The evening times., 1898-12-28
WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 2S, 1895
The Late senator Morrill,.

Inc people OF W dSnlflSlOn nave
lar reason TO mourn the death Of Senator
Justin s Morrill,. He was the oldest of
the citizens of the Capital amcng the Con-
gressionaI group. and without an excep-
tion the most deeply interested in the de-
Nelcpment Of its artistic side. While re-
tanning his political citizenship in Yer
mont. as well as q lively concern for the
welfare OF his State. he had been an ac-
tual resident of Washington for more than
forty years. How much has been added
10 the beauty of the place in that time it
is hard TO realize. Occasionally persons
who have not visited il since the close Ct
the Civil War comment on its development
on the lines then merely sketched out and
they find il hard 10 associate the city OF the
present with that CT the sixties. In every
Important step Senator Morrill, was ac-
lively interested, and TO his zeal and in
Ruence. his patriotic pride in the Nations
Capital, We owe the projection and COM
pletion Of some OF our most notable insti-
tutons-conspicuously the Washington
Monument and The Congressional Library.
His last speech in the Senate and his latest
official act were in behalf of a new tenn
pie Of justice. The perfect possession of
his mental powers up 40 his last acute ILL.,
ness in his eighry-ninth year was shown
in that speech and in his work il the com
mittee rooms at this session.
Senator Morrill, died from On attack of
the grip leading TO pneumonia. like ex-
Senator Brice and many younger men.
His health Was in such state that but for
the prevalence of an epidemic he might
have survived for many years without the
loss OF his mind. Originally endowed with
Il strong constitution. having inherited
quiet temperament. his early years passed
in community where feyerish ambition
was not fostered, he acquired habits OF
living that did not wear on his nervous
system. lie was a type of The strong
New England character. modified by
long experience with men. and in the sus-
tanned activity of his later years he demon
strated the possibilities of long and useful
living where sensible habits are associated
with native physical strength.
His death removes not only the oldest
Senator but the legislator who has served
longest since the organization of the Gov
eminent Born in 1910. he had seen. from
point of advantage, the growth of most of
the institutions that are characteristic Of
our progress. When he was born Washing
ton had been the seat of government for on
ly ten years and it was not greatly changed
from the condition described with so much
feeling by Mrs. Adams-endless acres of
mud, with a few houses scattered over a
great eXpanse. Steam navigation was un-
developed and railroads and the electric
telegraph were not dreamed of. To come
10 Washington from Vermont was TO un-
dertake a journey far more formidable than
a present day "trip 10 California. He saw
the nation grow from the few States along
the Atlantic Coast TO the acquisition of
islands thousands of miles beyond it's Pa
cific margin. A few years ago no man
could have foreseen what the present wear
has wrought. II was natural that a man
whose memory extended so close TO the
lime Of Washington and on whose young
mind had been impressed the fears of a
people who sought only the right to govern
themselves and hold their religious opin-
ions undisturbed should have stood out
stouJy against a policy of expansion that
seemed TO him to invite the dangers so
fresh in the thoughts of his ancestors.
While he could recognize. intellectually.
the wonderful growth of the country, it
would have been impossible for him to dis
miss the ideas acquired in his early life
An able man, Senator Morrill, was not
rated as brilliant. He had practical good
sense in unusual measure and be won his
position as chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee at the outbreak of the
Civil War by the confidence he inspired
in his associates. His early history was
that OF every New England man who has
won prominence in our national life He
was not born to wealth, but to labor.
Everybody worked his own way in New
England when the century was young. II
would have been disgraceful not TO work.
lie got such schooling as he could and had
no aid Of family or other influence except
his own personality when he entered on
public career. 1t was character that
shaped his fortunes. He took part in
every great interest of the nation from
the days preceding the Civil War TO the
present and had the consciousness that
he had made an impression on our DO It'll
cal progress. His record is more enviabIe
than that of men OF more giittering quail
ties He did his work well and he did II
himself, and his name will hold an hon
ored place in the archives OF the nation.
BOutweIl's Fear