The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-02-08
BON DIS
THE WARTIME SPEAKER
GALUsHA A. GROW, OLDEST MAN IN
THE LOWER HOUSE.
Native of Pennsylvania, which State
He Served in Congress Long and
WelI-Framed Homestead Act.
Boston Globe.

Congress contains no more venerable or
striking figure than Galusha A. Grow, of
Pennsylvania. He first entered the House
of Representatives at Washington fifty-one
years ago. and at the end of the present
session he retires at the age of seventy
nine. No man now in public life has had a
more singular career.
He entered Congress before he was thirty,
and quickly became a leader in an arena
where only brains. force and character
count IN the long run. No anti-slavery
champion struck sturdier blows in the
stormy. eventful days which preceded the
civil war. From 1861 to 1868 he presided
with exceptional firmness and ability over
the deliberations of the popular branch of
the NEST potential law-making body in our
history
Then a reapportionment of his State
robbed him of his seat In Congress in the
flush of his fame and powers, and there
after he held no public office until 1884, when
he was called from honored retirement and
made congressman-at-large. To this post
he has been reelected four times.
Save for the whiteness of his hair and
beard he looks the man of fifty. His men,
tai powers are undimmed, his voice clear
and resonant his grip firm. and his step
has all the spring and buoyancy of youth
He has a retentive memory that rarely
plays him traitor, and his store of anec-
dote and Renaissance is an unusually rich
one
Ex-Speaker Grow was born in Connecti-
cut and reared in Pennsylvania. The eld-
est son of a widowed mother, his youth was
one OF toll and rigid self-denial, but he
managed to work his way through college.
and was graduated with honor at Amherst
After that, having studied law he became
the partner OF David Wilmot and in 1851
at the age of twenty-seven, succeeded that
eminent man in Congress.
Mr.. Grow entered Congress as a Demo-
erat, but from the first he was stanch
and outspoken opponent of the extension
of slavery When Congress repealed the
Missouri compromise he publicly and per-
manently broke with his old party ASSOC
ciates and became the Congressional leader
of the newy-formed Republican party He
was once its caucus candidate for speaker
and finally the presiding officer of the first
war Congress This last was not, how
ever, before he had become the trusted
friend OF Abraham Lincoln.
Mr.: Grow, during his single term as
speaker, presided over three sessions of
the House. One of them was a called ses-
sion. which met on July 1, 1861 and ended
on Aug. 8. During those five weeks when
armies and navy had to be created and
ways and means provided for their sup
port. and when the general policy of the
government toward the seeded States had
10 be defined. so far as this could be done
by legislation at that early day more work
of vital Importance TO the Nation was done
than was ever transacted in Congress in
any period OF equal length before or since
To this result Mr.. Grow, by his efforts.
contributed in generous measure.
mo man who was ever speaker" wrote
the late William $. Holman, more largely
or more beneficially Influenced the general
course OF our legislation. He was a born
leader among men"
fsarn n
speaker that Mr.. Grow looks back as the
most important chapter in his public career.
for he has right TO be considered the au-
thor OF the homestead act. which was
signed by President Lincoln on May 90 1852
and went into operation on Jan. 1, 1868.
From ISL to 1876 he was president of the
international & Great Northern Railroad
Company OF Texas.
President Hayes offered him the mission
TO Russia in 1879. which he declined.
Mr. Grows outlook upon preSent-day men
timism which seems the finest fruit of a
long life spent in Well doing He is hearty
behever In the integrity OF American citi-
zensnip ana the expanding greatness of
the Republic. New conditions" SAYS he.
bring new duties. but the public men OF
to-day are as honest and able as those OF
an earlier time. Indeed. public life has been
growing steadily purer and stronger until
to-day IL is more worthy of the Nation than
at any time since war established US a ma
ton. These busy and practical days have
brought scores Of practical men TO both
houses OF congressman who are I'm every
way equal TO the tasks imposed upon them.
and who. in the variety and Importance of
the results accomplished. challenge fri
umphant comparison with the legislators
or other days. Not only is Congress- as a
body. one that merits trust and CONFIDENCE.
but the excellence OF the public service In
all Its branches should exicte the pride of
every citizen. 10 me the times I'm and the
government under which We live seem the
best that have thus far been given 10 men ;.
He was never married His home is at
Glenwood. Pa. "