The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1917-03-15
Retirement of Mr.. Kinds.

In the stress and excitement of the
closing hours of Congress the Hou se of
Representatives did not fail to paw its
respects to Hon. Asher c. Kinds Of the
First Maine district, whose services came
to an end when the sixty-fourth Congress
expired. Repres ntative Mann, the Re-
publican leader, and Speaker Champ
Clark We'd with each other in testifying
to their appreciation of Mr. Kinds, and
"Unce Joe" Cannon, former speaker of
the House, declared that the work of
Asher Kinds on parliamentary presidents
would live when everybody had forgotten
who had been speakers of the Hous-
These tributes were well deserved. They
were spaid to the representative from
this district and will be read with feel
ings of pride by the Republicans of this
district, who SO long supported Mr..
Kinds, as we'll by the people of Maine, of
whom he was most creditabie repre-
sentative.
Ill health occasloned Mr. Kinds retire
ment from public life. For years, be-
ginning soon after his graduation at
Colby college and continuing throughout
his newspaper career on the Evening Ad-
verliser and the Portland Daily Press,
Mr., Kinds had been engaged in fitting
himself for the service he rendered his
State. He vas an interchangeable worker,
a man possessed of remark able gift for
systematizing everything, and arranging
his work, his studies and his recrea atoms,
according to we'll considered and care
fully thought out method. When he
first went to Washington as clerk to the
speaker, Thomas B. Reed, Mr.. Kinds was
not content to perform the ordinary
n nF hot hint tn
make himself valuable and to acquire
thorough knowledge of all that pertain
ed to the parliamentary history CT the
worlds greatest representative body.
This he did for his own information and
he arranged his studies as to parliamen-
tary precedents in such way as to make
them quickly available to any who might
seek such knowledge. The time came
when THIS work of Mir. Kinds bore fruit
and his profound insight into parliament
tary questions became recognized in Con-
gress and throughout the whole country.
Thus equipped for service Mr., Kinds
sought election to Congress from this
district and was successful in his ambi-
lion. Unfortunately for him, soon after
being elected to Congress, his health
broke down. This handicapped him great
ly, but with failing health Mr.. Kinds
made every effort to do his duty to his
constituents and to his colleagues in the
House. How far he would have advanc-
ed had ne not suffered a breakdown Ia
health no one knows. His friends and
admirers, numbered by the hundreds in
M.ine, believe that Mr.. Kinds had be-
fore him great career and they Will
never cease to regret that fate played
him such scurvy trick as to assist nun
into the place where he had opportunity
10 accomplish great things only to desert
him when his advancement to still great
er things seemed certain.
NJ aine is proud of Asher Kinds, proud
to read the magnificent tributes to him
pronounced on the floor of the House by
his political Opponents as we'll as by tae
leaders OF his own party. He retires
from public life with the Ieep ect and adj
miration of those who have been asso-
ciated with him in Washington and of
those whom he has served so faithfully
and we'll in Maine. The Daily Press he
lieves that it voices the sentiments of
the people of this First Congressional
district, regardless Of partisan affiliation,
when it expresses its best wishes for Mr..
Kinds, coupled with thanks for his ser
vices and hope that his path through
the quieter places of life may be strewn
with pleasant things and be extended
many years for the enjoyment of the
rest he has so we'll earned. Portland
Press.
Mr.. Kinds spent his boyhood in Waldo
county. and We are as proud of him down
here, and admire and esteem him as high
ly, as those he has so faithfully served in
Congress. To sum it up in a few words,
Asher G. Kinds is real estate