The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-01-31
Senator Cullom

Senator CullOm
Senator Shelby NJ Cullom who died of la
grippe in Washington last Thursday, was one of
the most historic figures in American public life
He was born in Kentucky in decade when the
anti-savery ferment first began to disturb the
country. Later with his eleven brothers and sis
tiers, his parents moved to pioneer farm in 1lli-
nos not far from Lncolns home. There he en-
dured the hardships of frontier life and developed
that splendid physique which enabled him to per-
form many years of service in public life.
His father was a personal friend of the Lin
coins and often recommended ltigants to secure
the services of young Lincoln when he was a
struggling backwoods lawyer.
During Lincoln's second term as President,
Cullom was elected to the House of Representa-
tives This began unbroken period in public
office exceeded by none and lasted three years
longer than Uncle" Joe Cannon's term of
service.
He was twice elected Governor of Illinois and
presided over the Illinois House of Representa-
tves at the time Stephen A. Douglas made his i'm
passioned speech regarding the firing on Fort
Sumter In 1883 he elected to the Senate and
there remained continuously for thirty years, a
record exceled only by Senators Ellison and Nor
ill. During this entire time, he was always in
charge of some responsible commission, such as
the Foreign Relationship Committee after the
Spanish-American War and the Hawaiian Com
mission which established the form of govern
ment in those islands.
1t was Cullom who nominated Grant the sec
ond time and whose speech the shortest on
record for such purpose. It consisted of just
seventy-five words and nearly Frustrated his
hearers with it's briefness.
few months ago he appointed chair
of the commission organized to erect a
s2,ooo,oo0oo memorial to Lincoln in Washing
ton. 1t was one of the Senator's keenest re-
grets at the time of his death that he was una
bic to live to the completion of this extraordi-
nary mark of regard for his old time friend.
During his lifetime he saw the crown of Great
Britain handed down from George " to William
" and then to Queen Victoria, who passed it on
to King Edward VII, from whose hands it de-
scended to the present king, George V.
Senator Cullom born in an age which now
seems as strange and remote to us as does some
ancient era. There is something pathetic in the
spectacle of single human life which is COM
PEELED to breach over such chasm as separates
this day from his own early day. 1t would be
almost impossible for any man to make the rev.
pulmonary adjustments of mind and habit re-
CURED by the extraordinary changes which be-
gan to take place generation ago. The fact
that Senator Cullom able to hold his place
a responsible position of public trust during
the trying times in which an old world died and
new world was born, speaks much for his char
acter and his ability.
It is significant of the inner sincerity and ser
iousness of his mind that after he had publicly
written in his published memoirs" that he was
unable on the evidences at hand to found a belief
in a life to come that he was so willing after the
actual experiences of old age and impending
death had deepened and ripened his spiritual
life, freely to acknowledge his change of convic
ton and to express his belief that death is but
another kind of birth and that he should once
more be permitted to walk across the immemor
ial meadows of another land with Lincoln anc
Douglas and Grant and Garfield and all of his ole
time friends who had gone before