E 664 
 "17 n6 
 
 Copy 2 
 
 m {nemoriami 
 
 3ame8 
 
 1^03 
 
(tes 
 Book 
 
 
 vZ 
 
^ 
 
 y^i^c^v/ ?li ///^■^ 
 
 ex. 
 
■flu flDcmovv? of 
 
 1[3on. panics /Iftc/Ihillan 
 
 Senator In tbc Conorces of tbc TUniteD States 
 from iTfticbigan 
 
 procceMnos of tbc Senate anb tbe Ibousc ot 
 
 "tRcprcscntativcs In Soint Convention 
 
 'CClc^nc6^av>, Bpril 5econ&, 1003 
 
 Shetcb of Senator /Rc/r>illan*» Xtfe 
 bB Cbarlcs iflboorc 
 
 publi^bci? b\: Butboritx: of tbc XciiitMatiirc 
 of UX\'i 
 
ay trartafei 
 
 JAN 15 ^9^^ 
 
 ./^/7 n 
 
Tin flDcmoriam 
 
 This memorial booklet is published by author- 
 ity of the legislature of Michigan, under a con- 
 current resolution originating in the Senate, which 
 resolution was unanimously concurred in by the 
 House of Representatives. 
 
 The proceedings of the joint convention, wherein 
 the memorial exercises were held, and which fol- 
 low, are taken from the official journals of the 
 House and Senate, the addresses delivered on the 
 occasion being followed by a sketch of Senator 
 McMillan's life, written by Mr. Charles Moore, 
 for many years Senator McMillan's private sec- 
 retary. 
 
The tolUnving Concurrent Resolution was offered 
 by Mr. Combs: 
 
 Resolved (the Senate concurring), That 
 a committee of three from the House be ap- 
 pointed by the Speaker to act with a like com- 
 mittee of the Senate in making arrangements 
 for a joint session of the two Houses in 
 memory of the late James McMillan. United 
 States Senator, who died August lo. 1902. 
 The Speaker announced that the resolution would 
 lie over one day under the rules. 
 House Joti ma/, January 27. 
 
 On the following day. the resolution was unani- 
 mously adopted. 
 
The following:: mcssa.qe frnni the House was re- 
 el ved and read : 
 
 House of Representatives, 
 January 28, 1903. 
 To the President of the Senate: 
 
 Sir — I am instructed by the House to transmit to 
 the Senate the following concurrent resolution : 
 House resolution No. 50. 
 
 Resolved (the Senate concurring), That 
 a committee of three from the House be ap- 
 pointed by the Speaker to act with a like com- 
 mittee of the Senate in making arrangements 
 for a joint session of the two Houses in 
 memory of the late James I^IcMillan. United 
 States Senator, who died August 10. 1902 ; 
 Which has been adopted by the House, and in 
 whicli the concurrence of the Senate is respectfully 
 
 asked. 
 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 Charles S. Pikrck. 
 Clerk of the House of Representatives. 
 
The question bcinp on concurrinp^ in the adoption 
 of the rcsoUition, 
 
 The resolution was unanimously adopted. 
 
 The President announced as such committee, on the 
 part of the Senate, Senators Lockerbv, Glazier and 
 Farr. 
 
 SfHiifc Journal, January 2g. 
 
 The following message from the Senate was re- 
 ceived and read : 
 
 Senate Chamber, 
 January 29, 1903. 
 To the Speaker of the House of Representatives: 
 
 Sir — I am instructed by the Senate to return to the 
 House the following concurrent resolution : 
 House resolution No. 50. 
 
 Resolved (the Senate concurring), That 
 a committee of three from the House be ap- 
 pointed by the Speaker to act with a like com- 
 mittee of the Senate in making arrangements 
 for a joint session of the two Houses in 
 memory of the late James McMillan, United 
 States Senator, who died August 10, 1902; 
 And to inform tlie Mouse that the Senate has con- 
 curred in the adoption of the resolution, 
 
And also to inform the House that Senators Lock- 
 erby, Glazier and Farr have been named by the Sen- 
 ate to act with a like committee of the House. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Elbert V. Chilson, 
 Secretary of the Senate. 
 
 House Journal, Ja?iuary 2q. 
 
 The Speaker announced the appointment, under 
 House resolution No. 50, of the following committee 
 to act with a like committee of the Senate to arrange 
 for a joint session in memory of the late James Mc- 
 Millan: Representatives Neal, Bolton and Seeley. 
 
 House Journal, January 2Q. 
 
 The Select Committee appointed under House reso- 
 lution No. 50, through its cliairman, Mr. Neal, made 
 the following report : 
 
 The committee appointed to arrange for a memorial 
 convention of the two Houses for the purpose of pay- 
 ing a fitting tribute to the memory of the late dis- 
 tinguished United States Senator from :Michigan, the 
 Honorable James McMillan, reports that it has n.et 
 
with a like committee from the Senate anrl has made 
 the followiiiL,^ arranj^ements : 
 
 Both Houses will convene in Representative Hall 
 April 2. 1903. at eight o'clock p. m., and will be 
 addressed by Senator Julius C. Burrows, Senator Rus- 
 sell A. Alger. Ex-Senator Thomas W. Palmer and 
 Ex-Senator John Patton. The program will be inter- 
 spersed with appropriate music. 
 
 The committee recommends that suitable invita- 
 tions to attend the exercises be issued to the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, the Michigan members 
 in Congress. His Excellency the Governor, State 
 Officers, Members of the Supreme Court, and other 
 prominent men ; and that the floor of Representative 
 Hall l>e reserved for members of the Legislature and 
 invited guests, and that the gallery be thrown open 
 to the general public. 
 
 Frank S. Xeal, 
 T. D. Seeley, 
 Earl B. Bolton. 
 
 The report was adopted. 
 
 House Jourmil, March j. 
 
The Select Committee appointed under House Reso- 
 lution Xo. 50, through its Chairman, ]Mr. Lockerby, 
 made the following report: 
 
 Your committee appointed for the purpose of ar- 
 ranging for a memorial service of the two Houses 
 for the purpose of paying a fitting tribute to the mem- 
 ory of the late distinguished United States Senator 
 from Michigan, the Honorable James McMillan, beg 
 leave to report that they have met with the like com- 
 mittee from the House and have arranged as follows: 
 
 Both Houses will convene in Representative Hall 
 April 2, 1903, at eight o'clock p. m. and will be ad- 
 dressed by Senator Julius C. Burrows, Senator Russell 
 A. Alger, Ex-Senator Thomas W. Palmer and Ex- 
 Senator John Patton. The program will be inter- 
 spersed with appropriate music. 
 
 The committee further recommends that suitable in- 
 vitations to attend the exercises be issued to the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, the i^Iichigan members 
 in Congress, His Excellency the Governor. State 
 Officers, Members of the Supreme Court, and other 
 prominent men, and that the floor of Representative 
 Hall be reserved for members of the Legislature and 
 
invited .c^iiests, and that the gallery be thrown open to 
 the general public. 
 
 Respectfully submitted. 
 
 Wm H. Lockerby, 
 A. W. Farr, 
 F. P. Glazier, 
 Senate Committee. 
 The report was adopted. 
 
 Stftatc Journal, March j. 
 
 The Senate was called to order by the President 
 pro tern, at 7 130 o'clock p. m. 
 
 A quorum of the Senate was present. 
 
 The Sergeant-at-Arms announced a committee 
 from the House. 
 
 The committee informed the Senate that the House 
 was in session and ready to receive the Senate in Joint 
 Convention, to participate in memorial exercises in 
 memory of the late United States Senator, James Mc- 
 Millan. 
 
 The Senate proceeded to the Hall of the House of 
 Representatives. 
 
 Senate Journal, April 2. 
 
 The House was called to order by the Speaker at 
 7:45 o'clock p. m. 
 
Pursuant to the recommendation of the special com- 
 mittee appointed under House resohition Xo. 50, as 
 embodied in the report of such committee adopted 
 March 3. the Speaker announced that the two Houses 
 of the Legislature would meet in Joint Convention 
 at eisfht o'clock. 
 
 Mr. Neal moved that the Speaker appoint a com- 
 mittee of three to inform the Senate that the House 
 was ready to meet in Joint Convention. 
 
 The motion prevailed. 
 
 The Speaker appointed as such committee Messrs. 
 Neal, Galbraith and Hemans. 
 
 The Sergeant-at-Arms announced the committee 
 appointed by the House to notify the Senate that the 
 House was ready to meet in Joint Convention. 
 
 The committee reported that it had performed the 
 duty assigned it. 
 
 The report was accepted and the committee dis- 
 charged. 
 
 The Sergeant-at-Arms announced the members of 
 the Senate, accompanied by the judges of the Supreme 
 Court and State officers, who were admitted and con- 
 ducted to seats. 
 
 16 
 
3oint Convention 
 
Joint Convention 
 
 The Joint Convention was called to order by Hon. 
 O. B. Fuller, President pro tern, of the Senate and 
 President of the Joint Convention. 
 
 The roll of the Senate was called by the Secretary, 
 who announced that a quorum of the Senate was 
 present. 
 
 The roll of the House was called by the Clerk, who 
 announced that a quorum of the House was present. 
 
 The President announced that the two Houses had 
 met in Joint Convention to commemorate the death of 
 Hon. James McMillan, Senator from Michigan in the 
 Congress of the United States, who died at Man- 
 chester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, August lo, 1902. 
 
 The following is the program of exercises in Joint 
 Convention. 
 
/Ccnional Iproovam 
 
 Hvmn, "Oh (iod, Thou Art my God" — 
 
 Allen's Orchestra. 
 Remarks — 
 
 Hon. O. B. Fuller, President. 
 Invocation — 
 
 Rev. R. C. Dodds, D. D., Pastor of the First Pres- 
 byterian Church, Lansing. 
 Hymn, "Rock of Ages" — 
 
 Choir from Industrial School for Boys. 
 Presentation of resolutions — 
 
 Senator Lockerhy, Chairman Memorial Committee. 
 
 Selection, "Not Dead, but Sleepcth," . . White. 
 
 Amphion Quartette: Messrs. Finch, Haynes, 
 
 Waggoner and Esselstyn. 
 
 Address — 
 
 Hon. John Patton, Ex-U. S. Senator. 
 Vocal Solo, "The Peace of God," . . • Gounod. 
 
 Miss Ethel Farr. 
 Address — 
 
 Hon. R. A. Alger, U. S. Senator. 
 Hvmn, "Lead, Kindly Light" — 
 
 Choir from Industrial School for Boys. 
 
 Address — 
 
 Hon. J. C. Burrows, U. S. Senator. 
 Vocal Solo, "Crossing the Bar," . . Dudley Buck. 
 
 Elton Esselstyn. 
 Adoption of Resolutions — 
 Hymn, "Incline Thine Ear" — 
 
 Allen's Orchestra. 
 Accompanist, Miss Jessie Fuller. 
 
Unrocation 
 
 Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, \vc praise 
 thee for all that thou art in thyself. The only wise, 
 the holy, the just, the powerful and merciful God. 
 We praise thee for the revelation of thyself which 
 thou hast given us. and the relation we sustain to 
 tliee. That thou hast taught us the great truth that 
 thou art God thyself alone, and that besides thee there 
 is none else; that it is in thee that we live, and move 
 and have our being; that thou rulest in the army of 
 heaven and among the inhabitants of earth, and we 
 come into thy presence this evening to praise thee for 
 all that thou hast done for us as a people ; for the 
 glorious history of the past ; for the evidence we have 
 that thou hast been with us as a people. Thou hast 
 established us as a nation ; thou hast sustained us. Thy 
 mighty arm hath led us, through all the dangers, to all 
 the glorious victories and achievements of the past. We 
 praise thee, our Heavenly Father, that there has never 
 been a time in our history when we have lacked for the 
 right man for any great and important work to be ac- 
 complished ; that when the necessity came, thou didst 
 find the man who was competent and willing to lead 
 the mighty hosts of this nation. We thank thee for the 
 history of our statesmen, and our rulers, of our scholars 
 
and our teachers. We thank thee especially, this even- 
 ing, for the history of that distinguished statesman and 
 leader in whose honor we have gathered, for what he 
 was enabled to accomplish in life, for his sterling Chris- 
 tian character, for his patriotism, for the powers of 
 mind with which thou didst endow him, and that thou 
 didst enable him, in the exercise of the powers given 
 him, to achieve so much for our State, for the nation, 
 and for the world. Comfort and sustain, we beseech 
 thee, by the assurance of thy presence and guidance, 
 the bereaved family. May thy grace be sufficient for 
 them. 
 
 We pray, our Father, for these thy servants, the 
 members of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
 who have gathered this evening to show their respect 
 to the memory of the distinguished dead. May thy 
 blessing rest upon these services, and grant to those 
 who shall participate in them necessary grace, wisdom 
 and strength, and so order, we pray thee, that all may 
 be done to thy name's honor and glory. 
 
 May the blessing of God rest upon thy servant, our 
 Governor ; endue him with wisdom and grace to per- 
 form the arduous duties that are his. 
 
 And we pray that thy blessing may rest upon our 
 distinguished citizens, the members of the Senate of 
 the United States, who are present upon this occasion. 
 
W'c thank thee f<»r the splciulid achievements of these, 
 thy servants, and (nir prayer is that their hvcs and 
 !icahli may he spared, that tliey may ])e enabled to 
 accomphsh still i^reater thini^s for (lOfl and native 
 land. Hear us. forgive us, and accept us. we ask in 
 Jesus name. Amen. 
 
 Senator Lockerby, on behalf of the Joint Commit- 
 tee, offered the following resolutions : 
 
 Died. August lo, 1902, at Manchester-by-the-Sea, 
 Massachusetts. Hon. James McMillan, senior Senator 
 in the Congress of the United States for the State of 
 Michigan. 
 
 This announcement, which came with an unex- 
 pected suddeness to the people of our State, caused 
 them to stand abashed in the presence of the ]\Iighty 
 Hand which had deemed it wise to remove from them 
 a man who had endeared himself to them by his 
 nobility of character, and his ability and potent inOu- 
 ence in the councils of the nation, and with uncovered 
 head they bowed beneath the stroke which had de- 
 prived the State of one of its chieftains, and the 
 nation of a wise and careful counselor. 
 
 The people of the State of Michigan recognized in 
 
 »j 
 
James McMillan a man of keen and far-seeing judg- 
 ment, a political leader, conservative and at the same 
 time progressive, whose counsel was always on the 
 side of right, justice and morality, a statesman who 
 was made conspicuous by his invaluable service to 
 both the State and the nation, and in whose judg- 
 ment they had learned to place the greatest confidence. 
 In view of the above considerations, be it 
 Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representa- 
 tives in Joint Convention assembled, That the people, 
 through us, their representatives, hereby declare their 
 sense of the great loss sustained in the demise of the 
 Hon. James McMillan, that they recognize the loyalty 
 of his service ; that they remember him as their devoted 
 champion and true friend, and that, among the great 
 names in Michigan history, his name will ever remain 
 as a synonym for greatness, nobleness and true- 
 hearted devotion to his fellow citizens; and that we 
 express our belief that in the years to come, on the 
 pages of history where are grouped the names of the 
 illustrious sons of Michigan who have proven them- 
 selves great among all, as servants of the nation and 
 the people, no name will read more brightly there than 
 that of James McMillan ; and be it 
 
 Resolved further, That, as a mark of the approval 
 by the people of the State of the life and character of 
 
James McMillan, and of their devotion to his memory, 
 as well as an expression of their sympathy in her g^reat 
 bereavement, a copy of these resolutions, suitably en- 
 grossed, be (ircparcd and transmitted to the widow 
 of the deceased. 
 
 W'm. II. LOCKERBY, 
 
 A. W. Farr, 
 Frank P. Glazier. 
 
 Senate Covimittee. 
 Frank S. Neal, 
 Thaddeus Seeley, 
 Earl B. Bolton, 
 
 House Committee. 
 
11)011. John Ipatton 
 
H^^rc59 t>\> 1bon. 3obn ipatton 
 
 Mr. President: 
 
 When the sad news came to me of the death of 
 Senator McMillan I was in the heart of the Canadian 
 wilderness, in the province of Ontario in which he was 
 born. I thought of the lad of seventeen, who had 
 started from Hamilton for Detroit forty-seven years 
 before, to enter on that career of endeavor and high 
 achievement, which began in obscurity and ended in 
 fame and fortune, and added another name to the ever 
 lengthening roll of those who are the sliining examples 
 of the possibilities open to a poor boy under American 
 institutions. 
 
 Those of us who witnessed the great outpouring of 
 the people of the state he loved and served, the mani- 
 festations of sorrow on every hand, and the presence 
 of the most distinguished of the nation at his funeral. 
 felt that it was a fitting tribute to such a life. Appro- 
 priate eulogies have been pronounced by the leaders of 
 the great body in which he filled so honored a place, 
 and where he e.xercised such a powerful influence for 
 so many years, and it is proper that we who knew him 
 
best should meet here in tlie capital of the State to pay 
 a last tribute to his life and public service. 
 
 His untimely death, which came with such a shock 
 to us all impressed us anew with the brevity of human 
 life and the frailty of human hopes and ambitions. 
 The mystery we call life still remains unsolved, and 
 all the marvelous discoveries of science in the proud 
 age in which we live, have as yet failed to send a 
 single ray of light into the future. 
 
 An illustration for it was found when the chief of 
 the assembly rose before the old Saxon king in the 
 ancient hall and said "You remember it may be, O 
 king, that which sometimes happens in winter when 
 you are seated at table with your earls and thanes, 
 your fire is lighted, and your hall is warmed, and 
 without is rain and snow and storm. Then comes a 
 swallow flying across the hall. He enters by one door 
 and leaves by another. The brief moment while he is 
 within is pleasant to him ; the bird flies away in the 
 twinkling of an eye, and he passes from winter to 
 winter. Such, methinks, is the life of man on earth 
 compared to the uncertain time beyond. It appears 
 for awhile, but what is the time which comes after — 
 the time which was before — we know not." 
 
 Death, the great and universal leveler. knows neither 
 classes nor conditions. It is the one certain event 
 
which will ctivelop in its sombre folds hiij^h and low 
 alike, and yet in our foolish blindness we travel the 
 journey (it life with the delusion that it is far removed 
 from each of us. 
 
 One who thou.e:ht much described life as "a little 
 lovinq- and a g^ood deal of sorrowing. Some bri.c^ht 
 hopes and many .c^rievous disappointments. Some 
 gorgeous Thursdays when the skies are bright and 
 the heavens blue, when Providence bending over us 
 in blessings glads the heart aluK^st to madness ; many 
 dismal Fridays when the smoke of torment beclouds 
 the mind and undying sorrow gnaws upon the heart. 
 
 Some high ambitions and many Waterloo defeats 
 until the heart becomes like a charnel house filled 
 with dead affections, embalmed in holy but sorrowful 
 memories, and then the chord is loosed, the golden 
 bowl is broken, the individual life a cloud, a vapor, 
 passes away." 
 
 And the philosopher who traced the progress of 
 man. and marked his aspirations through the centu- 
 ries, summed up human experience by saying "In the 
 confidence of youth he imagines that very much is 
 under his control, in the disappointments of old age 
 very little. The realities of life undeceive him at 
 last, and there steals over the evenings of his days 
 an unwelcome conviction of the vanity of human 
 
hopes. The things he has secured are not the things 
 he expected. He sees a supreme power has been using 
 him for unknown ends, that he was brought into the 
 world without his own knowledge, and is departing 
 from it against his own will." 
 
 This life which we commemorate had all these ex- 
 periences common to humanity, of joy and sorrow, 
 success and failure, but much was accomplished, and 
 it has left an enduring mark. 
 
 In the domain of business he was indeed a captain 
 of industry, at the head of large enterprises, with a 
 mind capable of grasping the necessities of the changed 
 conditions of our time, evolving plans for transporta- 
 tion and commerce, which brought him wealth and 
 have done much for the development of Michigan. 
 
 The great industries which he fostered and man- 
 aged gave employment to a vast number of men whose 
 welfare was always a matter of much concern to him. 
 He told me once that but for the unhappy experience 
 at Pullman. 111., he would have built a model town 
 for working-men in connection with the car shops at 
 Detroit. 
 
 He did a great service to the State when he pro- 
 jected and built the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic 
 railroad through the Upper Peninsula, for he thus 
 married the two peninsulas in indissoluble bonds. 
 
allayed the feeling; that was g^rowing that they should 
 be separated, and silenced the talk of the possible 
 state of Superior. 
 
 He was a close student of and familiar with nil the 
 varied resources of our wonderful State, and in him 
 thev always had a loyal and unswcrvin.c; frietul. At 
 the head of the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Co. 
 he realized more than any other of our public men the 
 improvements that were needed for the development 
 of the traffic of the great lakes. The historic back- 
 ground of Michigan, the story of the French and 
 English dominations, the history of our great water- 
 ways, were familiar to him. from the time Jean Xicolet, 
 the first white man, the Norman voyageur, propelled 
 his adventurous canoe up the river to the site of the 
 Sault Ste. Marie in 1634. 
 
 When congressmen from the interior of the country 
 were skeptical about the statements of the increasing 
 tonnage, which seemed like such a fairy tale he con- 
 vinced them and won their aid by taking them up the 
 lakes in the summer that they might view it for them- 
 selves. He could interpret the estimates of engineers 
 to his colleagues, for Hay Lake channel and the St. 
 Clair river were as familiar to him as the streets of 
 Detroit. The life saving stations, and the revolving 
 lights which flash out their messages on Huron. Su- 
 
perior and Michigan, are the evidences of the watch- 
 ful care he exercised over our commerce. 
 
 All this modern development would appear marvel- 
 ous to our early statesmen could they see it now, for 
 as late as 1840, when an appropriation was asked from 
 Congress to build the first canal at the "Soo," the great 
 statesman, Henry Clay, was so uninformed and so poor 
 a prophet that he ridiculed the project and stated in a 
 speech "that the proposed canal would reach to regions 
 beyond the remotest range of settlements in the United 
 States, or the moon." 
 
 Senator McMillan had a most charitable nature and 
 scattered far and wide his benefactions with a lavish 
 hand. He will be remembered by the sick and un- 
 fortunate for the noble gift he made to Detroit in the 
 splendid hospital, which bears the name of the beloved 
 daughter who was so early taken from him. 
 
 The Art Museum at Detroit, the University at Ann 
 Arbor, Albion College, other State institutions, the 
 Mary Allen Seminary in Texas, numerous private 
 charities, and a multitude of churches all speak of wise 
 and helpful gifts from him. 
 
 He was indeed a kindly man, a gentleman always, 
 and had a genial and sunny temperament for all who 
 were admitted to his friendship. 
 
"His gentleness, his tenderness, his fair courtesy, 
 
 Were like a ring of virtues 'bout him set, 
 
 And God-like charity, the ct-ntc-r where all met." 
 
 As a i)tilitical t^eneral, he led the campaipfns of his 
 party in this State with consummate skill, in many 
 victorious battles, as no one else has since Chandler 
 died, and he had the unbounded confidence of the 
 party. 
 
 lie was wise in counsel, and by reason of his long 
 service, and because of his capacity and ability, he 
 served on the nicest important and inlluential com- 
 mittees of the Senate, lie was the trusted and inti- 
 mate friend of Allison and Aldrich and Lodge, and it 
 is not too much to say that he was one of the half 
 dozen leaders, who controlled and directed all legisla- 
 tion there. 
 
 When he took his place on the committee of the 
 District of Columbia, the work of which does not 
 usually attract the attention of the country, as it is 
 local, he introduced such business methods, and gave 
 its affairs such fine executive ability that afterwards, 
 as chairman, he became the real mayor of Washington. 
 
 He was a skilled diplomat, and settled so many vexa- 
 tious questions, and solved so many perplexing prob- 
 lems, for under the velvet glove was always the iron 
 hand, that in his labors there he has left one of his 
 
greatest monuments, and in the capital of the nation 
 his loss will be sincerely mourned. With a vision that 
 saw the future, he was instrumental in sending to 
 the cities of Europe the commission composed of our 
 most celebrated architects and landscape gardeners, 
 to study the cities of the old world, and perfect the 
 far reaching plans which, when carried to completion, 
 will make Washington one of the most beautiful capi- 
 tals in the world. When this great work is done in 
 the years to come, the name most closely associated 
 wath it will be that of James ]\IcMillan. 
 
 He w^as a man of marked sanity, clear and level 
 headed on public questions, and he was never stam- 
 peded by the passing delusions of politics. It was 
 W'Orth much to the state and nation to have him in the 
 high place he occupied during the period of hysteria on 
 the money question we have passed through during 
 the past ten years. 
 
 Those who have seen the ease with which he accom- 
 plished things in the face of great difficulties in the 
 Senate, realized that here was a man to whom few 
 ever denied a request. 
 
 I remember in 1S94 when the Wilson Tariff bill 
 was before the Senate after weeks of weary debate, 
 with the majority insistent and anxious for a vote, 
 and absolutely refusing all appeals for the introduction 
 
of any other business whatever. Senator Harris, the 
 fiery and uncompromising leader of the Democrats, 
 could not refuse his private request to allow a certain 
 measure to be called up and passed, a request which 
 he denied to all others, and I saw him leave the 
 chamber that he might not appear to grant the favor. 
 
 Another incident that summer made a deep impres- 
 sion upiMi me when, late one hot night, one of the 
 senators from Oregon, who was a member of the con- 
 ference committee on the River and Harbor bill which 
 had already passed the Senate, and was then before 
 the conference committee of the two houses, hunted 
 me up and asked me to find Senator McMillan imme- 
 diately, and urge him to invade the committee room 
 the next morning early, as the appropriations for 
 Michigan were endangered by the dominant forces 
 in the committee, which were cutting them out and 
 increasing the sums for the rivers and harbors of the 
 south. It was only because of our appearance there 
 the next morning and his earnest plea to his colleagues 
 of the Senate on the committee, that the appropria- 
 tions for Michigan were restored. His associates 
 were glad to do him favors and went out of their 
 way to help him, and his uniform courtesy and kind- 
 ness to others were invaluable traits. 
 
 With additional proof of the confidence of the peo- 
 
pie. with increasing power and influence, entering on 
 broader fields of usefulness, he was stricken at the very 
 time when it seemed that his best work yet lay before 
 him. 
 
 The story is told of Saladin, the Champion of Islam- 
 ism, that after he had recaptured the Holy City, and 
 won such fame in Syria and Arabia, and performed 
 such mighty deeds in the battles of the Crusades as to 
 be called The Great, that when he was stricken with a 
 mortal disease, and death was certain, he called his 
 herald who had carried his banner, took up the lance 
 w^hich had been so often victorious in battle, tied his 
 shroud to the end of the lance and said to the herald, 
 "Go unfurl this shroud in the camp, it is the flag of 
 the day, wave it in the air and proclaim. 'This i.s all 
 that remains of Saladin the Great, the conqueror, the 
 king of the empire, all that remains of all his glory.' " 
 
 This cannot be said of him we mourn. Death does 
 not end all. The life which has been full of high 
 service to his country, whicli can be traced by the 
 monuments of l^enefactions which still bless his fel- 
 low men, does not end w^ith the cofiin and the shroud. 
 He has lived in his deeds, in them he still lives, affect- 
 ing the lives of men, the future of states. 
 
And so the life of our friciul, the i^entloiiian. the 
 philanthropist, the statesman. James McMillan, will 
 still, as the seasons come and go. bloom perennially in 
 our history and in our hearts. 
 
1l)on. TRusscll H. Hlger 
 
Mr. President: 
 
 Life is measured by deeds, not }ears. and by that 
 standard the lite of James McMillan was filled to the 
 brim. Starting:: without means, save health and a de- 
 termined purpose, he rose from a school boy, and 
 then a clerk, to the masterful position so well known 
 by every citizen of this, his adopted State — the head 
 of large enterprises ; carried forward with great suc- 
 cess until the power of his creative mind was felt 
 throughout the State. 
 
 Later, and still while conducting these large affairs, 
 he was elected and twice re-elected by the Legislature 
 of our State to the United States Senate. A man of 
 few words, seldom indulging in oratory, yet his strong, 
 comprehensive mind soon made him one of the 
 trusted, safe leaders in that great body. What greater 
 legacy can be left? 
 
 This busy world, and especially this country of ours, 
 affords an open way for every young man who emu- 
 lates, instead of envies, those who are in the lead. 
 
 In conversation with an old man, many years gone 
 
 4S 
 
by, when the "luck," as it was called, of a certain 
 man was the subject of conversation, this old pioneer 
 replied with great emphasis : "Don't talk to me about 
 'luck,' give me the man." 
 
 So, I say of our departed Senator, he had a will and 
 a purpose; he exercised the first and followed and 
 conquered that which he sought. 
 
 He — the man — came and has departed from our 
 midst ; but the impress he made upon our State will re- 
 main long after the youngest now here shall have 
 passed to the great beyond. 
 
 What more can be asked in this life than the devoted 
 love of a united family and the confidence and esteem 
 of those who knew him best? 
 
 All this we can most truly say of James McMillan. 
 
 46 
 
IfDon. 5ulius C. Burrows 
 
a^^rci3i5 b\> ll)on. 3uliu9 d, 36urro\v5 
 
 Mr. I 'resident and Ge)itlc))tcn of the Legislature: 
 
 It was most appropriate that you. the accredited 
 representatives of the commonwealth, actin*^: and 
 speaking for the great body of our people, should 
 suspend for a time your ordinary functions and set 
 apart an hour to pay tribute to the memory of one 
 who. thrice commissioned by the Legislature of the 
 State of Michigan to the high office of United States 
 Senator, fell in the public service at his post of duty, 
 full of honors, and at the very zenith uf his influence 
 and power. The death, at any time, of such a man as 
 James McMillan, whether citizen or Senator, so identi- 
 fied, as he was, with the material interests of our 
 State, and the industrial development of the country, 
 so exalted in the public regard, and so enthroned in 
 the hearts of the people, could not but be a public 
 misfortune. 
 
 But to have fallen thus prematurely, in the full 
 possession of all of his faculties, on the very threshold 
 of the term for which he was elected, and at a time 
 when his ripe experience, mature judgment, and con- 
 
servative character, would have contributed so much 
 to the wise solution of the great problems now vexing 
 the public mind, to have fallen, I repeat, at such a 
 time, in the supreme hour of his usefulness, and of the 
 public needs, was indeed, little less than a national 
 calamity. The place he held in all the various spheres 
 of human activities to which he was called, public and 
 private, cannot readily be supplied. He will be missed 
 in business circles, in the political arena, in the 
 national council chamber, in the every day walks of 
 life, and last, though not least, in the homes and 
 hearts of kindred and friends, where his name will be 
 forever enshrined as a cherished memory. 
 
 But it is not my purpose on this occasion to speak 
 of Senator McMillan as a private citizen, in which 
 capacity many of you knew him longer and better 
 than I, and no words of mine can possibly enhance 
 your estimate of his character, or make more secure the 
 memory of his private virtues. I shall speak of him 
 rather as I knew him in public life, as a member of the 
 United States Senate, with whom it was my privilege 
 to serve from January, 1895, to the hour of his death, 
 a period of more than seven years, during which time 
 our relations were of the most cordial character, ripen- 
 ing into a personal friendship, the memory of which 
 will be as enduring as life itself. It was through this 
 
 so 
 
a5?sociatinn in the Senate that I came to know him 
 intimately and learned to appreciate those j^^reat quali- 
 ties of head and heart which so endeared him to his 
 colleagues and made him such a prominent factor in 
 the deliberations of the Senate. 
 
 James McMillan took his seat in the Senate of the 
 L'nited States as a member of that body from the 
 State of Michigan on the fourth day of March, 1889. 
 It was the beginning of the 51st Congress, a date 
 marking the close of tlie first century of our national 
 life, and the beginning of a new epoch in American 
 history. Benjamin Harrison was on that day inaugu- 
 rated President of the United States, and both Houses 
 of Congress were strongly Republican, with Thomas 
 B. Reed Speaker of the National House of Representa- 
 tives. The questions confronting the nation at that 
 time were not the issues springing from the passions 
 of civil strife, but rather great industrial problems 
 growing out of and incident to an era of peace, re- 
 quiring for their solution the most considerate judg- 
 ment and comprehensive statesmanship. It was at 
 such a crisis that Senator McMillan took up his duties 
 in the Senate of the United States. He had reached 
 the mature age of 50 and was fully equipped for the 
 practical affairs of legislation. He was, however, with- 
 out legislative experience and unskilled in statecraft. 
 
and it may well be imagined that he felt some degree 
 of trepidation in the presence of such veteran states- 
 men as Edmunds of Vermont, Evarts of Xew York, 
 Sherman of Ohio and their illustrious compeers, who 
 with matchless skill were writing the laws of a nation 
 and shaping the destinies of a republic. His duty, 
 however, was before him. He had been commissioned 
 by his State to represent her interests in the upper 
 house of the National Congress, where states are 
 equal and every Senator the peer of even.- other Sena- 
 tor, and with that self-reliance which characterized 
 him in private life, he entered upon the discharge of 
 his duty to his State and country with confidence and 
 complacency. His dignified bearing, courteous de- 
 meanor, superb judgment and acknowledged sagacity 
 quickly gained for him the respect of his colleagues 
 and the confidence of the Senate. 
 
 In his assignment to committees, where all the real 
 work of legislation in the Senate is performed, regard 
 was had to his thorough acquaintance with business 
 afifairs and his great success in private enterprises, 
 the knowledge of which had preceded him and had at- 
 tracted the attention of the Senate. He was designated 
 as a member of the Committee on the District of 
 Columbia, having in charge, under a commission, of 
 
all leg^islatii>n alTcctiiisjf the capital city and its environ- 
 ments: the Conmiittcc on Tost Offices and Post roads, 
 with its infinite variety of details; the Committee on 
 Agriculture, with its vast and ever increasing interests; 
 and finally to the Chairmanship of the Committee on 
 Manufactures. While not all of these committees 
 would rank of the first importance, yet the suhjects 
 over which they had jurisdiction furnished ample op- 
 portunity to Senator McMillan for the display of 
 those rare business attainments, acquired in the school 
 of experience, which gave him at once a commanding 
 place in the deliberations of the committee room and 
 insured his rajnd advancement in the Senate. 
 
 By the unwritten law of the Senate, every new 
 Senator must take his place at the foot of the com- 
 mittee to which he is assigned. Senator McMillan 
 formed no exception to this rule. No attainments 
 however commanding, no fortune however abundant 
 is sufficient to break down this practice and tradition 
 of the Senate. Senator McMillan conformed to tliis 
 custom without question or complaint, discharging 
 every duty, however distasteful and unimportant, with 
 painstaking fidelity, until at the time of his death he 
 had won his way to a place on many of the most im- 
 portant committees of the Senate, over the delibera- 
 
tions of which he exerted a potent and not unfre- 
 quently controlling influence. His advancement was 
 as rapid as it was substantial and deserved. 
 
 At the close of his life he held the second place on 
 the great Committee on Commerce, presided over by 
 the President pro tempore of the Senate, ]\Ir. Frye of 
 Maine, having in charge the important work of im- 
 proving our harbors and waterways in the interest of 
 foreign and domestic commerce, for which the Gov- 
 erment has already expended during its national 
 existence, more than $500,000,000. As a member of 
 this committee, he rendered invaluable service not 
 only to the country at large, but to our State in par- 
 ticular, in securing appropriations for the Sault Sainte 
 Marie Canal, with a commerce three times greater 
 than that of the Suez, while the tonnage passing 
 through the Detroit river exceeds that of all the ves- 
 sels entering or clearing in the foreign trade from all 
 the ports of the United States. This commerce of the 
 great lakes, so closely identified with the material in- 
 terests of our State and the prosperity of our people, 
 was always to him a matter of supreme moment and 
 watchful solicitude, and he never lost an opportunity 
 to promote its advancement and insure its safety. It 
 was in connection with this committee also that he 
 sought to secure such legislation as would build up our 
 
 54 
 
merchant marine and restore our lost prestige in the 
 carryinc^ trade of the world, a consummation to be 
 attained if we would take the place to which we are 
 entitled amonj^ the commercial nations of the globe. 
 He also reached the third place on the Committee of 
 Naval Affairs, where his exalted patriotism and 
 tenacity of purpose contributed in no small degree to 
 the upbuilding of a navy commensurate with the pub- 
 lic needs and the safety of the republic. His services 
 were sought on the special Committee on "Relations 
 with Cuba," upon which committee was imposed the 
 onerous task of laying the foundations of a free and 
 stable government for the people of that island, and 
 insuring its continuance among the nations of the 
 earth. 
 
 So rapid was the advancement in the regard of the 
 Senate that in the latter part of his term, in addition 
 to his already flattering committee assignments, he 
 was solicited to take a place on the great Committee 
 on Appropriations, dispensing and apportioning the 
 revenues of the Government ; and last but not least, he 
 went to the head of the great Committee on the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, in the work of which he took a 
 special pride, reviving the original plans determined 
 upon by Washington himself, for the building of the 
 city, and during the later years of his service devoted 
 
 ss 
 
much of his time and energies to the execution and 
 perfection of such plans, which when completed, will 
 make the city of Washington the pride of the nation 
 and the rival of the capitals of Europe. 
 
 Not only did he attain an enviable position in the 
 committee work of the Senate, but through this he so 
 impressed himself upon the Senate itself, as to be 
 repeatedly called upon to act as a member of the 
 "Committee on Committees," having in charge the 
 assignment of Senators to committee work, a most 
 important function in the effective organization of the 
 Senate. Such was his judgment of men, their aptitude 
 and capacity for legislative work, that this delicate task 
 was always performed to the satisfaction of the mem- 
 bers of the body, and with a view of securing the best 
 results in legislation. Then again, he was frequently 
 called upon to participate in the deliberations of the 
 committee having in charge the direction of the order 
 of business, to select from the mass of proposed legis- 
 lation reported from all the committees, those meas- 
 ures which ought to command the first consideration 
 of the Senate, and be pushed if possible to a successful 
 conclusion. In the performance of this important 
 duty, with the courage of his convictions, and with no 
 personal ends to subserve, he looked only to the public 
 good. 
 
Tilis brief review <>f his public career is siifllcient 
 to show the commancline^ l)ositi<'ii he held in the 
 Senate of the United States, and to brinj^^ us to a real- 
 izing sense of the irreparable loss his death has 
 brought to our State and the nation. Lest it might be 
 thought that these words of eulogy are inspired by an 
 inordinate admiration born of a personal friendship 
 for James McMillan. I beg to bring to you in con- 
 firmation of all I have said, the tribute of the Senate 
 itself in the passage of a resolution expressive of its 
 "profound sorrow" at the death of James McMillan 
 and the suspension of the business of the Senate "To 
 enable his associates to pay proper tribute to his char- 
 acter and distinguished public services." 
 
 I never witnessed a more impressive scene than that 
 which attended the formal announcement in the 
 Senate of the sudden demise of Senator McMillan. 
 The hush of death fell upon the Chamber and all 
 hearts were heavy with the burden of an unutterable 
 grief. Some conception of the depth and sincerity of 
 this feeling may be gathered from the many tributes 
 paid to his memory by his surviving colleagues, with- 
 out regard to party or section. Maine, through her 
 illustrious Senator Hale, feelingly said : 
 
 "I do not think in twenty years of service in this 
 lx)dv I have ever known a Senator for whom all his 
 
associates had so great an affection. To some of us 
 who knew him very well, the void that was made by 
 his death will never be closed. The love that we had 
 for him can not well be expressed. His generosity, 
 his thoughtfulness, his wide charity for the faults and 
 failings of others, his abounding hospitality, all made 
 of his life a sweet song, the notes of which are still 
 vibrating." 
 
 Senator Allison of Iowa, long in the public service 
 and the recognized leader of the Senate, not given to 
 flatter}^, paid this sincere tribute: 
 
 "His manners were easy, prepossessing and un- 
 affected. He possessed a charming and winning per- 
 sonality. There was a warmth and directness in what 
 he said and did that won and held the esteem and 
 affection of those with whom he came in contact. He 
 was a valued friend — none more faithfully cherished, 
 none more loyal and true. His friends knew well 
 that, whether absent or present, no disparaging sug- 
 gestion would come from him, nor was he ever found 
 wanting in fidelity and zeal on their behalf when 
 occasion required." 
 
 Senator Cockrell of ^Missouri, differing in politics, 
 but just in judgment, fittingly said: 
 
 "He was an industrious, intelligent, faithful, and 
 worthy Senator, and took an active part in shaping the 
 
legfislation and conductiiij::^ the business of the Senate, 
 and wielded a strong influence." 
 
 Senator Piatt, of Connecticut, crystallized his 
 thoughts of him into a single sentence: 
 
 "Following Carlyle's conception, I think I can with 
 truth say of Senator McMillan, 'When he departed 
 he took a man's life along with him,' and was as com- 
 plete a piece of American manhood as our times have 
 produced." 
 
 Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island, the thorough man 
 of affairs : 
 
 "He was always gentle, chivalrous, and genial. He 
 was admirable in every relation of life, domestic, so- 
 cial and official. The loyalty of his friendship was 
 never disputed. The wisdom of his advice in the 
 councils of his party was ahvays acknowledged." 
 
 Senator Foster, of Louisiana, summarized his offi- 
 cial character : 
 
 "Pie was what may be termed a safe, wise, and con- 
 servative legislator, meeting all public questions with 
 a calm equipoise of judgment, and bringing to their 
 solution a ripened experience and the mature consid- 
 eration of a thorough student." 
 
 Senator CuUom of Illinois, long in the public serv- 
 ice, and Chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
 Affairs, paid this just tribute: 
 
 S9 
 
"But one sentiment pervades this Senate ; it is one 
 of grief on account of his death. In all my experience, 
 and my years are not few, I never saw a man of more 
 splendid qualities of mind and heart." 
 
 Senator Warren, of Wyoming, spoke for the Xorth- 
 v^'est when he declared : 
 
 "What I may say concerning our friend and col- 
 league, Hon. James ^McMillan, whose untimely death 
 we mourn, can not add to his richly deserved good 
 name and fame. ]Mere words are inadequate to make 
 more patent or enduring what he accomplished for 
 humanity, for his friends, his State, and his country." 
 
 No higher trilmte could possibly be paid than that 
 of Senator Morgan of Alabama, who in many ways 
 is the most remarkable man in public life to-day : 
 
 "I have not known that Senator McMillan, in his 
 Senatorial career, was tempted by that mad partisan 
 zeal or was exposed to those consuming fires of per- 
 sonal ambition or covetousness that sometimes burn 
 and rage in the furnace of trial in this Chamber. If 
 he was, he triumphed over these enemies of American 
 honor and celebrated his victory by presenting, in his 
 conduct, a true example of an incorruptible and faith- 
 ful American Senator." 
 
 Senator Gallinger of New Hampshire, who served 
 
 60 
 
with Senator McMillan on the Committee oi the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, and now succeeds to its Chairman- 
 ship, sjiokc from a knowled.c^e born of longf associa- 
 tion when he said : 
 
 "And so to-day, paying tribute to his memory', we 
 not only recognize him as associate, friend, and Chris- 
 tian gentleman, but proclaim him the benefactor of the 
 nation's capital, the wise and loyal friend of the 
 nation's welfare." 
 
 Senator Perkins of California : 
 
 "His life as a public and a private man will ever 
 serve as an incentive to bring to bear in public and 
 private business that industry, sincerity, honesty, and 
 loyalty which made him what he was — a man receiv- 
 ing and deserving the respect and gratitude of the 
 people of the United States." 
 
 South Carolina could not withhold her tribute from 
 the lips of Senator Tillman : 
 
 "Kindly, quiet, gentle, there was still that firmness 
 which indicated that he had absolute faith in his own 
 purposes and absolute confidence in his own judg- 
 ment." 
 
 Senator Fairbanks of Indiana voiced, I am sure, 
 the sentiment of his people when he said : 
 
 "His career was one of great usefulness and meas- 
 
 6t 
 
ured by the best human standards, it was a most suc- 
 cessful and honorable one. He loved his country, he 
 loved his State, he loved his fellowmen. He lived for 
 them, and he would, if need had been, have died for 
 them." 
 
 New York, through her eloquent Senator Depew, 
 contributed her estimate of his character in compre- 
 hensive phrase : 
 
 "Here we have a friend who in every position in 
 life did his duty according to his best lights as a 
 father, a husband and a citizen, a man and a Senator. 
 He so lived during the time allotted to him by God 
 that when in a moment he was called to join the ma- 
 jority, he left behind him nothing but praise and had 
 before him the certainty of reward." 
 
 And last though not least, Massachusetts, from 
 whose shores, resounding wdth the anthem of the sea, 
 his soul took its eternal flight, speaks through her 
 ornate Senator Lodge: 
 
 "But behind his ability and his industry so thor- 
 oughly shown in his work here and its results was a 
 fine character and a nature at once strong and gentle. 
 There were no secrets in his life, no hidden record 
 which he feared would leap to life. Under the kindly 
 manner, the genial good nature, and the sympathetic 
 
humor was riji^id honesty in act aiul purpose, hiph- 
 minded devotion to duty, and unbending patriotism. 
 Modest and quiet always, lie was nevertheless ever 
 firm and courageous." 
 
 No higher enconiums than these could possibly be 
 pronounced, and none were ever more richly deserved, 
 and in bringing to you these tributes of his surviving 
 colleagues in the Senate, the Nation unites with the 
 State in deploring the death and honoring the memory 
 of James McMillan. 
 
 What more can be said. Senator Lodge summed 
 up the dominating attributes of his character when he 
 declared "Under a kindly manner, there was rigid 
 honesty and high-minded devotion to duty. Modest 
 and quiet always, yet ever tirm and courageous." 
 How prominently these qualities stood out in his pub- 
 lic life. 
 
 During the thirteen years of his service in the 
 Senate, though political and industrial revolutions 
 swept over the country, following each other in quick 
 succession, shaking the purpose of the weak and 
 vacillating, yet in victory and in defeat, in prosperity 
 and adversity, in peace and war, he stood unmoved, 
 the same self-centered courageous representative of 
 the people, never compromising with error or surren- 
 dering to expediency. 
 
 6l 
 
"He never sold the truth to serve the hour, 
 Or palter'd with Eternal God for power." 
 
 But his life work is ended, and it only remains for 
 US to cherish his memory and emulate his virtues. 
 These are a priceless legacy to be preserved and trans- 
 mitted. In the mutations of time, all else may be for- 
 gotten, and even these may pass from the recollection 
 of men. But if the time should ever come when the 
 life and character of Senator McMillan shall cease 
 to influence our people in the conduct of their private 
 or public affairs ; if the industries born of his genius, 
 and nurtured by his sagacity should languish and 
 decay; if his unostentatious yet munificent benefac- 
 tions should cease to awaken a responsive chord in 
 the hearts of the living; if even his name should fade 
 from the memory of living men and 1)6 recognized 
 only in the dim light of tradition, yet the city of 
 Washington resurrected into a new life at his com- 
 mand with its broadened avenues, expanding parks, 
 imposing public buildings and memorial bridge, 
 spanning the Potomac, resting on the one side at the 
 base of Lincoln's statue and on the other at the foot 
 of Arlington, where sleep the martyred hosts who at 
 Lincoln's call went down to battle and death for 
 liberty and country; if all else, T repeat, should be 
 forgotten, the national capital will remain so long as 
 
tlic rcpuhlio shrill stand, an cndurinL: monument to 
 the foresi.L;ht. sagacity and patriotism of James 
 
 McMillan. 
 
 The resolutions offered by Senator Lockerhy in he- 
 half of the Joint Committee were unanimously 
 adopted. 
 
 Senator Bangham moved that the Joint Conventirm 
 adjourn. 
 
 The million prevailed, the time being 9:57 o'clock 
 p. m. 
 
 Elbert V. Chilson, 
 
 Secretary of the Senate. 
 Ch.\rles S. Pierce, 
 Clerk of the House of Representatives. 
 Secretaries of the Joint Convention. 
 
 65 
 
Bioorapbical Shetcb 
 
Bioorapbical Sketch 
 
 ]\\ CHARLES MOORE 
 
 Private Secretary to Senator McMillan, 1889-1902; and Clerk ..f 
 the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia. 
 
 When death comes suddenly to a man Inisy with 
 great affairs the pathos of it Hes not in the fact that 
 he was not permitted to see the end of his labors and 
 to reach the goal of his endeavor. To such death 
 "openeth the gate to good fame and extinguisheth 
 envy." But when the leader falls too often the tide of 
 battle turns : for real leadership comes only through the 
 steadfast pursuit of worthy aims, and is a matter 
 rather of experience and adaptability than of accident. 
 There were certain tasks to which Senator McMillan 
 had set himself, certain ends he proposed to reach ; and 
 in these purposes of his he had the confidence and sup- 
 port of thousands of persons scattered all over this land, 
 who looked upi>n liim as tlie leader in the new prop- 
 aganda not alone for the eml>ellishment of the Ameri- 
 can city, but also for the better administration of all 
 civic functions. What he aimed to accomplish in the 
 capital of the nation others strove to attain elsewhere: 
 
 <», 
 
and when he declared that Washington should be made 
 the best governed and the most beautiful capital of the 
 world, the cry found quick response among the people 
 from ocean to ocean. 
 
 Thus it happens that aside from the loss to his inti- 
 mates of an agreeable companion, a sagacious coun- 
 sellor, and a steadfast friend, the sudden death of 
 Senator McMillan is a national loss, in that it takes 
 away a conspicuous and able leader in a cause which 
 the people have at heart. And while it cannot be 
 doubted that others will take up the work, and ulti- 
 mately will carry it to a successful conclusion, it will 
 be contrary to all human observation if any one shall 
 be found able to step at once into a place gained by 
 years of experience, almost infinite patience, and rare 
 ability to adapt means to ends. 
 
 The facts known in regard to Senator McMillan's 
 ancestry are not many. Tradition has it that his 
 grandfather, who lived in Stranraer, a small seaport 
 in Wigtownshire in the South of Scotland, was an 
 adventurous sea captain. However this may be, he 
 was well along in years when his sons William and 
 James were born ; and he died while they were quite 
 young. William married in Scotland Miss MacMeakin 
 and in the '30's came to America with the intention 
 of settling in Indiana; but friends persuaded him to 
 
 70 
 
make his home in Hamilton, Ontario, while his brother 
 located at Gait. William's eldest son, James, was born 
 in Hamilton, on May 12. 1838; and, after a sound 
 grammar school education and some years of training 
 in the hardware business, in 1855 he came to Detroit, 
 where he entered upon an eminently successful business 
 career, the steps of which are too well known to need 
 repetition here. 
 
 On Wednesday, the second day of Januarys 1889, 
 a caucus of the Republican members of the Legisla- 
 ture of Michigan unanimously nominated James Mc- 
 Millan, of Detroit, for member of the United States 
 Senate, to succeed the Honorable Thomas Witherell 
 Palmer, who had not been a candidate for re-election ; 
 and on the sixteenth of January, Mr. McMillan was 
 elected to that office by the Joint Convention, receiving 
 68 votes to 27 cast for the Honorable Melbourne H. 
 Ford, then a Democratic member of the House of 
 Representatives from the Fifth Congressional Dis- 
 trict. He was unanimously re-elected in 1895; and 
 had no opposition in his own party when he was re- 
 elected in 1 90 1. 
 
 Mr. McMillan's public service had not been exten- 
 sive. A member of the Detroit Board of Estimates 
 in 1874. and one of the Detroit Park Commissioners 
 from 188 1 to 1883, he gave to that city the benefit of 
 
his experience and counsel at two critical junctures. 
 As a party leader, however, he had established a repu- 
 tation for success in the First District Congressional 
 campaigns of John S. Newberry in 1878; and of 
 Henry W. Lord in 1880; and especially in the cam- 
 paign of 1886, when as Chairman of the State Central 
 Committee he reunited and reorganized the Republican 
 party and won a victory when defeat seemed imminent. 
 If at the time of the senatorial caucus there were 
 prophets gifted with the foresight to discern the place 
 Mr. McMillan would come to occupy in national coun- 
 cils, they were not among the eloquent speakers who 
 on that occasion emphasized the value of the business 
 man in political life. And among the letters of con- 
 gratulation (numerous, sincere, and hearty as they 
 were) I find but one which even dimly anticipates the 
 future. The Hon. George V. N. Lothrop, long at the 
 head of the Michigan bar, and during the first admin- 
 istration of President Cleveland, minister to Russia, 
 a man of great refinement of both manners and char- 
 acter, had come to know Mr. McMillan intimately. 
 Standing outside the excitements and the ambitions of 
 both business and political life, Mr. Lothrop deliber- 
 ately wrote this letter: 
 
 7» 
 
94 Wkst Fout Strket. 
 
 January 3. iSS(^. 
 Dear Mr. McMillan: 
 
 As I may safely assume that the noiuinatii»n which 
 I was j^lad to see announced this morning is practi- 
 cally an election. I come at once to offer my congratu- 
 lations. Vou are to be congratulated not merely upon 
 your elevation to the high place of Senator, but, as 
 I think, much more upon the way in which the honor 
 comes to you. I care little for the glamour that usually 
 hangs around high public place — that is often false 
 and delusive, and at any rate soon fades. P.ut any 
 man may receive and cherish with pride an appoint- 
 ment to public service whicli is not the fruit of base 
 self-seeking, but is offered as a tribute of the sincere 
 respect and esteem of good men. 
 
 This preference comes to you in the prime of your 
 life; you may justly look for a future rich in oppor- 
 tunities t(>r new and increased usefulness. For all this 
 you have my heartiest good wishes. 
 
 I will only add that besides my personal pleasure, 
 I have a patriotic pride in knowing that one of the 
 highest public trusts of Michigan is most worthily and 
 
 honorably filled. 
 
 Most truly yours, etc.. 
 
 Geo. \'. X. LoTHROP. 
 Hon. James McMillan. 
 
 7J 
 
That kindly courtesy which Mr. McMillan always 
 exercised towards those with whom he came in contact, 
 was shown to him by the retiring Senator, on the oc- 
 casion of a brief visit to Washington immediately 
 succeeding his election. Personally popular with both 
 the Republicans and the Democrats, Senator Palmer 
 made Mr. McMillan acquainted with Senators of posi- 
 tion and influence, and thus paved the way for atten- 
 tions somewhat unusual in the case of a new-comer. 
 
 Those were indeed stirring days in W^ashington. 
 The election of Benjamin Harrison to succeed Presi- 
 dent Cleveland had brought about a political revolution. 
 During the four years that the Democratic party had 
 enjoyed power for the first time since the election of 
 Lincoln in i860, Mr. Cleveland had attacked the policy 
 of protection with a vigor that brought about dissen- 
 sion and led to defeat. Thereupon the Republicans 
 again took office with the feeling that the party was 
 called upon to strengthen and perpetuate that policy. 
 Also, certain of the Republican leaders were deter- 
 mined to effect the control of elections in the southern 
 States in the interest of the whole body of citizens ; and 
 hence came a determined and prolonged effort to pass 
 what was popularly known by both its friends and its 
 enemies as the Force Bill. Again, the silver question 
 was coming to the front as a party issue. In the House 
 
 74 
 
oi I\cprcscnt.'itivcs the majority, under the leadership 
 of the Speaker. Thomas B. Reed, accompHshed after a 
 loiiju'' and hitter flight chan.c^es in the House rules hy 
 virtue of which filihusteringf was effectively ended, 
 and the majority was enabled to pass measures after 
 such length of debate as the leaders might determine. 
 This radical change, placing as it did autocratic power 
 in the hands of the Speaker, led to the nickname of 
 Czar, which became an argument in the next campaign. 
 It was amid scenes of such political ferment that Mr. 
 McMillan began his legislative career. 
 
 Legislative work is the avocation of a majority of 
 the members of the Senate. It is true that a fractional 
 portion of that body from choice pay small heed to 
 public business, and that another fraction occupy seats 
 in the Senate, but are without further influence than 
 that which the right to vote gives them. By far the 
 larger number, however, devote practically their entire 
 time, and their very considerable abilities, to the vast 
 and varied concerns of the Government of the United 
 States. So exacting and so diverse are these tasks that 
 each Senator who exercises wide influence does so by 
 becoming a specialist. 
 
 The first concern of every new Senator is committee 
 assignments, the unwritten law being that each new 
 
member is entitled to a place on at least one working 
 committee. Having declined appointments on the In- 
 terstate Commerce Committee because he was presi- 
 dent of the Diiluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway 
 (a position he relinquished at the earliest opportunity) ; 
 and on Commerce, in order to preserve harmony in 
 certain quarters, Mr. Mc^Millan received a modest array 
 of places : on Post Offices and Post Roads, Agriculture 
 and Forestry, and the District of Columbia, together 
 with the Chairmanship of the Committee on Manu- 
 factures. 
 
 Senator jMcMillan found the work of the Committee 
 on the District of Columbia highly congenial. For a 
 decade or more, John J. Ingalls had been Chairman of 
 that committee, and next to him the ranking members 
 were Senators Spooner of Wisconsin and Farwell of 
 Illinois. One of the bills assigned to Mr. McMillan 
 related to railway terminals in the city of Washington, 
 a subject that had defied settlement for many years. 
 During his first session Mr. McIMillan piloted the bill 
 through the Senate and during the Congress it became 
 a law. Other District measures received such intel- 
 ligent and discriminating treatment at his hands that 
 when the three Senators named above failed to be re- 
 elected, Mr. McMillan, after but two vears of service. 
 
 76 
 
was made Cliairman f)f a commit tee. among the first in 
 importance, and second to none in the anu^unt of work 
 and attention demanded. 
 
 1 lis tasks in relation to the District of Cohmihia em- 
 braced tlie entire range of civic activitie!^. During his 
 chairmanship and on his insistence the street railways 
 were changed from horse-power to the underground 
 electric system ; plans were adopted to extend the street 
 system of the city of Washington throughout the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia ; the public schools were investigated 
 and radical changes in government were made ; a com- 
 plete system of public charities was devised as the result 
 of extended investigation : a slow-sand filtration plant 
 for the purification of the water supply was begun : the 
 terminal facilities of the steam railways were com- 
 pletely revised in the light of the best practice and of 
 future needs; and many like changes requiring breadth 
 of view and good judgment were brought about. 
 
 In the minds of the people, however. Senator Mc- 
 Millan's name is associated with those plans for the 
 development of the National Capital wliich aim to 
 restore the design approved by Washington and JefTer- 
 son. and to extend that plan to meet future require- 
 ments : so that ultimately the capital of the United 
 States shall l>ecome the most dignified and beautiful 
 seat of government in the world. Failing in one Con- 
 
gress to secure the establishment of such a commission 
 as would be competent to deal with so important a sub- 
 ject, he seized the occasion of the celebration of the cen- 
 tennial of the removal of the seat of government to the 
 District of Columbia to bring his ideas effectively before 
 the Governors of the States and the distinguished 
 guests assembled on that occasion ; and then he obtained 
 the legislation under which he was enabled to secure 
 the cooperation of four men of ability so conspicuous 
 that their plans have met with the highest approval both 
 at home and abroad — Daniel H. Burnham, Charles 
 Follen, McKim, Augustus Saint Gaudens, and Freder- 
 ick Law Olmsted, Jr. Keeping in close touch with 
 the work of this commission, Senator McMillan sup- 
 ported them in the preparation of their elaborate plans ; 
 and in his determination that the presentation of these 
 designs should be adequate and lasting he advanced 
 from time to time many thousands of dollars, con- 
 tingent on future approval and repayment by Congress. 
 It is in the highest degree improbable that without 
 the initiative and influence of Senator McMillan plans 
 so comprehensive and so far-reaching would have been 
 devised ; and happily he was permitted to participate in 
 legislation involving the expenditure of more than 
 twenty-five million dollars in furtherance of an im- 
 provement the completion of which will require a cen- 
 
 7« 
 
tury. In fact tlic le.e^islation for the removal of the 
 steam railroads from tiie Mall, the essential prc-re- 
 quisite to the scheme, not only hears his name, hut was 
 the result primarily of his legislative skill and the con- 
 fidence Congress had in his intelligence and discrimina- 
 ting interest in the District of Columbia. 
 
 Scarcely less engrossing than the District work was 
 that of the Committee on Commerce, to which he was 
 assigned later. Owing to the fact that the Chairman. 
 Senator Frye, was the president pro tempore of the 
 Senate, much of the important work of the committee 
 devolved on Mr. McMillan. The deep-water channel 
 between Chicago and Duluth and Buffalo was begim 
 before he became a member of the committee ; but that 
 project was brought into effect by means of a tour of 
 investigation of the Great Lakes made by members of 
 the Senate Committee on Commerce and the House 
 Committee on Rivers and Harbors. This tour was 
 organized by Mr. McMillan and Congressman Stephen- 
 son, and was conducted largely at their expense. As 
 a member of the Commerce Committee Mr. McMillan 
 arrayed himself with those who stood for the immediate 
 and adequate improvement of the great commercial 
 harbors : and he was heartily in favor of irrigating the 
 arid lands of the west, a project which first saw light 
 in the Committee on Commerce. 
 
 7« 
 
Service on the Committee on Xaval Affairs, also, he 
 found most agreeable, because of the pleasant com- 
 panionship and the large nature of the problems con- 
 nected with the upbuilding of the navy ; nor was the 
 work of the Committee on Relations with Cuba less 
 congenial. The latter committee was carefully made 
 up from among the most conservative and experienced 
 members of the Senate, and that most perplexing ques- 
 tion of the duty on cane sugar gave great importance to 
 its deliberations. 
 
 An assignment on the Committee on Appropriations 
 came to Mr. McMillan against his own will, and he 
 served thereon only during the session before his death ; 
 but during that short time he was one of its most 
 assiduous members. The appropriation for the restora- 
 tion of the White House was made at his instigation, 
 when he found that the President wished to place the 
 work in charge of Mr. McKim. The personal tax law 
 now in force in the District of Columbia is the result 
 of prolonged discussion and a large amount of study, 
 the outcome being substantially the McMillan bill pro- 
 viding for the taxation of tangible property situated 
 in the District of Columbia. Taken as a whole, this 
 legislation is probably the most scientific and the least 
 objectionable personal tax law in force anywhere in 
 the United States. The fact that it is contained in an 
 
 80 
 
appropriation liill is a measure nf the Icg^islative diffi- 
 cuhics enctuintered. 
 
 Aside from the otTicial committees of the Senate, 
 there are certain caucus committees representing: the 
 party — a committee which at the beginning of each 
 Congress determines tlie memliership of the commit- 
 tees, a body whose decisions are of the highest possible 
 concern to the incHvidual Senators; a steering com- 
 mittee to regulate the order of business and the passage 
 or suppression of proposed legislation ; and a com- 
 mittee on patronage, whose tasks are most perplexing 
 and bothersome. For the three Congresses preceding 
 his death Senator McMillan was a member of the Com- 
 mittee on Committees, and many a new Senator took 
 occasion to thank him for the consideration he showed 
 to their desires and the fairness of treatment he de- 
 manded for them when older members strove to 
 obtain an undue proportion of the desirable places. 
 And when, in the distribution of caucus honors, it was 
 not advisable to make him a member of the nominal 
 steering committee, at least he invariably met with the 
 controlling sub-committee of that body. Again, the 
 redistribution of patronage in the Senate, after an in- 
 terval of Democratic and free-silver control, was made 
 according to a scheme that he devised as the fairest 
 possible plan of division, and in that scheme both long 
 
service and merit were placed ahead of political con- 
 siderations. While he never disputed the maxim "to 
 the victor belongs the spoils," he was ever careful to 
 eliminate from the category of spoils such places as call 
 for peculiar efficiency. 
 
 A few years ago a leading Washington correspond- 
 ent named seven men who controlled the Senate which, 
 he said, meant that they controlled the legislation 
 of the nation. The statement was taken up by the 
 press, was widely commented upon, and was admitted 
 to be correct. One of the seven named was Mr. 
 McMillan, and six of the number belonged to a group 
 of eight or ten Senators who were accustomed to dine 
 together once each week, primarily for the purpose of 
 securing harmony and concert of action on party and 
 national questions. These meetings were prolonged 
 often well into the morning when subjects like the 
 federal elections bill, the shipping bill, or financial 
 measures brought about a clash of views; for there 
 was no one of the number who had not strong opinions 
 which he was ready to defend. At such times Mr. 
 McMillan was at his best. His calm judgment, his 
 ability to see the controlling issues, his absolute pa- 
 tience, his uniform courtesy, and his freedom from 
 personal bias enabled him to reach conclusions that 
 were recognized as both sound and judicious. 
 
 i% 
 
The preparation of the latest river and liarl)or ap- 
 propriation bill occupied much of Mr. McMillan's 
 time. Just after he entered the Senate there was a 
 question as to whether or not President Harrison 
 would veto a river and harbor bill carrying eleven mil- 
 lion dollars, because of the largeness of the appropria- 
 tion. So rapid has been the increase in the amounts 
 carried by these biennial bills that when the present law 
 was before the Conference Committee, the differences 
 between the two Houses amounted to nearly as much 
 as the entire appropriation of 1890! At first the House 
 conferees were disposed to yield but a paltry $500,000; 
 but the increases of the Senate had been made in ac- 
 cordance with a principle which that body was ready 
 to maintain. One day, after a month of prolonged 
 struggle, hasty words passed. Mr. McMillan, who 
 was chairman of the conference, calmed matters by 
 saying: "Gentlemen, it is evident that no agreement 
 can be reached by us. Our course is plain. We must 
 report to our respective houses that we have been un- 
 able to reach an agreement, and the bill will fail. But 
 let us do this in an orderly manner. At least, we will 
 shake hands before we part." To which the reply on 
 the part of the spokesman for the House was : ''Sena- 
 tor McMillan, this coming from you puts a different 
 phase on the matter. I ask leave to withdraw with 
 
my colleagues for a short consultation." The result 
 was that the Senate maintained the principle contended 
 for, and the bill became a law. 
 
 Although after a notable instance of reconciling two 
 Senators he acquired the title of "the peace maker of 
 the Senate," Mr. McMillan was far from being a com- 
 promiser. Often he yielded a minor point, not infre- 
 quently he bowed to temporary defeat; but in the end 
 his way prevailed. He would say to discouraged ones : 
 "Congress meets again on the first ^londay of next 
 December! we will try once more." Thus it happened 
 that as he grew older in legislative work, the close of 
 each session saw an increasingly large number of his 
 measures enacted into laws. 
 
 Too much stress has been laid on the fact that Sena- 
 tor McMillan was not a speaker. It is true that he 
 made but two or three set speeches, and these were 
 without any attempt at oratorical effect. He was not 
 a public speaker; he shunned addressing large audi- 
 ences ; but when he did speak at gatherings to promote 
 a matter in which he was interested his impromptu 
 remarks were singularly happy and effective. He spoke 
 in the Senate when it was necessary to explain measures 
 in his charge; and few members of that body were 
 better able to pilot a bill among the reefs of parlia- 
 mentary procedure. In the main however he cultivated 
 
 84 
 
silence ft>r ;i purpose. The late Senator Harris of 
 Tennessee, a parliamentarian of j^c'cat experience, gave 
 to Mr. McMillan this advice: "If \nii really wish 
 to pass VKur hill, .^^ay nothing about it unless some 
 one asks a question or makes an attack. Then reply 
 in the fewest possible words. More measures are 
 killed by their friends than l)y tlieir opponents." Often 
 Mr. McMillan sat calmly through attacks on his 
 measures, and sometimes on himself; then when the 
 objecting Senator paused he went to him and quietly 
 explained matters, so that the opposition was with- 
 drawn. This he could do readily, because he took 
 great pains to understand thoroughly each bill that 
 he presented ; he knew more about it than any one 
 else did, and he never undertook to pass a bill until 
 in his judgment it ought to pass. In preparation for 
 an important measure, he was accustomed to canvass 
 the Senate quietly, and. in the coat-room or the com- 
 mittee room, to explain the bill and argue its merits, 
 lie never asked Senators to vote for a bill as a favor 
 to him, and he never voted against his own convictions 
 as a favor to another Senator. 
 
 One day a well-known politician and street railway 
 man came to Senator McMillan to explain that he had 
 made arrangements to have the (ner-head trolley sys- 
 tem introduced into the city of Washington. Mr. Mc- 
 
Millan was not at the time Chairman of the District 
 Committee. He Hstened patiently until his caller had 
 finished, and then said quietly that he thought he could 
 defeat the proposition in the Senate, and that he cer- 
 tainly would try to do so. There was something in 
 the way he spoke which convinced the other that the 
 attempt was hopeless, and full of wrath he departed; 
 and this ended the last attempt to evade the installation 
 of that least disfiguring of all street railway systems — 
 the underground trolley. 
 
 Although naturally classed among the friends of 
 corporations, Senator McMillan always maintained 
 that he was their best friend when he insisted that they 
 act fairly towards the public. To the representa- 
 tive of one of the leading railways, who was trying 
 to secure the confirmation of the nomination of a man 
 whose appointment was known to have been dictated 
 by the railroad, he said with a good deal of indigna- 
 tion : "You will live to thank me for defeating that 
 man. What your company needs is not a tool, but a 
 fair man. The worst enemy you can possibly have is 
 an official whom the public knows to be your servant." 
 
 Senator McMillan was never afraid of the future. 
 He looked forward to the day when for the good of 
 stockholders the Government shall exercise large 
 supervision over corporate affairs, especially over the 
 
 86 
 
affairs of those corporations which rival tlic Oovcrn- 
 nient itself in the nia£:^nitude of their operations. Pul>- 
 lic ownership of quasi-public works he regarded as 
 certain to have a trial in this country, and he was dis- 
 posed to hasten that day. althouj^h he believed that in 
 the end individual initiative will be found more 
 advantag^eous than governmental management. 
 
 While not a reformer in theory, in practice Senator 
 McMillan often became one. He had no sympathy 
 with those who would sweep aside existing methods in 
 order to substitute some pet theory of their own. Con- 
 servative by nature, he believed that the best results 
 are obtained by carrying out honestly and faithfully 
 the system in vogue. He had a rare faculty of getting 
 at the essential thing to be done: and then he would 
 accept the most straightforward method to reach the 
 end. Hence it was that, although he was often the 
 despair of those persons who appeared at the committee 
 room with plans for accelerating the coming of the 
 millennium, the results of his work were often abso- 
 lutely revolutionary, and always beneficent. 
 
 Senator McMillan carried business methods into 
 politics: that is, he carried his own business methods 
 into politics. Like most really busy men he was par- 
 ticular to keep engagements, and was punctual to the 
 moment. On one occasion, a lawyer from another 
 
 87 
 
State, who had no direct claim upon him, but who had 
 pressing business with the President, ventured to seek 
 aid by calHng on Senator McMillan at his home. Leav- 
 ing the table, where he was entertaining guests. I\Ir. 
 McMillan heard the lawyer's brief story, and appointed 
 the hour of 9 45 next morning as the time of meeting 
 at the White House. At the moment named the Sena- 
 tor stepped from his carriage and in a quarter of an 
 hour the business was transacted. Afterwards, driving 
 to the Capitol, Mr. McMillan apologized for the early 
 hour of the appointment by saying that he had one 
 committee meeting at 10:30 and another at 1 1. a hear- 
 ing at the close of the morning business in the Senate, 
 and that the Senators whom he had been entertaining 
 the night before got into a discussion that lasted until 
 well into the morning hours. Thus the evening and 
 the morning made his busy day. 
 
 Speeches were irksome to him, and although he 
 would sit by the hour in the Senate, watching an 
 opportunity to pass a bill, any Senator to whom he 
 listened must have something very practical to say. 
 And when the day's session ended he usually sought 
 that Senator with whom he sustained the most inti- 
 mate relations and together they took a long drive 
 through country lane or wooded park, before entering 
 
upon those most cxactin.cf social duties which play so 
 large a i)art in political life at Washington. 
 
 Senator McMillan never made a promise unless he 
 saw his way clear to fulfil it. He held strictly to the 
 text that appiiintments to office are made hy the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, Senators and Representa- 
 tives acting as his advisers when he so requests. Thus 
 it happened that he never had occasion to take issue 
 with a President over an appointment ; he was always 
 consulted ; and he acquiesced cheerfully in those rare 
 instances when a President wished to select a man 
 whom the Senator himself would not have chosen. 
 Until an appointment was decided upon, the recom- 
 mendations of every candidate received equal attention ; 
 and when the name was sent in none of the disap- 
 pointed ones could claim that a promise had been 
 broken. In this way bitter feelings were avoided to the 
 extent that such avoidance is possible in politics. More- 
 over, he acknowledged no obligations beyond those of 
 friendship. He would exert himself to the utmost to 
 help a friend: but whenever a man claimed place or 
 influence as a right, then into the usually beaming eye 
 came the glitter of steel. 
 
 Mr. McMillan had many acquaintances; but he had 
 few friendships. Singularly adaptable, and many- 
 sided, he touched many men at one point or another. 
 
 »9 
 
but it was given to few persons to know him intimately. 
 There were peaks and valleys, lights and shadows in 
 his nature ; and no one could claim really to know him 
 who had not observed the storm as well as the sun- 
 shine. When the eye blazed with righteous indigna- 
 tion, it was as the play of the lightning among moun- 
 tain summits; again, his pity and effective helpfulness 
 were as rain upon the mown grass. On occasion he 
 could be hard and stern ; but he was so true himself 
 that he was slow to believe ill of one whom he per- 
 sonally had no reason to distrust. He was an excellent 
 judge of human nature ; but he would rather be imposed 
 upon than withhold needed relief. 
 
 He w^ould not admit that he had an enemy, and he 
 never stooped to revenge. On those rare occasions 
 when he was reviled, he set it down to ignorance or 
 malignity; and, incased in an impenetrable armor of 
 conscious rectitude, he bore the attacks in silence, never 
 having long to wait for the vindication he scorned to 
 pursue. This attitude was neither studied nor assumed ; 
 it was instinctive, and any suggestion that ran counter 
 to it met an emphatic negative. 
 
 A respect for dignitaries was born in him. The 
 President of the United States, the Governor of a 
 State, a member of the Senate, the mayor of a great 
 city, each was entitled to respect on account of the 
 
 90 
 
ofllce. quite aside from what might be due him as a 
 man. So, too, he respected intellectual attainments 
 and worthy achievements of any kind, and thus it came 
 about that men of rare gifts delighted to talk with him. 
 and found in his receptive and discriminating mind a 
 basis for companionship. I have seen men eminent in 
 art and in letters go away after a conversation with 
 him greatly impressed with the sense that underneath 
 all forms of expression there are in all finely organized 
 natures certain elements that form a common basis for 
 interchange of thought. He delighted in art and his 
 taste increased year by year; he enjoyed books, but 
 his reading perforce was limited by the weakness of 
 his eyes; he delighted in the theater as a means of 
 recreation ; but most he enjoyed the conversation in 
 the smoking-room after dinner, when men of parts 
 got together and there was free play of wit and intel- 
 ligence. With true insight he rejected the egotistical, 
 the self-seeking, the arrogant; and he drew to himself 
 those sincere, simple, expansive natures among whom 
 the interchange of thought is like the leaping of the 
 electric spark. 
 
 This is not the place to do more than advert to Mr. 
 McMillan's family relations. Let it be said, however, 
 that to him home was a sacred place. From it he 
 rieorouslv excluded all who would have been but per- 
 
fimctory guests. Those to whom it was ah-iwed to 
 share his hospitahty did so without stint. W'liatever 
 concerned him concerned also his family. With them 
 he discussed the men and measures of the day. They 
 were his most cherished companions. They shared 
 his pleasures, and accompanied him on his journeys. 
 He had no life apart from tliem ; and where\'er he went, 
 there for a longer or shorter time, a home was estab- 
 lished. Elegance without ostentation, and comfort 
 without display were the characteristics of that home. 
 The house on Jefferson avenue in Detroit marked the 
 attainment of business success ; the ^^''ashington home 
 stood for the dignity and hospitality of a high public 
 official abundantly able to support the one and to dis- 
 pense the other. The great stretch of wood and 
 meadow and wave-beaten rock at Manchester-by-the 
 Sea represented relaxation from care and the serenity 
 of vigorous age spent amid children and children's 
 children. "To have a place for my grandchildren to 
 come to, I have built it,"' he said ; but to them he him- 
 self was the life and light of it. 
 
 A great nature dwarfs ordinary natures with which 
 it comes in contact. How petty become the struggles 
 to force this place or to crowd ahead of that man, how 
 mean the imputation of unworthy motives, how sordid 
 the attempt to gain political advantage by a trick, when 
 
 9* 
 
brr)up^ht into tlic calm, clear li.q'ht of a soul inaj:;^- 
 nanimous, essentially just, patient in endeavor and 
 serene in the assurance that to those who intellip^ently 
 strive there is both j(»y in the running and certitude in 
 winning the goal. Mr. McMillan never felt that it 
 was Tiecessary for him to be elected or re-elected to 
 the Senate; but he always conceived it his duty to be 
 worthy of a seat in that body. The record of his last 
 day on earth ; the written messages of cheer and succor 
 to the unfortunate ; the happy hours of sport with a 
 beloved grandson ; the genial intercourse with wife and 
 daughter ministering to what all believed but a tem- 
 porary indisp(")sition, then the quick passage into the 
 life beyond — all these things were characteristic of the 
 man. While no summons could have found him un- 
 prepared, humanly speaking none could have found 
 him more ready. There were letters written that day 
 which must be copied in the Book of Life ; and of him 
 may be said by those who knew him best, as Emerson 
 said of Senator Sumner : "His was the whitest soul I 
 ever knew." 
 
PRESS OF 
 
 ROBERT SMITH PRINTING CO., 
 
 LANSING, MICH. 
 
IBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 013 787 820 3