Evening star., 1944-12-26
Ex-senator Blair Lee, 81, Dies;
Was First to Be Elected at Polls

Father of Col. Lee
Was Long Active in
Maryland Politics
Former Senator Blair Lee. PROM
inent in Maryland legal and polit-
ical circles for more than go years,
died last night at the home of his
son, 1t. Col e. Brooke Lee, at Nor
wood, near Sandy Spring. He was
81 years old.
Senator Lee was elected to the
Senate in 1913 in special election
to fill a vacancy caused by the death
of Senator Isidor Rayner, and thus
became the first Senator to be
elected by direct vote of the people
as a result of the adoption of the
17th constitutional amendment. He
served until 1917.
Prior to his election to the Senate,
Senator Lee served two terms in the
Maryland State Senate, where he
was credited with sponsoring legis-
lation that changed Maryland from
a Tory to progressive State"
While serving in the Senate here,
he supported actively the Hays
Wadsworth bill to reorganize the
Army. Later known as the National
Defense Act, this legislation in
creased the strength of the National
Guard and supplied needed troops for
Mexican border service in 1916 and
for the World War which followed
Also during his service in the
Senate, Senator Lee was a member
of the subcommittee which worked
out the farm credit and land bank
programs.
He was a close political friend of
the late William Jennings Bryan,
and later supported the liberal poll
cies of his friend and former school
mate, Woodrow Wilson, whom he
helped nominate at the National
Democratic Convention at Balti-
more in 1912.
Born at Silver Spring August
9, 1857, the son Of Rear Admiral
Samuel Phillips Lee and Mrs. Eliza
beth Blair Lee, Senator Lee attend
ed public schools and was graduated
from Princeton in 1880 and from
the Columbian now George Wash
ington) University law school in
1882.
He was admitted to the District
and Montgomery County bars in
1883 when he began the practice of
law here and in Maryland
Ran for Office In 1896.
Senator Lees political career be-
gan in 1896 when he was the unsuc-
ceSsful candidate for election to the
Fifty-Fifth Congress. In 1905 he
was elected member of the State
Senate and was reelected to the
Senate in 1905 He was an unsuc-
cessful candidate for the Democratic
nomination for Governor in 1911.
During his two terms in the State
Senate, Senator Lee was active in
sponsoring liberal legislation for the
State. He supported bills requir-
ing the direct primary system of
making party nominations; the law
creating the Maryland Public Serv-
ice Commission, which for the first
time regulated public utilities and
utility rates in the State: amend
mentS to the workman's compensa-
ton law and the crea ton of the
State Accident Commission; numer-
Gus statutes which started the good
road system and created and con-
solidated the Maryland State Roads
Commission; the eight-hour day law
for railroad telegraphers. and nu-
merous bills improving the educa-
tional and tax structure of the State.
Former Representative David j.
Lewis of Maryland once said of
Senator Lee that ''the Maryland laws
introduced and supported by Senator
Lee and enacted into law have
changed Maryland from Tory to a
progressive State"
Senator Lee was elected a dele
gate to eight Democratic National
Conventions.
While at Princeton he played
three years on the football team,
was member of the varsity crew
and was one of the founders and
served as president of the Ivy Club.
He served for years as a member
of the Board of Trustees of the
Washington City Orphan Asylum,
which was founded by his mother.
and was vestryman for nearly 40
years of Grace Episcopal Church.
Woodside, Silver Spring.
Member of the Cincinnati.
He was a member of the Society
of the Cincinnati and was president
of the Society of Lees of Virginia
His great grandfather, Richard
Henry Lee. signer of the Declara-
ton of independence, was one of
the members of the Lee family born
at Stratford.
A lifelong resident of Silver
Spring. Senator Lee married Miss
Anne Clymer Brooke of Birdsboro.
Pa, in 1891, and never remarked
after his wife's death in 1903.
His father, Admiral Lee. organized
and commanded the North Atlantic
Blockade Squadron of the Federal
Navy, which blockaded the Confed-
eracy from Cape Hatteras north to
the Potomac River during the Sec
ond and third years of the Civil
War. He later commanded the Fed
eral gunboats on the Mississippi
River in forcing the forts at Vicks-
burg, and later commanded the