The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-04-20
MEMORIAL EXERCISES IN HONOR
OF LATE CONGRESSMAN.
Many Colleagues We're Heard

MANY colleagues were E6dTO
Speaker Cannon Called the House to
Order and Relinquished Chair to
Colonel Livingston, Dean of the
Georgia Delegation.
WASHINGTON, D. C.-Eulogies
were delivered in the house of rep
resentatives today in honor of the
memory of the late Representative
James NJ. Griggs of Georgia, who died
in January Speaker Cannon per-
sonally called the house to order,
but relinquished the chair to Rep
resentative Livingston, the dean of
the Georgia delegation.
Eloquent tributes touching upon
the life and character of the dead
statesman, who had been one of the
most popular members in the lower
branch of congress, were heard from
many speakers. These included
Representative Roddenbery, Judge
Griggs' successor, and Representa-
tives Howard, Hardwick, Hughes,
Edwards, Brantley, Lee, Adamson
and Bartlett, of Georgia; Champ
Clark; Representatives Robinson, of
Arkansas; Pou, of North Carolina,
and Ellerbe, of South Carolina.
Ia the galleries were a large dele
cation of ladies representing the
Congressional Club, among whom
were Miss Helen Cannon, daughter
nf hn
Clark, wife of the democratic leader. |
A large number of other persons at |
tended the exercises, and in point of |
attendance the service surpassed any
held in recent years.
g Fl6fa! Memorial Offering.
In the we'll Immediately in front
of the Speakers desk was a floral
memorial offering, sent by the Con-
gressional Club. The women of this |
club have decided to attend in |
body hereafter these solemn memo !
rial exercises.
Every member of the Georgia DEL
egation in the house spoke except |
Bell, who is absent
at home on account of the serious
illness of Mrs. Wilburn, his wife's
mother.
MIR. Rcddenhery's Address.
Representative Roddenbery said;
"Mr. Speaker: During the short
period of my official association in
Washington nothing has so impressed
me with the fickleness of life's tenure
and the certainty of death as the fire.
Quently recurring occasions that
command the accustomed routine of
national legislation to cease it's func-
lions that reverence may be done the
memory of those who but yesterday,
in the vigor of life, standing in these
aisles gave utterance from vibrant
hearts to patriotic speech.
I'VE have now come to record the
final mark of official respect to the
life and character of my distinguish
ed predecessor, James Mathew
Griggs, late of the state of Georgia.
His friendships were fast-not
mere political friendship but the
ideal and genuine attachment which
we encounter more often in pretense
than we perceive in fact. The man
who was once drawn to Mr.. Griggs
never found an abatement of friend
ship; he attracted men to him by
his marked personality and held
them always by the magnetism of
the man.
1T is not a marvel among the cit
izenry at home that thousands stood
aghast at the announcement of his
death which, like the shadow of an
unheralded eclipse, darkened the
dawning of a new born year.
Thus through the medium of lit
tie things-yet great things-he
forged enduring friendships and ex-
hibited the real bigness of his heart
and tenderness of his soul. A strong
personality, the charm of magnet
ism, gifted at anecdote, a readiness
of wit, an aptitude at repartee COM
bined with native intellectual en-
dowmen to make him strong and
popular with the people of his state
and invincible at all times in the
Second congressional district.
After twenty years of acquaint-
ance and association, sometimes OPP
posing his views, | am prepared to
lCSIlIy W lliS cat dbll9IS, anu IL
were obliged to record an opinion
as to the one most pronounced per-
sonal quality of this remarkable man
it would be that throughout a long
and eventful public career his tideli-
ty to his friends was never tainted
with breath of suspicion nor yelled
in mist of doubt.
Having discoursed thus upon a
lamented fellow-citizen and public
servant, restricted peculiarly to a re-
view of his most distinctive charac-
teristics at home, I now commit a
further consideration of his life,
character and labors in congress to
those present who enjoyed the dis
tinction of cotemporaneous service
knowing full we'll that fitting trib-
utes will be bestowed, and that when
this house shall adjourn it will mark
L, y.s- II IL L. II