Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-03-29
OLIVER PERRY MORTON.
Presentation of the Statue of the
ulustrious Indianian to
the Nation.
TO STAND IN THE HALL OF STATUARY.

Word Picture of the Life and Pub
lie Services of Mr.. Morton, Paying
Tribute to His Stainless and Ex-
allied Public Services.
Washington, March 24.-During the
session of the senate Mr.. Fairbanks
1nd-) presented a resolution accept
ing the statue OF Oliver p. Morton
from the state of Indiana. He spoke
in part as follows:
THE senate of the United States
pauses in the consideration of the inn
portant routine business of the eoun-
try to accept n tribute from the state
of Indiana-a statue of Oliver Perry
Morton.
THAT statue is to stand in yonder
venerable hall of representatives, now
tenanted by the mute images of the
chiefest jewels of the republic.
The state of Indiana has an ample
roll of distinguished statesmen who
have served her well; of soldiers who
won imperishable renown upon the
battlefields of their country; of those
who have attained high places in the
world of letters, but without invidious
discrimination, she makes her present
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 history. 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 complete without the story
of his life and work.
Mr.. Fairbanks then with bold and
sweeping, but definite and exact lines,
drew striking word picture of Gov.
Morton. He pictured his early life, his
struggles for an education, the sacri-
fees he made to shake his passionate
thirst for knowledge, and the power as
lawyer and judge, which he early at.
tanned by reason of his brilliant quail
6catioIs. Then he told in vigorous
words the stirring story of Morton's
entrance into political life and of his
becoming the governor of his native
state, 'at the threshold of a mighty
crisis
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 critical
period, and how he won the love of
the soldiers and an imperishable repu-
tation at the same time. Next he told
how the distinguished statesman, al
ready 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. He worked
increasingly that the nation, which
had just emerged from the fiery bap-
tlsm of war, might be put on the
highway of enduring peace. This her.
culean. work must be done. He had
no time to parley with death.
There are colleagues of Mr.. Nor
ton in the senate, who remember, as
though it were but yesterday, how
the senator was borne into this cham
Der in his chair, and how he delivered
his great speeches seated there
Eloquently Mr.. Fairbanks told OF
Mr.. Morton's most conspicuous and
illustrious public service-his labors
on the electoral commission following
the presidential election of 1876.
Stricken by remorseless disease |
and rapidly approaching the end of an |
iliustrious career" said Mr.. Fair |
banks, ''he yet became a member of |
the commission, 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, press |!
ing on where strong men gave way,
he presents picture that may well ex- |
cite our wonder and challenge our adj |
miration, and for which history fur
nishes no example"
mo dishororable act" continued the |
speaker, "detracts from his fame. His |
hands were clean, his integrity incor-
ruptible. He was bold but chivalrous |
political antagonist, for his sense of |
honor was acute. His political adver-
saries, at the time of his death, paid |
tribute to his stainless and exalted |
purpose. 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 its benefi- |
cence as an instrument in promoting |
good government
"The state of Indiana commits to /
the keeping of the United States the |
statue of Oliver Perry Morton, to be |
kept and preserved so long as the IA
rio of our political institutions shall |
kept and preserved SO long as the fab |
Increased Wages.
Charleston, S. c., March 26-The |
York cotton mills of Yorkville, this |
state, have announced that they will, |