MfflffiM TIF mwm ;;': : ,y:' : :: .';■.';■; : :':■■ jifflBHIHli'H . . ' ■ ; I ■•'■;■'■',' i ■■■■■■■.'■ Mm* Glass Book_ lLL__. 65TH Congress \ 3d Sesston ) SENATE /Document \ No. 453 BENJAMIN RYAN TILLMAN (Late a Senator from South Carolina) MEMORIAL ADDRESSES DELIVERED IN THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES SIXTY-FIFTH CONGRESS 111?" Proceedings in the Senate December 15, 1918 Proceedings in the House December IS, 1918 PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING 1^ LO^ WASHINGTON 1919 TS1U5 D. 01 J. UfcC 24 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page. Proceedings in the Senate 5 Prayer by Rev. Forrest J. Prettyman, D. D 5, 9 Memorial addresses by — Mr. Ellison D. Smith, of South Carolina 11 Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts 15 Mr. Claude A. Swanson, of Virginia 19 Mr. Knute Nelson, of Minnesota 23 Mr. James Hamilton Lewis, of Illinois 28 Mr. William P. Pollock, of Soufh Carolina 39 Resolution of the Chamber of Commerce and Commer- cial Club of the city of Seattle, Washington 8 Proceedings in the House of Representatives 47 Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 47 Prayer by Rev. F. Ward Denys, of Washington, D. C-_ 50 Memorial addresses by — Mr. William F. Stevenson, of South Carolina 53 Mr. Joseph Walsh, of Massachusetts 60 Mr. Fred H. Dominick, of South Carolina 62 Mr. Lemuel P. Padgett, of Tennessee 67 Mr. Samuel J. Nicholls, of South Carolina 71 Mr. Richard S. Whaley, of South Carolina 77 Mr. James F. Byrnes, of South Carolina 82 Mr. Asbury F. Lever, of South Carolina 96 [3] BENJAMINF. TIL; DEATH OF HON. BENJAMIN RYAN TILLMAN Proceedings in the Senate Wednesday, July 3, 1918. The Chaplain, Rev. Forrest J. Prettyman, D. D., offered the following prayer: Almighty God, Father of Spirits, make us sensible of the glory that awaits the continued performance of duty day by day as we, a great Nation, address ourselves to the tasks of the day. Thou hast ever been moving through the channels of our national history. Generation after generation Thou hast called men to the standards of righteousness and peace and justice. Thou art moving with the mighty tides of the ocean. Thou dost call the faithful, the brave, and the true to Thine own standards that Thou hast raised for the gathering of the nations. O God, keep us faithful to the trust committed to our hands. We pray that as we come to the day upon which we celebrate the birth of our Nation we may have a rebirth of Thy spirit of truth and of righteousness and that we may have a reconsecration of a united Nation to the great ideals of the gospel of Thy Son. As we gather together in this Chamber this morning our hearts are saddened at the news of the passing of one of the stalwart and brave and true men in national affairs in our day. God, Thou are teaching us how quickly in the tide of time we are passing on to the great Assizes. Keep us watchful and faithful. We thank Thee for the performance of duty on the part of those who have lived [5] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman among us. We pray that their going out may be filled with men equally brave and true. Hear us. Forgive our sins. For Christ's sake. Amen. Mr. Smith of South Carolina. Mr. President, it is with profound sorrow that I have to announce to the Senate the death of the senior Senator from South Carolina, Senator Benjamin Ryan Tillman, who died this morning at 4.20 o'clock. Senator Tillman had a slight stroke of paralysis on Thursday. It kept progressing, and he lapsed into a state of unconsciousness on Sunday, from which he did not again recover, and he died this morning. I shall not at this time, Mr. President, attempt to recall to the Senate the work of Senator Tillman and its char- acter. We all know the sturdy character of the man, the splendid ruggedness of his nature. We did not always agree with him in the positions that he took, but we ad- mired the manhood with which he backed the positions which he did take. Senator Tillman had been in continuous service as a Senator for approximately 24 years. At the end of his term he would have rounded out the 24 years. He steadily improved in the estimation of the people of his State as well as of the Nation. They mistook the manner of the man at the beginning for the intent and purpose of his splendid character. Mr. President, at a future time I shall have more to say about the character of my deceased colleague, but at present I submit the following resolutions and ask for their adoption. The Vice President. The resolutions will be read. The resolutions were read, considered by unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as follows: [6] Proceedings in the Senate Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the announcement of the death of the Hon. Benjamin Ryan Tillman, late a Senator from the State of South Carolina. Resolved, That a committee of 12 Senators be appointed by the Vice President to take order for superintending the funeral of Mr. Tillman, to be held in the city of Trenton, S. C. Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these resolutions to the House of Representatives. The Vice President, under the second resolution, ap- pointed as the committee on the part of the Senate, Mr. Smith of South Carolina, Mr. Swanson, Mr. Gallinger, Mr. Lodge, Mr. Penrose, Mr. Overman, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Smoot, Mr. Pomerene, Mr. Fernald, Mr. Phelan, Mr. Ster- ling, Mr. Owen, Mr. Trammell, and Mr. McKellar. Mr. Smith of South Carolina. Mr. President, I offer the following resolution. The Vice President. It will be read. The resolution was read, as follows: Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the Senate do now adjourn until 12 o'clock noon, Friday, July 5, 1918. The resolution was unanimously agreed to; and (at 12 o'clock and 15 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until Friday, July 5, 1918, at 12 o'clock meridian. Friday, July 5, 1918. A message from the House of representatives, by D. K. Hempstead, its enrolling clerk, transmitted to the Senate resolutions on the death of Hon. Benjamin R. Tuxman, late a Senator from the State of South Carolina. [7] Memorial Addresses : Senator Tillman Thursday, August 22, 1918. Mr. Poindexter. Mr. President, I present a resolution of the Alaska Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club of the city of Seattle, which resolution was also concurred in by the Chamber of Commerce and the Commercial Club itself. It is an expression of appre- ciation for the services to the north Pacific coast of Hon. B. R. Tillman, late a Senator from South Carolina. It is a brief and appropriate and sincere expression of appre- ciation of the responsive interest which the late Senator always took in matters relating to the north Pacific coast, particularly in connection with the Navy. I ask that it be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the resolution was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows : SEATTLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND COMMERCIAL CLUB. Resolution commemorative of the late Hon. B. R. Tillman. In the passing of the Hon. B. R. Tillman, chairman of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, Alaska has lost a true friend. Advised as to the potential wealth of Alaska's undeveloped re- sources, he labored for a rational development that would make for the welfare of her people. A statesman of broad vision, he realized that the extremes of governmental policy toward the opening of Alaska's resources tended to economic loss and waste, instead of utilization and conservation. For the use of Alaska coal to supply the needs of the Navy on the Pacific, Senator Tillman was an earnest and active worker, who exerted a strong influence in bringing about this nationally desired result. In behalf of the friends of Alaska the Alaska Bureau of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club expresses its sincere grief in the national loss of a champion whose every effort was for the welfare and advancement of mankind. Adopted by the Alaska Bureau, Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club, July 30, 1918. J. L. McPherson, Secretary. [8] Proceedings in the Senate Adopted by the trustees of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club August 6, 1918. G. C. Corbaley, Executive Secretary. Friday, December 6, 1918. Mr. Smith of South Carolina. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate hold a session on Sun- day, December 15, for the purpose of eulogies on the life and character of my late colleague, Senator Benjamin- Ryan Tillman. The Vice President. At what hour? Mr. Smith of South Carolina. Beginning at 11 o'clock. The Vice President. Is there objection? The Chair hears none, and it is so ordered. Sunday, December 15, 1918. The Senate met at 11 o'clock a. m. The Chaplain, Rev. Forrest J. Prettyman, D. D., offered the following prayer: Almighty God, we are called together in Thy providence that we may accord a national honor to the memory of a distinguished Member of this body. We pause in the midst of the pressing duties of these fateful days, and in the golden moments of the holy Sabbath we perform this sacred duty. It is our obligation to inscribe upon the unperishable honor roll of our departed statesmen the name of the Senator from South Carolina. Thou didst endow him with many qualities of heart and mind that made him a power in our national councils. Passionate in his ad- vocacy of the rights of all men, devoted in his friendships, consistent with the principles which he avowed in his public life. [9] Memorial Addresses : Senator Tillman By his far-sighted statesmanship, by his high sense of honor, by his strong defense of his political creed, he has made his name safe in the annals of American history. We would not seek to assess the value of such a career. His record is with Thee, to whom we must all turn at last to give an account of our stewardship. We pray that to-day as we recall his service to his coun- try we may feel the ever-increasing responsibility of rep- resenting great sovereign States in this Senate. As we stand in this place of world-wide influence and power we seek the endowment of the spirit of righteousness to direct and control our lives according to the Divine will. We serve our fellow men in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The Vice President being absent, the President pro tem- pore [Mr. Saulsbury] assumed the chair. Mr. Smith of South Carolina. Mr. President, I offer the following resolutions and ask for their adoption. The President pro tempore. The Secretary will read the resolutions. Secretary (James M. Baker) read the resolutions (S. Res. 388) and they were considered by unanimous con- sent, and unanimously agreed to, as follows: Resolved, That the Senate express its profound sorrow in the death of the Hon. Benjamin Ryan Tillman, late a Senator from the State of South Carolina. Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the Senate in pursuance of an order heretofore made assembles to enable his associates to pay proper tribute to his high character and distinguished public services. Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. [10] MEMORIAL ADDRESSES Address of Mr. Smith, of South Carolina Mr. President: Senator Benjamin Ryan Tillman was born in 1847, which made him just the right age to receive childhood's vivid if exaggerated impression of the epoch- making period immediately preceding and culminating in the Civil War. The incidents and experiences that one must have witnessed and borne during that time, espe- cially at the age of young Tillman, must have had a pro- found effect upon his character and his subsequent atti- tude as a man toward men and affairs. The reconstruction period immediately following the war was fraught with more trials, tested more thoroughly the moral, mental, and patriotic fiber of men, than the ac- tual period of the war itself. The struggle of the war itself was terrible, but the object to be attained was worthy of all sacrifice from the standpoint of the South. The orgy of misrule and corruption, during reconstruction times, threatened to engulf and destroy our civilization in that section. Rapine and lust, greed and avarice, in their most revolting form assumed to overrule virtue and decency, honesty and righteousness, in both civil and political life. Prominent amongst those who took part in stemming this unholy tide was young Benjamin Ryan Tillman. He did his part in bringing about the dissipation of this hideous nightmare of corruption and misrule, and helped, through the agency of the famous Red Shirt Brigade, to bring about the reestablishment of decent government in South Carolina and the liberation of its homes from the threatened beastly defilement. [11] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman When this task was accomplished and South Carolina, like other Southern States, took up her burden of rebuild- ing the waste places, of gathering together what resources she might in order to retrieve some semblance of the con- dition that made life tolerable, young Tillman also did his part. He, as his family before him had done, settled near Edgefield, S. C, and devoted himself to farming. Per- haps of all the occupations that felt the cruel grind of that period the farmers were the greatest sufferers. He knew at first hand by bitter experience their heritage of hard- ships, and his first appearance in the arena as a public man was in the advocacy of means looking toward the bet- terment of the conditions under which the farmer strug- gled. This first appearance at Bennettsville, S. C, in 1885, was the index to his future public career. His writings and speeches were devoted to the agitation of questions looking toward the betterment of agricultural conditions. In 1890 he became a candidate for governor, and was elected as a representative of the agricultural element of the State. He was reelected in 1892. During his official career as governor he devoted a great deal of time and attention to the establishment of Clemson Agricultural College. This college, as a distinct separate educational institution, was established on the old John C. Calhoun estate, Fort Hill, in Oconee County, S. C. He devoted every available energy to the development and progress of this institution, and lived to see it become one of the fore- most agricultural institutions of America. He also was instrumental in the establishment at Rock Hill, S. C, of the Winthrop Normal and Industrial College for Women. These two institutions are perhaps the most enduring monuments to Senator Tillman's devotion to the cause of education, particularly for those classes for whose welfare he had written and worked so hard. [12] Address of Mr. Smith, of South Carolina In 1894 he became a candidate for and was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Gen. M. C. Butler. In this capacity as a public man he served until his death. Some of the most interesting things in connection with Senator Tillman's career as a public man were the estab- lishment of the dispensary system in South Carolina for the control of the purchase, manufacture, and sale of whisky by the State. Through subsequent modifications of the law it was finally abolished. In the constitutional convention of 1895 Senator Tillman was instrumental in having written into the constitution a prohibition against the manufacture and sale of whisky by private indi- viduals, so that during the modification of the dispensary law it finally became an issue as to local option between the counties as political units being allowed to sell whisky or prohibition. Prohibition finally won. Perhaps the most notable innovation in our political affairs during his career was the inauguration of the primary system for the selection of candidates for the Democratic Party. Sen- ator Tillman was prominent in bringing about the adop- tion of the primary system in South Carolina for the nam- ing of candidates in lieu of the old convention system. It is interesting to note the subsequent adoption of this plan more or less throughout the country. As a Senator he made a name for himself as a bold and aggressive debater. His views on public affairs he never hesitated to assert plainly and unequivocally, nor did he hesitate to challenge fearlessly what he did not approve. He loved his State in his own peculiar passionate way and guarded her rights with a fiery zeal characteristic of him. His hold upon the people of South Carolina was without parallel; he appealed to their imagination and dominated the State's political life as perhaps no other individual in her history had done. In a similar sense this was true of his hold upon the American public; that is, in his power [13] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman to awaken their interest and appeal to their imagination. I knew very little of Senator Tillman's domestic life, but from what I was privileged to see of the relation that existed between him and Mrs. Tillman there was often called to my mind, as he himself was fond of quoting, that immortal verse of Burns: John Anderson my jo, John, When we were first acquent, Your locks were like the raven, Your bonie brow was brent; But now your brow is beld, John, Your locks are like the snaw, But blessings on your frosty pow, John Anderson my jol John Anderson my jo, John, We clamb the hill thegither, And monie a cantie day, John, We've had wi' ane anither; Now we maun totter down, John, And hand in hand we'll go, And sleep thegither at the foot, John Anderson my jo! No two have ever lived in the spirit of this poem as Mr. and Mrs. Tillman and the last verse was recalled to my mind whenever I saw them on the street or in their home. The latter years of Senator Tillman's life were shadowed by an affliction which ultimately resulted in his death. The manner in which he bore this affliction was characteristic of the man. He refused to yield the field of his activities because of it, and only succumbed when death laid its hand upon him. He died as he had often expressed a desire to die — actually in harness. His death ended the career of one of the most remarkable characters my State ever produced. [14] Address of Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts Mr. President: Senator Tillman did not come to the Senate in 1895, as many do, a man unknown beyond the limits of his own State. His reputation preceded his coming. The country had heard about him. The general public knowledge of him was not, perhaps, extensive, but it was distinct and emphatic. To those who looked below the surface it was apparent that here was a man who had wrested control of a famous State from a body of men who, from generation to generation, for 200 years had dominated its politics and its social and economic life. Both at home and in Washington they had brought forth distinguished leaders in public life, who had impressed themselves and their opinions deeply upon the history of the country and made South Carolina a power to be reckoned with throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Whatever their mistakes may have been, how- ever extreme their views, they had been remarkable for ability, courage, and force displayed not only by individ- uals but by families, whose names and achievements were familiar to all the people of the United States. They had retained their power after the Civil War as it had existed before the great conflict which they had done so much to lead and provoke. Then, as the century closed, they were suddenly overwhelmed and defeated by the forces which rallied behind Senator Tillman. To the mass of the American people who did not fully realize the deeper significance of Senator Tillman's vic- tory he was known as the author of the dispensary laws, and his methods of discussion, his " pitchfork," and his reckless frankness in the use of language, of which he had ample command, had made him a picturesque figure and [15] Memorial Addresses : Senator Tillman greatly excited public curiosity as to his activities when he reached the Senate. It was for the most part by no means either a friendly or a sympathetic curiosity, but it was both vivid and strong, for it was understood that he intended to revolutionize the Senate, as he had already revolutionized South Carolina. Senator Tillman was neither the first nor the last who has come to the Senate with such a purpose as that at- tributed to him, and anyone who has studied the history or watched the movements of the Senate for a number of years knows what has happened to those who have come in from another field determined to change the Senate and overturn its ways and methods. The first fact they dis- cover is that the Senate takes a local or State reputation very calmly and is apt to remain undazzled by its beams. Power and reputation in the Senate must be acquired in the Senate itself. The Senate as a body is very tolerant and generous. There is more personal good feeling, less personal animosity, a more complete desire to be consid- ered with each other, and a greater loyalty to the Senate itself and its traditions than in any other legislative body in the world. But on one point the Senate is firm. It declines to be bored. Its method of declination may not be obvious, but it is highly effective. The men who have come here proclaiming their intention of revolutionizing and reforming the Senate have fallen in practice into two classes — those who insisted on continuing to attack the Senate and all its habits and methods and those who sooner or later, generally sooner than later, accepted the Senate traditions and ways of life. The former, very few in number, became bores and found themselves unheard and without influence and have been forgotten. The latter have been successful and often distinguished Senators, in- fluential and effective. It is needless to say that Senator Tillman belonged preeminently to the second class. He [16] Address of Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts never bored anyone. However widely one might disagree with him he was always and unfailingly interesting. He came not only to accept the Senate but to be one of its most ardent defenders, supporting its rules, habits, and traditions, and very proud of its history and of its power and importance. This came about through no sacrifice of principle, but simply because he was a man naturally of strong good sense and open to conviction. He startled the country and the Senate at the very outset by an unbridled attack upon President Cleveland, and I think he even then began to see that in the Senate at least this was not the best method to advance the policies or the principles he had at heart. He came to the Senate also with bitter and deep-seated dis- like, I will not say prejudice, against all Republicans and all northern men. Nevertheless, among Republicans and northern men he found before many years had passed some of his warmest personal friends. In these last years he one day made a short speech in the Senate in which he admitted that he had been mistaken in these early opin- ions and that he had in these respects changed his mind. It seemed, I am sure, to those who heard or read what he said, an avowal at once manly and touching. Rut it was something more than this. It showed willingness and ability to learn, admirable and essential capacities through- out life, and especially to be cherished in old age. It also showed the courage to admit that he had been wrong, and this is a loftier and rarer attribute and a very fine quality indeed. Rut if Senator Tillman learned to know the Senate and his fellow Senators better and to like them better as the years passed, the Senate also learned much about him. Everyone was aware that he was able, forceful, and pos- sessed of unbounded energy. Rut Senators found also that the blunt words and the stormy manner when he 115070°— 19 2 [17] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman was roused were far more in evidence in public than in private life. Behind all this was a kindly nature, plenty of humor, a serious outlook on life, and real sincerity of purpose. One at least of those who came in the process of time to know him well discovered that Senator Till- man had knowledge of and genuine fondness for litera- ture and poetry — good literature and good poetry, be it said — and above all that he was a lover of Shakespeare, a phase of his character not generally appreciated. He was a conspicuous and active Senator for many years and worked hard and faithfully until he was stricken by illness some years ago. After his partial recovery he went on with an uncomplaining and unfailing courage which com- manded everyone's admiration until the end came. Never did he appear better than in his attitude toward the war. He never had any doubts. He recognized what Germany meant, and he was for the right and for the war with all his strength. During these years of physical trial and endurance he turned more than ever toward the friends with whom he had been long in service, and grew ever gentler and more kindly. The affection and sympathy which I think he craved, for he had an emotional nature, were freely given. After a long day of many conflicts the evening was calm and peaceful. As I talked with him and watched him amid the lengthening shadows when the sun of life was slowly setting I often thought of Dr. Holmes's lines written for his own seventieth birthday: Still as the silver cord gets worn and slender, Its lightened task-work tugs with lessening strain, Hands get more helpful, voices, grown more tender, Soothe with their softened tones the slumberous brain. So when the iron portal shuts behind us, And life forgets us in its noise and whirl, Visions that shunned the glaring noonday find us, And glimmering starlight shows the gates of pearl. [18] Address of Mr. Swanson, of Virginia Mr. President: Senator Tillman was one of the most striking and picturesque characters in the public life of America. No one interested or attracted the attention of the public more than he. His mental qualities and his physical appearance were each peculiarly fascinating. He possessed a strong, robust, and compact body; a firm, decisive step; large, expansive, and magnificent brow; clear, dark, and fearless eyes; firm and resolute mouth and chin, indicative of unflinching courage and resolution. He had a sombre, serious aspect, which could scarcely conceal the fierce flames of passion and conviction which surged beneath. In speaking, he made very few gestures, but occasionally emphasized a point by a peculiar gesture of arm and finger, which always left a profound impres- sion upon his hearers. His strong physical personality al- ways left upon his auditors, whether of the Senate or pub- lic assembly, a most favorable impression. He had a strong, clear, and penetrating voice, falling pleasantly on the ears, never monotonous, because frequently tinged with sarcasm or resounding with indignation. These large physical advantages, combined with his mental qualities, made him one of the most effective speakers of his day. I have heard few public speakers who could sway and hold a great audience better than Senator Till- man. Wherever he went in the United States large as- semblages gi-eeted him enthusiastically and applauded uproariously his bold, striking utterances. In the days of his health and vigor he was one of the most effective de- baters in the Senate. Well do I recall, when I was a Mem- ber of the House of Representatives, the frequent debates between Senator Tillman and Senator Spooner, which crowded the Chamber with Members of the House and [19] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman the galleries with interested spectators. During his long service in the Senate few of its Members engaged in more important debates than he — few participated in discuss- ing subjects of such large range and variety. He was well informed on all matters, ranging from the smallest to those of paramount importance. In discussing them he displayed accurate knowledge, logical and patriotic conclusions. Senator Tillman came to the United States Senate after he had had a most remarkable and successful career as governor of his State. He had attained political suprem- acy in South Carolina only after fierce conflict and un- remitting combat. He had won at home by the strength of battle — not the art of diplomacy. His methods were those of the fighting warrior and not those of the negotiat- ing diplomat. This characterizes alike his political career in the Senate. He boldly proclaimed at all times his con- victions and conclusions, willing to stand or fall on their acceptance or rejection. He indulged in no equivocation, no evasion. He was bold, clear, and defiant, possessing the rare quality of complete intellectual integrity. He did not shirk going to the utmost limit dictated by his con- victions and conclusions. This rugged, sterling integrity obtained for him the full confidence of his people. How- ever much others may have differed with Senator Till- man, they knew he but gave utterance to his honest con- victions. This gave him strength and brought to him a following which no charm of eloquence or intellectual adroitness could ever obtain. Thus all through his po- litical life he builded on the solid foundation of courage and candor. Fear of consequences never made him fail to answer a roll call in the Senate. His integrity was such that when he made a mistake, and later realized it, he never sought refuge in evasion, but frankly and boldly confessed his error. [20] Address of Mr. Swanson, of Virginia His intellectual integrity was only equaled by his great moral integrity. Throughout his long political career no stain followed his footsteps — no scandal tarnished his fame. Any corrupt scheme that sought to covertly wind its way through the Senate ever encountered a most vigi- lant and inveterate foe in Senator Tillman. Special privi- leges and favoritism always found in him a persistent enemy. His service to this country in this respect was invaluable. His rugged, sterling honesty was one of Senator Till- man's most splendid qualities. Honesty is the greatest of virtues, around which all others cling; without it they wither and fall in dust and weeds. Mr. President, Senator Tillman's legislative achieve- ments were extensive and most useful to his country. He was a most industrious worker and legislator. He was constant in his attendance in the Senate, active and ener- getic as a committee worker. He was the recipient not many years ago of a striking indication of the very high regard and esteem in which he was held by his colleagues when legislation for the regulation of railroads was put under his control and management, although a majority of the Members of the Senate at that time were of opposite political faith. In the management of this measure he displayed parliamentary skill, eloquence, and great in- formation. His greatest work in the Senate was that which apper- tained to his duties as a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs, of which he was for some time chairman. He labored incessantly in committee and on the floor of the Senate to make the American Navy sufficiently large and efficient to discharge its responsibilities. His efforts were untiring in this direction. To the accomplishment of this task, which was so dear to his heart, he brought all his rugged strength and pertinacity. Having been closely [21] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman associated with him in this work, ranking next to him on this committee, I desire to bear testimony to his usefulness and invaluable service. He aided most potentially in having the American Navy properly prepared, and thus made possible its achievements in the war with Germany. The country will ever owe him a large debt of gratitude for his work in this direction. When Senator Tillman died the American Navy lost a strong and powerful friend. Mr. President, my association with Senator Tillman was so close and intimate that I was not only cognizant of his splendid qualities as a public man but I was also fully aware of his excellence as a private individual. His pri- vate life was moral, clean, lovable, and honorable. He possessed in a preeminent degree strong moral character and integrity. He scorned duplicity and falsehood, loath- ing a lie. He fearlessly and scrupulously spoke the truth — sometimes almost brutally. I never knew a more tender, devoted husband; a kinder, better father. As a friend, he was steadfast and loyal. Like " Old Hickory " Jackson, his rugged character was knitted together by the strong fibers of friendship and fidelity. Of him it may be said, as was said of " Old Hickory " Jackson, " He never failed a friend, never forgot a favor." Mr. President, in the death of Senator Tillman this country has sustained a great loss. In these trying hours our country needs strong, rugged characters like him, men whose broad and brave shoulders can securely bear national burdens. Our pressing need now is not beautiful and fragrant flowers, but old, gnarled oaks like Senator Tillman, to bear the present coming storm and stress. We do not now need eloquent and pleasing Ciceros to gloze over vice and evil and conceal dangers. We need fearless Catos, like Senator Tillman, to point out wrong, expose iniquity, and fearlessly meet dangers and difficulties. [22] Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota Mr. President : In 1876 the so-called " carpet-bag " and negro-rule government, which had come as a result of the close of the Civil War in South Carolina, was over- turned, and the political power in the State fell into the hands of the survivors of that political aristocracy which had been in power in the years preceding the Civil War. The men who thus came into power, many of them promi- nent Confederate officers, continued in control of the political affairs of the State until 1890— a period of 14 years. In the meantime a spirit of restlessness had arisen among the middle classes, or the so-called " common people" of the State, against the rule of this old-time political aristocracy. This culminated in a movement among the farmers, who formed the farmer organization of the State. Senator Tillman became one of the leaders in this movement, and became a candidate for governor under the auspices and with the support of this farmer organiza- tion. It was a drastic and bitter campaign which ensued between the " old guard " and the " new guard " under the leadership of Tillman. He was the central figure and the moving spirit of the great political battle from which he emerged victorious at all points. This was followed by another drastic political campaign in 1892, in which Tillman was again a candidate for governor, and in which he was reelected after a very hot and exciting campaign. And finally in 1894 he was elected United States Senator after a bitter and spirited fight, defeating one of the prominent leaders of the old regime. [23] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman Tillman's victories in these campaigns were so com- plete that the elements which he and his followers van- quished have never since regained the power they had previously held. The administration of Tillman as governor was on the whole and in the main successful and progressive. He was instrumental in bringing about many important reforms and improvements for the welfare of the State. While he was inclined to be somewhat domineering and drastic in his ways, yet on account of his honesty and sincerity and on account of the wisdom of his measures he was looked upon with favor and became popular among the great masses of the State, and that popularity he retained in full measure until the day of his death. While Senator Tillman had not had the advantages of a full college education, he had, nevertheless, been well trained in one of the academic schools of his State, where he was in attendance for upward of three years. But whatever deficiency there may have been in the training of the schools he more than made up in after life. He was a great reader and a great student, and he confined his readings and his studies largely to classical works of the highest order. He was a wonderful man in energy and perseverance, never at a standstill, always moving ahead, always seeking new worlds to conquer. Mr. President, it came to pass that he and I took the oath of office and entered the Senate on the same day — the 4th of March, 1895. We soon became intimate friends, and that friendship continued until the time of his death. While at first he seemed somewhat crusty and abrupt, yet I soon discovered that this was but the outer shell of a kind and generous heart and a vigorous and active mind. When he entered the Senate he was a veteran of many a hard-fought political battle, and this had developed in him a belligerent attitude on many public questions, [24] Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota which at times seemed to make him rather impatient of opposition. But, however this might be, everyone recog- nized his integrity and honesty of purpose, and no one could doubt his earnestness and sincerity. As a rule, there was with him no middle ground; a measure was to him either right or wrong, and hence he was most per- sistent and vigorous in his advocacy or in his opposition. When he was actively enlisted in a cause there was no truce; the battle must be vigorously fought to the end. I remember well the first great speech he made in the Senate. It seemed to me to come from a heart full of the evolutions in which he had taken part in his own State. There were many unique phrases and idioms in his speech which gave evidence of this, but on the whole his speech indicated to me that he was at heart sound and that he would zealously labor for the best interests of our common country. As the years went by he became a good, sound debater, more moderate in tone and more charitable to his op- ponents, and many of his early idiosyncrasies disap- peared. He became a ready debater, and could take and give blows as effectively as any Senator in this body. His oratory was not of the glittering kind that dwelt in lofty and high-sounding periods, but rather of the kind that struck sledge-hammer blows at the heart of the question. He took no pains to sugar coat the points he made. Be- cause of his earnestness and sincerity, and because of his avoidance of all ornament, he became a most power- ful advocate or a most dangerous opponent. Above all things he believed in calling things by their right names, and if a scholarly name was not found he would evoke an idiom or phrase current among the people, but not always found in the books, which would oftentimes in its very peculiarity furnish a most potent argument. [25] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman Prior to the misfortune which befell him through a stroke of apoplexy he was one of the most energetic and hard-working Members of the Senate, participating in the debates on all important and leading questions. He took a leading part in securing the enactment of the amenda- tory interstate commerce act of 1906, which gave the Interstate Commerce Commission for the first time the rate-making power, a power that had been sought for, both by the commission and by the great mass of the people, for many years. I well remember the persistency with which he labored in this cause, and the helpful and effective work he did in that behalf. He was much sought for as a lecturer, in the Northern States especially, on account of his ultra views on the so-called " race question." His discussion of this ques- tion was always illuminating and instructive; and while his audiences may not always have agreed with his views, yet he always secured a large attendance of good listeners, who, to say the least, were interested in hearing his views on his side of the case. He was always kind and considerate toward his fellow Senators, and on his lecture tours, if the occasion arose, he would always say a good word for his colleagues, whether they belonged to his party or not. He was emphatically, in the true sense of the word, a progressive — a progressive in the sense that, although the old may have proved satisfactory, yet if anything new developed which he found to be better, he was ready and swift to seize upon it. He was in all things loyal and faithful to the interests and welfare of his State and to the interests and welfare of our common country. He had no patience with shams nor with glittering generalities, and in his debates he gave no mercy to either. [26] Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota South Carolina has been represented by many able, cultured, and highly educated men in this body, men who commanded attention here and elsewhere; and while Senator Tillman may not have had the culture or the gifts of oratory of some of his predecessors, yet I doubt whether any of them rendered more effective and bene- ficial service in this vineyard of the people to his State and to our common country than did he. He was an active dynamo in the moral and intellectual world, that gave ample evidence of a brave heart and a strong soul — tireless in the performance of his duties. A Senate composed of such men as Tillman would never go far astray and would always be apt to listen to the demands of the people for necessary constructive and remedial legislation. Had he lived he would, no doubt, have been returned to the Senate by practically a unnanimous vote of the people of his State, but the fates willed otherwise. And while he is with us no more, the public spirit which he infused into the political, social, and economic life of his State still survives, and his memory will be cherished for years to come as one of the most beloved sons of South Carolina. [27] Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois Mr. President : Among those whose fortune it is to con- tribute a word upon this sublime as well as solemn occa- sion, to me is given the privilege of expressing a heart's feeling, a thought. These proceedings, Mr. President, are designated as obituaries. The general mankind, reading of them in the public press, is inclined to the idea that they are a mere formal proceeding, established by custom, and observed merely that we might comply with some senatorial cour- tesy. Others feel, Mr. President, that they are something like a surcease of the political quarrels of the past, and are in the form of a universal forgiveness, while we robe the dead with the consideration we declined them while they live. Partisan conflicts are believed to have been so bitter in this Chamber that time never heals their wounds, nor any personal gift of the combatant or charm of manner ameliorates the asperities exhibited in the combat. Too many assume that these proceedings but envelop with a glow the closing chapter of some life which before partisanship had shrouded in gloom. It is not true. It is regretful that the public should have an estimate of that nature. There is no rule of this body which calls upon a Senator to pay respects to a dead comrade. There is no obligation upon him other than that which applies from man to man in any avenue of life. Utterances as will be embalmed, sir, in a volume kept as a monument of mem- ory of the deceased are volunteer expressions of admira- tion and heartfelt praise. We must note the tributes from such men as these two distinguished leaders of one of the great parties of our Nation — one from the East, in the classic scholar, Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts; one from [28] Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois the West, in the great, strong, sturdy nature of Nelson, of Minnesota. Sir, these are not born out of courtesy, nor do they spring out of mere observance of custom. They were the overflowings of a heart that had become convinced by close association of the merit of the man. They were in- spired by that impulse of justice which speaks out here to voice the sentiment to all now living who knew the dead Tillman as the living statesman that they may know how thus his rivals in politics, his opponents in conflict, and more, sir, oftentimes his enemies in party warfare, remem- ber him and appraise him as a man. I have often thought, Mr. President, that when contribu- tions have come, such as from distinguished gentlemen of our side — called democratic — toward Democrats, they would be accepted only as a tribute of party associates and regarded as a favor that was due one to whom the party associations have for a while been tender and fraternal. It is not known to the public that even among ourselves very serious differences often exist as to ways and means and as to methods and objects. Likewise, sir, among us the contribution or tribute is never tendered from mere favor or form. It is only spoken because of that convic- tion of truth, that sense of desert, that solemn justice we owe that deserving man, whoever he is. Mr. President, if it were in my power I would abolish our prevailing method of giving obituary — delaying the tribute until legislation assignments afford a convenient time. I would invoke in this body that other rule prescribing that when the solemn announcement of the death of a comrade came to us, and there were those disposed to speak of his qualities and deserts, I would have that duty discharged then. I would not have it so lapse that the memory of him would be dimmed by after events, and those who had known him intimately deprived of the word that could be spoken by those of close familiarity and fresh memory. [29] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman Yet, after all, I am inclined, sir, as I speak, to another thought. This lapse of time must impress the public with the sincerity of these utterances. Many events have hap- pened since this distinguished man was laid to rest among his friends. Swirling clouds of war flashed with fire, por- tions of the earth ripped apart, kings toppled, monarchs crushed, while dynasties have passed into the aftermath, to be remembered as a thing to be despised or to be mourned. Only a strong man, Mr. President, who had im- pressed his personality upon the soul of man, could have been remembered during such times as these and could have invoked from men the expression so firm in praise and so strong in love as that which has come from these who have spoken to-day of this one man — Tillman. Only great merits of such a man carved in deeds upon the hearts of his fellows could have been reflected after such events. The ordinary man, to whom a tribute out of courtesy would have been given, would have been for- gotten in such an hour. It is only a great star shining among planets whose light could illume through such darkness amid which we have lived. Only the attributes of the great, sir, could have remained to reflect their glory upon mankind in such scenes as those which amid fire and death and universal carnage still survive. If the time has lapsed — which I deplore — from custom, it is to be said that in this particular instance it has served as a test of this man's great deserts. It must now be certified that amid it all and through it all he still could remain an ever- gleaming light, pouring radiance about the hearts of his friends and reflecting in steady flame the character of this dead master. It must ever live as a beacon to guide the children of the State he honored with his sublime service. Sir, Senator Tillman was, as these distinguished Sen- ators have said, but a plain man. Yet what greater men have we among greatness than those who are plain men ? [30] Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois We recall for the moment the lines that Tennyson trans- lated from the heart of that returning statesman, who from an humble farmer to premier found himself in his boyhood village. After a career of greatness in public life, he stands where once he followed a plowshare. He looks about him, and musing: Dost thou look back on what hath been, As some divinely gifted man, Whose life in low estate began And on simple village green. Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, And grasps the skirts of happy chance, And breasts the blows of circumstance To. grapple with his evil star. Ah, behold ! That is the " pillar of a people's hope " and the " center of a world's desire." Sir, what was the object of this man, Ben Tillman, citi- zen of the United States? Mr. President, my mother's family was from the State of South Carolina. They were the Hamiltons— I am carrying their name. The mere sug- gestion indicates to you, sir, that I was necessarily in- terested in the State from the earliest time of my life and that I must ever be interested in the affairs of its men. I left the South very early and found my home in the West, and have remained a western man. I entered the House of Representatives in 1897, and had the delight to serve with such comrades as I see sitting about me — the eminent Senator, now chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee, succeeding Senator Tillman, Mr. Swanson of Virginia, whose public service has been shown in so many char- acters and in so many high places of civilization; and the distinguished Senator from Colorado, Mr. Shafroth, whose contribution in all things to the welfare of his country is praised by those who know him. I can recall that it was one of our occupations, when we were not busy in the [31] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman House, to come over to the Senate when we heard that Tillman of South Carolina was to engage in some debate or conflict. As the Senator from Massachusetts and the Senator from Minnesota have well said, he attracted at- tention from the mere fact that he was to speak. Mr. President, let me say, sir, on this solemn occasion, yet, sir, with all the deliberation it commands, it was not so important in those days as to how he said that which he did; it mattered not in what words these phrases should be graced; nor particularly, sir, does it dwell now upon the mind of man as to whether they disclosed college education, the finish of literary adornment, or the perfec- tion of phraseology. It was that the man felt justice; it was that his constant struggle in life was to do that justice to man; it was that the very soul within him surged and beat to the single purpose of having justice done by his Government, aye, to its humblest citizen, and for this, to this, and through this he spoke. Mr. President, I have lived through two epochs in this Government when to my mind — reflecting the lessons which the page of history gave me — there was suggested time and time again how near my country was on the verge of a civil revolution. One of those, sir, was in the years when I first came into congressional public life, fol- lowing 1896 — in the year 1897. It was at the end, sir, of what was called a Democratic administration. Without regard to what might be said to be the right or wrong of measures which were then in force, or, sir, of the poli- cies which were then invoked, it is sufficient to recall for a moment that there was a public mind throughout the land which, because of financial distresses and not under- standing the causes that brought them forth, was on the eve of overturning all of the fixed institutions of our fabric, and would have been content to do so in any form that should have presented itself to their successful under- [32] Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois taking. Do you realize, Senators, that but for such men as Ben Tillman, who was understood to represent the humble people, to speak for the great rights of civilization, to speak for that great mass of mankind who find them- selves squirming beneath the feet of masters — that but for such as he, in whom that order had confidence and felt he was for them — this land of ours never could have escaped the fate that has followed all other lands under similar circumstances since history threw its light on civil- ization — revolution ? It was the manner of such a man, the expressions of such a man, the purpose of such a man and of his kind wherever they were, six-, which saved the Republic of the United States and held it firm to the center of its purpose — a peaceful government of the people, by the voice of the people. He therefore, sir, contributed a great service to the Republic. Without being conscious of it, and per- chance without having it in his purpose, he was one of the few who cemented our country again together when it was about to part like a ship in the mad waves of a venge- ful sea. When men shall come to consider such a man, may we not recall the atmosphere in which he lived, the time in which he spoke, the conditions he met, the remedies he offered, and the result of his contributions? By these may he not be measured? And since the tendency of us all is to look to smaller things in human life and by this diminish the real measure of greatness in the altogether, we may appeal to future history, and shall consider this great truth, to recall what was the results and the sure effect of such a life as he lived, such offerings as he gave, such services as he brought to his land in such an hour as they were given. Mr. President, there was another period which fell to the peril of insurrection with what was called Republican 115070°— 19 3 [33] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman administration. This was in the fall of 1912. It began in the spring of 1912, following the year 1911, culminating in a spirit in this land of a political upheaval partaking of resentment against party arrangement and party organ- ization and against every form of established government. Had there not been strong men on all sides to come forth at such a time and point out where the real evil was and how it could be remedied by the people themselves there would have been a revolution in America. There was a spirit in the land that cared nothing for ancient institu- tions, that knew neither the fathers of the past nor recked of their glory. Sir, this and other reasons similar to that in effect which followed immediately what was known as the Cleveland administration, produced a situation that promised to overturn the courts on one hand, to dispense with all our forms of legislation throughout, and end in the wreck and ruin of our form of civilization. One can only conjecture what might have followed had it not been for the course of honest, faithful, strong- hearted men, who arose and spoke the truth without fear, placed the evil where it belonged, and registered responsi- bility at its just place and announced the real remedy for the wrong endured. Tillman was one. Here in this Chamber his voice could be heard long after the expira- tion of 1896. Twenty years of public life had not changed his creed or modified the sincere, patriotic effort he made for mankind. He was one of its legislative saviors. Senators have said, and rightfully, that men serving on this floor with each other become mollified; that they become softened; that the spirit of attack vanishes; that party contest wanes. One stands like a vestal near the altar, with the swinging incense of friendship perfuming every conflict. But, sir, however true that may be, and doubtless is — and long may it continue — still, sir, as to this man neither fear of men nor partisanship of politics [34] Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois nor favor from his own nor affections of home ever moved him from his conviction. Nor, sir, did the beckon of riches or the opportunity of fortune seduce him from his firm sense of right. When he began his undertaking for men he remained true to the end. It was because of the confidence of the multi- tude in such men, in whom they beheld the rock around which the vine might entwine in beauty yet remain fixed in unshaken strength. Truly, sir, his voice and character was the rock of our salvation. When we reflect upon this we can but slightly measure the service such a man does a country such as ours founded upon the will of the peo- ple and only abiding so long as the people have faith in the honesty of men. Senators have referred to the last days of this distin- guished statesman. Mr. President, in civil government his decree was justice to men, in war the duty of patriots. From neither did he ever veer. His eye was fixed to see through the long distance the great danger that was upon us in a later hour. He did not parley with it; he did not compromise with it nor smother its expression from fear in any quarter. His was again the lifted ax, that he might smite the head of the foe when raised to endanger his country. The Senator from Virginia [Mr. Swanson] well spoke of Senator Tillman's efforts in behalf of the Navy. The distinguished head of the Navy, the Secretary of the Navy, Hon. Josephus Daniels, who bore the great burden in such hour, is here sitting with us. He found no aid greater, none stronger. Truly there were none more patriotic and none more sure nor more uncompromising in his championship than this chairman of the Naval Committee. Mr. President, I know the South. It was not easy for Ben Tillman in time of peace to stand here in support [35] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman of a large Navy. He came from a State whose people were carefully considerate, among whom were few mil- lionaires. The rich were the exception. They were by nature and from a Commonwealth of past conviction inclined to resent on the part of their' public servant unnecessary appropriations that would bring large taxes and heavy burdens upon their people and their earnings. No one knew this more than Tillman. He knew this necessarily attracted about himself a possible political opposition from which he might have to pay that penalty which public men pay for outrunning their constituents and guiding instead of following them. But, nevertheless, sir, he did not make measure of that event. The duty of his whole country was the sole stand- ard to him. He was willing to trust the intelligence of South Carolina. He knew her humble people as he did her superior people. He knew that if he were to go to them with the truth, it would be the truth that would not only make them free but save him from any injustice. It was that feature of independence in politics that char- acterized him, so different from any men around him, and which justify on this day these tributes of praise which are so willingly and sweetly rendered by these his com- rades who were a generation and more in public life with him. Mr. President, I knew him as a friend. I did not hesi- tate to go to him for counsel. To him I had no pride in confessing blunders, which of course in all men's lives are many. I never knew a man to whom I could go with greater hope for consolation and for a sure sense of guardianship than to this man Tillman. It is because of this that I recall it. My sense of obligations is but different from that of his other dear comrades. I knew him as a friend, and as such I mourn him and miss him. [36] Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois But, Mr. President, there was one thought which I can not omit. Those who knew him closely would ever be impressed with his Christianity. There was about Till- man a sense of responsibility to God and Heaven to which he felt he would some day make his last return. Sir, whatever else might have been, when that time came there would be nothing for him to seek to hide. There would be nothing which he need seek excuse from his fellow mankind. His religion was to him consoling, ever guiding and ever inspiring him. His religion was faith in God, his belief the teachings of Christ, his creed love for his fellow mankind. That is, sir, what sustained him through those days of ill- ness which distinguished Senators have alluded to. It con- soled him in such hour, as he was, by his affectionate and tender wife, nursed to reviving hope. She never tired. His children never wearied in their service for him. He clung to life as a duty to them. Many times we have seen him here when we knew his oppressed physical condition would not justify it; yet out of duty to those around him, at the sacrifice of physical comfort, he would ever be with us in the discharge of the duty he owed to God and to coun- try. Where will we find in after days a nobler example for men to pattern by than such a character? Mr. President, South Carolina has contributed many great men to the world of circumstance in America. She has inscribed in perpetual history such memorial as time affords to the names of great heroes and wondrous states- men familiar to us. We recall them easily. John C. Cal- houn was a master of sophistry, a philosopher of govern- ment — in the science of it as it is written. Hammond was distinguished by reason of something of the insistence on that class distinction which prevailed too long in the South and to her great injury. Butler, the example of noblesse [37] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman oblige. In his personality he ever commanded respect and admiration. Hampton personified the valor of the soldier and the character of those who gave much of life for what they believed and could not understand the differ- ence of another as against them or as neglectful of all their people's sacrifice. But in Tillman there was the philosopher of govern- ment — that government that meant justice to all men equally wherever possible under the law. There was the courtly gentleman who knew not how to swerve from duty, with the courage of the soldier; a courage which never shrank in an undertaking that meant the preservation of the country and the maintenance of its honor. He passed through all the stages represented by all others and in himself personified their virtues. In these days of great victories where they have been garnered by other men with every opportunity of favor or partiality, Benjamin R. Tillman leaves in his life and memory a monument of achievement over all obstacles to which after generations his State will point with pride and glory. His memory will live as an influence which will inspire its citizenship to noble efforts, and strike to their lips a chorus of praise in the coming day and in af tertime, when our whole world shall know the new regeneration of this, our Republic. Those who knew him will praise God that our time could produce such a man as Benjamin R. Tillman. [38] Address of Mr. Pollock, of South Carolina Mr. President: In all ages and amongst all civilized peoples it has been an honored custom for the living to pay tribute to the dead, and so to-day we are met here in response to that custom to pay a meed of tribute to the memory of the distinguished Senator from South Caro- lina, whose seat I now have the honor to occupy. The first ballot that it was ever my privilege, as a citizen of South Carolina, to cast for governor of my State was cast for Benjamin Ryan Tillman in 1892. The first ballot that it was ever my privilege, as a member of the General Assembly of South Carolina, to cast for United States Senator from my State was cast for the distinguished American Senator to whose memory we would to-day pay tribute. Occupying the same seat that he so well and ably filled for nearly 24 years, succeeding him for a short time by the suffrage of the same people whom he loved so well, called upon by the people of South Carolina — his peo- ple and mine — to complete the service which they had intrusted to him, I must confess to a deep sense of my inability to pay full tribute to him as well as confess to my inability to render a service in this body comparable with the great record which he made for himself, his State, and his country, which has placed him in the front rank of not only the greatest of Carolina statesmen, but also amongst the greatest statesmen that our whole country has produced in its nearly 150 years of national existence. The life and career of Senator Tillman should be an inspiration to the young manhood of America which has [39] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman not had a full chance in the race of life. Coming on the scene of action immediately after the great Civil War, when his State was prostrate, his people poor, his oppor- tunities circumscribed, without means and without edu- cational facilities, he was compelled to work by day and study by night. He soon realized that the poor man with- out education fought an unequal fight, and he undertook to educate himself by study and reading whenever time permitted. Denied the education of a college, he turned to the university of hard knocks and hard work, and for many years he toiled to support his father's family and to store up knowledge of men and affairs. Living and making a living on a poor farm in South Carolina, under most adverse circumstances, he realized the hard lot of the poor and unfortunate, and it seems to me that then it was he must have read the words of Charles Dickens: If ever household affections and loves are graceful things, they are graceful in the poor. The ties that bind the wealthy and the proud to home may be forged on earth, but those which link the poor man to his humble hearth are of the truer metal and bear the stamp of Heaven. The man of high descent may love the halls and lands of his inheritance as a part of himself, as trophies of his birth and power; his associations with them are associa- tions of pride and wealth and triumph; the poor man's attach- ment to the tenements he holds, which strangers have held before and may to-morrow occupy again, has a worthier root, struck deep into purer soil. His household goods are of flesh and blood, with no alloy of silver, gold, or precious stone; he has no prop- erty but in the affections of his own heart; and when they endear bare floors and walls, despite of rags and toil and scanty fare, that man has his love of home from God, and his rude hut be- comes a solemn place. His love of home, of wife, of children — his beautiful home life that he learned to live while he was yet poor and obscure — is evidence that the great novelist knew the real human heart, and it seems to me that in his early life [40] Address of Mr. Pollock, of South Carolina our lamented friend must have breathed the same spirit that the same author expressed when he said : Oh! if those who rule the destinies of nations would but re- member this — if they would but think how hard it is for the very poor to have engendered in their hearts that love of home from which all domestic virtues spring, when they live in dense and squalid masses where social decency is lost, or rather, never found — if they would but turn aside from the wide thorough- fares and great houses and strive to improve the wretched dwellings in byways where only poverty may walk— many low roofs would point more truly to the sky than the loftiest steeple that now rears proudly up from the midst of guilt and crime and horrible disease to mock them by its contrast. With such an inspiration Benjamin R. Tillman must have been filled when he went out from his humble home and obscure place to lead the ignorant and the poor out into the bright light and clear sunshine of equal oppor- tunity and freedom, and commenced to teach them anew the truth that Jefferson had written in the immortal Declaration of Independence, " That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with cer- tain unalienable rights; that amongst these are life, lib- erty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these, governments are instituted amongst men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." With this in mind he must have carried on his memo- rable campaign of education amongst the masses of the people of South Carolina and taught them how to vote in order that they might conduct their government in the interest of the whole people. About 1885 Mr. Tillman commenced a crusade, first through the press and later from the platform, to secure for the impoverished people of South Carolina better conditions of living. The first speech that he ever delivered in public, in so far as I know, was delivered at Bennettsville, S. C, in the summer of 1885, and I well remember as a boy of 15 years [41] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman of age hearing that speech in company with my father. Mr. Tillman was unused to public speech and had a pre- pared speech to read, but he had not proceeded far in a most awkward reading of it when he became disgusted with the attempt and threw his manuscript aside and launched out hesitatingly in the delivery of an extem- poraneous speech which soon gained impetus and carried his audience with him. I shall never forget the expression of my father as we left the courthouse when he so well expressed my own youthful sentiments: "That man is a diamond in the rough," and so he afterwards demon- strated, but as time passed on the rough diamond was polished and smoothed and became the brightest jewel in the political crown of South Carolina, and one of the most brilliant stars in the American Nation. The masses of the people had taken but little part in the political affairs of the State; he educated them to a realization of their rights and obligations. They had but poor educational advantages; he educated them to the idea that they were entitled to an education at the hands of the public. They had no college for the farmers' boys where they could educate the future farmers of the State; he builded Clemson College. They had no college for the young women of the State, and he caused Winthrop Col- lege for women to be builded. Each of these institutions now enrolls more than 1,000 students, and they stand as perpetual monuments to Gov. B. R. Tillman. Tens of thousands of young men and young women have received an education at these institutions which otherwise they could not have received, and their lives of usefulness are living pages in the book of life of Gov. Tillman. He builded up the common schools, and so improved them that now a school is in the reach of practically every boy and girl within the State, as adequate, possibly, as the average State can afford. [42] Address of Mr. Pollock, of South Carolina He caused a better system of analysis and inspection of fertilizers, and so prevented the practice of mammoth frauds on the farmers of the State. He contributed largely to the adoption of the primary election system of nominating all officials, and thereby gave equal rights and privileges to all. He caused a con- stitutional convention to be held, and it adopted a con- stitution which greatly improved the organic law of the State and preserved for the time being the Anglo-Saxon civilization of the State. He grappled with the liquor evil, as then exercised through open barrooms, and realiz- ing the necessity for the backing of public opinion, which was then not ripe for prohibition, instituted the system of State owned and controlled dispensaries, which sub- sequently became corrupt, but which paved the way for abolition of the whisky traffic in South Carolina. All these things were accomplished only after the hard- est and bitterest of political conflicts— bitter because he was bitterly opposed and criticized; hard because the opposition to Mr. Tillman was led by many of the best and brainiest men in the State who had controlled its poli- cies and destinies and who could not see that a new day had dawned in the State. In 1890 a preliminary convention of the representatives of the reform faction of the Democratic Party, headed by Mr. Tillman, was held in March, and this convention nominated a full State ticket, with Mr. Tillman as its can- didate for governor, to be run for the regular Democratic nomination, and provided for a joint debate at each county seat between the candidates so put forward and any other candidates that might offer. Some of the most brilliant men in South Carolina joined issue with Mr. Tillman in the campaign, but his brilliant intellect, his keen wit, his ready retort, and his great learning were equal to every demand, and he carried the election with [43] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman a tremendous majority and received the Democratic nomi- nation. Bitter attacks were made on him, and this bitter- ness brought forth bitterness in return; but when the campaign was over he was ready to say, as Grant said after Appomattox, " Let us have peace." But not so. The opposition put out an independent candidate against him, but he was elected by an overwhelming majority, carry- ing every county in the State. He has since had the oppor- tunity to pay a remarkable tribute to his competitor for the Democratic nomination in his first race for gov- ernor, the Hon. Joseph H. Earle, who was subsequently his colleague in the Senate for a short time, and this tribute paid on the floor of the Senate shows that Mr. Tillman could fight a good fight, a hard fight, a bitter fight with a worthy antagonist and yet retain the respect of that man and at the same time retain a high regard for the virtues of an honorable antagonist, and such his an- tagonist was in 1890. In 1892 he was a candidate for reelection as governor of South Carolina, and he was opposed in the primaries by that brilliant orator and courtly gentleman, ex-Gov. John C. Sheppard; and again Mr. Tillman had an antagonist worthy of the best, but so strongly was he intrenched in the hearts of the great masses of the people that he was reelected governor of Ms State for another term, during which he retained his wonderful hold on the regard and affections of his people, so that at the expiration of his second term as governor he was able, after a memorable campaign, to defeat the gallant Matthew Calbraith Butler, who had so well and so long served his State in peace and in war; and thus began his great senatorial career. I shall not dwell at length on the record made by Sen- ator Tillman in this body. Many of you who served with him know that record more intimately than I do. Some of you remember the inexperienced legislator who came here with his pitchfork. You saw him in action, you [44] Address of Mr. Pollock, of South Carolina heard him in debate, you counseled with him in confer- ence, and you had the opportunity of learning the mas- siveness of his intellect, the bigness of his heart, his desire to serve his party, his State, and his Nation. When others left the Democratic Party, believing that the interests of the people could be better served through the Populist Party, he kept his followers within the Dem- ocratic Party and tried to make that party more truly rep- resentative of the masses of the people; where evils had crept into his own party he did not hesitate to point them out and seek to correct them. When the Republican Party was in power he did not hesitate to join issue with them in any matter that did not comport with his sense of civic righteousness, and some of his speeches on the great political problems of the past quarter of a century will go down in history as classics of the period. His fights against special privilege, his demand for a greater and more elastic currency, his opposition to the exorbitant prices charged for steel plate for battleships, his struggles against harmful monopolies — all these are matters of his- tory and can not be overlooked by the future student of American history; but possibly the greatest service that it was his fortune to render the American people was in the upbuilding of the American Navy while he was a member of and chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee, and the last official act of the distinguished Senator, the last signature that he ever placed to any document, was his signature to the conference report on the part of the Senate to the greatest naval bill that ever passed the American Congress. Under his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs the American Navy was so increased and builded up that it now stands second only to that of Great Britain, and that Navy, with the as- sistance of those of our allies, made it possible for Amer- ica to send across the ocean more than 2,000,000 of Amer- ican soldiers to join with the other legions of liberty in [45] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman the great war of democracy and freedom of the world without the loss of a single American transport. Under his leadership great navy yards were built and improved in all parts of the country where needed, and the one on the coast of his own State will always be linked with his name and remain a monument to his memory. He loved his fellow man, he loved freedom, he loved liberty; and when the civilization of mankind was at stake, when the freedom and liberty of the world was threatened, when oppressed people were crying out for assistance, when American rights were disregarded and invaded, when the American flag was insulted, he declared that these conditions were intolerable and that he would vote for a declaration of war against Germany whenever the opportunity presented, and he lived to see his country and yours take its proper place in the affairs of the world, but alas ! the grim reaper carried him over yonder before it was given to him to see the glorious emblem of liberty and freedom floating over the victorious troops of free America on the fields of France. He played his part like a man, he fought his battles like a soldier, he died in the service of his country, as he wished to do, and his State and his country are the better for that he lived. He is gone but not forgotten. The memory of his service and achievement will linger long after all of those who knew him, who loved him, and respected him, shall have joined that great invisible host in the eternal over yonder. Mr. President, as a further mark of respect to the mem- ory of the late distinguished Senator from South Carolina, Hon. Benjamin R. Tillman, I move that the Senate stand in recess until to-morrow at 12 o'clock noon. The motion was unanimously agreed to; and (at 12 o'clock and 30 minutes p. m.) the Senate took a recess until to-morrow, Monday, December 16, 1918, at 12 o'clock meridian. [46] Proceedings in the House of Representatives Wednesday, July 3, WIS. The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Conden, D. D., offered the following prayer: Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee that amid the ter- rible conditions which confront us, and which have di- vided the world into two hostile camps, on the one hand to uphold and sustain liberty and justice, on the other to beat down liberty and justice and bring mankind under the brutal forces of those who would destroy the most sacred rights of men, that religion lives among the entente powers and is taking a deeper, firmer hold on the hearts of men. The cry is, What of God? Is He indeed the Father of mankind or a King ruling with the scepter of might his subjects? We thank Thee that the old conceptions of God, creeds, dogmas, which have divided men into innumerable sects, are passing away, giving place to the essentials — God, right, justice, mercy, love, the immortality of the soul, the eternal verities, disclosed by the Master on the Hill of Calvary. Our hearts go out in sympathy this morning to the col- leagues, friends, and those who are dear and near to the veteran Senator who has done a great work for his State and for his Nation and has passed on to the glories which await the faithful. Amen. [47] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Waldorf, its enroll- ing clerk, announced that the Senate had passed the fol- lowing resolutions: Senate resolution 273. Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the announcement of the death of the Hon. Benjamin Ryan Till- man, late a Senator from the State of South Carolina. Resolved, That a committee of 12 Senators be appointed by the Vice President to take order for superintending the funeral of Mr. Tillman, to be held in the city of Trenton, S. C. Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these resolutions to the House of Representatives. Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the Senate do now adjourn. Mr. Lever. Mr. Speaker, I present the following resolu- tions. The Clerk read as follows: Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of the death of the Hon. Benjamin R. Tillman, a Senator of the United States from the State of South Carolina. Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased Senator. Resolved, That a committee of 18 Members be appointed on the part of the House to join with the committee appointed on the part of the Senate to attend the funeral. The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. The Chair announced the following committee: Mr. Lever; Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina; Mr. Ragsdale; Mr. Whaley; Mr. Nicholls, of South Carolina; Mr. Dominick; Mr. Stevenson; Mr. Padgett; Mr. Vinson; Mr. Butler; Mr. Cannon; Mr. Walsh; Mr. Fess; Mr. Elliott; Mr. Morgan; Mr. Langley; Mr. Williams; Mr. Austin; and Mr. French. [48] Proceedings in the House of Representatives The Clerk read as follows: Resolved, That as a further mark of respect the House do now adjourn. The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the reso- lution. The resolution was unanimously agreed to ; accordingly (at 1 o'clock and 7 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned until to-morrow, Thursday, July 4, 1918, at 12 o'clock noon. Saturday, December 7, 1918. Mr. Byrnes of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker The Speaker. For what purpose does the gentleman from South Carolina rise? Mr. Byrnes of South Carolina. I desire to ask unani- mous consent that a session of the House be held on Sunday, December 15, in order that eulogies may be delivered upon the life, character, and public services of the late Senator Tillman, the session beginning at 12 o'clock. The Speaker. The gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Byrnes] asks unanimous consent that on Sunday, the 13th of December, there shall be a session of the House, begin- ning at 12 o'clock, for the purpose of memorializing Senator Tillman. Is there objection? [After a pause.] The Chair hears none. Mr. Byrnes of South Carolina. I ask leave of absence for my colleague, Mr. Lever, on account of a death in his family. The Speaker. The Chair designates Mr. Lever, of South Carolina, to preside that day and wishes that he may be so notified. The gentleman also asks leave of absence for 10 days for his colleague, Mr. Lever, on account of 115070°— 19 1 [49] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman death in his family. Is there objection? [After a pause.] The Chair hears none. Saturday, December Ik, 1918. The Speaker. At the memorial service for Senator Tillman to-morrow the Chair appoints the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Lever] to act as Speaker pro tempore. Sunday, December 15, 1918. The House met at 12 o'clock noon, and was called to order by Mr. Lever as Speaker pro tempore. Rev. F. Ward Denys, of Washington, D. C, offered the following prayer: Almighty God, Father of all who have gone, to whom we come at this time in solemn consciousness that we our- selves must all sooner or later enter the realm of the ever- lasting, we invoke Thy divine guidance on this occasion, that this memorial may be a fitting expression of that which concerns the one who has gone into the realm which we all must enter, and that that which is said of him may become an imperishable evidence of the services that he, as a faithful servant of his Master and of his country, rendered in these Halls prior to his going to the halls of lasting glory. These and all things we ask in the name of Him who is the author and soul of all that is good and true and beautiful. Amen. The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will report the special order for to-day. The Clerk read as follows: On motion of Mr. Byrnes of South Carolina, by unanimous consent, Ordered, That Sunday, December 15, 1918, at 12 o'clock noon, be set apart for addresses upon the life, character, and public services of Hon. Benjamin Ryan Tillman, late a Senator from the State of South Carolina. [50] Proceedings in the House of Representatives Mr. Stevenson. Mr. Speaker, I offer the following reso- lution. The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from South Carolina offers a resolution which the Clerk will report. The Clerk read as follows: Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended, that opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of Hon. Benjamin Ryan Tillman, late a Senator of the United States from the State of South Carolina. 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 these exercises, shall stand adjourned. Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to the family of the deceased. The resolution was agreed to. The Speaker pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Stevenson]. [51] MEMORIAL ADDRESSES Address of Mr. Stevenson, of South Carolina Mr. Speaker : The passing of Senator Tillman was an event which marked the closing of a remarkable career of a man in a remarkable period of the history of South Carolina and the history of the United States. I had known Senator Tillman since the beginning of his public career, and I desire to express what I have to say about him under three periods. The first period of his public career was one of polit- ical agitation. Rusiness conditions in South Carolina were at a very low ebb in 1885, when he opened his career as an agitator for the betterment of the agricultural con- ditions in the State. There was no agricultural educa- tional facility worth the name in the State of South Caro- lina at that time. There was practically no agitation looking to the betterment of agricultural conditions and, although 10 years had elapsed since the people of the State had regained control of their affairs, there was probably less prosperity than there had been 5 or 10 years before. At a meeting at Rennettsville, in the greatest farming county, from the cotton standpoint, in the cotton belt, in August, 1885, Mr. Tillman startled the State by an assault upon the dry rot, as he termed it, which was prevailing in South Carolina, and an assault upon what was considered to be the ark of the covenant, almost, upon which you did not dare to lay your hands. He brought about an agita- tion which was far-reaching, and whose effect has not yet ceased to be felt in South Carolina. [53] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman At that time Capt. Tillman as he then was — captain of the Edgefield Hussars — had never asked for or held pub- lic office. He disclaimed any desire to hold public office ; but he contended that there should be an agricultural in- stitution in South Carolina which should have nothing but agricultural and mechanical education as its object, and have the united support of the agricultural interests of South Carolina. A good deal of confusion has arisen as to the establish- ment of the institution which grew up out of that agita- tion. Claims and counterclaims have been made as to who established it. As a matter of fact, the legislature of 1888, before Senator Tillman became a public servant in any capacity, accepted the bequest of Thomas G. Clemson, and provided for the establishment of Clemson College, and in 1889 they made provision for the construction of the building. So, many have contended that it was not the work of Senator Tillman, because he did not come into power until December, 1890, when he became gov- ernor of the State; but they overlook the fact that the agi- tation which he set in motion brought about the will of Thomas G. Clemson, who left the John C. Calhoun estate to the State of South Carolina for the purpose of estab- lishing Clemson College, and made Senator Tillman one of the life trustees in that will. Therefore it can not be questioned that this agitation promoted the establishment of that institution, which was the apple of his eye as long as he lived, and which is one of the greatest agricultural institutions in the United States, and which has given untold benefits to the State of South Carolina. That is the fact as to the establish- ment of Clemson College. It was to Tillman, not as the governor, not as the legislator, but to Tillman as the po- litical agitator, to whom we owe Clemson College, with- out any question or possibility of cavil, for that agitation [54] Address of Mr. Stevenson, of South Carolina before he ever aspired to public office forced the accept- ance of the bequest and the establishment of the institution. Senator Tillman was not a man who was unknown to political life, although he had never aspired to it. When he began his agitation it is instructive to look at the asso- ciates with whom he had grown up. The list of those who were in power in South Carolina, his fellows around the board when they met in social communion, were men of great distinction: United States Senator Gen. M. C. Butler, from Edgefield; Gov. John C. Shepherd, from Edgefield; Congressman George D. Tillman, his senior brother, from Edgefield; Commissioner of Agriculture Andrew Pickens Butler, from Edgefield; chairman of the Bailroad Commission of South Carolina, Gen. Milledge L. Bonham, of Edgefield; solicitor of the judicial circuit in which he lived, Bichard G. Bonham, from Edgefield; United States district attorney, Leroy F. Youmans, from Edgefield, first attorney general and then district attor- ney — these were the representatives of his county when he began the agitation, and were his associates of a life- time. To be sure they indicate that certainly in Edgefield political prominence and power were not wanting, and they indicate the fiber of the man who, with his own brother serving in this Hall, instituted a crusade against the conditions that then existed that was destined to hurl from power every man I have named in this distinguished list and leave them as political wrecks upon the shores of time. And yet Senator Tillman made that beginning, and the beginning culminated in 1890 when, at the call of the Farmers' Alliance, organized to attempt to amelio- rate the conditions of this country, which was then in the throes of a financial panic, he became candidate for gov- ernor and was triumphantly elected in 1890. [55] Memorial Addresses : Senator Tillman And that began the period of his career as governor. That career, Mr. Speaker, was one of very distinguished ability and very distinguished ideals. The first and the greatest of his constructive ideas was the establishment in South Carolina of an institution for the technical train- ing of the girls of that State, which has grown now to be the jewel of all of our educational institutions. And yet the statement is frequently met that he was not the founder of Winthrop. That is true in one sense of the word. Winthrop College, for the training of the girls of the State, was founded as an institution in 1887. The annual appropriation for it was $5,200 a year, a paltry pittance beside the $150,000 that we were spending for education of the males of South Carolina. When he came into the governorship one of his first moves was to provide for the establishment of that institu- tion on a firm basis, and in the legislature of 1891 pro- vision was made for the obtaining of a site and suitable building and making proper appropriation, and it was car- ried through by the people of Rock Hill, one of the progres- sive communities of the State, giving the State $60,000 to es- tablish the institution within their midst. And to-day they house within the walls of that college, I believe, 1,500 girls, and could house 1,500 more if suitable buildings could be erected; and we appropriate $130,000 every year merely for the support of the institution. Directly as the result of his far-seeing statesmanship toward the education of the youth of South Carolina, you will find 80 per cent of the teachers in the public schools of that State who are the di- rect product of that great institution. And you go into the homes of South Carolina, all over the State, and you see them shaped by the splendid education that has been re- ceived in that college. I say that is the crowning work of his life as governor. [56] Address of Mr. Stevenson, of South Carolina He did several other things. The next was the solving of the suffrage question. We were confronted with a ma- jority, on the popular vote of South Carolina, of 40,000 colored people, 40,000 colored votes if they all voted. It had been by the most strenuous and sometimes the most questionable methods that we had maintained white civi- lization and the control of the white people after we had once regained control, which it took a revolution to do. Senator Tillman by his influence as governor brought about the holding of a constitutional convention which settled the suffrage question, in my judgment, forever for South Carolina, because the census now shows that the in- crease in the white race has so greatly exceeded the in- crease in the colored race that the voting strength is now equal if all are registered and all capable of registering. But it was his statesmanship that forced the calling of a convention which put an educational and a property qualification upon the one who desired to vote, and the provision was made absolutely equal to all. All a man had to do was either to be able to write and to read the Constitution or have $300 worth of property on the tax books subject to taxation, and he could register and vote. I have heard a good deal said sometimes in this Hall about the discrimination against the southern colored man as to voting. There is no discrimination and never has been in South Carolina since this constitution's adop- tion. That was the handiwork of Senator Tillman; and next to the establishment of Winthrop, I consider that the greatest work he ever accomplished in State affairs. He did another thing which shows the remarkable boldness of the man, when he put the State of South Caro- lina into a monopoly of the liquor business, which most people concede now was a mistake and which after 14 years passed away. And those were the three great high- water marks of achievement in his career of governor. [57] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman As a United States Senator he came to office at a time when the people of this country were crying out for an increased circulating medium, when our circulating me- dium was $27 a head. And when we reflect that to-day it is $56 a head, we can see what an enormous advance has been made. And he arraigned himself on the side of those who were in favor of a great increase and great elasticity in the currency of this country, which has been justified by the enactment of legislation in the last few years which has relieved the stringency and inelasticity of finance of this country to such an extent that Senator Tillman has been justified in every position he took on the financial question. He also came here at a time when we were practically without a navy and when the construction of a navy was tied up by the extortion of the Steel Trust. He won the title of "Pitchfork Statesman" in his assault upon the people who furnished the armor plate for the construc- tion of our Navy, a title that has gone with him to his grave as a title of honor and one of which he was more proud than of any other title he ever received. And his history here as United States Senator was bound up with the history of the development of the Navy and the development of the interests in building up the Navy until it was crowned by the establishment of an armor-plate factory, for which he contended 15 years be- fore it came, and the administration and the efficiency of a navy which has been a thing of pride and a comfort during the late war through which we have passed, and we have all had to acknowledge the efficiency, the power, the modesty, and the high-toned conditions of this branch of the service. As a literary man the Senator was unsurpassed in the use of the English language, in logic that went to the heart of every matter, and his most conspicuous effort, in my [58] Address of Mr. Stevenson, of South Carolina judgment, in that line was the correspondence conducted with Mr. Henry Watterson, of Louisville, Ky., and Mr. George Harvey, of New York, a few years ago when they combined in an assault upon the then Gov. Wilson, of New Jersey, who was being talked of as a candidate for the presidency, and a perusal of the correspondence be- tween Senator Tillman and them will show how he un- horsed the two past masters in the use of English, and swept away the cobwebs of injustice which they were hanging about the neck of Mr. Wilson; and this helped materially to promote Mr. Wilson's nomination and elec- tion to the Presidency. Now, just one word I wanted to say as to Senator Till- man in his private life. For 33 years he and I were per- sonal friends. We frequently divided politically, but the personal relations between us have always been the most cordial; and I consider the strong point which made him unassailable in almost every walk of life was the beautiful character of his family life, which caused him to lean upon and trust and take counsel of his helpmeet, his wife, who stood around him like a protecting wall through all these years; the family life of that man was a benedic- tion, and such a signpost as to point every man to the way of high living in social circles, such that no finger of scorn and no tongue of scandal can assail. [59] Address of Mr. Walsh, of Massachusetts Mr. Speaker : We are met to pay tribute to the memory of one of South Carolina's great men, in order that the record of this Congress may contain an estimate of the career of one of her great statesmen. It is unnecessary that tributes should be paid in order that his State or the Nation might be impressed with the great value of his services or with the nobleness of his character, because his service in the Nation's Congress speaks for itself. It was not my privilege to have known Senator Tillman in- timately, but I recall as a young man, when following speeches and the career of men in the United States Sen- ate, the impression that was made when he first came to the Capital of the Republic. I remember how he first attracted the attention of the citizens of the Nation and left his mark as a fearless statesman. He impressed me as one who despised all sham and as one who was not afraid to speak plainly upon any issue or upon any ques- tion. He went to the meat of any subject which he under- took to discuss, and he argued and debated with a strength that impresed one as that of a man discussing a question with his whole soul. I happened to be designated upon the committee that went upon that sad journey when the remains of Senator Tillman were consigned to their last resting place. No one who was present upon that occasion but would be impressed with the deep sense of loss that was apparent amid the surrounding throng who came to attend the funeral exercises. As I before stated, he was one of South Carolina's great statesmen. He left behind him a name which will be remembered and revered in the days to come. That State has given many great men to the Na- [60] - Address of Mr. Walsh, of Massachusetts tion's service — Calhoun, Hampton, Butler — but in these days those who have been privileged to serve with Ben- jamin Byan Tillman I am sure will be of the opinion that his name and his career is fit to be placed upon the same high pedestal to which we look when we think of those men who went before him. I am reminded that Senator Tillman at one time de- livered an address in which he compared and linked up, so to speak, the great history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which I have the honor in part to repre- sent, and that of the State of South Carolina. It is sig- nificant, Mr. Speaker, that to-day in the other branch of this Congress the senior Senator from my State is among those who are paying tribute to the memory and career of Senator Tillman. I refer to the senior Senator from Massachusetts, Henry Cabot Lodge, who I believe was designated by Senator Tillman, either just before his death or some time ago, to speak upon his career when he should have gone. Senator Tillman, although he brought great fame to the State of South Carolina, will stand forth not only as one of that State's great men, but as one of the Nation's states- men, one who was intimately connected with many of the great problems with which we have had to contend in these later years. I was interested in hearing of his early activities in the State of South Carolina, and how with that remarkable courage, that indomitable will, he forced himself and the issues which he stood for to the front and gained a place among the councils of his State. We pay this tribute with respect and reverence, with the assur- ance that his memory will ever be kept green, and that his career will be looked upon as a worthy example to those who aspire to represent others either in the State or the Nation with that fearless and direct courage to which the people are entitled. [61] Address of Mr. Dominick, of South Carolina Mr. Speaker: Benjamin Ryan Tillman sat in the seat of the immortal Calhoun in the United States Senate for nearly 24 years — a longer time than anyone else has served as a Senator from South Carolina. At the time of his entry into South Carolina politics I was only a boy, but the events that followed and the leading part he played for more than a quarter of a century have left some vivid recollections. South Carolina, among all of the States, has been noted for having more politics for its size than any other State in the Union, and from the beginning of her history many of its campaigns have attracted nation-wide interest. She has furnished her quota of public men and statesmen, who have not only left their impress upon the history of the Stale but upon the history of, the Nation, and among those public men and statesmen Tillman's name will have to be written. I will not attempt in this sketch to review South Caro- lina politics and affairs. The conditions immediately following the Civil War and the corruption of a regime from 1868 up until 1876, when the white people deter- mined to regain control of their governmental affairs, are well known. However, after the political revolution of 1876, resulting in the redemption of the State, there developed an idea among the people that the masses did not have a proper voice in the government, and there was much complaint of government of " aristocracy," " Bourbons," and " ring rule," and in some quarters it was charged that the governor and State officers were named and chosen at the annual dinner of a prominent social club in South Carolina. This naturally resulted in [62] Address of Mr. Dominick, of South Carolina a great deal of unrest among the masses of the people and they were beginning to be prepared for the political revolution that occurred in 1890. Living in the county of Edgefield, near the banks of the Savannah River, was a farmer, unheard of and unknown, but whose family had written their names upon the brightest pages of the history of the State. This farmer was Benjamin Ryan Tillman. His brother, Jim Tillman, as Bishop Capers declared at a great rally in the city of Columbia, was the " oriflamme of his regiment " in the war of the Confederacy, and the name of Tillman can be found upon the rolls of those who fought in all of the wars of this country — the War of the Revolution, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, in which one of his nephews was a colonel, and after- wards lieutenant governor of his State, and the great World War — one of his sons being now in France, hav- ing gone there as captain of his company, and now being in charge as major of his battalion. George D. Tillman for 16 years sat as a Member of this body, and was rec- ognized throughout the Nation as one of its greatest statesmen. Ben Tillman, this farmer, taking his cue from the Ellenton riot, from the dark days of 76, and that matchless and gallant leader, Mart Gary, who was known as " The Bald Eagle of Edgefield," picked up the threads of the movement where they were left by him. He knew the conditions of the masses of the people; he came forward and went on the rostrum. At that time it is stated that he was ridiculed and laughed at on account of his poor showing on the stump, notwithstanding the fact that he afterwards developed into one of the great- est stump speakers South Carolina has ever produced. He knew, though, that behind him there was a vast mul- titude of people who were demanding justice and who were looking to him as their leader. He appeared in the [63] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman State convention of 1888, and went down in defeat as a leader of the minority in that convention. He went back to his home, continued his agitation, and in the historic March convention of 1890 he was nomi- nated for governor of South Carolina. The campaign that followed is memorable in the history of our State, and no true record can be written of it that does not record its causes and great effects. Mr. Tillman was elected governor by an overwhelming vote of the white people. After a stormy administration of two years he became a candidate for reelection as governor and was opposed by a distinguished fellow citizen of his own county and ex-governor of the State. In that campaign South Carolina was again aroused from the mountains to the seaboard, and partisanship and passion ran high, but again a majority of the voters said that he should be their governor. Two years more of his administration was marked by storm and discord, but it gave to the masses that which they sought — freedom of thought and political liberty, which God intended they should have. His terms as governor of South Carolina were signalized by the establishment of the Clemson Agricultural and Mechanical College for boys, at Calhoun's old home, Fort Hill — an agitation which was begun by him in 1886, for industrial and technical education in South Carolina — and this, with the establishment of Winthrop College for girls, stands forth to-day as the greatest educational achievement in the history of the State. His administration was also signalized by the establish- ment of the State dispensary system for the control of the liquor traffic, which many people believed then, and be- lieve to-day, that under proper management is the best solution of the liquor problem. This system was estab- lished in the face of an overwhelming vote in favor of prohibition at the election in 1892, and was the cause of [64] Address of Mr. Dominick, of South Carolina much discord in the political, social, and personal affairs of the people of South Carolina. The enforcement of this law, during the latter part of his last administration as governor, gave him an opportunity to show his ability as a bold and daring fighter, which characterized him throughout his political career. In March, 1894, in a clash between some of the constables appointed by him for the enforcement of this law and some citizens at Darlington, who thought that their rights had been in- vaded, some were killed and many others wounded, and the riot which ensued came near resulting in serious trouble throughout the State. However, Gov. Tillman took charge of the situation, ordered out the entire militia of the State, took charge of the telegraph lines and rail- roads, and very soon restored order, and there was no further trouble. When he had served two terms as governor he was overwhelmingly elected to the United States Senate — hav- ing made a county to county canvass throughout the State for that office. Senator Tillman was a striking figure, and he is missed by the people of his State and in the councils of the Nation. He will go down in the history of South Carolina and of this Nation as one of the strongest men who has served South Carolina as governor or represented her in the United States Senate. Of his services as a Senator they can and will be spoken of better by those who served with him there for the past quarter of a century, but on this occasion I can not refrain from quoting the closing para- graphs of an editorial written by John K. Aull, in the Charleston American, upon the death of Senator Tillman: Undoubtedly, while he went to Washington under most un- welcome conditions, being openly hostile to what he believed to be the wicked Cleveland regime, his genius soon allayed the errors and suspicions of his confreres and he became a shining 115070°— 19 5 [65] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman light. Space does not permit us to sketch even briefly the many commanding positions he assumed in legislation, nor is this the place. We have watched him there upon the Senate floor match- ing his genius with giants of the old days and coming off never second best. His name will long live to heighten the fame of Carolina in a body whose traditions number among them the glory of Calhoun. Even had his health not failed him, it is gravely doubtful if in recent or future years he could mingle with the same zest amongst the almost entirely new faces in the Senate. His old colleagues were gone. They were to him merely spirits that cast perhaps across his daily path through the Senate aisle shadows of bygone days, days when the polished Senator Hoar, who learned so warmly to love him, referred, not banteringly, but earnestly to him as " the best lawyer in the Senate." Hoar, Vest, Bacon, Allison, Daniel, Hale, Cockrell, Aldrich, and many like them, who left him one by one for awhile are with him now — for although many of these differed with him and often with one another, they were all one in pure Americanism, loving and serv- ing the land they honored with an untarnished patriotism. So let us leave him with them. The light of heaven shines upon those mooted questions over which they opposed only the feeble light of even their great intellects. There will be no " ad- journments " there, no " points of order," no " filibuster," no tariffs, subsidies, or silver question to wrangle over, but all sweet peace, truth, harmony, and happiness forever. What more appropriate may we say than that he deserves the lines written upon the death of Napoleon: "The lightnings may flash and the loud thunders rattle; He heeds not, he hears not; he's free from all pain; He sleeps his last sleep, he has fought his last battle; No sound can awake him to glory again!" In his native soil, in the little village of Trenton, there now rests in peace one who forged his way to a high place among the truly great of this Nation, and Taller he seems in death. [66] Address of Mr. Padgett, of Tennessee Mr. Speaker: I feel that I can add nothing, or but little at best, to the eloquent tributes that have already been spoken concerning the life work of a splendid character who figured prominently for more than a quarter of a century in the national affairs of our Government. I, however, was associated largely with him, he being chair- man of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the Senate and I of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House. This afforded an opportunity for official and personal associa- tion. I desire, first of all, to bear testimony to the cordial good friendship which existed between us. Senator Tillman was a unique character. He was built in a mold strictly his own. He was unique in many respects, and the very uniqueness of his character not only attracted at- tention but challenged admiration. He was a man of strong personality. His personality was positive and de- cidedly his own. We can not find, I think, in private or public life a duplicate of Senator Tillman. He possessed traits of personal character that not only attracted, not only challenged our esteem, but gained for him admira- tion, and brought him forward prominently in the affairs of the Government. He was a man of strong convictions. There was noth- ing, if I may use a homely expression, of milk and cider in his composition. He was a man who believed sincerely and strongly whatever he believed, and he had the cour- age to express his convictions. He was a man of per- sistent purpose. Once he was convinced of the righteous- ness of his cause, once he was satisfied of the desirability of his course of conduct, once that it came to him as a [67] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman conviction of duty, there was no let up. Continually, per- sistently he strove for that which his judgment and his conscience approved. As we stand under these circum- stances, and would give expression not in mere formal words, but in the sincere convictions which we entertain of the man, all of us must admire this persistency of pur- pose, this strength of conviction, this strong personality. He was a man of strong likes and dislikes. A man who has a strong personality, who has a persistent purpose, who has strong convictions of right and of wrong, a man who draws the line tautly between right and wrong in personal life, in private affairs, in public affairs, in the duties and responsibilities of government, could not be otherwise in the natural order of things than a man of strong likes and dislikes. He drew his friends to him with a strong grasp, and those in whom he did not have confidence — those whose integrity of purpose or of char- acter he doubted — he repelled, because there was a con- geniality between Senator Tillman and the truth, and there was an aspersion between him and guile and wrong. Hence it is that when we speak of him as a man of strong likes, a man in whom flowed strongly and vigorously the milk of human kindness for those who shared his esteem, we must at the same time admire that corollary attribute of character that he despised hypocrisy and made it mani- fest on all occasions. He broke away from the established custom of conserv- atism. That was natural, and that was one of the promi- nent outstanding traits of his character, and one of the strong, predominant features of his life and his services. Most of us run along in the way of least resistance. We go along the line of established organization, of estab- lished conservatism. It was not so with Senator Tillman. He had some convictions about the existing order of things. Some things were going along which did not re- [68] Address of Mr. Padgett, of Tennessee ceive the sanction of his judgment or the approval of his conscience, and he broke away completely and strongly from the organized conservatism of the day and started out on lines of his own thought and of his own judgment and approval. I would not seek to compare him in all respects, but the suggestion occurs to me that in the olden days John the Baptist broke away from the established conservatism in religious affairs. John Knox broke away from the estab- lished organization. Martin Luther battled the conserva- tism which he believed was not only promulgating but establishing error and wrong. And in political matters in his State, and to some extent in the Nation, Senator Till- man broke away from this organized conservatism, and he challenged the thought and attention, and he brought the thought and attention of the people of his own State and of the Nation to think along other and different lines. Senator Tillman was honest. He became known here and was often spoken of as " honest Ben Tillman." How- ever much anyone differed with him, however much they might separate themselves from his conclusions, however much they might challenge his doctrines of political economy, no one ever doubted or really challenged his personal honesty and integrity of character or his political honesty and sincerity of purpose. Again, Mr. Speaker, he was faithful to the trust that was reposed in him. No one has ever called him a derelict in politics. No one has ever spoken of him as in any way betraying the trust and the confidence which the people, not only of his State but of the Union, reposed in him, as an honest man and a public servant. So that to-day, under these surroundings, we can speak of him as an honest man and a faithful public servant. Finally, Mr. Speaker, coming here as he did under pe- culiar and unique surroundings, occupying at the first a [69] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman strange and unique attitude that called forth many criti- cisms and comments in the papers, causing individuals and the press to speak in terms that were out of the or- dinary routine of political literature, he grew in the esteem and in the affection of his associates and of the country. During the past summer the end came, somewhat sud- denly. I was selected as one of the committee to go to his home in South Carolina to lay away his body for the resurrection. It was only his body that we laid in the ground, not Ben Tillman. His spirit had risen into that higher, nobler, grander, larger, better life where the aspi- rations of his soul in all the years of his life — and a large, rich life it had been — had said, " It is not death but life I crave; a larger, better, richer, fuller life I would have." He realized it, and he has gone to the reward of the just. Wherever the honest, wherever the faithful are, Senator Tillman is there, and he has left here with us the name, the reputation, the character of an honest and faithful man. [70] Address of Mr. Nicholls, of South Carolina Mr. Speaker: It is indeed hard for me to add anything to the wonderful tributes and the just tributes that have been paid here to our deceased colleague, Senator Till- man. I come from the people and from the section of the country that, when Tillman started, were bitterly op- posed to him. From the time I was a child I had been taught that Senator Tillman was representing what was not best for the State, although the people with whom I most associated did not for one minute question his honor or his integrity. On one occasion when I was a mere boy I was talking to the overseer on a large planta- tion in my home county. He was, as we knew the word, a strong Tillmanite. The man who owned that planta- tion was as bitter against Senator Tillman as any man in South Carolina. The overseer and the man who owned the plantation had been boys together before the Civil War. In fact, the overseer's father had been the overseer of the owner's father before the Civil War. I asked him, purely from curiosity, " How in the world can you support Tillman?" He said: " Sam, So-and-So told me the other day that we needed a reform in South Carolina; that ring rule had long existed; and that while he was a party in a way to the ring rule, something ought to be done, and that something ought to be started to give the honest, common people a chance to have a voice in this Government. I said" — that is, this man said — " ' That is exactly what Tillman is trying to do.' He said : " It should be done, but I don't think Tillman is the man." And this overseer said to me, " It did not occur to me that it made any particular difference who the man was, what we wanted was a reform, and we could change the man [71] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman if we found he was not ihe right one." To-day, Mr. Speaker, the man who made that remark about not believ- ing that Senator Tillman was the right man is his friend and was his friend at the time of his death. As one of my colleagues has stated, and I truly believe, there is no State in the Union where politics is so bitter and so partisan as in my own State of South Carolina. I am not referring to the two great parties, but to fac- tional politics within the party. One reason that I give for this is because in our State all candidates for office go upon the same stump and have joint debates which at times get very personal. Their followers naturally take sides, and I have seen the time in South Carolina — and my other colleagues from there have seen the same thing — when a man almost took his life in his hand to go upon the stump there on either side. When I was a boy I once asked why Senator Tillman was not afraid of having more fights, as I expressed it, and a gentleman from our home town said, " Well, I will tell you, Sam, why he is not afraid. It is because most of the fighting men are on his side of the proposition." That was largely true, for the people of South Carolina thought that they had been mistreated by certain politicians, and the people of South Carolina who supported Senator Till- man were willing to fight for those rights of which they thought they had been deprived, and they got behind him and elected him governor. What a howl went up through this country. Almost every newspaper, not only of South Carolina but throughout the United States, called him a dema- gogue, called him everything that they could well call him and not be indicted for libel. What did he do? He " stuck to his guns," if you will pardon a crude expression. He worked for the interests he had promised to serve. He was not afraid. No man in the State could run him [72] Address of Mr. Nicholls, of South Carolina from the stump. He went before his people, and he advocated their cause. He was reelected governor in spite of strong opposition from strong men. The money powers of his State, while, of course, I do not charge them with being corrupt, were against him. The newspapers of the State were largely against him, but the masses of the toiling people of South Carolina stood behind him. He was reelected governor, as I said, and afterwards was elected to the United States Senate. "Why, Mr. Speaker, I remember, although at that time I was too young to have any voice in politics, that there was strong talk in South Carolina that the Senate would not seat him when he came. But he was seated; and, Mr. Speaker, in his early days here, with that strong tongue that he had, he caused some men who had mocked and laughed at him to be very strong for him before he got through. He turned out to be not what the papers said he was, a radi- cal and an obstructionist. I will not say at the time of his death that he was what South Carolina would have called a conservative. Senator Tillman could not be con- servative. As my colleague from Tennessee [Mr. Padgett] has stated, when he believed a thing there could be no conservatism. He worked to the end that he thought was right. When I came to Washington, if you will pardon me for referring to myself, and I do it for the reason that I did not know him well when I came here, I went to his office the first day and said, " Senator, I came in to pay my respects." He knew pretty well the attitude of every man in South Carolina as to himself. If you mentioned a man from Barnwell, Spartanburg, Columbia, Oconee, if he was a man of any political prominence, Senator Tillman could tell you how he stood with him in his politics. I said, " Senator, I came in to pay my respects." He said, " Sam, [73] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman I am glad to see you here, but I have not a particle of use for your politics." That was his blunt way of speaking. It made me angry, and I said, " Senator, I have got no more for yours than you have for mine." He said, " I will make a trade with you. If you will let me alone over there I will let you alone over here." I said, " You have traded." And I walked out of his office. The next day the 'phone rang, and the Senator said, " Sam, can you come to my office? " I went over, and he said, " I did not mean anything yesterday. We have differed in politics, but I want us to get along together. You are a new man, a young man, and I possibly can give you advice and in- formation that you will need." I shook hands with the Senator, and from that day to the day of his death he was like a father to me. There was no time when I needed advice that I did not go to Senator Tillman, knowing that I would get good and honest advice. To show you the character of the Senator, the night before the last campaign opened I went to him and asked him to do a favor for a friend of mine. It turned out that we were both very much criticized by some of the newspapers because we granted the favor, a favor which was nothing more than was just and right. The Senator at that time thought that he would be in the race for the Senate again. I went to Senator Tillman and I said, " Senator, I know that you made this recommendation because I asked you to do it, because you believed I would not mislead you. Feeling as I do about it, I believe it my duty to come out in the papers and state that I will take the whole responsibility for that action in case it hurts you in your race." He said, " I will not let you do it. I will never put the responsibility for what I do on any man. It is true your recommendation had some- thing to do with my signing it, but I have signed it and I am behind it." [74] Address of Mr. Nicholls, of South Carolina That shows you, Mr. Speaker, the manner of man that Senator Tillman was. I am sorry I have been unable, on account of being away from the city, to write what I consider a fitting eulogy of this great man. Our State, as has been well said, has produced great men, but no man in the history of South Carolina has ever been in a position to make bigger history, to make more lasting history than Senator Tillman. We all remember at the time when the Democratic Party took charge of the Senate there was some talk throughout the country that Senator Tillman wanted to be chairman of another committee than Naval Affairs. He was made chairman of Naval Affairs, and, Mr. Speaker, I would rather be chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee or of the Military Affairs Committee, if I cared to go down in history and properly serve my country in the time of this great world war, than to be chairman of any committee in either branch of Congress. He was not stingy; he was not extravagant. He be- lieved that what was necessary in this war should be given and freely given. And he gave to the service of his country one of the noblest boys whom I know. He was my personal friend. I say he gave him to his country, but fortunately he has not been killed. He is in France now. He is a " chip off the old block," and I am proud to say that, although this country has sustained the loss of our great statesman, he leaves one or more behind him who some day may be able to in part fill his place. The last time I talked with Senator Tillman was the day before his last stroke of paralysis. He was discuss- ing every phase of the war and seemed to think that his days were numbered. He told me that he hoped, regard- less of politics in South Carolina, he would live long enough to see America and her allies victorious in this war. If he had lived that long, I believe his every am- bition would have been fulfilled. My great regret is that [75] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman God in His infinite wisdom did not see fit to allow him to live to see the plans which he had so carefully prepared carried out to a successful conclusion. He died as he had lived, " with his boots on," fighting for the people, for democracy, and for everything that he thought right and just for the upbuilding of humanity. T76] Address of Mr. Whaley, of South Carolina Mr. Speaker: Believing that others who will speak on this occasion will give a biographical sketch of South Carolina's illustrious son in whose honor we have met, I shall avoid the probability of repetition and undertake a brief analysis of those characteristics of the late Sena- tor Benjamin Byan Tillman which made him so valuable a citizen and governor of the State of South Carolina and such an effective Member of the United Slates Senate. Tillman was born on a farm, reared on a farm, and, after the attainment of the years of manhood, followed agriculture as an occupation. It is said that his agricul- tural experience was not particularly successful, and in this respect he had much in common with the agricultural producers of his time, not only in South Carolina but throughout the United States. During his years of ill- rewarded efforts upon the farm, his observation, his difficulties, and his disappointments impressed indelibly upon his mind the severe disadvantages and the great discouragements which all too frequently surround the agricultural producer. It was through an endeavor to alleviate the condition of the farming class that Tillman entered public life and gave his attention primarily to the solution of the great problems which must be solved be- fore American agriculture can be placed upon a firm and satisfactory foundation. From his youth he had grappled with the most practi- cal problems in a most practical way. He learned in the hard school of adversity. His principles of economics were not gleaned from books. Although he was in later life one of the best-read men in the best of literature, the mental training which enabled him to achieve success [77] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman was acquired chiefly as an incident and result of his daily observation of the circumstances under which the pro- ducing classes labor and the evils with which they must contend. He beheld ignorance among people who were conduct- ing an industry which requires the widest training and skill. He observed injustice which deprived the agricultural worker of the due reward of his labor. Contemplation of these evils and injustices not only developed in him a power to reason, but nourished deep-seated emotions which became predominating features of his political ac- tivities and public addresses. No amount of abstract economic reasoning would have produced the political revolution which he led prior to his election to the gov- ernorship of South Carolina. In the words of an illus- trious President of the United States, the farmers of South Carolina were " confronted by conditions, and not theo- ries." No ordinary methods would have aroused them to united effort sufficiently organized and sufficiently aggres- sive to overthrow those who were at that time dominant in the public affairs of his State. It has been asserted and is quite likely true that Tillman frequently indulged in extravagances of statement which more deliberate and careful men would have avoided. No one, however, has ever accused him of overstating a fact for an ulterior of selfish purpose. Dealing with con- ditions which required heroic remedies, he made his at- tacks with what might be considered a reckless abandon, upon the assumption that the end justified the means. He was seeking results, and his overwhelming victory in the face of tremendous opposition seems to have justified the measures he adopted. That a farmer should be elected and reelected governor of South Carolina at that time in the political history of the State was an accomplish- es] Address of Mr. Whaley, of South Carolina ment which could not have been achieved by the ordinary weapons of political conflict. Tillman's mind was that of a nonconformist. He ac- knowledged the binding force of no political convention- alities. Before he had been one month in the United States Senate he had broken the rule which requires silence on the part of a new Member and had made a speech which earned him the sobriquet of " Pitchfork Tillman." From that day to the time of his retirement from active participation in the work of the Senate he was recognized as a factor to be considered in almost every important piece of legislation. He was not one who delighted to participate in discussion merely for the pur- pose of showing his skill in debate, but, whenever any subject appealed to him as calling for action on his part, he threw the whole power of his keen intellect, his mar- velous skill at repartee, and his unsurpassed command of vitriolic language into the discussion. He asked no quarter and he gave none. Naturally this style of fighting made him few warm personal friends but aroused many enemies. It is a well known and universally acknowledged fact, however, that none of the animosities thus aroused cost him either the confidence or the respect of his associates. His honesty of purpose was not brought in dispute. Knowing the purity of his motives, even those who felt the sting of his arrows admired his skill and held him personally in the highest esteem. His diatribes fur- nished frequent occasion for jest, but they supplied little humor to those who were the objects of his invective. Unlike most men who enter upon crusades against economic evils, Tillman was not destructive. He founded the Clemson College for the training of the young men in agriculture and the applied sciences. He established the Winthrop Normal and Industrial School for Women. He secured the enactment of more just and equitable laws [79] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman for the assessment of taxes. He secured the election of railroad commissioners by the people, with authority vested in them to fix passenger and freight rates. He se- cured the enactment of the primary system of party nomi- nations. He was the author of the dispensary law which eliminated the public barroom from South Carolina and led the way for prohibition. These were a few of the more important accomplishments of four years in the governor- ship, during which time he had as strong an opposition as ever a governor faced. Entering the United States Senate in 1895, he was for 23 consecutive years a Member of that body. Although the Republicans were in control of the Senate when the rail- road rate bill was under consideration in 1906, a split among the Republicans threw the management of that measure upon Senator Tillman — a task which he per- formed with much credit to himself and to his party. He was an advocate of a large navy and made his influence felt. In the framing of a multitude of important measures he participated actively, always fearlessly and aggres- sively representing what he believed to be the best inter- ests of the people of the United States and of his own State. To the youth of America the career of Benjamin Ryan Tillman should be of interest. It will be worth while for them to remember that it was through no favor of good fortune or prestige of family that he attained his high po- sition in the councils of our Government. Neither was it personal ambition that led him into public life. He saw the need of public reforms, and, although the task was great and the prospect of success doubtful, he undertook it without hesitation and devoted himself without reserve to the amelioration of the condition of his fellow citizens. He had few of the advantages of school education but neglected no opportunity for the improvement of his [80] Address of Mr. Whaley, of South Carolina mind. He had confidence in himself and accepted his own judgment as his guide, even though he diverged from the course and methods laid down by American political lead- ers during a century of our national history. His career emphasizes the value of practical experience in early youth, courage to undertake a difficult task, and willingness to be a nonconformist when sound judgment and high motives indicate that as the proper course. It would be difficult to find in American political history an- other instance of a man whose public career shows ad- vancement direct from the farm to the governorship and thence to the United States Senate solely as the result of individual merit and ability. 115070°— 19 6 [81] Address of Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina Mr. Speaker: Benjamin By an Tillman, the man whose memory we to-day honor, was born in Edgefield County, S. C, August 11, 1847. He was a son of Benjamin Byan Tillman and Sophia Hancock, and was the youngest of 11 children. When he was but 2 years of age his father died, and he was reared by his mother on the plantation about 12 miles from the town of Edgefield. He studied at home under private tutors until he was 14 years of age, when he attended a school conducted by Mr. George Golphin, a scholarly man who enjoyed the distinction of having served as tutor to Senator Butler, Gen. Mart Gary, and many others prominent in the political life of South Caro- lina. In July, 1864, when not quite 17 years of age, he left school and volunteered in the service of the Confederate Army, but while on his way to join the army he was taken sick, and it was during this illness that he lost his left eye by reason of the formation of an abscess. For two years he was an invalid. Upon his recovery he went to Florida, where he spent a year, returning in 1868 to Edgefield County, where he engaged in farming. While thus en- gaged Senator Tillman devoted his leisure time to study, in his own language, " reading everything of value he could lay his hands upon." He had the most retentive memory of any man I ever knew, and it enabled him in recent years to quote from the poets verses he had not read for years. Even in speeches delivered by him in early life this familiarity with the old masters was evident, and was a constant source of surprise to those who knew that he had not enjoyed the privilege of a college or uni- versity course. [82] Address of Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina When, in 1876, the white people of South Carolina de- termined to overthrow the rule of the carpetbagger, the scalawag, and the negro, Tillman participated with all the force and aggressiveness that has characterized every effort of his life. He organized the Red Shirts in that community. Under Capt. A. P. Butler he participated in what is known as the Hamburg riot; and on that occasion demonstrated his physical courage and his capacity for leadership. With the Edgefield Hussars he started to the Ellenton riot, but his company did not reach there in time to participate in the fight. With the redemption of the State from negro rule, Tillman resumed his quiet life upon the farm, and from this seclusion did not emerge until 1885, when he went to Bennettsville, S. C, as a delegate to the annual meeting of the South Carolina Agricultural Society. Tillman had never delivered a public address, but upon reaching Ben- nettsville he announced that he was going to address the convention and would have something out of the ordinary to say to the delegates. He did not disappoint them. He pictured the poverty of the farmers, three-fourths of whom were borrowing money upon their crops before they were made, and with fiery eloquence he denounced the State officials for their indifference to the agricultural interests of the State. He urged the farmers to demand the establishment of an agricultural school worthy of the name, in connection with the South Carolina College, and to require the board of agriculture to annually hold farm- ers' institutes in the various counties of the State. He spoke for an hour, and when he concluded, though neither he nor Ms hearers realized it, he had started a revolution in the State of South Carolina. From that day, August 5, 1885, to the daj r of his death, July 3, 1918, Tillman occupied the center of the political stage in South Carolina, and the story of his public life [83] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman is the story of the political life of the State. To appre- ciate the impression made by his Bennettsville speech, one has to understand the political conditions then existing. Prior to the Civil War the State of South Carolina was ruled by a small group of men of great intelligence and of high character, most of whom resided in Charles- ton and Columbia. The State officials were generally selected by this group from among the professional men of the State. The one-horse farmer and the man without social standing never dreamed of his having the right to hold office and he even entertained some doubt as to his right to vote. Certainly, had one of them announced his candidacy for office, he would have been in imminent danger of sequestration in an asylum for the insane. At the conclusion of the war the old leaders, their heirs and assigns, immediately resumed their control of the Dem- ocratic Party; but as there was a majority of 30,000 negroes of voting age, the Republican Party, composed of the negroes, the carpetbaggers, and the scalawags, were able to control the elections and did run the State government until 1876, when negro rule was overthrown and white supremacy established for all time. Immediately following 1876 there was a natural dis- position on the part of the rank and file of the people to blindly follow the leadership of the men who had con- trolled the party in the fight for the redemption of the State. Again there was the realization that any division within the party would endanger the freedom so dearly purchased. Consequently any criticism of the conduct of the State government was met with the warning that such a course would cause a division in the party and make possible a recurrence of negro rule with all of its horrors and outrages. It is manifest that this condition of affairs made it easy for the old leaders to perpetuate their control of the government. Conditions were such [84] Address of Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina that corruption in the government could have existed without the knowledge of the people. But to the ever- lasting credit of those in control it must be said that, notwithstanding their autocratic power and the unlimited opportunity for misuse of that power, careful and even hostile investigation in after years failed to disclose evidence of corruption on the part of a single State official. The honesty of those in control was testified to by Senator Tillman in an address delivered in the Senate in 1898, when he described the conditions then existing in the following language: The State was democratic or independent in national politics, but it was aristocratic in local affairs. This aristocracy, be it said to its credit, gave to the State as good government, so far as purity and honesty is concerned, as any country ever had. But a prouder, more arrogant, or hot-headed ruling class never existed. With this statement of the political conditions one can appreciate the sensation caused by the speech of Tillman at Bennettsville in August, 1885. It brought down upon his head the wrath of the press as well as of the political leaders. " Farmer Ben " became the target for their sa- tire and abuse. In a series of letters he defended his course and urged upon the farmers of the State his sug- gestion to establish an agricultural college. He cited the agricultural colleges of Mississippi and of Michigan as proof of the practicability and the wisdom of his sug- gestion, and published a lot of data secured from Stephen D. Lee, then president of the Mississippi college. His letters enlisted the support of many of the leading farmers of the State, who in .the spring of 1886 held a convention at which resolutions indorsing his views were adopted. As the desired object could be accomplished only by leg- islation, it was inevitable that the " Farmers' Alliance," as it was called, should take an interest in the elections. [85] Memorial Addresses : Senator Tillman The old leaders, however, still firmly held the reins and the movement had not attained sufficient momentum to wrest control from them. Tillman continued his agitation, delivering addresses in various counties of the State during the year 1887. In the political campaign of 1888 the farmers endeavored to induce several of the old political leaders to lead their fight, but their efforts were in vain. Two years later, in the spring of 1890, what was known as the " Shell Mani- festo " was issued, a document that became the platform of the reform movement. A convention followed and Tillman was selected as the nominee for governor. At- torney General Earle and Gen. Bratton were later selected as the nominees of the faction that became known as the Conservatives. Of the seven hundred lawyers of the State only forty were known to be supporters of Tillman. The press was unanimously opposed to him, but a joint de- bate was held in every county of the State, and as nearly every man, woman, and child in the State turned out to hear the speakers, Tillman was able to present his cause to the people. The feeling between the factions became so great that at many meetings the speakers were unable to make themselves heard, the factions engaging in a contest to see which could cheer their champion the loud- est and the longest. After the first few meetings there was never any doubt about the result, and Tillman was nominated, carrying all but four counties of the State. Dissatisfied with the result, the opposition placed an independent ticket in the field in the general election, but many of the Conservative leaders of the opposition failed to support the independent movement, and the followers of Tillman were even more determined, the result being the overwhelming election of Capt. Tillman. In this campaign Tillman demonstrated his wonder- ful ability as a stump speaker. Picturesque figure that [86] Address of Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina he was, with his Napoleonic features, shaded by his broad- brimmed hat, he never failed to attract the attention of the people. In this campaign he spoke to the people in a language they understood, of their right to participate in the government of the State, and not merely to register the will of others. In passionate language he denounced the editor of the News and Courier, Capt. F. W. Dawson, the brilliant leader of the opposition, and as he inveighed against ring rule he aroused his supporters to such a fever of excitement that many of them were willing to fight for him, and, if need be, to die for him. His wonder- ful success as a public speaker is the more remarkable in view of the fact that he was thirty-six years old when he delivered his first public address at Bennettsville, and had he entered public life as early as do most men it is interesting to speculate upon the degree of perfection he might have attained. As it was, I do not believe he had an equal. During Tollman's first term as governor he was unable to accomplish many of the reforms he advocated because of the lack of cooperation on the part of the legislature, a majority of whom were his supporters. In 1892 he asked for reelection and in the campaign that followed designated many of the legislators as mere " driftwood " and urged the people to elect a legislature that would support him. For reelection he was opposed by one of the ablest men in the State, ex-Gov. John C. Sheppard. As in the pre- vious campaign, factional feeling ran high, there being as clear a division between the Tillmanites and anti- Tillmanites as there is between Democrats and Repub- licans. The joint debates drew tremendous audiences and the feeling was so intense that men came armed, and only the coolness of the candidates prevented great loss of life. [87] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman Tillman was reelected and very few anti-Tillmanites were elected to the legislature. Of his service as governor it is fair to quote from his last message to the legislature what he regarded as the achievements of his administrations : First. The erection and endowment of Clemson College. Second. The overthrow of the Coosaw monopoly. Third. The just and equitable assessment of taxes on railroads and other corporations and the victory in the courts compelling them to pay. Fourth. The passage of the dispensary law and the destruction of the barrooms. Fifth. Refunding of the State debt, which saved $78,000 a year in interest. Sixth. The establishment of Winthrop Normal and In- dustrial College for Women. Seventh. Election of the railroad commission by the people and allowing them to fix passenger and freight rates. Eighth. The inauguration of the primary system of party nominations for all offices in the gift of the people. The student will search in vain for a record of achieve- ment by any South Carolina executive to compare with this record of constructive reforms. The unfriendly critic may criticize the establishment of the dispensary system, but as we now look back upon it and recall that its estab- lishment meant the abolishment of the barroom we must concede that it was a long step toward the prohibition of the sale of alcoholic liquors. In theory the plan was pos- sibly the best solution of the problem, if liquors were to be sold under any system at all, but in practice it failed because of the inability to divorce the liquor business from the politics of a State, and the dispensary system soon became so corrupt that men who at heart were not in favor of prohibition were only too glad of an oppor- [88] Address of Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina tunity to vote for prohibition in order to get rid of the dis- pensary system. But no man can question the beneficial effect of the other constructive reforms above enumerated. Tillman by his eloquence aroused the people to a realization of their right to participate in the government of the State, and then through the primary system he furnished them the means to exercise that right. But he did not stop there. Having placed this power in the hands of the people, with the vision of a statesman he recognized that the greatest safeguard against the abuse of such power was the education of the people, and therefore, in addi- tion to extending the common schools, he established dur- ing his administration the Clemson College for boys and the Winthrop College for girls. Much of the material and moral progress of South Carolina during the last 20 years can be traced to the beneficent influence of these two in- stitutions that will ever stand as enduring monuments to the memory of Gov. Tillman. During his first campaign for governor, Tillman, in closing his speech at Anderson, S. C, said: How many of you can look back and recall the names of South Carolina's governors? Take out the names of the seven since 1876, and with the exception of Hayne, McDuflie, and Hammond the names of the rest are written in sand. I do not want to be such a governor. My aspiration is higher and holier than that. I would like to be a governor to whom after ages will look back and say that he was a " Carolinian and a patriot." When one considers the far-reaching beneficial effects of the achievements above enumerated, he must conclude that the ambition of Tillman was gratified; that after ages will look back upon his administrations, and looking back will say " He was a Carolinian and a patriot." At the conclusion of his second term as governor Till- man opposed Senator M. C. Butler, who was seeking re- [89] Memorial Addresses : Senator Tillman election to the United States Senate. His hold upon the people was as strong as ever, and he was easily elected over his opponent. From the day that Tillman entered the Senate he impressed himself upon the Nation just as he had upon the State of South Carolina. His first speech in that body was delivered to a crowded Senate and a crowded gallery and attracted the attention of the people of the entire country. In many respects it resembled his first public speech at Bennettsville, in 1885. As on that occasion, the conditions were ripe for the appearance of a Tillman. In the South and West there was great un- rest and great dissatisfaction with the administration of Cleveland, and there had begun the agitation that cul- minated in the free-silver fight of 1896. Tillman took the fight of the farmers to the Senate. Announcing that he was not familiar with the proprieties of the Senate and that he intended to use plain, blunt words, he proceeded to denounce Cleveland as no President had ever been de- nounced in the Senate Chamber. He pictured the eco- nomic conditions of the agricultural sections of the coun- try as a result of the low prices for farm products, and charged the existence in Wall Street of a group of men who controlled the credit of the country, and thus the destinies of the people. The speech attracted the atten- tion of the country. The Nation seemed about to divide itself, as South Carolina had, into Tillmanite and anti- Tillmanite camps. Pitchfork Ben became the target of the editorial writers of the East, who declared that, by the language he used, he had disgraced the Senate. The West, however, hailed him as a fearless exponent of the evils they believed to exist. In the Senate the effect of his speech was to cause his colleagues to conclude that, while he was rough and rude in his manner of speech, he was a man of extraordi- nary ability, whose acquaintance might with profit be [90] Address of Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina cultivated. And as they learned to know him they came to know that he was absolutely honest and sincere, and within a very short time he had won the genuine affection of the leaders of both parties in the Senate. He loved to participate in the debates, and was always a dangerous opponent because of his fund of information, his quick mind, and his ready wit. The man who interrupted him while he was speaking always regretted it. The rules of the Senate were always a source of irritation to him. Shortly after his service began he started to speak on a live subject in which he was greatly interested, but which bore no direct relation to the pending bill. A Senator who desired to prevent his speaking arose and asked, " Mr. President, what is before the Senate? " " I am before the Senate," said Tillman, and while his interro- gator was counting the casualties Tillman proceeded to finish his speech. He knew little of parliamentary law and cared less. The truth is that Tillman had no regard for any kind of law. In his consideration of a proposition there was but one question, " Is it just?" If he became convinced that the object sought to be accomplished was a just and right- eous one, he was impatient of any interference by any law, rule, or regulation. With this indifference to law, and with the absolute power that he wielded while governor, the salvation of the people was, that Tillman acted always from impulse, and Tillman's impulses were always good. It is impossible here to refer to his many achievements in the Senate. He often referred to his fight in the Fifty- seventh Congress to compel recognition of South Caro- lina's claim against the Federal Government for money loaned by the State in the War of 1812. By this, $386,000 of the State's bonds held by the Federal Government as a debt against the State were canceled, and $89,137.36 [91] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman was returned to the State treasury in cash. That was a memorable fight, because it involved the two most pic- turesque figures in Congressional life — Farmer Ben Till- man and Uncle Joe Cannon. Mr. Cannon, as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, refused to agree to the Senate amendment to an appropriation bill pro- viding for the payment of the South Carolina claim. Tillman got the floor in the Senate and declared that, unless the conferees agreed to it, the other appropriation bills not yet passed would never pass, because he intended to talk from then until 12 o'clock the next day, March 4, when the Congress must adjourn. At 3 o'clock in the morning Tillman seemed able to make good his threat and rather than provoke an extra session Mr. Cannon yielded. During the control of the Senate by the Republicans Tillman was placed in charge of the railroad-rate bill, and his successful handling of it won the commendation of Ms colleagues. His exposure of the frauds of the armor-plate manufac- turers finally led to the construction by the Government of its own armor-plate plant. He established the Charleston Navy Yard and has con- sistently labored for its development. As chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee he devoted his time and talents to the development of the Navy, and he lived to see Ids efforts rewarded by the demonstration of naval efficiency in the world war that has won the plaudits of the Nation. As a legislator Tillman possessed what, unfortunately, many legislators do not possess — the courage of his con- victions. Former Senator Bailey, who for years sat by the side of Tillman in the Senate, declares that Tillman was not only the truest man he ever knew, but one of the most courageous. Mr. Bailey states that when the Senate [92] Address of Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina was about to vote on the question of expelling Senator Lorimer that Tillman sent for him, and when he went to his office he saw about 100 telegrams piled upon his desk. Tillman handed him about a dozen of them to read. The messages from South Carolinians declared the people of South Carolina were unanimous in the belief that Lori- mer should be unseated and that if he failed to vote to expel him it would endanger his reelection to the Sen- ate. Tillman told him that a man who was very close to him had come to Washington that morning to advise him that if he voted against expulsion he could not be re- elected. Bailey said he knew how anxious Tillman was to be reelected because of his interest in pending prob- lems and stated, " Tillman, that is a question you must submit to your own conscience and I have no right to ad- vise you." " I expected you to say that," said Tillman. " I have submitted it to my conscience, and whether I be right or wrong, on the record before us I do not believe the man should be expelled, and whatever be the conse- quences I shall not vote to unseat him." He went to the Senate Chamber and voted his convictions. Many South Carolinians differed with him, but they had an abiding confidence in the honesty of Ben Tillman and respected his courage, and I doubt whether his vote in this case alienated a single friend. Tillman's service in the Senate quickly made him a national figure and he was in great demand as a public speaker. It was Champ Clark, Speaker of this House, who first suggested to a chautauqua organization that Tillman should be induced to go upon the lecture plat- form. They succeeded in inducing him to go upon a lecture tour, and thirty days after he started the presi- dent of the organization advised Mr. Clark that Tillman was the best drawing card they had. While he had sev- eral lectures, his lecture upon the race problem attracted [93] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman most attention. Through this lecture he undoubtedly presented to the people of the North more clearly than did any other man the view of the South upon this ques- tion. But while rendering his section a service, the fatigue of the travel, after an arduous session, weakened him physically and contributed to his physical break- down. He was stricken with paralysis. From this stroke he recovered, and while he did not regain his former strength he continued his active service in the Senate until three days before his death on July third of this year. The last day he spent in his office I visited him and he read to me a letter he was about to send to Bennetts- ville, S. C, to be read at the senatorial campaign meeting scheduled for the following day. I think this was the last political act of his life, and so as the curtain went up on his political career at Bennettsville in 1885 with this letter the curtain fell upon his political career in July, 1918. The intervening years he had crowded to the utmost with service to the people of South Carolina, and I make bold to say that when the history of this period is written the historian of the future, freed from the prejudice engendered by political contests, will say not only that he was " a Carolinian and a patriot," but he will say that Benjamin Byan Tillman was the greatest man that South Carolina has produced. So much for his political life. I must speak of his pri- vate life, because great as was my admiration for him as governor and Senator greater still was my love for him as a man. In 1868 he married Miss Sallie A. Stark, of Elbert, Ga., and to this union were born six children, five of whom are living — Benjamin Byan Tillman, jr.; Capt. Henry Cumming Tillman; Mrs. Lona Tillman Moore; Mrs. Sophia Tillman Hughes; and Mrs. Sallie Mae Till- man Shuler. [94] Address of Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina I have never known a man more devoted to his family than was Senator Tillman. His devotion to his wife was the devotion of a boy to his sweetheart, and when forced by circumstances to be separated from her for even a day he was the unhappiest man on earth. On one occasion while accompanying him to his office he informed me that that day was the anniversary of his wedding, and I shall never forget with what sincerity he spoke of the happiness of his married life. When in Washington Mrs. Tillman spent every afternoon in his office, and to her Senator Tillman would submit his problems and invariably be guided by her wise counsel. During recent years there was hardly a day during the sessions of Congress that I did not either visit his office or speak with him over the telephone. I came to love him, and in return he treated me as he would one of his sons. As I learned to know him I wondered how, even in the heat of political contests, his enemies misjudged him as they did. I saw his finer qualities, his love of truth, and his hatred of hypocrisy; his love of his fellow man and his sympathy for the downtrodden and the un- fortunate; his chivalrous respect for women and his love of children. I learned, too, of his simple but firm faith in a Supreme Being, and to-day, as I recall how in daily life he practiced religion, I have an abiding confidence that a just and merciful God has granted to him that eternal rest to which a life of service justly entitles him. [95] Address of Mr. Lever, of South Carolina Mr. Speaker: For 40 years John C. Calhoun so thor- oughly dominated politics in South Carolina that it was said, " When Calhoun took snuff the State sneezed." One of the characteristics of the volatile-minded and chival- rous people of South Carolina is hero worship. They idolized Calhoun for nearly half a century. They fol- lowed Gen. Hampton from 1876 to 1890, and they gave their indorsement to the late Senator Tillman for more than a quarter of a century. An adequate review of the activities of Senator Tillman in South Carolina, from the day that he began his agita- tion for certain reforms in the educational and govern- mental systems of the State until, weary with the warfare, he yielded himself in defeat to the unconquered master of man, would require the services of an historian rather than that of the eulogist. Suffice it to say that the move- ment in the politics of the State which gave Senator Till- man an opportunity for the display of his fiery and rugged eloquence was the inevitable outgrowth of conditions which had long existed and which were the results of a situation peculiar to the State. Senator Tillman first attracted attention to himself by a series of articles in the Charleston News and Courier, in which he advocated the establishment of an institution for industrial and technical education. These articles drew the fire of the able editor of that paper, the late Capt. F. W. Dawson. Those who followed these brilliant ex- changes were quick to see that each gladiator found in the other a foeman worthy of his steel, and that in the hitherto comparatively unknown Tillman there lay genius for leadership which would have to be reckoned with. [96] Address of Mr. Lever, of South Carolina In 1885 he delivered, at a farmers' convention, a speech which caught the ears of a large and discontented element of the State and created a standing interest in the un- couth but earnest man from the hill country of the State. This element made a strong fight for control of the State government in 1888, but was unsuccessful. In 1890 they called a convention, known locally as the March conven- tion, and nominated Capt. Tillman their candidate for governor. Those who opposed this movement, which was not strictly an agrarian movement, but was rather a move- ment representing a protest and certain demands, agreed upon Attorney General Joseph H. Earle and Gen. John B. Bratton, a brigadier general in the Confederate Army, both men of the highest character, courage, patriotism, and ability, to represent them in the contest. The campaign began at Greenville in June of that year, and joint debates were held in every county in the State. Never perhaps in any State in the Union have there been witnessed such scenes of enthusiasm and bitterness, of crimination and recrimination, of sharp attack and sharper counterattack. However, it became very soon ap- parent that the people had discovered another idol, and that a tidal wave was sweeping the State from the moun- tain to the seaboard, and that the election of Capt. Till- man and his followers was inevitable. Capt. Tillman was elected governor by an overwhelm- ing majority, and immediately upon his induction into the office of governor he set about to put into law the reforms which he had so vigorously and with such masterful and powerful eloquence advocated upon the stump. He was fought with intense bitterness at every point. The press of the State was almost unanimous against him and his program; practically every lawyer fought him, and what has since become known as big business was violently against him, but he had the support of that 115070°— 19 7 [97] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman class of citizenship which is frequently referred to as the middle class, and he was reelected by an overwhelming vote in 1892. And with a legislature which had finally become friendly to him he succeeded during his incum- bency as governor in the establishment of the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Fort Hill, the old home of Cal- houn. In addition to tins, the normal and industrial col- lege for women, known as Winthrop College, was estab- lished, and which is now regarded as foremost in the Na- tion of institutions of its character. It was during his term as governor that the dispensary law, an important method for the control of the liquor traffic, was put into operation, a system which proved conclusively that liquor makes bad morals and bad government. It was during this time that the primary system for the nomination of candidates for public office from the United States Sen- ator down to township commissioner was inaugurated. An attempt was made to equalize taxation and a spectacu- lar contest between the chief executive and certain large corporations took place with the result in favor of the chief executive. These and many other reforms have profoundly affected the course of affairs in the State during the last quarter of a century, and while yet a subject of controversy it is safe to say that the preponderance of judgment will war- rant the statement that the four years of Senator Tillman as governor of the State witnessed more constructive and far-reaching legislation than had ever been given to the State before in a like period of time. All credit for this, however, can not be given in justice to Senator Tillman, for he was surrounded in his counsels by earnest and far- seeing men, and yet it would be equally unfair to deny that the larger share of credit belongs to his genius for leadership and constructive suggestion. [98] Address of Mr. Lever, of South Carolina The historian will likely say that the reform movement, or, as it is more frequently referred to, " The Tillman movement," was strong and helpful in the thoroughness with which it taught the people their power, and weak in its failure, as thoroughly, to teach them how to use that power. If the program of the reform movement at that time had included the logical sequence of all that it stood for, it should have provided for a more effective system of public education, because the possession of power with- out a thorough knowledge of a proper and correct use of it is most dangerous. Calmly reviewing the events of those stirring days, and the conditions that made these events possible, and the results that have come from them, the conclusion is inevitable that they were a neces- sary process in the evolution of popular government in the State and that genuine democracy was advanced by them. The biographer is likely to say that Senator Tillman's most conspicuous service to the people was rendered as a State rather than as a national leader. It was in State affairs that his leadership was most conspicuous and ag- gressive, and he will live longest in the minds of the people for his work in State matters. His name is indissolvably linked with the two great industrial colleges for men and women. They, in themselves, are sufficient to place Sena- tor Tillman on the very highest pedestal of statesman- ship. These colleges are performing a service for the young men and the young women of the State whose value can not be estimated. And the primary system, crude as it was, and is still, has nevertheless brought the people in more direct con- trol of their government, and will always be looked upon as a monument of his work. It is an evidence of the genuine democracy which, in the last analysis, was the [99] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman basis of his long and remarkable domination of an over- whelming majority of his fellow citizens. In 1894 he became a candidate for the United States Senate against Gen. Matthew Calbraith Butler, who for 18 years had represented the State in the United States Senate with signal ability and vitality. Again the State was shaken from the mountains to the seaboard with the fury of the contest, but the result was never in doubt and Senator Tillman was elected by a tremendous majority. A study of the contest will show the force and power of Senator Tillman in middle life. No one who witnessed them can ever forget his almost uncanny recognition of a psychological moment when addressing a popular audi- ence. As a stump speaker he was absolutely irresistible and without an equal. His vocabulary was thoroughly Anglo-Saxon, pure and pointed, the right word always in the right place. He was a student of the classics and learned deeply from them. His style was volcanically explosive, and hence almost irresistible, while his man- nerisms were unique and original. His gesticulation was awkward but effective. His facial expression was a powerful asset to him as a speaker, and his voice, a high tenor, had great carrying power and was the ideal out- door speaking voice. It is not recorded that he ever quailed or hesitated be- fore a dangerous situation, or that he was ever hit when he could not strike back at least a little harder. Others have imitated him and his methods with some degree of success, but his place as a campaigner before popular audiences will long remain all his own. It had been the wish of many of his friends that in his own way he might preserve for posterity his recollection and impression of the remarkable scenes of which he was chief actor, and it is still the hope of his friends that a [100] Address' of Mr. Lever, of South Carolina competent and impartial biographer may rescue from forgetfulness these scenes. It was not long after Senator Tillman took his seat as a Senator that he attracted national attention by a bitter and spectacular attack upon the Cleveland administra- tion. These were the days when the agitation for free silver began to take possession of the imagination of the South and the West, which were then suffering from stag- nation in business and from extremely low prices for farm products. His declaration, " Sixteen to one or bust," became a classic in the campaign of 1896, when Gold v. Silver fought their final contest for supremacy in this country. From the day of this speech until his last appearance upon the floor of the Senate he was a marked man. As he grew in experience and in age, and when responsibility began to rest more and more heavily upon him, he gradually, as is usual in all cases, began to grow more and more conservative and more and more inclined to tolerate the opinions of others. His contact with the brainiest men of the Nation was a great training for him, and his breadth of vision increased with his more com- prehensive understanding of the problems and of the variety and conflicting interests of a great Republic. Senators of the type of Chandler, of New Hampshire; the scholarly Senator Hoar and his ecmally able colleague, Senator Lodge; the brilliant Senator Spooner; the gen- tlemanly and dignified Senator Hale soon discovered in the new Senator from South Carolina, whose large brown eye blazed with the love of combat, an intellect, a cour- age, and wisdom, and a knowledge worthy of the best traditions of the greatest legislative body in the world. He was not long in establishing his right of leadership in this body of great men, and this he held without dispute until the fatal disease which was his undoing laid its hands upon him. Four times he was elected to the Sen- [101] Memorial Addresses: Senator Tillman ate by the almost unanimous vote of his people, and even his bitterest enemies must and do concede that his atti- tude as a Senator, in almost every instance, was represen- tative of the majority thought of his State. He had a most highly developed capacity for divining public opinion, but likewise had a capacity in an equal degree toward making public opinion. He was more generally a leader of thought than a follower of it. His mind was of the imperious kind; he dominated everything about him. He loved power, but he did not abuse it. No man in the history of the State, save Calhoun alone, so completely and for so long a time held his sway over its people, and this was not due to his personal popularity, for, while he had warm and loyal friends, he was not of the type whose success was due to a personal following. He won his way by sheer force of intellect and courage and the belief of his followers in his patriotism and hon- esty. They trusted him without stint. The home life of Senator Tillman was beautiful. His passionate love for flowers, his deep and abiding devo- tion to his family are well known. His roughness of man- ner and speech were more apparent than real. Under the rough exterior there was a kindly heart. Children loved him, and the intuition of children is unerring in its accuracy. This hastily prepared glimpse of the character and service of this great man is all too brief, but eulogy can not do him justice. That must be left to the biogra- pher. May he be fair and competent, that the generations to come may be able to form a correct estimate of the place in history which Senator Tillman shall fill. [102] ADJOURNMENT. The Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Byrnes of South Caro- lina). In accordance with the provisions of the resolution heretofore adopted the House will now stand adjourned. Accordingly, at 2 o'clock and 7 minutes p. m., the House adjourned until to-morrow, Monday, December 16, 1918, at 12 o'clock noon. Monday, December 16, 1918. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Waldorf, its enroll- ing clerk, announced that the Senate had passed the fol- lowing resolutions: Resolved, That the Senate expresses its profound sorrow in the death of the Hon. Benjamin Ryan Tillman, late a Senator from the State of South Carolina. Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the Senate, in pursuance of an order heretofore made, assembles to enable his associates to pay proper tribute to his high character and distinguished public services. Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. Resolved, That as a mark of further respect to the memory of the deceased the Senate do now adjourn. [103] mHHNHM . . ..!'■ ■ ■■:■:'. v 3 a^ ,^ KM twMww mmMmam :,i; .;'j:;Y;;' i !. ; :;"'iv.i!f:i: ^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 787 8896 nKun twira^JlS'JTilW'iftMffi^Sffi SfofflWKB fcUJM®881B : '■ '■ ' ' '* ■ -I'iiM'i Uaffl'uRJ V :'''T)' : 1 MKKMmKr INHUHflF Ml' 1 ■mwmm$ 1 ■■■•■■^^i^ Viii^hi-':!!'!'''" BelUS ■ ii'iltiHS !|lii| iilriffffi'- 1 mm HM nwflffl iHlta ' W\ '"'Hi^y ■::>:!,!' I;-,..,. mi ■N IHH ffisSi