time. I was a fellow Member with him during the entire
period of his service in this House. By his early training
and from long association he was especially fitted to deal
with questions of a financial and of an industrial char-
acter, and it was with such measures that he was specially
identified here. He was also deeply concerned in ques-
tions which had a humanitarian side.

We all remember the keen interest which he showed
in the well-being of those men who patrol our vast
stretches of seacoast, who go out in their little lifeboats
across the angry breakers in order to save the lives of
their fellow men, and how he was concerned to make suit-
able provision for the declining years of those heroes after
their active years had been spent in their humane and
dangerous calling.

[191



Memori.vi. Addresses: Representative Lovering

He also, in the committee of which he was a member,
showed a deep interest in measures which tended to
banish from the ocean the remnants of barbarities which
still linger and which have come down to us from former
centuries.

He was, as I have said, especially concerned in great
measures of a financial and industrial character, and dur-
ing his service here rendered the country most valuable
service in connection with legislation relating to finance,
taxation, and commerce.

His departure is a great loss to his friends, to the House,
to the country, and to his Commonwealth. He upheld
here the high traditions which had been maintained by
the Representatives of the district which he served. His
life will be an example to the young men of to-day and of
the future, and will inspire them with the ambition to
render faithful service to their countrj'.



[20]



Address of Mr. Kfxiher, of Massachusetts

Mr. Speaker: Though horn in Rhode Island, our hite
colleague, William Cro.\u Lovering. was essentially a
product of Massachusetts, for, having in youth hecome
her son by adoption, he continued in manhood one of
her most useful, respected, and distinguished citizens.

Those rugged traits which have ever characterized the
people of Massachusetts, and to which they owe the com-
manding position of their State among her sisters, were
splendidly typified in the dead statesman whose memory
we honor to-daj^

William Croad Lovering was honest, lutellcctual, ener-
getic, and patriotic. Although he chose a business career
the nature of whicli demanded continuous attention, he
did not permit it to so occupy him as to render him indif-
ferent to the duties good citizenship imposes. He gave
generously of his time and talents for the promotion of
the general weal, and no public service was so unim-
portant as to be overlooked or shirked.

Due recognition uf these civic duties liberally taxed
time and energy upon which his growing business enter-
prises had a prior claim. If more citizens of the type of
William C. Lovering as willingly and patriotically per-
formed their share of tlie duties which rightfully devolve
upon American citizenship, fewer demagogues would
occupy public office and a higlier standard of elliciency
and honesty would characterize the public service.

Mr. Speaker, ^\■hen grim war visited our lair land,
and upon the success at anus depended whether a great

[21]



Memorial Addresses: Representative Lovering

political principle should stand or fall, William C. Lover-
ing hastened to join the patriotic hosts that rallied to the
suppoit of Lincoln. His keen sense of duty manifested
itself in war as in peace, and to such a spirit as he dis-
played when occasion demanded we owe that national
solidarity that makes us at once the most powerful and
respected Nation upon God's earth.

In business life our late colleague achieved marked
success, and yet it was never even whispered that his suc-
cess was accomplished by other than strictly honorable
means. In his public life William C. Lovering was right-
fully regarded as a sound, able, conscientious, and pro-
gressive public servant. Nature had blessed him with
an excellent mind, which was supplemented by thorough
education, exhaustive study, and extensive travel. He
enjoyed great familiarity with the general history of the
Nation and his mind was well stored with thoroughly
digested views upon her complex economic, industrial,
and political problems.

Recognizing tliat the most successful way to administer
the Government was through the agency of parties,
William Cboad Lovering subscribed and adhered to the
principles and policies of the Republican Party. Though
he was a strong partisan, he was first a patriot, and party
allegiance did not bind him to that which he believed
inimical to the best interests of the whole country.

In Congress he occupied a prominent and influential
position to the very day upon which his life work ended.
As we here in Congress appreciated his worth, so did his
constituency, for it retained him in the ofBce for 13 years
and would have continued to do so had not his health
so failed as to force him to announce his wish to retire,
a desire which death soon granted.

Mr. Speaker, our late colleague was an impressive fig-
ure. Dignified, though extremely kind, courtly, and ever

[22]



AonRKss oi Mr. Kelhiek, oi- Massachi smrs

courteous, iiis dcpartiirt' through death from this body is
mourned by its entire membership, while his loss to his
State can best be measured by the widespread and gen-
uine grief which the knowledge of his demise occasioned.
His death leaves a gap in the public service of Massa-
chusetts whicli will be exceedingly hard to fdl. May his
type in the public service multiply.



[23]



Address of Mr. Peters, of Massachusetts

Mr. Speaker: By a nature direct and sympathetic Wil-
liam Croad Lovering drew to himself many friends, and
their loyalty and love for him grew greater as the years
went on. As one of these friends it is my privilege to pay
my last respects to him whose memory I shall always
treasure.

William Croad Lovering was, when he died, the oldest
Representative of tlic oldest Slate of the Union. In the
center of his district stands the famous rock where Eng-
lish feet first trod in settling this new land, their land of
hope and freedom, their new- England. Southward and
eastward from Plymouth Rock swings out into the North
Atlantic the great, flat, sandy elbow of Cape Cod, of which
the long white dunes and the dry swishing spear grass are
no more distinctive and characteristic than its fine old
fisher people. Inland from Plymouth lie the manufactur-
ing centers of Brockton and Bridgewater, with a popula-
tion radically different from that of the shore. Indeed,
that little district is an epitome of all New England, and
of all that was best in tliat district William Croad Lov-
ering was truly a representative.

He had the same strength of character that inspired his
forefathers to hew out for themselves, from the wintiy
woods of Massachusetts, homes and hearths, the light of
which illumined a continent. Like the Pilgrims, bodily
weakness could not stay him from his work. With grim
perseverance he fought tlie fight through to the end, gen-
tle, unflinching, until he was called from his duty. Stead-



[24]



i



Address of Mr. Pktkhs, oi Massacih skits

fast, but gentle, he was, witli the gentleness of those liardy
settlers who could lay down their smoking weapons and
at a moment's notice become a loving father and a genial
friend.

.\lthough he was above all an earnest man and one wlio
plowed each luirow to llic end, Mr. Lovering's activities
were not confined to a single branch of public service. He
was a leader in building up the great industries of our
State; he served for a short term in the war; and he par-
ticipated in the government of Massachusetts while some
of us were in the cradle. We who knew him as a Mem-
ber of this body need not recall the traits he showed here,
the traits that made us love and respect liini, the traits that
made his Massachusetts colleagues point to him proudly
as the dean of our delegation, a type of tiie founders of
our State and of the Union.

As firm he stood in his convictions as that famous bit of
granite lying in his old district by the blue waters of the
bay, and his convictions were broad and based upon no
blind refusal to acknowledge the inevitable change of con-
ditions. He stood always in the fore front of the line,
swinging his ax witli the rest, not harking back too often
to past accomplishments, but intent on clearing from the
tangled wilderness of problems which has grown up to
confront us a place for a new liberty, a still more glorious
peace, prosperity, and union.

When on that winter's day we saw the flags on Capitol
Hill streaming at half-mast in the sunshine, and when we
learned that one more colleague w'&s enrolled forever in
the great nuijority of the hereafter, looking back upon the
life and work of William Croad Loverino as we had
known him, we must all have united in a single thought,
however differently expressed, " Well done, thou good
and faithful sei-vant."



[25]



Address of Mr. Booher, of Missouri

Mr. Speaker: It is fitting that we should meet here
to-day in this special session to honor the memory, to
recount the valued services, and to review the life of
William C. Lovering, for 13 years a Member of this House
from the fourteenth Massachusetts district.

As a comparatively new Member of this body, I shall
not attempt to dwell at length upon the public career of
this great and good man. Others have told and will tell
of the many noble traits of character that endeared him
for so long to his constituents and his colleagues, and I
have listened with approval to every word that has been
said here by these veterans in the service.

Yet, during my limited acquaintance with Mr. Lovering,
I had grown to love, to admire, and to respect him to the
fullest extent. He was a man that inspired these things.
He deserved and enjoyed the esteem of the entire mem-
bership of this House; he was as considerate of the novice
in national legislative service as of the man of more
mature years who had fought side Ijy side with him
through many political battles.

When I first met him I recall that I was particularly
struck with his genial bearing, his uniform courtesy, his
regard for the feeling of others, and, above all, his con-
scientious devotion to duty as he saw it. Mr. Lovering
disagreed with many of us in his political views; he was
a fearless ad\ocate of what he believed to be right, but
no man within my hearing to-day can say that he ever
took an unfair advantage of an adversary, or, to use one
of the expressions of the day, that he " hit below the belt."

[2G]



Adbhecss of Mh. BooiiKH, or Missoi lu



And thus it was that his indepciulciit altitudi', coupk-d
with his spirit of fair play and his unwavering loyalty
to his friends, his constituency, and his country, won for
him here at the Capitol a reputation that might well he
the envy of any man in puhlic service to-day.

Mr. LovERiNG entered Congress after he had passed the
sixtieth milestone of life's journey, at an age when less
anihitious men are thinking of cessation from life's strug-
gles and of deeds performed rather than those to he per-
formed. Prior to this time he had served with distinc-
tion in the Massachusetts Legislature. There, as here, he
was alwaj's the exponent of uprightness in civil affairs;
and there, as here, he made friends that mourn him
sincerely to-daj'.

.\ man of means, successful in business, influential in
big as well as little things, he has left behind him a record
of good works, and his career to-day should be an inspira-
tion to the younger generations.

Massachusetts has lost one of her most valued citizens,
this House one of its most beloved Members, and the
Nation one of its most valiant public servants in the pass-
ing of William C. Lovering.



[27]



Address of Mr. Tirrell, of Massachusetts

Mr. Speaker: In the death of our associate we mourn
the loss of a business man in politics. It is natural for
a professional man to be attracted by public affairs. His
professional employment is of a semipublic character.
This leads him into legislative or political associations in
which he finds a broad field for the exercise of talents
which his education and experience have fitted him.
With the business man it is otherwise. His tastes lead
him in an opposite direction, so that when you find the
business man with an aptitude for public life and success-
ful also in business administration, you have an ideal man
as a legislative guide, counselor, and creator. Such,
emphatically, was our late associate, to whom we to-day
pay our last tribute of respect and rapprcciation.

William C. Lovering, upon the completion of his school
life, entered into the manufacturing business with his
father in the control of the Whittenton Mills, located at
Taunton, Mass., one of the leading corporations in this
line of work in New England. The artistic side of the
work done, requiring taste, skill, combination, and thor-
ough study, was under his direction, and constituted one
of the most valuable assets of the company.

In addition he interested himself for the benefit of
his city and State, socially, financially, and educationally.

He was prominent in Masonic circles and a member of
his local Grand Army of the Republic post.

He had the interests of the toiler at heart, as State
senator voting for a 10-hour law in Massachusetts, and

[28]



AdDKESS of Mh. TlRRKl.l., 01 MASSACIirSETTS

later, in national legislation, laboring lor an 8-hour law
to apply throughout the United States.

He entered Congress late in life, with an established
business reputation and in tiie full maturity of his powers.
He was equipped for the service. His accurate judgment
and great experience armed him for the conflict along
industrial lines. His practical knowledge and long and
varied investigations of business problems had given him
the requisite information to meet their solution with facts
to sustain his contentions with ability and force. Par-
ticularly was this true as to what appertained to the cotton
industry, in which he was an expert. He was an ardent
advocate of drawback legislation, the object being thereby
to increase our export trade. Representing a seaboard
district, he was untiring in securing better conditions for
members of our life-saving stations along the coast. As a
member of the Committee on Banks and Banking, he
advocated zealously certain currency reforms, which were
original and valuable contributions to this most intricate
and delicate legislation.

He denounced gambling in futures of the necessities
of life and was much interested in a bill designed to
prevent the same. In these and similar matters he was
bold and fearless. You might not agree with all of them,
but you could not but respect his views and admire his
independence and often original action. A study of his
congressional action can not fail to show some of his
notable characteristics. He was pertinacious. He was
not easily discouraged. He did not drop a matter because
the majority were against him. He returned again and
again to the charge. If his original proposition was voted
down, again it would appear, perhaps in a changed or
modified form, and be pushed forward with enthusiasm.
If defeated, it did not discourage him, but .stimulated him
to renewed effort under different conditions. He saw

[29]



Memokiai, Aodkesshs: Hephesentativk Loverinc.

that in the evolution of events the rejected stone not infre-
quently became the headstone in the corner. His business
activities taught him the valuable lesson of patience and
untiring work. He knew well that changes were brought
about by education and enlightened opinion, the result
of line upon line and precept upon precept. He realized
that moral ideas must, as it were, percolate among the
people before their general adoption. The people must
consider them, turn them over for examination on every
side, test them, argue against them to bring out their
defects, discuss them until a general interest in them was
created and some general action upon them demanded,
before they were adopted. Even if not adopted, a more
rational, careful, critical view of the subject would follow.
Thus his shrewdness, liis practical common sense, liis
knowledge of the world, and his adaptability to circum-
stances made him victorious in his political battles and
won for him much respect as a legislator.

He was happy in his domestic relations, having one
daughter who married into a distinguished family in
Massachusetts, and another who was his constant com-
panion and solace of his later years.

His health was failing for some time before he left us.
His friends remarked upon his weakened powers long
before the end came. His courage, however, remained
unshaken, an<l he hoped again to resume the battle. Even
before the present session began, and while he was at his
summer home, his friends with liim then noticed tlie
change. He spent the summers at a noted resort by the
shore, a resort not open to the general public, but occupied
by congenial friends and relatives as a sort of family
hotel. It was on a prominent bluff by the sea. 11 was
located in his district. A few miles away was the liarbor
of Plymouth, famous in song and story. The Pilgrim
towns were around liim, whose history was to him an

[301



Addkkss 01 Mh. TiHui.i.i., 01 Massacih si:tts

inspiration to patriotism and a guide to the highest puhlic
life. Near by was the famous Miuot Ledge Lighthouse,
illuminating that rock-hound coast. INIav it not he tliat in
tliis, among his closing (hiys, willi liiat mind that liad been
so active, that lu art tliat had glowed for l)etter industrial
con<iifions. tliaf imagination that, combined with facts,
had l)een i)articularly useful to liis people, he could liear
across tiie waters even tlien the call for him.

Sunset and uvoning star

And ont' clear call for nie,
And may tlicie be no mourning of llie bar

Wlien 1 put out to sea;
But such a tide as, moving, seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell

And after that the dark;
And may there be no sadness of farewell

When I embark;
For though from out our bourne of time and place

The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crossed the bar.



[31]



Address oi Mr. O'Connell, of Massaciiisetts

Mr. Speaker: The advent of death is always impressive.
Although the inevitable fate of even- mortal, it never
comes without forcibly attracting attention from all those
who are closely associated with him who receives the
summons. In the family this is particularly true, and in
the American Congress, where men are closely associated
through the common interests that bring them here, in-
fluenced in their daily life by a mutual desire for the
welfare of our whole Nation, there are veiy strong family
ties. The sudden breaking of these ties by death brings
to us all a feeling of great sadness and sorrow. The
announcement of the death of our colleague, William
Crc-vd Lovering, who had for so many years represented
the fourteenth congressional district of Massachusetts,
was not really expected, and was a message which
shocked us all.

My late colleague and myself were of different political
faiths. Until we met in this Chamber we were strangers.
He was the Nestor of the congressional delegation from
Massachusetts. I was the youngest Member, but shortly
after our meeting we becaine warm friends. I had occa-
sion on various matters to consult him and to seek his
affvice and counsel. His ripe experience and splendid
training admirably equipped him to direct and counsel
a yoimger man like myself. At all times I found him
ready, willing, agreeable, and anxious to help and aid me.

Mr. Lovering. through his large business interests as a
cotton manufacturer and active director in many large

[32]



Address of Mr. O'Connell, of Massac iuseits

and successful enterprises, had acquainted himself with
the great principles that underlie and govern all com-
mercial movements and made him familiar with the hig
prohlems of the age. He impressed me as a man who
preferred, ahove all things, to have justice done. Always
insisting upon strict compliance with provisions of the
law, he at the same time abhorred red tape.

I do not wish to let this occasion pass by without com-
menting upon one incident that veiy much impressed me
with the caliber and character of my late colleague.

The United States Government had condemned land for
a powder magazine in Hingham, a town in his district.
Several of the property owners, some of whom lived in
my district, possessed small holdings, and the Navy De-
partment was unwilling to pay them what they considered
a fair price. Recourse was had by the Government to the
courts, which sustained the property owners. The United
States officials were displeased with the courts, and sought
to take advantage of a technicality that permitted the Gov-
ernment to avail itself of a verdict of a jurj' or to put it
aside if it so desired. The mere stating of this proposition
appeared monstrous to Mr. Loverinc. He could not un-
derstand why the Government should have rights that the
individual citizen did not have; that if the individual was
bound by a verdict of the court, the Government should
also be bound when it was a party to the controversy.
Several attempts had been made to show the Government
officials the injustice of their attitude, but all seemed to be
in vain, until one day I enlisted the assistance of Mr.

LOVEHING.

He immediately took the matter up and in brief time
convinced the officials that their course was unmanly, un-
fair, and unjust. He went immediately to the heart of the
subject and wasted no time or energj^ on useless features
of the controversy. His presentation of tlie matter, his

93664"— 11 3 [33]



Memorial Addresses: Representative Lovering

just indignation at the indifference of the department offi-
cials to the rights of the people, and his clearly stated de-
termination to have the matter called to the attention of
Congress quickly induced the department officials to
abandon their attitude and to abide bj' the decision of
their own court.

All through this incident Mr. Lovering displayed those
talents that justified his district in sending him here for
so many j'ears. He was the ideal Congressman. The in-
terests of all his constituents were vei'y dear to him, and
were jealously guarded by him. He was attentive, care-
ful, progressive, and well informed.

His field of effort was not confined alone to his district,
but extended to the Nation. He had received an excel-
lent business training before his advent into public life,
and his experience in the Massachusetts senate added the
necessary qualifications to make him a very efficient Con-
gressman.

Although he was a manufacturer and naturally inclined
to view legislation which affected manufacturing interests
from the angle of view of a capitalist, still it must be said
of him that he had a vei-y fair sense of justice to all who
were concerned.

In 1874 he was a member of the committee on manufac-
tures in the Massachusetts senate. Several bills had been
introduced from j'ear to year regulating the hours of labor
in the manufacturing establishments in Massachusetts,
but the first bill enacted into law in that State, and, if I
am not mistaken, the first bill to pass any legislature in
the Nation which would regulate the hours of labor, was
passed in 1874. As a member of this committee Mr. Lov-
ering played a most important part in the deliberations of
the committee and the final passage of the bill. As a man-
ufacturer, he felt very strongly that the whole business
interests where manufacturing was concerned were

[34]



Address oi Mk. O'Connhi.l, ok Massacihsktis

seriously involved by the passage of the hill, hut no
man in that senate gave it any more earnest support than
he did.

Hon. Andrew J. Bailey, who was at thai lime cliainnan
of the senate coniniitlee an<l who for many years has been
a leading lawyer in Boston, in a recent conversation told
me that Mr. Lovering constantly aided him and the com-
mittee by his advice and suggestions. Several times the
bill was in danger of defeat, when amendments were at-
tached to it which Mr. Lovering believed were full of
harm, some urged by zealous advocates of advanced ideas
and others by those who were jealously afraid of any leg-