The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-12
Death Closes Brilliant Career
 of Senator John Tyler Morgan

| M. Byru, a dlSt1nBuiSHSd idWyer' aHu l his connection continued until Judge Byrd was elected to the Supreme Court | of Alabama. The canvass of 1880. | when he was an elector on the Breck- inridge tfcEet. gave him his first state reputation for patriotism. clearness of vision and eloquence.
 l His Services in the War. Tn 1861 he was elected major or the | 5th Alabama Regiment and served with | 1t for twelve months in Virginia. ris- | ing to the rank of lieutenant colonel Alaba which he equipped largely | through his own personal contripu- I tions.
 With this regiment he went to the front, but by order of the Confedcr- | ate government. he was sent back to | Alabama to assume charge of the con- script bureau of the state He was | six months later directed to assume | charge of Rhodes Brigade in Virginia | by a personal letter from General Rob- | ert F. Lee.
 While en route to Virginia to ac- | cept this honor. he learned of the death of Colonel Webb, with whom he had raised the 51st Regiment and he felt | 1t his duty to assume command of his | old regiment In November. 1863. how ever, he was placed in command of a | brigade. and during that and the fol- | lowing year he commanded a division while holding the rank of brigadier general His brigade was under the | command of Generals Johnston and Hood in Tennessee and Georgia when | the war ended.
 Broken in purse and in prospect, like l the South which he loved so well, when | the war ended he returned to Cahaba and entered upon the practice of law Cahaba, once the capital of Alabama, but now deserted town. with naught but ruins and history has to this day the remains of a brick building which | Is pointed out as the building in which both Senator Morgan and Senator Pet tus had offices.
 | In the gloom of reconstruction. Sem ator Morgan became the i6eal of the State. He became the incarnate ex. pression of the hopes. the aspirat ations | and the principle of a conquered ma. tion. His speeches in those troublous | days were marked by a bold courage. l and the distinctiveness of idea. In the Democratic conventions which met in those almost hopeless days John T. Morgan was the most honored of ad- visors, the most praised of the speak l CTS.
 | Achieved nn Istbmian Canal. Tn the year 1878 he was again Pres idential eIector-this time on the Til- | den. and Hendricks. ticket The fol- lowing year nc was elected to the l united States Senate to succeed George I Goldthwaite. and for a little more than thirty years he has been member of l that distinguished body. He has rank ed among the greatest of the greatest l law making body of the world. | To Senator Morgan more than 10 I any other single man Is due the build | ing of an isthmian canal. He devoted himself particularly to this great ques- | ton and became recognized as the | greatest authority ons that subject. It was his wish to live to see the comple- tion of the canal for which he labored \ through so many years. It is none | the less to his credit that the Govern | ment finally determined upon canal I route different from that which he fa- vored History vii record him as the leader and champion of the istnm'an canal. 4.
 The South especially is indebted tc him. To him more than to any otne'
 single man Is due the deleat ot n' .ms iniquitous Force Bill. This was nll | conceived to force the South back into
 Renconstruction area while the Re
 publicans were in power. but under l the leadership of Senator Morgan. witf l the aid of patriotic Northern senators whose help he enlisted. Senator Nor gan. working night and day secured | the defeat of the measure
 For many years Senator Morgan ol' rected the Senate Committee on For | eign Relations. He was a memoer ol | the commission which provided se' of laws for the Hawaiian Islands.
 Some of his most distinguished pup 1 lie services were rendered as mem Der of the Boring Fisheries Commis
 sion, to which he was appointed bS President Benjamin Harrison in 1892
 This commission had the arbitrator l of differences which had arisen be tween the American and the British | governments and the work of the Com | mission was such as to reflect honor and credit on the American govern
 ment
 Senator Morgan was given sever l successive elections to the United states
 Senate Last January he was elected l for the seventh successive time to tht Senate. The terms for which ne wal elected would have expired in lS1S H'
 had only served little more than thret
 months of that time when death ended
 the long and brilliant career.
 Courage To Do Right.
 He was the unanimous choice of tho
 people of Alabama for his own success
 sor. It was their will that he shoulc die with the harness on
 It is characteristic of the fearless
 
 gan that even while the primaries we
 on in Alabama for the selection of hi'
 successor and while he knew that the
 people of his State were greatly eXer' l cised over the anti-railroad agitation
 and in favor of the most stringent rail
 road legislation, he never failed tt
 make known his views that much o
 the agitation was hypocritical. He hat
 the courage to be one of the thre' | n against the HeDhurf
 bill Notwithstanding this vote agains
 their views the people of Alabam;
 gave him a unanimous re-nominatior
 for the Senate.
 It was the boast of Senator Nor
 can's friends that though he spen | thirty years in the United States Sen
 ate. he lived and died a poor man
 With innumerable opportunities for en
 richlng himself, he considered all mon
 ey making schemes as a sort of treach
 cry to his people. He died poor anC | he died an honest man. The breatl
 of scandal never reached him He wa
 ever pointed to as the honest man il
 public life and the youths of futur | generations will hear of him in tn,
 same way.
 The most telling agument that wa
 made in favor of the bill raising th'
 salary of United states Senators Wa
 embodied in the few words spoken b! | Senator Pettus in describing the pov
 erty of his distinguished colleague, wh, | after thirty years in the Senate had nt
 other means than his salary.
 On the subject of making none,
 Senator Morgan held views differen
 (COntinued on Page EIeven.l