the poor, the famous and the obscure he treats with 
 merciless impartiality. All know this. Every thoughtful 
 person understands that either to-day or to-morrow the 
 grim reaper will call and strike him from the roll of the 
 living, and yet he ever prays for a postponement until 
 to-morrow and tries not to think that to-morrow will 
 come; but it will come. 
 
 As we grow older and get more tired we look upon 
 death differently from what we did when we were 
 younger. Then life meant much. The world was big 
 and beautiful. Hope reigned supreme and death was the 
 
 [79] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 end of joy and gladness. In after years, however, when 
 we had come through experience to know that life was a 
 struggle and that its tasks could not be completed in 
 time, we sometimes had longings for rest, and gradually 
 we came to find comfort in the Psalmist's words, " He 
 giveth his beloved sleep." 
 
 From the time the first intelligent man looked upon the 
 vacant tenement of his companion until this hour, death 
 has been regarded as a solemn mysterj% and yet it is no 
 more mysterious than is life. Who knows the origin of 
 being? Who understands the relations between spirit 
 and matter? Who can explain that strange phenomenon 
 called thought? Every sentient being has a brain which 
 the chemist can analyze, weigh, and measure, but who 
 can discover its workings and find out how it paints pic- 
 tures, builds houses, explores the stars, finds atoms, 
 dreams dreams, loves, hates? Death itself is but an 
 operation of life. Prior to so-called death we could see 
 but could not understand the phenomena of life, because 
 they were demonstrated through a body with which we 
 were familiar, but death is only a name for that change 
 from the finite to the realm of the infinite. Can we say 
 that birth was the beginning of life, that it did not exist 
 somehow, somewhere, before? Can we say that it docs 
 not exist somehow, somewhere, after the body dissolves? 
 The million larvae in the pond live their lives and one by 
 one they vacate their bodies and leave their native home, 
 the water, and disappear. We know they have been 
 translated into a new world of light and air, but their 
 fellows can not know this; to them the departed are dead. 
 
 This little span we call human life does not end with the 
 dissolution of the body. It is brief when measured by 
 earlh revolutions, but it is eternity long in comprehension. 
 Redwood trees now growing on the Pacific coast were 
 Uiere when Homer sang, when Socrates taught, when 
 
 [80] 
 
Address of Mr. Townsend, of Michigan 
 
 Alexander fought. They were centuries old on the first 
 Christmas morning, and yet man in his infinitesimal day 
 comprehends all that growth of trees which for 3,000 
 years have been climbing skyward and resisting the 
 shocks of centuries. Man can read the record of develop- 
 ment from swelling seed to giant tree. In a day he com- 
 prehends the experience of 30 centuries. 
 
 We are told that some of the stars are so far away that 
 if one had been blotted out at the dawn of history its light, 
 traveling with such tremendous velocity, would still be 
 streaming on us, sufficient time not having elapsed for the 
 last ray to reach the earth, and yet in a moment man trav- 
 erses that appalling space and sees the star that was, but 
 is not. He can pass through the eons of sun-building 
 time and comprehend all from nebula to star. 
 
 Can we measure man by years? He is greater than 
 matter, older than time, coexistent with God. 
 
 So runs my dream, but what am I? 
 
 An infant crying in the night; 
 
 An infant crying for the light. 
 And with no language but a cry. 
 
 Philosophy fails to relieve heartaches caused by death, 
 but the departure of a good man with an untarnished 
 record of honor and helpful usefulness does not leave the 
 mourner so hopeless and miserable as does the going of 
 one who has not contributed to the happiness and better- 
 ment of the world, and as we gather on this sad memorial 
 occasion memories of our departed friend excite only 
 beautiful and loving thoughts, for William W. Wede- 
 MEYER was a good and useful man. For a quarter of a 
 century I knew him intimately and well. I met him first 
 when he was a student in the University of Michigan. 
 He was a poor boy and had to work his way through 
 school. This was a blessed hardship, for it was the ex- 
 perience which develops character and makes men. As 
 
 11358°— 14 
 
 [81] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 a student he gave promise of the orator which he later 
 became. Few men in Michigan were his equal in pre- 
 senting a cause to the public, and none surpassed him. 
 He possessed that necessary qualification of the true 
 orator, sincere earnestness, and the later political history 
 of his home county is the record of his triumphs. The 
 cause he championed there seldom failed, and time has 
 disclosed that he was, almost without exception, right. 
 His friendly manner, his open honesty, his superior ability 
 made him a natural leader in political thought and action, 
 and coming from the people he understood them and be- 
 came their advocate, and they loved and admired him. 
 Few men in Michigan knew more people by name, and 
 all familiarly called him " Wede." 
 
 Soon after leaving the university he became a State 
 character and every county committee of his party in the 
 State besieged the State central committee for his services 
 in every campaign. 
 
 He was a Republican in politics and a progressive one. 
 Gov. Pingree was the pioneer of modern political reform, 
 and he selected Mr. Wedemeyer, then a very young man, 
 as his aid in the ofUce of railroad commissioner. It was 
 during the Pingree administration that Michigan changed 
 her system of railroad taxation from the specific to the 
 ad valorem plan, and Mr. Wedemeyer was one of the 
 governor's most effective advocates of the change. 
 
 He had little more than reached the constitutional age 
 of 25 years when his home friends selected him as their 
 candidate for Congress, and at the convention of 1896 he 
 came within 1 vote of being nominated. In 1902 he was 
 candidate for Congress again and received the unanimous 
 and cnlhusiaslic support of his county. He was twice 
 defeated for the nomination for Congress, but after each 
 defeat he cnlcrcd llu' campaign and supported his suc- 
 cessful rival will] great zeal and ability. He had a happy 
 
 [82] 
 
Address of Mr. Townsend, of Michigan 
 
 faculty for making and keeping friends, and when in 
 1910 he entered the primaries he had enough admirers in 
 all parts of the district to triumphantly nominate him 
 over his strong and popular three-times opponent, the 
 Hon. Henry C. Smith. At the November election follow- 
 ing he was overwhelmingly elected, and he entered upon 
 his congressional career backed by a proud constituency 
 and possessed of high ideals for public service. 
 
 In the 10 years I have been in Congress I have met and 
 known nearly a thousand Members and Senators, and I 
 am sure I never knew a man who worked harder and 
 more conscientiously to perform his full duty than did 
 Congressman Wedemeyer. No citizen of the second con- 
 gressional district ever appealed to a deaf or careless ear 
 when he wrote to Mr. Wedemeyer. He accomplished 
 much while in the House, and even his political oppo- 
 nents recognized in him a growing legislator who would 
 soon take a prominent place among the leaders of the 
 American Congress. His was the genius of industry. 
 Every day, every night, he was at work upon matters ap- 
 pertaining to the duties of Congress, and those duties 
 were exacting, frequently they were difficult, and often 
 they were a great drain upon his nervous energy. He 
 took life seriously. No duty came to him that he did not 
 regard important, and somehow it seems to me now that 
 he must have been impressed with the brevity of his time, 
 for he could not consent to put anything off until to- 
 morrow. He must do it at once. 
 
 Big in body and mind, he impressed the casual ac- 
 quaintance as being a great, strong, kindly boy. His 
 spirits seemed high, and his genuine friendliness gave 
 him a welcome everywhere. In whatever place he was 
 he became an active, prominent figure. 
 
 As a citizen he had no superior. As a statesman few 
 men in Congress have had a more promising prospect 
 
 [83] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 than was his. As a friend he was loyal to the core. The 
 brightest spot in my memory of liim, however, will be 
 his devoted love for his family. He never wearied of tell- 
 ing me of his beautiful children. He carried their little 
 letters to him about in his pocket, and however excited he 
 might get in his conversation with me, he always closed 
 with a joyful incident connected with the little ones. 
 I recall that about the last time I saw him, and after he 
 had dwelt to some extent upon his defeat for Congress 
 last November, I told him that he ought not to feel badly, 
 for with his energy and ability there were bigger and 
 better things for liim than a seat in Congress, and that he 
 could be at home with his family more now. He bright- 
 ened up and the old smile came back, and he exclaimed : 
 "That's right. Don't think that I want to boast of my 
 children, but they are nice youngsters, and I can see more 
 of them hereafter. I'm all right, and have the finest 
 family in the world." 
 
 He had a sensitive soul, tuned to the higher, better 
 things of life. He was instinctively honest, and unjust 
 criticism cut him to the heart. He had the keen and quick 
 perception and the attractive personality which made 
 him a natural political leader, but his sensitive mind was 
 easily injured, and the scars showed. With the ambitions 
 of the politician was joined the sensitiveness of a child. 
 He always fought in the open, and against the attacks of 
 an honorable foe he w^as invincible. He knew how to 
 parry the thrusts of the spear, but he was unskilled in 
 avoiding the stabs of the stiletto. 
 
 I still recall the real suffering which he endured when 
 he was ni])pantly criticized by some newspaper reporter 
 who understood that the mission of the newspaper is to 
 ridicule rather than to strengthen. 
 
 It is wicked to be false to a public trust, but it is more 
 wicked to poison the public mind with suspicion about an 
 
 [84] 
 
Address of Mr. Townsend, of Michigan 
 
 honest Representative; and this is not so because of the 
 evil effect upon society alone, but also because of the 
 suffering and the weakness it brings to the faithful 
 servant. 
 
 At this time, as I look back over the last few years, I 
 can se'e that a change was being wrought in Congressman 
 Wedemeyer's mental condition. He lived under continu- 
 ous excitement. Everything he did was done vigor- 
 ously. His desire to be right always caused him to weigh 
 all matters, great and small, with rigid exactness, and his 
 fear of making a mistake bred doubts within his mind, 
 and he who contracts the habit of doubting is lost. This 
 is especially true of the legislator who is called upon to 
 decide the many questions upon which honest and intelli- 
 gent men differ. During the last year he was always 
 fearful of making a mistake, and the destroyer Doubt was 
 doing his work. 1 can see now that his nervous energy 
 was being depleted and his overworked brain was show- 
 ing strain. His defeat last November did not cause his 
 death. It may have hastened it a few months, but eventu- 
 ally the effects of a mind diseased would have been fatal. 
 
 How much better for his friends and loved ones to re- 
 member him as we knew him — strong, vigorous, and com- 
 plete — than to remain familiar with the splendid body 
 which once was his, but out of which he had gone. 
 
 At about 7.30 on the evening of the 2d of January he 
 stood on the deck of the steamship Panama and gazed 
 out into the star-gemmed heavens. Who can say what 
 thoughts passed through his mind? Who can tell what he 
 saw and heard besides the stars and the music of the 
 waves? Maybe he saw the light ineffable; maybe he 
 heard the heavenly choir. We know that a moment later 
 he cast into the sea the shell in which his cramped spirit 
 had been confined and soared away to realms eternal. 
 
 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 
 
 [85] 
 
Address of Mr. Jones, of Washington 
 
 Mr. President: There is a lesson for each of us in the 
 tragic death of William W. Wedemeyer. Earnest, hon- 
 est, sincere, ambitious, and serving his people well and 
 faithfully, he put forth his utmost endeavor in their be- 
 half and in behalf of the right as he saw it. Anxious to 
 please his people, he was, nevertheless, steadfast to his 
 convictions of right and duty. His action in some in- 
 stances was not in accord with the views of some of his 
 constituents and thoughtless partisan criticism was 
 launched at him and his motives impugned. This grieved 
 liis sensitive nature. So honest and sincere himself, he 
 could not understand why his motives should be ques- 
 tioned by those who did not approve his conduct. He 
 brooded over tliis injustice, and this doubtless snapped 
 the delicate cord that held reason to its throne and led 
 to his tragic death. If there is one lesson for me and 
 you and all of us to learn, it is to look to the motive be- 
 hind human action, and if that is good, honest, and pure, 
 all honor is due the man for acting upon it, however much 
 we may differ from him in judgment. Unjust, intemper- 
 ate, partisan criticism brought pain, sorrow, ruin, and 
 death to a man whose character was spotless, whose pur- 
 poses were noble and ambitions high. Let us think be- 
 fore we speak or write the word of censure lest we un- 
 justly wound. That man who may search liis own acts 
 or words and find in thorn the arrow that pierced the 
 honest brain of our friend will surely suffer the tortures 
 of hopeless remorse. 
 
 My first meeting with Mr. Wedemeyer was the out- 
 growth of his friendly, sociable nature. I was stopping 
 
 [86] 
 
Address of Mr. Jones, of Washington 
 
 at his home city for a day or two when he came and in- 
 troduced himself, and did what he could to make our 
 stay a pleasant one. Our mutual interest in Alaskan 
 affairs brought us into close contact here. He was a 
 member of the Committee on Territories in the House, 
 and we were both interested in securing local self- 
 government for Alaska. I found him most earnest and 
 active in behalf of this measure, and of everything else 
 that was thought to be beneficial to our citizens in this far- 
 away land. He could not have been more interested in 
 a matter of vital benefit to his own people. He came to 
 the Senate frequently and conferred with me after the 
 bill passed the House, and I came greatly to admire his 
 energy, earnestness, and good judgment. The people of 
 Alaska owe much to this man who worked so faithfully 
 for them and their interest without hope of reward save 
 the approval of his own conscience. His action in this 
 matter illustrated well his character and his idea of his 
 duty as a legislator. He was, indeed, a servant of the 
 people, not only of those of his own district, but of the 
 whole Nation. All of his time, all of his energy, and all 
 of his great ability were given to promote their welfare. 
 He was an ideal public servant. 
 
 I have never forgotten the evening I spent with him at 
 a meeting of the railroad employees of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association at the Union Station about a year 
 ago. He radiated good nature and wholesome good fel- 
 lowsliip. A giant in stature, a boy in spirit, a man in 
 wisdom and intellectual attainments, he impressed all 
 with his good humor, his strong intellect, and his lofty 
 manhood. He delivered an address that charmed, 
 pleased, and elevated everyone. It was witty, humorous, 
 pathetic, lofty, learned, and inspiring, and fully justified 
 all of the encomiums that have been said of him as an 
 orator. His native ability, his breadth of intellect, his 
 
 [87] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 knowledge gained from books and travel, and his fund 
 of apt and delightful stories, all displayed in a way that 
 charmed and delighted his hearers, proved him to be a 
 public speaker of rare attainment. Publicly and pri- 
 vately he drew you to himself almost unconsciously and 
 made you love him. 
 
 It is often said to-day that a young man has no chance, 
 no opportunity to make a name for himself, unless he has 
 money or influence back of him. Let the young man who 
 hears this read the life and achievements of our friend. 
 He was born on a farm in Michigan in 1873. His parents 
 were poor and he had no means. After working at what- 
 ever his hands found to do, going to school in the winter, 
 he entered the University of Michigan in 1890. He paid 
 his way by working at whatever he could find to do and 
 living frugally. I was told that he and a friend lived in a 
 garret and did their own work and cooking. He gradu- 
 ated with honor and distinction in 1894. He served in 
 various positions of trust and confidence, and in 1910, at 
 the age of 37 years, was elected to represent his congres- 
 sional district in what is considered by many as the great- 
 est legislative body in the world. 
 
 This brief statement of his life struggles and accom- 
 plishments is eloquent with encouragement to our youth. 
 Without means and without influence, except that which 
 always comes to honest toil and faithful endeavor and a 
 steadfast purpose, he attained high distinction in a few 
 short years. In his short life he proved that success and 
 achievement do not depend upon birth or wealth, but 
 largely on industry, thrift, and perseverance. He has left 
 a rich heritage to his loved ones and friends and a bril- 
 liant example to our boys, teaching them that the day of 
 opportunity to honest, faithful work has not yet passed. 
 
 My acquaintance with him, though brief, is a precious 
 memory and mi inspiration. In his death I have lost a 
 
 [88] 
 
Address of Mr. Jones, of Washington 
 
 friend, his family a loved husband and father, his country 
 a splendid citizen, an earnest statesman, and a lofty 
 patriot. 
 
 He has gone, gone to the higher life beyond. For him 
 the mystery of mysteries is solved. With us his life is a 
 precious heritage beckoning to better things. That he 
 still lives we must not doubt. A character so great and 
 with such promise is surely not so soon ended. 
 
 Said one among them: " Surely not in vain 
 My substance of the common earth was ta'en; 
 
 And to this figure molded, to be broke, 
 Or trampled back to shapeless earth again." 
 
 [89] 
 
Address of Mr. Ashurst, of Arizona 
 
 Mr. President: The Senate of the United States has not 
 paused in its vast labors and arrested its attention to the 
 public business for the purpose merely of indulging in 
 formal eulogistic remarks upon the character of this de- 
 ceased Representative. Services of this nature are for the 
 living as well as to honor the memory of the dead. They 
 are for the dead, because the stricken can no longer speak 
 for themselves, and it must depend that friends who re- 
 main will see that justice is done to their memory. 
 
 They are for the living, because they serve as a monitor 
 to teach how transient, how fleeting, how evanescent are 
 fame, power, riches, and glory. 
 
 " Death," said one of the world's wisest men, " hath this 
 also — it openeth the gate to good fame and extinguisheth 
 envy." And that " to praise the dead is held proper, for 
 only after a man is dead will the score of destiny be made 
 even, as in life man is sometimes criticized, therefore in 
 death man may be eulogized." It is not to be inferred 
 that during life he whose memory we honor to-day was 
 criticized, for I do not forget that he was quite generally 
 praised, loved, and respected, and certainly no congres- 
 sional district ever had a more faithful Representative 
 than Mr. Wedemeyer. 
 
 I became acquainted with Mr. Wedemeyer some nine 
 years ago, while in attendance as a student in the Univer- 
 sity of Michigan, and frequently spent a vagrant hour in 
 his ollice discussing with him some mooted question of 
 law. 
 
 lie was Will equipped for a congressional career. He 
 was a brilliant and powerful orator and possessed a vast 
 
 [90] 
 
Address of Mr. Ashurst, of Arizona 
 
 fund of rich and wholesome humor. He dealt with facts 
 and figures in a charming manner, and could almost 
 arouse an audience to enthusiasm even in discussing an 
 auditor's prosaic report. When I first met him he was in 
 the flush, strength, and pride of young manhood, and he 
 incarnated the poet's lines — 
 
 How beautiful is youth! How bright it gleams, 
 
 "With its illusions, aspirations, dreams 1 
 
 Book of Beginnings, story without end, 
 
 Each maid a heroine and each man a friend! 
 
 Aladdin's Lamp, and Fortunatus' Purse, 
 
 That holds the treasures of the universe! 
 
 All possibilities are in its hands; 
 
 No danger daunts it and no foe withstands; 
 
 In its sublime audacity of faith, 
 
 "Be thou removed," it to the mountain saith. 
 
 And with ambitious feet secure and proud. 
 
 Ascends the ladder leaning on the cloud. 
 
 The news of his tragic death was especially shocking 
 to all who knew him, for none suspected that his health 
 had been impaired to the serious extent that was disclosed 
 by information which subsequently came to light. 
 
 This public servant literally worked himself to death 
 in honorable labor in behalf of his constituents. 
 
 He represented a proud constituency, a district long and 
 ably represented by the present distinguished junior Sen- 
 ator from Michigan [Mr. Townsend], and in Mr. Wede- 
 meyer's ardent desire to measure fully up to the high 
 standard of excellence set by his predecessor he did that 
 which many new Members of Congress do when they be- 
 come impatient with the periphrasis, circumlocution, pro- 
 lixity, and delay which characterizes proceedings in Con- 
 gress and the various departments of government — al- 
 lowed himself no holiday, no moment of relaxation, no 
 respite from work. This intense application to duty, with 
 no playful interludes, reduced his vitality to a low ebb, 
 
 [91] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 while the heat, conflict, and tumult of the last election 
 wore his strength away; and thus with his vitality reduced, 
 with his nervous energy exhausted, the silver cord did not 
 snap and break, but unraveled and fell to pieces, and he 
 entered into that wide penumbra which lies between the 
 sunlight of reason and the baleful shadow of insanity — 
 that wide penumbra, Mr. President, in which there w^lk 
 at times more men than the world suspects, as — 
 
 Great wits are sure to madness near allied, 
 And thin partitions do their bounds divide. 
 
 Hoping to regain his health and strength he sailed to 
 Panama, but found no relief, for returning home, and 
 while about 10 leagues out of the harbor of Colon, after 
 sunset, pacing the deck of the steamer, he looked out 
 upon the heaving billows, which the twilight of an early 
 evening seemed to sow with orient pearl, looking down 
 into the waters he saw reflected the quenchless stars and 
 their shining trains, which had resumed for another night 
 their eternal vigils of the sky; he saw mirrored within 
 the waters the " floor of heaven thick inlaid with patines 
 of bright gold." And our sick and weary friend, momen- 
 tarily believing he saw a radiant place of refuge and of 
 rest, where his heart would not be harassed, plunged him- 
 self instead into the airless meadows of the mysterious 
 deep. 
 
 We know he suffered much, but let us believe his pangs 
 are over; let us believe that the ocean's healing waters 
 relieved his troubled brow, cooled his heated and acceler- 
 ated pulse, and that " after life's fitful fever he sleeps 
 well." 
 
 It is not given to mortal eyes to gaze upon the invisible, 
 or to know the inscrutable, and thus the most vital prob- 
 lem of all, the problem of our own existence and our own 
 death, is the one which is the most diflicult for finite 
 
 [92] 
 
Address of Mr. Ashurst, of Arizona 
 
 minds to try to understand. Faith alone vouchsafes a 
 reply, for in the innermost sanctuary of every soul faith 
 gives the assurance that after we shall have crossed what 
 we call the frontier of the dark kingdom we shall find 
 death is not a wall, but a door to a larger and more useful 
 life. One of the most helpful and hopeful sentiments to 
 be found in all our literature is the stanza from Bryant's 
 Ode to a Waterfowl: 
 
 He who, from zone to zone, 
 
 Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, 
 In the long way that I must tread alone. 
 
 Will lead my steps aright. 
 
 [93] 
 
Address of Mr. Kern, of Indiana 
 
 Mr. President: My acquaintance with William W. 
 Wedemeyer was comparatively short, but rather intimate 
 than otherwise. During his term of service here we lived 
 at the same hotel, and as he represented the district and 
 resided in the city in which my alma mater, the Univer- 
 sity of Michigan, is situate, we found many subjects which 
 we could discuss with mutual interest. 
 
 Of course, the inarvelous growth and development of 
 the great university, the personnel of the faculty, the 
 mighty changes wrought by the lapse of years, and the 
 great success attained by the alumni of that institution, 
 scattered as they are throughout the Republic, were the 
 subjects most frequently discussed, but on many occa- 
 sions he sketched the story of his life and gave me 
 glimpses of his hopes and aspirations. 
 
 Mr. Wedemeyer took degrees in both the literary and 
 law departments, and was deeply interested in everything 
 pertaining to the university and always active in every 
 movement looking to the advancement of its interests, 
 and in return he received in a marked degree the appre- 
 ciative confidence of the regents and the faculty. 
 
 Less than a year ago it was my privilege to attend a 
 large meeting of the Alumni Association of the Missis- 
 sippi Valley, held at St. Louis. That meeting was at- 
 tended by the president of the university, the deans of the 
 several faculties, and a number of other gentlemen promi- 
 nently identified with that institution. All these men 
 manifested the greatest interest in Mr. Wedemeyer's 
 career and expressed their highest appreciation of his 
 services as Congressman and his loyalty at all times to his 
 
 [941 
 
Address of Mr. Kern, of Indiana 
 
 alma mater. They were proud of his accomplishments, 
 and pointed to his career as illustrating the possibilities 
 which are within the grasp of all young Americans who, 
 with such energy as he possessed and such earnestness as 
 he manifested, avail themselves of the opportunities that 
 are presented to them on every hand. 
 
 William W. Wedemeyer was born on a farm not far 
 from Ann Arbor. His parents were sturdy German 
 people, who with many others of that nationality had set- 
 tled in that county years before and had contributed 
 largely to the development of that part of the country. 
 
 There was not much in the monotonous life of a Ger- 
 man farmer's boy to encourage him in his desire for edu- 
 cation and his ambition to occupy a higher and better 
 position in society than his parents with their limited op- 
 portunities could hope to occupy; but the great educa- 
 tional institutions in his immediate vicinity, and the 
 presence of the thousands of young men from every part 
 of the Union whom he saw thronging the streets every 
 time he came to his county-seat city of Ann Arbor with 
 his marketing from the farm, gave him inspiration for the 
 effort to secure for himself the education he so much 
 desired. 
 
 Surely, the surroundings there were inspiring. Here in 
 this county seat was the greatest university in the mighty 
 West, attended annually by thousands of young men hail- 
 ing not only from every State but every country in the 
 civilized world. Here in the same town was the splendid 
 high school in which so many sons of Michigan and adja- 
 cent States had been prepared for admission to the uni- 
 versity. Here, too, in the same county — only a few miles 
 away at Ypsilanti — was the great normal school of the 
 State, also attended by thousands of young men and 
 women who were preparing themselves for the noble pro- 
 fession of teaching. It is not strange that with these sur- 
 
 [95] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 roundings young Wedemeyer should have been fired with 
 that laudable sort of ambition which took him from the 
 farm and led him into a field where he might prepare for 
 a life of greater usefulness and lay broad and deep the 
 foundations for that career in which in so short a time he 
 achieved distinction. 
 
 But it is not my purpose to speak of the achievements 
 of his public life nor of his many victories over adverse 
 circumstances as he struggled on from year to year to the 
 attainment of the success which finally crowned his 
 efforts, but rather of his devotion to wife and children — 
 of the discharge of his obligations as a husband and 
 father. 
 
 During his term of service here I saw him every day in 
 the company of his charming wife and three little chil- 
 dren — one sturdy boy and two beautiful daughters. I 
 could not fail to observe the affectionate interest with 
 which he regarded them and the tender solicitude he 
 always manifested concerning their welfare and hap- 
 piness. 
 
 Everyone who knew of his devotion to this delightful 
 little family and of the great love he bore them will sym- 
 pathize deeply with them in this great calamity which 
 has deprived them of that wealth of affection which he 
 bestowed upon them, and of his aid, counsel, and support 
 through that period of dependence and helplessness in 
 which children most need a father's loving care. 
 
 While their loss is irreparable, their future lives will be 
 blessed by the memories they will have of the sweet com- 
 panionship of a father wlio has left to them the priceless 
 heritage of a blameless life and an example of courage 
 and energy wliicli, followed by them, will carry them 
 safely over every obstacle and enable them to achieve the 
 same success which crowned his career. 
 
 [96] 
 
Address of Mr. Smith, of Michigan 
 
 Mr. President: To epitomize the life and character of 
 one who had become very dear is indeed a difficult task 
 when his death, so tragic and unexpected, has left such a 
 void. But the eloquent words of the Senators who have 
 preceded me and the brilliant, just, generous, and fitting 
 tribute of my honored colleague make my task a very 
 simple one. 
 
 Mr. Wedemeyer had been my warm personal friend 
 from his young manhood. I had been associated with 
 him under circumstances so delightful and had learned to 
 love him so much that his loss came with telling effect 
 upon me. 
 
 When the ambition of his life had been realized and 
 he was accorded a place in the House of Representatives, 
 all his friends throughout our Commonwealth looked 
 forward with confident expectation to a career of unusual 
 brilliancy, honor, and achievement. Brief though that 
 career was, there have been few men in public service 
 who have left a stronger impression upon their associates 
 or accomplished more in real constructive legislation than 
 the man whose memory we honor to-day. 
 
 He was young in years; he was strong and vigorous in 
 mind and body, possessing those rare qualities that at- 
 tracted and held him in close communion with his friends. 
 The congressional district that he represented was greatly 
 honored by his service, while his personal friends could 
 be numbered by thousands in every walk of life, a rare 
 tribute to his magnetic genius and his attractiveness as a 
 man. 
 
 His colleagues from Michigan looked forward with 
 confidence to a continuance of his public service in this 
 
 11358°— 14- 
 
 [97] 
 
Memorial Addresses: Representative Wedemeyer 
 
 Capitol. His defeat was not personal and cast no stigma 
 upon him. In the recent election he ran far ahead of the 
 candidates upon his ticket, and, indeed, his candidacy 
 greatly strengthened the party to which he belonged. 
 
 He was a man of unusual talent, and had the rare 
 faculty of seeing clearly and distinctly the path of highest 
 duty, and when convinced of his course nothing could 
 influence or dissuade him to turn aside or falter in its 
 performance. 
 
 Something has been said about his interest in Alaskan 
 affairs. I know full well how deeply he was concerned in 
 all the legislation intended to relieve those sturdy people 
 in that distant Territory. Often he has come to me in 
 this Chamber and urged that those people might have the 
 right of self-government, and we worked together in the 
 accomplishment of that result. When the bill was passed 
 his happiness was unrestrained. 
 
 He was deeply interested in the Territorial bill before 
 he entered Congress, and as I see my honored friend from 
 Arizona [Mr. Ashurst] across the aisle I am again re- 
 minded of that contest in which our beloved friend was 
 deeply concerned. 
 
 Mr. President, our friend has gone. We are over- 
 whelmed by the catastrophe which ended a life of such 
 singular usefulness. I do not pretend to comprehend it. 
 I know that he had much to live for. He was rarely 
 blessed in his home circle and devoted to his wife and 
 children. His companions in life sympathized in his 
 everj' asj)iration. He had climbed the ladder from hum- 
 ble beginning without aid and had made for himself an 
 enviable place in his Commonwealth and in his country. 
 
 His death cast a gloom over our entire State. Its dark- 
 ness refuses to be dispelled. We hope it is for the best, 
 but many ol us can not understand why such a tragedy 
 should have belallen our IriiMul in the very vigor of his 
 
 [98] 
 
Address of Mr. Smith, of Michigan 
 
 young manhood and at the time of his greatest usefulness 
 to the State. 
 
 After the Battle of Lodi it is said that the soldiers of 
 Napoleon noticed that his eyes were closed and that, 
 overcome with the exactions and the labors of the day, 
 he had fallen asleep upon the field. Those nearest to him 
 formed a hollow square about him and stood with patient 
 vigil until rest opened his tired eyes. In this awful 
 calamity those who knew and loved our friend, inspired 
 by his memory, have formed a hollow square about his 
 loved ones and will guard with earnest vigil the fatherless 
 little children and the stricken widow in her woe. 
 
 I love to think of Wedemeyer; of his happy, cheerful, 
 beautiful affection for his friends; of his loyalty and love 
 for those who were dependent upon him;. of the charm 
 and grace of his manner; and the purity of his private 
 and public life. 
 
 Mr. President, I offer the resolution which I send to the 
 desk. 
 
 The Presiding Officer. The resolution will be read: 
 
 The Secretary read the resolution (S. Res. 475), as 
 follows : 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
 Mr. Rayner, Mr. Utter, and Mr. Wedemeyer the Senate do now 
 adjourn. 
 
 The resolution was unanimously agreed to; and (at 4 
 o'clock and 20 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until 
 Monday, February 24, 1913, at 10 o'clock a. m. 
 
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