Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-03-28
INDIANA 5 WAR Governor
In the Senate Mr. Fairbanks Paws
Eloquent Tribute to the uemory
of Oliver Perry Morton.
aIs GREAT Fight FOR THE UNION.
There Were Many Men In Indiana Who
Did Not Sympathize with Him, and the
Legislature Was Hostile Borrowed
Money on His Personal Responsibility


Washington, March 25.-The senate
Indiana a statue of Indiana's war
governor, Oliver p. Morton. Senator
Fairbanks delivered the grafton, and
among other things said:
The senate of the United States pauses
in the consideration of the important rou-
tine business of the country to accept
tribute from the state of Indiana-a
statue of Oliver Perry Morton. That
statue is last and in yonder venerable
hall of representatives, now tenanted by
the mute image Of the chiefest jewels of
the republic The state of Indiana has
an ample roll of distinguished states
men who have served her well; of SOL
diers who won imperishable renown up
on the battleflelds of their country; of
those who have attained high places in
the world of letters, but, without invid-
ious discrimination, she makes her pres
ent and first contribution to statuary
hall.
Oliver Perry Morton was one Of the
commanding figures of the United States
during the most heroic period Of her his
tory. He impressed himself upon his
state and nation by the force of his
commanding genius. and the history OF
neither state nor nation would be COM
plete without the story of himself and
work
Mr.. Fairbanks told in vigorous
words the stirring story of Morton's
entrance into political life and of his
becoming the governor of his native
state lat the treshold of mighty
crisis" He continued:
He realized in advance of most others
the true and tremendous significance of
the incipient secession movement He
| did not doubt the result Of the ISSUE but
| he favored energetic and speedy prepa-
ration to meet 1t. When others wavered
| he was firm and when others doubted
| he was certain. The task Re undertook
was herculean. There were nla,.y VINO
were not in sympathy with the union
| cause. By ceaseless vigilance he antic-
ipated every attack which treason about
| him planned. When the governor was
without funds to support the affair, of
| the state, through the failure of a hos.
| tile and disloyal legislature to perform
| its duty, he borrowed money upon his
| personal responsibility and preserved the
| faith and credit of the state. The erner-
/ gency was great and it required a man
| of commanding force and ability to meet
| it.
| Mr.. Fairbanks then succinctly re-
lated the part which Gov. Morton took
in the civil war, what he did for his
state and her troops in that crit.
ical period and how he won the love
of the soldiers and an imperishable
| reputation at the same time. Next
he told how the distinguished states.
man, already in the grip of deadly
disease, came to Washington as a
senator from Indiana. That he might
| do his duty to his state and to his
country he bid even death defiance
Eloquently Mr.. Fairbanks told of Mr.
lMorton's most conspicuous and illus
| trious public service-his labors on
the electoral committee following the
| presidential election of 1876. He said:
| Stricken by remorseless disease and
| rapidly approaching the end of illus
trious career, he yet became a member
| of the committee, the creation of which
| he had antagonized. He had to be lifted
into his seat during the sittings of the
| commission, there remaining into the
| long, dreary hours of the night, tireless
| among the tired pressing on where
| strong men gave way, he presents pic
| ture that may well excite our wonder and
| challenge our admiration, and for which
| history furnishes no example. No dis
| honorable act detracts from his fame
| His hands were clean, his integrity in
corruptible. He was a bold but chival-
| rous political antagonist. for his sense
| of honor was acute. His political ad-
| versaries. at the time of his death. paid
tribute to his stainless and exalted pur-
| pose. He was regarded and ranked as
an intense partisan. and such he was
He had an abiding faith in the virtue OF
| his party, and of it's beneficence as ar
instrument in promoting good govern.
| ment.
The state Of Indiana commits to the
keeping of the United States the statue
| of Oliver p. Morton. to be kept and pre-
served so long as the fabric of our DO
litical institutions shall endure. Sh,
commits it with affectionate pride. be
lieving that those who shall follow u.
in the stately procession of the years t.
come will preserve 1t in perpetual re
membrance of one who gave his bes
years, yea. life itself. in unselfish. un
ceasing devotion to the mighty task O
preserving the unity and honor of hi
| country