SPEECH OF HON. RICHARD YATES OF ILLINOIS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 12, 1921 [Extract from the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Feb. 4, 1921.] LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY Mr. TOWNER. Mr. Speaker, I desire to ask unanimous consent that on Saturday, February 12, Lincoln's birthday, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. YATES] may be allowed to address the House for 40 minutes. And in this connection I desire to make this statement. When this was suggested to me, immediately the thought of the intimate connection of the Yates family with Abraham Lincoln came to my mind. As we all know, our colleague is the son of Gov. Yates, of Illinois, the war governor. The personal, professional, and official connection between Richard Yates and Abraham Lincoln was remarkable. They were born about the same time, they were admitted to the practice of law about the same time. They lived in adjoining counties, Lincoln at Springfield, in Sangamon County, and Gov. Yates at Jacksonville, in Morgan County. They traveled the circuit together as practicing lawyers at that time. They both served in the State Legislature of Illinois, and they both served in Congress here in the fifties. The one was a candidate for President of the United States in 1860, and the other was candidate for governor of Illinois. It may be stated that they made the campaign together, although it is well known that Lincoln did not leave his front porch. They were in constant consultation during these years. During the war Gov. Yates visited Washington frequently. He was elected to the Senate in 1864 and took his place in 1865, the 4th of March. He was almost daily in consultation with Lincoln until his assassination and death the 14th of April. It is exceedingly appropriate in view of these things that the son of Gov. Yates, who has himself been governor of the State of Illinois, and who grew up in an atmosphere that was born of the intimacy with the great martyred President of the United States, should deliver this address. I think it is indeed fortunate that we may have an opportunity of hearing him at this time and on this occasion. The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Iowa? There was no objection. SPEECH HON. RICHARD YATES ABRAHAM LINCOLN The SPEAKER. By special order for to-day, Gov. Yates, of Illinois, was given forty minutes in which to address the House on President Lincoln. The Chair will ask the gentleman from California, Mr. OSBORNE, a veteran of the Civil War, to preside. [Applause.] Mr. OSBORNE assumed the chair as Speaker pro tempore. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Illinois [Gov. YATES] is recognized for forty minutes. [Applause.] Mr. YATES. Mr. Speaker, a beloved poet, one of the glorious company of poets of America, has given us these lines: He knew to bide his time, And can his fame abide, Still patient in his simple faith sublime, Till the wise years decide. Great captains, with their guns and drums, Disturb our judgment for the hour, But at last silence comes; These all are gone, and, standing like a tower, The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man, Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, New birth of our new soil, the first American. (LOWELL-Commemoration Ode, July 21, 1865.) I earnestly desire that my first word on this occasion be a word of thanks, and of very sincere thanks. The privilege which has come to me by the gracious act of the gentleman from Iowa, Judge TOWNER, in seeking recognition and by the gracious act of the Speaker in granting that recognition, and by the gracious act of the House in extending unanimous consent that I may speak here is appreciated fully. It is an adornment, an embellishment, indeed a decoration, in any man's public service to be the one man designated especially by this House of Commons of the American people to speak on this day. At this hour we stand in an imposing presence. For not we only are observing this occasion. All over the land the American people are standing in salute to-day while Abraham Lincoln and all his deeds and scenes of sacrifice are passing in review. Amid a deepening sentiment of brotherhood all classes and conditions and sections combine to recall the virtues of his life and death. There are millions upon millions with us thinking about Abraham Lincoln from ocean to ocean at this moment. It is, I hope, not wrong for me, while recognizing the deep sense of responsibility of the day and occasion, to venture to say that there is a personal reason, an intimate, delicate reason, which causes me to come to this point with deep personal emotion. In this city of Washington, on a street corner, on a bright morning of a day which must have been not later than April 14, 1865, the fatal day, and not earlier than March 4 of that year, a very tiny boy stood on tiptoe trying with his tiny stature to look up into the face of the tallest man he had ever seen-a very tall man-very |