Major John F. Lacey Memorial Volume LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ODD 1707^1 lfc.0 Class Book MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY MEMORIAL VOLUME 9f TnMMfW< SEP 15 1919 — ll MAJOR JOHN F.LACEY MEMORIAL VOLUME ^JwXdtTh (U^K^xXur^ PUBLISHED BY THE IOWA PARK AND FORESTRY ASSOCIATION Edo L4 ■4 ■ Ll3lb THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO MRS. MAETHA NEWELL LACEY BY HER MANY FRIENDS THROUGHOUT THIS LAND THE TORCH FRE3 CEDAR RAPIDS ICWA PREFACE It is with great pleasure that the Iowa Park and For- estry Association presents to the many friends of the Honorable John F. Lacey, lawyer, statesman, soldier, citizen, and lover of nature, a collection of his im- portant papers on natural resources, the protection of game, the establishment of forest reserves, and the pro- tection of our national parks. Moreover, there was added to the above a number of Memorial Day addresses. There were few in our broad commonwealth who could give us better patriotic addresses than Major Lacey. There have also been added a few of his many addresses made at soldiers' reunions. Here, as elsewhere, the Major spoke with fervid eloquence. He was a great friend of the soldier ; no truer or better champion of the old soldier ever sat in the halls of Congress. When the history of game protection and forest conservation shall be written, a large amount of credit will be given to the Major. As a friend and neighbor he will ever rank among the first of the citizens of Oskaloosa and Iowa. It fell to the writer, representing the Iowa Park and Forestry Association, to gather the material in this volume. I am greatly indebted to the many friends of Major Lacey who have made possible this publication, and to his daughter, Berenice Lacey Sawyer, for their assistance, to Miss Lena Eowe for copying the manu- script, and to Miss Harriette S. Kellogg for proof read- ing and other valuable assistance. L. H. Pammel Ames, Iowa April 1, 1915 CONTENTS List op Patrons List op Members Biographical In Memory op Major Lacey By Hon. James A. Davitt John F. Lacey By William T. Hornaday Tribute to Major Lacey By Col. G. O. Shields John F. Lacey By Hon. Edward H. Stiles Major Lacey and the Conservation op our Resources By L. H. Pammel Reminiscences op Congressman Lacey Iowa's Congressman at Home Funeral op Major Lacey A Poem — John F. Lacey By Major S. H. M. Byers Funeral Sermon By Eev. Allen Judd Resolutions Addresses, Papers, and Letters op Major Lacey Destruction and Repair of our Resources Forestry ....... Forest Vital to Nation 's "Welfare On Forestry Homesteads in Forest Reserves Forestry-Tree is Mother op the Fountain Grazing Privileges on the Public Lands The Public Domain .... Powers op the Department op Agriculture Interstate Commerce in Game and Birds XI xiii 1 3 12 16 19 36 48 50 52 56 57 60 67 69 78 88 92 99 103 116 125 136 141 CONTENTS Bison Preserve .... How to Save our Birds and Mammals Protection to Game and Birds Bird Protection .... Statement on Game Protection . Federal Protection op Migratory Birds Two Letters from Ex-President Roosevelt A Letter on Migratory Birds Lacey on Fish and Game Preserves Advance in Game Protection Forest Reserves as Breeding Places Petrified Forest National Park . Preserving Petrified Forests Pajarito Cliff Dwellers' National Park . On Pensions Northwest Iowa Veteran Reunion Why Do We Create Battlefield Parks Memorial Day Patriotism Independence Day .... Excerpts from Address at Emmetsburg Old Friends and Neighbors . Pilgrim Day Old Settlers' Meeting . The Louisiana Purchase The Monroe Doctrine . Reminiscences of Oskaloosa City Park Penn Day RrvER and Harbor Improvements . On Stock Exchanges Alaska Harvest Festival Address Letter from Colonel A. W. Swalm Letter from General James Rush Lincoln Excerpts from the Autobiography of John F. Lacey Index 154 160 168 172 175 178 183 185 187 193 195 203 207 210 220 224 232 247 256 264 276 287 290 301 307 313 328 342 350 357 361 365 367 371 373 375 425 PATRONS Ames, Asa L. . Anderson, Lew W. Baldwin, W. W. Barring-ton, E. P. Bowdish, J. W. . Boyd, W. R. Brewer, Luther A. Brewster, Eleanor Lacey Brewster, Doris . Brewster, James B. Burrell, Walter C. Byers, Major S. H. M Christian, G. M. Cole, Cyrenus . Cowan, Wm. R. Dawson, A. F. Devitt, James A. Dodge, G. M. . Edmundson, J. D Foster, Thomas D. Greene, Wesley . Harlan, E. R. . Hoffman, C. V. . Hornaday, W. T. Howard, H. S. . Jerrel, B. 0. Johnson, I. C. . Kalbach, George Kalbach, W. H. Keating, W. H. . Kellogg, Harriette . Traer, Iowa Cedar Rapids, Iowa Burlington, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids, Iowa San Francisco, California San Francisco, California San Francisco, California Oskaloosa, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Cedar Rapids, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa . Davenport, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Council Bluffs, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa . Ottumwa, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa w York Zoological Garden, New York City Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa . Ames, Iowa Xll PATRONS Lacey, Mrs. Martha N. Laeey, W. R. Lane, Joe R. Lazell, Frederick J. Macbride, T. H. Mahon, Samuel . Malcolm, J. 0. . McCoy, Ben McNeill, James F. Milliman, J. C. . Nash, Frank Oppenheimer, Art Pammel, L. H. . Preston, Judge Byron W. Putnam, H. S. . Rankin, E. N. . Ray, W. G. Reynolds, S. V. . Rickey, Mrs. A. B. Sargent, A. H. . Sawyer, Mrs. Berenice Lacey Sawyer, Carroll Schee, Geo. W. Seevers, G. "W. Sheriff, H. H. Shields, G. 0. Shimek, B. . Smith, W. I. Spencer, A. P. Spencer, H. L. Stern, Almor Stiles, E. H. Swalm, Albert W. Swalm, Mrs. A. W. Walling, Charles S., Oskaloosa Herald Went worth, E. N Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa . Davenport, Iowa Cedar Rapids, Iowa . Iowa City, Iowa . Ottumwa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Logan, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa . Ames, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa . Davenport, Iowa . Tarkio, Missouri Grinnell, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa . Oskaloosa, Iowa Cedar Rapids, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Sheldon, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa New York, New York . Iowa City, Iowa Council Bluffs, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Logan, Iowa Pasadena, California Nottingham, England Nottingham, England Oskaloosa, Iowa State Center, Iowa MEMBERS Alexander, E. A Clarion, Iowa Allen, M. C Nevada, Iowa Allen, A. F Ames, Iowa Allen, A. F Sioux City, Iowa Arey, M. F Cedar Falls, Iowa Bates, CO Cedar Rapids, Iowa Becker, F Clermont, Iowa Bennett, Fred A Sioux City, Iowa Black, G. D Independence, Iowa Bliss, G. R Davenport, Iowa Buchanan, Mrs. R. E Ames, Iowa Carter, Charles F Fairfield, Iowa Clark, John H Chariton, Iowa Clarke, Charles F Adel, Iowa Clarke, G. W Adel, Iowa Conard, H. S Grinnell, Iowa Crossley, Varick C Webster City, Iowa Culley, Frank Ames, Iowa Erwin, A. T Ames, Iowa Ewers, A. F St. Louis, Missouri Fields, E. A Sioux City, Iowa Fitch, C. L Ames, Iowa Fitchpatrick, J. A Nevada, Iowa Flickinger, R. E Odebolt, Iowa Frink, S. G Tipton, Iowa Gow, James Ellis Cedar Rapids, Iowa Greeley, W. M Ames, Iowa Harding, W. L Sioux City, Iowa Harrington, F. 0 Williamsburg, Iowa Hartman, John C Waterloo, Iowa Hauser, M. A Ames, Iowa XIV MEMBERS Hayden, Ada Haynes, L. J. . Hayward, W. J. Henderson, 0. J. Herriek, R. S. . Holbrook, P. K. Iowa State Library Johns, H. A. Judd, Allen Kaye, G. F. Kenoyer, L. A. . Lamoreux, H. H. Lau, Charles W. Lees, J. H. McCall, Ed. MacDonald, G. B. MacDonald, John McGhee, E. R. . McPherrin, J. M. Moninger, W. R. Morbeck, Geo. C. Morrison, Theodore N Mueller, H. A. . Nagelstad, 0. T. Orr, Ellison Palmer, E. L. . Payne & Sons . Pearson, R. A. . Pellett, Frank C. Peters, E. C. Reeves, Elmer . Ross, Ozron Shull, H. W. . Soper, C. M. Spurrell, John A. Stanton, E. W. . Stephens, E. F. . . Ames, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa . Sioux City, Iowa Webster City, Iowa . Ames, Iowa Onawa, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa . Sioux City, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa . Iowa City, Iowa Toledo, Iowa Meriden, Iowa . Davenport, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Nevada, Iowa . Ames, Iowa . Sioux City, Iowa Farley, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Marshalltown, Iowa, R. F. D. 3 . Ames, Iowa Davenport, Iowa St. Charles, Iowa Sioux City, Iowa Waukon, Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa Nevada, Iowa . Ames, Iowa Atlantic, Iowa Sioux City, Iowa Waverly, Iowa Webster City, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa Nevada, Iowa . Wall Lake, Iowa . Ames, Iowa Nampa, Idaho MEMBERS xv Stephens, F. C Sioux City, Iowa Summers, H. E Ames, Iowa Taff, Paul Ames, Iowa, Taylor, Rose Schuster Sioux City, Iowa Thompson, L. 0 Mitchell, Iowa Truax, E. R Ames, Iowa Von Tungeln, G. H Ames, Iowa Watrous Nursery Company . . . Des Moines, Iowa Wilson, D. 0 Des Moines, Iowa Wylie, R. B Iowa City, Iowa IMPORTANT EVENTS IN LIFE OF JOHN F. LACEY Compiled by Harriette S. Kellogg Born at New Martinsville, West Virginia (Vir- ginia) . Family moved to Wheeling, West Virginia (Virginia). Family moved to Oskaloosa, Iowa. Attended Drake's Academy. Family moved to farm near Oskaloosa. Worked on farm in summer, at school in Os- kaloosa in winter. Taught school during winter months and at- tended school in town during the intervals. At school in town. Enlisted as private in Company H, Third Iowa Infantry. Left home for camp. Mustered in at Keokuk. Taken prisoner at Battle of Blue Mills, Mis- souri. Nov. Paroled; returned to Oskaloosa; began study of law. Nov. 7 Discharged under order of President. 1861-1862 Read law during winter. 1862 Feb. 11 Death of brother James. 1862 Spring Order for exchange of prisoners. Aug. 9 Reenlisted in Company D, Thirty-third In- fantry. Aug. 23 Commissioned Sergeant-Major under Colonel Rice. 1841 May 30 1853 1855 1855 1856 1857 1858-1859 1860 1861 1861 May 30 1861 June 8 1861 Sept. 17 xviii LIFE OF JOHN F. LACEY 1862 Oct. 1 Mustered in at Camp Tuttle, Oskaloosa, Iowa. 1863 Apr. 16 First Lieutenant Company C, Thirty-third In- fantry. May Acting Adjutant-General of Division under Colonel Rice. Battle of Helena, Arkansas. Commended in letter by Colonel Rice. Assistant Adjutant-General of U. S. Volun- teers. Battle at Terre Noir Creek, Arkansas. Battle at Elkins' Creek, Arkansas. Battle at Prairie d Anne, Arkansas. Battle at Poison Springs, Arkansas. Battle at Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas. On staff of General Steele. Siege of Spanish Fort. Siege of Fort Blakeley. Entered Mobile. Mustered out with rank of Brevet-Major. Order for discharge from army. Admitted to bar in Iowa. Opened law office in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Married Miss Martha Newell. Formed partnership with W. E. Shepherd. Birth of daughter, Eleanor. Elected to State Legislature of Iowa. Published Third Iowa Digest. Crossed Plains by stage. Published Vol. I, Railway Digest. Birth of son, Raymond Fletcher. Partnership with W. E. Shepherd dissolved. Mr. Shepherd moves to California. Birth of daughter, Marion Lurena Kate (Dumpsie). Birth of daughter, Berenice. Traveled abroad with Mrs. Lacey. Death of son, Raymond Fletcher. July 4 July 7 1864 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 10 Apr. 15 Apr. 30 1865 Apr. 8 Apr. 9 Apr. 10 July 17 Sept. 16 Sept. 18 Sept. 19 1866 Jan. 1 1866 June 25 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 Jan. 1 1874 Oct. 16 1876 Sept. 10 1878 1880 Oct. 9 1880 Nov. 2 1884 1884 1888 1889 March 1892 1894 1895 May 7 1896 1897 1898 1898-1899 1900 May 25 1900 1900 Dec. 25 1902 1904 1906 June 1907 1907 1913 July 1913 Sept. 29 LIFE OF JOHN F. LACEY xix Death of daughter, Marion. Second journey abroad with Mrs. Lacey. Published Vol. II, Railway Digest. Congressional campaign against General Weaver. Member of Fifty-first Congress. Elected to Fifty-third Congress. Elected to Fifty-fourth Congress. Traveled through Mexico with daughters, Eleanor and Berenice. Elected to Fifty-fifth Congress. Honorary degree, A.M., conferred by Perm College. Elected to Fifty-sixth Congress. Traveled in Cuba and Porto Rico with daugh- ter, Berenice. Passage of ' ' Lacey Act. ' ' Elected to Fifty-seventh Congress. Presented with watch by L. A. S. Elected to Fifty-eighth Congress. Elected to Fifty-ninth Congress. Passage of Federal Bird Refuge Law. Resumed practice of law at Oskaloosa, Iowa. Trip to Alaska, down the Yukon, and to Nome. Elected President of State Bar Association. Died at Oskaloosa. BIOGRAPHICAL IN MEMORY OF MAJOR LACEY J Mr. President and Members of the Bar Association: A year ago I was unable to be present at the meeting of the State Bar Association, by reason of professional engagements in which Major Lacey and myself were mutually interested. After the adjournment of the Bar Association at Sioux City, by arrangement I met Major Lacey in Chicago. We went east on a business trip, and I am sure that the members of the association who were present and conferred upon Major Lacey the honor of the presidency of the association, would have been pleased to know with what high sense of appreciation Major Lacey received the honor. He stated to me that he did not believe that any political honor that had come to him had touched his sense of appreciation as much as his election as president of this association. It was my good fortune to become acquainted with Major Lacey when I was a young lawyer. Leaving law school I went to Oskaloosa and I sat down and waited for clients. During the years that elapsed prior to Ma- jor Lacey 's death I was closely associated with him, and during all of those years I learned to respect and honor him for his inherent worth. As a young lawyer I frequently called upon Major Lacey to assist me in the trial of cases, and there can be no better test of the courtesy and dignity of a lawyer than the older lawyer who is called by his young and inexpe- rienced associate, and in all these relations I found Major i Address delivered by Hon. James A. Devitt, of Oskaloosa, before the State Bar Association at Cedar Eapids, June 25, 1914. 4 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Lacey was, as you have all known him to be, a perfect type of the cultured lawyer. Major Lacey 's career is remarkable in many respects. Born in what is now West Virginia, coming as a boy to Iowa at about fourteen years of age, and raised on a farm in Mahaska County, he learned the trade of a bricklayer, and to the day of his death he pointed with pride to build- ings in our city in the construction of which he had per- formed the arduous labor of carrying the hod and laying bricks. He early determined to become a lawyer, and in the time when his work as a bricklayer would permit, he read law in the office of Attorney General Rice. On the breaking out of the Civil War, Major Lacey en- listed as a private, his name being the fourth in the list of names from Mahaska County when the first call came for volunteers. He was captured during one of the early battles and sent home as a prisoner of war, but as soon as an exchange was made he reenlisted in the Thirty-third Iowa. His record as a soldier was one of credit. I need only say that he was promoted as a captain and was mus- tered out of service as a major. As a young soldier Major Lacey exhibited those traits of character which endeared him to his friends later, and which is well stated and set forth in a brief statement contained in a letter from General Steele. At about the time of the close of the Civil War, when the French invasion of Mexico was being resented by our government, an expedition under General Phil Sheridan was organized for the purpose of moving the army to the Mexican frontier. At the time of the organization of this expedition, Major Lacey was serving on the staff of General Steele. He was detailed to accompany this expedition. Immediately after the close of the war he returned to Oskaloosa and took up his study of the law ; studies which BIOGRAPHICAL 5 had not been entirely interrupted by his army service, as he was in the habit of carrying in his saddle-bag law books from which he read when opportunity presented itself. He was admitted to the bar, members of which were at the time, Judge W. H. Seevers, later judge of the Su- preme Court of the state, M. E. Cutts, and Judge Lough- ridge, whose names were at the time in the forefront of the bar of Iowa. Trained to compete with these men, Major Lacey received that training which is most desira- ble for a young lawyer, having an opportunity of seeing the best and ablest men of his profession in the trial of cases. That he was an apt student is shown from the success that he attained in the bar where these men were his competitors. Major Lacey 's political career was long and distin- guished. But the fact is not generally known that his po- litical career arose from his success as a lawyer. In the campaign of 1888, when the Republicans of the Sixth Congressional District were looking around for some man who could successfully compete on the stump with Gen- eral James B. Weaver, then in the height of his power as a speaker, the members of the bar received attention, and Major Lacey was drafted from the legal profession into the political arena for the purpose of making a contest which the Republicans felt was desperate indeed. The history of these contests is a part of the political history of the state. He brought to his political contests the same energy and zeal he exhibited in his law practice. I remember attending a meeting of the state committee where those interested in the management of the cam- paign were arranging their plans. All of the party can- didates for Congress were present, and, as the various dates were arranged, frequently the other candidates of- fered this or that excuse for not being able to comply 6 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY with the wishes of the committee, but every time an as- signment was proposed for Major Lacey, he promptly answered, "Yes, I am ready to go." This readiness of the Major to perform whatever political duty was as- signed him by the committee was favorably commented upon by men in charge of the campaign, and the Major made the following characteristic explanation of his read- iness for political duty: "When I was practicing law, I never allowed anything to interfere with my practice, and now that I am in politics, I never allow anything to in- terfere with my politics." Such was the system Major Lacey had in politics and in law. He had developed those traits of readiness and resourcefulness that stood him in good stead in politics. The history of these controversies with General Weav- er is full of stories of his ability to take care of himself under any and all circumstances with a man who was then perhaps without a peer in Iowa in the rough and tussle of those days. During one of the early debates, before General Weav- er had felt Major Lacey out, he got him up before the audience and referred to his opponent as the "dapper little corporation attorney." When Major Lacey 's turn came to reply, he referred to the ' ' dapper little corpora- tion attorney," and, drawing from his pocket the postal card received by attorneys when cases have been deter- mined in the Supreme Court, Major Lacey read to the audience the statement, ' ' That the case of Way vs. Chi- cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company had been affirmed," calling the attention of the audience to the fact that he had been attorney for the plaintiff in a five year battle through the courts in a case that had attract- ed the attention of the entire district. The crowd joined in the laugh at General Weaver's expense, and no more BIOGRAPHICAL 7 reference was made during their debates to the "dapper little corporation attorney." But, after all, Major Lacey was preeminently a lawyer. His career in Congress was one that reflected credit upon him. He secured and retained the confidence of Presi- dents Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft, the men who were Presidents during the time he held office. His great work was on the public lands committee and in the land and forest conservation — not conserva- tion for political purposes, because at that time conser- vation had not been urged as a political asset — but he was a conservator of land of the nation when he stood alone; he was a conservator of the natural resources of the United States. He drafted and prepared the law which set aside Yellowstone Park, and drafted the rules for its government. He was peculiarly interested in the preservation of all the great natural curiosities of the country. He secured the legislation that made the petri- fied forests of Arizona a national park. He was the pioneer in the American Congress of the legislation for the protection of bird life, and the Lacey bird law, which was enacted into a law principally by his efforts, was the forerunner of other national legislation for the protec- tion of the wild birds of America from extermination. At the time of his death, Major Lacey, by the appoint- ment of Secretary of Agriculture Houston, was one of the committee drafting the rules and regulations under which migratory birds might be shot under the act of the last Congress passed to protect the migratory birds. In all these things, as President Roosevelt said, he worked as a man, who, with no thought of his own advancement, engaged in doing what ought to be done for the general public, looking alone to the good results of his work for his reward rather than personal advancement. 8 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Major Lacey's career in Congress terminated, and, although at the time of his retirement the President of the United States and numerous of his friends associated with him and who held him in the highest esteem, were anxious and willing to do something in the way of ap- pointing him to political office, he promptly announced that he was going to retire, leave Washington, and go back to Oskaloosa to practice law. I remember with what great pleasure he told me that, shortly after this an- nouncement appeared in the public press, at a reception at the White House at which he was present, Justice White, then one of the justices of the Supreme Court, and now its honored Chief Justice, seeing Major Lacey in the crowd, made his way to him, with the greeting: ''Major, I want to shake the hand of a lawyer; I want to shake hands with a man who has not been divorced from his profession by the fact that he has served a number of years in Congress." The one characteristic of Major Lacey as a lawyer that stood out more prominently than any other, was his untiring industry. Whatever Major Lacey attained of success, either in law or politics, came to him, not as a result of genius, except it be the genius of hard work. No other man with whom I have ever been acquainted possessed his capacity for constant and continuous toil. The Major, as we boys used to say, loved work like the rest of us loved to laugh. A few days ago Judge Mc- Pherson was telling me of an experience of his with Major Lacey. He and the Major had been retained in a case. Judge McPherson stated that he had devoted con- siderable time and study to the case when he went to Oskaloosa. They both worked at the case, getting ready for trial, until supper time, when Judge McPherson said he was going to his brother-in-law's for supper and that he would meet the Major in the morning. "No," said BIOGRAPHICAL 9 the Major, "we had better come back this evening." They went back and worked until eleven o'clock. The Major said he could meet him at the office in the morning at seven o'clock, as the court opened at nine. That capacity for work Major Lacey also carried into his recreation. His recreation consisted in his love for literature and love of travel. Although not a college graduate, Major Lacey, in the best sense of the word, was a learned man. He turned for rest from his law work to the literature of this and preceding ages, and he became a scholar in the truest sense of the word. His vacations were generally occupied in travel and, while he had visit- ed Europe, he knew the United States as few men have known it. He had visited every state and territory in the American Union, as well as Alaska and its foreign pos- sessions. He acquainted himself by personal investiga- tion with substantially every one of the national parks and Indian reservations, and this habit of travel resulted in his early and constant interest in the preservation, for the use of coming generations, of those natural wonders in which our country abounds, and, as a result of these travels, he fathered and, with tireless energy, secured the enactment of laws which have preserved for all time many of these natural wonders, including not only Yellowstone Park, but the petrified forests of Arizona, Crater Lake in Oregon, and Yosemite Park in California. In the community in which Major Lacey lived he was a part of its life. There was no movement in the com- munity of which he was not one of its leaders. It was not the case of a man being too big for a small town ; he was one of us and with us in every good work. He was one of the most willing men to give up his time or money for any public purpose. If it was possible for him to grant requests for addresses in schools, colleges, high schools, and on Grand Army and old settlers' occasions, 10 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY they were always given, and he devoted himself to the preparation of these addresses with zeal and energy, looked upon the invitation as a compliment, and he re- turned the compliment by preparing something for the occasion that he felt was fitting. It was indeed fortunate in many respects for Major Lacey, living as he did, to a ripe age, that he went down into the shadow of death in the full possession of his mental and physical vigor. On the Thursday before his death on Monday, I was with him before the Supreme Court of the state, presenting some cases on oral argu- ment, and he, in the presentation of those cases, seemed to possess the same energy, zeal, and resourcefulness that he had when I first knew him. Within an hour of the time of his death he was at my office, taking up matters of importance and apparently in the full enjoyment of perfect physical health. He said, laughingly, he never drew a pension as a soldier until the law was passed giving the soldiers a pension on account of old age. He laughed when he stated that he owed Uncle Sam some money, because he came out of the army physically much stronger than when he went into it. Possessing this capacity for labor, Major Lacey, down to the minute of his death, was actively and energetically engaged in the practice of his profession, and the hour before his death he was talking business in his office and going from place to place in the town with no more ex- pectation that his end was near than any of us have today. He walked home and was instantly stricken with death. To those of us who had known him, Major Lacey will ever be remembered as the type of man a lawyer should be. His influence on the bar of the district has been an uplift- ing influence. His death will not remove that influence among the profession. I deem it entirely proper, in closing this brief address, BIOGRAPHICAL 11 to read a poem written by Mr. S. II. M. Byers, who was a boyhood friend and schoolmate of Major Lacey in our county, and who went into the army with him and who knew him as intimately as it was possible to know anoth- er.2 2 The poem referred to has been given in another connection. — Ed. JOHN F. LACEY x BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY It was the free, wild birds of the Iowa prairies that once inspired a strong man to champion their cause in the council chambers of our nation. To know our birds of song is to love all birds. Fortunate indeed were the birds who sang to John F. Lacey, during his boyhood and his young manhood. It was the meadow lark, the white- throated sparrow, the brown thrasher, the catbird, and the whippoorwill that filled his great heart with love for all birds, and nerved his strong right arm to strike in their defense. Out of all the achievements of Major Lacey for the bet- ter preservation of our bird allies, one fact looms up prominently, and dwarfs all others. He was the first American congressman to become an avowed champion of wild life. It is true that even before he entered the lists as the persistent, uncompromising, and permanent de- fender of wild creatures in need of defense, other mem- bers of Congress had manifested the spirit which later on developed the pronounced game protectionists. But Major Lacey, we repeat, was the first man in the Congress of the United States to take up the new white man 's bur- den, and make it peculiarly his own. The date of this new departure may be given approx- imately as 1900. At that time, few large men in public i This biographical sketch was prepared for the Annals of Iowa, and is published here, by permission of Mr. Edgar R. Harlan and Dr. Hornaday. It is a splendid appreciation of Major Lacey 's work on the conservation of wild life. BIOGRAPHICAL 13 life took the woes of wild life seriously. Slaughter was the order of the day. The sportsmen who advocated game protection, and secured the enactment of protective laws, were animated by a desire, not to stop killing, but to preserve today in order to kill more abundantly tomor- row. It is well within the bounds of truth to state that even down to 1890, wild life preservation in America was little more than a pleasing dream, a shadow without sub- stance. Excepting the Yellowstone Park, there were not then in existence any large game preserves in which kill- ing was totally prohibited. Everywhere, without a single exception, wild game was being killed far faster than it was breeding. At the date mentioned, the killing of game was every- where a ruling passion. The protection of our song- birds had only just begun. Every member of Congress was regarded by his constituents as a chore-boy, of whom all kinds of personal service might confidently be demand- ed. The number of pension-claim burdens that were laid upon congressmen was very great ; and the measures of the nation often waited upon the personal tasks of the constituent. Acting under what may well be called an inspiration, and in spite of other burdens and other causes, Mr. Lacey deliberately elected to champion the cause of the vanish- ing birds. We know not just when that call to arms first was heard by him. It is in the silent watches of the night, the still small hours of the new day, when the minds of men are most free from surrounding influences, that our mental vision becomes keenest, and we most accurately measure the things that Were against the things that Are. It is in the early morning watch, when sleep has swept all cobwebs from the brain, that man's mental neg- atives are most sensitive to great impressions. It is then that the voice of Duty is heard in clear, bell-like tones, 14 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY calling upon us to arise, put on our armor, and sally forth. I doubt not that the call to John F. Lacey, to arise and stand forth as the champion of the birds, came to him at a time that he himself never set down, and could not name. But come it did ; and the while other men were laboring for commercial and industrial causes, and striving to pass bills that would appeal strongly to their own constituents, there was one man who constituted himself a Committee of One on Everybody's Business. It was, and ever has been, everybody's business to save our valuable wild life from slaughter and annihilation ; but alas ! how often it is treated as nobody's business! I repeat that Major Lacey was the first member of Con- gress who made the cause of the wild birds and beasts particularly his own. At first he was treated by some of his colleagues with good natured raillery, and taken every way but seriously. But, like the good soldier that he was, in more causes than one, he enlisted in the birds' cause, not for three months' service, nor one year, nor three years, but during the period of the war. From that mo- ment down to his last day in Congress, he was never else- where than on the firing line. His victories for the wild life cause were numerous and important ; but his first one was the greatest of all. The Lacey bird law is enough to render any name illustrious. That act, to prevent all interstate traffic in game illegally killed or shipped, was the first federal act for the better protection of birds ; and it placed in the hands of the na- tional government a weapon more powerful and far- reaching than any cannon ever cast. It has prevented the illegal slaughter, and sale in the markets, of uncountable millions of game birds ; and the rogues that it has brought to justice would, if herded together, make a great army. The long history of Mr. Lacey 's labors and achieve- ments in Congress in behalf of wild life will be written BIOGRAPHICAL 15 elsewhere, in detail. His effective efforts in the founding of national bison herds, with which we are most familiar, were only the latest of his achievements in the field of pro- tection. The enabling act, and the appropriation of $15,- 000 by which the first national bison herd was established, in the Yellowstone National Park, was secured through the persistence of Representative Lacey against much op- position. I am inclined to believe that his last work in Congress in his favorite cause was bestowed in securing the legislation by which the national government joined the New York Zoological Society in the mutual action which created in Oklahoma the Wichita National Bison Range and Herd, now a pronounced success. The proud state of Iowa may well regard John F. Lacey as one of her most illustrious men. His work has added lustre to the state made famous by Allison, Harlan, and Kirkwood, and throughout this nation, wherever wild birds are protected, his name is known and honored. To him the people of Iowa, and the bird-lovers of America, owe a monument as lofty as his own purposes, and as im- perishable as his fame. A TRIBUTE TO MAJOR LACEY FROM A FELLOW BIRD LOVER BY COL. G. 0. SHIELDS I have never known so busy a man as Major Lacey, who yet gave so much and such careful thought to the proper entertaining of his friends. A man of entire leisure and with ample means could not be more studiously attentive to his friends than was this great man. No matter how deeply he might have been buried in work, or how many people might have been calling on him, yet he treated each one as if he were the only caller, and as if he had hours of leisure on his hands. In greeting an old friend he would frequently extend both hands, and when they started to walk away to some other room, or even on the street, I have frequently seen the Major put his arm around his friend and treat him as if he were his own son or his own brother. No matter how much work the venerable statesman might have on hand he would invariably devote to his caller all the time necessary to go over the matter in hand, and would send him away feeling that he had been communing with a big- hearted, broad-minded, whole-souled friend. No American ever did a greater service for his country than did Major Lacey during his eighteen years in Con- gress. He drafted and secured the passage of many bills for the preservation of forests and other natural re- sources. His greatest work, however, was in preparing, introducing, and finally securing the passage of a bill to prevent interstate commerce in birds and animals killed or taken in violation of state laws. BIOGRAPHICAL 17 He fought for this bill through six of the busiest years of his life, and it finally passed both houses of Congress in April, and was approved May 1, 1900, by President McKinley. That act has saved the lives of more birds than any other law ever enacted in this or any other country. Here are some extracts from a speech delivered in the House of Representatives, by Major Lacey, in support of his bird bill, and which indicate the fondness of this great man for birds : I have always been a lover of birds; and have always been a hunter as well ; for today there is no friend that the birds have like the true sportsman — the man who enjoys legitimate sport. He protects them out of season ; he kills them in moderation in season. The game hog is an animal on two legs that is disap- pearing. May he soon be extinct ! The game hog formerly had himself photographed surrounded by the fruits of a day's "sport," and regarded the photograph as imperfect unless he had at least 100 dead ducks, grouse, or geese around him. To- day a true sportsman would be ashamed to be pictured in con- nection with a larger number of birds than a decent share for an American gunner, having due regard to the preservation of game for future. . . We have given an awful exhibition of slaughter and destruc- tion which may serve as a warning to all mankind. Let us now give an example of wise conservation of what remains of the gifts of nature. It is late. It is too late a* to the wild pigeon. The buffalo is almost a thing of the past, but there still remains much to preserve, and we must act earnestly if we would accomplish good results. I love the people who love birds. The man or the woman who does not love birds should be classed with the person who has no love for music — fit only for treason, strata- gems, and spoils. I would love to have a solo singer in every bush and a choir of birds in every tree top. The people of Iowa never made a greater mistake in their lives than when they allowed Major Lacey to retire 18 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY from public life. His loss was a loss not to the people of Iowa alone, but to the people of the entire nation, and no man has since appeared in Congress to take up the great work of the conservation of wild life in so able, so per- sistent, and so effective a manner as Major Lacey did that work. Major Lacey enjoyed the confidence and respect of his associates in Congress, to an unusual degree. They all considered him an absolute authority on everything per- taining to nature and the great outdoors. He was also recognized as an authority on constitu- tional law. In fact a member of the House of Repre- sentatives told me that Lacey was generally regarded as the greatest constitutional lawyer in that body. JOHN F. LACEY l BY HON. EDWARD H. STILES 2 Major John F. Lacey, from humble beginnings became one of the most distinguished lawyers and constructive statesmen that Iowa has produced. His strength lay in his constant persistency and tireless industry, backed by strong resolution, sound judgment, and an eminently practical mind. He was born in New Martinsville, West Virginia, in 1841. He was educated in the schools of his native place and in those of Oskaloosa, Iowa, his parents removing to the latter place in 1855, when John was four- teen years of age. Though not a collegian, he became a man of learning. His eager spirit, his thirst for knowl- edge, and his quite wide reading, made him one of the most accomplished men in the state. In his profession he was the most persevering and industrious of lawyers. In that respect I do not think he had his equal in the state ; the nearest approach to him, so far as my observa- tion goes, was William McNett, of Ottumwa. Major Lacey was not rugged in appearance, and to look at him the unacquainted observer would not think him capable of enduring long and trying strains of professional labor. But such a judgment would be erroneous in the highest degree, for in that respect I have never seen his superior. i From Recollections and Sketches of Notable Lawyers and Public Men of Early Ioica; with annecdotes and incidents illustrative of the times. 1835-1880. 2 Mr. Stiles was for many years a member of the Iowa bar, member of House of Representatives 1863-1864, member of the Senate 1865-1866, 1867- 1875, reporter of the Supreme Court, author of digest of its decisions from the earliest territorial period to the 56th Iowa Reports. Now resides in South Pasadena, California. 20 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY For many years he had a wide practice and was engaged in many cases of the greatest importance. He worked unceasingly while carrying on a large practice and en- gaged in intellectual exertions that would have exhausted most men. But he never flagged; and in the midst of his ardent professional labors he prepared a general digest of the railway decisions that had been made in the United States, which appeared in two volumes, under the title of Lacey's Railway Digest, which came into general use and made him known throughout the country. The first edition of his work was published in 1875. Before that he had prepared and published in one volume, a Digest of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Iowa, supple- menting the prior digests, each in one volume, of Judge John F. Dillon and Professor William C. Hammond. I may remark as a matter of legal history, that these were supplemented by the digests prepared by the writer, in four volumes, containing the decisions of the Supreme Court from the earliest territorial period to the 57th Iowa Report ; which in after years was in its turn superseded by the Digest of Judge Emlin McClain. What has been said will, without entering into details, illustrate not only his extraordinary ability and deep learning as a lawyer, but also his working powers and great endurance. To exemplify the latter qualities I may, however, refer to the case of the State against Pleasant Anderson for the murder of Chris McAllister, referred to in my sketch of Daniel Anderson, and which attracted wide public attention. I was employed to assist the district attorney, John Donnell, of Sigourney, in the pros- ecution; Major Lacey, with Judge H. B. Hendershott and Daniel Anderson, appeared for the defense. The case was tried at Oskaloosa, on change of venue from Wap- ello county, and Major Lacey was active in conducting the defense. The trial lasted two weeks with both day BIOGRAPHICAL 21 and night sessions, and at its close each and all the law- yers engaged showed evident signs of exhaustion, except Major Lacey. He seemed to me as fresh and vigorous as at the beginning. He had been a youthful soldier and officer in the great Civil War, and he has unconsciously disclosed much of his own heroic career in the sketches he has drawn of General Samuel A. Rice and Major-General Frederick Steele.3 While in those sketches he modestly refrains from saying scarcely anything of himself, the halo he has shed upon the career of his subjects reflects itself upon his own, for he was an active participant in the scenes he describes. To the Oskaloosa Daily Herald of October 4, 1913, 1 am indebted for many of the details of his military services. On the outbreak of the Civil War, when not fully out of his teens, he was among the first to respond to the Pres- ident's call for volunteers, and was the fifth person to get his name down upon the enlistment muster roll. He left Oskaloosa on his twentieth birthday, May 30, 1861, to en- ter the service as a private in Company H of the Third regiment of Iowa Infantry. This regiment was sworn into service at Keokuk, Iowa, in June, 1861. The details of its service will be found in Stuart's Iowa Colonels and Regiments, page 83. Its early service was in north Mis- souri and its first severe battle was that of Blue Mills Landing, on the Missouri River, not far below Kansas City, and nearly opposite the town of Liberty. The com- mand was under the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel John Scott. The engagement was a severe one, and Lacey among others was taken prisoner, and carried to Lexing- ton, Mo. He was later paroled, and discharged as a pa- roled prisoner, in November, 1861. He was fully released by subsequent exchange of prisoners. 3 Annals of Iowa, vol. iii, third series, 424. 22 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY He had commenced studying law before he entered the service, and upon his return to Oskaloosa resumed his legal studies, under the already civilly distinguished Samuel A. Rice. In August, 1862, Rice himself entered the service and was commissioned colonel of the Thirty- third regiment of Iowa Infantry, and young Lacey again laid down his law books to enlist as a private under the command of his preceptor, in Company D of that regi- ment. He was soon made sergeant-major of the regi- ment, and in May, 1863, was promoted and commissioned first lieutenant of Company C, and later served as acting adjutant of the regiment. Upon the promotion of Colonel Rice to the position of brigadier-general, Adjutant Lacey was promoted to a position on his staff, and continued as such officer until the death of General Rice, resulting from the mortal wound he received at the battle of Jenkin's Ferry. When the general received that wound Major Lacey was by Ins side and helped to carry him from that bloody field. He was then appointed on the staff of Gen- eral Frederick Steele as adjutant-general and served in that capacity until after the fall of Richmond. During this service he was brevetted major for gallantry on the field of battle at the siege of Mobile, Alabama. This special promotion was made at the personal request of Major-General Canby. Shortly after the fall of Rich- mond, General Grant, anticipating some trouble with Mexico by reason of circumstances not necessary here to relate, sent an army of about 40,000 men under General Steele to make observations on the Rio Grande. Major Lacey accompanied this expedition as assistant adjutant- general. The headquarters of the Army of the Rio Grande was Brownsville, Texas. From there Major Lacey was transferred to the staff of General Phil Sheri- dan, commanding the Division of the Southwest, at New Orleans. In releasing Major Lacey from his staff, Gen- BIOGRAPHICAL 23 eral Steele addressed the following communication to General Sheridan : The undersigned deeply regrets losing from his staff so gal- lant and meritorious an officer, and from his military family, so amiable and accomplished a gentleman as Major Lacey. He en- tered the service at the age when most young men have not left school, and by his energy and good sense soon became distin- guished as a staff officer. He served for four years and until the end of the war with conspicuous gallantry, and participated, among oth- ers, in the following engagements : Battle of Helena, the Yazoo Pass expedition, the campaigns against Little Rock and Camden, the battles of Terrfenoir Creek, Elkin's Fort, Prairie d'Anne, Poison Springs, Jenkin's Ferry; and finally, in the last engagement of the war, the storm- ing of Fort Blakley, opposite Mobile, on April 9, 1865, the day of Lee 's surrender. Upon his return to Oskaloosa he reopened his law books, was admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice at Oskaloosa in 1866. I turn now to briefly advert to his political career. He was a strong, but always conservative Republican. In 1869 he was elected on that ticket to the lower house of the legislature, and became an influential leader in that body. He also served a term or two as city solicitor of the city of Oskaloosa. In 1888 he was elected to Con- gress from his district. This was the commencement of his long congressional career. He continued to be reelected until he had served for a period of sixteen years in the 51st, 53d, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th, 59th con- gresses. But few, if any, members of that body accom- plished more for his state and the country at large, than did he. I shall not undertake to detail his services in that behalf. They will be found in the congressional record of that period, and in the different measures which 24 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY he originated or was instrumental in having passed. Of him President Roosevelt, in one of his speeches, said : In public life generally, we are not apt to find the man whose efforts go to the whole country. I wish to congratulate this district in having in Congress a man who spends his best efforts for the welfare of the whole United States. I can ask Mr. Lacey to come to me or I can go to him on a matter of consequence to the nation, with the absolute certainty that he will approach it simply from the standpoint of public service. I regard this as high praise for any man in public life. Again, in a personal letter to Major Lacey, President Roosevelt thus wrote: I desire to say to you how much it means to any man who be- lieves in hard, intelligent and disinterested public service to see such a career as yours has been in Congress. It has been my privilege to be closely associated with you and to watch the many different ways in which, without hopes or expectation of per- sonal reward, you have rendered efficient public service.4 Major Lacey was a lover of nature. He was fond of the fields, of the woods, and of all the natural beauties which the Almighty has spread about us. Above all, he loved the birds that gladden with their songs. He was the author and secured the passage of what is widely known as the "Lacey Bird Protection Act." Our forest reserve system is due to his efforts. He drew the bill under which the Yellowstone National Park is managed and governed. As was well said by the Oskaloosa Daily Herald : His judgment and foresight established a conservation policy for the government far in advance of its present advocates. His services in connection with the public lands committee have been of inestimable worth to the country and will be all en- during. And of him the Sac City Sun said : While on most matters political he lined up with what is * Oskaloosa (Iowa) Daily Herald, October 4, 1913. BIOGRAPHICAL 25 known as the "old guard," an examination of his work will show that he was one of the original conservationists. He had a prominent part in securing legislation to protect the lives of coal miners in the territories. He was a forceful factor in establishing our system of forest reserves. It was also he who prepared the law for the government and protection of Yellow- stone park and of other noted national objects of interest. He was also the author of a measure for the protection of birds, adopted many years ago. Major Lacey will be remembered as one who has contributed worthily toward the welfare of his countrymen. Of him, Congressman S. F. Prouty said : Major Lacey was one of the brainiest men I ever saw. For twenty years we were thrown constantly together in our law practice, he at Oskaloosa and I at Pella. "We differed on pol- itics, but were warm personal friends. Major Lacey was one of the most influential men in Congress. He was an indefatigable worker. He was an authority on forest reserves and wTas active in the conservation fight. As chairman on the committee on forestry he framed most of the laws dealing with forests and wild animal preservation. As I have already indicated he was a Republican of the "uncompromising conservative order, and without doubt would have been indefinitely continued in Congress, and probably elected United States Senator, but for the split in or weakening of his party by what was known as the "Progressive movement," with which he had no patience. Through this he lost his seat in Congress, and was de- feated for the United States senatorship by Governor A. B. Cummins, after a close and somewhat embittered con- test. He was more than once called upon to be a candi- date for the office of governor, but steadily declined this honor. After the close of his political career he fully re- sumed the practice of his profession from which he never separated himself and which had been ably sustained by the help of his partner and brother, W. R. Lacey, under the firm name of Lacey & Lacey. In the height of his 26 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY professional and personal activities he was suddenly stricken with death, on September 29, 1913. He left his office a little after the noon hour, walked down the street in his accustomed sprightly manner, stopping on the way to converse with friends. Arriving at his residence he was met by a member of the family to whom he said, ' ' I am not feeling well. I believe I will lie down for a few moments. Please bring me a glass of water." The wa- ter was at hand almost instantly. He held the glass for a moment, then his hold relaxed, the glass fell to the floor, and Major Lacey dropped back on the couch, dead. It was a painless end, which one with such a background might well have wished. He needed no time for prepara- tion ; his noble life was a sufficient one. The death of no public man has caused more general grief in Iowa than did his. Political enemies and friends shared in it alike. At his funeral there was an immense gathering from all parts of the state. The universal sorrow that prevailed, and the esteem in which he was held, was voiced by the entire press of the state — Democratic as well as Republican. To confirm what I have said of him and to aid in giving a graphic picture of the man, I can do no better than give a few brief extracts from this source. Thus the Oskaloosa. Herald : Oskaloosa never had another citizen who had won such great distinction in so many fields of labor. In every walk of life and wherever he might be, he was always alive to the best of the situ- ation. He was observing, keen, and witty, ever the life of the group about him. His triumph in politics and his victories in court, never changed the character of the man. He was per- sistent and bitter in a fight, but never harbored a spirit of retri- bution. He never hesitated to express his opinions nor wavered from his fixed ideas of right, but he respected the beliefs and principles of others. As a citizen he was plain "John" to his BIOGRAPHICAL 27 associates, and he lived the life of the true gentleman and friend. He was a Protestant and a member of the Episcopal Church, but Father Loftus, of St. Mary's Catholic Church of Oskaloosa, did not hesitate to pay him this tribute : John F. Lacey in his life and in his death has been visibly and signally dealt with of God. He blessed him with a high purpose, an ambition to live a noble life. God blessed him in his search for material out of which to construct the edifice of that life. . . The very suddenness of his death, coming with the sure swiftness and brilliancy of the lightning flash, rifted the clouds that obscured our view, pulled back the curtains and we beheld in all the refulgence of transfiguration, Lacey, as he was before his God, the perfect master piece of the highest and noblest in American life. Thus the Clinton Herald : With the sudden and unexpected death of John Fletcher Lacey there passed from the world of activities one of Iowa's grandest men. His death will bring universal sorrow and will be mourned as is the death of all good and great men. For half a century he has played an important part in the making of the history of this state. Few men have done more for it ; few men will be remembered with greater reverence. Iowa City Citizen : That Major Lacey was one of the ablest congressmen Iowa has sent to Washington is conceded. As a debater he had few equals. If he leaned to what seemed conservation in his later years it was not from any lack of courage or progressive ideas, but merely from the habit of considering good what he had helped to fashion and believed to be based on sound and enduring prin- ciples. Cedar Rapids Republican : Major Lacey is dead. He was a man of varied talents and many activities; a man of tender heart and strong mind. The men of the Civil War period knew him as a fine soldier, cour- ageous and devoted; the lawyers of Iowa knew him as an op- 28 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ponent worthy of their best efforts, the politicians knew him as a man who always stood steadfast by his convictions, and who always fought with clean hands; and the people as a whole knew him as an honorable man, a patriotic citizen, and one of nature's noblemen. Council Bluffs Nonpareil : Major John F. Lacey was one of the grimmest political fight- ers in Iowa. He gloried in his standpatism. His political be- liefs were convictions of the most sincere character. Lacey de- fended these with the ardor of a crusader. He disliked a trim- mer and never did such things himself. He made political enemies and he retained political enmities. But Lacey was as honest as he was sincere. And he fought his political battles on the square and accepted results with soldierly courage. As a man and citizen he commanded the respect of both political supporters and opponents because both knew that he was prompted by the best of motives. In his death the state loses a splendid citizen and the old flag one of the most heroic defenders. The Vinton Eagle : Major Lacey was a thorough student. Probably he had no equal in his knowledge of public affairs. He participated in de- bates on all leading questions before Congress. Dubuque Times : Major Lacey was one of the old school of public men of which few are left. He was a stickler for principles and even those who disagreed with him politically admired his firmness and honesty of purpose. Political enemies he had by the score, but personal enemies none. He was never known to straddle an is- sue, and he stood firm and steadfast in defense of what he be- lieved right. Oskaloosa Times (Democratic) : Whatever of honor or distinction may have come to Major Lacey, the soldier, lawyer, and politician, was far overshadowed by the record of Major Lacey, the citizen. The writer had known the major for many years, and though we differed from him in politics, there never was an hour in all our acquaintance BIOGRAPHICAL 29 that we did not recognize him as Oskaloosa's foremost citizen and most kind and generous neighbor. The kindly advice, the encouragement and counsel he has given to his friends at home, the countless deeds of kindness and of love to his neighbors will build for him a monument in the memory of his friends higher and more enduring than any marble shaft. Knoxville Journal (Democratic) : Major Lacey has a notable career as a lawyer, soldier, and statesman. For many years he was one of the men who had a real voice in the government of his country. His political con- victions were intense and he never faltered in them or swerved from the path they marked out for him. He was one of the most approachable of men, kindly and cordial. His soldier com- rades idolized him and no reunion of the old boys was ever com- plete without John F. Lacey. Fairfield Ledger : Major Lacey was a man of strength and vigor and he used both against the sham and pretense of the politics of these days, which he thoroughly hated. He went into public life clean- handed, and he came out clean-handed. Dave Brant, in the Iowa City Republican : In Congress Major Lacey was a natural leader. He was not a political legislator. He stood in Congress for something better than politics. He was constructive. He was called a stand- patter, but there was never a moment in his career when he did not stand for something new, something of benefit to the people. Few men are they but would have weakened when defeat was before them. But John F. Lacey was the exception. He re- tired from public life rather than surrender his principles. To- day when we have weathervane men in Congress from nearly every district in the state, with the same kind of men in most of our public places, it is refreshing to pay a tribute to one who never faltered. Major S. H. M. Byers writes : I have known him intimately since boyhood. We were boys together in the public schools — studied law at the same time, 30 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY and together entered the Union army. He was a true patriot, a good soldier, and quickly won promotion. His important career in Congress is known to everybody. Personally I re- garded him as the ablest member of the lower house. He scarcely had a superior as a debater anywhere. He had the power of repartee and no man in Congress was better acquaint- ed With men and books, and history, than he. He had a power- ful memory, and possessed books to read, and not for parlor or- nament only. As a youth at school he was proficient and am- bitious. Ambition never forsook him. He had a right to it, for he was able and prepared for any post. It is said that Presi- dent McKinley looked on him as one of the most potent men en- gaged in public affairs. As a lawyer he had few equals and he possessed a kindly wit that served him before juries as it did on the floor of Congress. Major Lacey will be remembered by many as an intense partisan in the political controversies that have divided the Republican party. He took his stand with de- cision, and he maintained it with earnestness. He belonged with the old guard, and never faltered. He never minced his words. But those who knew him best will remember him as a man of varied talents and many-sided activities. In the legislature every measure came in for a share of his attention. As a mem- ber of Congress it was his pride to cover a wider field than any member of either house. And he did with thoroughness every- thing he turned his hand to. He was always a hard-working lawyer. Those Who met him before the jury and the judges be- fore whom he practiced regarded him highly. He was fre- quently upon the platform, and his occasional addresses, all of them suggesting study and care in preparation, would fill a large volume. Judge J. L. Waite, in the Burlington Hawk-Eye : The announcement from Oskaloosa of the sudden death of Major John F. Lacey is a shock to the people of Iowa and to a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in other states. Major Lacey, in his prime, was in the front rank of useful and influ- ential legislators at Washington and was in demand in national campaigns as a platform speaker at republican rallies. The major's political addresses were always instructive and at the BIOGRAPHICAL 31 same time interesting to voters. He discussed public questions with candor and fairness, but with an earnestness that com- manded respect for sincerity and positiveness of convictions. Lafayette Young, in the Des Moines Capital, has given a fine summary of Major Lacey's leading qualities, from which the following extracts are given: It was a wonderfully active, purposeful, and achieving life which closed at Oskaloosa yesterday. Indolence was entirely foreign to John F. Lacey's nature. In the three score and ten years which came to him those who knew the man will readily testify that he had no idle hours. Work was one of the dom- inating passions of his life and it was always notable the ease with which he could glide from a long tenure of office holding to the active practice of his profession. Some men go to "Wash- ington, serve a few terms in Congress, and return to find their law practice has passed into other hands. We believe this was less noticeable in the career of Major Lacey than that of any other Iowan identified with public life. He was so thorough in everything he undertook that he was constantly equipped and his services were always in demand. He early displayed the abilities which single out men for public service and he lived to a day when he was recognized as one of the most constructive statesmen at Washington. Ap- pointed to committees having in charge important affairs affect- ing the public domain he became an ardent student of the public lands question, Indian affairs, forestry, and conservation, and the most of our present laws pertaining to these issues bear the imprint of his painstaking work. He was a great lover of birds and the Audubon societies were highly appreciative of his sup- port of legislation for their protection. Major Lacey was a Re- publican of the old school. He knew just what he believed. He knew how his conclusions had been reached, and he could de- fend himself whenever the occasion required. He was never rattled in a congressional debate and he loved the antagonism of a law suit. He was ready to face the spirit of contest any- where. But now this gallant old soldier has fallen in the ranks. He had breathed the atmosphere of his law office and pressed the 32 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY leaves of his favorite law books on the very day that the sum- mons came. He dropped upon his couch at the noon-tide hour — as he probably thought for a brief rest. The voices of his faithful wife and children were the last earthly sounds which he heard. From that couch of rest Major Lacey had passed into the dreamless sleep. Ellsworth Roininger, in the Bloomfield Republican: The wit and humor he used in public speech to clinch a point in presenting public questions retained the best of attention from his audiences. His strength was in the principles of gov- ernment in which he believed. These to him were founded upon a conviction of right, and earnestly advocated in his discussion of public questions. James Powell in the Ottumwa Courier : His ability was best exercised as a congressman. There he was recognized as one of the ablest men in Congress at a time when Congress was composed of able statesmen. He was an orator as well as a statesman and in extemporaneous speaking few were his equal. Ideas came to him and were worked out logically while he was on the rostrum. He was also an able de- bater, strong at repartee. He was an authority on railroad law and his opinions along this line are still recognized as final. He it was who drew up the present railroad laws of Alaska. One of the features of these is, that route monopoly is absolutely prevented by a wise provision requiring any road which has laid tracks through a mountain pass to permit the use of these tracks by any other road which has run its line up to the pass. Rea- sonable rental for the use of the tracks is all that is required and the result is that no road can prevent or smother competition by reason of securing the only available routes through the mountains. This is just an illustration of his foresight as a statesman. In a word, Major Lacey represented the highest type of American citizenship. He was temperate and of clean per- sonal habits, he had the highest regard for his word, which was regarded as good as his bond. Hon. George D. Perkins, in the Sioux City Journal: He was an influential man in Congress, a prodigious worker, BIOGRAPHICAL 33 and did much to place the name of Iowa in the enviable place it filled in those years. Major Lacey was an able lawyer, a force- ful man in debate, a willing bearer of responsibility. He was not backward in giving service. He had such capacity for work that he could do many things. Hon. W. G. Ray in the Grinnell Herald: For more than a generation he has been one of Iowa's most honored citizens. His life has been eminently a useful and a helpful one. In all his life there has been little to criticise, but much to praise. To us he has always been a typical statesman. His private life was pure and simple, without stain. In public life he was the soul of honor, a tireless, intelligent worker, a statesman who was to place the public good above private advan- tage. He had a depth of human sympathy seldom surpassed, and his unfailing cheerfulness and loyalty to justice and right, made and kept friends through his entire life. Probably no man in public life during his generation had a broader or more comprehensive view of public affairs and no man ever gave more cheerfully of his strength and time to secure useful legis- lation. Burlington (Iowa) Gazette (Democratic) : Congressman Lacey was a member of the old guard of Repub- licans, who rendered distinguished service to his country in many respects. He was a credit to the state of Iowa. Cedar Rapids Gazette : Mr. Lacey was a fine type of gentleman whom it was a gen- uine pleasure to know. Even his most pronounced political op- ponents felt a deep-seated esteem for him — an esteem that could not be blotted by all the turmoil of heated political cam- paigns. He was one of the ablest of the old guard of Iowa republicanism. And he was as uncompromising in his opposi- tion to parties and principles in which he did not believe, as he was able. James M. Mansfield, belonging to the Oskaloosa Her- ald's staff, became a member of the Lacey household when he was but a boy, and gives a delightful picture of Mr. 34 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Lacey 's lovely traits and home life, from which I make the following brief extracts : As I gazed into his death-stilled face, my rneniory reverted to when I was a lad of twelve years of age, and employed at the Lacey home ; and many of the scenes and incidents of that time came before me as vividly as though it were but yesterday. Though then young in years, I seemed to realize that Mr. Lacey was a great and good man, and it naturally followed that I watched him closely, and admired him. His exemplary routine and kindness about his home were so instilled on my youthful mind that as the years passed on, I came to a true realization of the noble man's worth. No man ever loved and worshiped his family more than Mr. Lacey. He held the sacredness of his home above all else in the world. His legal and other profes- sional business, which were of inexhaustible volume, were a sec- ondary consideration. His home and family came first. He was the kind of a husband and father that God intended man to be : kind, loving, devoted, and pure. And often with childish envy have I watched his children run to the old front gate, as I called it, to meet him at the noon hour, and how a smile would illum- inate his face as he gathered them in his arms and caressed them, and I feel safe in saying that there were never happier moments in this good man's life than to hear the prattle of his little ones coming to meet him. His home-coming was looked forward to with joy by his family. I knew it. He was happy in their presence. I could see it with my own eyes. He was loath to leave them; they hated to see him depart. I see him again in the library of his home at evening time — which, by the way, was his favorite room — with his family gathered about him, and I often tried to conceive of a prettier, more sublime picture of happiness and contentment. Such were the environments that made the Lacey home an ideal one. And it can also be truthfully said, that never was a needy one turned from the door of the Lacey home empty-handed. Perhaps more than enough has been said to properly typify the character and accomplishments of Mr. Lacey ; but I could not forbear the elaboration I have given, for BIOGRAPHICAL 35 the reason that the memory of a public man so useful and deserving should be perpetuated in a manner broad enough to encompass his various traits, and disclose the consensus of public and private opinion concerning him. In person he was a well-rounded but not apparently robust figure of medium height. He was always well dressed and I never saw him save in a tightly buttoned Prince Albert coat of dark material. He was polite in manner and his agreeable address was well calculated to ingratiate him in the favor of any company in which he might be placed. The last time that I saw him was, I think, in 1898. In company with his then unmarried daughter he called at my law office in Kansas City, Mis- souri, where he found me and my partner, ex-Governor Thomas T. Crittenden, with whom I think he was pre- viously acquainted. He seemed as vigorous and spright- ly as when we separated at the close of the Pleasant An- derson murder trial, more than twenty years before. We had a delightful little visit, and bade each other, as it proved, a last farewell. His writings, particularly his sketches of Generals Rice and Steele before alluded to, show that if he had devoted himself to purely literary pursuits, he would have at- tained distinction in that field. He was in his seventy-third year at the time of his death. He left surviving him his widow, whose maiden name was Martha Newell, a most interesting and lovable lady, and two daughters, Mrs. James B. Brewster, of San Francisco, and Mrs. Carroll E. Sawyer, of Oskaloosa. MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY AND THE CONSERVA- TION OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES BY L. H. PAMMEL When I see the migratory birds passing over Iowa dur- ing the chilly days of October or when I wander in the forests of the Rockies, where the Sublime Artist has done His handiwork, my thoughts go back to my friend, Major John F. Lacey, the brave soldier who fought valiantly for the Union cause, a statesman who had the whole country at heart, not merely Iowa, but Colorado, New Mexico, and California as well; one part of the country as well as the other received his careful consideration. The great cause, the protection of the forests, game, and the pres- ervation of antiquities had little of interest to the average citizen of Iowa, but to the nation, as a whole, in particular to generations yet to come, it will mean much. A friend, loyal in every sense of the word, my acquaintance reached back a little more than twenty years, and in all of these years we exchanged letters pertaining to a sub- ject of great interest to him. My last visit was in Oska- loosa, about a year ago, when he called my attention to an interesting elm found near Tracy. In his conversation he was lively, exact, and methodic, always displaying a wonderful fund of information. A most remarkable man in many ways. When the news dispatches announced the sudden death of Major John F. Lacey, of Oskaloosa, it cast a shadow over the hearts of many friends in this our great common- wealth and the many friends in the nation at large. To every man or woman interested in the conservation of BIOGRAPHICAL 37 forests, wild game, petrified forests, there comes a feel- ing of gratitude and pride that this plain American citizen had the foresight to so shape legislation that these things might be preserved to the citizens of the present and fu- ture generations. Major John Fletcher Lacey was born in New Martins- ville, West Virginia, May 30, 1841 ; he attended a select school in Oskaloosa ; studied law in the office of General Samuel A. Rice, under whom he afterwards served in the Union army ; twice enlisted as a private in the Third and Thirty-third Iowa, and finally was major in the service. On his return to Oskaloosa he was admitted to the bar, where he won distinction not only as a lawyer, but also an author of considerable note. He died on the afternoon of September 29, 1913. Harvey Ingham, in the Register and Leader, has said : He was always a hard-working lawyer. Those who met him before the jury and judges before whom he practiced regarded him highly. He commanded the respect and confidence of his neighbors and friends, and built up a substantial competence at the same time that he was winning public recognition. He was frequently upon the platform, and his occasional addresses, all of them suggesting study and care in preparation, would fill a large volume. It is my purpose to dwell on the phase of his work which had to do with the conservation of the natural re- sources of the country. Mr. Freeman Conaway has well said : Major Lacey will be known in history as the statesman who was a friend of the birds. As chairman of the Committee on Public Lands, he worked through many reforms ... so when he was placed at the head of a committee which was never known to have done any work, it became under his direction a working body. Major Lacey was held in such high esteem by the sports- men of the country that the League of American Sports- 38 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY men started a popular subscription, no amount being larger than twenty-five cents, each state and territory in the Union being represented, and among the contributors was Theodore Roosevelt ; the watch presented to him has engraved, on one side a grouse with L. A. S. Protect the Game ; on the other side, a beautiful pair of quail and an inscription on the inside, "Presented by the League of American Sportsmen to the Honorable John F. Lacey, the Friend of the Birds, in recognition of his great work in securing the passage of the Lacey Game Bill, December 25,1900." Major Lacey was a member of the 51st, 53d, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th, and 59th Congresses. In addition to his important work on the committee on elections of which he was chairman of the sub-committee to decide the Clayton vs. Breckenridge case, he was a member of other impor- tant committees. His labors on the committee on elec- tions show careful and painstaking work, so much so that he was regarded as authority on congressional elections. Even at this early date in his congressional career he be- came active in forestry and mining laws of the country. He secured the passage of a law protecting the lives of miners. The Yellowstone National Park, one of the won- ders of America, had long been set aside as a national park, but without adequate legislation to protect the game therein, but, owing to Major Lacey 's interest, the thou- sands of visitors can now view with pleasure the wild ani- mals of the park. Major Lacey in his apt way has said : In that animal republic its citizens have learned that by some mysterious influence the great butcher, man, is a harmless and interesting creature. The children watch the feeding of the gen- tle grizzly, the Ursiis Jwrnbilis of the naturalist. The beaver is again building his dams and setting up his little municipal governments in the great national playground. The birds had his constant care. He succeeded in hav- BIOGRAPHICAL 39 ing the Lacey bird law passed. In an article on game protection he says : The question of game protection and the preservation of useful birds has of late years assumed much interest. It has always been the custom to lock the stable door after the horse is gone; our ancestors found the land east of the Ohio covered with a dense forest, the rivers full of fish and the woods filled with game. The abundance of wild life made it seem that the supply could never be exhausted. The first necessity was to destroy the forests so as to make way for the farms. For more than three hundred years destruction was called improvement and it has only in recent years come to the attention of the people generally that the American people were like spendthrift heirs wasting their patrimony. The public conscience has become quickened, and the attempt to preserve and restore some of the wild life of America is no longer looked upon as a fad or idle sentiment. The birds keep the balance between the fruitful fields and insects, he argued. He made an early attempt in the year 1900 to nationalize the question of game and bird preservation. The bill met with much derision for a num- ber of years, but the Major persisted, and finally on the 25th of May it became a law. In this connection Emerson Hough in ''Wealth on Wings" x makes an interesting allusion to the Lacey bird law, as follows : It took us all the time from the Articles of Confederation to the year 1913 to grow wise enough to apply to this interstate wealth the doctrine of interstate commerce. Meantime the wealth itself had well-nigh disappeared. The wild game of America helped to settle America. In the times when it was hardest for a frontiersman to make a living the wild game helped him out. The rifle went with ax and plow across this continent, and it was the rifle that helped the ax and plow in the earlier days of adversity. At first the Amer- icans valued only the large game ; but in time they began to use i The Saturday Evening Post, November 15, 1913. 40 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY wildfowl as food — then as a means of sport. Later they began to use them as articles of commerce. For two entire generations we have sought to put over on the American public the impossible doctrine that a man can reap in- definitely without sowing at all. We treated our wild-fowl as we would a mine, not as we would a farm — on the basis of amortization and not of renewal. The man in the city felt that he was an American citizen, and had as good a right as anybody to eat wild-fowl if he had the price to pay for it. There sprang up a large class of professional game killers who encouraged him in that belief. They kept on reaping — but no- body sowed. We did our best to increase our poultry supply, our supply of beef and mutton and pork ; but, even when we did our best at such increase, we saw the cost of all these items go up with great rapidity. What, then, could be expected of a commodity that was treated not as a domestic article of trade but on the basis of a mine ? — to be used until exhausted. We treated our wild-fowl as a mine. We applied state rights to this wealth, which beyond all other commodities was, itself, inherently and fundamentally interstate wealth. We framed a multitude of state laws, based on local whims, local ignorance, and local selfishness, with no uniformity even as between states in practically the same geographical situation. We followed out our ancient right of personal privilege — until we faced game fields suddenly gone barren. For half a genera- tion thinking men have known that the game of America was doomed. It was not until a dozen years ago that John F. Lacey, a con- gressman from Iowa, conceived the idea that game shipped across the state line became subject to the watchful care of the nation itself. The Lacey act may be called the first step toward na- tional intelligence in the preservation of our wild game. Of course its effect was for the good not only of wild-fowl but of upland or localized game. The Lacey act did not prevent the marketing of many thou- sands of tons of wild game, shipped legally or illegally; but it did prevent the marketing of yet other thousands of tons that BIOGRAPHICAL 41 otherwise would have been killed and shipped. It recognized the old doctrine of the common law — that wild game belonged to the man who reduced it to possession ; but it recognized also the right of the several states, under their police power, to regu- late the killing and shipping of the game, and the accepted doc- trine that ownership of game rested in the state. This was as far as we had gotten under our old, absurd game- warden system. The Lacey act went a step further. It took advantage of this very confusion and lack of uniformity in state laws and forbade the handling in one state of game illegally killed in another. It was a clever use of the blanket utility of the interstate commerce idea. Still our game decreased — upland birds and wild-fowl as well. Under our system of license acts we Americans raised nearly two million dollars a year ostensibly to protect our game. We protected our politicians instead. It became obvious that a few more years would see our game wiped out and the wild-fowl shooting pretty much a thing of the past. The Lacey bird law did not go far enough, as stated by Emerson Hough. Major Lacey had in mind a migratory bird law; this is hinted at in one of his addresses. He said the government should control migratory birds if it could be done by national legislation. He held that game located in any state is the property of the people of that state. Migratory birds do not belong to any state, and the people of all sovereign states are interested in their protection. Spring shooting he thought should be for- bidden. He was not quite sure that such a law would pass the constitutional requirements. He was at work on this problem at a time when the Lacey bird law was passed and he gave much attention to the subject. Such a law has finally been passed — the Weeks-McLean law. It was Major Lacey wdio started Congress on the right way, assisted by that great Iowan, W. T. Hornaday, who has ever been the great friend of the birds. Thus we have left to the United States Department of Agriculture 42 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY the protection of one of our great natural resources. It is well also to remember in this connection, as Emerson Hough says, "We do not really own that wealth even as a nation. It is raised in these days almost wholly out- side our national confines." Canada raises most of our wild fowl and we have done the shooting. Major Lacey secured the passage of a bill forbidding the importation of the eggs of wild fowls for commercial purposes from Canada. Under the Lacey act the Audubon societies and sportsmen secured the designation of many low marshes and islands as game preserves. Major Lacey drafted a public land bill which was but slightly changed for the Philippines, under which the forests, lands, and mines are governed, and for the adjustment of all controversies as to church lands. In an address before the Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs, at Waterloo, Iowa, in 1905, he said: "We have a wireless telegraph, a crownless queen, a thornless cactus, a seedless orange, and a coreless apple. Let us now have a birdless hat." The subject of national forest reserves early received Major Lacey 's attention. During the session of the 51st Congress, the forest reserve act was passed, and a na- tional system of forest reserves was established, regu- lated and under the control of the Department of the Interior. Under this statute reserves have been estab- listed by executive order, chiefly in the western states. Later he was instrumental in the transfer of these re- serves to the Department of Agriculture, largely because he thought expert knowledge was essential for the proper control of the forest reserves. The preservation of the national domain, now amounting to more than 100,000,000 acres, an area as large as Iowa and Missouri combined, was not only for sentimental purposes, but the utility of BIOGRAPHICAL 43 the forests. In one of his addresses on the subject he said: If there had been only the sentimental and poetic side of the question, it would still have been worthy of our earnest consider- ation. But in forestry there is beauty and utility combined. The poet and the painter may rejoice in the contemplation of the woods. The young may revel in the inspiration of its pro- tecting shade. But the fanner, the miller, the boatman, and the lumberman may now combine to preserve as well as to enjoy the beneficial uses of this great element of our national wealth. He stoutly held that the forests are reserved for the use of man and not reserved from his use. No doubt the sentimental reasons for not cutting a tree have done much to hurt the progress of forestry legislation. The cultivation of trees on a large scale and covering long periods of time for which the life of an individual would be inadequate, is what the Major had in mind when he worked for the passage of laws looking towards the establishment of forest reserves. In this service for the government it has been well said by that great lover of the out-of-doors, Theodore Roosevelt: I wish to say one word about your congressman, Mr. Lacey, at whose request I stopped here. In public life generally we are not apt to find the man whose interests go to the whole country, as well as for those who have his fate in their hands, and I wish to congratulate this district in having in the American congress a man who spends his best efforts for the welfare of the whole United States. Now, gentlemen, I never say before a man what I would not say behind him, or vice versa, and I do not speak hyperbolically. When there is a matter I feel is of real and serious consequence to the nation as a whole, I can ask Mr. Lacey to come to me, or I can go to him, with the absolute certainty that he will approach it simply from the standpoint of public service. He wishes to do well his duty by the public and in his eye the fact that the work is worth doing, is a sufficient reward, and I re- gard this as high praise for any man in public life. 44 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY There is still another line of work that greatly inter- ested him, the preservation of the prehistoric ruins on the public lands. He became interested along this line about the year 1901, and in order to get as comprehensive a knowledge of the subject as he could he accepted an in- vitation from Prof. Edgar L. Hewett to visit the ruins of the cliff dwellers and cave dwellers in the Pajarito region. This trip led to the introduction and passage of his bill for the preservation of aboriginal ruins and places of scenic and scientific interest upon the public domain, un- der which the petrified forest, the Olympic range, elk reserve, and about two hundred places of ethnological interest have been designed as monuments and preserved to the public. This also led to the establishment of the School of American Archaeology. In describing the Rito he says : In going into the Rito I stood upon the rim of the caiion in the twilight. A rainy mist hung over the mountains. The camp- fires were already burning and the scene was one of surpassing beauty. In this sequestered valley, where once happy thousands made their homes, only the ranch house of Judge Abbott is evi- dence of present occupancy. As we reluctantly left the valley in the morning the sun was shining and the bluest of blue skies arched over the mountains and canon walls. The Rito is full of interest for the lovers of the beauty of out- door life. A visit to its caves and ruined buildings can be well followed by another to the Jimez Mountains, and the Zuni, Taos, Acoma, and the other living pueblos will reward the curious traveler. In this high altitude the deep breathing of the dryest and purest air will give health and strength for the battle of life in the hard grind of everyday work in this modem, everyday world. In describing the petrified forest, he said: Ages ago, so long that it makes one dizzy to think of it, these trees were alive and growing in the Southwest. They were con- BIOGRAPHICAL 45 iferous, as shown by microscopic examination of their texture. The species is now extinct and the nearest resembling species now found exists in Asia Minor. The geological history of this forest is very easy to read. The trees have fallen down and floated around in some old arm of the sea until the roots and limbs were worn and rounded just as we see like examples on the sandbars of the Mississippi. The trees became heavy and water logged and settled to the sea bottom. They were slowly covered by a deposit of sandstone of forty to fifty feet, or more, in thickness, and under this deposit below the old sea bed they were slowly transformed into chalcedony of such beautiful and varied colors as has been nowhere else equaled. Afterwards the land slowly rose until it became an elevated plain, 7,000 feet above the present sea level. Erosion by wind and water has done its work and uncovered several thousand acres of this antediluvian plain. The great logs lie, many of them, just as they appeared when they first sank to their present resting place. Along the edge of the rocky bluffs they may be still partly covered with the overlying standstone and partly protruding into the excavated valley. In this brief statement and life of Major Lacey, I have touched but briefly on his work as a statesman, interested in the forest, streams, wild animal life of the country. There is a lesson for us in the life and work of this man. He had steadily in mind when he became chairman of the house committee on public lands, the best interest of the whole nation. The repeated failures during his early career in Congress did not prevent him from trying again, and he tried again and again, bringing to fruition his long and faithful services in behalf of the wild game, the forests, the homes of the cliff dwellers, the petrified forests, and monuments of the country. Without this long tenure in office, this work never could have been ac- complished. A Lacey day in our public schools would not be inappropriate, because Major Lacey has done more for the protection of bird life and to stimulate forestry than any other man ever did in our national life. 46 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY In Congress and out Major Lacey was a great worker and one wonders how lie accomplished so much. His work on the Indian committee of the house involved an enormous amount of labor. The bill to prepare the In- dian for citizenship and a complete civilized form of gov- ernment, involved an enormous amount of labor. This bill, known as the Curtiss act, became a law. Major Lacey secured the passage of a bill to permit the allot- ment to intelligent civilized Indians of their share of tribal funds. Major Lacey was always a student. He made addresses on many different subjects. Thus an ad- dress on "Comets" at Penn College shows thoughtful study of a subject about which he says little is known. "The young men and women of today or of the future stand pledged to unmask the secrets of nature in many respects, and there is no mystery more interesting than the one here discussed. You can catch hold where your fathers left off, for their record is preserved, and thus each generation can utilize what has gone before, and in the end nature will kindly reveal her deepest mysteries." He made numerous biographical addresses; the one on Wm. Penn, delivered when Penn College conferred on him the M. A. degree which he so richly deserved, was widely distributed. His address on Chief Justices John Marshall and Roger Brooke Taney show a wide range of study of the opinions rendered by these eminent jurists. The many patriotic addresses are full of inspiration and patriotism and no one spoke more from his heart than did Major Lacey. Take such addresses as the Shiloh Battle Ground, the Northwest Iowa Veterans' Reunion, and many others, which are gems of literature on this subject. One of the most interesting of documents left by Major Lacey is an autobiography written for Mrs. Berenice Lacey Sawyer and Mrs. Eleanor Lacey Brew- ster. Besides containing an account of his early life there BIOGRAPHICAL 47 are many reminiscences of his congressional life and his estimate of public men. He also prepared a book which he called "Common Place Book," of 400 pages. On the first page he wrote, "In a Common Place Book should be found many things not common place." This book contains many interesting items from many sources. The sketches from abroad are most interesting; always a close observer, he was a student. His observations on churches and places of interest in Europe are well worthy of a place in our literature. CLOAKROOM STORIES — REMINISCENCES OF CONGRESSMAN JOHN F. LACEY l MAJOR LACEY 's RETORT Quick retorts in debate, especially in the House, are al- ways enjoyed by both sides. When the House was con- sidering the pension question in 1893 there was much feeling among the Union soldiers, owing to the action of Hon. Hoke Smith, of Georgia, secretary of the interior, in dropping many thousands of pensioners from the rolls. Mr. Lacey was a member of the invalid pension commit- tee, and was discussing the question in general debate on the pension appropriation bill. Colonel Livingston, of Georgia, interrupted him with the statement that there were thousands of fraudulent pensioners and that their names were properly dropped by the secretary. Mr. Lacey replied, "What the soldiers complain of is that while in 1864 the boys in blue were marching through Georgia, in 1893 Georgia is marching through the boys in blue." CAMPAIGN" ANECDOTE OF LACEY The Iowans place Major Lacey high among campaign- ers. One of his colleagues delighted the cloakroom with this anecdote about him: "Mr. Lacey was elected to Congress for the first time in 1888 over General J. B. Weaver who had three times been elected in the district. One of the most notable campaigns ever made in Iowa was waged between these two men. They had joint dis- cussions in every county and people turned out in mass i Copyrighted by Champ Clark, 1900. BIOGRAPHICAL 49 at the meetings. The main issues that year were the Mills bill and the question of free trade. Mr. Lacey used the argument so common in that campaign that the Mills bill was in the interest of the English manufacturer and against the American workman. At Newton, Iowa, the speakers stood under the court-house portico with a vast throng in front of them. The Sackville-West affair had just occurred, in which the British minister had written a letter advising all naturalized Englishmen to vote the Democratic ticket. Mr. Lacey of course made good use of this incident. General Weaver closed the debate that day, and just as he was nearing the last part of his very eloquent and beautiful peroration two birds fluttered down in front of him from the portico above and hung balanced in the air a few feet in front of his breast. They fluttered playfully against each other and remained in the same position for perhaps thirty seconds. The General caught the inspiration of the situation and throwing up his hands and raising his eyes towards heaven, said in earnest tones, 'The very birds in the air bring happy omens of our victory.' Quick as a flash Major Lacey spoiled all this oratorical effect by rising and crying out, ' Beware of them, General! They are English spar- rows.' "Here the General's time expired and the crowd dis- persed laughing and shouting. Until the end of the cam- paign everyone talked of the pestiferous English spar- rows nestling in the bosom of the eloquent general. Gen- eral Weaver in accounting for his defeat always gave considerable weight to this incident." IOWA'S CONGRESSMAN AT HOME1 "How will I get to see Congressman Lacey?" inquired an old soldier from the country of a local newspaper re- porter on the street one afternoon this summer. "Just go up that stairway between the book store and the shoe store," replied the reporter, "and turn to your left." "Yes," rejoined the old soldier, "but he does not know me, and I want to see him. I don 't want to be put off by a clerk." "No danger of that," returned the reporter, "if he's there, you'll see him." And so the old comrade went up the stairway and turned to his left. Opening the door he saw sitting be- fore him in a large room filled with papers, documents, and books, the man who has made his mark in the coun- cils of the nation, and who recently has been much men- tioned as a possible candidate for governor of Iowa. "Come in," were the first words spoken, and their tone quickly relieved the stranger of all embarrassment. He soon made known his mission. He had been ex- amined for a pension and a favorable report had been sent in a long time before, but weary of waiting he had decided to do what many of his comrades and neighbors had done, "see what Major Lacey could do." In less than five minutes Mr. Lacey had a complete history of the man's life, knew all about his army record, and his dis- abilities, and had every necessary date on record. "I will write to the department at once," said Mr. Lacey, i Des Moines (Iowa) Register and Leader, July 28, 1904. BIOGRAPHICAL 51 "and do all I can to get a favorable report in your case." Before the old comrade had reached the bottom of the stairs a stenographer was writing a letter to Washing- ton, telling all about his case, and in less than three weeks he received notice that his claim had been allowed. FUNERAL OF MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY l Funeral services of the late Major John F. Lacey were con- ducted Friday afternoon, October 3, 1913, from the family resi- dence. The services were in the open, from the porch of the family home, in the presence of thousands of citizens and out of town guests. Practically the entire day was given over to the funeral of the distinguished dead and even the afternoon of the day preceding witnessed the arrival of many from neighbor- ing and distant towns of the state, desirous of expressing by their presence the respect and homage due the memory of the man. While Thursday had been designated as the day for the ' ' lying in state, ' ' hundreds of old friends and citizens called at the home Friday forenoon and afternoon, even to the hour for the last formal ceremony. Realization of the death of John F. Lacey has come slowly and with difficulty for the many, while compre- hension for the truth still struggles with others — those who have been close to the man in daily life, who, perhaps, have known him best. But the end came as he had wished. To a company of friends one day, commenting upon his ceaseless labor and striving in the activities of this workaday world and questioning why he should not, as he might, lessen his stride and slacken his pace, this tire- less, indefatigable worker replied: "I would remain active — in full possession of health and mind, to the end — I could not be at ease otherwise." And thus it was. But in the end the man stands revealed and his greatness — the significance and beauty of his life is emphasized. The example of his life must endure and he has left a heritage that all might "wish to hold in fee." To no other citizen or resident of Oskaloosa has been paid the signal honor that on Friday afternoon was accorded the memory of John F. Lacey. Every flag was at half mast, and business was suspended during the afternoon. From two o'clock prac- i Oskaloosa (Iowa) Daily Herald, Saturday, October 4, 1913. BIOGRAPHICAL 53 tically every office, store and shop was dosed. Thousands of people were at the home. Almost every one in town was at the place of funeral and the throng was swelled by the visiting hosts that came by train, by auto, or other conveyance. The crowd at the residence at the hour of service has been variously estimated. Gathered together at one time on the Lacey lawn were enough people to fill the largest auditorium in the city several times over. In addition the streets in all directions from the home were lined and crowded with people a block distant. People stood about, the business streets, and when the procession moved to the cemetery the streets leading thereto were all occupied by a moving mass of humanity. Besides the number that tilled all the rooms of the home, the crowd on the lawn extended far beyond the reach of the voice. Weather conditions favored the occasion. The day was perfect. The services following the viewing of the casket were simple and brief. Rev. Allen Judd, of St. Paul's Episcopal church, Des Moines, read the Episcopal service and made a few brief remarks touching the life and the service of the departed. Major Lacey had been a member and vestryman of the St. James Episcopal church of Oskaloosa for years and the irreproachable life of the man was an index of his faith and his belief. A few brief words of prayer and consolation, the sing- ing of the quartette from the Episcopal choir, Misses Helen Kal- bach and Josephine Rover, Messrs. Warren Kalbach and Evan (.!. Morgan, with Miss Pearle Porter, organist. Loved and familiar hymns; the reading of original lines dedicated to the memory of the man, by the author. Major S. II. M. Ryers, of Des Moines, and the formalities were transferred to Forest Cemetery. At the grave the G. A. R. was in charge; Mrs. Virginia Knight Logan and Miss Reulah Drinkle sang. Moving from the residence the funeral procession headed south on Market, street into A avenue, and thence east and north to the cemetery entrance. Company F of the Iowa. National Guard, a special guard of honor, was in advance, followed by the old sol- diers, the local G. A. R. and visiting soldiers, about one hundred in number; old soldiers in carriages; funeral attendants in car- riages; the pall bearers, all members of the Thirty-third Iowa regiment survivors, George W. Schee, of Chariton, Joint A. Shan- 54 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY non, Benjamin Cruzen, M. W. Crozier, Albert Cooper, Fred But- ler and William Shaw, of Oskaloosa, with James Adair and A. J. Bass, of Oskaloosa, in reserve ; special escort, the members of the vestry of St. James Episcopal church, of which Mr. Lacey had been a member. The marching body of the G. A. R. was fol- lowed by the Knights of Pythias, of which organization there was a large turnout; about one hundred members of the Mahaska county bar and members of neighboring bar associations and rep- resentatives of the state bar association ; officials of the Mahaska county court house and the district court ; members of the press and members of the Woodmen of the World fraternal society. The funeral car bearing the casket was followed by the carriages with the members of the family and close personal friends and members of the Woman's Relief Corps and ladies of the G. A. R. Nineteen carriages in all were occupied, and twenty-five automo- biles made up the closing feature of the funeral procession. Arrived at the cemetery the closing ceremonies were under the auspices of the G. A. R., Colonel McNeill, Chaplain J. L. Moore and other members of Phil Kearney Post officiating, and words of the ritual service were freighted with a new significance for all who heard. Crowds of people had anticipated the procession or kept pace with it and the attendance at the grave, like that at the house service, was exceedingly large. Since the announcement of the death of Mr. Lacey the sym- pathies of friends and people generally have been given expres- sion through many avenues, many in personal notes, messages and cablegram, others in floral tributes, and of these there was a magnificent and touching array, from many of unusual size and beauty to the simple but loving expression of school children, the boys and girls to whom Major Lacey had endeared himself in many little ways, personal kindnesses and favors, visits to the schools, and his connection with the Thirty-third Regiment Flag Fund. The floral pieces were massed in a room of the home and were innumerable. While Major Lacey had a most extended acquaintance through city and county, throughout the state, and over the entire nation, no man of the city has commanded a closer or more extended BIOGRAPHICAL 55 personal friendship among all people, and in these favored in- timates he found a keen pleasure and enjoyment. INCIDENTS OP THE OCCASION Incidental to the funeral ceremony yesterday afternoon, the Oskaloosa police force rendered an excellent service at the home. Officers were stationed one block distant in all streets leading from the house and kept the streets clear of vehicles. This made possible the accommodation of more people than would other- wise have been accomplished. Public service sought out Major Lacey irrespective of politics or position. The Major was recently appointed a member of a permanent "National Commission for the Protection of Migra- tory Birds," by Secretary of Agriculture Houston, of Missouri. That Mr. Lacey might have the records of the commission at hand he was elected secretary of that body. He was considered the one best man in the land for the position. Persons near to the south porch at the Lacey home yesterday were witness to a touching demonstration that seemed unusually appropriate and expressive, inasmuch as Major Lacey, as father of the national bird law, has done great service for his feathered friends. A handsome dove at the beginning of the funeral ser- vice, flew down and lit upon a projection of the porch and re- mained in the position during the entire funeral program, cooing and demonstrating, as if in the effort to bear some special mes- sage. Nor did the bird leave the position until after the casket had been borne away and the procession was moving from the house. Major Lacey a few days ago, following the Thirty-third Iowa reunion, held in Oskaloosa, was made the recipient of a special attention, something of a mark of appreciation at the hands of George W. Schee, father of the Thirty-third Regiment Flag Fund. Mr. Schee presented the Major with a fine phonograph and library of records. The instrument is one of the best and most handsome made and the library is extensive. Major Lacey was particularly pleased with the attention shown him by Mr. Schee and he had much pleasure with the splendid present. A POEM — JOHN F. LACEY By Majoe S. H. M. Byers Born with the humble, with the humble bred, Save what himself had gathered on the road ; An earnest life, and strenuous, he led, And reaped at last the harvest that he sowed. Not all, perhaps; there was another height He yearned to reach, for he had wings to fly ; But, all at once, the daylight turned to night, And voices told him it was time to die. One day a youth before a city stood, And asked for labor just to earn his bread ; ' ' Come in, ' ' they said, but never dreamed they would Some day bewail him as their noblest dead. 'Twas not by accident, nor fate, nor chance He found the goal so many failed to find; Work, work, was written on his shield and lance, The eternal sharpener of the human mind. Not labor only, he had time to know The fields, the forests, and the birds at dawn ; Each plumed creature in a requiem low Will say farewell to him who now is gone. He won the dearest that there is in life — The high esteem of men who knew him best; E 'en they who met him in the fiercest strife, Will shed a tear that he is gone to rest. Good-night, the sod can never wholly hide Beloved names, nor memory banish quite; Across the river and across the tide We reach our hands and only say good-night. FUNERAL SERMON BY REV. ALLEN JUDD Mr. Judd used the beautiful burial service of the Epis- copal church, which Mr. Lacey loved. "I am the resur- rection and the life, saith the Lord, he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. " ' ' Lord Thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another." ''For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corrup- tible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in vic- tory. ' ' The choir, consisting of Messrs. Evan Morgan and Warren Kalbach, and Misses Helen Kalbach and Jo Boyer, sang those touchingly beautiful hymns, "Lead, Kindly Light, ' ' and ' ' Now the Day is Over. ' ' The people had assembled in vast numbers, filling the house and the spacious lawn and even the streets beyond with a silent, reverent, grief-stricken throng. The sol- emn occasion and surroundings were far more eloquent than any human words could be. Mr. Judd said in brief : There is little left for me to say which your hearts have not already said. Had it been thought fitting at this time to pay verbal tribute to the memory of our brother there are those here from the highest councils of the state and nation, representatives of the bench and bar and of the press, members of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of other civic and benevolent bodies, fellow-citizens 58 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY and friends in public and in private life who would feel it a privilege, though a sad one, to offer here their elo- quent tributes of admiration and esteem. Friends, I yield to you a greater eloquence, but not a greater love for the one who is gone. But your silent presence is a higher and a finer tribute than the most eloquent words could be. It is for me, only to pronounce the benediction of the Church upon a beloved son, and a constant and faithful worshiper in her sanctuaries, and, if I may, God helping me, to say a brief word of comfort to those whose hearts are saddest today. We are but as little children here, and this is God's world, and He is our Father, and we are His children in His presence and under His care. "The very hairs of our heads are all numbered. ' ' And ' ' not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father." We do feel the presence of the Eternal Infinite more at such times as this than at other times. Shall we not try to feel more and more that we are personally, each one, under His watchful, loving care ? One by one He calls His children to come up higher, to be nearer to Him. It would seem more terrible still of He called them all at once. One by one they must go, even though sobbing hearts remain be- hind. It could not be otherwise. He has called our brother; and we never knew him to fail in answering promptly the highest call. And 0 how promptly, how quickly he answered this call! It seems to us all too quickly. There was no time to say "good-bye." At one o'clock he passed into the unseen world. And I think he would have had it so. He had time for the little kindnesses, for the promptings of affection in the home life, to love the birds and trees and flowers and every- thing that God has made; time always to spend God's Holy Day in His Holy Temple, but never time for inac- BIOGRAPHICAL 59 tivity. And it is not " good-bye" save for just a little while. You shall see him again. Maybe you whose hearts are throbbing so with grief today will find some time that his going before has meant more for you than you can now realize. Shall I try to tell you what I mean? Jesus says, "In my Father's house are many man- sions, if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." And again in another place He says : ' ' The works that I do shall ye do also. ' ' May- be it is the privilege of those who are first called, to aid the Master as He prepares the mansions in "that house not made with hands." Jesus' words would seem to imply that it is. I often think of the husband and father, whose constant thought and care has been to make a home — a happy home for his loved ones here. If he be the first one called, maybe he, like the pioneer in a new country, goes to prepare a place. Maybe the Master ap- points him that labor of love to do — to plan, to build, to furnish, to make ready and to wait till his own shall come. Then in the Master's presence, with the old fond look and word, he shall greet and welcome them home — to that home which he with the Lord Jesus has prepared, ' ' eter- nal in the heavens." I like to think that this is so — that it will be so for you who mourn today — that he who went from you so quickly did not go a stranger into a strange land; but that well remembered faces met him, and well remembered voices greeted him and made him welcome ; as he and others you remember will greet and welcome you. RESOLUTIONS BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB Extract from minutes of meeting of executive commit- tee of Boone and Crockett Club, held October 27, 1913 : The Boone and Crockett Club deeply regrets the death of its associate member, Major John F. Lacey, of Oskaloosa, Iowa. Major Lacey 's life was a busy one. A soldier in the Civil War, a lawyer in active practice, an author of legal works, and later prominent in politics, he represented his district in Con- gress for eight sessions. It is as an active worker in behalf of game conservation that Major Lacey is most widely known and in the death of the ''Father of Federal Game Legislation" those interested in game protection in America feel that they have lost a leading soldier from their ranks. Of Major Lacey 's many services to the American public, two which stand out preeminent were the introduction and carrying through Congress of the act of May 7, 1894, for the protection of birds and animals in the Yellowstone National Park, and the act of 1900, which regulates interstate commerce in game. Congress had established the Yellowstone Park twenty years before, had considered many bills concerning it, and had appro- priated money for its protection and improvement, but it had failed to enact a law for the park's government. Major Lacey took steps to remedy this omission, and his enthusiasm and en- ergy carried through the act of May 7, 1894, and made protection possible for that reservation. The act regulating interstate commerce in game, bears, and will carry down to posterity, his honored name. Major Lacey 's death has deprived the cause of game protec- tion of one of its most able and energetic advocates. As an expression of its sense of personal loss in the death of BIOGRAPHICAL Gl Major Lacey, the Boone and Crockett Club, by its executive com- mittee, directs that this minute be entered on its records, and that a copy of it be sent to Major Lacey 's widow. MAHASKA COUNTY BAK ASSOCIATION * Mahaska County Bar Association met in special ses- sion at the court room in Oskaloosa, Monday, October 13, 1913, in honor of the late Major John Fletcher Lacey, one of its members, who was called suddenly to his reward, Monday, September 29th. Judge K. E. Willcockson, of Sigourney, had adjourned court for the afternoon, that the memorial program might have what time was desired. George C. True, president of the bar association, called for order about two o'clock and the chair was addressed by George W. Seevers, chairman of the committee on resolutions. James A. Devitt followed and eulogized the departed member in tribute at once touching and eloquent, and read the following letter from John C. Williams, of Florida, late of the local bar. To the Honorable Judge of the District Court and members of the Oskaloosa bar: To the many tributes that have been given, I wish to add my simple one to the memory of Major Lacey. I first became ac- quainted with him in my young manhood days and the friend- ship formed at that time remained unbroken till his death. No one could know Major Lacey that did not admire and respect him. His professional life was marked by a splendid ability and perfect integrity. His political life embraced many years in Congress and his devotion to his party and belief in its polit- ical policies was of the highest order. In all the stormy times of his political career and in the strenuous battles that he waged, it can be said to his lasting honor and credit that not a breath of scandal was breathed against him, and when he left political life he left it as pure and as clean as when he entered it. i From pamphlet issued by the Oskaloosa (Iowa) Daily Herald, 1913. 62 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY But what appealed to me most of all in Major Lacey's career was his private life. No man could have been purer, no man could have been cleaner; devoted to his family, his domestic re- lations were ideal. His life was an inspiration to all who knew him. Then followed talks by numerous members of the bar, old and young, in which they paid tribute to the memory of the late Major Lacey. Each one had some incident to relate of the man who had been their friend upon all oc- casions though not infrequently their opponents in the practice of law. Each speaker presented some new phase of the man's life, or held out some trait of his character for emulation. Talks were made by former Judge Ben McCoy, L. T. Shangle, Supreme Judge Byron W. Pres- ton, John 0. Malcolm, 0. C. G. Phillips, H. H. Sheriff, 0. N. Downs, Dan Davis, Frank T. Nash, S. V. Reynolds, W. H. Keating, C. Ver Ploeg, Liston McMillen, District Judge K. E. Willcockson, and in summing up the heart tributes that had found expression with the bar associ- ates, Mr. True concluded the meeting with the following appropriate and well expressed sentiments : As one of the members of the bar of Mahaska County, and one who had a most pleasant and personal professional acquaintance with Major Lacey I am impressed with this thought: that life, death, and the great unknown, commencing with humanity and unconsciously drifting into infinity, are what We make them. I firmly believe the good we do is immortal; that every good impulse of our hearts put in action, lives on and on, gathering strength, momentum, and grandeur as the years go by. Such a life, active, energetic and impressive to the very mo- ment of its translation as an advocate before the greatest of all Tribunals, has Major Lacey builded so well for himself and by such translation bequeathed it to you and to me as a legacy most worthy of emulation. Judge Preston made formal second to the resolutions, BIOGRAPHICAL 63 o which were adopted by a rising vote and the meeting stood adjourned. Judge Willcockson then convened court momentarily to receive a motion from the bar that the resolutions be spread upon the court record and it was so ordered and court stood adjourned for the day in honor of the memory of one of the greatest lawyers county or state has produced. The resolutions, read by George W. Seevers, chairman of the committee who also made some remarks fitting the occasion, follow: In memoriam, John Fletcher Lacey as presented to the District Court of Mahaska County, Iowa, on this 13th day of October, A. D. 1913. Major John F. Lacey, the son of John M. and Eleanor Patton Lacey, was born at New Martinsville, Virginia, on the 30th day of May, 1841, was 72 years, 3 months and 29 days old at the time of his death. He died at his home at Oskaloosa, Iowa, on the 29th day of September, 1913. He was apparently in perfect health to the time of his death, which was almost instantaneous. Major Lacey came to Oskaloosa in 1855 when about fourteen years of age and thereafter attended here the public and select schools until he entered upon the study of law with the firm of Rice, Meyers & Rice, of this city. At the outbreak of the Civil War he early enlisted as a private in Company H, Third Iowa Infantry, was taken prisoner at the battle of Blue Mills, was paroled, exchanged and reenlisted in Company D, Thirty-third Iowa Infantry, was rapidly promoted, and served on staff duty, reaching the rank of major, which he held to the close of the war. On the 19th day of September, A. D. 1865, at Oskaloosa, Iowa, he was united in marriage with Miss Martha Newell, who, with two daughters, still survives him. At the close of the war he returned to Oskaloosa, and resumed the study of law, and late in the summer of 1865 was admitted to the bar of this state. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession and early formed a co-partnership with Mr. Wil- liam E. Sheppard, which continued until the removal of Mr. 64 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Sheppard to California. After his partnership thus dissolved, he formed a co-partnership with his brother, Mr. W. R. Lacey, which continued to the time of his death. Major Lacey was known as a good and careful student of the law. He had a well trained, analytical mind, rose rapidly in his profession and was soon recognized as a worthy member of the first rank, and at his death was president of the State Bar As- sociation. He was also a good reader of classic literature, with a retentive memory which made him always an interesting host and personal entertainer. In his home he was a kind, indulgent, and beloved husband and father. A consistent member of the Episcopal church, he held a confident faith in an immortality beyond the grave. At the bar he was courteous, dignified and thorough; a dili- gent student, forceful in argument, graceful in manner, attrac- tive in address. Among his strong characteristics were his in- tense public spirit, manifested at all times to go forward in the betterment of the community by personal effort and material aid. His motto was ' ' Hard work is the price of success. ' ' Such men deserve the fame they leave and so will Major Lacey go down in the history of his state, a really great man in whatever he undertook in life, because he deserved to be great. He was a public speaker of ability and in personal conversation charmed those with whom he came in contact. While pursuing the practice of law in Mahaska county, he was elected and served in the lower house of the 13th General As- sembly of Iowa. He compiled the Railway Digest which bears his name and is a work of paintaking research. This work was well received by the profession and was highly creditable to its diligent and care-taking author. In politics Major Lacey was a Republican of the old school and he lived it with an intensity known to but few. He was chair- man of the Republican State Convention in 1898, and also a member of the lower house of the 51st, 53d, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th, and 59th Congress and thus, for sixteen years, represented the Sixth Congressional district of Iowa in the lower house. BIOGRAPHICAL 65 During this time, he was a member of important committees and helpful in the enactment of legislation for the public good. A life-long friend of Major Lacey and a poet of wide fame, Major S. H. M. Byers, so fittingly and feelingly spoke of him in verse upon the day of his funeral that we have thought his words worthy of a place in this record and therefore adopt them. So has our brother gone to join that life to come which men like him have made for us, who soon shall follow, the better by our living. IOWA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY AND THE IOWA PARK AND FORESTRY ASSOCIATION The Iowa State Horticultural Society and the Iowa Park and Forestry Association in joint session, state house, Des Moines, on December 10th, unanimously ex- press their great appreciation of the work that Major J. F. Lacey did as a soldier and citizen. That his work in connection with the protection of our birds, the setting aside of forest reserves, monuments, and petrified for- ests, and his great interest in conservation of our natural resources deserve our gratitude as American citizens and lovers of nature. That these resolutions be sent to the bereaved family. ADDRESSES, PAPERS, AND LETTERS OF MAJOR LACEY THE DESTRUCTION AND REPAIR OF OUR NAT- URAL RESOURCES l The people of this continent do not sufficiently appre- ciate the immensity of the period that nature employed in building the New World and preparing it as a home for civilized man, nor how easily those advantages may be destroyed. When first Columbus set his foot upon these shores the vast forests and splendid prairies lay rich and inviting as the home of the coming race. The forest, which has done so much to prepare the earth for man's use, was encountered by the early settlers along the whole Atlantic shore. The necessity of clearing away this vast mass of vegetation led the pioneer to look upon the woods as the enemy of man. The ax was used unsparingly, and but few specimens of the original con- tinental forests still remain. Trees have their poetic as well as their practical side. While sensible to their beauty, we are now deeply con- cerned in their utility. All they have asked heretofore has been standing room. Give them but place, and they will patiently do their work. Their long arms have reached out for ages, and gathered from the air the ele- ments of growth which they have added to the soil. As one poet has expressed it: Cedars stretch their palms like holy men at prayer ; and another speaks of them in winter, With their bare arms stretched in prayer for the snows. i Delivered before the American Forestry Association and the National Geographic Society in joint meeting, January 27, 1896, by Hon. John F. Lacey, M. C, chairman committee on public lands. 70 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY They gather the sunshine year by year and store it away for future use. They fertilize the soil ; they beautify it. In a few old churchyards on the eastern shore of Mary- land may be seen the remains of the splendid forest that once covered that region. The sight of these specimens makes us regret that larger areas of the ancient forest had not remained untouched. It was necessary to cut down a part of the forests, but man has swept them from the earth with the besom of destruction. We are beginning to realize the wastefulness with which we have treated the gifts of nature. We found this continent a storehouse of energy and wealth. The climate was salubrious. The soil was fertile. The for- ests spread on every hand. The rivers teemed with fish. The earth and air alike furnished supplies of game. Great coal deposits were found in almost every state. Coal oil and natural gas arose to the explorer from the bowels of the earth. The prodigality of the sun is something amazing. When we think how few of its rays strike the earth or any of the planets in proportion to those that are constantly shed from its surface, we are led to wonder if they ever can be exhausted. Man is as prodigal of his natural possessions as the sun of its heat, light, and energy. We have not been content with improving upon nature, but have acted the spendthrift part in wasting her stores. The coal has been preserved in spite of man by vast strata of earth and stone, and there has been less waste- ful extravagance in the use of this valuable mineral than, perhaps, any other of nature's gifts, and yet we are be- ginning to compute the time when the anthracite will only be found in the collections of museums. The coal oil has been wasted and wells have been opened and fields de- stroyed as though the supply was inexhaustible. Natural gas deposits have been tapped, and the wasting gas set ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 71 on fire, lighting the country for miles around. These vast stores of nature's forces are being rapidly ex- hausted. * i The extermination of the buffalo is too recent and too shameful to speak of excepting in the highest terms of in- dignation. Instead of taking these vast herds and, after giving them proper marks of identity, dividing them up and assuming proprietary rights over them, they have been slaughtered by the hundred thousand for the sheer pleasure of killing, until now a little handful of two or three hundred is all that is left of the millions which roamed the plains forty years ago; and this was called sport. It required nothing like the expert skill of the pig-sticker who, covered with blood, presides over the scenes of carnage in one of our great slaughter-houses. But it is to the forests that we wish more particularly to direct our attention at this time. . . In the early days men often cut down trees for the wild fruit that grew upon them. The beautiful service-berry has been well nigh exterminated by this barbarous practice. This was a sin against nature. A few years ago I visited the great region of the northern Pacific Coast, where today is perhaps the grandest forest now remaining on the face of the earth. It can no longer be described as The continuous woods Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound Save his own dashings; for the hand of man is busily engaged in building up new states in that splendid country. Splendid trees, five and six feet in diameter and hun- dreds of years of age, were being destroyed. Auger holes were bored in the tree near the ground, coal oil 72 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY poured in the holes, a match applied, and the tree burned down. Other holes were bored in the body of the tree, and with the assistance of more coal oil a splendid tree was soon reduced to ashes. During the dry season these fires were permitted to escape and pass through the for- ests, covering and concealing the whole earth with a cloud of smoke, and rapidly working in this new field the same useless destruction which has followed in man's footsteps in every part of the continent. This sin on the Pacific Coast is only greater than that which was committed on the Atlantic shore because the forests are finer, and the mistake made in the wanton de- struction of the timber in the East ought to have been a warning in the West. They have an awful example to shun and not to follow. In central and southern Italy the Appenines are a striking illustration of the results of forest destruction. The ghastly seams into which the rains have washed lands that were once as fertile as any in the world, have utterly destroyed much of that country for agricultural purposes. Surrounded as Italy is by the Mediterranean, the effects upon her climate have not perhaps been as bad as would follow in the interior part of the continent. But nature seems to have given up the struggle with man, and Hawthorne tells us that where man 's hand has carved a stone in Italy its reclamation from nature is permanent, whilst in the north of Europe, or in the British Isles, na- ture claims its own again, and covers the bricks and rocks with moss, lichens, or ivy. Nothing is so beautiful as a running stream in a state of nature. It is a living thing, always sparkling, never growing old. The brook, where the forests still protect it from destruction in its course to the sea, is a symbol of eternity. To the poet it says, ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 73 Men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever. But in the land of Holy Writ, where the forests were but few, the brook was no such type of constancy. In Job, the brook is described as an emblem of deceit, frozen up in the winter and dried up in the summer. "My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as a stream of brooks they pass away. . . The paths of their way are turned aside; they come to nothing and perish." The brook that Horace describes in his journey to Brundusium still flows in the same banks, and seems like a living thing, speaking of the poet of two thousand years ago. The Hon. Timothy Brown, one of the leading lawyers of Iowa, has a discouraging theory which he supports with a considerable array of corroborating facts. He assures us that the magnetic pole is moving eastward at the rate of seven miles a year, and as it moves the area of drought in the Rocky Mountain region progresses at the same rate, and in due time Ohio will be as arid as Wyoming or Nevada. We must not mistake mere weather for climate. We may have a scarcity of rainfall, and that scarcity may be- come serious enough to lead us to apprehend a danger- ous permanent change of climate, whilst it may be true that a similar condition of things has prevailed many times in the past in the same region, followed by a return of sufficient moisture. But it seems to be the united opinion of all ages and in all countries that rain produces forests, and that forests produce rain; that great and injurious changes of cli- mate almost certainly follow any sweeping and general destruction of the woods. Trees set out along hedge rows will undoubtedly do 74 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY much in ameliorating climatic conditions, but great masses of forest, where considerable regions are shaded and protected, are essential to the preservation of the climatic conditions that have brought so much prosperity to this country in the past. In the Northwest the last few years of drought have prepared the people as a whole for the study of this ques- tion. The shrinking of the Great Lakes is already plain- ly noticeable, and active efforts for their preservation and restoration should be made without delay. In Iowa some of the most beautiful of the little lakes have been drained and turned into fertile fields, whilst others have dwindled so as to be only a mere reminder of their former beauty. If the destruction of these bodies of water only entailed the loss of their beauty, a practical people might accept the change without any very great regret; but when the reclamation of a com- paratively small area of land to cultivation imperils the water supply of thousands of surrounding farms, it is high time to call a halt and demand a restoration of these sources of water supply. All land must at times lie fal- low. The best rest that it can enjoy is when, covered with timber, it returns for a time to its natural condition, sheltered and fertilized by the woods once more. A rea- sonable portion of the country should at all times be thus given up to its native woods if we would preserve the fertility of the whole. The practical question of today is how, as far as pos- sible, to undo the mistakes of the past; how to prevent them in the future. Agitation and discussion are neces- sary to call the attention of the people to the importance of maintaining, and to at least partially restoring, the primitive forests of this country. The recent policy of withdrawing from settlement or sale large regions upon the head-waters of streams, and creating forest reserva- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 75 tions, is the greatest step in the right direction that has thus far been taken. We must give up some part of our country to nature in order to keep the remainder for ourselves. The policy of most of the old states in regard to timber has been well summed up in six words: "To get rid of the tim- ber." With wood used for nearly every purpose from tooth- picks and matches up to great grain elevators and ship masts, the proper and reasonable requirements for man's necessities and luxuries involve great and constant en- croachment upon our forests. The old back-log of our forefathers has given place to the terra cotta gas-log of a new generation. With barbed wire for fencing, and the decrease of wooden houses in the larger towns and cities, the over- worked forests ought to have some rest. But the in- crease in population and the wear and tear upon old buildings make such calls for timber that, of necessity, a great drain upon the old forests continues. Our fathers cut down beautiful black walnut trees for rails, and our own generation has pulled up the old stumps of the same trees for furniture making. The peasants of France during the Revolution, it is said, would cut down two trees to make a pair of wooden shoes. Mark Twain, a few years ago while in Paris, promised to send as a wedding present to a friend the rarest and most expensive thing he could obtain in that city, and selected two small logs of firewood for that pur- pose, and, tying them together with red, white, and blue ribbon, laid them among the bric-a-brac at the wedding reception. We ask ourselves what remedy we should adopt in America. This is more easily asked than answered. To call the attention of the people to the mistakes of the past 76 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY before it is too late will lead to a conservation of groves and forests still in existence. The destrnction from fires has already attracted much attention, and rigid laws to prvent them have been enacted in every state. Groves and small wood-lots upon each farm will in some measure repair the loss of the more extensive woods, but there must be considerable area of country in which the forest must take control if we would preserve the climate, the springs, the streams, the soil, the birds, and the fishes. Even now the business of sinking wells for farm use to a depth of several hundred feet is being actively carried on in the West. The surface water is disappearing. Private owners cannot perform the duty of forestry in America. We have no rich old families who from generation to generation have been able to set apart large tracts of land for the growth of trees. We have none of the beautiful old ruins that grace so many parts of the forest-planting kingdoms of the Old World. We have no ruins more picturesque than a defunct bank, a bankrupt insurance company, or a railway in the hands of a re- ceiver. No baronial game preserves are set apart in America. Only the government lives long enough to plant trees extensively. The private individual is too constantly reminded of the fleeting character of life to lay out a forest for succeeding generations. The gov- ernment alone can hold tracts either long enough or large enough to effect the great climatic purpose involved in the preservation of our forests. A great step in this di- rection was taken in the laws providing for timber res- ervations. These reservations should be kept for use and growth. A thorough system of cutting off this tim- ber ought to be provided for at some time in the future when the wants of the people require that the ripened or ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 77 dead trees should be utilized. But this should be done with such system as to preserve them as a whole. The people should be taught the value of these reserva- tions by thorough education upon the subject. Arbor Day celebration and the planting of fruit and timber trees will lead a new generation to realize that the forest is not the enemy of man, but his best friend — a friend without whom nations cannot expect to prosper. FORESTRY x Ladies of the Federation of Women's Clubs: In these days of federation it is natural that you should get together for purposes beneficial to your sex, and it is quite interesting to note the wide range of subjects that you have given for discussion. I think even Mr. Cleve- land would have enjoyed himself had he been present, though he has so recently made you the target of his ponderous rhetoric. Your organization has in contemplation not only social enjoyment but the advancement of our state and nation. The women of the world have done some of its noblest work and have not received due recognition for their deeds. Two of the greatest hymns in our language were written, one by a man, the other by a woman. When we hear "Lead, Kindly Light" sung, the figure of Cardinal Newman at once arises in our imagination. But when we hear the majestic strains of "Nearer, my God, to Thee, ' ' Sarah Adams is seldom thought of. We have many proofs of the intuition of woman. There have been occasional instances of boys deaf, dumb, and blind from their birth. But there is no record of any great progress made by them that I recall. But the keen and delicate perceptions of Laura Bridgeman, Harriet Prescott, and Helen Keller broke the bonds of darkness and silence and amazed the world by the scope of their learning and intelligence communicated by their sense of touch alone. When blind and deaf Harriet Prescott was i Address of John F. Lacey before the Iowa Federation of Women 's Clubs, Waterloo, Iowa, May 12, 1905. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 79 told that there was a God she signaled her answer, "I have known it for a long time, but I did not know what His name was." That you have taken up for consideration the great subject of forestry shows the progressive and useful pur- poses of your admirable organization. When the women of America turn their attention to any subject or object and manifest an earnest desire for its accomplishment success is assured. Forestry has found some difficulty in attracting atten- tion because of the assumption that the subject is purely one of sentiment. It is true that sentiment does attach to the preservation of our forests. But the subject is in the highest degree one of practical utility. It is com- monly true that there is an aesthetic side to all practical and useful subjects. The bloom of health on the cheek is lovely, but it is evi- dence of the useful as well as the beautiful. If there had been only the sentimental and poetic side of the question it would still have been worthy of our earnest consideration. But in forestry there is beauty and utility combined. The poet and the painter may rejoice in the contempla- tion of the woods. The young may revel in the inspira- tion of its protecting shade. But the farmer, the miller, the boatman, and the lumberman may now combine to preserve as well as to enjoy the beneficial uses of this great element of our national wealth. An old man will plant a tree that it may shelter and give comfort to his posterity. Shakespeare died at fifty-two, and never took the pains to collect and prepare a complete edition of his immortal works for the benefit of mankind. But he planted his beautiful mulberry tree to gladden the hearts of those who should come after him. Mankind has not forgiven 80 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY the man who sought evil fame and obtained lasting in- famy by burning Diana's temple at Ephesus. Long will the world remember with obloquy the reverend gentle- man who cut down Shakespeare's tree to spite the people of Stratford because he thought they had placed his taxes too high. When Shakespeare was poaching deer he was studying forestry too. His forest descriptions in Love's Labor Lost, As You Like It, Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Merry Wives of Windsor lead one to seek the quiet shade to find Tongues in the trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. This club represents the highest, purest, and noblest of all sentiments — motherhood. The forest is the representative of motherhood. It fertilizes the earth upon which it feeds. It never lives for itself alone. It pays usury to nature. It bears the fruit of the past and the seed of the future. A vigorous and healthy forest is the height of nature 's adornment. We have always been sensible to its beauty: we are now deeply concerned in its utility. The forests have al- ways been modest in their requirements. All they have asked has been standing room. Give them but place and they will patiently do their work. Their long arms have reached out for ages and gathered from the air the ele- ments of growth which they have added to the soil. Reverently they lift their heads to the sky and spread their supplicating arms. As Dr. Holmes has expressed it : Cedars spread their palms like holy men at prayer. And Alexander Smith described the trees in winter : The trees were gazing up into the sky With their bare arms stretched in prayer for the snows. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 81 Year by year they gather and store the sunshine for future use. The sparkling log yields back this sunshine on a dreary winter night. Americans have been the spendthrifts of the centuries. It is high time to call a halt and save something of our national resources for those who are to come after us. The first settlers found this continent a storehouse of energy and national wealth. The climate was salubrious. The soil was fertile. The forests spread on every hand. The rivers teemed with fish. Earth and air alike fur- nished abundant supplies of game. Later on coal oil and natural gas arose to the explorer, from the earth's great secret storehouse. Coal in vast beds was found in nearly every state. The prodigality of the sun as the source of light, heat, and power, is amazing. When we consider how few of the sun's rays strike the earth out of the almost infinite myriads that start out on their journey into space, we may well wonder if the great storehouse will be finally exhausted, and if a dead sun may finally cease to give vigor to our planetary system. Man has been as wasteful of his natural possessions as the sun of its energy. We have not been content with using these resources; we have wasted them as reckless prodigals. When an ancient citizen found a great treasure he re- ported it to his ruler, who told him to keep it and use it. "It is too great a sum to use," replied the finder. "Abuse it then," replied his master. This is the method which our people have applied in the past. The coal has been preserved in spite of man by the vast strata of protecting earth and stone, but we may even now begin to compute the time when the an- thracite will take its place in the museums along with the 82 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY bones of the mastodon and the eggs of the great auk and dodo. Coal oil and gas fields have been tapped with innumer- able wells and given over to destruction, as though the supply were inexhaustible. The flame from the burning gas well lights up the country and signalizes the waste and recklessness of the owner. We may still read the obsolete law of Maryland which benignly forbids the monotony of a continued bill of fare of terrapin to the negro slaves. The Connecticut apprentices were in like manner protected by statute from eating salmon more than twice a week. Now the salmon and the terrapin find places only on the bill of fare of the rich. It is difficult to speak of the recent almost complete ex- termination of the buffalo with sufficient indignation. The few that remain are being domesticated, and I hope will ultimately be seen in numerous herds on the plains where they were once seen by millions. It is not yet too late. Those few prophetic men who have saved a few hun- dred of these splendid animals for the future are en- titled to the thanks of all our people, and they are al- ready rewarded by the high commercial value that these animals now bear, for each buffalo is worth several hun- dred dollars. But it is to the forests that we are to direct our atten- tion at this time. The subjects to which I have adverted, however, well illustrate the question of forest preserva- tion and restoration. The creatures of the water and the air have both suf- fered from the devastating hand of man. In the pres- ervation of our birds the women of America were slow to act but they are now doing a great part. We have a wireless telegraph, a crownless queen, a thornless cactus, ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 83 a seedless orange, and a coreless apple. Let us now have a birdless hat. The beautiful and fruitful service berry or juneberry is well nigh exterminated by the vandal-like practice of cutting down the trees to gather the fruit. This was a sin against nature. I remember the hills and streams of the eastern states in my boyhood. The old swimming holes, described by Whitcomb Riley, were there, a source of delight to the boys of forty years ago. After long absence I revisited some of these old streams. The trees had been felled and the springs had gone dry. The streams were grav- elly beds, as dry as Sahara, except for a few hours after a big rain had converted them into muddy torrents. Dr. English described this condition with deep pathos many years ago : The shaded nook by the running brook Where the children used to swim. Grass grows on the master's grave, Ben Bolt, And the spring of the brook is dry. This wail touches the heart in every part of the older states. The club women of America are moving for the preservation of the Big Trees of California, and it now looks as if Niagara Falls might yet be converted to a dry cliff, surrounded by all sorts of mills. In central and southern Italy are striking illustrations of the results of forest destruction. Ghastly seams show the track of the occasional flood. Surrounded as Italy is by the Mediterranean the ef- fects upon her climate have not been so serious as it would be in the interior of a continent, or as it has been in Asia Minor. Nature has given up the struggle with man in Italy. Hawthorne tells us that where man has carved a stone 84 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY there its reclamation from nature is permanent. No moss or ivy attempts to heal the scar as it does in the north of Europe or in the British Isles. Nothing is so beautiful as that product of the forest — a running stream. It is a living thing, always sparkling either in sunlight or moonlight and never growing old. To the poet it says : Men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever. The brook that Horace describes in his journey to Brundusium still flows in the same banks, and seems like a living creature, speaking of the poet of nearly two thousand years ago. But in the land of Holy Writ the brook was no such type of constancy. In Job the brook is described as an emblem of deceit, frozen up in winter and dried up in summer. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as a stream of brooks they pass away. . . The paths of their way are turned aside : they come to nothing and perish. In a few old churchyards on the eastern shore of Mary- land may be seen some of the giant oaks which were old when Captain John Smith anchored at Jamestown. They are wonderful and beautiful specimens of the primeval woods. They are numerous enough to make us long for grandeur that has passed away. In the mountains of Judea a few walled acres contain all that is left of the great cedars of Lebanon of Solo- mon 's day. They are but a small reminder of the glory of the past. We should not mistake mere weather for climate, but in recent years there have been many indications that the destruction of our forests has wrought a change in our climate. A few successive years of drought have tended to awaken interest in the rainmaker, and there is no rain- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 85 maker with better promise than the wooded slope of the mountain and the timbered border of the rivers. We have seen our Iowa lakes dry up and turned into farms and people well began to ponder upon the question as to whether we were confronted with radical and per- manent change of climate. It seems to be the united opinion of all ages and in all countries that rain produces forests and that forests produce rain. Great and injurious changes of climate almost certainly follow any sweeping and general de- struction of the woods. Trees set along the fence rows may by shade reduce the production of a little grass or grain, but such trees will do much to break the force of the wind and ameliorate the climate. All land must at times lie fallow. The best rest that it can enjoy is when, covered with timber, it returns for a time to its natural condition, sheltered and fertilized by the woods once more. A reasonable portion of the country should at all times be thus given up to its native woods, if we would preserve the fertility of the whole. The practical question of today is how, as far as pos- sible, to undo the mistakes of the past; how to prevent them in the future. Agitation and discussion are neces- sary to call the attention of the people to the importance of maintaining, and at least partially restoring, some of the primitive forests of this country. We must give up some part to nature in order to keep the remainder for ourselves. Earnest efforts have for the last fourteen years been made in behalf of forestry in its national character. As the result of national legislation more than 63,000,000 acres of timbered land are now set apart in forest re- serves — an area almost twice as large as the state of Iowa. These vast reservations have been so selected as 86 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY to best preserve the water supply for purposes of irriga- tion in the West. And as an assurance of their continu- ance they have recently been transferred by act of Con- gress to the Department of Agriculture for their per- manent management and administration. These forests are not reserved from use but are set apart for use in every manner not inconsistent with their preservation. Only a government lives long enough to plant trees ex- tensively. The brevity of human life deters the individ- ual from a project yielding such slow returns. A reasonable amount of pasturing will be permitted but not enough to injure the young tree growth. The ripened and matured timber will from time to time be cut and removed and these great reserves will become a val- uable resource to our government. Under reasonable regulations in their shelter the remnant of our useful wild animal life will find protection. In Europe the subject of national forestry has been taken up with most successful results. Mountains had been recklessly denuded of their pro- tection and the valleys below had suffered from the gravel and sand which came down from the mountain sides. Terraces have been built at heavy cost and the shelter- ing woods again begin to resume their old duty The governments of the old world have found that these national forests are sources of income. There is an air of lusty life about the woods. The man who was blind from his birth associated the beauty of life with what he could feel in his sightless mind of the delight of the forest, and when the scales fell from his eyes he "saw men as trees walking." In this forestry movement everything has been in- tensely practical. "Better an acre in Middlesex than a principality in ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 87 Utopia," may well be taken as a maxim of the mission- aries of forestry. Arbor Day may seem to be an anniversary of sentiment but the trees planted on that day will remain and grow from year to year as useful evidence of the work of the lovers of the trees. Two children on the street in London, says Punch, did something to offend a passerby and he threatened to call the policeman on the corner. "We are not afraid of him," they said; "that is fa- ther." But the mothers and wives are influential factors in all movements. A successful man said: "I have never quite made up my mind whether my wife has confidence in my ability to do things, or whether her faith is in her ability to make me do them. ' ' But at all events the things which the fair women of America desire to see done will be performed, and I bid you God-speed in your good work. Wise maxims have been written in behalf of the trees. A tree is the best gift of heaven to man. He that planteth a tree loveth others better than himself. The tree is the mother of the fountain. Each home should have its rooftree. To the mothers, the wives, and the sisters of the land is given a power to create a public sentiment that cannot fail. You have many things for the good of mankind on your list of good purposes. The creation of a deeper in- terest in the subject of forestry is by no means the least one of these wise objects of your organization. FOREST VITAL TO NATION'S WELFARE x That the club women of America have taken up the great subject of forestry shows the progress and useful purpose of organization among women. When the women of America turn their attention to any subject or object, and manifest an earnest desire for its accom- plishment, success is assured. Forestry has found some difficulty in attracting atten- tion, because of the assumption that the subject is purely one of sentiment. It is true that sentiment does attach to the preservation of our forests. But the subject is in the highest degree one of practical utility. It is com- monly true that there is an esthetic side to all practical and useful subjects. The poet and the painter may re- joice in the contemplation of the woods. But the farmer, the miller, the boatman, and the lumberman may now combine to preserve as well as to enjoy the beneficial uses of this great element of our national wealth. A vigorous and healthy forest is the height of nature's adornment. We have always been sensible to its beauty ; we are now deeply concerned in its utility. The forests have always been modest in their requirements. All they have asked has been standing room. Give them but place, and they will do their work patiently. Their long arms have reached out for ages and gathered from the air the elements of growth, which they have added to the soil. Man has been as wasteful of his natural possessions as the sun of its energy. We have not been content with i By John F. Lacey, M. G, member house committee on forest reserves. Chicago Tribune, June 18, 1905. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 89 using these resources ; we have wasted them as reckless prodigals. The coal has been preserved in spite of man by the vast strata of protecting earth and stone, but we may even now begin to compute the time when the an- thracite will take its place in the museum along with the bones of the mastodon and the eggs of the great auk and dodo. Coal oil and gas fields have been tapped with in- numerable wells and given over to destruction as if the supply were inexhaustible. The flame from the burning gas well lights up the country and signalizes the waste and recklessness of the owner. Perhaps the grandest forest now remaining on the earth is that in northern California, Oregon, and Wash- ington. I visited Oregon first in 1887, and as I got off the cars some one shouted to me, "Run this way quick and you will see Mount Hood." I presumed Mount Hood was a fixture, and took a few minutes' time in getting out to the open street where the beautiful peak glistened a moment in the sun and then resumed its veil of smoke and fog. I remained many days in the vicinity, but that was the first, last, and only view I ever had of that noble mountain. The whole country was covered by a pall of smoke from the burning forests. This was more wicked than the destruction of our for- ests on the Atlantic only because the great woods of the Pacific are finer, and for the further reason that they are our last. The example of the Atlantic states is one to profit by. It is an awful example for wisdom to shun. I remember the hills and streams of^the eastern states in my boyhood. After long absence I revisited some of these old streams. The trees had been felled and the springs had gone dry. The swimming holes were filled with dry sand and gravel. The club women of America are moving for the preservation of the big trees of Cali- fornia, and it now looks as if Niagara Falls might yet be 90 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY converted to a dry cliff, surrounded by all sorts of mills. Rain produces forests and forests produce rain. Great and injurious changes of climate almost certainly follow any sweeping and general destruction of the woods. Trees set along the fence rows may by shade reduce the production of a little grass or grain, but such trees will do much to break the force of the wind and ameliorate the climate. All land must at times lie fallow. The best rest that it can enjoy is when, covered with timber, it re- turns for a time to its natural condition, sheltered and fertilized by the woods once more. A reasonable portion of the country should at all times thus be given up to its native woods if we would preserve the fertility of the whole. The practical question of today is how, as far as pos- sible, to undo the mistakes of the past; how to prevent them in the future. Agitation and discussion are neces- sary to call the attention of the people to the importance of maintaining, and at least partially restoring, some of the primitive forests of this country. We must give up some part to nature in order to keep the remainder for ourselves. Earnest efforts have for the last fourteen years been made in behalf of forestry. As the result of national legislation more than 63,000,000 acres of timbered land are now set apart in forest reserves — an area almost twice as large as the state of Iowa. These vast reserva- tions have been so selected as to preserve the water sup- ply for purposes of irrigation in the West. These for- ests are not reserved from use, but set apart for use in every manner not inconsistent with their preservation. Only a government lives long enough to plant trees ex- tensively. The brevity of human life deters the indi- vidual from a project yielding such slow returns. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 91 Arbor Day may seem to be an anniversary of senti- ment, but the trees planted on that day will remain and grow from year to year as useful evidence of the work of the lovers of the trees. ON FORESTRY x For the last fourteen years I have been a member of a little forest congress, originally composed of fifteen mem- bers and increased lately to seventeen, namely the com- mittee on public lands. The questions that you are dis- cussing and will discuss during this conference here we have been struggling with during all this time. The problem of growing trees must of necessity be solved, not only by the private owner, but also by the state and na- tion. Congress has recognized the necessity of setting apart large areas of forest for the purpose of preserving streams for irrigation and for the benefit, I think, as well, of the public health ; because the forest is a source of pub- lic health. The fact has been recognized that the govern- ment must take some steps and take these steps in time. The movement has been late, but it is not too late. This vast area of the public domain (larger than Iowa and Ohio combined) that has thus been set apart, and I be- lieve, set apart for the American people and their chil- dren and their children's children forever, need no longer remain in the custody of that great department whose main business it is to dispose of the public land, to trans- fer it to the private individual for his home ; and, there- fore, for several years I personally have championed a measure which would remove from this great committee one of its most pleasing duties, but yet would transfer it to a department better fitted — admirably fitted for the future care and preservation of this great domain. And i Impromptu address by Hon. John Lacey, member of Congress from Iowa, at the American Forest Congress (p. 403-409), Washington, D. C, January 2-6, 1905. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 93 it is not news to you, and yet it is worthy of record here, that this measure had passed the House of Representa- tives and is now pending in the Senate of the United States ; and your judgment and influence will go far, no doubt, to secure its passage through that wise and great though somewhat slow-moving body. We have at the head of the Department of Agriculture the great head of forestry. I, perhaps, do not mean the gentlemen that you are all thinking of. It is not my dear young friend, Mr. Pinchot, but the old man, who comes from the prairie state of Iowa, a state whose chief forests consisted of hazel brush in the days when the secretary of agriculture first settled in his magnificent domain. And I might say to you that so far as the state is concerned, it is quite too rich to use much of it for forestry. They can hardly afford it. With the land at one hundred dollars an acre, to plant out in trees, the crop of which will be harvested seventy-five years from now, is almost too expensive even for a nation to undertake, so Iowa will never be a forest producing state. The head of this department will be succeeded some day — I hope a long time in the future — by some man of equally comprehensive grasp and an equally prophetic view of the future. The department has come to stay, and it is a department that may look far into the future and do that for the nation and for the people which the private individual, or even the state, is not adequate to accomplish. And, therefore, it is well that when these reservations have finally been delimited and their outlines fixed, that they should be transferred, not to a department whose business it is to pass the title away to individuals but to a department that will hold on to this land, that will turn it over to succeeding admin- istrations, and that will preserve the sources of the water supply of the country in the West, whose future is entire- ly dependent upon the successful operation of irrigation. 94 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY And that is why, my friends, this transfer to a different department is a matter now of necessity when this vast domain of sixty-two or sixty-three million acres shall have been selected for the purpose- There is another reason for the transfer. I referred a moment ago to my young friend, Mr. Pinchot, who is the chief forester of the Department of Agriculture. It has been an anomaly in our legislation that the department of the government having charge of the forests had none of the skilled foresters of the United States in its employ, and that the department that did not own a tree anywhere was surrounded by the best corps of foresters in the world. The mountain could not come to Mahomet, and so Mahomet is going to the mountain. The department is to be transferred — the service transferred — to that de- partment that is so notably fitted and so organized as to take the permanent care of this magnificent, this wonder- ful domain. I was born in the woods of Virginia. I moved (thank God) to the prairies, and one of the most unpleasant things of my subsequent life was to return to the woods of Virginia, now West Virginia, to find that the old streams — "the old swimmin' holes" — as Whitcomb Riley calls them, the holes we used to swim in and where we caught so many fish, are now simply gravelly roads. They are highways as dry, as arid, as one of the deserts of Arizona or New Mexico — nothing but beds of gravel. And why is it? Because the trees have been cut down and the springs that were the children of the forest, have dried up, and instead of a slow running brook digging out holes here and there, clear as crystal and full of water, we have simply an increased torrent after each storm, carry- ing the pebbles and sand from the hills, washing them down and destroying the old brooks. Now this is one of the unpleasant features of the de- nuded timber lands of the eastern states. I see here be- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 95 fore me representatives from every state and territory in the Union, because this question has become a national one and has gone into the homes of the people. It is not too late to save some of the great Appalachian forests of North and South Carolina. It is not too late to save the valleys of many of the eastern states from that destruc- tion which followed the denudation of the forests of France when the hilltops were carried down into the val- leys and the rich alluvial plains absolutely buried with sand and gravel. It is not yet too late, although many a fertile field has been destroyed. I can look at this from an impartial standpoint, without prejudice, living in a country that has no forests, that never had them, that never will have any great forests ; where we have a climate in which there is always rain enough to grow a crop and drought enough to dry it for harvest ; where all we need in the world is to be let alone. I did not come here to talk to you this morning. I sat down in the audience simply because I wanted to touch elbows with those who are carrying this crusade in favor of the forests into every part of the United States ; but I am glad to have this opportunity to look these earnest people in the face and to bid them God-speed and good cheer. There is no nation in the world that has been so extravagant, that has been such a spendthrift of its nat- ural resources as the American nation. We tap a gas field, set it on fire and advertise for everybody to come and see it burn up — a gas field that it took countless mil- lions of ages to store under the cap of a rock that covers it — and yet in a few years it is destroyed, and the fac- tories that were built over it with the understanding that an everlasting source of supply existed underneath, find themselves once more shipping coal from hundreds of miles away in order to supply their furnaces. The same is true with oil ; the same with the beasts of the forests 96 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY and the birds of the air. People destroy them with a wantonness that almost looks like malignity ; and all these natural resources of the great United States of America are involved, either directly or indirectly in the questions that you are going to discuss. While preserving the for- ests you will preserve the animals that roam therein; while preserving the forests you will give shelter to the birds of the air that make their nests therein. It is too late to save the wild pigeon, perhaps. The countless mil- lions that used to break down the woods by their weight have disappeared, and the advent of a dozen wild pigeons in the state of New York is taken up by the Associated Press and published far and wide as a wonderful thing: "A dozen wild pigeons were seen in western New York day before yesterday." And yet, within the lifetime of my young friend Pinchot, and I refer to him because I look to him for the future of the forests, in the lifetime of even the youngest members present here, this magnificent bird has practically disappeared from the face of the earth. I know my friend, the secretary of agriculture, will not fully agree with me upon the importance of the preservation of the buffalo, but I expect some day to get him to entirely agree with me. This is a day of progress. It is not very long ago that men rejoiced at the destruction of the buffalo, because it opened the way for the white man in the West. We took up the subject in Congress some years ago, while a few remains of this magnificent animal were still upon the earth. It was my good luck to secure a small appropria- tion from our economical chairman of the committee on appropriations — not a very sentimental man, but one of the most practical men on earth — Uncle Joe Cannon — a small appropriation of $15,000 to restore a herd of bison to the Yellowstone Park. Four hundred of these crea- tures were enclosed in the area that was reserved when ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 97 this land was set apart as a pleasure ground for the na- tion. Those four hundred have gradually been killed for their heads and for their pelts, and the calves have been destroyed by the mountain lions and by the severity of the winters, until finally only twenty-three were the sorry remains of that splendid herd that was set apart for the nation in the Yellowstone ; and the small appropriation of $15,000 was made. Eighteen animals were purchased, part of them from the Flathead herd. The Flathead In- dians, with more prudence than their white brethren had shown, saved thirty-five calves a good many years ago, out of the dying herd, and made them their private prop- erty. And that little herd of thirty-five increased until there were nearly three hundred of them. And this herd now in the Yellowstone was selected mainly from the Flat- head herd because they were reared in an altitude some- thing like that in which the new herd was to live. To this herd were added animals from Texas — from the Good- night herd — and from Corbin's New Hampshire herd — so as to mingle the blood normally in this new herd as the blood of the nations has been mingled in the United States of America. This is the way to produce a race, to mix them and get the best you can from everywhere. And so, starting upon the proposition of building once more a herd in the Yellowstone, that little herd from eighteen has has grown to thirty-nine, and we have hopes of sixteen more in the spring. Now I only speak about this, my friends, because it is a kindred question. It is one of the things that grows out of the agitation of forestry. A man or a woman who pre- serves a tree in a practical way will preserve the things that that tree shelters and produces and that are useful to man. Again, I wish to bid you God-speed, and I hope you will carry with you to every part of the United States the enthusiasm which you will generate here — the en- 98 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY thusiasni which you bring here and which you will con- vey to one another — and that you will be a mighty band of missionaries all the way from Portland, Maine, to Port- land, Oregon. HOMESTEADS IN FOREST RESERVES l In the earliest work on the public lands committee in which the writer participated in the 51st Congress, was the preparation of the act of 1891, which took the first step towards the inauguration of a national system of forest reserves. Successive steps have been taken under this statute by the designation of different reserves, from time to time. Some of the early reserves were not ju- diciously bounded and much territory unsuited for for- estry purposes was included, and many settlers found themselves isolated as hermits, by the fact that no neigh- bors could come in. These cases of individual hardship led to the passage of the "lieu land law" which was afterwards repealed because of the many abuses that grew up under its ad- ministration. An amendment was also enacted author- izing the President to change boundaries in his discre- tion. Like all great movements, the forest reserve had small beginnings, but its growth has been steady and the policy which was first bitterly resisted has become very popular. The land department of the government has for a good many years had charge of the sale of the public domain and has been specially organized for the purpose of facil- itating the transfer of the nation's land to the hands of settlers. The forest reservations are set apart for per- manent public use, and the writer introduced a bill to i By John F. Lacey, M. C, of Iowa, chairman of committee on the pub- lic lands, House of Representatives. 100 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY transfer the management of these permanent reserves to the Department of Agriculture. In a later Congress, a bill was introduced, for the same purpose, by Mr. Mondell, and it has become a law. The area set apart for these national forests has stead- ily increased until they now contain more than one hun- dred millions of acres, about equal to the combined states of Iowa and Missouri. Two of these reserves — the Wichita in Oklahoma and the Grand Canyon in Arizona — have also been declared by law to be refuges for game, and hunting has been pro- hibited in them. No doubt the wild life in some of the other reserves will also enjoy the immunity of a per- manently closed season by an additional law, and the overflow of game from the reserves will aid in restocking the lands beyond their boundaries. It is too early to state certainly what will be the effect of this feature of forestry administration, but I believe it will meet with universal favor as an adjunct to the en- tire forestry policy. This additional use will in no wise interfere with the other purposes of the reserve. President Roosevelt has very heartily endorsed this policy in more than one of his messages to Congress. Wyoming did not wait for national action along this line but by state law declared a permanent closed season in the reserves adjacent to the Yellowstone National Park. In setting aside a hundred millions of acres of land for forestry, it was impossible to avoid including consider- able tracts of land much more useful for agriculture than for timber raising. Commissioner W. A. Richards of the General Land Office has earnestly urged the passage of a bill by which these tracts could be selected, surveyed, and opened to settlement under such restrictions and ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 101 regulations as will protect the adjacent reserves for their legitimate uses. The writer of this article introduced bills for that pur- pose in several Congresses but without success until in the first session of the 59th Congress the bill received the favorable action of both houses and has now become a law. It is too early to say how satisfactory and success- ful this new feature of the law will prove. Much will depend upon the care and skill used in se- lecting and setting apart the areas for such homestead settlement. In southern California there was some ap- prehension that the law might impair the utility of the reserves and increase the danger from fires and two of the congressional districts of that state were excluded from its operation at the instance of the representatives of the districts. There are here and there in the reserves beautiful, but irregular, valleys, admirably adapted to use as homes for the people. Under this law the land may be platted by irregular metes and bounds and thrown open to homestead entry. These settlers will find many advantages in the use of the surrounding forests. It is the wise purpose of the forest reserve laws to keep these reserves for the use and benefit of the people. Reasonable use for pasturage is already permitted under the regulations and control of the Department of Agriculture. This use should be so restricted that the trees may not be injured by live stock and preference should be given for a reasonable number of cattle for homesteaders' use. Care should be exercised to avoid the introduction of so large a number of residents as might impair the uses for which these forests have been dedicated; but this is left with the Department and a discretion is given suffi- cient to prevent such injury. 102 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY The preservation of the forests from fires, the preven- tion of erosion of the mountain by floods, the maintenance of the natural springs and the conservation of the snows, are the primary purposes of these reservations and the introduction of homestead settlers should be limited to those tracts which are suitable for agriculture. Because of the eager demand for homes it seemed un- just to withhold these tracts of tillable land from the use of the farmers and cattle growers. The best legislation arises from evolution along well defined lines, with modifications to meet conditions as time develops or brings them to attention, and this step in the progress of intelligent forestry is a wise and bene- ficial one. Many a happy home will be established in the people's great forests. In the Black Hills a considerable number of settlers had already taken land under the placer mining law and carved out for themselves irregular claims of the form contemplated in this new homestead law. Whilst the land was mineral the values were so low that the claims were more useful for agriculture than for mining pur- poses, and the settlers have been raising crops and pas- turing their herds in these mountains. The Black Hills settlers can be readily provided for under this new law and will be given an immediate object lesson for use in opening up similar tracts in other re- serves. The forest reserves have come late into our na- tional life but they have come in time to do incalculable good and they have come to stay. This modification of the law is not a hurried experi- ment but is the fruit of long consideration and deliberate action by Congress and I confidently predict that it will become a permanent feature of the established policy of saving the forests for the common weal. FORESTRY — THE TREE IS THE MOTHER OF THE FOUNTAIN — A TREE IS THE BEST GIFT OF HEAVEN TO MAN1 The question of a system of forest reserves in this country is of comparatively recent origin, and interest in it has become general. There are two propositions in- volved in this bill. The first is that the reserves which have heretofore been created and which may hereafter be set apart shall be transferred from time to time for administration to the Department of Agriculture. The bill however provides that this shall not be done until the permanent boundaries of each of these reservations shall be established, which permanent delimitation of the boundaries shall precede the transfer of each reserve. In the end the result will be that all of the forest reserves will be transferred to the Department of Agriculture for administration. We have now a Bureau of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture. That bureau has in its employ practically all the scientific foresters in the Unit- ed States. We have a division of forestry in the land office, but the land office, of course, has not been specially fitted for this scientific work. The great purpose of the land office has been to survey and dispose of the public lands, not to take care and preserve them, but to dispose of them to private individuals. So that by the very na- ture of the organization of the two departments, the per- manent administration and permanent care of the forests 1 Speech of Hon. John F. Lacey, of Iowa, in the House of Bepresenta- tives, Monday, June 9, 1902. 104 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY would more properly be lodged in the Department of Agriculture. In other words, forestry is tree cultivation upon a large scale and covering long periods of time, for which the life of an individual would be inadequate. France and Ger- many have been compelled by force of necessity to adopt a forestry system. Spain, too, suffering from drought and the destruction of her water courses, has adopted such a system. The state of New York has been compelled to buy the Adirondacks, spending $4,000,000 in order to save the headwaters of the Hudson. These forests upon the tops of the mountains in the Far West serve to pro- tect the snow and fountain heads of the streams and to make irrigation practical and practicable. We have upon the calendar, and will no doubt within a few days con- sider, a bill with reference to the irrigation of arid lands in the West. Now, it makes no difference whether the future irrigation shall be controlled by private parties or by the states or by the United States — whichever course is taken it is essential that the sources of the streams should be preserved. The Department of Agriculture has a scientific bureau that has been organized, not for the purpose of prevent- ing the use of the trees on our public lands, but to provide for their use so that they may be cut down from time to time as they may be needed by settlers ; and at the same time proper measures will be used to prevent fires and to maintain and restore these forests, as in Germany they are maintaining and preserving these forests, while at the same time they are realizing from year to year the benefits of marketing the ripened or matured trees. In France they have found that by the destruction of the forests the heavy rains have resulted in washing down the soil on the sides of the mountains and destroy- ing the valleys beneath, and at an expense of millions of ADDRESSES OP MAJOR LACEY 105 francs the French government is restoring the forests on the mountain slopes. The people of the United States have wakened up to the necessity of preserving at least a portion of our woods, to the end that the balance of our land may be successfully tilled. I have never been a "State's rights man," but I have nevertheless always had the highest regard for the rights of the states. In the drafting of this bill I have endeav- ored to so prepare its limits as to always have due re- gard for the wishes as well as the rights of the state, that no steps like those now proposed should be taken by the government as to its own property under the constitu- tional rights reserved to it without first asking for the consent of that state through its governor. It is not necessary, but I think it prudent to ask such consent. Now, Mr. Chairman, as to the necessity of a law of this kind. Our ancestors were all killers. Prehistoric man with his club and his stone weapons no doubt extermin- ated the mammoth. If these cruel forefathers of ours had owned breech-loaders the progenitors of the horse, the cow, the sheep, and the ox would have disappeared from the earth long before domestication. The boy of today is as bloody-minded as his naked forefather, and begins to slay the birds and beasts as soon as he can hold a stone in his chubby hands. From the days of the troglodyte the unequal contest has raged. Stone, bronze, iron, hawking, and gunpowder were added to man's power to destroy. But now, with the breech-loader and later improved weapons, man has become omnidestructive. He goes 500 miles for a day's shooting or half way around the world for a brief hunt- ing and fishing trip. The immensity of man's power to slay imposes great responsibilities. We are threatened with the probable extinction of many 106 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY varieties of birds and beasts. A birdless world would be a dreary place to live in and a birdless air would be unfit to breathe. The wild pigeon has gone to join the great auk and the dodo in the realm of obliteration. We may well pause and consider the situation with which we are confronted. I read the other day of a hunt in the South where two prominent gentlemen from New York killed 1,600 ducks in two days, and generously gave them away to show that they were not mere ordinary pot hunters. These sanguinary sportsmen should have rather hired out or volunteered to stick pigs for two days for the meat packers, where they might have glutted their appetite for gore in a more creditable way. The reckless, impro- vident, and indiscriminate slaughter of our fish in the riv- ers and the seas are only illustrations of that large waste of our natural resources that is going on in all directions. The natural gas was once worshiped as something super- natural. Now it is used for the most practical of all purposes. It has been recklessly wasted as though it had been infinite in quantity, and the depleted fields show the results of our extravagance. Oil and forests have been extravagantly exploited in the same way. Take the state of Texas, where a few months ago we were having many " gushers," supplying oil each at the rate of 74,000 barrels a day, but now, the newspapers tell us, the oil has ceased to flow. But experience shows that all these resources are limited. Oil in Texas may long be pumped, but vast as the sup- ply is it is exhaustible. Since I have been in public life I have devoted some part of my time to the subject of the conservation and ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 107 restoration of our natural resources. This question nat- urally arises in connection with our public domain. It is a shocking thing to see the people of the Pacific Coast wantonly engaged in making their opulent salmon streams as desolate and barren as the once prolific Con- necticut now is. Mankind must conserve the resources of nature. When our people were cutting one another's throats during the war of 1861 to 1865, game in the South became abundant, for men had ceased to hunt anything but hu- man kind, but when peace came the war against the crea- tures of the field and forest was again renewed and waged with unremitting zeal. It is no credit to mankind that animal life is more abundant today around the inaccessible poles than any- where else upon the planet. Fish in the inhospitable Hudson Bay region are so plentiful that they could not furnish names for them all, and, like the statue to the unknown god at Athens, one of these Canadian fishes was called the "inconnu" or the '.' unknown" fish. The proposed railway to Hudson Bay will change all this. The slaughter will grow furious when "civiliza- tion" invades this breeding ground of the Far North. Some one must in these days teach the science of how not to kill. There are 46,000,000 acres of our forests now preserved to keep up the supply of water for our rivers. This a great step in the direction of husbanding nature's re- sources. Farseeing and practical men saw that a part of the forests must be saved or the remainder of the land would become a desert, and the forest reserves were established against the protests of the unthinking. 108 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY A few of the primeval woods remain as reminders of the past. A Hibernian friend, a genial ex-congressman from New York, once defined a virgin forest as ' ' a place where the hand of man has never yet set his foot. ' ' This incident shows that the Irish bull, at least, is not yet extinct. Our forestry laws have enabled us to save some of these wholesome and delightful retreats. These woods, thus set apart as the sources of water supply, may be made the city of refuge for the feeble remnant of the mighty throng of animal life that once filled this continent. We have seen the buffalo so nearly exterminated that only about 500 living specimens today may be found in the whole world. Their domestication was as practicable as that of the reindeer, the horse, or the cow. The buffalo was the noblest of all the wild animals that inhabited this continent when America was discovered. The ages in which this wonderful creature was evolved into his peculiar form and size are inconceivable in dura- tion. How admirably he was adapted to life upon the western plains. When he had fed he traveled with his fellows in long lines, single file, to the favorite watering place. The herd did not spread abroad and trample down and destroy the grass in such a journey, but in long and narrow trails the journey was made, and when the drink- ing place was reached and thirst was sated the buffalo never defiled the pool in which he drank. He was a gentleman among beasts, just as the game hog is a beast among gentlemen. Perhaps out of these scanty remains new herds may again be produced. We have preserved the wild turkey, which Benjamin White Fir (Abies concolor). Mountains of Utah. (L. II. Pammel.) ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 109 Franklin proposed should be adopted instead of the American eagle as our national emblem. The turkey has been saved; the buffalo ought also to have been domesticated. A few of the buffalos still re- main. This bill makes provision by which they may have the opportunity of propagating them within a portion of the forest reserves. Public sentiment is growing in favor of the conserva- tion of our resources. It is timely as to some things. It is far too late as to others. There are these two propositions involved in this bill : First, to allow the Bureau of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture to take charge of that extended farming of the forests which only the government can manage; second, that in a moderate degree, and within the desires of the people of the locality in which the forests are lo- cated, game and fish preserves may be established for the benefit of the surrounding country. After a forest reserve is created the control is entirely with the Department of Agriculture, if the boundaries have been finally and definitely located ; or if not, it is with the Department of the Interior until these boundaries shall have been fully established ; but the consent of the governor shall first be had before we enlarge the scope of any particular reserve to include game preservation as well, and with the amendment to which the gentleman refers it provides that hereafter they can not be enlarged or created without the consent of the governor of the state. That is a different proposition and one that I per- sonally approve. I would like to answer my friend, because it is a ques- tion that should be answered. We have 46,000,000 acres of forest reserves created under existing laws, created without the consent of any governor. Now the power of 110 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY the government in these reservations is limited only by the constitution. Attorney-General Knox, one of the clearest-headed lawyers that has ever administered the Department of Justice, has recently considered the subjects of the na- tional power over the public lands and forest reserves, and his opinion is to the effect that Congress can, even within the limits of a state, legislate and make regulations by which animal life may be protected in the people's forests. This opinion of the attorney-general will be a landmark in the history of protective legislation, for as Congress is given the power, it should not and will not fail to exercise it. As stated in the opinion of the attorney general, we need not ask the governor or any legislature of any state what we will do in those reservations. But we make a concession here. We give the President power to enlarge the existing purposes of these reservations, so as to make some of them fish and game preserves as well, but not to do this unless the governor of the state shall consent. After that consent has been given this control of the na- tional government will be exercised, but not until then. When the gentleman stated that we were turning over the control to the governor of a state, he does not compre- hend the scope of the bill, or perhaps has been unfortun- ate in his expression. Now let me answer the other part of the gentleman's question, because it was a dual question. Under exist- ing laws the President of the United States can take any public forest land in the United States and create a forest reserve out of it. The majority of the committee on pub- lic lands, recognizing the fact that some of these bound- aries had been very unsatisfactory, and that friction had thereby arisen in some of the states in regard to forest boundaries, have suggested the propriety of placing the • ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 111 same limitation as to the creation of reserves hereafter upon the President, so that in making future additions to the existing 46,000,000 acres the consent of the governor of the state in which the reservation was located must be given ; but the reserve would not be under the control of the governor. I endeavored to show that as a matter of administra- tion, as to the propagation of trees, as to their preserva- tion, and as to all these various matters of administration of forestry the Department of Agriculture is better fitted by the nature and purpose of its organization than any other department of this government. In other words, we are entering upon a great system of what might be called tree farming — raising timber for future genera- tions; and the department that has the looking after the agriculture of the country, the department that protects especially the interests of the farmer, is better capable of handling this branch of the administration of these re- serves than any other department. The protection of the forests is essential to the farmer. Now, I remember when I was a little boy, going out in the hills of my native state to gather service berries, I was surprised to see the gentleman in charge of the party of children took an ax along. I soon found after we got into the woods what the ax was for. It was to cut down the trees in order to gather the berries. We cut the trees down and gathered the fruit. And I am credibly inform- ed that there never have been any berries in that forest since. Every gentleman here who has passed middle life will recollect just such an offense against nature as that. Now, when our fathers landed on these shores, they had the idea that the forest was the enemy of mankind. There was in the mind of the white man the idea that there were two special duties to be performed — one to cut down the trees and the other to kill the aborigines. 112 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY The trees were useful to the aborigines and are now useful to us. They should be preserved for use and not from use. And aborigines that remain are becoming civ- ilized ; and we are trying to take care of them also. And we have made the discovery that the forests can not be destroyed as a whole without changing the climate of the country itself ; and therefore in that high sense of taking care of the farmer all over the United States it is neces- sary to take care of the forests of the United States, Not a single additional employee will be required. The gentleman from Arkansas has prepared an amendment, which I shall support, providing that as fast as it be- comes proper to transfer a reserve from the custody of the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agri- culture a corresponding number of the force of the in- terior department shall be transferred. In other words, no more employees will be required than at present. We have these two bureaus, or rather we have a division and a bureau, and we have the employees in both. The same amount of forest land will exist after any portion is transferred to the Department of Agriculture, and you simply transfer the men having it in charge. For in- stance, there are a certain number of custodians of the Grand Canyon Reserve of Arizona, and the San Francis- co Forest Reserve. Now, if those two reserves are trans- ferred to the Department of Agriculture the employees will also be transferred, and the expense will be precisely the same as if it were handled by the Department of the Interior. It makes no change whatever. There are two duties to perform in regard to forest re- serves. There are duties in relation to private individ- uals who have interests in public lands. Those matters are for the land department. Matters from the land de- partment may be transferred by mandamus to the courts. If a patent is issued, a direct proceeding may be brought ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 113 in chancery to compel the patentee to become a trustee for the benefit of the real equitable owner of the property. Now, all those matters are matters of a legal nature, and are controlled by the land department as a court. The control of the forest reserves, taking care of timber, and all that, has nothing whatever to do with a proposition of this kind. The land department of the government has charge, ex- clusive of Alaska, of 600,000,000 acres of land — a pretty big farm. That includes the minerals; it includes the forest reserves and the national parks ; that includes all of the land in which the government of the United States had and retains the original title. Now, the work in re- gard to this business is divided up. We have a forestry division of the land office. That forestry division has nothing whatever to do with these questions of title; all questions of title are disposed of in other divisions of the land office. We have another division of the land office that has charge of the minerals and another one that has charge of patents, and so on. The work is all thoroughly divided, and the control of the forestry today by the land office is in a separate divi- sion, just as separate as though it belonged to the Depart- ment of Agriculture, and there is no conflict, either neces- sary or possible, between the settling of private rights or the rights between the public and a private individual as to a quarter section of land or a mine in a forest reserve and the question of administering and caring for the tim- ber that stands on the undisputed part of that forest re- serve. We have today three different jurisdictions — the geological survey, that surveys the boundaries ; the fores- try division of the land office, that handles the timber and does the work that is proposed to be done under this bill, and, third, we have the Bureau of Forestry in the Depart- ment of Agriculture, with a full and complete force capa- 114 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ble of relieving the Department of the Interior of a con- siderable portion of this work ; and thus the bill is in the interests of economy, and would result in a reduction of the force instead of necessitating its enlargement. There are a very few animals to which this provision could be made applicable. There are today perhaps 100 of a certain variety of elk in the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, only one body of them in the world. The proposition has been made to gather them up and put them in a forest reserve. They are the only remaining ones of their species. A part of the Allard herd of buf- faloes would probably be put upon some one of these res- ervations. Now, so far as I know, the only animals any- where in the United States that can thus be transferred are those two particular herds, and possibly one or two other buffalo herds. There are perhaps three or four small buffalo herds that could thus be transferred, and the right is given here, without asking the governor whether he consents to this or not, to put these little herds into either one of the reservations recommended in the bill. If my friend thinks that there ought to be some further limitation put upon this protection, I am perfect- ly willing that it shall be done. I will have no objection to it, because there is no purpose such as he imagines might be concealed in this section of the bill, and when we come down to this particular section I shall be glad for him to call attention to it, and if any amendment can be made that is necessary it can be done. It is well that somebody should see nothing but evil in appropriations. There never was a train yet that did not have a brake on it. There must be a brake, but you can not run the train with a brake alone — not successfully. While I commend my friend generally, here in this case he is exercising his judgment without giving attention to the real purpose of the bill. From his committee have ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 115 come in bills on subjects that I did not agree with him upon that appropriated more money in a single year than this whole Bureau of Forestry would consume in ten years ; but it was his judgment and the House followed it, and I accepted his judgment. But when it comes to mat- ters of legislation we have the President of the United States asking for this bill in his annual message and we have the Department of the Interior approving and asking for it. We have a bill that has for its purpose the preser- vation and conservation and administration of our forests. Whatever expense may attend this work will be con- tributed by the American people and appropriated by the Congress of the United States, and the revenues from the forests will finally more than pay the expenses. These forest reserves will become an asset instead of a liability. Today the administration of forestry in the Philippine Islands is one of the principal sources of revenue there, and that forestry work is administered under the Spanish law, which has been reenacted, with some modifications, by the Philippine Commission. Under prudent and prop- er management our forests will become sources of rev- enue over and above all possible expense in their man- agement. Without these forests in our western mountains the desolation of the mountains of Palestine and southern Italy will be soon duplicated in the United States. We must learn from the mistakes of others. North Carolina is asking to have her hills again restored to a forest state, so as to bless and fertilize the valleys below. Let us move in time in the arid regions of our western domain. GRAZING PRIVILEGES ON THE PUBLIC LANDS FOR HOMESTEADERS AND SMALL LAND- HOLDERS — PASTORAL HOMESTEADS * "All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof as a flower of the field. ' ' Isaiah xl, 6. ' ' The grass withereth, the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass." Isaiah xl, 7. Man's existence depends almost wholly, either directly or indirectly, upon the grasses in their various forms. Voltaire 's saying is often quoted : ' ' Whoever makes two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before ren- ders a service to the state," and this statement is no more true than that the public policy which makes one blade of grass grow where two grew before should be reversed. We have now 600,000,000 acres of the public domain, without taking into account the territory of Alaska. Of this vast region a very large portion is only suitable for pasturage, 46,000,000 acres have been set apart as forest reserves, 5,300,000 acres as national parks, a large area is embraced within the limits of mountain ranges above the timber line — but after all there remains an empire which is suitable only for pasturage. While a consider- able area is yet to be put under cultivation by proper systems of irrigation, the land that would only be fit for grass would still amount to hundreds of millions of acres. How to utilize this best for our great and growing popu- lation is a problem well worthy of the consideration of the i Speech of Hon. John F. Laeey, of Iowa, in the House of Bepresenta- tives, Friday, June 13, 1902. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 117 Congress of the United States. It is one, too, that is full of difficulty. Prejudices are to be encountered, abuses have to be corrected, and it is high time that the people who are living in this great territory should seriously take the subject under consideration. They have begun to do so, but yet there is much difference of opinion as to what remedy, if any, should be adopted and applied. The purpose of my remarks today is to discuss the best attain- able remedy for present evils — the best possible under existing circumstances — and I think I fully realize the difficulty of framing a law dealing with this question. The home is the base of everything, and if we start re- forms on this subject with the home as the foundation the structure will be safe. In examining this question and preparing a bill upon it the home seeker and actual settler is the man for whom we should exercise our first concern. The actual settler is the strength of a new state. The nomadic herder who drifts with his flocks from state to state, paying taxes no- where and having no care for the future of the state, should be accorded no rights which will conflict with the local interests of the community or which will deter the actual settlers from taking up permanent homes. The protection of the forests has no longer much op- position. By saving the forests we preserve the streams. The benefits of the restoration of the herbage of the plains are more direct. Grazing is even more important than irrigation. The nakedness of the plains should be clothed with grass and the mountains with trees. In reading the early history of the United States, es- pecially of the Far "West, the mention of abundance of grasses suitable for grazing will always strike the atten- tion of the reader. It is interesting to take the story of Lewis and Clark's expedition, or the journals of the 118 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY pathfinder, General Fremont, in his journey across the continent in the earlier days, and follow their descriptions of the abundance of animal life supported by the native grasses in the arid regions of the Far West. This teem- ing life of the great plains was supported in the winter by the hay cured by the dry winds upon the native stalks. There are in the grass family about four thousand species, from the greatest of all — the bamboo — 100 feet high, down to the short buffalo grass of the arid plains. In this numerous family of plants is found the food of nearly all the animals which support the life of man. Civilized man draws his life and strength either directly or indirectly from the grasses of the field. The native grasses of America are amongst the most valuable known to mankind. When Timothy Herd discovered in the marshes of New England, and introduced to his neighbor- ing farmers the native plant that long bore his name, now familiarly shortened into plain " timothy," he conferred a blessing not only upon New England but upon the whole American people. The variety of these valuable grasses upon the western plains has been steadily decreasing since the country has been opened to settlement. In the settled portions of the East the intelligence of man has improved the pasturage, whilst the natural herbage of the Far West has been neg- lected because there was no one to care for it. There has always been a fascination in the maxim of "free grass," and the fear of monopoly in the hands of the large cattle owners has arrayed many of the settlers, if not the most of them, in the grazing states, against any proposition whatever for the leasing or private control in any way of any portion of the grazing lands. The legislature of the state of Montana has by resolu- tions expressed itself against any leasing proposition. The small landowner and the homesteader have looked ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 119 with just apprehension upon any scheme which would enable the great cattle companies to fence in large tracts of the national domain and exclude the poor settler from enjoying the wild products of the public lands. This con- dition has existed for many years. There is a diversity of opinion upon the subject as to the extent to which the native pasturage has deteriorated, but the fact of its great decline is not disputed. That deterioration has been rea- sonably estimated amounting to the destruction of more than a million acres of grass land each year, and its con- version into a desert condition. The homesteaders in western Kansas and other locali- ties have taken up claims where it is impossible for them by cultivation to make a living for themselves and their families because of lack of rainfall. In taking these claims, however, they have plowed up considerable por- tions of the valuable native grasses, and while nominally improving the land, they in fact have injured it, because upon much of this land there is no product of any kind that can take the place of the native grasses and at the same time be a safe and reliable crop in usual dry seasons. Many of the ranges — in fact, most of them — have been heavily and persistently overstocked. Many varieties of the grasses are annuals, and in the fierce competition among the herders not a sufficient quantity of grass is permitted to go to seed to renew the plants. The House committee on the public lands has had this matter before them for many years. Personally I have realized the necessity for doing something toward the restoration of the natural pasturage, but in considering this matter I have always found myself confronted with the difficulty that the small settler and homesteader would probably be crowded to the wall under such system unless it should be guarded with exceeding care. The state of Texas has for many years leased its graz- 120 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ing lands. The change from free grazing to the leasing system was attended with violence and bloodshed in that state, but public sentiment has steadily grown in favor of the leasing system, until the people there are practically unanimous in their commendation of the law. The only criticism there is, is that the leasing of the land in very large tracts has retarded the settlement of some parts of the state. Experience, however, in Texas has shown that the leased tracts have produced an increased amount of grass, and that the land is capable of sustaining a much larger number of cattle under the leasing system than under the old method of free grazing. The reason for this is very evident. Where there is a proprietary inter- est in the pasturage, the owner will endeavor to manage it in such a way as to increase the product. On the other hand, where the range is free to all, with no proprietary rights in the future, each cattle and sheep owner endeav- ors to get all the grass he can without any reference to the future. The annual grasses are eaten before going to seed, and the pasture of next year is not considered. A wise farmer would not feed his seed corn to his flocks, and the seed of many of these grasses is equally as necessary. I believe there ought to be a remedy for this, and after many years' service upon the public lands committee I have thought it my duty to attempt to prepare a bill which I believe will overcome or minimize the evil to which I have referred and at the same time avoid the other evil of monopoliza- tion of the range. I have therefore prepared a bill that I believe will be just, by limiting the leasing rights in comparatively small tracts to the homesteaders and resi- dent landowners only. The bill provides for leasing only the arid and semiarid land which is not capable of irrigation, the leases to run ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 121 only for a term of five years and be limited to 3,200 acres to any one person ; they shall not be assignable or trans- ferable and shall only be made to homestead settlers or actual freeholders whose lands are in the vicinity of the grazing lands to be leased. Where there is not sufficient land to supply the necessary amount for the various ap- plicants, the same to be prorated, the annual rental to be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 cents an acre, according to the grade of the land, the land being classified by the Department of the Interior for that purpose. The large landholder may also lease land, but the maximum of 3,200 acres applies to all alike. Corporations are not privileged to lease under this bill. The land remains open to mineral, homestead, or other lawful entry, and when entered the lease is to be canceled. Streams and watering places are not to be in- cluded in any of these leases, and the right of way through leased lands to and from watering places is re- served to other lessees. The bill provides that the law shall be put in force in any state or territory only by proclamation at the request of the state or territorial legislature. This will prevent the operation of the act in such states and territories as do not desire its benefits. It also provides that the net receipts of the leases shall be used for irrigation works in the state or territory where collected. From this brief statement of the scope of the bill it will be seen that for a very small rental the homesteaders and small landowners will be able to utilize their property by obtaining grazing rights which it will be to their interest to protect. The total amount of grazing lands in the country will be exactly the same after these leases are made as before, but the small settler, and large settler as well, will thus be able, upon a limited amount of the pub- lic domain, to protect the grass from improvident and de- structive grazing. They will be able by shifting their 122 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY cattle from one part to another to allow the depleted range to become restored, and the certainty that they will get the benefit of the increased production will induce them to care for the pasture with a view to its preserva- tion. There is only one experiment involved in this bill, and that is the attempt to limit its operation to the home- steader and the small landowner alone. This will work no hardship upon the large cattle owners, because the re- maining land will still be open to free range, and the owners of the large herds can also subdivide their stock and let portions of the same out to graze upon the leased lands. It would result in a new impetus to homestead settlement, for settlers would locate homesteads in order to have the benefit of the appurtenant leasehold right who could not afford to make the attempt to live on 160 acres of land in a locality where the great sheep and cattle own- ers would consume all of the surrounding pasturage. Many of the arid states are already trying the experi- ment of leasing state lands on their own account, and al- though these leases have not been in existence very long, the results in some of the states would indicate that the leased state range is already very much better than the public land in the same locality that has been subject to free and indiscriminate grazing. The subdivision and exercise of proper care in the man- agement of this immense area of pasture land is even more important in my judgment than the question of ir- rigation, for nearly all of the arid lands can be made to produce pasture, while comparatively a very small por- tion can ever be used successfully in raising irrigated crops. The leases not being transferable, the amount of each lease being limited, the range would be preserved and at the same time protected from monopoly. It is proposed in the bill that corporations shall not be ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 123 permitted to lease. The reason for this is evident. A corporation is not a settler and has no family or home. Corporations can be created without number, and if leases were open to corporations under this bill they could readily locate tracts of 320 acres without settle- ment and then take leasehold privileges of 3,200 acres each appurtenant to their holdings, and effectually pre- vent the settlement of large areas that under this bill would become the home of ranchers. Under existing laws homesteads in the public lands are provided for farmers ; this bill will open up the way for pastoral home- steads in a region where ordinary cultivation is not prac- ticable. I believe if this bill should be enacted into law it would be followed by very considerable increase in population in all the arid states, because we would have practically a new form of homesteader — a homestead settler who would take land because of its appurtenant rights, feel- ing confident that upon his homestead and leasehold lands he could be sure of a living for himself and family. If I am right in my suggestion that intelligent and pru- dent management would increase the grass product, then it follows that more cattle could be supported upon the same amount of land than under the present entire lack of care, system, and method. In Oregon the wheat farmer raises a wonderful quan- tity of grain to the acre ; but the good farmer there only raises two crops in three years or one crop in two years and gives his land the benefit of a year's summer fallow. The Hebrews recognized that the land, as well as man, must have periods of rest. Pastures, too, must have rest from time to time or they will become worthless. A les- see will consider his own self-interest in the care of the grazing lands that he may control, and by shifting his cattle from time to time will allow the restoration of the 124 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY native grasses. Regions where the herbage was once very rich have become desolate. Under proper care they can be again restored. The grass of the land is the life of the land. Grass is the healer that covers the scars of nature. Grass makes all the difference between a desert and a meadow. The pastures of the West are of the first importance to the whole people of the United States. I earnestly plead for their care and restoration. THE PUBLIC DOMAIN » Editors and Journalists: It is a pleasure to look into the faces of so many mold- ers of thought for southern Iowa. In fact this organiza- tion might be properly termed "The Thought Molders' Union." It is surely a good purpose which brings such an organization as this together and I am glad to be able to speak to you. Roscoe Conkling said that there were only three classes of individuals who can speak of themselves individually as "we" and they are crowned heads, editors, and men having tapeworm. Lord Coleridge said that a judge is a man who knows the laws of his own country and that a jurist is a man who knows something of the laws of every country but his own. Definitions are always dangerous. I once got into trouble by calling a violinist a fiddler. Artemus Ward, fearing a similar trouble, referred to a sculptor as a sculpist. I am at a loss whether to address you as editors or journalists and have therefore on the score of safety called you both. It is true that today's newspapers will kindle tomor- row's fires but the thoughts of today's editorial will sur- vive the cremation of the body. Thought is immortal. Courage and conscience are the foundation of all good newspaper work; but courage is not demonstrated by i Address of Hon. John F. Lacey before the Southeastern Iowa Editorial Association, Oskaloosa, Iowa, October 12, 1905. 126 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY running amuck at everything in sight, and dyspepsia should never be mistaken for conscience. The editor's stool is a seat of power, but when the power is abused its influence is weakened. The sincerity, the candor, and the fairness of the editor are his surest source of strength with the people. The same maxim which applies to other public men is equally applicable to the editorial profession: "Be faithful to the people and they will be faithful to you. ' ' And the sentiment of either the people or the press is never to be obtained from mere clamor. The silent and earnest opinion of the readers of the press is often difficult to fathom. The noise of the shal- lows should not be mistaken for the tide of the depths. It was said by a public man that he spent the first ten years of his public life in maintaining an expensive pub- licity bureau and in trying to keep in the newspapers, and that he spent the next ten years trying to keep out of them. Think of the millions that the New York life insurance companies have spent in securing whole pages in the great daily papers in the past. Now they get abundant space on the first page free of charge. Mohammed claimed to be a true prophet. His Koran was written on the shoulder blades of mutton and after his death the dry bones were collected and became the guide of Islam. The Koran says : If whatever trees are in the world were pens and He should swell the seas into seven seas of ink the words of God would not be exhausted, for God is mighty and wise. But the trees have not become pens. Had Mohammed been a true prophet he would have foreseen the time when the forests should be turned into paper instead of pens and when the Sunday newspaper will contain more printed matter than would make several Korans. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 127 The man who can write a pithy paragraph is a great power in the newspaper world. Bourrienne says that Napoleon feared a paragraph more than an army corps. After being invited to address you I was in some doubt as to the choice of a subject when an editorial friend sug- gested "The Public Domain." As this is a non-partisan gathering I concluded to act upon the suggestion. The people of Iowa are not as much interested in this subject as they once were, for not a single acre of the pub- lic land remains in the ownership of the government in this state. The land of Iowa has passed from the control of the government to the individual ownership of our citizens and is being put to the best use by furnishing homes and employment to the inhabitants of a great and prosperous commonwealth. The public domain was once a more vital subject of in- terest than at present. It was in a debate on a land bill that Webster made his celebrated reply to Hayne and the nationalizing of the un- occupied lands was one of the strongest bonds for the maintenance of the Union. But there are 800,000,000 acres of public lands remain- ing and the subject is still one of great importance. The first essential to the prosperity of any country, is that there should be a. good title to the soil. I wish to re- call to your minds a few of the complex circumstances out of which the present perfect title of the great Northwest has grown. There were many real estate puzzles, grow- ing out of the vague geography, and the wild prodigality with which the royal British family dealt with these prov- inces, which they neither understood, nor in fact held. They took the proposing colonists, figuratively speaking, up into a high mountain and pointed out all the land in sight, and distributed it with a vague and reckless pro- 128 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY fusion, placing overlapping grants which necessitated al- most endless trouble for other people, long after the grantor and grantees had gone to that land where there are no land title problems. It would be interesting, in this connection, to discuss the question of how near Chicago came to being a part of Connecticut. James I, in 1606, made the first grant to Virginia which ran from the Atlantic, west and northwest to the Pacific Ocean. No one knew the distance, but there was no doubt but that the great ocean was somewhere in that direction. Then came the Massachusetts grant of 1620, also running from sea to sea. On April 23, 1662, Charles II, who had not long before been a fugitive in France, granted to the Connecticut Company a charter and land grant "in New England, in America, bounded on the east by the Narragansett river, commonly called Narragansett Bay, on the north by the Massachusetts Plantation, on the south by the sea, and in longitude as the line of the Massachusetts colony running from east to west, that is to say, from the Narragansett Bay on the east, to the South Sea on the west including all islands thereunto adjoining." This of course was a good grant, as far as Charles held title, but the claims of the Most Christian King of France intervened in the Far West, the settlement and rights of the Dutch on the Hudson cut the grant in two in part, whilst the overlying grant made in 1681 to William Penn by Charles II, afterwards also cut Connecticut in two on the south, and in 1664, the Brit- ish king gave to his "dearest brother, James the Duke of York, his heirs and assigns" the territory which is now principally occupied by the state of New York. James had already acquired the previous grant made in 1635 to the Earl of Sterling. The French did not discover the Mississippi until May 17, 1763, so that the grant of Con- necticut, by nearly a year antedates the French claims to ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 129 Louisiana. The French in the north were trappers, the Spanish in the south were gold seekers, but the English were settlers. It is always interesting to discuss what might have been, but it is almost unthinkable to consider the northern part of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois as constituting a part of the state of Connecticut, in the light of subsequent his- tory. But there was a complex variety of things which brought about the present configuration of the great state of Illinois, and the transfer of the land on which Chicago stands to the national government, by the state of Con- necticut. NewT York had a shadowy claim, in the days of the Revolution, to parts of Ohio and Virginia. Maryland refused to enter the confederation of the Revolution, on the ground that the Northwest Country should be ceded to the united colonies as a whole, but she still joined hands with her sisters in doing her best to make the struggle for liberty a successful one. It was not, how- ever, till 1781 that she finally became an actual part of the confederation. It was fortunate that there were so many conflicting charters and claims in the Northwest, thus adding to the reasons for nationalizing the public lands. New lrork's claims were very shadowy, and rested upon very slight foundations, but her unconditional con- veyance of these claims to the national government paved the way for the action of other states. Virginia had for- tified her paper title by the successful expedition of Gen- eral George Rogers Clark. The peace of 1783 involved France and Spain as well as England. But Jay, Franklin, and Adams so managed it as to save the great Northwest, including the unknown wealth of Lake Superior in iron and copper. It was a keen negotiation but the decision opened up the great possibilities of the Northwest to be followed by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. 130 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY The treaties of 1763 and 1783 made the Mississippi our western boundary and marked the western limits of Con- necticut. A special Federal court met at Trenton, New Jersey, by authority of Congress, and tried the issue between Pennsylvania and Connecticut. It located the west line of Pennsylvania where it now is, but left Connecticut to claim the ancient boundaries as far west as the Missis- sippi River. Massachusetts asserted her claims to much of the land now occupied by Michigan and Wisconsin. Massachu- setts conveyed her title April 19, 1785 ; Virginia, March 1, 1784; New York made her cession March 1, 1781; Georgia made a pretty close bargain with the government for the transfer of her western claims to the Mississippi, but Connecticut granted her lands, with all the possibil- ities of Chicago in the future, on September 14, 1786. She reserved, however, 3,250,000 acres in northern Ohio, ' ' The Connecticut Western Reserve, ' ' of which she after- wards sold the soil, and subsequently ceded the sover- eignty to the national government. This last was done in order that a perfected title might be given to the Con necticut Company to which she had granted the Western Reserve. What a remarkable state Connecticut would have been ! Her emblem should have been the kangaroo, the greatest part would have been behind. She ceded Chicago, but kept Cleveland and the Western Reserve. Had they not afterwards made the relinquishment of political juris- diction over the Western Reserve, her statesmen might now say that they "had lost Chicago; they had lost Har- rison and Dunne, but they still had the city of Cleveland with the graves of Garfield and Hanna and a living Tom Johnson." But the future Chicago's troubles were not yet at an end. Wisconsin wanted the north fourteen ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 131 counties of Illinois, and these counties, including Cook, seemed quite willing to leave Illinois. Michigan unwil- lingly gave up a few hundred square miles in Ohio, in- cluding the present Toledo, and took instead the Northern Peninsula with the richest iron and copper mines on the planet. The questions were viewed in the most practical way by our ancestors. ''Better an acre in Middlesex than a principality in Utopia. ' ' It is wonderfully interesting to look over the chain of title which opened up the great Northwest in the form in which it now appears upon the map of the states. The ordinance of 1785, simplifying surveys and providing the present method, by sections, townships, and ranges, was one of the most important steps toward the settlement and growth of that region. The Connecticut Western Reserve retained its town- ships in squares of five miles instead of six, but the system was the same. In Europe land was entailed and prog- ress halted a thousand years. In swift-moving America, land is as transferable as a horse or a bale of goods. The man who has it is not required to keep it, and with rapid and easy transfers, lasting improvements have speedily been erected. There is no bar to human progress like a refractory land title. Perfect titles, simple surveys, easy transfers, secure and recorded, prohibition of entailment, these are ele- ments that seem to us so commonplace that it is difficult to realize how important they have been to our national growth. When the first currents that set from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia were lost in the great ocean of national unity, then came the public domain. Wise laws opened the way to utilize the rich soil and healthful cli- mate for the homes of a free people. Individual owner- 132 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ship, stimulating individual effort, was the inspiration of the settlement of the great Northwest. A few years ago the Turkish government brought for- ward an ancient claim, 250 years old, by which it was pro- posed to take for the crown the lands surrounding the city of Joppa. Private owners began to allow their property to go to decay. They quit watering the orange trees, and the country was threatened with ruin. The claim was abandoned, or the land would have returned once more to its mother, the desert. Before the white settlements in America, the title was held by the Indians in common. A number of misguided gentlemen today are urging the seizure of all lands through the proposed medium of a single tax. They claim to have something original in this proposition, but it is not, it is aboriginal. It was not only necessary to provide for good surveys and titles, but a free govern- ment, administered by free men, was even more essen- tial. The Ordinance of 1787 provided a system out of which has grown all the subsequent territorial organizations in the United States. The old Northwest, bounded on the west by the Mississippi and on the south by the Ohio, was larger than France, and larger than either the Austrian or German Empire. The political jurisdiction of the remote states on the seashore would have been a great handicap to the growth of the new country. Religious freedom, exclusion of negro slavery, the reservation of each sixteenth section for school purposes, were the great forces in the Ordi- nance of 1787. This Ordinance was not only a landmark in our history, but was a turning point in the history of civilization. The main features of the Ordinance, and of our national Constitution, which was also made in 1787, now seem so natural and reasonable that it is hard to ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 133 realize the time when the principles of these two great charters were not recognized by all mankind. The Constitution did not prepare the way for our pub- lic domain. It was that domain which prepared the way for the Constitution. The cession of this great western empire to the nation at large was essential to the adoption of the Constitution itself. The Englishman, it is said, always has a "hunger for the horizon," which is another way of expressing the thought that land hunger is a characteristic of the race to which we belong. It is a chronic condition of the Anglo-Saxon. In 1763 Great Britain very seriously discussed the pro- priety of giving up Canada to France and taking Guade- loupe, including all the little islands around it, in ex- change. Dr. Franklin wrote a pamphlet of fifty pages, to prove that Canada was worth more than Guadeloupe. Franklin's argument prevailed, and in 1764 France sur- rendered all claims east of the Mississippi River to Eng- land, and soon after, all west of the river to Spain. I will not follow up in this discussion the great event of the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, our pur- chase from Spain and Mexico, nor our title by discovery and settlement in Oregon and Washington. The old Northwest is now occupied by Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota. Minnesota was only half in the old Northwest Territory, and has been said to be only a half sister to the other five states of that territory. But the same public land sys- tem has been extended to our other continental acquisi- tions. The next great step in relation to our public domain, was the free homestead era which began in 1862. This was second only in importance to the ordinances of 1785 134 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY and 1787. However much we may criticise the land grants which aided in carrying the railroads to the Pa- cific Coast, it is undoubtedly true that the settlement of the vast empire between the Mississippi and the Pacific was very greatly accelerated by this policy. Another important departure from all previous methods was the adoption of the existing system of administering our public mineral lands. The old Spanish law, under which the crown owned all the precious metals, was abrogated, and every induce- ment held out to the hardy explorer whose venturesome spirit led him into almost every part of the Far West. Even far away Alaska, purchased by Seward in 1868 and looked upon as an indirect way of giving $7,200,000 to Russia for her friendship in the Civil War, has proven to be one of the richest of all our possessions, and each year that territory yields us in gold, fish, and furs, very much more than the whole of the original purchase price. We have today in the public domain, including Alaska, something over 800,000,000 acres of lands. The best of the agricultural land has passed into private ownership. A system of national irrigation has been entered upon which will make homes for many more millions of our population. Seventy-five million acres of timbered lands have been set apart as permanent forest reserves, but one of the greatest sources of national wealth has in my judgment been greatly neglected. Nearly 500,000,000 acres of grazing lands still belong to the nation. Most of these lands are unsuited for the making of homes by the old methods. Much of the grass is annual, and if grazed too closely, it will produce no crop in the succeeding year. The subject is a very interesting one and in my opinion is one of the most important with which this generation has to deal. Some method must be devised by which the grazing may be carried on so as to produce the largest ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 135 amount of pasturage. To discuss this question as it de- serves, would occupy more time than is allotted to me. The foremost and most reliable form of wealth is in real estate, but corner lots may now be purchased for a song in Palmyra and Nineveh, but recently the Napoleons of finance have obtained their commissions in the navy and seek riches in another element by watering stock. Aquarius, the water bearer, should be their emblem. The sunshine of publicity has caused great evapora- tion in this liquid aggregation of wealth. Let me sug- gest an epitaph for one of these so-called captains of in- dustry. At the base of the pyramid of Cestius in the English cemetery at Rome, lie the remains of the poet Keats, who caused to be inscribed on his head stone, "Here lies one whose name is writ in water." No wealth is so enduring as that which finds its roots in the soil, but in America the very rich have generally pre- ferred a more productive, though less lucrative, form of property. The old families of New York City who have grown rich by the wisdom of their ancestors, are now busy tracing their genealogical trees back to Alfred the Great. None of them care to go back to Noah, for that would con- nect with their uncles, Shem and Ham. The public domain will have accomplished its great purpose when it has finally passed into the ownership of prosperous citizens. ENLARGING THE POWERS OF THE DEPART- MENT OF AGRICULTURE x The committee on interstate and foreign commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6634) to enlarge the powers of the Department of Agriculture, prohibit the transportation by interstate commerce of game killed in violation of local laws, and for other purposes, beg leave to submit the following report, and recommend that said bill do pass, with an amendment. This bill has a three-fold purpose : 1. It is intended to authorize the secretary of agri- culture to provide for the introduction and restoration of game, song, and insectivorous wild birds in such parts of the country as he may deem it desirable to do so. In many of the states the native birds have been well- nigh exterminated. Agriculture suffers a pecuniary loss by their destruction, for they are the farmer's and plant- er's best friends in the destruction of noxious insects. There is a sentiment involved in the question that makes the preservation and restoration of these birds a matter of public concern. Attempts have frequently been made by private individuals and clubs to introduce new varie- ties, or to restore again the old varieties of feathered life. Their active and persistent foes have usually destroyed such birds within a year or two after their introduction. There have been some notable exceptions to this rule. In Oregon the Chinese pheasant has become abundant, i Mr. Sherman, from the committee on interstate and foreign commerce, submitted the report, to accompany H. E. 6634 presented by Mr. Laeey. The report of Mr. Sherman is a lengthy one and therefore is omitted here. Only Major Lacey's own speech is reprinted. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 137 though it has been introduced within the last twenty years. Your committee believes that the birds that may be the subject of experiment by the Department of Agri- culture will receive more encouragement from the people than when private individuals undertake their introduc- tion or restoration. The prairie chicken has almost dis- appeared in many of the states of the Northwest. Should some of these birds be turned loose in North Carolina and Virginia, national and public sentiment would pro- tect them and in time they might become abundant there. At any rate the experiment is worthy of a trial. The grouse of the northwestern Pacific Coast would no doubt readily adapt itself to the woods of Pennsylvania and the states of the far south. At a moderate expense the Department of Agriculture could not only introduce new species but could return species that have become locally extinct, and at the same time disseminate such information as would create a healthy public sentiment for their preservation. 2. The bill places it within the power of the secretary of agriculture to prevent the unwise introduction of for- eign birds and animals. Had this power existed some years ago it would have spared the presence of the English sparrow, whose im- portation was the result of the mistake of some well- meaning people who had not given the history and habits of these birds a proper study. 3. The most important purpose of this bill is to sup- plement the state laws for the protection of game and birds. The various states and territories have enacted appropriate laws for this purpose, but the laws are evaded by the pot-hunter, and deer, antelope, prairie chickens, grouse, quail, and all kinds of game are shipped concealed in various methods to other states where they are sold in the open market. This bill is intended to be- 138 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY gin where the state laws leave off. The state laws can have no extradition force and the national laws can not operate in a single state. But interstate commerce is wholly in the control of the federal government. Where the states are powerless to protect themselves the national government has ample power. This bill goes to the very root of this matter by forbidding interstate commerce in such animals and birds when killed or caught in violation of local laws. To il- lustrate: The pot-hunter in Iowa, Missouri, or Kansas kills quails out of season and in violation of the laws of those states. He does not merely kill a few for his own use, but he slaughters or traps them indiscriminately for the purpose of sending them for sale in the market. He avoids the state law by secretly shipping them to a mar- ket beyond the state. When the birds arrive at their destination they are ex- posed for sale, and as they were not killed in the state, the state laws do not meet the case. Now, if the game wardens or other law officers of these states could watch the market and punish the persons engaged in the ship- ment, the traffic could be broken up. The carriers have no desire to aid in this nefarious traffic. The amount of their charges for freight on such goods is a very inconsiderable sum, and there would be no dispositioii on their part to interfere with the enforce- ment of the law. On the contrary, we believe that they would generally respect the letter and spirit of the law. But should the carriers knowingly transport game killed out of season they would be amenable under the pro- posed bill. The consignor and the consignee would know that they were dealing in illegal property, and a few examples would break up the business. No state's rights or priv- ileges are infringed by this bill. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 139 Interstate commerce is beyond the state control. The killing or carrying of game within the limits of a state is a matter wholly within the jurisdiction of the state. But when the fruits of the violation of state laws are car- ried beyond the state, the nation alone has the power to forbid the transit and to punish those engaged in the traffic. This bill will give to the game wardens the very power that they now lack and which would be the most effective for the purpose of breaking up this commerce. The bill is supported by many persons and associations throughout the United States, and your committee are of the opinion that it will be of much aid in preventing the present rapid extermination of our game, song, and in- sectivorous birds. In some of the states the sale of certain game is for- bidden at all seasons without regard to the place where the same was killed. The purpose of these laws is to prevent the use of game shipped into the state from be- ing used as a cloak for the sale of game killed within the state in violation of local laws. The sale of such im- ported goods in original packages defeats the operation of these laws, and the committee has prepared an addi- tional section 5, which is in substantially the same lan- guage as the Wilson original package act of August, 1890. The reasons for the Wilson act of 1890 are well known, and the principle of that act should be applied in game protection. We propose the following amendment : Sec. 5. That all dead bodies or parts thereof, of any foreign animals or birds, the importation of which is prohibited, or the dead bodies, or parts thereof, of any wild animals or birds trans- ported into any state or territory or remaining therein for use, consumption, sale, or storage therein, shall upon arrival in such state or territory, be subject to the operation and effect of the 140 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY laws of such state or territory enacted in the exercise of its police powers, to the same extent and in the same manner as though such animals or birds had been produced in such state or terri- ory, and shall not be exempt therefrom by reason of being intro- duced therein in original packages or otherwise. INTERSTATE COMMERCE IN GAME AND BIRDS IN VIOLATION OF STATE LAW; LET US SAVE THE BIRDS x This bill is one that has attracted a good deal of inter- est in various sections of the country. Horticulturists, agriculturists, and lovers of birds everywhere, and also the League of American Sportsmen, and others inter- ested in game and the protection of game all over the United States have been strongly enlisted in its support. Briefly, the bill provides for a few purposes only. First it authorizes the secretary of agriculture to utilize his department for the reintroduction of birds that have become locally extinct or are becoming so in some parts of the United States. There are some kinds of insect- ivorous birds and some kinds of game birds, that here- tofore were abundant in many localities, which have be- come very scarce indeed, and in some localities entirely exterminated. The wild pigeon, formerly in this country in flocks of millions, has entirely disappeared from the face of the earth. Some hopeful enthusiasts have claimed that the pigeon would again be heard from in South Am- erica, but there seems to be no well-grounded basis for this hope. In some localities certain kinds of grouse have almost entirely disappeared. This bill gives the secretary of of agriculture power to aid in the reintroduc- tion, which, I think, will prove a useful adjunct to the ac- tion of the states which have undertaken the preserva- tion of the native wild birds. 1 Speech of Hon. John F. Lacey, of Iowa, in the House of Representa- tives, April 30, 1900. 142 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Now, the next purpose in the bill is to allow the secre- tary of agriculture to control the importation of foreign wild birds and foreign wild animals. If this law had been in force at the time the mistake was made in the in- troduction of the English sparrow we should have been spared from the pestilential existence of that ' ' rat of the air," that vermin of the atmosphere. But some gentle- men who thought they knew better than anybody else what the country needed saw fit to import these little pests, and they have done mucn toward driving the na- tive wild bird life out of the states. This bill provides that the secretary may prevent the importation of the fruit bat, or the flying fox, the English sparrow, the star- ling, and other birds of that kind, which, in his discre- tion, he may regard as detrimental. The necessity for a provision of this kind is obvious. The mongoose, a miserable, murderous animal that was introduced for the purpose of killing snakes in Jamaica — by the way, one member of the House asked me the other day what kind of a bird the mongoose was — the mongoose has proved a nuisance and a pest worse than the serpent that it kills. It drove the rats in Jamaica to the trees, and the rat now there has become an arboreal animal. The rat still exists and keeps out of the way of the mongoose. But the birds of the island have been al- most destroyed by this imported pest. Now, a proper control on the part of the secretary of agriculture would prevent the importation of injurious foreign animals. Some gentlemen in California have suggested the pro- priety of introducing the fruit bat or flying fox there, and this bill would prevent their importation. They would prove as great a nuisance as the English rabbits in Australia and the Scotch thistle in Canada. Some pa- triotic son of Scotland wanted to see if the thistle would ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 143 grow in Canada. He tried it, and there is no dispute about it now. It grows in Canada. There is a compensation in the distribution of plants, birds, and animals by the God of nature. Man's attempt to change and interfere often leads to serious results. The French pink was introduced as a flower in Oregon, and it has spread throughout the wheat fields and become an injury to agriculture. The English yard plantain has become a great evil in New Zealand. Rabbits were introduced in Australia, and today the most persistent efforts are necessary to keep them within endurable limits. The Russian thistle is spreading with great rapidity in the Dakotas, and though this plant has finally proven to have some value for forage, yet the peo- ple of the Northwest would be glad if the plant had never found a footing in that region. It is important that the introduction of foreign wild birds and animals should be under competent legal su- pervision, and this bill will accomplish that result. The next proposition in the bill, and that is the vital one of all, is to prohibit interstate commerce in birds and wild game — that is, insectivorous, useful birds, and wild game birds, and wild game of any kind killed in violation of local laws. Take the state of Georgia, that has en- acted most rigid laws for the protection of insectivorous birds and game birds. Trappers go there and catch the quail, net or trap them in violation of the local law, pack them in barrels or boxes and ship them to other markets in the United States. It is done secretly. The result is that the market houses in other states have been utilized as places in which to dispose of these birds and animals killed in violation of the laws of the state. Game war- dens of the various states have long desired some legisla- tion of this kind by which they can stop the nefarious 144 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY traffic in birds and game killed in defiance of their state laws. Take the state which I have the honor in part to rep- resent — the state of Iowa. A few years ago it was filled with prairie chickens ; quails were abundant. A careful protection of the quails has recently resulted in an in- crease of those beautiful little birds ; but the shipment of prairie chickens has still been going on until they have well-nigh become extinct. This bill if enacted into law would enable the local authorities to prevent the trans- portation of these birds. It is perfectly evident, how- ever, that such a law might be abused unless suitably guarded. Persons might make use of it for the purpose of blackmailing the carriers. Therefore a provision has been inserted in this bill by which carriers will not be held responsible for the shipment unless they have knowingly carried the forbidden articles. But the shipper can not plead ignorance, and when complaint is made against the carrier, he will transfer the responsibility of the crime to the shipper, and the result will be that the whole traffic can be broken up. As to insectivorous birds, I saw an article going the rounds of the newspapers the other day purporting to give an interview between my friend from Illinois (Mr. Cannon) and myself. Whilst the interview was not stated with entire accuracy, the general facts are true, and I will repeat it now as an illustration of one of the features of this bill. When the bill was up in the House before on a motion to suspend the rules, my friend from Illinois raised the question of "no quorum." Two-thirds of the House were in favor of passing the bill, but there was not a quorum present; and the gentleman from Illinois raised that point and prevented further consideration of the bill. The next day I came to the House with my pockets ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 145 full of the most beautiful looking apples. They were fair to look upon, but were veritable "Dead Sea fruit." I went around and offered them to my friend. He loves apples as well as I love birds. He opened them. They were all perforated with the tunnels that the worms had dug in passing through the fruit. I asked him if he had ever seen that condition in apples when he was a boy. He said no ; it was a recent thing. I inquired whether he often saw an apple now that did not show the foul track of a worm through its interior. He said, "What of that?" "Well," said I, "my friend, the kill- ing of the birds causes this condition — man kills the birds that killed the insect that laid the egg that hatched the worm that denied the apple. ' ' Thus following back in something the fashion of "The House that Jack Built," we reach the real cause of most of this trouble. The de- struction of the insectivorous birds has resulted in the loss of our fruit. No wonder the farmers and horticul- turists are interested in this proposition ! Objection was made to this bill upon the theory that it was a purely sentimental measure intended merely to strike at bird millinery. Not so. It is true that there is some sentiment in the bill ; and it is a proper, a legitimate sentiment. The love of birds is something that ought to be taught in every school. Their protection is something that ought to be inculcated in the mind of every boy and girl. I have always been a lover of the birds ; and I have always been a hunter as well ; for today there is no friend that the birds have like the true sportsman — the man who enjoys legitimate sport. He protects them out of season ; he kills them in moderation in season. The "game hog" is an animal on two legs that is disappear- ing. May he soon become extinct! The "game hog" formerly had himself photographed surrounded by the fruits of a day's "sport," and regarded the photograph 146 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY as imperfect unless he had a hundred dead ducks, grouse, or geese around him. Today a true sportsman would be ashamed to be pictured in connection with a larger num- ber of fowls than a decent share of an American gunner, having due regard to the preservation of the game for the future. This bill is directed against the pot-hunter. When you take away his market you destroy his occupation. Take away his market or put that market under the surveil- lance of the game wardens, and the pot-hunter must cease to carry on his nefarious traffic. He is the man who should have no friends on the floor of this House or any- where in the United States of America. He is the relent- less enemy of all animal life. The states have awakened to the necessity of preserving what remains of bird life, with which nature so generously endowed our country. State laws of a rigorous character are enacted, and a public sentiment has grown up in favor of the enforce- ment of the statutes. But the facility of commerce in these days of rapid transit enables the violator of the state law to market the product of his crime at a distance, and thus defy the laws of his own commonwealth. This bill will supply the pres- ent defect in the law, and a halt can be called upon the ruthless destruction and exportation of the small remains of our once apparently inexhaustible bird population. Seton-Thompson tells us that no wild bird or wild ani- mal ever dies of old age. Their lives, sooner or later, al- ways have a tragic end. When a wild animal makes a mistake the penalty is death. The gulls, the scavengers of our bays and harbors, are now being killed for use as ornaments. The plumes of the egrets are especially sought after; and as their plumage is at its best when nesting, the mother bird is shot while rearing its young, and the or- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 147 phan family is destroyed that the mother's plumes may decorate the headgear of humanity. There is one feature of bird protection with which this bill does not pretend to deal. The plumage merchant has held out inducements to hunters which have well-nigh exterminated some of the most beautiful creatures in the world. In a single sale in London, in 1898, 116,490 skins of humming birds and 228,289 bundles of Indian parrots were sold for decorative purposes. In that sale over 500,000 bird skins were disposed of. It is a pitiful thing to contemplate the slaughter of such a multitude of these beauties for the gratification of human vanity. Many people are deeply interested in the proposition to forbid the importation of the plumage of foreign birds, but that would involve the attempt to re- form the world before purifying ourselves. We should cast the beam out of our own eye first. Let us take care of our own birds and game before at- tempting to go into the fields and forests of other lands. By taking this course we will set an example to other countries and the good work of bird and game protection in America may serve as a model. We have given an awful exhibition of slaughter and de- struction, which may serve as a warning to all mankind. Let us now give an example of wise conservation of what remains of the gifts of nature. It is late. It is too late as to the wild pigeon. The buffalo is almost a thing of the past, but there still re- main much to preserve, and we must act earnestly if we would accomplish good results. To the last section of this bill, which was designed to obviate the effect of the " original-package" law in pro- tecting the pot-hunter, I have agreed to offer an amend- ment, putting it in such form as I think will remove the 148 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY only opposition that this bill has really encountered on the floor of the House. I will offer the amendment at the proper time as a substitute for section 5. Now, if gentlemen who desired to ask me questions wish to do so, I shall be pleased to answer any question in regard to the bill. I hope to see it pass without a dis- senting vote. Me. Gaines. Will the gentleman from Iowa allow me to ask him a question? Mb. Lacey. Certainly. Mr. Gaines. Are not the birds, I would ask my friend from Iowa, being exterminated largely by the prize shoot- ers? Mr. Lacey. I think not to any considerable extent. These men who do prize shooting are, as a rule, in the habit of using clay pigeons. The birds we are trying to protect are rarely used for such purposes. Domestic pigeons are used for that purpose and also clay pigeons or glass balls. Mr. Robinson of Indiana. I desire to say to the gen- tleman from Iowa, while I have not read the bill very carefully, that I think it comes very close to producing a conflict between the states, over their jurisdiction in these matters, and the federal government. I ask the gentleman if that is not true? Mr. Lacey. Not at all. Mr. Robinson of Indiana. I also should like to have an explanation of that to see how the gentleman's in- genuity has gotten around that difficulty. Mr. Lacey. There is no difficulty whatever. The au- thority of the national government begins where the state authority ends. The bill carefully avoids all con- flicts of this character. It begins when animals or birds are loaded upon the cars to be shipped to a point outside of the state. When they are thus transported, for in- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 149 stance, from a point in Indiana to Chicago or Cincinnati, the local game wardens, endeavoring to protect the birds of your state, find themselves powerless, because the birds are not seen of men after they are once packed un- til they turn up in the markets of one of the cities. The state law is thus nullified. This provision enables the persons enforcing the state law to show, first, that the birds were killed in violation of the state law; second, that they have been shipped by interstate commerce to another state. Then the national law comes in and for- bids the shipment, and in this manner the state law is supplemented. Thus it is made effective at the very point where, by reason of the limited area of the state, the state law today is inoperative and ineffective. I love the people who love birds. The man or the woman who does not love birds ought to be classed with the person who has no love for music — fit only "for treason, stratagem, and spoils." I would love to have a solo singer in every bush and a choir of birds in every tree top. At my own home I have set out Russian mul- berries for the birds alone. The Russian mulberry be- gins to ripen while the blossoms are still coming out, and for three months there are blossoms and black fruit upon the same tree. If you want to be popular with the birds of your community, set out some of these mulberries, and they will come from every quarter to the place where these trees are. The man who cultivates the birds will have the birds take care of him. They will care for his farm. They will destroy the insect pests, and the man who protects them will be successful wherever he may farm in the United States of America. Me. Shackleford. What about the birds that pick the cherries f Mr. Lacey. Every bird that eats a cherry earns ten cherries before he eats one. 150 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Me. Clark of Missouri. Have you any way of keeping them from eating the cherries ? Mr. Lacey. No one should ever begrudge a cherry to a woodpecker or a robin. He has made the cherry pos- sible before he takes it. He has done more toward its fruition than the man who set out the tree, because he has protected it from the pests that destroy it. Unless some other question is asked, I ask that the bill be read by sections for amendment. Mr. Cummings. Will the gentleman inform us, in a few words, what birds this bill does not protect? Mr. Lacey. It protects only those birds that are pro- tected by local laws. If the state of New York protects a certain kind of birds, interstate commerce in the dead bodies of those birds is forbidden, so that nothing is taken from the powers of the state. The sound judgment of the legislatures of the states really control this matter after all, and this bill merely builds upon the foundation that is first laid by the state legislature. Mr. Gaines. Why do you confine it to states that pro- hibit the killing of robins, for instance? Could not this apply just as well between states that do not prohibit their killing as between states that do? Mr. Lacey. In order to do that it would become neces- sary to enact a national law, which, I think, would be unconstitutional. By limiting it to the prohibition of interstate commerce in those things which the state pro- hibits, then we have clear ground, and there is no trouble on the subject. Every state in the Union is today legis- lating as well as it can to perfect the general purpose had in view by this bill. Mr. Adamson. The gentleman has not read his amend- ment yet. Mr. Lacey. No. Mr. Adamson. I suppose I may as well call your at- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 151 tention to it now as at any other time. I have looked at the gentleman's amendment. Does he wish to have it read now? Mk. Lacey. I mil read the amendment. I propose, in lieu of section 5, the following : Sec. 5. That all dead bodies, or parts thereof, of any foreign game animals, or game or song birds, the importation of which is prohibited, or the dead bodies, or parts thereof, of any wild game animals, or game or song birds, transported into any state or territory, or remaining therein for use, consumption, sale, or storage therein, shall upon arrival in such state or territory be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such state or territory enacted in the exercise of its police powers, to the same extent and in the same manner as though such animals or birds had been produced in such state or territory, and shall not be exempt therefrom by reason of being introduced therein in or- iginal packages or otherwise. This act shall not prevent the im- portation, transportation, or sale of birds or bird plumage manu- factured from the feathers of barnyard fowl. Now, in a word let me explain that in the city of New York and in the state of New York, where they have rigid laws, market men import grouse from Scotland, hang up the grouse out in front of the store, and, while apparently selling Scotch game, they are in fact selling grouse killed in the Adirondacks or in the state of New York ; but they use these foreign birds as a "fence," just as in some localities some dealers use their business as a "fence." Some merchants shelter themselves behind a legitimate business in order to transact an illegal business. We have rigid state laws in every state prohibiting the re- ceiving of stolen goods. Now, in New York they tell me that concealed behind a Scotch deer or perhaps Scotch birds they are selling native birds. The only way to prevent them from doing so is to prohibit the selling of foreign birds. When birds are shipped into a state at a time when the state statutes prohibit them from being 152 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY killed and a man is arrested, lie says, "They were shipped under interstate commerce, and you cannot interfere with me." This proposed section is copied from the Wilson orig- inal package act, which has stood the test of judicial crit- icism. It will enable the state of New York to treat Scotch game or foreign game precisely as it would its own game when it arrives in the state, and thus protect against the foreign game being used as a screen to sell the local game. Me. Adamson. I want to ask you a question — not about the provision about domestic fowls, nor the pro- vision as to foreign animals and birds, but other language in your proposed amendment. It relates to the sale of game animals and birds transported into any state or territory, and remaining there for use, consumption, sale, or storage therein. I presume that has application, for instance, to birds or game killed in Virginia and shipped into Maryland or other states under interstate commerce. Mr. Lacey. Yes. Mr. Adamson. Now, as I understand your amendment, it would be a violation of the law to ship and sell these birds or animals in another state, although it was lawful to kill them and sell them at the time they were killed. Mr. Lacey. Certainly, as to the shipment. It will simply do this: Suppose the closed season in Virginia commences on the 1st of December, and the closed season in Georgia is the 1st of October. Now, it will be lawful to ship animals and birds from Virginia into the District of Columbia and Baltimore longer than it would be from Georgia, because the closed season is different; and the man that receives and handles them must know that he is dealing with something that has not been killed in viola- tion of the state law from which the game comes. The state law would protect the state of Georgia from the ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 153 destruction of the birds in Georgia, in which every Geor- gian is interested, when they are killed in violation of laws of your state. This bill will prevent the evasion of the state law by the shipment of the game for sale in another state. Mr. Adamson. Still, if you think it will be valid, do you think it would be wise to provide that game and birds legally killed in a state where they exist can not be sold in any other state or territory? Mr. Lacey. That is left wholly with the states. This bill does not attempt to interfere ; it leaves it so that the state may do so if the state thinks best. Suppose at At- lanta they want to prevent the sale of quails between the 1st of October and the 1st of February, or after the 1st day of February and down to October. Now, you find by shipping Florida or Virginia quails at the same time your local laws are nullified, because they can not dis- tinguish between them. In order to protect your own birds, you say no such birds killed anywhere shall be sold within that period. This bill does not attempt to do more than to enable your state to do this, notwithstanding the original package decisions, which have in the city of New York been utilized to destroy the state law. In New York they have precisely such a state law as I suggested ; they have attempted to prevent the sale of all wild birds out of certain seasons, although they were killed lawfully in the state or foreign countries from which they came, and the courts have held that as they came in under interstate commerce, and as Congress has not passed any original package law applying to game, the laws are inoperative, and it is at their request that this prohibition is inserted in the bill. BISON PRESERVE * The committee on the public lands, to whom was re- ferred the bill (H. R. 6062) to set apart a preserve for American bison, and for other purposes, beg leave to sub- mit the following report, and recommend the accompany- ing substitute for the bill. Charles Mair, of the Royal Canadian Society, in May, 1890, made the following statement : There is, perhaps, no fact in the natural history of America which brings such reproach on civilized man as the reckless and almost total destruction of the bison. . . At this time there are in all probability not five hundred animals alive on the con- tinent. When America wTas discovered, the American Indians, measured by their flocks and herds, were as opulent as any people on the globe. The bison wras the common property of all. He took care of himself both winter and summer, and furnished a never-failing supply of food and raiment for the aborigines. Through inconceivable ages this animal had become adapted to the soil, climate, and surroundings. The bison is the most typical Ameri- can of all of the indigenous beasts on the continent. In 1832 the last of the bison was killed east of the Mis- sissippi River. Before the development of the railroads vast herds of these animals avoided the destructive ef- fects of the white settlements by emigration to the Far West, and down to as late as 1870 they still numbered very many millions. The building of the Pacific railroad i April 10, 1900. Mr. Lacey, from the committee on the public lands, submitted the report to accompany H. E. 10590. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 155 was the signal for the destruction of these vast herds. They were slaughtered without mercy, for sport and for profit. The most pitiful story in the history of all animal life is Prof. William T. Hornaday's report on the extinction of the American bison. The mania for slaughter seems to have affected everyone. The English lord, the miner, the cowboy, and the emigrant slew right and left, dotting the plains with thousands upon thousands of tons of bleaching bones that have since been gathered up and transported to the sugar refineries on the Atlantic coast. These herds, that could have readily been converted into domestic animals and preserved as a permanent source of wealth, have been literally swept from the face of the earth. The cattle which have taken their place are unable to withstand the rigors and severity of the changeable cli- mate. Where the bison turned his head to the storm and fought it out with the blizzard, the American cattle of today turn tail to the wind and drift to destruction. The bison was clothed expressly to resist the severity of the climate in which he was living. Prehistoric man, in his long warfare against the mammoth, left not one to tell the tale. Necessity for food, no doubt, was his excuse, and the slow breeding of these gigantic beasts made the extermination comparatively easy. When America was discovered the bison was the king of American beasts. By ages of gradual modification and natural selection an animal was developed fitted in the most admirable way for a life in the vast region from Hudson Bay and Great Slave Lake to the Gulf of Mexico. The United States government has tardily attempted to preserve some of the wonders of nature on the continent. The word "extinction" does not quite literally apply to the bison, but we have arrived at a point where nothing 156 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY but heroic treatment will prevent the animal from joining the dodo, the great auk, and the mammoth. Professor Hornaday thinks that there are at present 400 living buffalo in the whole world. The herd of the Flathead Indians, the "Buffalo Jones" herd, the Good- night herd, the Corbin herd, a few specimens here and there in zoological parks, remnants still of perhaps twen- ty in the Yellowstone National Park, and a few scattered "wood buffalo" west of Hudson Bay embrace all that are left of the countless millions of a generation ago. Col. C. J. Jones was engaged with others in the general slaughter which nearly exterminated the buffalo. He realized that very soon there would not be a living speci- men of this wonderful animal, and he attempted to pre- serve at least a small herd from destruction. He ac- cordingly went systematically about the capturing of calves, driving with him milch cows to preserve the little captives, and he has at present about 100, the descendants of these captured calves. It is gratifying to find that his humane experiment was not unprofitable. The govern- ment tried to save 400 of these animals in Yellowstone Park, but in that high altitude, with its rigorous weather and the relentless destruction of the animals when they wandered beyond the limits of the park, it is not probable that there are more than twenty still alive. The climate of the Yellowstone Park, the high altitude, and the heavy snows there have all proven great barriers to the preser- vation or propagation of these animals. In a more favorable climate, with adequate protection and opportunity for ranging, breeding may be success- fully carried on. Experience has shown that in close con- finement most of the calves are males, but on the open range, under more natural conditions, the birthrate of the two sexes is about equal. If no one were now willing and able to try the experiment of restoring a sufficient ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 157 number of these animals to insure them from total ex- tinction, it would be the duty of a great government like ours, regardless of expense, to do whatever could rea- sonably be done to that end. Thousands of dollars have been spent in vain in the mistaken effort at the Yellow- stone. Colonel Jones called attention to the dangers of that experiment, and offered to round up and save them from destruction; but the offer was rejected, and head- hunters, wolves, and the failure to breed have almost annihilated this herd. Practically all the animals with which to try this ex- periment of domesticating the buffalo are under the con- trol of Colonel Jones. We recognize the fact that the buffalo, like the Indian, must be domesticated or disap- pear; but it is also true that an adequate home must be found for the few remaining, or else they can not be pro- tected and preserved. After a few generations of domes- tication their breeding can no doubt be carried on without the broad range that now seems necessary. To turn these animals out on the plains of any of the western states or territories to take their chances with domestic cattle would result in their destruction. A range sufficiently large and at the same time fenced in should be provided for that purpose. The owner of this herd is willing to bear all the expense of this experiment and asks no government aid. He can not turn these animals out on the open range •without danger of their entire loss. In New Mexico the buffalo finds his natural home, both summer and winter. There remain vast areas of unoccu- pied public lands where the buffalo formerly roamed and bred with much f ruitf ulness. Out of the 600,000,000 acres remaining of the public lands it is proposed by this bill to set apart a tract of 20,000 acres ; not free of charge, as the sheep and cattle men now use the land, but subject to a nominal rental of one cent an acre, and also two buffalo 158 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY in kind which are to be delivered to the Government each year, for the use of the public parks. Owing to a misunderstanding of the boundaries the original bill provided for an unnecessarily large area, and the hostility of the sheep and cattle men was at once aroused. The committee in reporting back this bill have cut the amount down to such dimensions that we believe the bill would meet the approval of even these interested parties. The addition of this herd of buffalo, instead of being an injury to New Mexico, will be of positive advan- tage, because it adds an additional industry, or, rather, restores one which has been destroyed. The lease is a temporary one, and runs but for twenty years. If it is found that the animals sufficiently increase under this arrangement the lease could be renewed, otherwise there would be no harm done in terminating it. George Bird Grinnell, in 1892, estimated the Yellow- stone buffalo at 400, and reported that they were increas- ing. The writer of this report visited the Yellowstone last summer, and from the best information he could get there were not to exceed twenty-three still alive. At $10 a head the 10,000,000 of these animals that existed only a few years ago would be worth $100,000,000. In 1873 Congress passed a law to protect the buffalo, but the President of the United States failed to sign it and it did not become a law. The failure to sign this bill might be called another "crime of '73." An action then would have been in time. The failure to act now in this matter will be fatal. We believe that the government should make this experiment. It ought to be made, even if it had to be made entirely at public expense, but under the plan proposed by this bill the government will not expend a single dollar. The land to be used for the pur- pose is public land. It belongs to the people. The whole people of the United States are concerned in saving our ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 159 nation from the reproach of allowing the entire extinc- tion of the American bison. Our children's children would curse us, and they ought to, if we do not prevent this reproach on the American people from being con- summated. There is another important feature connected with this experiment. Domestic cows can be placed on this range and crossed with the buffalo bulls. This is no longer an experiment. The product of this cross is an animal with a coat heavy enough to resist the severest western winter storm. This, however, is only an incident to the real purpose of the plan, as there would be no attempt made to breed from the female buffalo anything but the pure- blooded bison. The addition would be made by breeding domestic cows, and so the production of the pure bloods would not be in this manner decreased. Your committee earnestly recommend the prompt pas- sage of the substitute for the bill. HOW TO SAVE OUR BIRDS AND MAMMALS x Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen: I am delighted to meet so many of the lovers of wild American birds, beasts, and fishes from so many states and territories here tonight. The attempt to preserve any of our native resources of this character comes very late, but I hope not too late. It is proposed to lock the stable door before the horses are all stolen. During my own service in Congress it has been my fortune, on tb^ committee on public lands, to do what I could to aid in the saving of our remaining forests from utter destruction, and the good work done in that line is already bearing fruit. Let the forests be wholly destroyed and the cli- mate becomes entirely changed. The streams dry up and agriculture, the foundation of all our wealth, suffers irreparable injury. The streams are the children of the forests, and the fish are the children of the streams. In my childhood the brooks of my native state, West Vir- ginia, and her sister state, Ohio, were full of pools, and the hillside gushed with living springs. The forests have been destroyed and all this is changed. The deadly hand of man is committing the same crime in the Far West. On my first visit to Oregon thirteen years ago I got off the cars at The Dalles to take the boat down the Columbia. As I walked out on the pier some- one shouted to me with great excitement : "Run this way quick and you will see Mt. Hood!" i At Aldine Club, New York City, February 14, 1900. Speech of John F. Laeey, M. C, at the dinner of the League of American Sportsmen. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 161 I said laughingly, "There is no danger of the mountain running away, is there?" and the answer came, 1 ' Come quick, if you want to see it. ' ' I ran out, and there in the clear light stood the beauti- ful, snowy peak. I watched it for probably thirty sec- onds, when the cloud of smoke rolled back over it again, obscuring it from view, and that was the first, last, and only time I ever saw Mt. Hood. Last summer I revisited the same locality and did not even get a half-minute glimpse of the mountain. The region was clouded with smoke of the burning fore,sts just as it had been on my first visit in 1887. With fire and ax the destroyer has been doing his work. A splendid tree, 300 years old, is attacked with auger and coal oil and is swept from the face of the earth for the li improvement" of the country; a tree that took from 300 to 500 years to grow, and which in a few years would be worth as much as forty acres of land, has been destroyed in a day's time. Along the banks of the Columbia fish-wheels have been planted, and the salmon packers are diligently engaged in the extermination of those beautiful fish. No adequate recognition of the necessity for permitting a sufficient number to escape seems to exist, but the fish is treated as a common enemy rather than as a friend. Such destruc- tion of our natural resources has but one end on the Pa- cific Coast, as it has had on the Atlantic. Terrapin were once so plentiful in Maryland that a law was passed prohibiting masters from feeding their slaves on this succulent reptile more than twice a week. In Connecticut the avaricious master fed his apprentice so freely on salmon that a law was passed forbidding so much of a fish diet for those unfortunate boys. Now, with terrapin worth $5.00 apiece, and salmon at seventy- five cents a pound, there is no danger of the excessive use 162 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY of these articles of diet, unless it be among the million- aires. And so it is with all our other natural resources. At Delhi natural gas was worshiped by the Greeks 2,300 years ago. Now it is harnessed and set to work in the gas fields of the United States, but a reckless disregard for its preservation has been shown in every field, and it is only a question of comparatively a short time until the gas and the coal oil will take their places in history, along with the buffalo, the wild pigeon, the terrapin, and the salmon. The presence of this assembly tonight indicates that the conscience of the American people has been quick- ened on these questions. The hunters and the fishermen begin to join hands in the preservation of the inhabitants of the forests, the air, and the streams. St. Paul was the persecutor and destroyer of the saints, but he saw a great light, and spent his after life in their defense. The birds and the beasts appeal to the sports- men who have persecuted them in the past and have not appealed in vain. I am talking to gentlemen who may have been "game-hogs" or "fish-hogs" in their early youth. Every true sportsman outgrows this mania for indiscriminate slaughter. No doubt some gentleman here has had himself photographed in the past, standing by the side of a great string of fish or by a reeking holocaust of game. A pot-hunter now might have his picture thus taken, but a sportsman, in these days of scarcity, would be ashamed to do so. I plead guilty to having, in my youth, taken part in the brutal pastime known as the "side hunt," where two parties start out in the remorseless competition of de- stroying as much animal life as possible ; a rabbit count- ing so many points, a prairie chicken so many, a blue jay, blackbird, crow, and other birds all being scheduled at a given number of points. A hunt like this at the evening ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 163 round-up shows a sickening aggregation of unnecessary and unsportsmanlike slaughter. The sportsmen who would enforce the laws must obey them himself and set a proper example to the rising generation. I heard the other day of a dealer in bogus butter, who, having been sentenced to fine and imprisonment for his offense, remarked, on retiring from the court room, that he would not have minded his punishment so much, but he disliked to be fined for selling bogus butter by a judge who wore dyed whiskers. In 1870 I crossed the plains when the buffalo could be counted by the thousands. A recent Indian massacre had occurred in Colorado, and I was shown the fresh graves of a dozen men by the roadside. When the night came on and the stage driver lit the lamps of our coach, so as to make an especially good target for a hostile arrow, or bullet, considerable of the enjoyment of the trip was taken away ; but I forget readily the discomfort of that part of my journey, and remember with pleasure the herds of buffalo, elk, and antelope that enlivened the scene. Today I estimate the number of living buffaloes at 400. Prof. W. T. Hornaday, who is present, told me a few minutes ago that his estimate is 600, and I would not for a moment, offer my judgment in contradiction to such eminent authority on this question. Thirty years ago a difference of 200 in the estimate of a number of living buffaloes would have been too small a matter for consid- eration, as that would only be about enough to occupy some industrious and enterprising killer two or three days ; but today there are nearly as many millionaires in this city as there are buffaloes in the whole world. The natural suggestion is that we are getting long on million- aires and short on buffaloes. The annihilation of the noblest of all the American mammals is one of the crimes of the nineteenth centurv. 164 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY It took millions of years to evolve and produce this splen- did animal. He was especially adapted to the hard life on the arid plains of the West. The cattle of the present day turn their tails to the wind and drift hopelessly with the course of the blizzard. The buffalo turned his head to the storm and fought it out with nature, triumphing over the wind and the cold for ages upon ages, finally succumbing only to the breech-loader and the butcher- knife of the skin-hunter of the latter end of the nineteenth century. But you invited me especially to explain the nature and scope of a bill introduced by me in the House of Repre- sentatives, to give national assistance to the preservation of what remains of our birds and beasts. All states and territories have enacted laws in accordance with the pres- ent enlightened public sentiment in this direction. These laws have been nullified by the pot-hunter, who kills and traps the birds and beasts for food for eastern markets, or who destroys the insectivorous and the song birds for the milliner. It seems strange that from the beautiful hat of the tender-hearted woman the mummified bird of song should look appealingly, with its glass eye, to the more tender heart of the American sportsman for protection. Appeals to the women by the Audubon societies thus far have been in vain. When on the streets I meet young girls and matrons with their kindly faces, and see the aigrettes in their bonnets and hats, I can not help feeling that these daughters of Eve do not know how these feath- ers were obtained. These plumes only grow while the bird is rearing its young, and I believe if most of the women who wear them knew they were obtained by shoot- ing the mother on her nest they would be ashamed to keep them, even in secret, much less to display them on the public streets. The bill (H. R. 6,634) to which I direct your attention ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 165 gives the secretary of agriculture power to introduce use- ful wild birds of all kinds into localities where they have become extinct, or in localities where they have hereto- fore existed, but it gives him power to prevent the intro- duction of injurious foreign varieties of birds and beasts. Some time ago a gentleman conversing with me on the subject of the English sparrow, which has earned and de- serves the reputation of being a common nuisance, called my attention to the danger of introducing other birds of evil reputation, and suggested to me that we ought by all means to prevent the importation of the flying fox or the mongoose. He evidently regarded both of them as birds of bad repute. In this appeal I have recognized that these animals were vermin and ought to be excluded. The main feature of the bill, and the one which will be found the most useful, is that which prohibits interstate com- merce in wild birds and animals killed or captured in violation of local laws. At present the state laws are rendered almost entirely useless, owing to the fact that the poacher kills or traps the game and ships it to a dis- tant market in packages so disguised that neither carrier nor local game protectors are able to detect the contents. When these shipments arrive at the market they are of no value unless exposed. If shipped in violation of the laws of the states, they can readily be the subject of pros- ecution by the authorities charged with the enforcement of the laws. This additional power in the hands of men engaged in the protection of our birds and beasts will, in my opinion, do more to stop this nefarious traffic than any method that has yet been devised. The farmers of the country who are interested in the preservation of their feathered friends will all favor such a measure. Concerted action all along the line, by the lovers of our birds, will insure the passage of this bill. As to the introduction of locally extinct species, or 166 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY new species, through the Department of Agriculture, I can only express my belief. We know that when a game club introduces birds they are ruthlessly destroyed by persons having no interest in their preservation. The newcomers are looked on as being imported for the rec- reation of a wealthy gun club, and therefore a proper subject of destruction. I hope and believe that a different sentiment will be shown when such birds are looked on as the subjects of national concern. Every boy and man will feel that these strangers are the property of the na- tion at large, and that everyone should take an interest in seeing that they are suitably protected until such time as they may be abundant enough to be the objects of occa- sional pursuit. Above all, the protection of our remain- ing natural resources must be the subject of an enlighten- ed public sentiment. Meetings like this tonight are the starting point from which such sentiment may proceed, and I am sure the results of this annual meeting of the League of American Sportsmen will be seen and felt in all the years to come. SOME NEW LEAGUE MEMBERS 2 The Hon. John F. Lacey, member of Congress from Iowa, is an old-time sportsman, naturalist, and friend of game protection. He tells me that of late his love and his sympathy for the birds and the wild animals has almost overcome his love of sport, and that he now feels little inclination to shoot. He is still fond of the rod and reel, and spends many a day on the water during his summer vacations. He is one of the most ardent workers in Congress, and has done a great deal in the interest of game protection. As is well known, he is the author of the bill now pending, 2 Under this heading, in the 'Recreation Magazine, occurs this sketch. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 167 which proposes to regulate interstate traffic in game through the medium of the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion. He also drafted and introduced the bill for the per- petuation of the American buffalo, and has done valiant service in furthering both of these measures. A dinner had been tendered the visiting officers, which was given at the rooms of the Aldine Club on the night of the 14th, and to which fifty-four members and guests sat down. The guest of honor was Hon. John F. Lacey, member of Congress from Iowa, who is also a member of of this League. He came here from Washington, by special invitation of the League, and made the strongest, most eloquent and most interesting speech I ever heard on the subject of game protection. I will not attempt to give even a synopsis of it here, because it is printed in full in this issue. In the course of Mr. Lacey 's remarks he explained the provisions of his bill, No. 6634, now pending in Congress, which undertakes to prohibit illegal traffic in game through the Interstate Commerce Commission. Mr. Lacey was given a perfect ovation, and he may well feel proud of his membership in this League. On the other hand, the League is honored by having in it a man who commands so much respect and attention in both houses of Congress as Mr. Lacey does. At this writing there seems no doubt that his bill will pass both houses, and that it will become a law. PROTECTION TO GAME AND BIRDS IN THE UNITED STATES x The question of game protection and the preservation of useful birds has of late years assumed much interest. It has always been the custom to lock the stable door af- ter the horse is gone. Our ancestors found the land east of the Ohio covered with a dense forest, the rivers full of fish, and the woods filled with game. The first necessity was to destroy the forest so as to make way for the farms. The abundance of wild life made it seem that the supply could never be exhausted. For more than three hundred years destruction was called "improvement" and it has only in recent years come to the attention of the people generally that the American people were like spendthrift heirs wasting their patrimony. The public conscience has become quickened, and the at- tempt to preserve and restore some of the wild life of America is no longer looked upon as a fad or idle senti- ment. A halt has been called upon the wanton waste of the forests, and more than a hundred millions of acres of public forest lands have been reserved by law for pos- terity. i John F. Lacey in Boston Transcript. Mr. Lacey is the author of much valuable legislation on game and bird protection. He is the author of the Yellowstone Park act of 1891 on this subject; the Wichita Preserve act; the Alaska game laws; bill setting apart bird breeding grounds on certain public islands in the Gulf of Mexico and the Lakes; the "Lacey Act," forbidding interstate commerce in game and birds killed in violation of law; and, also, many other valuable national laws on this subject. — Editor Boston Transcript. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 169 In these great national forests the homeless wild crea- tures will replenish, if they are only given the oppor- tunity. The law should give them that chance. The deadly breech-loading guns of the present time have placed the extermination of all living things in the easy reach of the thoughtless or the mercenary, not even being confined to the skillful. A bloody-minded Briton a few years ago landed on an island on the coast of Alaska and in a few hours left the remains of 250 walruses to rot unused, as evidence of his prowess. He had assured the future starvation of the natives in order to gratify his thirst for blood. The pot-hunters and the lover of slaughter for its own sake have joined hands in the deadly work of extermina- tion. The birds which had kept the destructive insects within reasonable bounds have been so recklessly destroyed that the farmers have taken up the subject and public senti- ment has turned to the side of the preservation of the birds of the air. Some years ago the writer of this article introduced in Congress a bill to nationalize the question of game and bird preservation as far as it could be done within the limits of the federal constitution. The bill was met with more or less derision, and failed of pas- sage for a number of years. The public took up the ques- tion and pressed it upon the attention of the Congress un- til finally on the 25th day of May, 1900, the bill became a law and I feel much honored to have had my name con- nected with this legislation. The act does not attempt to define the terms of pres- ervation, but leaves that necessarily with the states them- selves. Before the passage of this federal statute birds and game were killed in violation of state law and shipped to markets beyond the state limits. As articles of com- merce they were there exposed to sale with impunity. 170 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Under the so-called "Lacey Act" this commerce is un- lawful, and birds or game killed in violation of local law are not lawful subjects of commerce. It is now illegal to ship such game, even when killed in season, without having the contents of the packages suit- ably and openly labeled. When game arrives at its destination after an inter- state transit, it at once becomes subject to the local law by the terms of this act, and cannot be sold as an article of commerce in violation of the local statutes. This provision has enabled state game wardens to pre- vent the use of imported game as a shelter behind which local game might also be sold. Not long before the passage of this law, I saw a large hogshead opened in the Washington market and it was completely filled with frozen prairie chickens from Kan- sas. There were nearly 1,000 of these frozen birds in this single package. They were killed and shipped in violation of the Kansas law, and the crime had been concealed in Kansas. But at the end of the journey they had come out in the open market, and under the present federal law the shippers would have been confronted with the dreadful national power. The state of Wyoming has of its accord created a game refuge in a part of the state adjacent to the Yellowstone. It is a good example to follow. The Wichita Forest Eeserve in Oklahoma has been by law declared a game refuge. In urging this latter bill before Congress but little op- position was met with, and the people of Oklahoma are united in their approval of the law. It gives the people there a source of supply, which by natural overflow, will ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 171 restore much of the game and birds formerly so plen- tiful. The Yellowstone Park is a great educator along the line of protection of wild life. The thousands of tourists who visit the wonderland view the confiding and tame creatures there with as much pleasure as they look upon the periodic display of the Old Faithful geyser. In that "Animal Republic" its citizens have learned that by some mysterious influence the great butcher, Man, is a harmless and interesting creature. That influence is the Law. The children watch the feeding of the gentle grizzly, the Ursus horribilis of the naturalist. The beaver is again building his dams and setting up his little municipal governments in this great national playground. Every visitor to the park comes back a friend of the native wild life of America. Utility goes hand in hand with sentiment in bird pres- ervation and the American farmers with almost one ac- cord have enlisted in the cause of bird protection and the result is already becoming manifest in the great increase of feathered life. And the farmers have their reward, not only in the beauty of the feathered life which is becoming more nu- merous, but in the protection to all vegetable life from the ravages of insect pests. BIRD PROTECTION 1 Mankind are becoming aroused at last to the importance of protecting what has been spared of the birds and game once so plentiful. Even in darkest Africa the great pow- ers of Europe, which have partitioned the wilderness among them, have recently made rules and regulations to prevent the indiscriminate slaughter of the remaining creatures of the forest. In America the subject has claimed consideration, but our people have been too busy in the struggle for wealth for the individual to give ade- quate attention to the preservation of our natural re- sources. Our coal, gas, oil, forests, fishes, birds, and game have been wasted and destroyed with a recklessness utterly unworthy of so intelligent and progressive a peo- ple. It is high time to call a halt. With a favorable and enlightened public sentiment nothing can fail. Without it nothing can succeed. When several years ago the writer attempted to attract national attention to bird and game protection, the prop- osition was received with mirthful raillery in Congress. A distinguished representative, since then elected governor of his state, said that "Congress could be in better busi- ness than in discussing the question of raising goslings." But persistent effort has won, and the work of the League of American Sportsmen and the Audubon societies, sup- ported by the farmers and fruit growers, created such a sentiment as to make it possible to secure the enactment of a federal law supplementing and making effective the local laws of the various states. Even a majority of the i John F. Lacey in the World Review. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 173 members from the state whose governor had seen only amusement in the idea, voted for the bill. Local laws had been evaded by the shipment of game and birds killed in their violation, by placing them on the market in other states. Under the new national law, com- monly known as the ' ' Lacey Act, ' ' this can be prevented, because the interstate transportation of the birds and game killed in violation of local laws is made illegal and punishable in the federal courts. The violator of the state law meets with no profit in the secret breaking of the law of his own state, because when he ships the fruits of his lawlessness to another state for sale in the open market, he finds that while he has escaped the sheriff at home, he runs into the arms of the United States marshal. The magnitude of this nefarious business may be under- stood when it is known that in a single seizure, recently made in Chicago, more than twenty thousand birds were confiscated. Thousands of pairs of birds, migrating to their northern summer breeding grounds, had been killed and sent to market in defiance of state laws in this one instance. Before the enactment of the national law, this seizure would not have been practicable, because the dealers would have claimed that the killing had occurred in an- other state and would have sheltered themselves under the cloak of commerce. The parties could not have been punished in the state where the birds were killed, because they had committed the offense secretly and concealed their identity in making the shipment. By destroying the market the temptation to break the state laws was removed. It is this feature of the federal law which makes it effective. The various state game wardens should now be able to watch the markets and prevent the unseasonable sale of all kinds of game. It is 174 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY of no avail to the pot-hunter to kill birds if he cannot sell them, and he cannot market them without shipment, and when illegally shipped they become subject to seizure. The legislatures of the various states are now awake to the necessity of preserving our remaining birds and game from extinction. STATEMENT ON GAME PROTECTION l The preservation of migratory birds is one of extreme difficulty under our system of government. Each spring they begin their annual journey to the far north where they spend the summer generally undis- turbed. In their northern journey water-fowl are usually lean and emaciated and not suited for food. Killing them at that season is wasteful in the extreme. As they pass from state to state over a thickly inhab- ited country, a constant and destructive fusillade gives them a deadly welcome. Each pair of birds if undisturbed will bring back a large following in the autumn. The killing of a pair of ducks in March means a short- age of fifteen or twenty at the end of the season. The states should by concerted action forbid all killing of these birds in their spring migration. It would also seem, as no adequate state laws will en- sure such protection, that the general government in its power to legislate for the mutual benefit of all the states, might constitutionally protect these birds by an act of Congress, forbidding all shooting of migratory birds dur- ing the period of their spring migration. Certainly such a law would be most desirable, if constitutional. This important subject has recently been submitted to the Department of Justice for an official opinion. Concurrent and uniform state action being imprac- i By John F. Lacey. 176 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ticable, it is very desirable that national legislation should be adopted, if within the authority of Congress. We wall await with interest the opinion of the attorney- general upon this proposition. The last pigeon roost that we have any account of was in the Indian territory, and now it is a debatable question as to whether or not these beautiful birds are wholly ex- tinct. An occasional report conies from Michigan, New York, and Mexico, that some of them have been seen, but the number is always small and the accuracy of the re- ports in doubt. The millions of these birds, which once darkened the air, have disappeared. It is to be hoped that the reports of a few small remaining flocks may prove to be true. Only about 1,000 buffalo still remain on the planet. The new government herd in the Yellowstone has increased from twenty-one to about fifty-six, showing the possibility of the restoration of these animals in the forest reserves. A new buffalo herd for the Wichita Reserve has been provided for and there should be five or six more small herds started in different forest reserves so as to insure the continuation of this finest of all the North American mammals. The journalists of the country have intelligently and earnestly taken up the subject of game and bird preserva- tion and an enlightened public sentiment on this question will make the enforcement of the law comparatively easy. A few years ago it was sure death for a deer or ante- lope to pass out of the Yellowstone Park into the vicinity of the town of Gardiner. Now you may see photographs of 1,400 antelope feed- ing undisturbed in an alfalfa pasture at the very edge of the town. They are regarded as one of the town's attractions and woe be to the man who raises his hand against them. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 177 The deer, antelope, buffalo, and birds of the Wichita Reserve in like manner will be regarded as the common property of all the people of Oklahoma for preservation, not for destruction. FEDERAL PROTECTION OF MIGRATORY BIRDS ' The question of protecting migratory birds by federal statute is attracting considerable interest and the Weeks bill, for that purpose, is now under discussion by Con- gress. It is hard to define open and closed season properly, where the area to be considered is as vast as the United States. The scope and purpose of the Weeks bill is on lines greatly to be desired : Congressman Weeks seeks in his bill to avoid the difficulty arising out of the large area of territory involved, and the difference in the seasons, by leaving the matter as to dates and area of protection wholly to departmental regulation. It is proposed that the dates of closed seasons in different latitudes should be scheduled, and that a violation of such regulations should be criminally punished. This involves a difficult question that has been often discussed in the courts, and where some of the judges have held that the violation of a departmental regulation cannot be made a crime. This question, I believe, can be avoided in the preparation of a national statute. Hon. George Shiras 3d, formerly in Congress, has taken a profound interest in this subject, and has given it much study. As the writer has had considerable experi- ence in the preparation of legislation relating to federal game protection, I was requested several years ago to draft a bill on the subject that might obviate as far as possible the legal difficulties involved. Assuming that under "general welfare clause" of the Constitution of the United States, it is in the power of i By Hon. John F. Lacey in Field and Stream. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 179 Congress to deal with interstate problems and to do for the states what they cannot separately do successfully among themselves, I then prepared a bill on the subject. The main purpose of a bill to protect migratory birds is to prevent their slaughter when going to their annual breeding grounds in the north. If the "spring shooting" could be successfully prevented by separate state legisla- tion, or by a general federal statute, great results would be achieved. The killing of a wild bird, in poor flesh and not in condition for food, on its way to its summer breed- ing ground, is an unsportsmanlike act. If it is prac- ticable to legally prevent such slaughter it should be done. The question is one of method. I was of the opinion that the difficulty could be met by a general statute prohibiting the killing or capture of migratory wild-fowl while engaged in their spring migra- tion to the north. Such law should protect the birds while the migration is in progress, regardless of the exact period of the spring season, so that the dates need not be fixed by regulation. Some years the migration may be several weeks earlier than in other years. The law mak- ing a closed season in favor of migratory birds during the time of their flight to the north would be an elastic proposition and cover the period of actual migration, whether late or early, and whether short or prolonged by weather. It appeals to the hunter, for if these birds can be protected during the spring flight, the fall shooting- would then be worth while. As to insect-destroying birds, they should be protected at all times and at all seasons, and the state authorities are joining in local protection ; but it will be of further aid to protect this class of birds in migration. The bill that I finally prepared was in substance limited to spring migration, and drawn so as to protect the birds during the varying periods of their northward progress. 180 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY The period of protection might vary, but the actual time would always be susceptible of proof. In this form the proposition is an exceedingly simple one, and that is at least one of its merits. It is easily understood; its purpose is so evidently a good one that public sentiment can readily be rallied around it and with such sentiment success will be assured. The bill I sug- gest is in full accord with the purposes of the Weeks bill, and I submit it to the consideration of the readers of Field and Stream, and to all friends of the birds in Con- gress. A BILL TO PROTECT CERTAIN MIGRATORY WILD BIRDS DURING THEIR SPRING MIGRATION Be it enacted, By the Senate and House of Represent- atives of the United States of America in Congress as- sembed : Section 1. That from and after the passage of this act it shall be unlawful anywhere in the United States or the territories thereof or in the District of Columbia to shoot, trap, snare, capture, injure, or kill any of the following named migratory birds during the period of their north- ern migration in the spring of the year: ducks, geese, brant, swans, rail, snipe, pigeons, doves, woodcock, plover, or other waterfowl commonly classed and known as game birds, whether herein named or not; also robins, blue- birds, woodpeckers, or other insectivorous, migratory wild birds, whether named herein or not. Section 2. Any one violating this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by fine not exceeding two hundred dollars ($200), or by imprisonment not exceeding sixty (60) days. The pos- session of any such birds, or the bodies or parts thereof, during the period of such spring migration, shall be pre- sumptive evidence of the violation of this act as against the person or persons in possession. ARE PRAIRIE CHICKENS MIGRATORY BIRDS New York, April 11, 1913. My dear Major Lacey : I am anxiously awaiting your reply to my question as to whether you consider the prairie chicken a migratory bird. I hope you may write me a strong letter that I can send to Dr. Palmer. I have one such from a man who lives in Manitoba and who has studied and photographed the prairie chicken for years past. He says the birds all leave there in the fall, move south and return in the spring. I am trying to convince Dr. Palmer that it (the prairie chicken) may be logically classed as a migratory bird and he says it can not. Dr. Hornaday agrees with me emphatically, and I hope you may. Yours sincerely, (Signed) G. 0. Shields. Maj. John F. Lacey, Oshaloosa, Iowa. PROTECTION OF PRAIRIE CHICKENS Oskaloosa, Iowa, April 10, 1913. Dr. T. 8. Palmer, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Dear Friend : Our mutual friend, Col. G. 0. Shields, suggests that prairie chickens ought to be protected as migratory birds. Allow me to suggest what the facts are so far as Iowa is concerned. In the northwestern part of the state there are still a few birds there. In the eastern and southern part of the state there are none of them whatever breed- ing in that locality. But in the winter very good flocks are often seen. Last winter there were flocks of several hundred that visited Mahaska county (where I live) and were reported by farmers and others as having remained some little time with us. The same was true the year be- fore. The year before I think their migration was caused by the intense severity of the winter and the depth of the snows, and they were driven south hunting for food. Last winter we had one of the mildest winters ever known but the birds did not seem to remain, though they had come back to us on a visit. They seem to have gone back to North and South Dakota and western Iowa and Minne- sota to breed. If any additional protection could be given to these birds under the McLeon act it certainly would be a proper thing to do. Yours truly, John F. Lacey. TWO LETTERS FROM EX-PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT The White House Washington Oyster Bay, N. Y., July 16, 1906. My dear Mr. Lacey : Certain gentlemen interested in the preservation of the forests of this country, and also interested, though to a less degree, in the preservation of the wild life of the country, and the objects of natural and historic interest which should be kept unharmed for the sake of those who come after us, have written to me expressing their deep sense of obligation to you for all that you have done in Congress to further these matters. They have spoken to me of presenting some memorial to you so that their sense of appreciation may be put in permanent form. I do not know whether this will be done, but I sympathize so cordially with their feelings that I desire to take advantage of this occasion to write you and say how much it means to any man who believes in hard, intelligent, and disinterested public service to see such a career as yours has been in Congress. It has been my privilege to be closely associated with you and to watch the many different ways in which, without any hope or expectation of personal reward, you have rendered efficient public service. I give utterance to the feelings of very many men when I express to you my cordial thanks and extend to you my earnest good wishes. Sincerely yours, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. Hon. John F. Lacey, M. C. Oskaloosa, Iowa. 184 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY The White House Washington Oyster Bay, N. Y., June 22, 1907. Dear Mr. Lacey : I thank you for your letter of the 19th instant. Yes, I saw some passenger pigeons at Al- bemarle. It was such an utterly unexpected sight that I should, have felt a hesitancy in mentioning the fact if it were not that another man saw them also on another oc- casion. I saw a flock of about a dozen. He saw two small flocks — the second, however, larger than the one I saw. I have asked, for Mershon's new book on the passenger pigeon. With all good wishes, believe me, Sincerely yours, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. Hon. John F. Lacey, M. C. Oskaloosa, Iowa. A LETTER ON MIGRATORY BIRDS Oskaloosa, Iowa, December 3, 1910. Hon. John W. Weeks, M. C. Washington, D. C. Dear Weeks : I have been noticing your bill to protect migratory birds, and feel very much interested in its suc- cess. I had this matter up some years ago and got Mr. Wads- worth, chairman of the committee on agriculture, to write a communication to the attorney-general asking a legal opinion as to the constitutionality of such measure ; and then saw President Roosevelt, who talked to the attorney- general and urged an immediate and careful examination of the question. As you are aware, it is a somewhat difficult one, and the attorney-general never reported on the subject. I first attempted to draw a bill along the lines of the present Weeks bill, but Judge Welborn, in California, and other judges on the Pacific Coast, held that a crime could not be carved out of a violation of a departmental regula- tion. When these decisions were made the government could not appeal ; their only way to get the matter in the Supreme Court would be to get some court to rule the other way and have the defendant appeal. Since then Congress has passed a law authorizing the government to take an appeal, but I am not aware of any case having been brought up under it, on the subject of departmental regulation ; though I have not recently examined the de- cisions with this matter in view. I concluded that a practical prohibition of shooting, 186 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY during the spring migration, would accomplish nearly everything that was desired. I have just written an article for Field and Stream, which was inspired by reading Mr. Houghton's article on your bill, in the last number. I enclose the article and a copy of the bill to you, with the suggestion that you intro- duce this bill also ; as it would remove some of the objec- tions that you will encounter on the other bill. The time, of course, is short, but there is a feeling in favor of con- servation that will be of aid to you. It took me six years to get the Lacey Act through Congress, but there has been a great change of sentiment since then. With kind regards, Yours truly, (Signed) John F. Lacey. LACEY ON FISH AND GAME PRESERVES LETTER OF W. B. MERSHON TO MAJOR LACEY ON CONSERVATION Saginaw, Mich., November 30, 1909. Dear Sir : On August 20th I received a letter from G. 0. Shields, president of the League of American Sports- men, notifying me that I had been appointed chairman of the committee on conservation of national resources to represent the League in cooperation with the National Conservation Commission. I was also informed that my associates on this committee would consist of Hon. John F. Lacey, Oskaloosa, Iowa; Admiral R. D. Evans, No. 324 Indiana Avenue, Washington, D. C. ; Col. J. H. McDer- mott, Morgantown, W. Va. ; Mr. J. Adams Brown, vice- president New Netherland Bank, New York City, and Dr. F. Schavoir, Stamford, Conn., and on October 7th I re- reived a letter from Gifford Pinchot of which I enclose herewith a copy, also copy of the printed blank referred to in Mr. Pinchot's letter. I should have taken this matter up with you before but I spent the entire month of October in Saskatchewan on a hunting expedition and have been too busy since my re- turn to take it up until now. I think the letters enclosed fully explain themselves and I suppose it is Mr. Pinchot 's idea that any suggestions come to the joint committee through me. At your con- venience will you give me your idea of what our com- mittee can suggest that will bring forward some plan for the conservation of game ? I came near saying * 'the wild life of the forest and field" but I suppose some committee having some part of the agricultural interests in charge, 188 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY will make suggestions relative to preservation of the birds that are a value to agriculture. This is merely guesswork on my part, and possibly you think our com- mittee could take under the one head the consideration of the whole question, both animals and birds, and possibly fishes that are ordinarily taken for sport. The subject of conservation dovetails so thoroughly one subject into another that it is hard to draw the line into minute sub-divisions. Thus, for instance, the pres- ervation of the forests and reestablishment of a ground cover over denuded forest areas ; preserving a stream so that it can continue to be a trout stream, or affording cover in which birds and wild woods life can live, illus- trates what I mean. My own opinion is that if we can only suggest some plan whereby the national govern- ment can not only afford more protection to wild things but can increase the supply by propagation, distribution, and through setting apart game refuges — something along the line now employed by the United States Fish Commission, it would be well to take that under consid- eration and make a suggestion. The duty of the indi- vidual states along this same line is plain but so far the states have failed to do their duty. The present laws in relation to the protection of game and fish are openly violated. State game laws are not popular. Our high protectionists will go to Europe or Canada and if they find something to their liking and cheap, or a set of furs or fur coat for their wife, they will try to smuggle it in and then boast to their neighbors how smart they have been, if they have gotten through the custom-house with- out being caught. This is just about the same with the game laws; people will boast of having partridge for din- ner here in Michigan when they know it is contrary to the law to sell them. Hardly a city club is without game in and out of season ; game that has been purchased unlaw- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 189 fully, and yet our leading citizens and those who would be shocked to be termed "law breakers," do not hesitate to order the game served to them and encourage by their willingness to eat it, the continual breaking of these state laws. A national law is more apt to be respected, so that if the conservation of game and fish and song birds and insectivorous birds is undertaken by the United States government, better results will follow. I am sorry that legal complications at present seem to block a straightforward way of accomplishing the pur- pose, but I suppose one of the purposes of this committee is to suggest some remedy whereby the conservation of these natural resources can be practically applied. I shall be glad to hear from you at your convenience. Yours truly, W. B. Meeshon. Hon. John F. Lacey, Oskaloosa, Iowa. MAJOR LACEY *S REPLY Oskaloosa, Iowa, December 30, 1909. Wm. B. Mershon, Saginaw, Mich. Dear Sir : Your letter of November 30th came to hand in due time, together with the enclosures referred to. I am glad to know that you are chairman of this section of the conservation committee. Your painstaking study of the practical extermination of the passenger pigeon shows that you will not be an inactive member. In answer to your inquiry: "Will you give me your idea on what our committee can suggest that will bring forward some plan for the conservation of game?" I take pleasure in answering that during my sixteen years ' ser- vice in Congress on the committee on public lands I was constantly confronted with the necessity of legislation 190 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY along all the lines of conservation of our natural re- sources ; and I had the satisfaction of framing and aiding in securing the passage of many bills for these purposes. As the various matters to come up will, no doubt, be divided into separate propositions, I wish to press upon the committee the one plan of my own which has been so far applied partially in separate bills, and that is, the question of game preserves. The code of laws for the protection of Yellowstone National Park, I had the pleas- ure of drawing, although the park had been in existence many years practically under no law as to details of man- agement. The creation of the Wichita Forest Reserve in Oklahoma into a game preserve, and also the Grand Can- yon Preserve, are instances of specific legislation which I proposed. Under the so-called "Lacey Act" a large number of islands have by executive order been set apart as breeding grounds for birds. I prepared and intro- duced a bill, in nearly every Congress in which I served, giving the President authority by executive orders, to set apart the whole, or a specific portion of any forest re- serve, as a game preserve, and provide the necessary reg- ulation for protecting game therein. These specific areas could be used as breeding or stocking grounds, the over- flow supplying the outside country. The necessity and propriety of such a law is more evident now than it was when I first undertook to secure its enactment. There is now under the control of the Department of Agriculture forest area equal to the states of Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri combined. These reserves are widely scattered, and if designated areas should be selected, with a closed season substantially the year round therein, with authority for the Department of Agriculture to con- serve the same, as already provided for in the so-called "Lacey Act," the question of saving our wild life from extinction would be solved. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 191 These forest reserves will be permanent: they have evidently come to stay : they are under the care of rangers who look after affairs and the general protection of the timber. These men can also prevent violation of the regulations and game laws therein. Such preserves would soon become popular, because the people would find that a portion of the game would constantly overflow into the outside territory. The experiment is now being actively tried in the Wichita Forest Reserve, where I was able to secure the enactment of a law specifically using that one reservation as an object lesson for similar methods in other states and territories. I believe that the success of that pre- serve will lead other states actively to work for similar legislation. Perhaps this might be ultimately accomplished by sep- arate bills, say one reserve for each state in which the forest reserves are located. There is a hostility to per- mitting executive orders being made that interferes greatly with securing a general bill ; and perhaps it would be more successful as a practical question to start sep- arate preserves designating the location in each of the states where there is a forest reserve. The same plan could be adopted as to fish protection ; but fish are such rapid breeders that active propagation and distribution will probably be adequate. There is another proposition that ought to be tried — and that involves a grave constitutional question — and that is, the protection of the migratory wild-birds. My old friend, George Shiras 3rd, has devoted considerable time to the legal aspects of this proposition. Game lo- cated in any state is the property of the people of that state, and national legislation may not be constitutional. Migratory birds do not belong to any state, and the people of all of the sovereign states are interested in their pro- 192 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY tection. The same question would apply to shad and other migratory fish. If spring shooting were entirely forbidden as to all these birds they would rapidly in- crease. This question would perhaps be best worked out by a crusade in behalf of separate state legislation for- bidding spring shooting, and by making a sufficiently long closed season in the south to prevent the destruction of the water-fowl in the winter. In short I think there are two propositions to which we could direct national attention : 1. The setting apart of one game preserve in a forest reserve in each state or territory where the reserves are now or may be hereafter located. 2. Securing state or national legislation to protect water-fowl during the spring migration. Yours truly, John F. Lacey. ADVANCE IN GAME PROTECTION DUE TO LEAGUE OF AMERICAN SPORTSMEN x Liberal success in the cause of game protection has at- tended the efforts of the League of American Sportsmen, winch held its third annual meeting last week in this city. President Shield's report, read to the delegates, shows the league to have 5,110 members, and working divisions in thirty-five states and in one Canadian province, On- tario. Work is being vigorously pushed in the remain- ing ten states and President Shields made the prediction that before the next annual meeting of the league the or- ganization of state divisions will have been accomplished in all of them. The principal object of the league is "to protect the game and game fishes ; the song and other innocent birds ; to enforce the game laws where such exist, and to secure and enforce such laws where not now in existence." "We have found moral suasion," says President Shields, "a very important factor in accomplishing what we are after. Often men and boys are guilty of violating the game laws through thoughtlessness or ignorance. Many cases of this kind are brought to my notice, and I write the accused, stating the charge that has been made against him, warning him against repetition of the of- fense and asking him for a pledge that he will stop his illegal work. "Although persons so notified generally deny the charges, they also as a rule promise 'not to do it again,' and they don't. i New York World, February 17, 1901. 194 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ' ' Where there is no game law in existence a request to the thoughtless, who simply kill game and birds for the pleasure of bringing them down, often curbs them." Since its organization the league has successfully pros- ecuted eighty-one cases of violation of game laws. The most important of these was the conviction of a Fulton Market game dealer who was fined $1,000 for selling quail out of season to the American steamship line. The dis- position of this case had a remarkable effect on game dealers everywhere. Dealers who had up to that time defied the law ceased selling and notified market hunters who had standing orders for all the game they could kill and smuggle into the market that they had concluded not to sell or receive any more in the close season. An important victory of the protection of game and song birds was the passage of the Lacey bird bill, largely through the efforts of the league. Introduced in Con- gress by the Hon. John F. Lacey, of Iowa, the bill was passed and signed by the President, although opposed by powerful influences. FOREST RESERVES AS BREEDING PLACES FOR WILD LIFE x The preservation and propagation of game has in most countries met with much hostility among the people. The laws have been stringent and severe, and their enforce- ment has been harsh and unpopular. The Norman con- querors of England destroyed many fine farms to plant the New Forest for the royal pleasure. From the time when William Shakespeare was prosecuted for poaching, down to the present day, game laws have met with deter- mined opposition. Harriet Martineau's spirited attacks upon these laws in England aided in bringing her volu- minous writing into popularity. She struck a popular chord with the general public. Those laws in the old world were enacted for the com- fort of a privileged class, and it was hardly to be expected that the poor would obey, without complaint, laws which protected the wild creatures from the fowling pieces and snares of the poor, in order that there might be sport for the nobility. But in America no such invidious distinction exists, and the preservation of our birds and game becomes a matter of general interest to all, to rich and poor alike. The whole continent was once a vast park filled with wild life in forest, mountain, and plain, whilst the air was alive with the feathered flocks. The preservation of these creatures was long neglected, because their innumerable multitude seemed to make it impossible that they should ever be exterminated. With the disappearance of the wild pigeon and the buf- 1 By John F. Lacey. 196 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY falo, and the reduction of many other species to the point indicating the near approach of extermination, the con- science of the people has become quickened on this sub- ject, and a sympathetic public has begun to view this question in an entirely different light. Sentiment and utility have joined hands. As to many of our birds and beasts, the problem now is how to prevent complete extinction. Of the countless mil- lions of wild pigeons that once darkened the air and en- livened the woods, only a few hundred, at most, seem to be alive, and even their existence is a subject of contro- versy. There are enough buffaloes still remaining to pre- vent complete extermination, and probably ultimately to supply a very useful breed of cattle in captivity. The national government has embarked in the enterprise of restoring a small herd of these animals in the Yellow- stone National Park, but in that severe climate and high altitude, the increase is slow. In view of the success of the Indian in preserving and multiplying the herd upon the Flathead Reservation, there is much reason for en- couragement as to the Yellowstone herd, because the cli- mate and elevation are nearly the same. On the Flathead Reservation there are 342 buffaloes about equally divided between the sexes. This number remains after the sale of a considerable number to Howard Eaton a few years ago. The buffalo should be preserved and renewed in the forest reserves. The number remaining are but few. Fortunately the little flocks in captivity are widely scat- tered, so that no unexpected epidemic can suddenly com- plete their extermination. The Austin Corbin herd at Meriden, New Hampshire, now numbers 154 fine animals, one-half of which are males. The new herd in the Yellowstone Park was start- ed a few years ago with eighteen cows from the Flathead ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 197 herd, and three bulls from the Goodnight herd in Texas. Three calves have since been captured from the wild herd in the mountains, and the total number now is forty-three. They are enclosed in a large field near the Mammoth Hot Springs and form one of the most interesting spectacles in the park. The wild buffaloes in the park at the time of its reservation numbered about four hundred. The poachers and head-hunters pursued them remorselessly until tardily enacted laws put an end to the nefarious traffic. Concealed in the most unfrequented part of the park, the calves exposed to wolves and mountain lions, the number has steadily declined. Six were found dead in the deep snow last spring and only about twenty re- main alive. The Flathead herd in Montana, when divided and part- ly sold a few years ago, had increased to nearly three hun- dred. They were the progeny of about thirty-five calves saved by the Indians at the time of the final general slaughter, when the hide-hunters were engaged in their deadly work. It was a profitable business venture, for the animals are now worth $250 and upwards apiece. Hon. James Philip (best known among his friends as "Scotty" Philip) has a herd near Fort Pierre, South Dakota, which has increased from about twenty-three to one hundred eighteen. They are in a climate and locality admirably adapted to the buffalo, among the bluffs of the upper Missouri River. These animals are magnificent specimens of the pure plains breed. The Goodnight herd in Texas now numbers forty-four. I wish in this article to present what appears to me a practical means of partially undoing the work of devasta- tion which has gone so near the point of complete exter- mination. The destruction of our forests has been going on at so great a rate as to alarm the public mind and pre- pare the people to accept some remedy. 198 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY The interests of irrigation and navigation have called attention to the necessity of preserving the sources of our water courses by retaining or restoring the forests from which they flow. Fortunately, many millions of acres of wooded lands are still held by the national government, and about 85,000,000 acres of these lands have been set apart in eighty-three permanent national forest reserves. The primary purpose of these reservations is to conserve the streams and provide means of irrigation and, also, in some degree, to influence the rainfall. They are well scattered in the Far West, and are generally upon land which is of little value for agricultural use. They are reserved for the use of man and not reserved from his use. The ripened trees will be cut as they may be needed. There has been much local opposition to many of these reservations, but time and observation have greatly changed the local sentiment. The experimental stage has passed and they can, therefore, be accepted as an established fact, and the question naturally arises as to what extent they may be utilized for the preservation of the remains of our birds, fish, and game, and be used as sources of propagation and supply. At least a portion of these lands should be so used. The writer of this article has for many years endeavored to secure legislation to this end. Wyoming has shown her sympathy with the movement by declaring a permanently closed season in that part of the forest reserves adjacent to the Yellow- stone National Park. If some plan of this kind is not adopted, there will soon be very few game birds or game animals anywhere in the United States, except in the narrow limits of private pre- serves. If these national reserves are utilized as prop- agating grounds, there will be an overflow from them, which will inure to the benefit of the general public The ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 199 game which wander beyond the protected boundary in the open season will furnish supplies to the surrounding pop- ulation, whilst the sources of supply will be undisturbed. Instead of a general war of extermination being waged in every part of the country, there will be havens of ref- uge from which a permanent source of supply may be as- sured in the future. At the regular session of Congress in 1901, President Roosevelt, in his annual message, called the attention of Congress to this subject in the following statement : The increase in deer, elk, and other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be expected when other mountain forests are properly protected by law and properly guarded. Some of these areas have been so denuded of surface vegetation by over grazing that the ground-breeding birds, including grouse and quail, and many mammals, including deer, have been extermin- ated or driven away. At the same time the water-storing ca- pacity of the surface has been decreased or destroyed, thus pro- moting floods in time of rain and diminishing the flow of streams between rains. . . Some at least of the forest reserves should afford perpetual protection to the native fauna and flora, safe havens of refuge to our rapidly diminishing wild animals of the larger kind, and free camping grounds for the ever increasing numbers of men and women who have learned to find rest, health, and recreation in the splendid forests and flower-clad meadows of our moun- tains. Bills have been introduced to carry out this humane suggestion, but up to the present time, only one of them has been enacted into law; but the more the question is considered, the more favorably the proposition is being viewed in the localities to be the more immediately affect- ed and benefited. The choice is plain. Some must be protected or all will be destroyed. The Wichita Forest Reserve of 56,000 acres in Okla- homa has been made a game preserve with the hearty ap- 200 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY proval of the people of that proposed state, and the mil- lions of people who will soon inhabit that great common- wealth will enjoy the benefits of this wise measure of pro- tection. If the proposed bill should become a law, the small band of elk in Olympic Forest Reserve in the state of Washington could be saved from menaced extermina- tion. Deer have become quite plentiful in the woods and mountains of Vermont and an overflow has migrated into Massachusetts and Connecticut and they have even reached the shores of Long Island Sound. Such results in an old settled country like Vermont show what could be done by a fair degree of protection in our national forest reserves. In the state of Vermont the writer has been informed by Senator Redfield Proctor and Game Commissioner H. G. Thomas that in 1878 deer had been practically ex- terminated in the state for many years. A syndicate of public spirited gentlemen secured the enactment of a closed season for deer and imported and released seventeen of these beautiful animals for prop- agation. In 1897 an open season for bucks only, during October was permitted, and afterwards for the last ten days only of each October. The possibilities of deer res- toration have been shown by the results. In 1897, 103 were killed in the open season ; in 1898, 131 ; in 1899, 90 ; in 1900, 123; in 1901, 211; in 1902, 403; in 1903, 753; in 1904, 531. In 1905 the open season was reduced to six days and there were killed 495 in that short period. A good many animals were illegally killed during these years as there were reported 357 thus killed, and no doubt some were killed without being reported. Ex-Congressman Billmyer of Washingtonville, Penn- sylvania, recently reported to the writer remarkable re- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 201 suits of deer propagation. He has a little private reserve of only forty acres, safely enclosed, in which he, seven years ago, placed three elk and six deer. In six and a half years the elk had increased to thirteen, and the deer to about one hundred. He reports that the fawns were almost invariably twins, and that his little flock was worth $3,000, showing the profitable nature of the investment from a purely commercial standpoint. This rapid in- crease seems almost incredible, but the surroundings were the most favorable, and the animals were well supplied with food. Such examples as these show that if proper protection is given in the forest reserves, the land out- side, and for many miles beyond their boundaries, will again be well supplied. The inhabitants in the surround- ing settlements will help to protect and guard this source of supply instead of hastening to destroy it. Many of the streams in these reserves are well stocked with trout and other fish. Fishes are marvelously pro- lific. No radical or extreme measures of protection are needed to preserve them from extinction, but reasonable closed seasons and limitations upon the size and number of those caught, and enforcement of laws and regulations against dynamiting or other barbarous methods of fish- ing, would keep these streams as permanent and constant supply stations, with which to restock the water courses that there find their source. National forestry is tree cultivation upon a large scale, covering long periods of time, for which the lives of in- dividuals would be inadequate. Scientific forestry has taken a firm hold in France and Germany. The destruc- tion of streams and farms by the washing of sand and gravel, caused by the wholesale cutting down of the woods, has called the attention of the people of the old world to the necessity of reforesting the waste lands. The 202 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY people of the United States are awakening upon this ques- tion at a much earlier period than did our kinfolk across the sea. Now that anyone can put his dogs and gun into a bag- gage car, and, taking a comfortable sleeping berth, reach his hunting grounds five hundred miles away in a few hours, his power of slaughter has become so great that moderation and self-restraint become the test of a true sportsman. The unlimited power to travel and kill should be also bounded by the limitations of the law. The necessity for protection increases as the powers of man to kill have in- creased. With the bloody breech-loader, and abominable automatic gun of the present day, exterminating is an easy thing. In fact, with long-range, rapid-firing guns in the hands of inexperienced hunters, it is dangerous alike for man or beast to go into the woods in the open season in Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Maine. It is to be hoped that the people of the Pacific Coast will profit by the experience of their Atlantic ancestors and not permit their salmon streams to become as barren as the once prolific Connecticut now is. The forest reserves have had additions during the past year of 22,854,978 acres, bringing up the grand total to 85,618,472 acres, exceeding the area of Iowa and Missouri combined. Not the least important of the uses of this vast domain should be to give shelter to a remnant of that wonderful wild life that once filled this continent. THE PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK OF ARIZONA ' The writer of this article has endeavored for six years to secure the enactment of a law creating a national park to include and preserve the wonderful petrified forest of Arizona. The bill passed the House of Representatives in the 56th, 57th, and 58th Congresses, but failed to be acted upon in the Senate. The committee on the public lands of the Senate, to whom these bills have been re- ferred, has thus failed to take any action. The secretary of the interior in his annual reports has repeatedly asked the enactment of such a law and has withdrawn the land from entry so that it may not pass into private ownership, and has endeavored to protect the trees as far as possible under the general land laws. This remarkable deposit has been subject to much van- dalism already, and unless permanently reserved and pro- tected is sure of ultimate destruction. The land is useless for agriculture as it is in the heart of a sandy desert. An attempt was made some years ago to work these trees up into table tops but the prevalence of small holes in the body of the finest of the logs pre- vented the success of this commercial enterprise. Other- wise this great national curiosity would have long since become a matter of history only. Failing to make a success of the table top scheme it was next proposed to grind the trees up into powder and a mill was erected for that purpose near Adamana. But, fortunately, a ledge of emery stone was found nearer i John F. Lacey in Shields' Magazine. 204 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY market in Canada, and the emery factory proved un- profitable, greatly to the disappointment of these com- mercial vandals. This same genius of greed that has been converting ancient Egyptian mummies into paints and fertilizer will make short work of this marvelous forest if some use can be found that will transform it into money. Nothing short of permanent reservation by law will preserve it from destruction. Dynamite has been used in order to blow some of the finest trees into suitable frag- ments for ' ' specimens. ' ' This forest is without doubt the greatest natural curi- osity in America. Ages ago, so long that it makes one dizzy to think of it, these trees were alive and growing in the Southwest. They were coniferous, as shown by microscopic examina- tion of their texture. The species is now extinct and the nearest resembling species now found exists in Asia Minor. The geological history of this forest is very easy to read. The trees have fallen down and floated around in some old arm of the sea until the roots and limbs were worn and rounded just as we see like examples on the sandbars of the Mississippi. The trees became heavy and water-logged and settled to the sea bottom. They were slowly covered by a deposit of sandstone of forty to fifty feet, or more, in thickness, and under this deposit below the old sea bed they were slowly transformed into chal- cedony of such beautiful and varied colors as has been nowhere else equaled. Afterwards the land slowly rose until it became an elevated plain 7,000 feet above the present sea level. Erosion by wind and water has done its work and un- covered several thousand acres of this antediluvian plain. The great logs lie, many of them, just as they appeared ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 205 when they first sank to their present resting place. Along the edge of the rocky blnffs they may be still partly cov- ered with the overlying standstone and partly protruding into the excavated valley. The genesis of this old forest is thus preserved by the testimony of the rocks. The Santa Fe Railway passes through Adamana and Holbrook, from five to twelve miles away, and the traveler across the continent has the easy opportunity to see the greatest scenic wonder in the world, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona, and the greatest natural curios- ity, the Petrified Forest of Arizona. Under the turquoise sky of the desert the scenery is doubly beautiful. There are other petrified forests, but this is The Petri- fied Forest of the World. Yellow, red, blue, white, black, brown, pink, purple, green, gray, in fact all the colors of the rainbow are found in these old trees. Many of them are five feet in diameter and one hundred and forty feet in length, and lie just as they were originally deposited imbedded a few inches in the desert sand. In another place the old sea bottom has been eroded below its original level and there the trees have been broken into short logs and have rolled into great con- fusion. The "Natural Bridge" is a beautiful specimen, where a tree still lies imbedded in the sandstone at each end, and a deep ravine, forty-five feet wide, has been washed away beneath it. The winds and the rain have worn away the sandstone, but the petrified trees are as hard and endur- ing as the eternal adamant. Coleridge describes the great arches of a Gothic cathe- dral as a "petrified religion." As hard almost as the diamond, as brilliant in colors as the flowers of the field, this ancient forest, which was transformed into stone perhaps before man appeared on 206 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY the planet, is still to be seen under the sunshine of Ari- zona. It should by all means be preserved for the ad- miration and wonder of generations yet to come. Let these trees be protected from vandalism and they will endure forever. It is to be hoped that the public sen- timent which has urged and warmly approved of the ac- tion of the House of Representatives in thrice passing the bill to set aside this land as a public national park will in the near future bring about favorable action in the Sen- ate. That lover of nature, the President, will be glad to sign such a bill. PRESERVING PETRIFIED FORESTS x So far as the House of Representatives can guarantee it, the people of the United States will be assured, when the present bill passes, of the possession, as a public park, of the famous petrified forests of Arizona. The vast tract of interesting country thus set apart for the people and preserved forever from the devastating hand of the van- dal will be known as the Petrified Forest National Park. There is no doubt that the bill will become a law and a wonder of the New World will thus be added to the na- tion's pleasure grounds. A description of the remarkable scenery and objects of interest in the region where the new national park is to be located will show that the United States government has taken a timely step in the people's interests in making public property of this extremely interesting section of Uncle Sam's dominions. The United States government tardily recognized the necessity of preserving as public property some of the great wonders of nature. The Yellowstone National Park was the first one of these reservations thus set apart as a national resort. Since then the public lands around the Yosemite have been embraced in a national park. Efforts are being made to save the big trees of California from the saw of the lumberman. Mt. Ranier has become a park and its natural scenery preserved from mutilation. Arizona, with her pure healing air, has for many years been the source of renewed life to the invalids of America. New Mexico and Arizona will in due time take the place, of i By John F. Lacey, Washington, May 19, 1900. 208 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Nice and Mentone as the resort of the weak-lunged people of both hemispheres. Arizona has, in addition to the beauty of her climate, two of the most remarkable scenic wonders on the globe. The Grand Canyon of the Colo- rado is without question the most sublime and startling of all the works of nature in North America. But there is in Arizona a more wonderful scene than even the Grand Canyon itself. In a desert region, a few hours' journey by rail east of the Grand Canyon, is the petrified forest. In other parts of the United States there may be found occasional petrifications of remarkable character, but here are the remains of a great forest. These trees are of a coniferous, extinct species, with the exception of a single cottonwood trunk. They lie prone upon the ground as they drifted in on a prehistoric sea. Water-logged and heavy they sank to the bottom, and were there covered with sand and were changed into chal- cedony. The sand hardened and cemented into stone and finally rose above the waters. This stone forest lay hid- den from view for countless ages. By slow disintegra- tion the imbedding rock all washed away and the petrified trees, being much harder and more durable, were left ly- ing scattered in dense profusion on the surface of the earth, where they had so long laid buried. These trees are of the most beautiful colors, and the stone takes as high a polish as granite. Reckless tourists have long been engaged in carrying away fragments, even using dynamite on some of the specimens, while enter- prising money-making men have planned the removal and grinding of these trees into powder to be used as a sub- stitute for emery, the only thing that prevented this com- mercial vandalism being the discovery of a stone in Can- ada that would answer the same purpose. Over an area several miles in extent the petrified logs are countless at all horizons and lie in the greatest pro- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 209 fusion on the knolls, buttes, and spurs, and in the ravines and gulches, while the ground seems to be everywhere studded with gems consisting of the broken fragments of all shapes and sizes and exhibiting all the colors of the rainbow. There is no other petrified forest in which the wood as- sumes so many varied and interesting forms and colors, and it is these that present the chief attraction to the gen- eral public. The state of mineralization in which much of this wood exists almost places them among the gems and precious stones. Not only are chalcedony, opals, and agates found among them, but many approach the condi- tion of jasper and onyx. THE PAJARITO ' AN OUTING WITH THE AKCHAEOLOGISTS It was in August, 1902, that Prof. Edgar L. Hewett urged me to visit the ruins of the cliff dwellers and cave dwellers and see for myself the necessity and propriety of the enactment of a law to protect and preserve the ancient aboriginal ruins of the Southwest; and so Dr. Hewett, Congressman B. S. Rodey, Land Commissioner Keen, and myself visited the Pajarito region ; slept in the deserted caves, explored the communal ruins, and then pursued our journey to the still living pueblos of Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Cochiti, ending with Santa Fe and Acoma. It was this trip that led to the introduction and passage of my bill for the preservation of aboriginal ruins and places of scenic and scientific interest upon the public do- main, under which the Petrified Forest, the Olympic Range Elk Reserve and about two hundred places of eth- nological interest have been designed as " monuments ' ' and preserved to the public. And it was the enactment of this law which led to the formation of the School of Amer- ican Archaeology. Under the American Archaeological Institute, or aux- iliary to it, are four archaeological schools : Rome, Ath- ens, Jerusalem, and Santa Fe. Santa Fe is young as compared with the other three cities, but is old indeed measured by American history, for its foundation in 1605 was four years ahead of James- town and fifteen years senior to the landing at Plymouth Rock. i By John F. Lacey. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 211 The old Palace of the Governors at Santa Fe has been dedicated as a museum of antiquities by the intelligent forethought of the legislature of New Mexico, and the restoration of the ancient building has been conducted with excellent taste under the auspices of Director Hew- ett. Where an old timber has gone to decay it is restored by the substitution of another old, but sound, timber, thus preserving the harmony of the building. It is in the new state of New Mexico that the American School of Archaeology holds its summer session. In the winter its director uncovers and explores the ruins of Chichen Itza, of Uxmal, of Palenquie, and Quiriga, in Yucatan and Central America, where ruins equaling Luxor in magnitude are hidden in the tropical jungle. New Mexico has been celebrated by Dr. Charles F. Lummis in story and song. Out of his description of this marvelous land I will take the liberty to condense and quote : New Mexico — the land of Poco Tiemp — sun, silence, and adobe — a picture, a romance, and a dream, all in one — the sun's very own — where distance is lost and the eye is a liar — where the rattlesnake is a demigod and the cigarette a means of grace — a land of six-story buildings before Columbus' grand- father was born — a land of a hundred republics centuries be- fore 1776 — ragged courtiers and unlettered diplomats — under the alchemy of its sky mud turns ethereal and the desert a rev- elation — rivers where a minnow must stand on his head to wet his gills — a wilderness of happy silence — an ether of content- ful ease. In 1911 1 enjoyed the pleasure of attending the session of the School of Archaeology in the Rito de los Frijoles (Bean Creek, in plain, unpoetic English). And it was an outing worth while. All ages and many occupations were represented : col- 212 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY lege presidents, business men, ranchers, farmers, teach- ers, lawyers, doctors, supreme court justices, preachers, students, old young people of twelve years, and young old people of seventy joined to make the meeting enjoyable as well as instructive. And they were a jolly lot. Only one kicker was reported, and she arrived after dark and left early next morning. They slept in tents or in the caves, washed in the Rito, and took their meals at Judge Abbott's excellent table at his stone ranch-house in the canon. He called his guests to the table by ringing a triangle, but the meals were square. There are in the Puye, the Tschrege, and the Rito de los Frijoles enough cave dwellings and remains of communal houses to have sheltered a population of fifty thousand souls, if they had all been occupied in the same time. One communal ruin on the top of the mesa of Puye con- tains 1,600 rooms, which would rival some of our modern skyscrapers in its capacity, and its three and four stories of apartments, built with stone tools in the long ago, show a great degree of skill. The plastered floor and walls exhibit methods of industry and cleanliness. We saw how this work was done at Acoma, when we ar- rived in 1902, after a heavy rain. Mud was plentiful in the streets. The men were out harvesting in their little fields, from five to twenty miles away, and the women were busy freshening up the plaster of their three-story houses and whitening them with a whitewash made from rocks near at hand. Their little brown hands were used as trowels and the mud was spread as smoothly as though they had belonged to the plasterers' union. In the narrow valley of the Rito is one of the communal ruins of perhaps a thousand rooms, and twenty Tewa In- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 213 dians from San Ildefonso were engaged in removing the debris and uncovering the walls to the view of the modern American. In the north side walls of the canon, facing the sun- shine, are many caves which were probably the first homes of the early settlers of the Pajarito region. The falling of the rock has buried many houses built against the rocky walls, and the excavation there has laid these ruins bare, where their presence had been unsus- pected. No graveyard has been discovered, but a few skeletons have been found interred in this talus, and the body of one woman buried in the dust of one of the caves. She was clad in woven fabric and was buried in em- bryonic form, with her face down. These people had the superstition that they could go most luckily into the other world in the same form in which they were born into this. Corn husks and cobs, buried in the dust of some of the caves, give evidence of the food upon which these people lived ; and some old turkey corrals containinng deep de- posits of guano show that when Augustus was feeding on peacocks these cave dwellers enjoyed the much more toothsome turkey — the king of all table birds. They are still numerous in New Mexico. I always appreciated Dr. Franklin's suggestion of making the turkey our national bird instead of the blood-thirsty eagle. The wild life of this region is not numerous. In the woods are occasional deer, and the flying squirrels are able to give lessons to the best modern aviators. The water courses in the canons of Puye and Tschrege are dry, and an old pine two hundred years old, growing in the middle of an ancient irrigating ditch at Puye showed that water had been rare in that region for many a year, and gave some hints of the reason why the dense- 214 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY population had disappeared. But the Rito still sparkles and tinkles as it goes through the Canon de los Frijoles and makes music for the sleeping archaeologists in their tents and caves. Would plain Bean Creek have been so musical? The agricultural ants have dug their communal houses and founded their little republics in this region, as well as over the greater part of the elevated plains of the Far West. One of the visitors at the school caught a large centipede in one of the caves and thought he would test the fighting capacity of these ants. The centipede was deposited upon an anthill, when the experience of Gulliver was repeated. The many-legged creature found that each of his formidable legs was an additional handle for his little antagonists. In a short time the centipede was dissected into choice cuts, one joint to each cut, and was carried into the anthill to add to the variety, and decrease the cost of living. The kiva is one of the most curious of the ruins of these old pueblos. The first impression of a stranger is that the kiva is an old cistern. In the Rita de los Fri- joles there are some kivas in the solid rock, and one of them in the ceremonial cave has been cleaned out, re- roofed, and fully restored. In the plaza of the communal building in the canon there are three small kivas, and twenty rods to the east another larger one. These kivas are built upon the same stereotyped plan. They are round and wholly or partially below ground and roofed over, with no opening except in the roof, which is entered by a ladder, the poles of which extend high above the roof. There is an altar near the foot of the ladder and near the altar is a chimney and opening like a fireplace. But ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 215 the chimney was used to carry fresh air down it to the altar and the smoke went up through the entrance in the roof. In the plastered floor are usually found two rows of willow staples inserted, apparently on which to fasten baskets or curtains for some unknown use in the cere- monial of the priests or people. The people were divided into klans and each klan had its kiva, and from these kivas the dancers, painted and ornamented, emerged on their festal days. Miss Dissete, connected with the Indian school services, says of the present Pueblo Indians, "that they are al- ways getting ready for a dance, having a dance, or get- ting over a dance." Dear old Bandelier, in his Delight Makers, laid the scene of his novel nearly four hundred years ago in this very canon, and the ruins that he reported in his imag- ination are the same ones that resound with the voices of the old and young archaeologists of 1911. We can well suspect that these kivas were the dark scenes of political plotting of the various parties in these little republics in the old days. In the cave dwellings the religious turn of these people is evidenced by the receptacle for the "prayer meal"; a hole in the wall large enough to hold about a half a gallon of the meal, kept the sacred offering always ready for use ; and a pinch of the meal cast north, south, east, and west, then up and down, reached the six cardinal points and the god would be sure to take notice. In a ceremonial smoke, the smoke was likewise puffed in these six directions. The whole region is referred to as the Pajarito and each separate canon and mesa had its dwellings. Rough, inartistic drawings of the sun, snakes, men, and other figures adorn the rocks and caves. A rather com- 216 MAJOR JOHN F. LAC£Y ically fierce group of these pictured natives, on the wall by the stairway at the Tschrege, Dr. Hewett christened the "Reception Committee." At Cochiti there is a little old church that has been decorated with elk, buffalo, birds, horses, and other character sketches but with con- siderable artistic skill. The present inhabitants of Co- chiti have a tradition that their ancestors once inhabited the Rito and it is highly probable that this is true. As their need of defense grew less they would naturally turn to the more fertile and wider valley of the Rio Grande. The painted cave and the stone lions are among the most interesting of the remains. The pictures in the cave are in black and red and the human figures are im- probable and the birds impossible. Some antiquaries have classed one of the animals as a mammoth, but it looks more like a wolf. A man on horseback, with a bridle on the horse, is evidently junior to the Spanish occupancy, but the decorations may have been accumu- lated though a long period ahead. The stone lions are reached by a very rugged and well- nigh impossible trail. These mountain lions, carved from a single boulder, lie crouched with their long tails extend- ed and their heads between their forefeet. Mexican sheep herders are charged with the vandalism which has mutilated the heads of these lions. Prof. Starr has made plaster casts of these interesting figures and the original casts were placed in the Walker Museum of the Chicago University. From the little stone-walled en- closure where these lions lie is one of the grandest and wildest views in Mexico. They are still held in superstitious reverence and it is difficult to get an Indian to show these lions to a stranger. They show the painted cave and then wish to return without the hard climb to the ancient statuary. A party of the school visited the lions, and killing a rattlesnake ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 217 in one of the caves celebrated the event by cooking the reptile and eating it with their wienewurst luncheon. They were not at all enthusiastic over the dish that so many hunters have so highly praised. The archaeological school had a large tent fly winch was used for the assembly room, and their outing was one of study as well as of amusement. Lectures on Roman excavations, the Greek cities of the African coast, by Dr. Mitchell Carroll ; the Semitic literature by Dr. Paton ; the ruins of the Pajarito by Dr. Hewett; and modern life among the Mojaves by Dr. Harrington, were instructive as well as pleasing. The school met at eight a. m. for one of these lectures, at two p. m. for another, and again at eight p. m., by the blaze of the camp fire, listened to the third of the day's series. A paper, the Rito de los Frijoles Gazette, was prepared and fragments of it read each evening. Some very artis- tic drawings adorned its pages, and it will be bound and take its place among the archives in the Museum at Santa Fe with the issues of the previous year. The last day of the school was a busy and eventful day. A lecture at eight in the morning by Dr. Carroll, an af- ternoon lecture at the ceremonial cave by Dr. Hewett, followed by a walking lecture along the cliffs and among the ruins, and a night lecture by Dr. Harrington on the Mojaves, closed the open session. Then the twenty Tewa Indians had a pleasing spectacle in store for us. Piles of pine boughs were heaped in front of those parts of the caves that had been cleared out and in the plaza of the old pueblo, were lighted at nine o 'clock, and the glorious old canon blazed with light as it had done on some festal night when its native population were alive ages ago. We listened to the laughing Rito as it raced down the 218 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY valley. Other voices had been stilled but the brook was still alive, and spoke the language of the past. The Indians gathered in the old plaza and danced for us. They performed the dog dance, the basket dance, the eagle dance, and the rain dance. These dances were not what they were in the old time when feathered heads and gaudy trappings made the motions as brilliant as they were graceful. But they sang their weird chant, as of old, when they gave their imitations of the dogs and the eagles, and weaved in and out as they imitated the mak- ing of the basket. The rain dance ended the perform- ance and sure enough the rain fell before morning. Frank Springer, the naturalist and geologist, and one of the country's greatest lawyers, was roughing it with the school. Mr. Springer is perhaps the greatest author- ity on crinoids. Not long ago he was in the British Museum and asked to see the crinoid collection. He was told that he could not do so, as the collections were scat- tered in heaps, in progress of reclassification, and that no one could see them. He asked what classification they were using, and was then told that they were to be "according to Springer." He told them he was the same Springer and soon was with his favorite crinoids. Dr. Lummis, always picturesque and interesting, was laboring under blindness, which we all hoped was tem- porary. Led about by his little flaxen-haired son, Quimu, he was one of the happiest of the party, and his guitar and songs enlivened the evening campfire. And what shall I say of Dr. Hewett? He was the life of the school which was his creation. He was charac- terized as a North Carolina judge once was, as "per- petual motion at maximum velocity." He is full of "contagious activity": he kept things always moving. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 219 In going into the Rito I stood upon the rim of the canon in the twilight. A rainy mist hung over the moun- tain. The campfires were already burning and the scene was one of surpassing beauty. In this sequestered val- ley, where once happy thousands made their homes, only the ranch-house of Judge Abbott is evidence of present occupancy. As we reluctantly left the valley in the morning the sun was shining and the bluest of blue skies arched over the mountain and canon walls. The Rito is full of interest for the lovers of the beauty of outdoor life. A visit to its caves and ruined buildings can be well followed by another to the Jimez Mountains, and the Zuni, Taos, Acoma, and the other living pueblos will reward the curious traveler. In this high altitude the deep breathing of the dryest and purest air will give health and strength for the battle of life in the hard grind of everyday work in this modern, everyday world. CLIFF DWELLERS' NATIONAL PARK1 The committee on the public lands, to whom was re- ferred the bill (H. R. 13071) to set apart certain lands in the territory of New Mexico as a public park, to be known as the Cliff Dwellers' National Park, for the purpose of preserving the prehistoric caves and ruins and other works and relics therein, beg leave to submit the follow- ing report, and recommend that said bill do pass, with amendments as follows : In line 6, page 4, insert after the word "visitors" the following: "and he may, under such rules and regula- tions as he may prescribe, permit grazing therein. ' ' In lines 17 and 18, page 4, strike out the words "and approximately of the same value. ' ' In regard to the status of the lands in question, the records of this office (Department of the Interior, Secre- tary Hitchcock's letter) show as follows: The Cochiti and the Canada de Cochiti claims (consolidated), containing 104,554 acres, have been confirmed for 5,000 acres only, and that in locating the grant the whole or part of the 5,000 acres may possibly be taken from the south border of the proposed park. The remainder of the lands are vacant public lands, with the exception of a small land grant and a few scat- tering tracts covered by settlement and other claims. The proposal to set this region apart as a national park in or- der to properly protect and preserve these prehistoric ruins meets with my hearty approval, and I have accordingly prepared and submit herewith the draft of a proposed bill to that effect. The boundaries of the park are indicated on the map accom- 1 January 23, 1901, Mr. Lacey, from the committee on the public lands, submitted the report. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 221 panying Mr. Mankin's report of December 4, 1899, and also on the inclosed map of the territory of New Mexico. The estimated area of the park is about 240 square miles, con- taining about 153,620 acres. The southwestern portion of this region, township 18 north, ranges 5 and 6 east, lying west of the Ramon Vigil Grant, is known to this office to contain cliff dwell- ers' ruins and other antiquities of great interest, and the same has accordingly been included in the boundaries of the proposed park, although, owing to the inaccessibility of the region, the lo- cation of these ruins is not indicated on the inclosed map of that district. Mr. Mankin 's report of December 4 states : ''I would suggest as a suitable name for said reservation the title 'Pajarito National Park,' the 'Pajarito Canyon' (pro- nounced pah-har-ee-toe, meaning a small bird or sparrow) being the central and dominant feature of interest in the tract. ' ' I have accordingly designated the reservation "The Pajarito National Park." I desire to further invite attention to the fact that, since Mr. Mankin's report of December 4 states that the entire western portion of this region "is covered with a heavy growth of pine, spruce, and fir, ' ' which forms the watershed of numerous tribu- taries of the Rio Grande del Norte, the establishment of this na- tional park will doubtless serve an added purpose in conserving the water supply of that region. The need for promptness of action in creating this park, urged in the above-mentioned report by Mr. Mankin, dated March 1, 1900, is further attested by the accompanying letter re- ceived, under date of October 26, 1900, from the president of the New Mexico Normal University, Hon. Edgar L. Hewett, stating as follows: ' ' I believe more earnestly than ever in the desirability of cre- ating this into a national park under the protection of the gov- ernment. At no time in the history of that region has such wanton vandalism gone on as during the past summer. Irre- sponsible persons have destroyed valuable burial mounds, de- stroyed the walls of buildings, and much priceless material has 222 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY been broken up. That which has been taken out and sold is, of course, not absolutely lost, for it usually finds its way into mu- seums. ' ' Your committee have considered the proposition and believe that it would be a wise act to preserve these re- mains. They are fortunately situated in a dry climate wiiere the elements act slowly in the work of destruction. The remains include picture writings, carved stone lions, cliff houses, cave dwellings, and community houses. The land lies at an altitude of from 6,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea, and the climate for a summer outing is as delightful as any in the world. There are many of these ruins elsewhere in New Mex- ico, Arizona, and Colorado, but there is probably no locality in which so extensive remains are found in so small a space. It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of these ancient structures, and that from one eminence 2,000 of these dwellings may be seen. Some of the communal residences are two or three stories high and contain 1,000 to 2,000 rooms each, with underground council chambers. Use of the grass within the proposed reservation, your committee thinks, can be made without impairing the use of the park, provided suitable regulations against van- dalism shall be made by the secretary of the interior, and we therefore have recommended that permits for grazing may be issued. Each generation usually destroys the works of its an- cestors. Modern Rome is built out of the remains of the ancient city. In the United States the prehistoric works of the aboriginal races have rapidly disappeared under the hand of the white race. In the Pajarito region a very large quantity of these relics remains because the aridity of the climate has ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 223 prevented general settlement, and without injury to the living we can preserve these remarkable memorials of the dead. While the name of the proposed park, Pajarito, sug- gested by the Department of the Interior, is musical, there is nothing in it suggesting the purposes of the pro- posed park, as the word means ' ' little bird. ' ' It would be commonly mispronounced by English-speaking people, and we deemed it best to adopt the name which carries with it the purpose and object of the proposed reserva- tion. ON PENSIONS x I did not intend to take any part in this debate, but I cannot sit in silence and listen to the criticisms which have come from the other side of this chamber as against the pension appropriation bill without at least making a brief statement in behalf of the old soldiers of this coun- try, not in behalf of the "battle-scarred sutlers" that were referred to by my genial friend from Mississippi (Mr. Allen). My friend from Mississippi always clothes with humor any subject, however grave it may be, and we listen to him with pleasure and delight. He ought to remember, as no doubt he does, that the reason why this is the greatest pension roll that the world has ever seen is because it follows in the wake of the greatest war that the world has ever seen. The size of the roll is an evi- dence of his prowess and of the bravery of the men who fought with him upon the Southern side of the question. This country at the very beginning of its existence started out with the idea of having practically no stand- ing army; having in lieu of a great standing army a nucleus, a germ around which volunteers might rally, and upon which might be organized in times of our ne- cessity an army great enough to meet any emergency that might arise. That policy necessitated the adoption of a plan of pensions in time of peace for the volunteers in time of war. It was commenced with the very begin- ning of our government. The Revolutionary soldiers were put upon the pension rolls, first through lists re- i Speech of Hon. John F. Laeey on H. B. bill 64303, appropriation for payment of invalid and other pensions. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 225 vised by the Supreme Court, later on by acts of Congress — usually by special acts — until substantially all of them were put upon the rolls. The War of 1812, the Indian wars that followed, and the Mexican War have also resulted in the same system ; and instead of keeping a great standing army ready for any war that might arise, we have relied upon the peo- ple — the great mass of the people — to come forward ; and in order to do that we have adopted the pension system which is now so severely criticised. Instead of keeping an army always ready, we have found the volunteer system has worked well. The South sent her volunteers to the Mexican War. They are upon the pen- sion roll. The South will send her volunteers to the next war, whenever that may be, and everyone fighting under the Stars and Stripes in any war, if they become disabled, ought to have pensions. That has been the policy of government. It is true that the roll is a large one, but you must not lose sight of the fact that the war was also a great war. Criticism has been indulged in as to one feature of the law — that a rich man may draw a pension. Very well ; he can not draw a pension unless he is disabled. The old soldiers of this country, when the question came up as to whether a discrimination should be made against those who had means and that pensions should be only to the poor, came forward almost as a man and said they did not want any ' ' pauper legislation. ' ' They did not want legislation requiring them to go before the commissioner of pensions and ask for a pension on the ground that they were paupers, so that a certificate of pension would be simply an equivalent to an admission to the poorhouse. They resented anything of that kind, and it was in defer- ence to that honorable, upright, and noble sentiment that 226 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY no discrimination was made in favor of the poor and against the rich. The poor soldier was the most earnest in his opposition to such discrimination. And yet we have heard here today repeated criticism of the law be- cause it does not make such a distinction. Mr. Gaines : Let me ask the gentleman this question : If Jay Gould were living today, would the gentleman be willing to pension him? Mr. Lacey : If Jay Gould were living today and had fought in the war, say had lost his arm in the war, I would not care if he owned the whole Southern Confeder- acy, I would still pension him. I would not draw any distinction as is suggested here. I would not require the old soldier to go down upon his knees at the pension office and say, "I am a pauper and I ask the grace of the government. ' ' I would have him, rather, go and demand his pension as a right from the government, which adopt- ed that policy in years gone by. This pension roll will decrease fast enough. A good deal of sport has been made in this debate about its not having reached the max- imum. It has been said that it was to have reached the maximum in 1894; well, it would have done so in 1894 if the law had been fairly administered under the last administration. I am about to explain to the gentleman from Mis- sissippi (Mr. Allen) why the roll did not reach the full limit at that time. The secretary of the interior in that Democratic administration was Mr. Hoke Smith, of Georgia. He had control of the pension bureau and he prevented the roll from then reaching the full limit. He was determined that it should not, and he applied all the power of the national government to keeping it down, and the $8,000,000 that has been referred to as having covered back into the treasury was simply arrears from ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 227 that administration — money that ought to have been paid in 1894 — so that we are paying now for the past as well as for the present. The present commissioner of pensions has pursued a liberal policy and yet has kept within the letter and the spirit of the law, and yet an increase in the roll has come now from the fault of the previous admin- istration; it has come from the setting aside of orders made in the past cutting down pensions improperly. Pen- sions in many cases were cut down to $6 a month un- der the new law, which have been restored by the present administration to the limit of the act of 1890 — $12 a month. This administration is doing that which the former one should have done. Mr. Sayers : Mr. Chairman, I am sure my friend does not wish to misrepresent the administration of the pen- sion office. Now, does he not know that when the act of 1890 was passed it became the policy of the administra- tion at that time, which was a Republican administration, to allow pensions exclusively under the act of 1890, and to pretermit for the time being the applications which had been made under previous pension laws and which involved the payment of large arrearages? Does he not know that to be the fact, and does he not also know that in order to execute the act of 1890 the force of the pen- sion office was increased by over 700 clerks? It was dis- tinctly stated before the committee on appropriations as a reason why this increase of clerks should be allowed that it was the intention of the administration to execute the act of 1890 as rapidly as possible. Mr. Lacey: I do not concur in all of the gentleman's statement. That the act of 1890 was given precedence in the pension office over the old law, "on account of the large arrearages " I do not concede ; but I do concede that preference was given to claims under the act of 1890 for 228 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY this simple reason : Under that act all the claimant had to do to get upon the roll was to prove that he was dis- abled, that he had an honorable discharge, that he had served ninety days or more in the Union army, and that his disability was not caused by vicious habits of his own. When this state of facts was established by the proofs, he was put on the roll for the disabilities existing, not ex- ceeding $12 a month. This made a simple and easy set- tlement of many cases, and as every man who applies un- der the old law would be entitled to apply under the new law in lieu of the old, cases under the new law that did not require any very technical examination were given precedence, and, following that, claims of the same sol- diers were adjusted under the old law. The man was taken out of the poorhouse, or at least given relief, under the act of 1890, and, following that, he was granted his rating under the old law, if it exceeded $12 a month. That method of settling claims was adopted, and I think it was wisely adopted. And there was no conceal- ment about it. Openly and fairly the administration adopted this course ; openly and fairly the commissioner of pensions appeared before the committees of Congress and asked additional allowance for clerk hire so that this class of claims might be taken up and adjusted, and that men who were not upon the pension roll at all, who had applied under the act of June, 1890, should speedily have their claims adjusted. And new claims were given pref- erence over claims of increase. There is another feature of the act of 1890 which has not been alluded to, and which ought to be fairly under- stood by this House. The great mass of cases allowed under the act of 1890 for disability were really allowed for disability contracted in the service ; but owing to the lapse of time, owing to the uncertainty and frailty of the human memory, owing to the death of witnesses, it has ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 229 been impossible in many cases to prove up those claims. Consequently a man who had had a claim filed under the old law would change his application and accept a pen- sion under the new law, such pension being limited to $12 per month. This has been done in many cases where the disability was actually contracted in the service and in the line of duty. It was the purpose of the act of 1890 to enable claimants to do this. To illustrate : Only a short time ago a man came to see me in regard to his pension application. He had lost one of his eyes in the service, yet he could not prove that fact. The injury was received from the explosion of a shell at Cold Harbor ; but the exact circumstances of the occurrence could not be proved, so far as his case was concerned, because by that same shot fourteen of the fif- teen men were killed or injured. The difficulty was to prove which persons were injured by the explosion, and the injury to his eye was slight in the beginning. This man had endeavored to prove up his case under the old law, but some of the witnesses were dead and others scat- tered in various parts of the county, and he had not seen them for thirty years. I said to him, "Simply put in your application under the new law, and the pension of- fice will give you a rating for the loss of your eye without proof that the injury originated in the service." Yet the man undoubtedly lost the sight of that eye by the ex- plosion of a shell, although it was impossible for him to prove it after so great a lapse of time. It was to cover cases of that kind that this law was adopted; yet the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. DeAr- mond) insists that we should first inquire in those cases whether the individual who has suffered an injury is able to support himself out of means which he may have ac- cumulated, whether he is capable of earning a living in some other way than by manual labor. If, for instance, 230 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY he is a lawyer or a doctor or a preacher, receiving in- come from his profession, the gentleman would exclude him. We had one case where the question came up as to whether a judge of the Supreme Court of one of the states could draw pension. He had been injured in such a way that his wound still required to be dressed every day. Twenty-five or thirty years after the war, and un- der the late administration, it was then held that inas- much as he was drawing salary as judge of the Supreme Court and able to live without the aid of the federal gov- ernment, he should not receive a pension. But such is not the policy on which our pension laws have ever been framed. The pauper idea has never gone into our pen- sion legislation; and it never ought to go there. The pensions granted in the earlier history of the gov- ernment were usually granted by direct act of Congress. If you will turn to the statute books of that period you will find page after page reciting the names of soldiers of the War of the Revolution to whom pensions were granted by special act. Congress at that time settled those questions directly, and the simple question was as to the character of service. As to the Mexican War, the length of service entitling a man to a pension was very short, much shorter than the act of 1890. Service pensions were allowed to soldiers of the Mex- ican War without reference to disability, the only limita- tion being one of age. The law referred to [mentioned by Representative Sayers] did not require the Mexican soldier to show disability contracted in the service. But such pensions were found inadequate in many instances, and special pensions in particular cases were granted by Congress to increase the amount, the original amount be- ing $8 a month. The original pension was not predicated upon the idea of poverty, but upon the idea of helpless- ness and poverty additional pensions were allowed in ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 231 those cases. Then a general law was enacted increasing the Mexican service pensions to $12 where the soldier was dependent, but for disability contracted in that war it was not necessary to show dependence. Now I do not care to detain the committee longer upon this question. I regret to see this old straw thrashed over again by gentlemen on the other side of the House as it has been session after session in the past. The pension roll will grow small soon enough. It must of necessity become smaller rapidly from this time on, for the hand of death took 31,960 pensioners from the roll last year. This rate of death ought to satisfy the greatest pension hater in the land. The total number of pension- ers dropped last year from all causes was 41,122. Among the pensioners now on the roll are 65,869 minors who will soon pass the pensionable age. The average age of the soldiers of the late war is now fifty-six years. In fourteen years their average age will be seventy. It is true that as to widows the pension will continue for a long time. That involves another question, as to which a measure has been proposed in the House, and I believe also in the Senate, to limit the rights of widows to the law actually in existence at the time of their marriage. The passage of that law would of course put out perhaps ninety per cent or more of the widows of the soldiers of the late war, because the great bulk of those soldiers were too young during the time that the war was going on to be married. Whether that would be a wise meas- ure or not there will be time enough to discuss when it is brought before this body. As to the present appropria- tion, if it is not ample, an increased appropriation can be allowed. The amount embraced in this bill is precisely what the secretary of the interior has asked for. AT NORTHWEST IOWA VETERAN REUNION L Time and space work the miracle of bringing people nearer together. An American from California meeting another American from New York in Constantinople promptly recognizes him by his appearance and his clothes; and although their homes are three thousand miles apart they seem like next-door neighbors when they meet upon the shores of the Bosphorus. When the soldiers of the late war first came home, they felt no great anxiety to meet their comrades, except of their own company or regiment. Later on a member of their own brigade or division seemed like an old acquaint- ance; and as time progressed the range of comradeship enlarged until now the soldier of the Army of the Ten- nessee looks upon a comrade of the Army of the Potomac as though he had been a messmate. Thirty years have gone by; the individuality with which we have associated the contest disappears in the remote distance; and here on the prairies of northwestern Iowa each soldier is a comrade to every other man who wore the blue. State and corps lines are lost, and each man knows the other only as a defender of the Union. The prairies of northwestern Iowa did not send many soldiers to the front ; this region was then but thinly in- habited. When the war closed the soldiers turned their faces to the west, and today there is no place so remote, so far from the frontier but there you may meet some surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic. History is said to be a resurrection of the dead; the 1 Address by John F. Lacey delivered at Le Mars, Iowa, June 20, 1895. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 233 dead past and its dead actors, we bring forward today for the emulation of, and as an example to the living. The prophet Ezekiel twenty-five hundred years ago called upon the dry bones in the valley to rise and live, and lo! they stood before him; and the Lord said unto him, "Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God ; come from the four winds, 0 breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So he prophesied as commanded, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army." 37 Ezekiel. We cannot perform the miracle of Ezekiel, but in our minds on this occasion, let us bring back, as far as pos- sible, the memory of that great army of the dead who fell in our own war; or who have since its termination gone down to their graves in peace. The comrades who are here may recall forms and faces, and clothe their souls again with flesh, but to the younger generation that army is as much a thing of the past as the dead army of Israel. The average human life of a generation is thirty-three years, and a generation has passed since the period that we now recall. In those dreadful days grief burned faster than tears could drown. And, after this lapse of time, instead of grieving that these men are dead, we rejoice rather that they have lived. The Grand Army of the Republic feels no vindictive- ness after all these years; it is full of fraternity and charity and above all it places loyalty. The Grand Army, however, will always recognize the merit of having fought upon the right side in that contest. The old soldiers who are here today are not what they used to be. Not long ago I witnessed a soldiers' gather- ing where the veterans formed in line, with drums beat- ing and colors flying, and saw a young mother with her 234 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY baby cab charge right through the line. They were not as dangerous as they used to be. But though broken in body they are still strong in spirit. Their condition re- minds me of an incident I have heard in regard to some Japanese students in this county. In learning our lan- guage they first translated a sentence into Japanese, passed it to another one of the class who translated it back into English. They tried their apprentice hands on this sentence, ' ' The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. ' ' It was translated into Japanese, given a coat of Japan varnish, and retranslated into English, when it was ren- dered: "The ghost wants to, but the fresh meat is feeble." And such is the situation of the boys here to- day. Last year four thousand of the veterans of '61 went down to their honored graves. It is well that these schools of patriotism should meet to revive the lessons of the past. The Grand Army dies day by day, and takes in no recruits ; but whilst the army dies its spirit and its principles live in the next generation. In looking back now over that stirring period, events seem to have been shaped by the hand of God; history has been directed by choice rather than chance. When Miltiades, the night before Marathon, called a council of war, the decision of the generals to fight was passed by a majority of one. The battle was fought, and the civil- ization of the whole world depended upon its success, and the effect of that battle has been projected into remote ages. The Greek civilization which triumphed on that day has shaped the destiny of the world. On the evening of the first day at Shiloh, General McPherson asked General Grant what steps he proposed to take to cross the river and save his army. Grant re- plied that he intended to resume the battle in the morn- ing and had no doubt of winning the victory. Choice ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 235 rather than chance has shaped the course of history. Grant exercised choice; he did not yield to an adverse chance. Looking back now after so many years, it is evident that the decision of the war was the best for both parties. It brought peace with safety. For many years the Tweed flowed as the boundary between the hostile Scotch and English ; its waters were often dyed with the blood of armies. Now it flows through a united and peaceful people. But it is where union is combined with safety, and a due regard to the rights of the people involved, that such union brings peace and prosperity. The union of Alsace and Lorraine with Germany resulted in a cor- don of fieldworks and fortresses ; it is a union of force. Passing through that frontier today, the vast armies of France and Germany glare at each other over and across the line, waiting only for an opportunity to re- sume the contest. Had the secession movement proved successful our country would have had an arbitrary fron- tier line drawn from the Atlantic far into the interior. Rival custom houses would have stood on opposite sides of all rivers and railways at the boundary. All disputes between the two sections would have been settled by treaties, or by war. Now all matters of controversy are settled by a national Congress, in which every portion of the Union is represented. Statutes and judicial decisions take the place of diplomacy and guns. This Union has cost much in blood, treasure, and tears, but it is well worth the cost. The people of each section are of kindred blood; they come from a common stock; their ancestors sought these shores for a common purpose; their inter- ests were united. In reading the reports of a general in the opposing army the other day, in regard to one of the bloody battles of the war, I found that the Confederate government had 236 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY issued general orders, mentioning as a subject of special distinction, the name of Sergeant A. J. Hinkle, Twelfth Missouri, and Thomas Connor of the Eleventh Missouri, both killed in that battle. On the Union side, Thomas Hinkle of the Thirty-third Iowa and Thomas Connor of the same regiment were also killed. The Confederate Thomas Connor was mentioned in special orders issued by the rebel adjutant-general at Richmond. His name was published in the "Confederate Roll of Honor." Thomas Connor, the Union soldier, has a Grand Army post named after him at Rose Hill, Iowa. Men of the same name, of the same family, fought on opposite sides in that struggle. It was much the best that peace should bring them together again, as a united and friendly peo- ple, instead of as rival and hostile nations. Choice ruled, not chance, and human slavery disappeared forever from the continent of North America. The greatest mistake of our country's settlement was the introduction of African slavery. It was the cause of strife. The hold of the slaver that brought the first cargo was freighted with misery to people long after to be born. I have recently read and reread Jefferson Davis's His- tory of the Confederacy. It is a large volume of 500 pages, and the main purpose of that book was to prove that slavery was not the cause of the war. Even Jefferson Davis, at the end of twenty-five years from emancipa- tion, did not raise his voice in the defense of that institu- tion, but rather sought to relieve himself and his cause of the odium which attached to the defense of so great a wrong. He laboriously attempted to prove that it was not slavery, but the tariff which was the cause of that devastating war. No soldier here cherishes ill-will to any Confederate soldier, living or dead — brave men can always be char- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 237 itable. When Grant gave back to Lee's army their cav- alry horses to plow with, it was an omen of peace. No man can now be buried in one of our national cem- eteries who did not stand upon the side of the right, when men were so much needed. No man can join the Grand Army of the Republic who did not qualify himself by service under the flag, from 1861 to 1865. The little army badge, made from captured cannon, can be worn by no man who at any time was false to his county. At the inauguration of President Harrison, on the 4th of March, 1889, the Senate chamber was brilliant with the uniforms of the diplomatic corps and of the army and navy. The galleries were gay with the beautiful cos- tumes of the women. The supreme judges, clad in their robes of black silk, made a striking contrast with the gay trappings around them. When the retired general of the army, who had the right to wear the full uniform of his rank, came in, tall, erect, and with his keen eye as bright as ever, every eye centered upon him. Presidents have been inaugurated before, presidents would be in- augurated again, but ages would not again produce a William Tecumseh Sherman. Dressed in a plain suit of black, the only mark of distinction of any kind that he wore was the little badge of the Grand Army of the Re- public, which was pimied upon his breast, right over his manly heart. General Sherman was proud of this little badge; it placed him on an equality with the youngest private in his army. The right to wear it could only be acquired by service on the right side in the war for the Union. The time to obtain that right has passed forever. I once heard Governor Flower of New York say that he was at the right age to have fought in the war, but that he had spent that time in laying a foundation for his great fortune. He said, "But I would rather have the 238 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY right to wear the badge of the Grand Army than to hold the title to all the fortune that I have won in my life." It is the creed of every Union soldier to love his state; but to love the Union as a whole, is a love above and be- yond the love of even the state of his birth or the state of his adoption. On occasions like the present we again sing the songs and hear the tunes of the war of 1861 ; but in capturing the Confederate forces and bringing back these states again into the Union, we capture and appropriate their music as well. John Wesley, in speaking of the adoption by him, of the popular airs of his day, and their use, by setting them to hymns, said, that "he did not want the devil to have any of the good tunes." And in the same spirit our bands play "Dixie," "Yankee Doodle," "Maryland," and "Marching Through Georgia." And the music that once stirred the hearts of one or the other of the hostile armies now rouses enthusiasm among both — and why should we not do this? The power of music was strikingly illustrated on one occasion during the siege of Vicksburg. The Chicago Board of Trade regiment was lying in the trenches, when Jules and Frank Lombard, the great singers, visited some of their Chicago friends, in the shelter of the be- sieging earthworks. Here and there along the line the cannon boomed at intervals; the firing was not steady, but the cracking of the rifle of the sharpshooter kept everybody on the alert. Some of the soldiers asked the Lombard boys to sing, and they struck up some popular air, and as their clear and powerful voices carried the melody across the lines the firing slackened and soon ceased altogether along that part of the lines. Having first sung some popular songs, which might be enjoyed on both sides, they sang "The Star Spangled Banner," ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 239 "The Red, White, and Blue," and then followed with some of the more recent songs of the war. The sharpshooters had ceased to ply their deadly arms ; men on both sides climbed out on the top of the earth- works, and for one foe to shoot another under these circumstances would have been looked on as foul murder. As the singers ended the national songs, a Confederate soldier cried out, "Halloo, there; isn't that Jules and Frank Lombard?" and the answer went back that it was. Then, "Sing us Dixie," shouted the rebel; and the Lom- bard boys sang "Dixie" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag,''' and cheers went up from the beleaguered host. And then the singers struck up "Home, Sweet Home," and every heart on both sides beat in response. Memory turned alike to the homes in Illinois and in Iowa, in Georgia and in Tennessee ; and when the strains died away there were a few minutes of absolute silence, and then one of the Board of Trade regiment cried out, "Hallo, Johnny; look out, the concert is over." All clambered back into their trenches again and grim visaged war again took possession of the scene. The example of charity was set by the hardest fighter of the war — Grant — who slew more Confederates, cap- tured more prisoners, and crushed more armies than any of the other commanders on our side, but always spared his enemies when it could be done without danger to his cause. Yet he allowed no human life to stand in the way of the success of the Union. Let us compare his course at Petersburg with that of the greatest general of all time — Napoleon — at Auster- litz. After the bloody contest, amid the snow and ice at Austerlitz, two thousand Russians took shelter upon a frozen lake ; upon the further shore there was still open water, and they found themselves in the middle of the lake with all the avenues of escape cut off. 240 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Napoleon, instead of calling upon them to surrender, caused his artillery to break the ice with round shot, and the Russian forces were buried in the icy waves. Let us turn from this scene of horror to the example of our own Grant. On the day that the Confederates evacuated Peters- burg, and as they were marching through the streets, abandoning the works to join Lee at Five Forks and Ap- pomattox, an officer hastened to Grant and told him that the enemy were marching below in masses, where they could readily be destroyed by artillery, and asked leave to open on them. Grant went to a point where he could look over the ground and saw an opportunity for terrific slaughter of the fleeing army. He replied: "No, let them go ; we will capture them all alive in a day or two ; they cannot escape me." And in his Memoirs, he speaks of the storming of the works at Mobile, which occurred on the same day as the surrender of Lee, as being exceed- ingly unfortunate, although resulting in victory to the Union cause, because, as he said, every life lost in that battle produced unnecessary suffering, for Lee's surren- der ended the war in fact. When this old hero of the war was mustered out on the top of Mt. McGregor, it brought no rejoicing to his former foes. His magnanimity in victory won for him that respect from those he conquered, that he enjoyed from both victory and defeat in the hearts of his own soldiers. Grant conquered twice, first in war and then in peace. Buckner of Donelson helped to carry him to the grave. In recalling again these scenes of the past, let us not forget one of the saddest chapters of the war. The mothers, wives, the sisters, and the daughters of that period bore burdens and cares that the present genera- tion can hardly comprehend. We must not forget them. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 241 Leaving the part of Hamlet out of the play of Hamlet would be more reasonable than leaving Juliet out of Ro- meo and Juliet. The story of the war is wholly incom- plete without the women of the war. Correspondence from home was the constant solace of the soldier in the field. But rare indeed was any letter ever received which did not urge the soldier in the front to do his duty to the end. Fellow-citizens, on such oc- casions as these, we lay aside all matters of differences in politics; we meet today not as partisans, but as pa- triots. All religious creeds, except the broadest and most comprehensive principles of Christian fellowship, are forgotten on an occasion like this. Whilst from this platform nothing would be more im- proper than to discuss the relative merits of different political parties; still I will go far enough to say that every American, young or old, should manifest his con- cern in public affairs by taking an active interest in all political questions. I believe it is better to be on the wrong side of a question of this kind than upon no side. The man who makes a mistake by taking the wrong side of a public question may, upon consideration, change his views ; but the man who feels so little interest in his country as to stand neutral upon living issues, is not so likely to get right upon anything. He is a deadhead on the body politic. As wind purifies the air, as the current enlivens the water of the stagnant pool, so activity in political life makes the body politic vigorous and healthy. Whilst people remain awake and take sides, they will con- tinue to deserve to be free. The greatest of all centuries is coming to a close ; the eastern sky is already lightened with the approaching dawn of the twentieth century. On no country does that century bid fair to rise so gloriously as upon our own. When the war of 1861 broke out, ours was a nation of 242 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY thirty million people; eight thousand millions worth of property was destroyed ; hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and hundreds of thousands of men carry with them still the marks of that contest. But in spite of it all, our country today is the home of more than seventy millions of people ; no slave lives within its borders, and the example of Lincoln has been followed in Russia and Brazil. And that institution, which was so proud and haughty in the middle of the present century, bids fair to become extinct the world over before the twentieth century is ushered in. Out of the old field comes new corn; out of the past battle-fields arise examples that will teach while time lasts. As the survivors pass away new generations fall into line and take up the story and pass it on to the youth of the next, and in commemorating the past we are guard- ing safely the heritage of the future. At this reunion the Women's Relief Corps represents the women of the war and their descendants. To the mothers of that war I have already referred. The Sons of Veterans are present and in the event of another war they would undoubtedly take the places of their sires in a way that would do honor to their pedigree. The world would repeat the old Greek proverb: "This is not Achilles' son, this is Achilles himself." It was the good fortune of the late war to bring into play a wide range of talent. This is evident when we look upon any gathering of the survivors. The soldiers on both sides were not machines; the armies of that war were thinking machines. George Eliot describes a game of chess in which the pawns and other pieces thought and made moves on their own account, thus greatly compli- cating the game to be played. It was such a game as this that was played in 1861. Many a battle turned on the active and quick thought of some young volunteer officer ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 243 or soldier who saw the turning point and caught the situ- ation in time and turned defeat into victory by some move not ordered by the master of the game. The real hero of that war was the private soldier. When the war closed many were the forebodings of the results of the return of those great armies to civil life. It was freely prophesied that the soldiers would fill our poor-houses, our jails, and our penitentiaries, but the world was disappointed in the result. These conse- quences have often followed the disbanding of armies; but the result depends upon the kind of an army that has disbanded. Macaulay tells us the result of the mustering out of the Puritanic army of Cromwell, when the Stuarts again ascended the throne, was : The troops were now disbanded. Fifty thousand men, accus- tomed to the profession of arms, were at once thrown on the world; and experience seemed to warrant the belief that this throng would produce much misery and crime; that the dis- charged veterans would be seen begging in every street, or would be driven by hunger to pillage. But no such result followed. In a few months there remained not a trace indicating that the most formidable army in the world had just been absorbed with the mass of the community. The royalists themselves confessed that, in every department of honest industry the discarded war- riors prospered beyond other men; that none was charged with any theft or robbery ; that none was heard to ask alms ; and that if a baker, a mason, or a wagoner attracted notice by his dil- igence and sobriety he was, in all probability, one of Oliver's old soldiers. Unlike the soldiers of Cromwell, however, the armies of the war of '61, when they returned home, took their positions in every avenue and walk of civil life. No place was too good for them; no position was too high for them. The name of the general who commanded is merely the 244 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY name of the force or movement under his command; when we speak of the march to the sea, we give it the name of Sherman. When we describe the battle in the clouds at Lookout, we call it Hooker; when we speak of the great Confederate charge at Gettysburg, we call it Pickett; the track of flame down the valley of Virginia, we speak of as Sheridan. The deadly contest in the wilderness we call Grant. But in all these cases, on which ever side the victory came, it was due, after all, to the heroism, the patience, the obedience, and the self-for- getfulness of the young soldier. After Napoleon's army died in the snows of Russia, there was no longer a Napoleon. The finest generalship, the most untiring efforts were made by Napoleon after that, but in vain. The Grand Army upon which his em- pire had been built was dead. No leader can accomplish anything without men. An army is the strongest of all arguments. The great general who led a million men against Rus- sia soon found himself at Elba followed by the most pestiferous of all annoyances, his wife's millinery bills. Without his army he was nothing. Whilst good has come out of the war, yet it was so full of evils that every man who remembers that period hopes never to see its like again. Foreign war has been re- ferred to as the heat of exercise, whilst a civil war is the heat of a fever. The citizen soldiers of the republic at every meeting controlled by them, should seek to turn that meeting to the advantage of their country. Amid the turbulence and riots of 1893 it was a gratifying fact that but one of those disturbances was led by an old soldier. How to take care of the future is a question for us all. Education is the best safeguard for a nation's stability. In looking back, however, we are reminded that it was ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 245 ignorant old Rome that conquered the world, and learned Rome that lost it. But learned Rome, though filled with scholars, had no educated common people. The training of the masses was in the wrong direction. Whenever a Roman legion was stationed in the province there we find a center of education ; but corruption in the center sapped the vitals of the nation, and Rome fell. In our country, the universal dissemination of a sub- stantial education among the common people is the best guarantee of our future. Lincoln said, "God must have loved the common people or he would not have made so many of them. ' ' Comrades, we have done our part towards making this country and generation better than the past. There has never been a period in any country when there was not a large class of pessimists who constantly held up to view the worst side of everything. Like crooked mirrors they distort everything that they reflect. To hear them speak you would believe that this nation was already going over the falls. Every evil is magnified and the good is wholly overlooked. When we listen to these mutterings we are taught that all of the dead have died in vain. That is nothing new ; this same old cry has gone up from generation to genera- tion. Cobbett hoped for war; he said he was willing to have three hundred thousand men killed in order to get rid of six men that he did not like — the six men being the Eng- lish ministry. In spite of all these gloomy forebodings, the world has steadily gone forward and upward. There is a constant ebb and flow in progress; things mental, moral, and material, like the waves, sweep forward, fall back, and again advance, always rising a little higher than before. We must not, however, shut our eyes to things which 246 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY need improvement and reform. The improvement is not made by those who always turn their eyes to the past, and see nothing good that is present or future. They al- ways ride backward, they should turn the seat and face the future for awhile, not with gloom and despair, but with hope and courage. This is one of the distinctive good qualities of the old soldier. He constantly looks forward to a better day; the journey may be long, the way may be weary, but the camp is beyond. In remaining true to the nation we cannot fail to be true to each other. Enmity should be mortal, friendship immortal. Day by day fresh gaps are made in our ranks; as we go forward let us close up and keep the touch of elbow to the last. WHY DO WE CREATE BATTLEFIELD PARKS AND ERECT MONUMENTS THEREON?1 The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of any event by survivors is something which must always be tinged with more or less sadness and disappointment. It is a short time in the history of a nation, but a long time in the life of a man. The average of a generation is thirty-three years. No wonder that so few survivors appear here today. But there are still many left of the great host who battled here in 1862, and they are with one accord turning their thoughts in this direction today. Their hearts are with us. The first day at Shiloh ended in gloom, and night closed in on the silent dead and amid the groans of the wounded. The Iowa monument now stands renewed for its second day at Shiloh. It has not yielded to defeat. It has risen again from its overthrow. May it stand as a mute elo- quent memorial of the heroism of the sons of Iowa for thousands of years to come. Battles are turning points in the world's history, and to the scene of one of these sanguinary struggles the hu- man imagination always turns with profound interest. In all days and generations a pyramid or a mound has been the most common memorial of a battlefield, and under such mounds are usually interred the remains of the dead. The great mound at Waterloo, surmounted by the col- i Address of Major John F. Lacey, April 7, 1912, at Shiloh Battle Ground, Tennessee, on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle. 248 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ossal Belgian lion, marks the spot where the Old Guard went down in final defeat, after Napoleon had dominated the world for twenty years. And when I visited this monument a few years ago the straws hung from the open jaws of the lion, showing that the doves of peace had there built their nest. At Cheronea the Greek mound marks the spot where their heroes were buried twenty-three hundred years ago, and in the broken fragments of the old lion on that mound the wild bees have made their home. When the warring hosts cease their contests peace re- sumes its sway, and the birds are in possession of the field at Shiloh. Germany has erected a monument to the great Armin- ius, who overthrew a splendid Roman army in the days of Augustus, and whose name troubled the sleep of the Em- peror and led him to cry aloud in the anguish of his heart : "0, Valens, give me back my legions ! ' ' Jinghis Khan erected a pyramid of skulls to commem- orate his victories — the most ghastly memorial of the scourge of mankind. These monuments have usually cel- ebrated the victories of aggression but it has remained to the people of our country to make a memorial or mon- ument of the battlefield itself. These national parks are created rather to commem- orate the full and complete reconciliation that has come upon the participants in our Civil War. As the war of York and Lancaster ended in the union of the Red and White Roses, so the reunion of the states is cemented upon every battlefield of the war. We have met on one of the greatest of these battle- fields, upon the fiftieth anniversary of the contest. To- day we stand among the trees, where the whistling bullet, the shrieking shot and shell dealt such havoc ; and best of ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 249 all we meet on this scene as friends rejoicing in a Union cemented by so much of sorrow and strife. From Bull Run to Appomattox as the crow flies is only one hundred and twenty miles, but that journey covered thousands of miles through many states. Measured by time it was a journey of four years: measured in blood and tears it was a thousand years. The journey was by various and devious routes: through mud and mire, through sunshine and through storm, through summer heats and winter snows, through dangers by flood and fire, through dangers by stream and wood, through sickness and sorrow, and by the wayside death always stalked and grimly claimed his own. The real monument of that war after all is not the marble and granite that celebrates the life and death of heroes, or preserves their features or names for the study of generations yet to come. Under St. Paul's Cathedral in London is the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren, who designed the beautiful build- ing and constructed it from corner stone to spire. His epitaph is short and simple : " If you would see my mon- ument, look around you!" If you would see the true monument of these dead, and of their surviving comrades, look around you wherever you may be. A united country is their monument. Their monument can be seen from the car windows of forty- eight prosperous states. The monuments erected by the living to the dead honor the living even more than they honor the dead. And here upon this southern battlefield, surrounded by men who fought on both sides, we may quote with our approval the immortal and prophetic words of Shakespeare : Our peace will like a broken limb united Grow stronger for the breaking. 250 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY And so it is the wounded shell fish that produces the pearl. The high water mark of the Confederacy was reached at Gettysburg, and that turning point was dedicated by the immortal address of Abraham Lincoln. His declara- tion that ' ' The world will little regard what we say here, but will always remember what they did here, " is as true also of Shiloh. Shiloh was dedicated fifty years ago by the men who fought and died and by the men who fought and lived. But in the wildest dreams of the participants in that bloody battle no one thought that any of the generation engaged in that contest would live to see the men on both sides setting it apart as a memorial to heroism, and ded- icated to the perpetuity of the Union of the states. Vicksburg's grim walls stood as a barrier to the com- merce of the Father of Waters, and there, too, was an- other one of the turning points in our history. There the titanic battle raged for months, and little did the com- batants think that they were preparing the field for a beautiful park dedicated to Peace and Union. Both armies worshiped the same God. Lincoln and Stonewall Jackson offered up prayers for victory and a just God answered the prayers as was best for them all. The night before Blenheim Marlborough took the Holy Sacrament and prepared to conquer or die. When the Swiss troops at Granson knelt to pray before going into battle the courtiers of Charles the Bold said, "Sire, they are kneeling in submission," but Charles knew they were praying to the Almighty and preparing for death or vic- tory, and that their reverent attitude showed them to be most dangerous to their enemies. They feared God, only. A hundred years ago bloodletting was the cure for all diseases. This sanguinary remedy has gone into disuse, and I trust the time will come when such heroic treatment ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 251 as war produces will no longer need to be used through- out the world. The arbitrament of justice will take the place of the sword. Let us hope that Famine, Fire, and Sword will cease to crouch like hounds at the heels of Mars waiting for em- ployment. Comrades, youth, like the aloe, blooms but once. The men who join in this semi-centennial reunion must of necessity be growing old, though they were but boys in 1862. But they are not out of date ; they see things de- nied to the sight of the younger generation. The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, Lets in the light through chinks that time hath made. We are all united here today, we have no quarrel, un- less it be like that of the newly married couple, who dis- puted vigorously over the question as to which loved the other best. Let the dispute ever proceed as to whether the North or the South is the most devoted to the flag of the Union. Hate is love turned wrong side out. The hate of 1862 has turned again to love. A kind hand clenched makes an ugly fist — but when it opens again it is ready for a welcoming grasp. The North and the South are united as they never were before since the closing days of the Revolution. When King James II at La Hogue was watching his French al- lies in their battle for his restoration, and the French were driven back, the fugitive king cried exultantly, ' ' See how my brave English fight. ' ' After Bull Run Charles Francis Adams attended a levee of the Queen at London and some of the English present said tauntingly: "Mr. Minister, these Confed- erates fight well. ' ' Mr. Adams proudly replied : "Of course they do, they are my countrymen." 252 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY And let me say for the soldiers North and South, that I can recall no instance since the war when one of these men ever led a mob. Montesquieu has said . "Happy is that nation whose annals are tiresome." More stirring history was crowded into the brief four years of the Civil War than in any five times that length of peaceful years. There are vacant spots in the sky. And in no period of the world's history have there been more fruitful years with their harvest of heroic deeds. That war was long anticipated by far-seeing men. Its occurrence was delayed by many timely compromises, but its final coming was inevitable. It could be delayed, not prevented. The cape at the southern point of Africa was long marked upon the map as the "Cape of Storms." When it was at last circum- navigated it became the "Cape of Good Hope" instead, and it will always remain so. Now that the struggle of 1861 to 1865 is over the coun- try has come to look upon it as bringing new and better conditions, and the making of a homogeneous union of states. A divided nation of 30,000,000 people in 1861 is now a united country of 90,000,000 souls. Buckner and Grant were cadets at West Point and were boyhood friends. They again met in the heat of war at Donelson, but when Grant's life went out on Mount McGregor, Buckner, with tender hands and moist eyes, acted as pall-bearer for the Great Commander. And each side honors itself in paying tribute to its former opponents. Defeat is less bitter at the hands of a noble foe, and victory the sweeter when won over a brave enemy. And when united such opponents have nothing to fear from the rest of the world. In a calm sea every man is a pilot. In the stormy ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 253 times, of which we are speaking, the greatest skill was needed; but in the history of our country no great oc- casion has arisen in which the man of the hour did not appear. Pilots may steer but the winds, the tides, and the currents move the ship. In those weary days, "Grief burned faster than tears could drown," but the end came at last, and now, after fifty years, it seems like a frightful dream. Many of the old men of that day still hang on like oak leaves in the late winter, and a goodly number are now gathered in one of the most remarkable reunions of all time. The magnitude of that contest is difficult of compre- hension to the generation of today. The Greek children were taught to commit to memory the names of the three hundred heroes who fell at Thermopylae. But so great was the Civil War that the mere cost of compiling and printing its official record was $3,000,000. Human mem- ory could only contain its principal events. When I visited the Wilderness Battle Ground a few years ago, I sought for some memento to carry home, and in one of the trees hung an empty hornets' nest, collected by nature's little warriors in time of peace, and it now hangs in my library as a suitable memorial of an empty battlefield. The Hornets' Nest Brigade is here today, but without their stings. Nature, the all-forgiving, takes the red battlefield in her arms and hides it with flowers and harvests. In Shiloh Park is commemorated the first great battle of the war where a large part of the troops on both sides had seen but little of drill and discipline, but where they, nevertheless, fought with heroic valor. At Gettysburg may be seen in the fertile fields of an old and populous state the memorial of trained and tried troops coming on both sides from many a well-contested field. 254 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY "Whilst at Vicksburg, the scene of a great siege bears in memory that companion victory in the west which, with Helena and Port Hudson, proclaimed that the waters of the mighty Mississippi should thenceforth flow unvexed to the sea. And the great field at Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, and Lookout Mountain show an unequaled panorama where the contest furnished such a scenic spectacle as has probably never been equaled on the planet. And, lastly, Appomattox marks the end of the struggle and the beginning of the new order of things. The world is a battlefield of accomplishment and endeavor, but the places where great issues have been fought out are worthy of special commemoration. As we gather inspiration while standing by the graves of the world's heroic dead, so should we gather fresh en- couragement by standing amid the scenes of the great battles of the past. The importance of a battle is not measured by its bloodshed. Only 192 Greeks fell at Marathon, and that victory was a turning point in the history of civilization that is felt even at this day. Only nineteen graves are at Appomat- tox. The Union dead were taken to City Point, but one was overlooked and so it happens that on the Confederate Memorial day eighteen Confederates and one Union sol- dier bivouac upon that historic battlefield and are all alike covered with flowers by the tender hands of the Southern women. Only one American soldier fell in Dewey's victory at Manila Bay, but his death marked another of the turning points in history. Comrades, on this historic field you did your duty well a half century ago. Undiscouraged by defeat the lesson was learned that a battle is not fought in one day ; that a defeat may be turned into victory. We have learned ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 255 now, too, that such a victory may in the end — under be- nign Providence — become a victory for all who fought on that field. It is the flag of the united country that daily floats over this national battlefield park from sun- rise to sunset, and with one accord we hope that it may float there forever. MEMORIAL DAY1 Memorial day services are annual recurring schools of patriotism : ' ' Out of the old fields cometh the new corn. ' ' We meet today to talk over and again recall the old story of the past. The Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Sermon on the Mount cannot be repeated too often. The history of our country's progress, its trials and the sacrifices of its heroic dead, though old, is ever new Destiny is seldom foreseen and never prevented; things are stronger than men. Whilst this nation has struggled in order to work out its own destiny in the his- tory of the world, events seem to have shaped themselves beyond the power of man to control. We are now ready to sum up the history of the world's greatest century. The war of 1861 was the penalty paid by this country for the stupendous wrong of human slavery. The older people here remember the existence of the institution, but it lingers in their minds with the ancient history of a thousand years ago. Lincoln now belongs to the ages; his was the kindest and tenderest heart of the century, yet he was stricken down as the final sacrifice to the institution which pro- duced the Civil War. Peace came with safety and it was peace with honor. The war was worth all it cost in treasure, blood, and tears. But for the mighty pension roll and the vast rows of whitened headstones in the national cemeteries it would be hard to realize the magnitude of that struggle. The comrades of that war grow nearer to each other i Address by John F. Lacey delivered at Clarinda, Iowa, May 30, 1899. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 257 with each recurring year. In 1861 — thirty-eight years ago — the bond of sympathy between the soldier from Maine and one from Iowa was long drawn out; but as time goes by, the soldiers of distant commands thrown together today feel the same comradeship that they for- merly attached only to those with whom they immediate- ly served. The ranks of the Grand Army are growing shorter but more compact than ever. Civil wars have been in all times proverbial for their bitterness. We rejoice today for the utter elimination of all these feelings from the hearts of the old soldiers, North and South. An army is the strongest of all arguments ; from the re- sults of its decisions there is no appeal. The most pleas- ing thing in connection with our present reconciliation is the satisfaction shown by the defeated side who now have no further desire for any appeal. The year 1898 will be ever memorable in our history. I was one of those who believed that a genuine reconcilia- tion between all sections of this country had taken place and had steadily, though gradually, deepened into a uni- versal feeling of national patriotism. The year before our war with Spain began an oppor- tunity occurred to me to speak from the same platform with a Confederate soldier at Lexington, Virginia, where the bodies of Lee and Stonewall Jackson lie buried. I took as lofty grounds of national patriotism and union as my use of language was capable of expressing. I looked into the faces of the old Confederate soldiers pres- ent and of the younger generation who had grown up since the war. The Confederate speaker told his audi- ence that Lee was a great man. I was pleased at the ex- pression of my hearers and at their responsive mani- festations when I told them there was only one standard by which to measure a man, and that was by another 258 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY man, and that Lee had had a supreme test when measured in the high standard of Ulysses S. Grant. I had spoken at many soldiers ' reunions and memorial services, but this was the first occasion on which I had the opportunity to address the old soldiers of the other side. Looking in their eyes on that day I believed that they and their children would be true if occasion should offer for the trial. In 1898 the opportunity came. Making a hurried trip into Virginia in May last, I met a regiment dressed in blue coming out of one of the gaps of the Blue Ridge: they were on their way to Cuba to fight under the stars and stripes, and they were the sons of Stonewall Jack- son's soldiers. Later in the summer I visited Chickamauga and there amid the battle monuments of that heroic field, I found an Iowa regiment brigaded with the First Mississippi, fraternizing on as friendly terms as an Iowa and Indiana regiment used to do. And one Mississippi soldier said to me, ''The only difference between you all and we all is that you all guess and we all reckon." That seemed to be about all that was left and that was not enough to quarrel over. The soldier of 1898 showed himself to be a true de- scendant of the soldier of 1861; as the Greek put it, "This is not Achilles' son, it is Achilles himself." Our range of vision has wonderfully widened as the re- sult of the short, decisive, and glorious victories of Manila and Santiago. It almost takes one's breath to think of the far reaching effects of recent events. The steamer Grant, named after the silent commander, recently steamed under the guns of Gibraltar, passed the shores of Malta through the Suez Canal ; and the Amer- ican soldiers stood upon the deck and watched the clouds hovering around the pinnacle of Mount Sinai, then passed ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 259 through the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to the far- away Philippines. A few weeks later the steamer Sher- man, laden with American soldiers, followed the same course. Then the Sheridan passed over the same seas; three ships carrying- the names of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan to the uttermost parts of the earth as the sea again became the home of our country 's flag. This is neither time nor place for the discussion of questions which may be regarded as political. I have never to my knowledge violated the proprieties of this day by such discussion, and will only say that when our soldiers were assaulted in the trenches in a bloody at- tack by those whom they had gone so many thousand miles to befriend, from that hour there has been but one side of this contest for me and that is the side of the boys who are carrying our flag in that distant land. And when Dewey returns to the United States he will receive such a royal welcome as no man has known since Grant swung around the circle with Andrew Johnson soon after the close of the Civil War. Comrades, we may grow old, but I trust we will never grow out of date. No woman is any older than she looks and no man is any older than he feels. Let us keep our hearts young by keeping their beat in unison with the new generation. The coming century is full of hope and promise. The century that is now just passing away is greater than any that have preceded. It almost dazzles the mind to think of what may come in the next hundred years. The beginning of the century saw Russia overthrow Napoleon and change the history of Europe. And now as the century closes the czar has called a conference to consider the disarmament of the world. 260 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY You will not live, comrades, to see the great things of the next century, but you have seen and also have been a part of the greatness of the century that is about to pass away. The greatest event, and the one that will reach the furthest into the future, was the struggle in which you took part, and the decision in that contest settled the question as to the permanence and union of the great na- tion to which we belong. In gathering on this occasion we hold an annual fes- tival of flowers for the dead. If there is any substance ethereal and delicate enough in all the earth to reach the spirits of the dead, it seems that it would be the invisible odor of the flowers. In all nations and in all ages flowers have been looked upon as the proper offering to the de- parted. Hail to the dead — the nation 's dead — Who sleep by wood and field and shore ! To them we come with loyal tread And kneel beside their graves once more. With notes of bugle, song and drum, With flying flags and sweet May flowers, And grateful hearts, again we come To deck these soldier graves of ours. The school children are present on these occasions and they will pass the word on to ensuing generations. One generation speaks to another. The patriots of 1776 spoke to the men of 1812, and they again to our soldiers in Mex- ico whose example cheered the men of 1861, and now the survivors of the Civil War bid God-speed to the boys of 1898. Toward the disabled defenders of our country there has always been held the warmest feelings of gratitude. When Comrade Tanner, who lost both feet at Bull Run, was taken to the hospital for another amputation a few ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 261 years ago, a Grand Army post in Michigan telegraphed to him words of good cheer. The dispatch read : We understand that they have put you in the hospital and are clipping some more coupons off of you. God bless you, old fellow ! the less there is of you the better we like you. I visited one of these old soldiers' graves the other day at Memphis, Tennessee. Fourteen thousand of our dead lie there and I wished to view the grave of my old school- mate and comrade, George Godfrey, of the Third Iowa infantry. He was laid to rest in a group of one thousand Iowa soldiers, in one corner of the great cemetery, and on each morning sunrise the flag for which he fought is hoisted over the grave of the gallant farmer boy who gave all he had — his life — for the preservation of the Union. Standing by his grave after thirty-seven years, I could not again realize the time when this gallant young man and his fourteen thousand comrades lay down to sleep beneath the sod of the Memphis National Cemetery. Not far away the Mississippi flowed to the sea, and not a man in the state of Tennessee could be found to regret that the cause had succeeded for which George Godfrey gave his life. The railways will be double tracked and improved but the true opening for the surplus wealth of this country in the future will be upon the deep. The sea power of the world passed step by step from Tyre and Sidon to Greece and Carthage, to Rome, to Lis- bon and Holland, and then to Great Britain. Ever onward has it gone and now our country lies mid- way between the Orient and the Occident. No ancestry gives rank in this country, though the fact that our forefathers fought on the right side in any of the wars of the past is always a source of satisfaction to 262 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY every patriotic American, and so we have our Sons and Daughters of the Revolution and Sons of Veterans of to- day. In Great Britain noble ancestry is of vital importance. Boyle, the great scientist, was introduced to an audience as "the father of chemistry and the brother of the Earl of Cork." In this country the Earl of Cork would be in- troduced as the brother of Boyle. Even Josiah Quincy, who has achieved some distinction on his own account, recently had an experience of the lack of rank by birth in this country. As he passed through the capitol in Boston one day two Irishmen were standing by, and one of them said to the other: "Who was that, Pat?" The other replied: "I am surprised at you. Don't you know him? He is the grandson of that statue out there in the Common. ' ' An American descendant of a Lincoln or a Grant rather labors under the shadow of a great name. The Duke of Veragua found himself burdened with the titles of Columbus when he visited the great exposition at Chi- cago, for the ability of his great ancestors was expected to be shown by any one who claimed his honors. Comrades and fellow citizens, as another Decoration Day passes away I trust that we shall separate with a feeling that we are all better for this meeting and for these memories. Let us have faith in the future of our country, but at the same time neglect no means to make that future what God has intended it. To will a thing to some purpose we should will the means to accomplish that purpose. The future concerns us all, and it is our duty to guard it well. As the mariner prayed to Neptune, ' ' Thou may- est save me if thou wilt, and if thou wilt destroy me ; but whether or no I will steer my rudder true." Let us here ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 263 resolve, and let the resolution be renewed from year to year, to stand by our country in every peril ; and to teach on all occasions obedience to the laws, and devotion to the flag. PATRIOTISM l On an occasion like this it is well to tell the old, old story. Our ancestors recited the Apostles' Creed with drawn swords, repeating the same from day to day until it became a part of the life of every generation. The Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sermon on the Mount cannot be read and reread too often. And the immortal principles of the Declaration of In- dependence should be kept fresh in the hearts of each generation of Americans. We divide on many questions and in a year when a presidential election occurs, party feelings run high, and the din of politics hums ever in our ears. Here in this presence, surrounded by Americans of all shades of political opinion, I hope easily to find a common ground upon which we all may stand, and shall ask you to lay aside all feelings but those of united patriotism, while we talk together for awhile about our own America and what is best for us all. We will lay aside tariffs and standards of value for an hour. The history of our country is short but full of glory. In St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice repose the bones of St. Mark himself, removed thence from Egypt a thousand years ago. The church looks still fresh and new ; and as I stood under its beautiful dome and looked up to the three allegorical pictures in mosaic of Europe, Asia, and Africa my wife suddenly asked, "Where is America?" And the recent origin of our people never seemed so clear to me as it did then. 1 Address by John F. Lacey delivered at Oskaloosa, Iowa, July 4, 1896. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 265 When this beautiful and perfect building was erected America was on the globe but was not on the map. Our splendid continent lay smiling and waiting for the devel- opment of the race which, in the years to come, would teach the principles of freedom and self-government to the world. The time in 1492 was propitious. The capture of Con- stantinople by the Turks, in 1453, had scattered the phil- osophers of the Greco-Roman empire all over Europe. The opening of the New World brought with it a new era to mankind. It is hard for us to realize the condition of the world even in the brightest days of antiquity. Augustus Caesar never had a shirt on his back nor a window pane in any of his palaces. He never saw an ear of corn, a newspaper, nor a potato. Even the Turk who completed the downfall of Rome never saw a pipe and had not learned to love the American weed which now makes the life of the Mohammedan happy on earth. Even sixty-seven years ago there were no railways on the globe, but now, if these arteries of commerce should cease to circulate for a week the misery of the loss would be beyond endurance. Today the aspiring candidate for a presidential nom- ination sits in his distant home, and with a telephone at his ear hears the shouts of his applauding friends a thou- sand miles away, at a great national convention. Time is not measured by years but by events. Months and years go by preparing for great events and when they come they come like an electric shock. Discoveries are made — some by accident and some by study. Those discoveries which are sought for are gen- erally the most important. An astronomer may discover a star which passes into the field of his telescope, but the discovery has no such effect as that of the man of science who weighs and estimates the perturbations of the plan- 266 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ets and points to the region of space where the star should be and true to the law it there appears. Plato and Plutarch seem to have caught a glimpse of our solar system. Philosophers may suspect the exist- ence of gas and oil and priests ha.ve taught that these ex- halations came from the land of the infernal gods. But a single discovery by the artesian auger dispels the il- lusion. In Delphi we had an oracle, in Kokomo a glass factory. Man can analyze the meteorite that falls to the earth but with the spectroscope he can truly determine the com- position of a distant sun. We are now in the dawn of the twentieth century. The President we will elect next fall will induct his successor into office on March 4, 1901. Events are now projecting themselves into another century. Every institution is but the shadow of some great man who has passed away, and on an occasion like this we gather inspiration from the history of the great past. Like a great tree the roots of our nation are deep underground. Our young commonwealth of Iowa, though one of the lastest additions to the national family, is just as old and as rooted in her system as one of the original thirteen colonies. Each of the states springs from the same orig- inal stock. We assemble today at our pleasant little city to make merry on this national holiday. What a beautiful jingle of Indian names! Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa! And what a beautiful city it is in such a beautiful county and state ! When M. T. Williams, T. Garl Phillips, Judge Wm. H. Seevers, A. S. Nichols, Wm. Edmundson, Robert Curry, and the other founders of our city selected the quarter section at "The Narrows," for that purpose, they spoiled ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 267 one of the finest places for a farm in all Iowa, but they founded a fine city. The names they selected are an euphonious combination of Seminole, Sac, and Fox words. These names are not only agreeable to the ear but have become associated with our lives and history until we have become doubly attached to them. On this day we think of both the living and the dead. Whilst we celebrate the independence of the nation we rejoice also at the founding of a city and a common- wealth. We miss many, in fact nearly all, of the pioneers today. These friends of the past we both mourn and honor. And the stately ships sail on To their haven under the hill ; But 0 for the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that it still ! Break, break, break, At the foot of thy crags, 0 sea, But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to me. We can gather more good from the example of those who have passed away than from the study of living characters, because, as a rule, prejudice is buried with the dead and forgiveness blossoms upon their graves. And especially do we honor those who die for their coun- try, for no seed produces so sure a crop as the blood of martyrs. But what past age would serve for a complete model for the present? We are living now in an era of good feeling nationally. The war with all its bitterness has passed away and a brass band on the most patriotic oc- casions mingles "Dixie" and "My Maryland" with the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Yankee Doodle." The Fourth of July is our most typical holiday and is unique among the celebrations of the world. Canada has 268 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY her Dominion Day, which is a feeble imitation of our Fourth of July. A few years ago I was passing through Canada, and on looking out of the car window, in the morning of her na- tional holiday, I saw the people in crowds in gala attire, and asked the car porter what it all meant. Said he, "Boss, this is the birthday of one of the queen's chil- dren, but I don't know which one." But there is no mis- taking our holiday for any other day of festivity. It is like nothing else on earth and well it may be, for no other people in the world may celebrate a national birthday. Fourth of July orators may be called Fourth of Ju- liers, but they can hardly overstate the facts. On this day I wish you all joy. May the most you want be the least you get. It is a school of patriotism and well may we celebrate it as such. A foolish and imbecile king drove our ancestors into revolution at a time when the king had much real power. Our forefathers melted down the leaden gilded statue of George the Third and fired it in the form of 42,000 bullets at the invading red-coats in Connecticut. The hostilities growing out of that war with our mother nation have long ago ceased, and a friendly rivalry leads us to com- pete with the British empire in all the arts of peace. Our century is the electrical era. It began with steam which was the raw material of power. It is ending with electricity which is the soul and essence of power itself. From the year 1200 to 1700 the Damascus blade was the great pride of man. Steel was the weapon of death and the nation was the highest in the scale which carried the sharpest sword. In 1896 steel rails are the supreme test of our achieve- ments, for with them time and space are obliterated and travel becomes a. perpetual joy within the reach of the poor as well as the rich. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 269 The last sublime discovery of the century is the X-ray. It is an old adage that any one could see as far into the millstone as the man who picks it. Now opaque sub- stances are beginning to yield their secrets to the scrutiny of human eyes, and the skeleton of a living Corbett has been as plainly photographed as that of a man who died ten years ago. Edison with his phonograph catches the music of a complete band and records it upon a cylinder with a point no larger than that of a pin and the record yields back all the notes of the complicated tune that has just been played. Cuvier took a single bone and from it reconstructed the entire skeleton of an extinct animal. And who knows but that the X-rays, gathered from a remote star, Mars for example, may not be enlarged and reproduced with a living picture of the occupants of the distant planet. But let us leave Mars and come back again to Iowa, our own loved state — the state of our birth or of our adop- tion. Within the memory of living men, now present, has this splendid commonwealth grown from a feeble ter- ritory to a state of two million souls, with the lowest percentage of illiteracy of any people on the globe. Her prairies are dotted with four hundred thousand homes, and a happy home has been well said to be a suburb of heaven. The deadly cyclone, which fifty years ago played harm- lessly over the prairie, now finds the home of our people lying in its path, and death follows in its track. The wind that at one time toys with the tresses of a child or coaxes open the budding rose rises to the fury of the tiger and sweeps with devouring energy over the fairest land under the sun. But death lurks everywhere, and in Russia the festivi- ties of a coronation slew more than all the tornadoes that 270 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY have ever swept across our state. God has been good to Iowa and she has always been generous of her wealth. She has never yet passed the hat for contributions be- cause of failure of crops, but has freely given to the sufferers of other lands, as the grateful people of Kansas can attest; and the name of Iowa becomes a household word in far off Russia where our shipload of food car- ried life to the starving people of that great empire be- yond the sea. I am inclined, by nature and training, to take a cheer- ful view of things. I do not believe our race is degen- erating. The first exact date that we have of any fact in human history is that Coroebus won the foot-race at the Olympic games on a certain day 776 years before the birth of Christ. That was 2672 years ago. The events of other years are known but this is the first exact date recorded in history. During all these years human in- terest has continued to center in athletic sports, and our countrymen are growing up stronger under the influence of a bracing climate, good food, and physical training. The Olympic games were revived this year upon their old site in classic Greece, and it was with pardonable pride that during the summer we read the dispatches from Athens which, owing to the difference of over five hours in time, seemed to be printed before the events actually happened. We rejoice that Robert Garrett, of Princeton, threw the disc better than any of his competitors, and that E. H. Clarke, of Harvard, won the prize with an American hop, skip, and jump amid the dust of Attica. The public school was the invention of the Greeks and manual training was one of their favorite avocations. Among the blind the one-eyed are kings. It is pleasant to know that our race is in fact improving and that the limit of human life is extending. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 271 We take a natural pride in our ancestry, for although little is known of particular families in America, every- thing may be expected of the race that has been pro- duced from the best blood of northern Europe and par- ticularly from our Anglo-Saxon forefathers. An invig- orating and severe climate will bring this race to its best estate. We have but a few old families and neither have we many ruins. At Paestum, in Italy, you will find the tem- ples and walls of the old city still in perfect condition. The malaria of the adjacent marches has prevented new towns from being built, and the ruins have not been used as quarries for new cities. Out at Salt Lake City you may see 800 feet above you on the side of the mountains, the beach line of the shore of the ancient fresh water lake called by the geologists Lake Bonneville. It has receded and left its mark with each receding period. But had it progressed the old marks would have been obliterated. In the old world the ebbing tide of settlement has left the ruins of antiquity on every hand. But in America the constantly advancing flow has swept from view all the old landmarks, and we see no ruins, for the wreckage of the past is used in constructing the buildings of the present. In this day of financial depression we have different views as to what the remedy should be. But we all agree that it is the chief business of everybody to restore pros- perity again to our native land. It is a high compliment to our fertile state to know that during this period of depression the values of our Iowa have held their own or made a satisfactory advance. But the people of Iowa are not satisfied to see our state alone prosper. We want our sister states to march with us in the procession. 272 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Captain Williams was the inspector-general for Gen- eral Benjamin Harrison's brigade, and when he made his first report of the monthly inspection of the various reg- iments, under the general's command, he said that "The One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois was the best regiment in the whole command, and that all the others were just as good." And we, too, want Iowa to be the best state in the Union, and also hope that every other state will be just as good. This day should be taken as a day of warning as well as a day of hope. I prefer the bright side, but we must look at all sides of the picture. Individuals sometimes escape punishment, but nations never do. But I would not dwell gloomily in a cave of mutterings. There are periods when much cannot be expected. Sieyes, the French statesman, was asked what he did during the Reign of Terror. He said, ' ' I lived. ' ' That was enough for a period like that, and was much more than many of his friends did. But more is expected of us in this day and generation than mere existence. We must advance or recede. We cannot stand still. We cannot escape history. If the sun did not shine there would be no spots upon it. We should not devote our time hunting for spots but still we must not fail to recognize their existence. Our very prosperity confronts us with a new danger. Foreign immigration comes to share with us the benefit of this land. Much, though not all, of this addition is desirable, and the proper methods of eliminating the bad from the good is one of the problems of our day. We have successfully turned back the Asiatic tide from our western shores, but the means of preventing the in- flux of the criminal and pauper classes from Europe is a more difficult and serious question. We gather encour- agement, though, when we see that the Anglo-Saxon ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 273 seems to thrive in new lands, even though he may have been an exported convict, as the colonies in Australia and Tasmania bear witness. The best method to use in handling this difficult ques- tion is one upon which we may not all agree, but of the necessity and desirableness of keeping out criminals and paupers there will be no disagreement among either our native or foreign born citizens. We should encourage an American spirit among our own people. Let us at least not raise our own foreigners. A man born in Cork makes a good American ; a man born in Boston should not be an Irishman. An American born in Leeds makes a desirable citizen but we cannot say so much for an Englishman born in New York. Let Amer- icans above all things be Americans. We are fortunate in not having a standing army of any magnitude. We should not complain of a large pension roll, when we consider that it is the result of a system which draws the soldier when needed from the ranks of civil life and returns him to the avenues of production again when the war has ended. A large standing army is a source of danger in a re- public. As an eminent Scotchman said, ' ' If I had an ape by the collar I could make him bite you ; if you had him by the collar you could make him bite me." This is true of a great standing army but not so as to a citizen sol- diery. We have always taught respect for and love for our country's defenders and even have been ready to over- look their faults. It has always been so. Early in the present century a soldier who was with Anthony Wayne at the storming of Stony Point got into trouble and found himself defending an indictment. His case was a clear one and his lawyer made the only defense in his power — he took occasion to let the jury know that his client 274 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY fought with Wayne at Stony Point. The jury brought in a verdict, "We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty, because he stormed Stony Point." The court refused to receive the verdict and told the jury that they must find the defendant either guilty or not guilty. They returned and in a few minutes returned a simple verdict, "Not guilty. ' ' But as the jury were about to be discharged the foreman said, "I am directed by the jury to say that it is lucky for the defendant that he was at Stony Point. ' ' It was a perverted or inverted patriotism that led the Confederate soldiers to so many battlefields. Lee as- sumed to fight for Virginia, Cleburne for Arkansas, and Hampton for South Carolina, but the Iowa soldiers un- der Grant, Sherman, or Thomas fought for the whole United States of America. I am glad to be able to say that this wider form of national patriotism has made great progress in the states south of Mason and Dixon's line. In fact Mason and Dixon's line has substantially disappeared. A few malcontents still remain but they are noticeable rather by their scarcity than otherwise. To the women, to the mothers of America, more is due than to any other class. The women of this country en- joy a place in the social scale beyond those of any other people in the world. The American woman is an un- crowned queen wherever she goes and needs no pedigree. I will not, as I have already said, talk politics on an occasion like this. The American people are dividing as they do every four years, into political camps for the peaceful battle of the ballots, which is the distinguishing feature of our form of government. But I will go this far and say that is is the duty of every citizen to take an active interest in political affairs. Our public men of all parties are much maligned, as they always have been in republics, and always will be. A public man who retired from long service told me a ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 275 year or two ago that "All that he had left was his tooth- brush and his postoffice address." Not that public men are all good by any means. A boy in school defined "a demagogue as a vessel that contained rum, gin, whiskey, brandy, and many other kinds of liquor." This defini- tion may be often true, but the fact remains that we are apt to look with too much admiration or too much sever- ity upon the men who are called into the glare of public life. History repeats itself. Julius Cassar was lynched by the Roman people, and then deified. Thomas B. Reed has defined a statesman as "a pol- itician who is dead." The men in public life are apt to be neither very much better nor very much worse than the people who choose them. The general elevation of the people will result in the general improvement of the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The prosperity and protection of our institutions and the moral, spiritual, and physical advancement of our people should be the highest aspiration of all our citizens. To the young especially is this a day of importance, it is a school of patriotism. In the language of the mar- iner's prayer, let us conclude: "0 God, I know not whether I shall live or die, but I promise that while I live I will steer my rudder true." INDEPENDENCE DAY x In accordance with a custom of over a century, we meet today to celebrate an event of importance to the whole world. It was a very simple and unostentatious act. A paper had been drawn up and a body of fifty-six men attached their signatures to it. But the placing of those signa- tures to that paper was an act big with the fate of man- kind. We are accustomed to speak of and think of these men as venerable fathers of a new republic. They were, in fact, most of them, young men, and Franklin was the patriarch of the body. Every man who signed that im- mortal paper knew that he was signing his death war- rant if the movement should fail. A rebellion is a revolu- tion that fails. A revolution is a rebellion that succeeds. John Hancock headed the list, and he signed his name so plainly that King George and all his followers could read it. That beautiful and striking signature became a model for mankind, and for one hundred and twenty-five years men have proudly signed documents of importance with the remark, ' ' There is my John Hancock. ' ' When Charles Carroll, the richest man in the Con- gress, went forward to sign his name, some one said, ' ' There goes a few millions. ' ' Another one said, ' ' There are several Charles Carrolls, and King George will not know which one to punish." Thereupon Carroll took up the pen again and added after his name, "of Carrollton," 1 Address by John F. Lacey, July 4, 1901, Toledo, Iowa. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 277 leaving no doubt of his identity. lie left no chance of doubt as to his danger or his duty. Franklin, the dry old wag and philosopher, said, "We must all hang together or we will all hang separately." When Thomas Jefferson had laid down his pen the next man to take it up was Benjamin Harrison, and two of his descendants have already presided over the destinies of the nation that was that day created. The two Adamses — Samuel and John — signed one after the other and on the 4th day of July, 1826, John Adams and Thomas Jef- ferson celebrated the great event by passing at the same time from the immortals of earth to the immortals in the higher life beyond. Happy is the family that can trace its ancestry to one of the fifty-six who took their lives and their pens in their hands one hundred and twenty-five years ago today at the old Independence Hall of Philadelphia. We meet today to hear the old, old story, ever old and ever new. Like the Apostles' Creed, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence is ever a new and cheering declaration of the rights of man. We have grown accustomed to much national glorifica- tion in this day. The eagle has the right to scream. We laud ourselves, our day, our generation, and our country until the orators of this occasion run the risk of being known as "Fourth of Juliers." The chief improvement of the time that has elapsed since the Revolution of 1776 is the general dissemination of education and of knowledge. The highly educated we then had, but the days had not yet gone by when the tav- ern signs were the White Hart, the Boar's Head, or the Saracen's Head; so used because the common people could recognize the pictures though they could not read the signs. 278 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY These are utilitarian days. The days of the super- natural have passed, and the natural of today is more wonderful than the supernatural of two hundred years ago. No longer do our people look for the spooks, the witch, and the fairies. At Delphi in Greece the natural gas was used to intox- icate the Pythian priestess and led her to make portents and prophecies. The natural gas at Kokomo is used in manufacturing glass. It is a far distance in time from Delphi to Kokomo, but one represents the ancient and the mysterious, the other the modern and the practical. A few hundred years ago the splendid babbling spring at Guadaloupe, Mexico, was placed within the portico of a church, and made holy to the converted Mexican as it had been a sacred place to his pagan ancestry. At Man- itou the sacred springs became the fountains of health, and hotels, not churches or temples, were built near at hand. These are, indeed, the days of the practical. The in- genuity of man was formerly exhausted in the construc- tion of armor and Toledo and Damascus blades. Now the inventor burns his midnight incandescent lamp or Welsbach burner in the search of new and improved methods for the construction of steel railways and steam- ships. Witches and wizards have disappeared, and we have in their places the wizards of science. An Edison or a Gray produces marvels that would have made the witch of En- dor hide her head in wonder. . . . Godfrey and Eichard the Lion Hearted could now go to the Holy City on a steamship and railway line, and if inclined to take life easy, could find the Holy Sepulchre with a personally conducted party from London or Kal- amazoo. Not long will it be until the traveler from the ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 279 Cape of Good Hope to Cairo will stop off for dinner at Albert Nyanza and Khartoum. While we look back into the past and endeavor to catch a glimpse of the future, we lay aside all politics, party or otherwise, and celebrate the day as American citizens, recognizing one God and one country. Our controversies will be of a mild type at this time. One of the important things in these celebrations is to keep history straight. Each boy and girl who takes part in the day's festivities should go home inspired to study the history of the events which we celebrate. Not long ago an able-bodied and full-grown American was seeing the sights of Boston. His cab driver took him to the historic monument of Bunker Hill — Bunker Hill made sacred by the immortal deeds of Warren, and after- wards by the enduring eloquence of Webster. ''There," said the cabman, "is where Warren fell." "Is that where Warren fell? How high is that monument?" said the visitor. Another traveler was passing through the capitol at Washington with a guide. The guide pointed out to the stranger the statues of many celebrities and finally said, "There is the statue of General Ethan Allen." A smile of incredulity displayed itself on the face of the tourist. "You can't fool me," said he, "Ethan Allen was a boss; I've seen him on the track myself." In looking back over the history of our land we may well wonder how much seems due to chance, though under the providence of God. The Northmen no doubt discov- ered America but did not know it, and they lost it again and time rolled by waiting for a more propitious hour. The discovery of the Northmen was an accident. Co- lumbus deliberately and with great forethought planned 280 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY his journey to the west. He had determined that he would steer due west and allow no circumstances to vary his course. The variation of the magnetic needle puzzled him, but he held his prow straight to the west, directly towards the shores of the present United States of Amer- ica. His plans were well matured. He was seeking the Indies and due west they must lie. But the sailors grew uneasy at the appalling length of the voyage and when the flight of little green parrots was observed it was noted that they flew to the southwest. Columbus reluctantly yielded to the wishes of his crew and turned his course to the southwest. The soothsayers of old times determined when and how a battle should be fought or a campaign carried on by observing the flight of birds. Many a bloody conflict was fought because the signs were propitious. The Ro- man consul carried his coop of chickens and fed them to see from their manner of picking at the grain whether the time was favorable. The flight of a vulture was an omen of great moment. But never did the flight of birds direct the course of events so greatly and with so much effect as when Co- lumbus turned to the southwest and landed in the West Indies instead of upon the shores of the United States. Spain planted her power in Cuba, Porto Rico, and South America, leaving the best of North America for the Eng- lish and French adventurers of a later day. The slight- est of all circumstances then led to the greatest of all events. Chance and choice struggled for the mastery at Mar- athon. The Greek generals were equally divided as to the propriety of bringing the battle, and Miltiades cast the deciding vote and the history of mankind was changed for all time. At Shiloh when the night of the first day's disaster had ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 281 settled in gloom over the Union army, McPherson spoke to Grant as to the ability to get the army across the Ten- nessee that night. Grant promptly replied that he would resume the battle on the morrow and with Buell's fresh forces he expected to win a victory. By the choice of Grant the second day's battle was fought at Shiloh and it was one of the turning points in our Civil War. A crazy and obstinate King George Third drove our fathers into revolution. We do not know how much we owe to the obstinacy and incompetency of mankind. George Third had a statue in America appropriately cast in the heaviest and dullest of lead. What an excellent material for the head of the testy old tyrant ! The gun- ers of 1776 melted that statue down into 42,000 bullets and fired them at the red coats of the king's soldiers. Of all the seemingly unimportant things connected with our early history, the fact that the provinces were settled separately and independently has proved of the greatest benefit. Each province was the germ of a state, and the separate organizations of the several states is the real foundation of our national union. ''An indis- soluble Union of indestructible states" has been the re- sult of the happy providence by which our ancestors were separated into distinct provinces. In 1893 at Chicago we had that wonderful exhibition that gave evidence to the world of the mighty progress that our people had made in the four centuries that had passed since Columbus sailed on his journey of discovery. The two things that interested me the most of all were two sheets of paper in the La Rabida Convent. One was the original bull — dim with age — by which the Pope Alexander VI attempted to divide the new world between the Spanish and the Portuguese. The other was the statement in Columbus's own handwriting in which he gave Isabella a faithful account of the expenditure of the 282 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY $8,000 which the queen realized upon her jewels and loaned to the poor discoverer. The fruit of the $8,000 investment was the greatest yield that man has ever known. The exposition to commemorate the event cost more than $30,000,000. When Spain was in the zenith of her power under Philip her annual revenues were only $20,000,000. The Chicago exposition cost a year and a half's income of Spain in the days of the Armada. Queen Elizabeth's income was only $4,000,000, or one-fourth that of Spain. On an occasion of this kind the soldiers and sailors liv- ing or dead of our country always take an important place. From 1776 the veterans of Valley Forge and Yorktown handed down the torch of liberty and patriot- ism to those of 1812. The soldiers of the Indian wars passed it on to the heroes of the Mexican War and they in their turn to our country's defenders in 1861. We had begun to wonder if the spirit of the past had died out when the war of 1898 gave the opportunity to show that the boys of today are worthy sons of their patriotic sires. In our past history there was one great blight which brought to our people more misery than any other thing in our history, and that was the institution of human slavery. When Kosciusko made his will he gave all his salary as an officer in the American army as a trust fund to be used in the purchase and granting of freedom to American negro slaves. But Colonel Coddington, an English philanthropist, took another view of the subject. He devised a plantation in Jamaica with all its slaves in trust as a permanent fund, the slaves to be worked by suitable overseers and the proceeds of this enforced la- bor expended on the spread of Christianity. But now this institution so strongly intrenched in so many lands has practically disappeared. Brazil has freed her slaves and Russia has abandoned her ancient policy ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 283 of serfdom. No one now thinks of the desirability of any return to the old conditions on this question. Ours is a composite nation. The Toledo blade was famous for its temper and quality. It was made by the mixture of a variety of kinds of steel. Every country consists of its soil, its climate, its people, and its laws. There were 20,000 arms-bearing Greeks in the day of Marathon. They were the Greeks of Miltiades. There were 20,000 Greeks of the same age in the days of De- metrius Phalerias, but they were real Greeks no longer. These were the days of Attic decadence. The Arch of Constantine is built out of old material in part. The old part, carved in the days of Roman glory, is very different from the newer portions. All nations must guard against decay. When a nation ceases to ad- vance it must recede. Nothing ever stands still. These are the days of national reconciliation. It is hard now to realize the bitterness which prevailed at the close of our Civil War. Bishop Wilmer came north to solicit aid for his church. He expressed his feelings by saying that the South was like Lazarus, and when asked to explain he said, ' ' She has been licked by dogs. ' ' Some one then asked him why he came north for money, and he said, ' ' The hair of the dog would cure the bite. ' ' An ex-Confederate was one day in 1866 going along the streets of Washington, when he saw a blind Union sol- dier, who had lost both arms and legs, sitting by the way- side with a placard calling attention to his condition. The Johnny Reb dropped a quarter in the box and passed on. In a few minutes he came back and put in a dollar. He then started on but returned and put in a ten-dollar bill. Some one inquired the reason for his actions and he ex- plained it by saying, ' ' That this was the first Yankee that he had ever seen who was carved just to his taste." But we have an entire change of sentiment. It was the 284 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY fruit of time. The Spanish war gave opportunity to show the change, rather than to produce it. The last Congress broke up singing the "Doxology," the "Star Spangled Banner," "Marching Through Georgia," "Maryland," and "Dixie." This was not an idle exhibition of senti- ment. It was a spontaneous demonstration of a friendly feeling that I hope may always endure. Our regular army has a warmer place in our hearts than at any time in our country's history. The preju- dice against a large regular army has always existed. When the fathers, in convention, were framing the con- stitution, an amendment was offered limiting the regular force to 5,000 men. Washington was not a humorist, but he at once offered another amendment requiring that no invading army should ever exceed 3,000 men. The one proposition was a complete answer to the other. The American people today are turning their attention once more to the sea. The sea has always been the source of power. Actium, Salamis, the Nile, Trafalgar, Manila, and Santiago are all names commemorating turning points in the world's history. When I stood a few years ago near Mary Drake, our governor's daughter, and saw her strike the bow of the great steel-clad battleship and say, "I christen thee Iowa," I wondered if that vessel would ever link the name of Iowa with any great event. We did not have long to wait until the gallant captain, Robley D. Evans, pushed her into the heat of battle at Santiago. The time has come, in my judgment, to put the Amer- ican flag back once more upon the high seas. We may not agree as to the method of doing this. Its discussion might bring up disputed questions, but upon one thing I think we will all agree, that we want to see the stars and stripes take their place in all the seaports of the world. We are soon to celebrate another great centennial in ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 285 our history, the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson sent Monroe to France with instructions to buy the mouth of the Mississippi River. Monroe found the First Consul a man of few words. Bonaparte offered the whole Louis- iana Territory for $15,000,000. Fortunately, there was no cable line in operation in those days and Monroe was compelled, or rather permitted, to act on his own re- sponsibility; and so it happened that the greatest real estate deal in history was closed out and the Louisiana Territory, with Iowa included, passed to the United States of America at about five cents an acre. Louis- iana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Ne- braska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana have been formed out of this territory. When Elizabeth ruled in Great Britain there were only 3,000,000 people in the world who understood the lan- guage of Shakespeare. Today there are 2,225,000 in Iowa alone. The future of our state depends upon our soil, our climate, our people, and our laws. Iowa, like France, is built upon the limestone which insures the permanency of her fertility. At Oskaloosa we sank an artesian well 2750 feet, and the last two thousand feet were in limestone. France has had 2,300 crops in 2,300 years, and her agri- cultural future still rests on the limestone of prehistoric days. Education of the children has been the cardinal prin- ciple of our faith from the beginning. We have $20,000,- 000 invested in school-houses, and spend nearly $9,000,000 a year in the support of our public school system. With no city of any magnitude in our borders, we are happily free from the political complications that embarrass those states which are overshadowed by great cities. We have only to be true to ourselves to keep our state in its pres- ent happy condition. 286 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY But whatever state pride we may have, our people have always looked upon themselves as Americans first and Iowans afterwards. With the broadest national patriot- ism let us still stand for the greatness and glory of our nation, for the progress, prosperity, and purity of our state. EXCERPTS x At the World's Fair at Chicago, were two time-stained and faded manuscripts that I looked upon with more curi- osity than anything in that exposition. One was the bull of Pope Alexander VI, in which he divided the new world between Spain and Portugal ; the other was a small sheet of paper in which Columbus made to Isabella an itemized account of his expedition which footed the grand total of $8,000. Why, Pat Murphy and John Smith of Palo Alto County each sold cattle last year to amounts sufficient to have paid the $7,500 expended on the Mayflower, or the $8,000 spent by Columbus in the discovery of America. And it is only forty years ago that an Indian massacre occurred within forty miles of the place in which we are holding this pleasant celebration. In Mahaska County, where I live, we still have hale and hearty in our midst, Mrs. Phillips, who was the teach- er of the first school ever taught in that county. The Mississippi Valley is the future center of power and wealth. This vast basin, drained by a single stream with its affluents, is the richest tract of soil upon the planet. With coal, iron, lead, zinc, silver, gold, and many other minerals, it contains a great range of climate and soil and is the granary and cotton producer of the world. And, though we may complain of the winds and the rain, the heat and the cold, Iowa is the most favored of all the states. Look to the north of us and the best part of Minnesota lies next to Iowa. On the east the best of 1 From address delivered at Emmetsburg, Iowa, July 4, 1903. 288 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Wisconsin is its southwesterly portion. Illinois is a fa- vored state, but its finest land is its northwestern part, next to our state. North Missouri is the best part of our neighbor on the south. Northeastern Kansas is the most fertile part of the Sunflower state. Eastern Nebraska is the richest part of that state, and southeastern Dakota is the best and most fertile of that commonwealth. So in the center of this zone of fertility our situation is most gratifying and serene. In the old Greek days it was the temple ; in the Roman days, the citadel ; in the middle ages the cathedral, which formed the architectural center of the town. But in our days the school-house in Iowa first attracts the eye of the traveler as he looks from the car window. We tax ourselves heavily — but three-fifths of it all goes to the support of our system of education, and the duty of the state to her children is recognized in the high- est degree. When our national constitution was adopted, there was a cancer in the body politic in the form of human slavery. The words "slave" and "slavery" were sedulously avoided in that instrument by the use of the terms "per- sons held to service and labor," and in the clause as to representation the words "three-fifths of all other per- sons," evaded the use of the obnoxious terms. The "importation of such persons as the states may think proper," was the phrase by which the slave trade was protected up to the year 1808. We had something in our organic law that our forefathers blushed to call by its right name. But a great crime against human rights could not be protected by the mere use of sounding phrases. But we must make allowances for the state of the public con- science in those old days. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 289 But now no one defends that "peculiar institution." It cost eight billions in money and a million lives to re- move that vile blotch from our escutcheon, and no one in the South would ever be willing to see slavery return. OLD FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS x In 1856, thirty-two years ago, the first Fourth of July celebration was held in this neighborhood. I well remem- ber to have been present. Thirty-three years is the av- erage of human life, and a generation has come and gone since then. In being called upon to speak to my old friends and neighbors of auld lang syne, I feel tempted strongly to make an old settler's address. Seeing so many of the good old familiar faces of my boyhood days around me revives recollections of toil and sorrow, of happiness and grief, when in the light of the early morning of life the glow of beauty and of hope colored all things. Standing now in middle life the sunrise has lost its glorious hues and while the sunset has not yet begun to cast its shad- ows, I look back with love and regret upon a past genera- tion, and with hope and confidence upon a generation that is arising. Where we now stand is a place full of pleasant mem- ories to me. Mahaska County is the loveliest county in Iowa and Eveland Grove the most charming spot in Ma- haska county. When Adam was alone in the Garden of Eden he called the land Paradise. But when Eve came and his happiness was full and complete he called it Eve- land. Whether this is the same Eveland or not I am not able to state but must prove it by some of the old settlers. I am not the oldest settler by any means. In the lan- guage of the Arkansas traveler, "That black stump was thar when I come." i Delivered July 4, 1888, at Eveland Grove, Iowa. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 291 If in talking about old times and about the old settlers today — for I am bound to give them at least a little of my time — I want to have a detail made to prove all that I may say. When I was in the army Mr. McEntee, a quartermaster, had a man detailed that he called his affidavit sergeant, and whenever any harness, tents, mules, or other prop- erty was lost the loss was established by the evidence of the " affidavit sergeant," and the quartermaster's ac- counts were relieved from further responsibility. If I go back into antiquity and tell my tales out of school, that the new generation or new-comers may doubt, I think that Nick Hoit would be a good man to have detailed as the "affidavit sergeant" of the occasion, and we can prove it all up by him. If any of the statements are unusually hard of proof the detail might be strengthened by adding Billy Martin and a later recruit, Captain Joe Evans, to the detail. But, first, in looking over the faces around me today we miss the kind old smile of scores of the men and women, good and true, that gathered here thirty-two years ago. Thomas Lee and John S. Lee have gone to their last reward. Uncle Tommy McClure, whose heart was ever cheerful under adversity, and who was a veritable Mark Tapley in his ability to be happy under difficulties, is under the sod. Dr. Boyer, who was a pioneer of pioneers, and a man of immense brain power, has gone out from among us mourned and regretted by all. Uncle Van De- lashmutt, one of the brainiest men of his day and genera- tion, and a member of the convention that framed our first constitution, has fought the good fight and by reason of strength reached the full fourscore that man may possess. The witty Willis Wilcox ; the dignified, able, and brave 292 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Captain Robert Wilson, too, are gone. Samuel Godfrey and Benjamin Godfrey, Sam Harris, Moses Reeve, Geo. C. Harriott, Sumner Darnell, Hiram Covey are among the missing. They have left their good deeds and mem- ory behind them. My own father I miss among the num- ber, whom you remember as among the first men who commenced the struggle for the erection of the noble bridge which stands in our sight, and links the destinies of Mahaska County together. And then a younger race of men I must speak of fur- ther on. For in 1861, when the first shot was fired in the war, this part of our country found many a plow left in the furrow, and many of our old settlers looked upon their boys for the last time. Richard Campbell, who fell and lies in an unknown grave before Atlanta, was a friend of my youth, and one whom this community delighted to honor. George God- frey, whose life would read like a romance, fills a grave at Memphis. I remember when he was keeping bach- elor's hall and studying night and day struggling for an education. And, again, when in the service he was al- ways ready to volunteer to perform extra duty for any one who was weaker than he ; how his high sense of honor for a long time made him shrink from foraging and liv- ing off the enemy as something that was revolting to his fine and noble conscience. Shot at Shiloh he staunched his wounds, and weak from loss of blood stood in the dreadful line of heroes who, in the evening of the sixth of April, 1862, held the enemy at bay till night and Buell turned the tide to victory. We may always profit by the history of such unselfish and valiant lives. How that same gallant fellow came home on crutches and put on citizen's clothing, lest, while walking on his crutches, his wounds should attract at- tention and give him a prominence from which his mod- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 293 esty shrank. How he returned to the front before his wounds were healed and the train upon which he was riding was wrecked and he fell into the hands of the en- emy. How he escaped and was hunted down with blood- hounds and recaptured in the black darkness of a cypress swamp. How he was cast again into prison and again escaped and on his arrival into the Union lines, fell a vic- tim to the hardships that he had gone through. I select him as an example of the heroism of the young men of those days, and many a counterpart to the story may be told to the other young men of this same com- munity. And when I look upon Jesse McClure, Mehanna Hoit, and others who left the community in 1861, and think of Lewis and Prank Eveland, of Frank Mistinger, of the McClure boys, of Price Jones, of Weekly, and a score more of the friends of that early day, I rejoice that the boys and girls before me have, through their death, had the opportunity to celebrate the Fourth of July of a free and united country. We meet here today not as Republicans, not as Demo- crats, not as Greenbackers, not as Union Labor men or Prohibitionists, but as Americans all and forgetting all party strife and party feeling send up our rejoicings to the God of the Universe, who has seen fit to make so free and happy a land, and in his own good time has permitted us to enjoy it. Whilst we stand for a moment in silence regretting the dead who are gone, and stand in silence on the shore of the great unknown future, we, nevertheless, will enjoy today to its fullest extent the present hour. The old days that I have been speaking of were full of hardships. The fever and ague were a constant visitor then, but have disappeared, destroyed by the beautiful and universal blue grass, which has turned the land into a 294 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY lawn, even where once existed the foulest of the old quag- mires. In looking back over the past it is hard to realize that this is the same country that in 1858 suffered from a total failure of crops and when cornbread and sorghum in lim- ited quantities was the only food that could be obtained. Some of the old settlers may remember the " prairie digs" of those days. When I was seventeen years old I made my debut in life by attempting to teach school. I boarded around, and at the opening of the school these "digs" were confined to a single family. But the close of the school showed how good a circulating medium the teacher was. They were all reduced to the same common level. My motto was, "Let no guilty man escape." But this is a painful subject ! Will one of the ' ' affidavit sergeants", detailed for the occasion, please come for- ward? In those old days barn raisings and road workings were days of festival. The prohibitory law of 1857, with special reference to barn raisings, provided that liquor might be used for mechanical purposes. At one of these barn raisings an old settler won a bet for Dr. Boyer. "The frost was on the pumpkin and the fodder was in the shock. ' ' A crowd was present at a barn raising and Dr. Boyer offered to bet that a certain old settler could bite further into a pumpkin than any other man in the county. The statute against gaming and options had no application, because any one who should look at the open countenance of the aforesaid old settler could readily see that it was a matter of certainty and not a game of chance ; and, sure enough, when the pumpkin — a large yellow one — was brought forward, the old settler easily went crashing through the rind like a six pound solid shot, and, spitting out a mouthful of seeds, Dr. Boyer won the bet. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 295 While we are letting no guilty man escape, our host, Henry Eveland, must not be forgotten. Henry is hale, hearty, heroic, and happy, but in the good old days that I have been talking about how we came very near losing him. It was a hot night in August. The corn was just ready to tassel out, with black-green leaves, and the old settlers rejoiced that if it was a hot night and bad for man and beast it was "at least good for the corn." Henry went to bed after a hard day's work in the sweltering heat. But, although his conscience did not trouble him, he could not sleep. It was too hot. He tried that old resort of a melting man: divested himself of all his clothing, like a second Adam, and went to sleep in the barn. The experiment was successful, but no sooner had he got to sleep than Joe Morris waked him up with the announce- ment that the cornfield was full of cattle. Henry was always a careless man about his toilet and on this occasion he forgot it altogether and with the speed of a racer at the Olympic games he was in the field after the cattle, racing and chasing the festive steers from side to side, until, finally, they were got out and the fence put up. But now comes the saddest part of this tale of woe of old times. Corn leaves cut like saws and knife blades and this unfortunate old settler made the discovery that he was literally cut to pieces. He was bandaged in fine linen and linseed oil and laid away to dry, and with proper nursing fully recovered. At this period of time it is safe to speak to him about it, but I should not have taken so great a risk in 1860. Shall I again call on the "affidavit sergeant"? You must pardon me for imparting so much of local flavor to my address today. Surrounded by these old friends I could not help it. For thirty-two years my heart has turned to this spot. There are no songs like the old songs ; no friends like the old friends. And there 296 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY is to Hie an air of sadness over it all. Returning to these old associations, those that are gone are more missed by me than by you who have constantly remained here. New associations arise with you in regard to the old places. With me these old places are constantly associated with the old faces. "We miss Professor Baker, who, I believe, was the first person who ever addressed a Fourth of July audience on these grounds. I miss the sound of many a kind voice of the old time. I miss the touch of many a friendly hand. As Tennyson expressed it, as he stood sadly by the sea thinking of the days that were gone : And the stately ships go on To their haven under the hill, But 0 for the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that is still. Break, break, break, At the foot of thy crags, 0 sea ! But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to me. The friends of those early days I see around me. Many are gone to newer homes in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, or the golden shores of California. But many still remain and it is a delight to me to see them together once more. Every nation has its holidays, but few of them have such a written history as to enable them to celebrate their birthday. This we are permitted to do. On the 4th of July, 1776, only a little over a hundred years ago, this nation first became a free and independent government. By the accident of the colony system, sep- arate and independent states became united under a gen- eral government, with complete local self-government re- tained in the separate states. This feature in our organ- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 297 ization made it possible for any number of separate states to become bonded together. A state whose industry is fishing may be united with one whose sole industry is stock-raising or mining, and the local affairs of each state are managed as it may seem best under the general provision of the constitution guaranteeing to each a re- publican form of government. The elasticity of this sys- tem has been shown and its endurance tested under the most trying circumstances. And today Scotland, Wales, and Ireland are asking and will obtain similar rights in the disposition of their local affairs. The power of association of this country as to every branch of the Caucasian race has proved a wonder to the world. The other day I saw an Irish witness upon the stand. His brogue was as rich as if he had not been from Talu an hour, and you could tell that he was an Irishman as well as if he had a map of Ireland on his face. The next witness was his son, who was born in Amer- ica of an Irish mother, and raised in Iowa. He looked like an American and spoke like an American, and if he had not had a good old Irish name he might have claimed that his ancestors came over in the Mayflower; and no one would have questioned the truth of the assertion. The line, though, must be drawn at the dominant race. The German, the Englishman, the Scotchman, the Frenchman are lost in the second generation, and the peculiar, bright, aggressive, active, native American evolved from the mixture. To any one who goes abroad to the old world the first thing he notices on landing again in this country is the bright and educated look of the people. The bright and intelligent looking people that you meet in crowds upon the trains are a source of constant surprise. They are all first class passengers, all well dressed, all apparently 298 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY educated and intelligent, and there is an air of familiar independence about them that is in marked contrast with the crowds you will see upon the trains in any other country. And to the ladies of America it may be well said that they do not fully realize and understand the position that they enjoy. Every country's greatness and intelligence must ultimately be measured by the standard of the mothers of the land. No fountain rises above its source. And in no land that the sun shines upon is woman placed upon the exalted pedestal which she occupies in America. A few years ago I was standing in the garrison city of Innsbruck, in the Tyrolese Alps. The city was being rap- idly increased by its erection of immense new buildings. On every hand from the broad and fertile plains rose the beautiful Tyrolese Alps, one of the grandest panoramas on earth. In the fields around the city the farms were being tilled by the women, and in the city I saw women with blue calico dresses, and hods of brick and mortar on their shoulders, carrying the brick and mortar up long flights of steps to the masons on the buildings, whilst in the streets nearby the soldiers sat or stood smoking or drinking their beer and taking the world easy, while the women did the work. This is one of the curses of a great standing army — which we happily escape. All wealth must be produced by labor. It may be gath- ered together in other methods, but it must be created by labor alone, and when half a million of men are taken out of the field of producers and become idle consumers at the expense of the public, we must expect in times of peace the same results that we saw in 1864 in America, when the women took up the farming tools and did the land labor that the men ordinarily undertook. God grant that the day may be far distant when woman shall come down from the place where she is enthroned ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 299 by all true Americans, to become a beast of burden. I spoke of Austria as an example, not as an exception. In Belgium women and dogs may be seen in all the streets harnessed up and pulling carts loaded with milk and vegetables. The dog guards the milk wagon while his mistress drops her harness and goes in to deliver the milk to a customer. Occasionally a dog fight between two rival milk teams mars the Arcadian beauty and simplicity of the scene, but not often, for the women and dogs usually dwell to- gether in amity. No wonder the American women are the handsomest in the world. They are the best treated. It was some years after national independence was achieved before the importance of the event was fully ap- preciated in Europe. It is true that our example led to the overthrow of monarchy in France, or, rather, it led to the explosion of the mine that had long been planted under the French throne. But, in its more important bearing, this country — as the asylum for the high-spirit- ed, oppressed people of all nations — was not so fully understood till early in the present century. But the tide set in strong and resistless until thousands have landed at Castle Garden in a single day. In 1841, when Sir Charles Lyell paid a visit to this country he made a careful examination and found that the line of settlement was traveling west at the rate of seventeen miles a year. These were stage-coach days and it was no doubt well for the country that the progress was so slow, so that the nation by steady growth might become large enough to assimilate the mighty host that was to follow. In those days the settler passed into the wilderness carrying neither scrip nor purse, relying on his own strong hands for his support and upon his trusty rifle for his defense. For fifty years the struggle with nature 300 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY progressed. The savage tribes receded gradually and the prairie schooner navigated the western wilds. Now rail- ways are built fearlessly into uninhabited lands in the full faith that the people will follow. PILGRIM DAY l You celebrate tonight one of the great events of his- tory. Great hardships and dangers attended the voyage and final landing of the Pilgrims. The defenders of Port Arthur have attracted the attention and received the homage of the world, but the percentage of death among the crew and colonists of the Mayflower was larger than that of the great siege which has just closed. More than half of these early voyagers were in their graves before the historic ship started on the return voyage. Creasy wrote of the Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World. A splendid companion book would be one upon the " Decisive Landings of the World," beginning with Noah at Mt. Ararat and including those of Caesar and William the Conqueror in Britain, iEneas in Italy, Co- lumbus at San Salvador, John Smith at Jamestown, the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, and the Japanese in Korea. I understand that the Boston people are now divided into two classes, the Mayflowers and the Cephalonians. The advantages that our Irish friends, who came over in the Cunarder Cephalonia, have over the pioneers of the Mayflower are that they can land in less than ten days from the old sod, and their safe arrival will be printed next morning in the Tipperary and Cork papers. The gentlemen who invited me to dine with you and speak on this occasion inquired of me what connection I had, if any, with the Pilgrim fathers. I was compelled to make the humiliating admission that by ancestry I had 1 Address at Washington, D. C, by John F. Lacey. 302 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY no claim whatever upon such distinction, but that my little granddaughter, Doris Brewster, who is now living under the Arctic circle at Nome, Alaska, is a descendant on her father's side from the man who was described as the "soul of the Pilgrim Company," Elder William Brewster, and bears that historic name. I shall have to claim connection with the Mayflower by ascent, instead of descent, as you do. But, lest my little granddaughter should grow vain over such distinction, I have taken time to compute the degree of relationship that attaches through ten generations from those pioneers. By de- scent, on one side only, the Pilgrim blood in one of the present generation is only one ten hundred and twenty- fourth part. This would seem to be a very small, vulgar fraction of Pilgrim stock, but we must recognize that a very little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, and there has never been a more controlling strain of blood on earth than that which these forefathers transported to the rocky shores of New England. It is estimated that there are something over a million descendants of the Mayflower immigrants, but they have dominated for a hundred years in all parts of the Union. The builders of nations may be uncultured and rough but they must be strong. They must be strong if they would lead the strong. They may direct but, after all, the winds and the currents move the ship. The New Englander, like the Scotchman, seems to have been able to maintain his dominating virility in every climate. The Scotchman at Hudson Bay and in Pana- ma is the same controlling force, not enervated by cli- mate, or led astray by his environments. It is so with the Pilgrim stock. Colonel Ingersoll said that if you should send a colony of Yankee school teach- ers to San Domingo, the next generation would be seen with a fighting cock under each arm, riding bare-backed ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 303 horses to the cock-pit on Sunday afternoon. This was a droll conception of the brilliant iconoclast, but it is ex- actly the reverse of the fact. The New England type will keep in every climate and dominate wherever it is found. On the Pacific Coast from Seattle to Bering Strait the white men are divided into two classes by the Indians and referred to as "King George's men" and "Boston men. ' ' Our English kinsfolk are complaining of our monopoly of the title American, and it is suggested that we should not assume the name which would indicate that we con- trol the two Americas, North and South, but that we should modestly assume the name of Usonians. Should we make a change it would be to accept the distinction of being called Yankees. This name adheres to us every- where when we go abroad, and even the Georgian when he stops at a Swiss hotel ceases to be shocked when he finds himself referred to as a Yankee. The founders of states and nations are always objects of interest to posterity, and are usually little noticed in the beginning when they are plowing and planting the seeds of future greatness. The origin of the nations of the Old World is veiled in the mists of antiquity. We see the streams as they flow through the plains, but the sources are lost to sight in the clouds which surround the mountain top. The Greeks and Romans ascribe to their old settlers the intimate friendship of the gods or direct descent from supernatural ancestors. When we read of Hercules and Romulus we feel that we are in the domain of myth and poetry rather than history. But the people who settled the United States trace their ancestry back to the beginning. It is a plain, practical beginning, full of harships and sorrows. The pioneers were chosen by the laws of natural selec- 304 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY tion. It was not the weakling or the dissolute who faced the dangers of an unknown world for conscience sake. The men who chose this course of life needed no pedigree. As Marshal Lannes said, they were "ancestors, not de- scendants." And the nobility of the Old World, in seeking new blood to restore decaying or decayed houses, may look with the same degree of care upon the bank account or rent roll of an American girl, but they ask her in mar- riage with no requirements as to ancestry. It was fortunate for the settlement of this republic that the splendid domain of the great Northwest was so far in the interior, so that the barren land of New England could be occupied before the population had seen the fer- tile prairies. A young Iowa farmer made his first visit to Massachu- setts a few years ago and wrote back to his father that the soil was so poor that they had to manure it to make brick. This you will no doubt recognize as libelous, or at least an exaggeration, but the fact remains that the New England people turned to the sea, to trade and manu- facture, for their future greatness rather than to the soil. Out west we are prone to look upon the New Englander as too much given to science and theory. We commonly imagine the young lady in the schools writing essays on "The philogeny of the hymenoptera," or some equally abstruse question. In fact, we are inclined to yield to them even greater intellectual powers than they claim. We recognize the philippics of Demosthenes as hav- ing been equaled by the Wendell Phillipics of forty-five years ago. The founding of the great schools of New England were the great factors in giving to that section its dom- inant influence in our history. The man who is educated in New England becomes a ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 305 missionary of the thought of those with whom he has so intimately associated in early life. The career of President Roosevelt is an illustration of the effect of such training as Harvard affords. Though of Dutch ancestry, our President had the environment of New England at the formative period of his life. We can say of him in the language of the breezy West, ''He is as straight as a gun-barrel and clean as a hound's tooth." The Pilgrims landed in 1620 and only seventeen years thereafter, in 1637, Harvard College was founded. They did not wait. They recognized at once the value of seats of learning. These ancestors of yours builded better than they knew. In the early days there were many conflicting claims to the great West. Virginia asserted title to the Northwest Territory and Massachusetts and Connecticut laid claim to everything west of them to the setting sun. Most of Michigan was in Massachusetts, and the present site of Chicago was in Connecticut. The subsequent compromises in regard to the public domain relieved the future Chicago and Connecticut of much trouble. I am not sure whether Chicago would have been in Connecticut or Connecticut in Chicago. With characteristic thrift Connecticut saved out of her claims the Western Reserve in Ohio, so that William McKinley and William B. Allison were born on what has been Con- necticut soil. The anti-slavery crusade in New England changed the history of this nation. It is hard to realize that only forty-six years ago old John Brown was captured at Harper's Ferry by the United States forces under Captain Robert E. Lee and by Virginia troops under Stonewall Jackson. Death and im- mortality had an appointment of martyrdom for John 306 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Brown at Harper's Ferry — he must keep his engage- ment. It was destiny, and his soul is marching on. Brown captured from Lewis Washington the sword which Frederick the Great had presented to George Washington, and this sword he surrendered to Lee. Only seven years later came the great event of Appomattox. How fast the world moved in those eventful years ! When Governor Henry A. Wise returned to his home, after the surrender in 1865, he found his house converted into a freedman's school; John Brown's picture hung on the parlor wall, and John Brown's daughter was a teacher in the school. The influence of New England may be found in all parts of the United States, and particularly in the great West. The town meeting has not in its original form been carried to the new states except in the management of the public schools. But her general plan of local self-gov- ernment has become a part of the daily life of all of our people. These meetings in which you commemorate the toil and sacrifices of your forefathers are schools of patriotism. It is important that the children of these great ancestors should suffer no decadence. There were 20,000 Greeks at Athens bearing arms in the days of Pericles and Athens was powerful. There were still 20,000 Greeks of age to bear arms in the days of Demetrius Phalereus. But they were the degenerate sons of worthy sires. The maintenance of the high stand- ing of the past is possible but it cannot be done without effort. OLD SETTLERS' MEETING1 The founders of states and empires have always been objects of interest. Ordinarily the origin of a nation or state is lost in the myths of fable. The Greeks and the Romans describe their old settlers as the intimate friends of the gods ; and whether we read of an .ZEneas, a Dido, a Romulus, or a Remus, we feel sure that we are in a domain of poetry rather than of his- tory. Jasper County has set the example in Iowa of gather- ing together in loving reunion, remnants of the old set- tlers, that they may mingle with the new generations fol- lowing in their footsteps. Jasper is so large a county that more than one of these reunions has been called with- in her borders during the present year. The good cheer and bountiful provisions on this camp- ground only attest how near the heart is to the stomach. Such a matter as this is essentially social in its character, and is always absolutely free from political significance. A few years ago I was invited to speak at a political barbecue in the neighborhood where I had spent many years upon my father's farm. The old settlers whom I had known for nearly forty years were all there, and they embraced every shade of political opinion. I never found it more difficult to talk party politics than I did facing that kind of an audience. But for the fact that I had been advertised to make a political speech, I would have devoted my entire discourse to topics which would please the old settlers, regardless of their political faith. 1 Address at Prairie City, Iowa, August 28, 1895. 308 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Here today we meet without discussing political or re- ligious creed, and commemorate the generation that founded the state of Iowa. In the old world the first inhabitants of mountain re- gions believed in many gods ; each cloud, as it gathered upon a mountain peak, and spoke in thunder to the dis- tant clouds, was peopled by mountaineers in their my- thology with a separate god. Each valley, lake, and cavern had its ruling spirit. But on the plains of Asia the arch- ing sky and the level earth brought up the thought of unity, and the one God of revelation there found ready believers. By the Indian, who first inhabited the plains of Amer- ica, the great spirit was looked upon as controlling every- thing. That spirit of unity in all nations prevails among the Indians of the plains today. The first settlers of this county are no longer numer- ous, neither are they all dead. Many persons present were born before this city was founded. Measuring time by events, rather than by years, it is wonderful, indeed, what these old settlers have seen. The old man born in 1809 is only eighty-six years of age. He was born the same year with Lincoln, whose martyrdom occurred thirty years ago ; and with Gladstone, who is still a pow- er in English affairs. The lives of these men stretch back to the days when Napoleon was in all his glory. The younger generation will recollect when Italy was a chaos of little principalities, and Germany an aggrega- tion of little kingdoms. He will recollect when Mason and Dixon's line divided this country into rival sections, a line no longer referred to, except in history. The records of the first settlers of other lands have been made centuries after the events which they purport to record. But the settlers of this region are involved in none of the myths of fable. The European settlers sailed ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 309 amid the clouds of tradition and obscurity. The prairie schooner of the great West is still remembered as a re- cent institution. How new these old settlers are. Did you ever think what God did to prepare this land for the old settlers? Its geological history is written in the thousands of feet of limestone of the state, the coal, the drift, and the soil. Air, fire, water, glaciers, wind, hail, sleet, and ages of time gradually prepared the sur- face of the Northwest to be the garden that it now is. When I see one of the gigantic boulders from Hudson's Bay lying imbedded in the soil, where the ice laid it so many ages ago, I always feel like taking off my hat, for he is the real old settler. The great garden called Iowa lies almost like a square block, with ninety-nine counties like a checkerboard upon its surface. It slopes from 1,500 feet above the sea in the northwest to 600 feet at the southeast corner, with streams flowing down this gentle slope from west to east. In a moist climate and fertile soil are found her chief wealth. The coal, gypsum, lead, and clay furnish great resources of ordinary wealth ; and in your own county the Colfax Springs water offers a sanitarium to all. Every country looks back to its first settlers. The In- dian who first occupied this land was but a wanderer. He lived upon the soil but did not occupy it; of necessity his occupation was but temporary. But the present occu- pants of Iowa have fixed themselves in the soil ; they have come to stay. Ours is the newest race on earth. That country is a new country, indeed, where the old settler lives to celebrate his own arrival. We may search in vain for the origin of the Aryan race, but we know where the settlers of Iowa came from. All nations mingled to create the American. The Celt, the Greek, the Teuton all combine. With all the Anglo-Saxon love of liberty and aptitude of self-gov- 310 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ernment, the American race is no longer merely Anglo- Saxon. European noblemen have learned this and are seeking wives from the new race, without asking for ped- igree. There is nothing fairer on earth than a child fresh from the hand of God, and the new race has the merit of being the last product of the world's evolution. As late as 1844 Mr. Lyell, the great geologist, estimated the rate of progress of the American people to the west at seventeen miles a year. But the telegraph and the railway came in due time, and the American race was especially adapted to the era of steam and electricity. The American people, made from them all, has sprung suddenly into the first rank among the races of the world. I am no pessimist, and I will not preach the gospel of despair at an old settlers' meeting; even if I were in the very slough of despond, I would not talk it here, for I do not wish these old men to die regretting that they helped to found Iowa. Planted, as the original colonies were, upon the coast, new material steadily crossed the sea, and the result was a new type among the people of the world. In building up the West, the strongest young lives in the East turned their faces to the setting sun. Thus it is that the truest American type is found in the boundless West. The greatest event in its results, occurring in the year 1803, was the purchase of Louisiana, by Monroe, acting for the administration of Mr. Jefferson. Monroe built better than he knew. He was sent to buy New Orleans, and bought the whole Louisiana Purchase instead, includ- ing the great state of Iowa, which was but a small part of Mr. Monroe's acquisition. His memory was commem- orated in your own county at one time, by the location of the state capital at Monroe, and it was at Monroe, I am told, that the first cabin was built in Jasper county. It ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 311 was a brave race that settled this country, and men de- serve to live, who are not afraid to die. The builders of nations may be rough, but they must be strong. The very faults of the old settlers may be class- ed among their virtues. Men complain now about what these old men would have called trifles. They worked and cared for themselves and would have scorned to ask the government to take care of them. Put those men on an island and they would soon organize a free govern- ment, and put it in running order. They had an abiding faith in their ability to take care of themselves and to get the best of everything. In 1861, when a thousand of the first settlers of Kansas met to organize a regiment, to take part in the war for the Union, they first organized like a town meeting, with a chairman and secretary. They had not yet selected a colonel and officers of the line. The question arose as to whether the regiment should go out as cavalry or in- fantry, and after considerable discussion, as to the re- spective merits of the two arms of the service, one old settler arose and said, "Mr. Chairman, I move we go out as infantry and come back as cavalry." The motion pre- vailed, and, sure enough, when the regiment was mustered out they were all well mounted. The men of Iowa did not build this state alone. In no state have the women taken a more conspicuous part. They were ready to bear their part of the hardships of the first settlers, and upon them fell the sorrows and bur- dens of the Civil War. And to them, more than to the men of Iowa, is due the fact that Iowa stands first among the states in freedom from illiteracy. Her climate renders her future as promising as her past has been astonishing. With variety and variable- ness sufficient to create a rugged race, the feeble and 312 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY broken in health have never sought her prairies as the natural home for the weak; and her people have grown from a selection among the strongest in the land. But whatever pride of state we may have, whatever pride of state we do have, the people of Iowa always have subor- dinated their love of their own state to that of the union of all the states. When Shakespeare wrote his immortal plays there were not so many English speaking people in all the world as now live in Iowa and Illinois Today 120,000,- 000 tongues are speaking the language of our forefathers. Jasper County was settled in 1843 ; Prairie City, first named Elliot, was settled in 1856. The enabling act to admit the state into the Union, was passed in 1845, only fifty years ago. Already over two million people are liv- ing within her borders. No state takes better care of her deaf, dumb, blind, helpless, and insane. It is not mere wealth or invention that benefits a people. It is the use to which inventions are applied. The Chinese had gunpowder and printing before the Christian era, and the Tartars guided their carts and wagons through the plains of Asia with the aid of a mag- netic needle floating in a vessel of water. It is the man- ner in which inventions have been utilized which consti- tutes the chief glory of the present generation. THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE l I wish to avail myself of the generous privileges ac- corded in general debate to discuss a subject that in 1903 will attract universal interest. We have been passing through a series of centennial years, beginning with that of 1876, when we celebrated the nation's independence. The most important event in its consequences after in- dependence year was that which occurred in 1803, when the territory of Louisiana was ceded to our republic. We are about to celebrate the great epoch in a most substan- tial way by an unrivaled exhibition upon the banks of the father of waters, at the city of St. Louis. There is no part of our land so rich in its future pos- sibilities as that region to which I invite your attention. For many years I have carefully studied the resources of our public domain. In a long journey through the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico, a few years ago, I had a college grad- uate cowboy for a driver. He asked me if I had seen much of the West, and I told him I knew it from Alpha to Omega. He quietly suggested that he knew it better still ; that he "knew all about it from Alfalfa to Omaha." The subject of the purchase of 1803 covered a wide range of time, latitude, and longitude. We are interest- ed in the Louisiana Purchase because of its influence up- on our history and its great possibilities in the future. Let us go back a few cycles, and we will, in our mind's 1 Speech of Hon. John F. Lacey, of Iowa, in the House of Representa- tives, Tuesday, December 16, 1902. 314 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY eye, see the land piled mountain high with the earth's great glacial cap and behold the dynamic forces grinding up the drift and preparing it for the soil that was yet to come. Later on — "We hear the tread of pioneers Of Nations yet to be, The first low wash of waves where soon Will roll a human sea. THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS God has guided the settlement of this country. When Columbus started on his venturesome voyage he firmly resolved to sail due west and under no circumstances to change his direction, but the flight of flocks of parrots to the southwest led his seamen to appeal to the admiral to follow the birds. He finally yielded, and landed in the West Indies instead of upon the coast of Georgia or North Carolina, thus reserving the United States for English occupation. In ancient times many a battle was fought upon the favorable omens of the flight of birds. The Roman consuls carried their chicken coops with their troops, and before fighting a battle fed the birds and consulted the soothsayers as to the omens. The Aztecs founded the City of Mexico where a vulture was seen standing on a cactus with a serpent in its talons. But never were such great results dependent upon so slight a cause as when Columbus by changing his course caused the settlement of the West Indies, Mexico, and South America by the Spanish people instead of the ter- ritory now occupied by the original thirteen colonies of the United States. Had he not changed his course he would no doubt have landed upon the coast of Georgia in- stead of San Salvador. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 315 KELIGIOUS FREEDOM The Spanish exploration turned aside, and a different people, with different language and aspirations, laid the foundation of our present great republic. The first set- tlers came in search of religious freedom — the Puritans to New England, the Quakers to Pennsylvania, Catholics to Maryland, Huguenots to South Carolina. These set- tlements in different provinces seemed a simple thing at the time, but the colonists builded better than they knew, for a land broad and deep, the deep foundation of the sovereign states of the Union. The first setters of every land have excited the interest and admiration of their descendants. The nations of the Old World have sought their ancestors among the gods. In our own brief history we are able to trace the origin and growth of our national life from its beginning. FRENCH EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT The mighty Mississippi flows over the remains of De Soto, and serves at once as his grave and his monument. The French pioneers of Canada heard of the great stream near its sources and believed that it flowed into the Gulf of California. La Salle, Marquette, Joliet, Hennepin, and De Tonty have written their names upon the map of the future center of the world's civilization. Following the river in its majestic course to the Gulf, there the French missionary voyagers raised the cross of Jesus and the flag of France, and took possession in the name of their king and called the land Louisiana. THE TREATY OF PURCHASE NAPOLEON, JEFFERSON, MON- ROE, LTVENGSTON In discussing this subject we can not be otherwise than forcibly impressed with the progress of the world. Only 316 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY one hundred years ago on the 30th of next April the treaty ceding this great territory was signed, and Presi- dent Jefferson was soon after assailed for having not on- ly violated the Constitution by extending his country's boundaries, but he was especially criticized for throwing away the enormous sum of $15,000,000 in the purchase of land lying so remote from civilization and of so little intrinsic value. But Providence raises statesmen from time to time who see beyond the narrow horizon of their own time, and in republics men are called to power who are willing to look further than the next election. The most stupendous transaction in the march of time was the action of Pope Alexander VI, when he took the map of the world and with a pen and ruler divided the New World between Portugal and Spain. This was a very simple and convenient adjustment of a great con- troversy, but it was not possible for it to remain so set- tled, and so in due time other nations took part in the colonization of our hemispheres. And so it happened that whilst our Atlantic Coast was occupied by Great Britain, the most Christian king of France held dominion over the great prairies, forests, and mountains of the West. In 1682 the flag of France was raised, but it was not until 1699 that the first settlement was made near the Gulf. The great possibilities of this country fascinated the French people, and John Law exploited its future with his Mississippi scheme, involving all France in bankruptcy and financial ruin, until they were very will-- ing indeed to cede the land to Spain, in 1762. But in the treaty of San Ildefonso, October 1, 1800, Spain again transferred it back to France; but the terms of the treaty were kept so secret that it was commonly believed that Florida had been included in the transfer, though the flag of Spain still floated over the various posts. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 317 When Bonaparte became the First Consul and dicta- tor of France, war with Great Britain had become un- avoidable. Our minister at Paris, Mr. R. R. Livingston, opened up negotiations to secure the navigation of the river and the title to the land near the mouth of the stream. He especially desired to purchase New Orleans. Mr. Jefferson, however, wanted Florida as well as the mouth of the river. Spain was still in possession and the time seemed ripe for a treaty. The phenomenal and pro- phetic mind of the young Napoleon alone seemed to com- urehend the future possibilities of such a treaty. James Monroe was hurriedly called by Jefferson from his Vir- ginia home and sent as a special envoy to act with Mr. Livingston, and they were authorized to buy New Or- leans, the mouth of the river, and Florida for $2,000,000. But a new man had arisen in the affairs of Europe, a man of few words, but of prompt, vigorous, and decis- ive action. Napoleon promptly took the whole negotia- tion out of the hands of the wily and corrupt Talleyrand and placed it with Marbois, his minister of finance. Mar- bois had been in the United States and had acquired the most priceless of all treasures, an American wife, and the affair was in friendly hands. The First Consul fairly staggered our commissioners when he proposed to sell the whole domain for $15,000,000. Here was a region un- peopled by civilized men, extending from the Lake of the Woods to the Gulf, and of uncertain boundaries east and west, but unquestionably larger than Great Britain, Ger- many, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy combined. When the uncertainties of the boundaries were refer- red to, Napoleon said: "If there were no uncertainties in the limits it would be necessary to invent some." He realized the value of an elastic boundary. He could put his own construction upon that. Great Britain has found it convenient in Alaska. Napoleon knew how untenable 318 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY this country was for him as against England, the mistress of the sea. He needed money. He was land poor; and so, with his laconic brevity, he fixed his terms and star- tled the American commissioners by the magnitude of the transaction. Fortunately, there was no Atlantic cable or steamship line, and the responsibility had to be assumed without further instructions, and the future author of the Monroe Doctrine was there, ready, willing, and brave enough to take the responsibility. Monroe landed April 1st, and on the 30th the contract was signed. We usually look upon great battles alone as the turning points of history. Arbela, Zama, Actium, Waterloo, Sedan, and such bloody scenes are usually the pivotal points in the affairs of men. But the habeas corpus, the bill of rights, the Declaration of Independence stand out with as much importance in the progress of mankind as do any of the bloody contests which have so changed the affairs of the world. Among the greatest of these peaceful landmarks in the world's history is the treaty that was finally consumma- ted on the 30th of April, 1803. It has been said that "Diplomacy can trot all day in a bushel measure," but it was not so with the diplomacy of Napoleon. When the treaty was finally signed, Bonaparte said in substance : "This strengthens forever the power of the United States. I have given England a rival who will some day take dominion of the sea. ' ' When the Spanish flag came down at New Orleans, that of France was raised, and floated for the brief period of twenty-five days, and then the stars and stripes were thrown to the breeze, and the American governor said to the surrounding people : "This cession secures to you and your descendants the heritance of liberty." In 1904, at St. Louis, we will celebrate this great event. In its effect upon human happiness it is one of the great- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 319 est that has ever occurred in the history of the world. No salutes were fired; no great enthusiasm prevailed in the United States when this treaty was made known. The nation could afford to wait one hundred years for the celebration. But although no noise was made in Amer- ica, the effects of the treaty soon made themselves felt on the other side of the Atlantic. Of the purchase money, $4,750,000 was applied on claims of Americans against France and the other $11,250,000 went into the great war chest of Napoleon, who expended it in the purchase of equipment for his great army. LOUISIANA AND AUSTERLITZ Harness, horses, wagons, clothing, powder, shot, shell, muskets, and cannons were bought with this money, and when the French army started from Boulogne to the fron- tier to meet the Austrian and Russian armies and under the December sun to fight the battle of Austerlitz, every shot that was fired was a voice from the Louisiana Pur- chase. When that battle ended, Napoleon was at the zenith of his martial glory, and Europe was at his feet. When William Pitt heard of the defeat he died of a brok- en heart. But now, after one hundred years, the results of that victory have passed away. Austerlitz has left but little impression upon the world of today. Napo- leon's light went out like an untended watch-fire on the rock of St. Helena, and France was humbled into her nar- row limits once more, but the peaceful results of the Lou- isiana treaty still endure. In 1803 France had 27,349,003 inhabitants, among the most prosperous, progressive, and happy that have ever lived. In fertility the Louisiana Purchase is equal or superior to France itself. Longfellow, in Evangeline, describes its soil — Smoothly the plowshare runs through the soil as a keel through the water. 320 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY From Winnipeg to Biloxi the same plants and grasses may be found, and though the variation of climate is great in so wide a range of latitude, the most valuable of all cereals will grow in the whole region. THE POWER OF COAX. The same native animals grazed from Hudson's Bay to the Mexican Gulf, but with all its wealth of soil, climate, forests, mountains, lakes, and rivers there is stored with- in its bosom the mineral power for ages yet to come. Not long ago a young Englishman, Mr. Coates, the superin- tendent of the Uruguay Railway in South America, asked me the question, "Do you realize what a tremendous handicap it would be upon your progress if every loco- motive that pulls a train out of New York, Baltimore, or Washington should be first coaled up from the mines of Wales or Australia? That is practically the situation in South America." In 1902, when for five months 150,000 miners laid down their tools and ceased to work, we had in a small way a sample of a coalless continent. Imagine our country bereft of the great motive power which moves our trains, our steamers, and our factories, which makes life comfortable in the rigors of the north- ern midwinter. Without the coal the days of steam would have come in vain, and the age of electricity would have sought other fields. But the great Louisiana Pur- chase is filled with the most valuable deposits of coal, stored by the providence of God within its limits long before Adam found himself alone in Eden. UNEXAMPLED GROWTH Since the annexation of Louisiana its growth has been so reasonable, so expected, and so natural as to recall the explanation of the Irishman at Niagara. "See how it rolls down. Is it not grand? Is it not wonderful?" in- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 321 quired the hackman. "I don't see anything remarkable about it; it has to; there is nothing to hinder it," said Pat. What a splendid galaxy of stars was added to our flag ! Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, most of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming, and all of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory have been carved out of the land ceded in the memorable treaty. The population in 1900 was nearly 15,000,000. Although the price was deemed some- thing startling, for $15,000,000 was a great sum in those days, today there are but few counties in Iowa whose as- sessment for taxation does not show a valuation of more than the whole cost of the Louisiana Purchase, and yet possibly some of the estimates of value have been given to the assessors with becoming modesty by the owners. St. Louis alone represents a valuation of $376,907,595. THE LIMESTONE SOIL AND ITS EENEWAL Much of the Louisiana Purchase is underlaid with lime- stone, which is a most enduring foundation of fertility. The soil of the state of Iowa, for example, nearly all is underlaid by a thousand feet of solid limestone. The great glacier cap which ages ago covered all the land from near the Missouri line to the Pole broke up the strata and produced the joint clay, thus opening up the passageway for the water from the surface to the solid rock. When the season is excessively wet, as in 1902, the water has free access and searches the crevices in the rocks in the depths below. When it is too dry cap- illary attraction draws the moisture from beneath, and so by this simple provision of nature the extremes of drought and flood are minimized in their effect, and so we thank the glaciers for benefits accruing so long after they have disappeared ; but no doubt if man had then appeared 322 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY on the planet the glacial growler of that day would have seen only the dark side of the picture. But there is still another and perhaps more pleasing view of this subject. Limestone is not only a source of fertility, but it dissolves in water and thus renews the richness of the soil. In the floods of the last season the surface water reached and penetrated the limestone. Though the rain fell pure and free from lime, it at once began to dissolve and take up all the mineral that it could hold in solution, absorbing it from the rock itself. The water next to the stone having become charged with lime to the saturation point, the precious fertilizer slowly ascended until the water near the surface was nearly or perhaps as highly charged as that below. Thus hundreds of thousands of tons of fresh lime, the richest of manures, is lifted to the soil near the surface, and when the water evaporates there the precious fer- tilizer remains to perpetually renew the fruitful soil. With thousands of feet in depth of this rich deposit as a base of supplies, we can face the future full of hope. France has had two thousand crops in two thousand years, because her fertile soil lies over a similar source of perpetual renewal. I am not sure that this suggestion of the elevation by the action of water of fertilizing material from beneath the underlying strata has been adequately considered by men who have made a special study of the chemistry of the soil. In the plains of Lombardy the running water deposits in the bottoms of the irrigating ditches material dissolved from the Alps. The farmers there mix the sediment with stubble and spread it over their fields, thus keeping their lands as good as new. With such resources the future fertility of that part of the Louisiana Purchase is assured. I like to take a cheerful view of our future. I am an ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 323 optimist. The statement I have just made is a full an- swer to the pessimists who prophesy the early decay of our fruitfulness. With these prophets of evil I have never had any sympathy. I approve of the opinion of the old German who de- fined a pessimist as "a man who in a choice of two evils takes both of them." Iowa was carved out of that empire ; she was part of Louisiana, then of the district of Louisiana, next placed by Congress in the territory of Missouri. Had that law remained unchanged the people of Iowa would have been Missourians. Then Iowa became a part of Michigan, next of Wisconsin, and finally she was molded into her present form by the legislative hand. The memory of the early days of the whole Louisiana domain will be now revived in all the states within its borders. THE PIONEER DAYS The pioneer days of Iowa are ever a source of pleasure, either in memory or in history. "In all that is good, Iowa affords the best," is the terse way that her favorite son, Sid Foster, has of putting in a few words what everybody recognizes to be true. We all look back with pleasure upon those old days. Dr. Robert Gray says that "the past is full of pleasing recollections, the future is full of hope; we all quarrel with the present." As Henry W. Grady said, the "old house that whistled when the wind blew and wept when it rained, ' ' stands out in our memory with greater delight than the most sump- tuous of our modern homes. Every nation looks with reverence, if not with super- stition, upon its ancestors. Usually their origin is traced to the supernatural. But in our own short career we are able to follow our ancestry into a plain, practical, and 324 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY God-fearing original. The best of the races of northern Europe, either directly or through their descendants in the older states, have settled in the Louisiana Purchase, and from them have sprung the composite people who now inhabit that land. But as men grow older they look with increasing interest upon all the traditions of their forefathers. Heredity and blood increase in importance as the years roll by, and it is a pleasure to know that the stock from which this population has been formed has such an hon- orable history. IOWA A-Y-A-U-W-A-Y Thomas Jefferson was an enterprising man; his rest- less mind was always boiling with plans. No sooner had the treaty been made than the Lewis and Clark expedi- tion was planned and started out from St. Louis, and the long journey was begun. We first find the word "Iowa"1 in the record of this exploring party, and it is spelled " A-y-a-u-w-a-y. ' ' The voyage up the river, the winter at Mandan, the journey across the mountains to the mouth of the Columbia, the second winter there, and the return to St. Louis read like the tale of another journey of Jason in search of the golden fleece. When these discoverers returned and told their story of adventure at Washing- ton the Americans began indeed to dream dreams of the future, but those visions were only feeble suggestions of what the realities have become. THE WORLD'S PROGRESS We can best note the progress of the world by com- parison. When Augustus ruled the world the Mediter- ranean was a Roman lake. One hundred and twenty million people were under the dominion of the Caesars. But Augustus, rich and great as he was, never read a ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 325 newspaper, never traveled more than twelve miles an hour, never received a telegram, never had a pane of glass in his house, never saw an ear of corn or a potato. He had peacocks upon his table, but never tickled his palate with the flesh of a turkey, never knew the use of tobacco, and never had a shirt on his back. If we were to go into the workhouse of today and re- move from the daily supply of its occupants everything that had been invented since the Augustan age, the in- mates of such an institution would regard themselves as being the most ill-treated of mankind. In 1453, when the Turk captured Constantinople, the learning of the Greeks was dispersed all over Europe, and the world was all the better prepared to avail itself of the discoveries of 1492. The sea had for ages rolled around the known world as a complete bar to human progress; it has become a highway; now it unites, rather than divides, the continents. Natural gas was worshiped by the ancients as a manifestation of the gods; now it is harnessed for the use of man. The priestess at Delphi intoxicated herself with its fumes and saw visions. At Kokomo, man has made it an utility. At Guadaloupe, Mexico, a bubbling spring was looked upon and worshiped as a miraculous healer of the Aztecs ; but in our day and generation mineral springs become practical and scientific cures. The scientist and geologist have supplanted the barbarian and sorcerer, and old-time soothsayers would have been struck dumb with the exploits of Edison. Ghosts hide themselves from the light of scientific day. McKinley held his ear to the telephone at Canton and listened to the shouting multitudes at the convention at St. Louis. The results of the Olympic games in Greece, a few years ago, were known in St. Louis five hours before the races started, if we make no allowance for the difference in time. 326 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Seneca foretold that Ultima Thule would no longer mark the boundaries of the world. Now, the railway runs to Jerusalem ; we have found the mouth of the Niger and the source of the Nile. Before many years a child may be put on the train at Chicago in charge of the con- ductor to be landed at Buenos Ayres; Khartoum and Albert Nyanza will be dinner stations on the Cairo and Cape Town Railway; the world, after all, is growing smaller. THE COST OF OUE TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS It is interesting at this day to note the cost of the various territorial purchases which up to the time of the Spanish war have been added to our national domain. Our last purchase I will not discuss at this time, for it is too early to count the cost and value of Porto Rico and the Philippines. We paid for Louisiana only three and three-tenths cents an acre, the best investment ever made by any nation since the dawn of history. To Spain we gave for Florida 17.1 cents an acre; to Mexico, 4.5 for the first purchase, and then 34.3 for the Gadsden Purchase in southern Arizona, the highest priced of all our acquisitions. Georgia sold her territorial rights for 10.1 cents an acre. The most doubtful ex- pansion of all was when William Henry Seward made the purchase of the icebergs of Alaska at 1.19 cents an acre. Mr. Seward said that his reputation in history would mainly rest on this act of statesmanship, and for many years his expected honor remained in cold storage in that inhospitable land. But time has vindicated the wisdom of Mr. Seward, and Alaska is no longer the least prized of our possessions. But of all additions to our republic none have been freighted with such great possibilities for the good of the nation as the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 327 The West is no longer there. There is the center of our land. There will soon be the center of population and power. From the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Nile to the Tiber, from the Tiber to the Seine and the Thames, from the Seine and the Thames to the Hudson, the Potomac, and the Mississippi, the star of empire has taken its way, ever to the west ; and now it is shining brightly upon the states which have been formed out of the territory of Louisiana. THE MONROE DOCTRINE x Holidays are of slow growth, in as busy a nation as ours; holidays are only chosen because of some great purpose involved in their celebration. The day we cele- brate is the greatest of all anniversaries, for it commem- orates the birth of a nation. It is usual to devote the day to the noisiest form of patriotism. The liberty bell that rang in our first na- tional birthday has been broken and voiceless for many years; but bells and guns and voices have taken up the chorus, and the old liberty bell can afford to be silent. This day is well spent when it is devoted to patriotic impulses and the revival of great national sentiments. I have concluded to depart somewhat from the usual course of speakers on this occasion, and in so doing I hope we will not lose sight of the fact that the subject which I shall discuss is one vital to the well-being of this nation, and essential to the preservation of its liberties and independence. It is common to speak in general terms of the Monroe Doctrine. The principles of that doctrine are approved by every political party in the United States. In dis- cussing this question we can all unite in one common pa- triotic sentiment ; and upon this sacred day there are too many things that we can unite upon to render it either necessary or desirable that we should discuss any of the things upon which we are divided. The duties of this nation expand with its greatness ; our country dominates in the western hemisphere, and we owe a duty to the New World in which our nation has grown so great. 1 Address at Eldon, Iowa, July 4, 1895, by John F. Lacey. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 329 The discovery of America on the one hand, and the cir- cumnavigation of the Cape of Good Hope upon the other, opened up endless avenues of growth, progress, wealth, and liberty. The Cape of Good Hope had long been known as the "Cape of Storms." When once it was found that it pointed the way to India, it ceased to be the "Cape of Storms" and became instead the Cape of Good Hope; and from this promontory civilization is now reaching out and spreading over the dark continent itself. The great western ocean was believed to be filled with danger, monsters, and death, until Columbus showed it was a pathway to the New World. Standing a few years ago in St. Mark's Cathedral, at Venice, and looking, with my wife, at the mosaic pictures of Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the dome, my wife turned suddenly to me and said, "Where is America?" and sure enough in this perfect and beautiful arch there was no allegory to represent the New World. It was still un- known. The Spaniards led the way to America, the Portuguese led the way by the Cape of Good Hope to India. Both these nations claimed the earth and the fullness thereof, by reason of their great discoveries. Pope Alexander the Sixth took a chart of the new discoveries, and claimed as the vicar of Christ, the right to divide the New World. And one of the most interesting exhibits at the World's Fair in Chicago was the original manuscript of the pope's bull by which the hemisphere was thus divided between the Spanish and the Portuguese crowns. The civilization of the Aztecs and the Incas was re- morselessly divided between rival dynasties who repre- sented the divine right of kings. In ancient times the flight of birds was watched by the soothsayers with profound interest. Columbus sailed due west until the flight of the parrots flying over the 330 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY ships to the southwest caused the seamen to urge upon their leader to follow the birds. Many an ancient battle was fought because the birds gave signs of victory ; and never was so momentous a con- clusion resultant upon the observation of the fowls of the air, as when Columbus followed them to the West Indies, instead of landing upon the coast of the United States. The Indies and South America became Spanish; North America was left open for the Anglo-Saxon. No nation has ever yet shown the same power as a colonizer as has been exhibited by the English people. She learned a les- son in our Revolutionary War which has taught her to retain her other colonies by the gentlest of ties. She has given to them the power of local self-government, even to the extent that they may legislate against the trade of the mother country. The Revolution has led to far- reaching results. It has done much more than to merely lay the foundation for the great republic in which we live. The French who helped us in the war carried back to Europe the germs of liberty, which ultimately grew into the great Revolution in which the Bourbon dynasty went down in blood. Napoleon's empire rose upon its ruins, and after twen- ty years in which he strode the earth as a colossus, an al- liance against him was formed between Prussia, Russia, Austria, and England. This was the foundation of the celebrated alliance. When Napoleon was overthrown and sent to the rock of St. Helena, the Holy Alliance was still continued to pre- vent any further uprising of the people of Europe. Nor need we wonder at the term Holy Alliance, as adopted by an organization whose object was to destroy human lib- erty. The word "Holy" was one to conjure with, and at one time the principal bank in Rome was known as the ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 331 1 'Bank of the Holy Ghost," so called to give it an odor of sanctity, and secure large deposits. Some idea of the holy character of this alliance may be obtained from the secret treaty of Verona, signed in 1822, made by Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia, Eng- land having withdrawn. I quote from it : The high contracting powers being convinced that the system of representative government is equally incompatible with the monarchical principles as the maxim of the sovereignity of the people with the divine right, engage mutually, in the most solemn manner, to use all their efforts to put an end to the sys- tem of representative governments, in whatever country it may exist in Europe, and to prevent its being introduced in those countries where it is not yet known. As it cannot be doubted that the liberty of the press is the most powerful means used by the pretended supporters of the rights of nations, to the detriment of those Princes, the high contract- ing parties promise reciprocally to adopt all proper measures to suppress it, not only in their own states, but also, in the rest of Europe. It became an unholy Alliance against the liberties of the world. Metternich was the schemer who organized and held it together. He represented the old order of things, and so wedded was he to existing abuses that he did not even view with pleasure the attempts of Greece to get back her place in the ranks of civilization. Mettternich was for the existing privileges, whether Austrian or Turk. The progressive spirit of Great Britain led to her withdrawal from this alliance. Spain, when she de- stroyed the civilization of Mexico and Peru, and de- troyed the lives of the gentle inhabitants of the West Indies, divided South America with Portugal, and held much of the fairest portion of North America. Genera- tions of misrule drove the Spanish colonies to revolt against the mother country. The colonies maintained 332 MAJOR JOHN P. LACEY their independence in the open field; the United States alone recognized their independence. The so-called Holy Alliance looked with distrust upon the addition of so vast a territory to the domain of re- publicanism, and conspired to aid the Spanish Bourbons in the conquest of the colonies. Great Britain looked upon the situation with the cun- ning eye of a trader. The restoration of these colonies would cripple her commerce in Mexico and South Amer- ica, and strange as it may seem Great Britain herself encouraged the American government in announcing the celebrated doctrine that bears the name of President Monroe. The United States bought Florida from Spain, Louis- iana from Napoleon, and Alaska from Russia. As the result of the Mexican War, and of contracts of purchase, she acquired Texas and that vast region embracing the mountains and the Pacific Coast, which is today in itself sufficient for an empire. Every step taken by our fore- fathers has been in the direction of controlling this con- tinent; $50,000,000 were paid in these various contracts of purchase. We often hear the Monroe Doctrine spoken of approvingly but in vague and general terms. Let us go a little more into detail ; I believe we should all agree upon it in its full shape and bearing today. When Monroe was elected President of the United States his administration met the approval of all parties. His term of office is often spoken of as the "era of good feeling. ' ' Commercially we have always been deeply affected by European influences. Politically it is our policy to stand aloof from all entangements with the Old World. Elec- tric cables and ocean ferries in bringing us nearer to Europe increase our danger and make the necessity of adherence to the doctrine of Monroe all the greater. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 333 Monroe was born in 1758, in Virginia; at the age of twenty-four he entered the state legislature and soon af- ter became a member of Congress. He was not brilliant but he was practical. Good common-sense characterized all his public life. His young manhood was spent in the Continental army where he was wounded fighting for the independence of his country ; and there is no better train- ing for a citizen than the service of his country in time of war. In 1790 Monroe became a senator of the United States. In 1794 he was a minister to France, where the cause of French freedom excited his warmest sympathies. He was recalled in 1796 and in 1799 was elected governor of Virginia, and was twice reelected. In 1803 he and Livingston were selected by Jefferson to purchase New Orleans of Napoleon, in order to give an outlet by the Mississippi to the ocean. Monroe al- ways builded better than he knew, and instead of buying New Orleans he bought Louisiana. Instead of obtaining a city and the river mouth he obtained a mighty empire ; the splendid state of Iowa being only a small part of it. In 1804 he was minister to England, and recalled in 1807. In 1810 he was not above serving his people in the smaller things and went again to the legislature of his state ; in 1812 he was called as secretary of state into the cabinet of Madison. In 1814 during those stormy times he served also as secretary of war, and in 1816, when the second war with England closed in a glorious peace he was elected President of the United States, and reelected again in 1820. He united the most discordant elements by a firm but practical policy that has never been excelled. John Q. Adams and John C. Calhoun sat in his cabinet. The purchase of Florida, to which I have alluded, was made by him in 1819. 334 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY In 1823, when Mexico and South America were con- vulsed with the war, which resulted in their permanent separation from Spain, the Holy Alliance were about to interfere in behalf of monarchy and against the freedom of the people in the New World. They believed that they had crushed out all the germs of democracy in Europe. They were determined that freedom should not spread in the new continents. It was then, after much discussion and preparation, that President Monroe sent in his celebrated message to Con- gress. Let me read that part of it which has become so famous : In the discussion to which this interest has given rise, and in the arrangements by which they may terminate, the occasion has been adjudged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for colonization by any European powers. It was stated at the commencement of the last session that a great effort was then making in Spain and Portugal, to improve the condition of the people of those countries, and that it ap- peared to be conducted with extraordinary moderation. It need scarcely be remarked that the result has been, so far, very differ- ent from what was then anticipated. Of events in that quarter of the globe, with which we have so much intercourse and from which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and in- terested spectators. The citizens of the United States cherish sen- timents the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced, that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more imme- diately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all en- lightened and impartial observers. The political system of the ^ ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 335 allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective governments. And to the defense of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treas- ure and material, by the wisdom of their most enlightened citi- zens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. "We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare, that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or depend- encies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowl- edged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States. Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is not to in- terfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers ; to consider the government de facto, as the legitimate government for us; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those re- lations by a frank, firm, and manly policy; meeting, in all in- stances, the just claims of every power, submitting to injuries from none. But in regard to these continents, circumstances are eminently and conspicuously different. It is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happi- ness; nor can any one believe that our southern (Spanish Amer- ican) brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should be- hold such interposition, in any form, with indifference. It was a grand thing for President Monroe to look the 336 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Holy Alliance of Germany, Austria, and Russia in the face, and say to them, "Hands off." The principles of this doctrine are not complicated, but it is asserted in unmistakable terms that "America is for Americans; that there should be no entangling alliances, by the Unit- ed States, in the politics of Europe. There shall be no colonization in any part of either of the western con- tinents, excepting those that had already been founded." The existing order of things in America was not dis- turbed; it was firmly but clearly announced that whilst the United States would not rule two continents, yet she would protect them. The question of indorsing this message by formal reso- lution in Congress came up, but was never acted upon; but there has never been a time since Mr. Monroe sound- ed this note of warning that his views have not been in full accord with the people of the United States, and in my judgment it is time for Congress to endorse this prin- ciple by direct action. The recognition of the Spanish republics by the United States, and the announcement that any interference by any other country would be re- garded as unfriendly to our government, speedily re- sulted in the permanent independence of these republics. Great events and their declarations come and pass by, and are forgotten. Other events and other declarations project themselves far into the future. England re- ceived the announcement of Monroe with favor and ap- proval, but today is seeking to establish her dominion in violation of that doctrine, over a large part of the repub- lics of Venezuela. In violation of that doctrine she seized the port of Corinto in Nicaragua, and attempted to hold that little city to collect a self-imposed fine upon the republic, for the alleged ill treatment of Vice Consul Hatch. These breaches of our declared policy have gone ADDRESSES OP MAJOR LACEY 337 unrebuked, but the American people are not ready to abandon the policy of the last seventy-two years. The Nicaragua incident has closed, but closed without any proper protest of our government. The wrongful claims upon Venezuela are still asserted, and although the United States has suggested arbitration, the British government refuses such friendly suggestions. It has long been the British policy when possession of any territory has once been obtained, to hold it at all hazards. Temporary possession of Egypt was taken to secure, for the time being, British creditors who held in- vestments there. Not long ago an English statesman was asked when the government would surrender Egypt. He replied, "We will get out of Egypt when we get out of Pimlico." And so it will be found in Venezuela, un- less our government, true to its principles, asserts again that the Monroe Doctrine is a living principle in the western hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine is not for ornament: it is for use. Even the good, able, and kind Dom Pedro has surrender- ed his crown in Brazil. Spain's hold upon Cuba is relax- ing. When the War of the Rebellion broke out we had an opportunity to see how ready the monarchies of the Old World were to break down the free governments of North and South America. The Monroe Doctrine slept for a time for lack of power on the part of our govern- ment, to enforce it. "Napoleon the Little" — Victor Hugo calls him to distinguish him from his gigantic un- cle. Says Hugo, "This man would tarnish the back- ground of history but absolutely sullies its foreground." Availing himself of our domestic war, this man set up an Austrian archduke as Emperor in Mexico. Soon af- ter he furnished the means with which to publish The Imperialist, a newspaper in the city of New York, devoted 338 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY to the building up of monarchy in the United States. This impudent publication was not suppressed, but was treated with deserved and silent contempt, until it died for want of nourishment. But when the war closed in 1865 the empire in Mexico, upheld by French bayonets, was in existence, in defiance of the Monroe Doctrine. It was not in peaceable posses- sion, for the Mexican people had risen in arms in every state, and Benito Juarez was making a manly fight for the independence of his country. It was my good fortune at the close of the war, in June, 1865, to be sent to the Rio Grande on the Texas side, as an adjutant-general of the Army of Observation of forty thousand men, sent there by General Grant. The pur- pose of this army was readily understood by the French and Austrians in Mexico. Such a force drawn up along the narrow river which separates the two countries creat- ed a great sensation among the European invaders. I well remember a letter of General Grant, written to Gen- eral Steele, who commanded that army. They had been classmates at school and the General wrote with a frank- ness different from ordinary communications between military men. I have no copy of that letter, and I do not find that it has ever been published. The letter instruct- ed the general commanding the Army of Observation of the Rio Grande as to the course to be taken in relation to the Confederate forces under General Dick Taylor. It referred to the fact that cavalry would be sent into the interior of Texas, and other details of a possible cam- paign west of the Mississippi. It then approached the subject of the diversion in favor of Mexico, using this language : As to affairs in Mexico, you will observe a strict neutrality be- tween the hostile forces; by neutrality, however, I mean the French and English acceptation of that term. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 339 With the recent experience we had had as to the French and English neutrality in the War of the Rebellion, there was no misunderstanding General Grant's purpose; and General Steele quietly issued ammunition to the repub- lican forces in Mexico, who crossed the Rio Grande for that purpose. This sort of Monroe Doctrine from General Grant, backed with forty thousand men, made that doctrine man- ifest to the most unobserving. There is no argument so convincing as an army. Our government requested France to withdraw, and France withdrew. I have al- ways felt that the Mexicans were too severe in their hour of victory; that when Maximilian, Miramon, and Mejia were shot by a file of soldiers at Queretero, that it would have been better to have turned them loose as we did the leaders of the Rebellion. But the Mexicans had much to complain of, and they felt that the Monroe Doctrine of non-interference in their country needed to be em- phasized by such an example that no other European prince would ever desire to wear an American crown; and, perhaps, they were wiser after all, however much we may sorrow for the empress, "Poor Carlotta. " We are constantly confronted with the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, in all attempts to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean. When that treaty was made, the great possibilities of California, Oregon, and Washington were unknown. English capital proposed to embark jointly with ours in the construction of a canal through Nicara- gua. English diplomatists nave been proverbial for their long insight into the future. Trained to diplomacy as a profession they obtained in that celebrated treaty condi- tions which have been very embarrassing to our govern- ment. There seems to be no intent upon her part to ever build the canal or help build it, but to hold that treaty 340 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY as a menace over the control of any canal which our people may ever build. The treaty provides that the canal shall "never be in the control exclusively either of the United States or Great Britain ; and that neither of said governments will ever direct or maintain any fortification commanding the same, or in the vicinity thereof, or occupy or fortify or colonize or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast or any part of Central Amer- ica." By this provision our government, after her peo- ple shall have built the canal, is precluded from fortifying it; her ability to defend it being limited to her capacity to defend it by armed vessels upon the water. This would enable England with her superior naval force to control the canal after we shall have built it. If any European nation desires to attack England, in India, she must go round the Cape of Good Hope to reach her, whilst England protects herself with the short route through the Suez Canal. In like manner any country that seeks to attack our western coast would be compelled to go around Cape Horn, whilst we would retain the canal through Nicaragua. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty lost sight of the principles of the Monroe Doctrine which we are discussing today, and that mistake has thus far pre- vented the construction of the canal itself. The doctrine of Monroe is not limited in North Amer- ica. Its beneficial influences extend from Bering Strait to Cape Horn. It recognizes and enforces the principle that this hemisphere is able to take care of its own affairs. Colonies which have become independent from the mother country are henceforth to be free. Colonies which still maintain their allegiance will in no wise be disturbed. But the old days when vast areas of unpeopled lands could be divided up as a result of European treaties is past never to return. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 341 It was a brave thing for Monroe as a ruler over a little nation of ten millions, in 1822, to lay down this law to the world. It would be a cowardly thing for a great nation of seventy millions of people to abandon so just and necessary a principle. REMINISCENCES OF OSKALOOSA CITY PARK x In 1879, when James A. Rice was mayor of this city, he took a vacation in New England. One beautiful Sunday morning he was walking past the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the flowers, trees, and shrubbery looked so inviting that he strolled in through the open gate. Mr. Emerson saw him and walked out and welcomed him to his home, and inquired of the young man where he was from. Mr. Rice proudly replied that he was from Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa. "Say that again,' said the Sage of Concord; "that is beautiful," and then repeated the words with his visitor, "Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa." The euphony of the name catches the ear of the stranger. On the first day of May, 1843, the "New Purchase," as it was called, was opened, and the settlers not waiting for daylight flocked in with torches and lanterns and staked out their claims. On the eleventh day of May, 1844, Jesse Williams, Ebe- nezer Perkins, and Thomas Henderson, as commissioners, located the county seat for the new county of Mahaska; and Micajah T. Williams, the first clerk of the county, christened the town with the name of a Creek Princess, Oskaloosa, who was the wife of the heroic Seminole, Osce- ola. In May, 1843, as the pioneers came up to the divide be- tween the two rivers they saw in their front the forests from the two rivers approaching so nearly together as to make a gateway which they called "the Narrows." i Address by Major John F. Lacey at the Harvest Home Festival, Oska- loosa, Iowa, Wednesday, October 23, 1912. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 343 On the tenth day after the opening of the county to settlement the southeast quarter of section thirteen, town- ship seventy-five, range sixteen, at the Narrows, was selected as the county-seat. It was a site for a beautiful farm and bore the number thirteen, which is often a lucky number. A. S. Nichols, Robert Curry, and AVilson Stanley were appointed commissioners to plat the future city. Silver and gold the people had but little of, but of the town lots the county held plenty and so A. S. Nichols for laying out and platting the town received the two lots on High Aven- ue, where the interurban station now stands, and the "Eye Tooth Lot" at the southwest corner of the square, now occupied by Holtman & Baker's grocery. I first saw this public square in April, 1855. It was grown up with dog fennel and was the center of the business of the growing little city. The lumber wagons of the farmers surrounded it on Saturdays and were much in evidence on the other days of the week. Gradually the dirt had accumulated in the streets around it so that after a heavy rain this park was a shal- low lake, which, in cold weather, was an ideal skating rink and an unfailing source of delight to the boys of that day. In the fall of 1855 the first county fair was held at Oskaloosa and long tables in this square were covered with the finest of vegetables, giving evidence of the fruit- fulness of this fertile land. The cattle show was held in some feed lots of Mr. Marks, south of where the Oskaloosa College now stands. This square was not located in the center of the town tract, but it was so located that the water from the south side of the alley on the west then ran to the Des Moines and the water from the north side of that alley to Skunk River. 344 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY It will be seventy years on the eleventh of next May that this place has been the center of the thoughts and affections of the people of this county. No county-seat war has ever marred the selection, and the people of the whole county have, during all these years, pointed with pardonable pride to the growth of the city which has steadily expanded from this center. On May 12, 1909, the splendid statue of old Mahaska was unveiled, and two ladies, Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Mar- tin, who were settlers in 1843, drew aside the veil which exposed that work of art and historic memorial to the gaze of twelve thousand cheering spectators. In 1855 there were but three brick buildings on this square : one where the Golden Eagle store now stands, a dwelling remodeled for mercantile purposes where the Baldauf store now stands, and the old Union Block which still remains. At the northwest corner stood the frame court-house, long after moved to "West High Street by J. B. Noe and known as "Noe's Ark." All the other buildings were frame, and many a suc- cessful battle of the bucket brigade, under Henry Tredick, preserved these fragile structures until the march of bus- iness compelled their removal and replacement by the beautiful buildings which now have taken their places. The old Oskaloosa House and Madison House, both frame buildings, stood fronting on the park and sheltered the immigrant and stage coach passenger who kept the roads in use from the Mississippi to the Missouri. Utility was the first purpose of this park and the idea of beautifying it came later. Not long before the Civil War the leading men of the town volunteered to each plant a tree here and for many years these trees were known as Garl Phillips's tree, Seevers's tree, Rice's tree, Eastman's tree, Needham's tree, and like names. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 345 But their identity is now lost, and I think I can only point out the one planted by Philip Meyers. The poet, George W. Seevers, wrote some verses to commemorate the planting of his tree on the east side of the park. Unfortunately, it had to be cut down a couple of years ago, because of decay. I remember a part of one of Mr. Seevers 's verses: I have a monument reared by my own hands, In the town of renowned Oskaloosa it stands In the form of a White Elm tree. In Padua beyond the sea the students and noted men of the city have been commemorated by almost a regi- ment of marble statues. The example will be followed here in time. Here has been the center of not only the activities of the city but of the county as well. When I was a boy occasionally a man excessively well dressed and decorat- ed with jewelry would spend a few days at one of the hotels and when curiosity was excited by his unusual display some one would ask, "Who is that?" And the old reply would be, "I don 't know, but I think he is one of the men who is proposing to lay the public square out into town lots." In fact, in those days the square always looked like it might be improved in appearance by such treatment. It was into this old square that Lieutenant-Governor Enoch W. Eastman marched one day carrying his axe on his shoulder, and when asked what it meant answered that he had ' ' shouldered his axe and left his old political party. ' ' Those were stirring times and others followed his ex- ample, and the saying that a man had "shouldered his axe" became a by-word of the day. It was here that political and business gatherings have been wont to assemble during the three score and ten 346 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY years that our city has been on the map. In the fullness of time the beautifying of this plat of ground has been brought to our attention. If you visit Florence they will show you the wonderful statue chiseled by Michael Angelo for the merchant prince, Cosmo de Medici, who has made people forgive his excessive wealth by the good things he has done with it. Our public spirited citizenship has combined to pave and beautify this park. J. D. Edmundson, out of his prosperity, has given us a priceless statue of Mahaska. Our old-time citizen, Sam Baldauf, will long be remem- bered by the beautiful fountain that commemorates his name and which we dedicate today. Admiral Frank F. Fletcher has sent to his native city the Spanish mine which now stands near us, and which is probably a duplicate of the one which destroyed the Maine ; and near by will soon be placed upon a suitable pedestal the relics of the Maine herself, which he before you, recovered from the mud and ooze of Havana Harbor, procured, also, by the same gallant sailor. The big guns which stand by it, it was my personal good fortune to ' ' borrow ' ' from Uncle Sam to add to our city's decorations. It is true that they are only loaned but our good uncle will never call for their return: like the $28,000,000 of public land money deposited with the states by the general government nearly eighty years ago, the loan will remain permanent. In this square many of the greatest men of the nation have spoken to our citizens : Burrows, the eloquent son of Michigan; Henry Clay Dean, the erratic extremist; Ben M. Samuels and Samuel J. Kirkwood, in their great campaigns for the governorship of Iowa; and various un- successful candidates, including the eloquent and versa- ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 347 tile Bryan; the great statesman, Blaine; and General Weaver, the brilliant orator and campaigner. Two presidents of the United States have visited this park and spoken within the hearing of its crowds — Roosevelt and Taft. General Logan spoke to a vast au- dience here when he was a candidate for the vice-presi- dency in 1884. Probably the meeting that excited the greatest enthus- iasm and satisfaction that ever was held here was the Soldiers' Reunion in August, 1865. The war was over and "Johnnie came marching home." W. S. Kenworthy, then a young man, and a very young man at that, was selected to make an address of welcome to the "boys in blue." They were generally still wear- ing their old uniforms and were gradually substituting their citizens' clothes again. The sorrow for those who did not return was for the time almost forgotten in the rejoicing over those who were back again to go to war no more. It was a fitting place to hold such a celebration and reunion, for it was in this very park that so many of those men had volun- teered to go to the front. With fife and drum and stir- ring speeches the echoes rung through the trees that yet were young. Here they drilled; here they bade good-bye to fathers and mothers, to sisters and sweethearts, and marched away, many of them to return no more. It was in this same park that the Wide Awakes and Douglas Guards marched and counter-marched in the stirring political campaign of 1860. Captain McMullin, afterwards of the Seventh Iowa, and Captain Fred Pal- mer, afterwards of the Eighth Iowa, commanded the opposing campaign organizations. McMullin was des- tined to receive a severe wound at Corinth and Palmer 348 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY to lose his arm at Shiloh. The peaceful tactics of 1860 were the training school for 1861. It was in this square in 1853 that an important event to the boys old and young occurred. Yankee Robinson ex- hibited the first circus that had ever been in the city. William T. Smith was the mayor of the city and in the goodness of his heart took little Jimmie Edmundson to the show — a benefaction that Mr. Edmundson did not forget in Mr. Smith's old age. Let me call your attention to the buried treasure that lies under the bandstand. In the search for water the city council turned from the rivers as being too far away and sought a supply by a deep well. Two wells were bored — a broken drill having stopped work in one, and the other was driven 2,750 feet towards the earth's center. An inexhaustible supply of strong mineral water rose to within eighty feet of the surface and twenty-four hours' pumping made no impression upon it. I venture to prophesy that the day will come when this water will be pumped by electric power and used in baths and drinking for the healing of the sick from all nations. This well cost $27,500, and the city bonds for it have been renewed from time to time and are still unpaid. On these two days of Harvest Home and Old Settlers' Reunion festival, celebrating the prosperity of our county and the abounding crops with which the Father of All has so greatly blessed us, we will dedicate our new and beau- tiful city hall, the bandstand and other park improve- ments, the Maine relics, and the beautiful fountain which for all time to come will keep in mind the good name and good deeds of Sam Baldauf, the generous man whose name is inscribed upon it. Public spirit has always characterized the citizens of our city and many a harvest home festival and dedication ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 349 of other memorials from our citizens still remain in store for generations yet to come. And let us here dedicate ourselves to the upbuilding of our city, our county, our state, and the Union of the states. PENN DAY l Penn Colloge has its colors, old gold and blue, but it is loyal above all things to the colors of the great republic, which are unfurled upon this campus today. Penn Day is the great anniversary to which Penn stu- dents of the present and the past turn with pleasure and pride. The day of the small college has again come, and it is to schools of this class that the student may come with the hope of daily instructions from its teachers. In the great colleges of the day, with their thousands of pu- pils, not even a speaking acquaintance is kept up between the ordinary student and the higher members of the fac- ulty. It is true that a widened horizon attends the advance- ment from one institution to another. Charles Foster Smith says that when he was at Wofford he hailed from the high school of Spartanville ; when he went to Har- vard he hailed from Wofford, and when he went to Oxford he hailed from the United States of America. Every college furnishes the pupil with the weapons for the battle of life ; the pupil must grind them himself, but it helps him to have the teacher not too far away. The student following the trail must keep his eyes close to the ground that no detail may escape him, even though the trail be dim and it is difficult to see the goal that ulti- mately will be reached. In after years when you rise to look back over the way that has been passed, the eye fol- lows it readily till lost in the far distance; each dimly i Address given by Major John F. Lacey at Oskaloosa, Iowa, October 14, 1909. ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 351 suggested clue in the future becomes a beaten pathway when it has been passed over. The flag you raise today was adopted by the Conti- nental Congress June 14, 1777; it then consisted of thir- teen stars and thirteen stripes. On April 4, 1818, the flag was changed so as to bear one star for each state and thirteen stripes for the original colonies. The flag used in its present form has existed without change, except the addition of stars for the new states, nearly one hundred years. It is already ancient. It is older than the pres- ent flag of France, Spain, England, or Germany. William Penn went to prison rather than doff his hat to a mortal man, but if he were here today he would take it off to this old flag, for it represents ideas, principles, and purposes and not mere rank between man and man. It was planted on the Antarctic continent, in the far south ; it was carried by Stanley to Central Africa in his search for Livingstone, and I confidently believe that in the last two years it has been twice planted on the north pole. Just across the street from your college campus lives Albert Cooper, a Quaker soldier of the Civil War. At the battle of Helena, July 4, 1863, one of the stars was shot from the flag of the old Thirty-third Iowa. Mr. Cooper picked it up and put it in his pocketbook and car- ried it until the close of the war. It now hangs framed in his parlor as a precious relic of the past. The flag we honor here today is not the flag of war; it is the flag of peace. I doubt if in any future war flags will be carried by any of the troops in battle. They are too good a mark for the deadly weapons of the present day. A hundred years ago the ambitious student expressed his regret that practically everything had been done and that everything that could be discovered had been found out. Penn College is a new institution; it is not many years old, but within its brief history the wireless tele- 352 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY graph has been discovered, the gas motor has been in- vented, which has caused an entire revolution in our ways of life. The dream of the ancients who tried to invent the flying machine has been realized, merely because a gasoline motor has been discovered ; the automobile from a useless toy has become a practical part of everyday life ; the X-ray, the most remarkable discovery of the last thousand years, is one of the newest discoveries in the brief life of Penn College. Halley's comet, before it be- came visible through the strongest telescope, was made known by photography. Photography in the heavens gathers together rays that are invisible by reason of their lack of continuity, and when thus gathered become visible in their collected form. Who knows but that the rays from the moon and the planets may yet be concen- trated in a similar manner so as to photograph the things in these distant wandering orbs that otherwise cannot be seen? And last, but not least, the north pole has been twice discovered and the American flag planted at the apex of the globe. Cook's tourists will soon be outing there in the height of summer. The most common complaint of today is that every- thing worth while has been done ; that there are no more worlds to conquer or discover. Ben King, poor fellow, who died too young, in a very droll way voices this senti- ment in his poem, ' ' Jane Jones ' ' : Jane Jones keeps talkin ' to me all the time, And says you must make it a rule To study your lessons 'nd work hard 'nd learn, An' never be absent from school. Kemember the story of Elihu Burrit, An' how he clum up to the top, Got all the knowledge 'at he ever had Down in a blaeksmithing shop? Jane Jones she honestly said it was so ! Mebbe he did — I dunno ! ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 353 Of course what's a-keepin' me away from the top Is not never having no blaeksmithing shop. She said 'at Ben Franklin was awfully poor, But full of ambition and brains; An' studied philosophy all his hull life — An' see what he got for his pains! He brought electricity out of the sky, With a kite an' a bottle an' key, An' we're owin' him more'n anyone else, For all the bright lights 'at we see. Jane Jones she honestly said it was so ! Mebbe he did — I dunno! 0' course what's allers been hinderin' me Is not havin ' any kite, lightning, or key. Jane Jones said Abe Lincoln had no books at all, An ' used to split rails when a boy ; An' General Grant was a tanner by trade, An' lived 'way out in Ill'nois. So when the great war in the South broke out He stood on the side o' right, An ' when Lincoln called him to take charge o ' things, He won nearly every blamed fight. Jane Jones she honestly said it was so ! Mebbe he did — / dunno! Still I ain 't to blame, not by a big sight, For I ain't never had any battle to fight. She said 'at Columbus was out at the knees, When he first thought up his big scheme, An' told all the Spaniards 'nd Italians, too, An' all of 'em said 'twas a dream. But Queen Isabella jest listened to him, An' pawned all her jewels o' worth, An ' bought him the Santa Maria 'nd said : ' ' Go hunt up the rest o ' the earth ! ' ' 354 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Jane Jones she honestly said it was so ! Mehbe he did — I dunno ! 0 ' course that may be, but then you must allow They ain't no land to discover jest now. Discoveries are new, but ideas are old. Scipio, B. C. 202, turned the tide on Hannibal by carrying the war into Africa. This was not new. A hundred years before that Agathocles, the Greek, in a like manner saved Syra- cuse by carrying the war into Africa. Cortez, in 1513, landed on the coast of Mexico and placed himself in a position where he must succeed by burning his ships ; the same Agathocles burned his ships on the coast of Africa 1700 years before. Physical discoveries are new; ideas are old. William Penn's colony was founded upon the doctrines of peace. Abbe Raynal (in his history of the Indies) says : "Pensylvania is defended on the east by the ocean, on the north by New York and New Jersey, on the south by Virginia and Maryland, on the west by the Indians; on all sides by its friends; and within by the virtue of its inhabitants. ' ' You will observe that he says that it is defended both within and without, but it took the of- fensive nowhere and in no direction. It is not well known, but it is nevertheless true that the first written constitution ever framed was prepared by William Penn for his new colony; a colony founded on peace and just dealings to all. The doctrine of peace on earth and good mil to all men is one of the first prin- ciples taught in this school. While West Point and Annapolis turn out soldiers and. sailors, Penn College is turning out apostles of peace. Penn College has already been heard from in distant places, at home and abroad; your president, Mr. Rosen- berger, will soon be a reminder of this institution at ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 355 Jerusalem and the Holy Land. In Boston your former president, Benjamin F. Trueblood, stands at the head of the American Peace Society; and war has become so deadly and expensive that the nations are most inclined to listen to the advance of peace, since it costs $10,000,000 to build a dreadnaught and $10,000 to fire a single broad- side from its deadly and far-reaching guns, and the broad- sides can be fired so rapidly that the treasures of Croesus would not suffice for a battle between two great ships of this type. The race between Great Britain and Germany as to which shall build the most battleships is going on apace. The taxpayer shudders and the governments look upon each other's preparations as so dangerous that they fear the explosion that will follow the outbreak of hostilities. The pocketbooks of the nations are growing sensitive, and if wTar is full of glory it is too costly to indulge in. The Geneva award prevented war between Great Brit- ain and the United States after the Civil War. It set an example out of which has grown The Hague tribunal. Everyone looks forward to the arrival of the time when controversies between nations will be settled by inter- national arbitration. My young friends, I congratulate you in being in a good school, with competent and able teachers, but, after all, you must work out your own success. No college could have taught Burns to write "The Cotter's Saturday Night"; no university could have taught Shakespeare to write "Hamlet"; you must study and create for your- selves. "We are all poor, blind mortals and the moun- tains are the raised letters to teach the mysteries of the earth. The college only gives you the key with which to unlock the future. Ticknor, speaking of Daniel Webster, said that no great man has ever accomplished anything without preparation; that when the time comes to act, 356 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY the statesman or the orator merely shows what has been laid up in the preparation of the past. Importunities hasten opportunities; inspiration and suggestion go hand in hand, but after all, no preparation is ever lost. The training of the mind even in languages and sciences that you may never use, fits it for other successful efforts, and the colleges that are spoken of sometimes as learned seats of athletic exercise fit the body for the struggle of the future. Penn Day has come and will annually recur ; we all look forward with pleasant anticipation to the continued suc- cess of this institution, which today raises the flag of the United States upon its campus. RIVER AND HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS » I live in and have the honor to represent a congres- sional district about the size of Delaware, that does not have a yard of navigable water in it. It is covered with the richest soil on the face of the earth and, in fact, if it were proposed to dig a canal through that district as wide and as deep as the one proposed by you, the people would hesitate about spoiling so much good land. At a banquet a few years ago in the little city of Pella, a gentleman was called upon to give a toast to the town. He said, ' 'Here's to Pella; she spoils a good farm." Gentlemen, you must remember that the edge of any- thing is only valuable when it is the edge. What makes Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Wilmington im- portant is the fact that they are upon the edge of the great West. Two hundred years ago my paternal an- cestor settled on Indian Creek, down in the lower corner, the jumping-off place in Delaware, and I have always felt an interest in Delaware ever since I heard its name. Now, this enterprise that you are interested in is valu- able because of the great country in the rear which has, through these channels, an opening to the outside world, and here you will stand and take toll as our products come and go. Down at Norfolk they are planning for a great exposition to commemorate the settlement of Jamestown, which was the greatest event that has oc- curred since the birth of our Savior. There it was that the first commonwealth was founded. There it was that i Speech by Hon. John F. Lacey, of Iowa, at Board of Trade banquet, Wilmington, Delaware, January 9, 1904. 358 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY the germ was planted from which has grown this wonder- ful combination of commonwealths known as the Ameri- can Republic. That is the great historic center of America. Wilmington is the explosive center, and I have been told, and I thought, till I heard Mr. Charles Emery Smith's speech tonight, that solemn old Phila- delphia is the center of gravity. I shall take that back, it is the center of wit, humor, and of logic as well. The center of agriculture of this country is Iowa. That is no laughing matter either. I remember, Mr. ex-Postmaster General, that when you had an exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, Iowa was called upon to make an exhibit there, and the best ex- hibit we made in that city was a collection of thirty or forty glass jars, higher than I could reach and about a foot in diameter, each filled with a section of Iowa soil, just as it came ; so the people of this country could look on it and see what soil is like that needs no fertilizer. That same exhibit was taken to the Chicago Exposition and set up there. There was nothing better that we could send, although we did many other good things. One day a careless fellow was wheeling a truck around among those glass jars. He struck one of them, broke it and scattered the precious soil around for ten or fifteen feet. After a few minutes a New England gentleman came by with his daughter. She held up her skirts and started to walk through that dirt but the old gentleman said, "Mary, Mary, don't step in that; that is Iowa soil; it will make your feet grow. ' ' I am reminded tonight that we often gain by looking backward. The first invention of steam traction was what is now known as the automobile, then called a road en- gine. That preceded the railroad, and Leitch Ritchie, in one of his books, learnedly discussed the problem as to whether a railroad that was then being projected from ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 359 Havre to Paris, was practicable. He said that it was not. It might, he said, be used on level ground, but what if you struck a grade? Then you would need cogs on the wheels so they would not slip. He decided that the rail- road was not a good means of traffic, but that the road engine was. Sixty years have passed by, and the road en- gine, now known as the automobile, has come to stay. The velocipede was invented, tried and used for many years, then discarded. Someone invented the improved rubber tire, and now the velocipede, known as the bi- cycle, is seen every day upon our streets. It is a common vehicle. We have covered the land with railroads, and we are supplementing them with canals, to be used not as the rivals of railroads, but to strengthen them and build up their business. Many of you, no doubt, have looked through the great telescopes at our universities, and seen what astronomers tell us are canals upon Mars. Mars is probably older than the earth, and they have their canals completed. We are going back once more to canals. The canal at Suez today is a revival of one built many ages ago, which had been filled up with sand. Renewed in our day, it has become a highway for the nation, revo- lutionizing the whole East and bringing it to the doors of Europe. I suppose your idea in inviting some of us gentlemen here tonight was very similar to that which our -wives recognize as one of the principles of good policy, and that is when they introduce a bill from their committee on appropriations, they call it up immediately after din- ner, in order to secure its passage. I know that my wife selects that occasion as the most fitting one, and you gentlemen have shown your wisdom by inviting a number of us here to listen to the eloquent addresses we have heard tonight, and with all the good cheer, sound logic, 360 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY history, wit, and humor, preparing us for voting to grant your appropriation. As I told you, my state has no interest in a river and harbor bill, and yet I never voted against one, because I recognize the fact that these harbors, rivers, canals, light houses, and various other improvements upon our coasts are simply the means of conveying our excess products out of the country. They are the outposts of that great center, the Mississippi Valley, which is in the future to dominate this country. I speak not in a political sense. There is the center; and when Thomas H. Benton, in the Senate, turned his face to the West and pointed, saying, "There is the East; there lies India," he spoke in pro- phetic tones. Upon the pedestal of his statue, which stands near the grounds of the great Exposition, which you will all visit in the West this year, is inscribed that immortal sentence. But, gentlemen, I will not detain you longer at this late hour. Some of these other men will tell you how they will vote. I tell you how I feel, and you will have to in- fer how I will vote. ON STOCK EXCHANGES ' There have been disgraceful chapters of legislation in which men in public life have sought pecuniary advan- tage for themselves or their friends. Out of these things the idea has become current that a position in Congress is an exceptionally favorable one from which to deal upon the stock exchange, and the inquiry in your letter to me expresses this common idea. Nothing is more exaggerated than the supposed con- nection of members of Congress with speculation of this character. When a man does anything wrong he com- monly suffers for it in this world. Now and then a skill- ful stock gambler comes to Congress, but not often. There is excitement enough in their ordinary business to keep such men employed without going into politics. But the senator or representative who dabbles in the stocks receives his ample and merited punishment. In ordinary gambling the gamester has the satisfaction of knowing i Mr. Lacey 's reply to a letter sent out by J. B. Walker, editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine, to a number of members of the House and Senate. Mr. Laeey was then a candidate for Congress in the Sixth Iowa district. The letter which was sent by Mr. Walker was as follows: The Cosmopolitan Magazine, Editorial Department, Irvington, N. Y., April 16, 1898. Dear Sir: The influence exercised by national legislation on stock ex- change values is now so well understood that the time seems to have ar- rived when the legislature may no longer indulge in the speculative buying of stocks without either a committing of crime against the people or verging so closely upon crime that it becomes difficult to discover the dividing line. Believing that you will gladly aid in establishing the ethics of a question having so vital an interest for the country, I would ask the favor of an early reply covering the opinions held by you on this subject. Yours sincerely, John Brisben Walker. 362 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY that be or the man he is playing with will win, but it is not so with the stock gambler who, from a distance, trades in "the Street." He is sure to come out on the wrong side with unerring accuracy. If he loses then he loses, and that is the end of the matter. When Henry Clay's wife was asked if it did not make her feel badly to have Mr. Clay play poker she said: "Oh, no! Mr. Clay almost always wins." But the man who at long range at- tempts to play with the Board of Trade tiger always meets his Waterloo. You ask me about the "ethics of a legislator's buying and selling stocks." The ethics of a legislator's going into speculation of this kind is the same as that which ap- plies to the bank cashier or Sunday-school superintendent who undertakes the same thing. You assume that the congressman who speculates in stocks is a designing and wicked person. It would gen- erally be more appropriate to call him ' ' a sucker. ' ' I be- lieve it was Josh Billings who sagely remarked that when a man makes up his mind to be a rascal he had better have a civil service examination of himself to see if he is not better constructed for a fool. The congressional specu- lator in stocks is entitled more to our sympathy than to our condemnation, for he is a man of many sorrows and acquainted with grief. There are a few remarkably shrewd, keen-witted men in public office who have by such speculation while in of- fice made fortunes, but they are extremely rare. Nearly every man who has been fortunate in such ventures has graduated in that school before entering either the Senate or the House. Of course it is morally wrong for any mem- ber of Congress to indulge in speculation based upon his knowledge or opinion as to legislation in which he is con- cerned. But the political speculator is almost certain to mistake the financial effect of such enactments. He is a ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 363 much better judge of men than of markets. The gentle Israelite is sure to take the correct view of the effects of an act of Congress upon the markets. He has a sort of sixth sense that leads him unerringly to a right judgment in these things. The man who is actually turning the grindstone cannot see into it any farther than anyone else, and the legislator seldom correctly gauges the ef- fects of his acts upon the price of stocks. We had a prac- tical illustration of this fact when the Sherman law was passed in 1890. There probably never was an act of Con- gress that led so many legislators into speculation as this. When the law was passed many members of Congress backed up their judgment by buying silver bullion. For a short time they were rewarded for their faith in the ad- vance in that commodity by some substantial profits, and then the tide turned and these lambs were shorn, not only of all their newly acquired fleece, but of the older wool as well. It is always wrong to do wrong. It is wrong for a legislator to attempt to make money by speculation based upon his knowledge of prospective legislation. It is grat- ifying to know that he does not often need to be punished for his offense by the people. Wall Street almost invari- ably makes the punishment fit the crime. A member of Congress has no peculiar knowledge of the fact that a bill is about to pass which would influence the markets, that is not open to all men alike. Our system of government precludes this, for the bill must go through committees in two houses and be approved by the president, and its effects are always discussed by the outside public, who are as well advised as any member of Congress can pos- sibly be. Nothing is more common than for congressmen to ask the views of bright newspaper men as to the probability of a bill's securing a majority of the two houses. Their 364 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY point of view is very often much better than that of men actually engaged in the work of legislation. There is no surer cure for the evil than that which the legislator's own act imposes. The legislator who goes into the stock market soon becomes a sadder and wiser man. ALASKA By Major John F. Lacey A land of contradictions and surprise ; A land of dayless nights and nightless days ; Land of the midnight sun and midday stars ; A land of distance and immensity : The sun goes down and yet it is not night ; The light still lingers in the rosy North ; Or in the winter's dark the broad faced moon And flaming lights join with the radiant stars To light the snowy landscape like the day ; Alaska. Her gateway, grand, unequaled and superb, Inviting Nature's lover to behold Her wondrous beauty and sublimity ; From Ketchikan to frigid Kougorok, Where glaciers, like frozen waterfalls, Their sources hid among the cloudy mists, Drop icebergs green and blue, or snowy white, Into the stillness of the icy sea; Alaska. A thousand miles through inland lakes and sounds, Amid the ancient mountains clad with snows ; To the great pass by Skagway's rugged shore; Geneva, Como, Lomond, and Lucerne, Champlain and George, the Hudson and the Alps All rolled in one, a thousand miles in length ; By Bennett and La Barge's deep blue lakes; By rushing Whitehorse Rapids' foaming stream; 366 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY To Yukon's tawny flood which ever pours Its rushing waters in the Bering Sea; And flowing over sands beflecked with gold, Forever glides the limpid Tanana Into the turbid Yukon vast and wide ; Alaska. The misty Nunivak, the seaman's dread; The quaggy tundra gleaming bright with flowers, Reeking with moisture from its icy bed ; The placid lakes in solitude profound ; The distant streams where salmon crowd to spawn, To die and whiten shores with glistening bones ; McKinley's mount, whose peak no man has trod And Saint Elias ever cold and white ; Rich, solitary, grand and yet severe ; But still she is alluring to the brave, Her coffers open to no timid hand ; Alaska. HARVEST FESTIVAL ADDRESS ! All of the people of the Old World look back to the origin of their race in the mists and marvels of great an- tiquity. Gods and goddesses were concerned in their be- ginning and the supernatural was freely appealed to. But here in Iowa we have a great commonwealth whose beginnings are in the memory of living men and women who are still young enough to remember well. An audience like that which faces me today shows that Iowa is certainly not decreasing in population, the evi- dence of the census taken to the contrary notwithstand- ing. But if we have lost some in numbers merely, the quality has not deteriorated. Iowa in 1860 had only 764,913 people but in 1861 she began to send them to the war and more than 80,000 of her sons bore arms to the nation's defense. We should be more concerned in the character of our citizenship than in any question of mere numbers. There were 20,000 Athenian citizens capable of bearing arms in the days of Miltiades and to them we owe the victory of Marathon which saved the Greek citizenship which has molded the history of Europe and America, and the influ- ence of their courage and intelligence still bears fruit after twenty-three hundred years. There were still 20,000 Athenians capable of bearing arms in the days of Demetrius Phalereus. But they were the degenerate sons of noble sires. i Delivered at the Iowa State College, Ames, September 29, 1905, ante- dating his death, as Mrs. Bernice Lacey Sawyer writes, by eight years, almost to the hour. He spoke for an hour entirely from notes which, with the following extracts, were kept with the program, thus bearing testimony to the methodic habits of Major Laeey. 368 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY In the days of good Queen Elizabeth, her entire revenue was only $4,000,000 ; and the great Philip, King of Spain, the ruler of the greatest and wealthiest monarchy of his day, had an annual revenue of $20,000,000. Our commonwealth believes in education. The ex- penses of the Iowa public school system as reported in the census of 1900 was $10,248,989, and the money in- vested in school houses was $20,389,505. So Iowa spends for her school system a sum more than double the revenues of Queen Elizabeth. The character of our citizenship is made in the home, the church, and the school. To keep the water supply of a city clean is the first re- quirement to preserve the public health. To elevate and purify the sources of our citizenship should be the first object of our people. The forty-five years that have passed since 1860 have been more fruitful of results than any like period in the world's history. The entire cost of operating the government of the United States for the year 1860 was $77,462,102. This would only have paid one-half of last year's pen- sion roll. This is a striking illustration of the magnitude of the great conflict that raged from 1861 to 1865. But it was worth all that it cost. In 1776 we were only 3,000,000 people but were all united in the common cause of liberty. In 1861 we were 30,000,000 people torn by dissension and engaged in the bloodiest civil war ever witnessed. In 1905 we were 80,000,000 again united in fraternity and loyalty. The wounds of 1861 are all healed and the sisterhood of states are vieing with each other in the race for advancement. Mere wealth is no longer the main object of life, for the ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 369 richest citizens have learned that human sympathy is worth more than money. On this beautiful campus I want to have you go back with me in your minds and memories to the memorable year of 1862. This campus was then a waving and fertile prairie. Most of the people who hear me were then unborn. The youth of our state were marshaling to arms and the wives and daughters were holding the plow or driving the mower. The Confederate army was in sight of Washington and Mr. Lincoln could hear the thunder of the hostile guns from his bedroom in the White House. It was indeed the darkest hour of the Republic. Congress was in session devising means to preserve the Union under the darkest of adversity. They were situated like the Roman Senate when Han- nibal was besieging the Eternal City. The proudest commendation ever bestowed upon a Roman consul was "That he never despaired of the Re- public. ' ' Hannibal's camp in front of Rome was sold in the forum at auction in the darkest hour of the siege and the purchaser's title was made good by the future victory. On May 20, 1862, the Congress of the United States passed the homestead bill opening the public domain to the homeless people of the United States. On July 1, 1862, they passed a bill for the construction of the Pacific railway through the unsettled and hostile regions of the Far West. Mr. Lincoln was authorized to designate the initial point and he selected the western limit of Iowa in the city of Council Bluffs. On the next day the same Congress, July 2, 1862, passed the bill which has brought us together today. 370 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY They passed the bill to grant a portion of the public lands to found the agricultural colleges, and this great institution born amid the shock of battle began its ex- istence. A vast grant of land was made to found this great institution. The land was not held by the college as a landlord to collect rents from the toiling tenant of future years but has passed into the hands of agricultural owners. It is dotted with farm houses, barns, and orchards, and the sons of those farmers come here to school. I have often heard the suggestion that it was a great mistake to sell the school and college lands. But it was a wise act. The state does not have the title but the land and the farmers on the land are the great asset of the state. It is better to have tax payers than state tenantry. The people should take care of the government and not the government take care of the people. The ownership of the soil should be in the tillers of the soil, and to the wide distribution of our farming lands among the people is to be attributed much that is good in our state. We are fortunate in having no great cities with their social problems in our state. With more than two and a quarter million of population our largest city has only seventy-five thousand souls. From this vantage ground we have an ideal common- wealth. Iowa is the very center of fertility. Go in what direc- tion you may and the best land in each of our neighboring states is next to Iowa. With fertile land, farms not too large, a healthful though severe climate, splendid schools and clean govern- ment Iowa has a future for us to look forward to with confidence as well as hope. LETTER FROM COLONEL A. W. SWALM TO MR. AND MRS. SAWYER Southampton, England, October 1, 1913 Dear Carroll and Berenice: As sudden as death in battle came the fell news of the taking away of Major Lacey — to our complete consternation, and the deepest regret. I had just come up from town at a Church Con- gress meeting — and was telling Mrs. Swalm of the big men seen and heard in a great meeting of 3,000 men, when the rap of the postal messenger brought the shadow of death into the house by your cable. Yesterday I tried to express to you our sorrow, and the day and night were sad indeed. For so much of our life had been wound up with his; mine from 1855 by passing acquaintance — and you know all the rest of it ! Yesterday morning I had two letters from him, giving all the details of the 33d reunion, with a copy of the pro- gramme containing his notes as chairman, and a com- pany badge for me in one letter, and the second giving personal particulars of the family, of Nellie being there, and the Schee present — and coupling so much tender- ness about some of the boys who had not been present at the meeting, and about his going to Des Moines to appear at the Supreme Court in a case, and coming back the same afternoon. We fear that he had been running the machine at too great a speed for his age — and that the result was a break on vital lines. But — so ends the career of a greatly useful citizen — one who did not spare himself in that common service, and whose service as time goes will loom up in its real value and its benefit alike to state and nation. 372 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY The old town without Major Lacey will be very strange. It will have lost a potent force; an individuality of the rugged sort — worthy of the line and the life that gave him to the community. We are all anxious to hear full particulars — but mean- while the memory of the past of this brave man will only grow the brighter as time shall whirl us all on to our own appointed end. God comfort you all, and bear our love to Nellie and the dear mother whose partner for nearly a half century has gone to join those sleeping out in Forest Cemetery. Affectionately and sincerely, Albert W. Swal,m. LETTER FROM GENERAL JAMES RUSH LINCOLN AN EX-CONFEDERATE OFFICER X I desire to call attention to a characteristic of Major Lacey that circumstances made me appreciate, more than it would others, and that was the manliness and nobility of his actions in the treatment of those who were in the ranks of his foes in the "War of the Rebellion. I first met him as an ex-Confederate soldier and from that first meeting was impressed with the friendliness and broad-mindedness of the man, who I knew must have been a brave soldier. I was impressed with his modest manner, he never as- suming to have performed great or meritorious deeds, but telling of his experiences as if a humble comrade of the members of the organization with which he served. To one who knew Major Lacey it would be unneces- sary to look up his service in the official records, for the man showed what manner of soldier he had been. I was proud of the friendly recognition I received at his hands, but still prouder of the treatment he advised others to extend to me, and though I never knew of this by any word of his, I knew from others of these many acts of sympathy, I could not fail to have an affection for such a man, and in him realize that a big, warm heart was one of the great factors that made him the success he had been. 1 The magnanimous spirit of Major Lacey was shown in some of his ad- dresses to old soldiers. I believe it is appropriate therefore to include a letter containing a beautiful tribute by an ex-Confederate officer, General James Rush Lincoln. — L. H. Pa"mmel. 374 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Another ex-Confederate, who died in Iowa, would glad- ly bear the same testimony of the gallant soldier and Christian gentleman, and I have no doubt that when he crossed over the divide, in the ranks of those who wel- comed him stood some who once wore the gray. Respectfully, James Rush Lincoln. EXCERPTS FROM THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY EXCERPTS FROM THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY l Compiled by Miss Harriette S. Kellogg To Eleanor Lacey Brewster and Berenice Lacey, my daughters. I have always regretted my inadequate information in regard to my ancestors, and would highly prize any bio- graphical notes of their lives. This subject is one which the young regard as of little importance whilst the sources of knowledge are accessible, but as the grave closes over our parents and grandparents, and as the fountains of knowledge on such subjects have gone dry we begin to thirst for information of this character. My grandfather Lacey only died in 1870 and I have al- ways regretted my failure to see him and make all the en- quiries I could as to our family history. I write what follows, not for the public, believing that you will appreciate it in after years. ANCESTRY I was born near New Martinsville, Virginia (now West Virginia), May 30, 1841. My father was John Mills Lacey and my mother was Eleanor Patten Lacey. On my mother's side my great-grandfather, William Patten, of Berks County, Pennsylvania, was born in 1754. William was not born a Quaker but became one. He moved to Kentucky and thence to Georgia where my grandfather, Isaac Patten, was born. In 1804 my grand- father and great-grandfather moved from Georgia to Belmont County, Ohio. i These excerpts were taken from a manuscript copy of the autobiography presented to Mrs. Sawyer by her father June 27, 1901. 378 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY My grandmother was Eleanor Davis, daughter of Evan Davis and Mary Davis. Evan Davis I presume to have been of Welsh origin, as Pat Murphy is no more Irish than Evan Davis is Welsh. A few years ago at Oskaloosa, the Welsh people of Cen- tral Iowa held an Eisteddfod and a committee was sent to invite me to preside over the meeting. I ac- cepted of course, as I always felt honored by any mark of appreciation by the Welsh people. Before separating, one of the committee said, ' ' Have you any Welsh blood in your veins? If so, we would like to tell our people." I said, "No; but my mother's grandfather was a Hun- garian named Evan Davis. ' ' They replied that that kind of a Hungarian would answer their purpose very well, and I was accordingly introduced as the presiding officer and announced as a descendant of a "distinguished Hun- garian named Evan Davis." The little Welshmen all saw the point and welcomed me as a brother. Isaac Patten left Georgia in the early years of the nine- teenth century and settled in Belmont County, Ohio, along with other Quakers from Georgia who left that state be- cause of the institution of slavery. Isaac Patten was the son of Wm. Patten and Rachel his wife. This is as far as I have been able to trace my mother's family. They were all of English or Welsh stock. On the other side my grandfather, John Mills Lacey, Sr., was descended from English ancestry whose history I can trace back to about the year 1700. Robert Lacey, from whom our family descended, came from England to Virginia and settled near Norfolk. His sons, Robert and John, emigrated to Georgetown, Delaware. John was the father of Spencer, who was my great-grandfather. My great-grandfather Spencer and his father John were both soldiers in the War of the Revolution. John was a fifer and Spencer a drummer in Colonel Neill's AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 379 regiment of Delaware Militia ; both enlisted October 21, 1780. This appears from the records of the adjutant- general of Delaware at Dover. My great-grandfather, Spencer Lacey, died in Dela- ware near Georgetown and I was shown the spot where the farm burying ground stood on the deserted farm a few miles southwest of Georgetown. The custom in Delaware was to bury the dead on each farm and the state is dotted with these little family bury- ing grounds. A giant wild grapevine grows out of the center of this little unmarked burial ground and no doubt its roots have fed on the remains of our ancestors. John M. Lacey, Sr., is buried at Newcomerstown, Ohio, and my grandmother, Mary Hurley Clifton Lacey, at Cadiz, Ohio. Grandfather Isaac Patten and grandmoth- er Eleanor Patten, are buried at Captine, near Patten's Mill, a few miles south of Barnesville, Ohio. H. B. Patten, of Indianapolis, Ind., writes me that he has it from three different sources that grandfather Isaac Patten died in Indiana and was buried at Raysville in that state. This may be true, as he may have been away from home at his death, but I never so understood it. Sister May verifies H. B. Patten's statement.1 My father, John Mills Lacey, Jr., was born at Barnes- ville, Ohio, August 9, 1812, and died of gravel at Oska- loosa, Iowa, May 2, 1880. My mother, Eleanor Patten Lacey, was born in Bel- mont County, Ohio, October 10, 1813, and died from effects of a fracture of thigh bone at Sedalia, Missouri, March 22, 1883. Father and mother are buried at Forest Cem- etery at Oskaloosa, Iowa. Our stock therefore is English, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh. The name of Lacey is Norman, and the first of the name i This paragraph occurred later on in the book but it seemed advisable to place it here. — Ed. 380 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY came over with William the Conqueror and some of them were very prominent after the conquest. De Lacey was the first viceroy of Ireland under William. Lacey built Kirkstall Abbey at Leeds, and another Lacey built the castle at Chester. The name is not a common one. I have found some Laceys in different parts of the South and they nearly always trace their ancestry back to Virginia, apparently deriving their family name from the same stock. It is a question much discussed as to whether a man partakes more of his ancestry or of his surroundings. But whatever I know of my ancestry I will try and faith- fully record. ' ' For when the breath of man goeth forth he shall turn again to his earth, and then all his thoughts perish." 146 Ps. A few years ago in searching the records of our family at Georgetown, I found the manumission papers filed by Spencer Lacey freeing his slaves. This was in the early part of the present century. It appears therefore, that my grandfather Patten and great-grandfather Lacey were both washing their hands of human slavery about the same time. My mother was born a Quaker ; she lost her birthright by marrying my father, who was a Methodist. She joined the same church with my father and lived and died in that faith. She was persistent in her attendance upon the services of that church and was a constant reader during her whole life. Her last words were, "The Lord will provide." She had just been reading the ' ' New version of the New Testa- ment" which I had sent her. She rose to walk across the room and fell with the unfortunate results I have de- scribed. The year 1880 was the saddest of my life. In that year, May 2d, father died, and October 9th my only son, Ray, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 381 died, and November 2d Marion (Dumpsie) died, both of that fell scourge, diphtheria. I have given mother's last words; Dumpsie 's were, "Put away all my playthings." The dead never grow any older. Ray and Dumpsie will always be children to me. "A happy home is the suburbs of Heaven" and when these little folks were with us, the happiest days of my life were passed. Father was a constant reader and though not highly ed- ucated had a good common school education. Bishop Simpson and Edwin M. Stanton were his schoolmates at Cadiz, Ohio, where most of his boyhood was passed. Reared a Democrat by his father, he changed his politics in 1840 and voted for William Henry Harrison, after which he was a consistent Whig protectionist and finally a Republican, in which faith he died. MY EAELY LIFE I first saw light on the banks of the Ohio River, two miles above New Martinsville, West Virginia, in a little, one-roomed, log cabin, one story high, roofed with clap- boards which were held in place by poles. I used to see this building in after years up to the time I was twelve years old, but it has long since disappeared. Father was a bricklayer and plasterer and was gone from home much of the time. They used to show me where the chips at the woodpile were swept back, leaving a little ridge around the house, and old Carlo the faithful watch dog would al- low no one to cross that line without consent of my mother. Father first settled in Woodsfield, Monroe County, Ohio, where Mary, Isaac, and James were born. He then moved to "Sunfish" or Clarington to join a colony about to emigrate to Texas. A party of travelers solicited the privilege of staying over night, and unfortunately they had some quilts with them in their sleigh which had been 382 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY contaminated with the small-pox. Father, mother, all the children then living, and Uncle Robert took the small-pox, and as a result the Texas colony passed by on a steamer and left them, so that father emigrated to West Virginia instead of Texas. The small-pox left sequences in the lungs of my brother James which undoubtedly produced consumption while he was a soldier in the Third Iowa In- fantry. The course of life of our family was thus changed by the accident of contracting small-pox. New Martinsville was laid out, and the new county of Wetzel created out of a part of Tyler County, and father concluded to cast his lot with the new county-seat. He purchased lots immediately opposite the court-house and here was my first recollection. The beautiful Ohio rolled by the town, and those were the days of steamboats, and the sight of those craft was one of the most pleasing things in my life. The flood of 1847 came up four feet in our house, and the flood of 1852 came into the second story, driving us into the upper story of the court-house which stood on higher ground. The floods caused father to sell out and remove to Wheeling in 1853 and thence to Iowa. I re- member John Morgan, who lived up Fishing Creek, some four miles from town. He stopped at my father's on his return from Iowa, and his description of the beauty of the state and fertility of the soil captured my father's im- agination. Said he, ' ' The weeds in Iowa all have beauti- ful flowers. The Spanish needle, an ugly weed in Vir- ginia, there was a most beautiful flower." He was espe- cially in favor of the "divide" between Skunk and Des Moines rivers and thought the little town of Oskaloosa was full of future good things. This was the first I ever heard of Oskaloosa and the name pleased my father and in 1855 he started directly for that city by water from Wheeling. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 383 At New Martinsville Rev. J. J. Dolliver, father of Con- gressman J. P. Dolliver, was a frequent guest at our house, for our home always gave good cheer to the Meth- odist itinerant preacher. There was no church there and Dolliver gave his only horse towards the construction of a new building. Father did the brick work almost entirely for nothing, and though I was only ten years old I did a good part at the carrying of bricks. There was no public school system in Virginia in those days and the people of the village employed teachers on subscription. A pockmarked little bachelor Irishman, Wm. Macdonnell, was my first teacher. He was a finished scholar and he believed it was better to spoil the rod than the child. He spoiled a good many rods on me for trivial offenses but I loved the old man all the same. Robert McEldowey was head boy in the school and I looked on him as a sure winner of the presidency in due time. He rose to a captaincy in the Confederate army and when the Civil War closed returned to the little old town where he still remains.2 The institution of slavery only existed by tolerance along the Ohio, for freedom was in sight on the hills of Ohio across the water. I remember once when I was playing on the banks of the river, suddenly a negro ap- peared running at full speed with the sheriff behind him and fifty men following close behind in full hue and cry. The negro turned up the bank and ran for liberty as though he was running for life. He gained on his pur- suers rapidly and finally, dashing over the bank, he jumped into a skiff and rowed across the river leaving the sheriff and his followers far behind. I drew a long sigh of relief as he disappeared in the pawpaw bushes on the other shore. That was about the time of the invention of 2 He died of cancer in 1900. 384 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY rubber balls, rubber shoes, and other elastic goods. It was a matter of common belief among the boys that the negro wore gum shoes and that he stepped ten feet at a step with the assistance of the elastic soles. We read the story of the seven league boots after that with a memory recurring to the footrace of that negro for liberty. My sympathies were all with the negro in that race. The Ohio River flood of 1852 carried off our little school-house and the next school was kept in the upper story of the jail. The second story was fitted up as a debtor's prison and as arrests for debt were very rare the rooms were occupied for a school and I therefore did some of my earlier studying behind prison bars. My little sister, Eliza Adaline, born August 21, 1850, died of whooping cough November 23, 1850. With the ex- ception of this loss I remember no other sorrow in con- nection with New Martinsville. I was only twelve years old when we left there, so that the associations of that village are full of the pleasure that makes the happiest of all creatures the lifetime of a boy. The life of a boy is full of interest. As the poet Lilly expresses it, "A wren's egg is as full of meat as a goose's egg, but there is not as much of it." I know that these first twelve years of my life were re- plete with abounding health and boyish delights. My brothers were Isaac, who was six years older than I, James, three years older, and Will, five years younger. Isaac was by force of family necessity compelled to learn father's trade of brick-mason, stone-mason and plasterer as soon as he was old enough and his opportunities for education were limited. He soon became a good work- man and, if he had a desire for enlarged education, it was suppressed by the hard time of his early life. James and myself were students from childhood and I can recall when my mother pasted a pictured sheet on the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 385 kitchen wall from which I learned my letters and learned to read, and I remember my pride when I discovered that without teaching at all I was able to read writing or script from its resemblance to printing. The first book of any size that I ever read was Dau- bigne's History of the Reformation, which I read aloud to mother while she sewed and patched and darned and did the household work for a young and growing family. The "Diet at Worms" struck me as very amusing, but I became a partisan of Luther in my childhood, and have always admired his sturdy independence ever since. Fox's Book of Martyrs was a logical sequel to read after Daubigne, and I read that cheerful volume at my mother's knee also. I commenced to borrow all the books in the town, covered each book carefully with paper, read it with thumb papers and returned it promptly when read, so that there was no one in the village who would not lend me any book that I wanted. Pinnock's Goldsmith's Roman History I read with the same avidity as Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Killer, and I remember all the details of the work as well as I remember all the other things which were im- printed on my mind when my memory was as susceptible of impressions as the plate of a photographer. But the most delightful period of my life was brought to an end. Father and Uncle Robert, who had recently married Nancy Engle, concluded to remove to Wheeling. An auction sale disposed of some of our less movable goods, the old home was rented and soon afterwards sold, and one day in April, 1853, we took passage on the steam- boat Courier for the city of Wheeling, forty miles distant, with a feeling that a great journey was being entered upon, a journey much more extensive and important it seemed, than a subsequent journey across the Atlantic. And indeed it was the starting upon a great journey for 386 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY me, for I then turned my back upon early, joyous, and buoyant childhood and entered upon the real struggle of preparing for life. At "Wheeling we rented a house on Zane Street and for the first time I saw a public school. Wheeling, with New England enterprise, had inaugurated a most excellent school system and James and I entered in the earnest work of the school. Isaac worked at his trade in summer and attended the Fourth Street Academy in winter, whilst Mary spent a year in a girl's seminary. My father was industrious and poor, and he and Uncle Robert entered upon the work of building at once on our arrival. As James and I went up the grimy and sooty streets in the morning after our arrival, with clean faces and clean shirts and our best clothing, we were astonished to find that we attracted a good deal of attention and the boys at the alley corners would shout ' ' Country Jake ' ' as we passed by. We paid no attention to these taunts and kept as close together as a Macedonian phalanx as we passed through these new scenes and though some of the hoodlums threatened us, they did not attack us. We both sought employment carrying newspapers after school hours, James getting employment with the Intel- ligencer, a Whig paper, and I with the Argus, the Demo- cratic organ. We each got the princely sum of fifty cents a week, but we got exercise going over our routes at a dog trot delivering the papers after school hours, and the work built up bone and muscle that many a year after were found useful in mature life. The fifty cents a week helped to buy school books and clothing and we both faithfully performed this work dur- ing the two years we lived in Wheeling. In the summer vacations we each worked in the printing offices for two dollars a week and on New Year's Day sold Carriers' Ad- dresses to our patrons. I sold seven dollars' worth the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 387 first New Year 's and twenty-six on the next which showed that I had won the approval of the patrons on my route. I remember the first paper bank bill I ever owned. I got one dollar for two weeks' work. It was on the Northern Bank of Kentucky. There was a beautiful landscape on this promise to pay, and an apple tree in one corner with two apples lying on the ground under the tree. When I attempted to use this bill in paying my fare on an excursion to Grave Creek I found it was counterfeit, and as it was all I had I watched the train pull out with much disappointment. On enquiry I found from a mer- chant that the bill was a sure enough counterfeit. Said he, "Johnny, do you notice the apples lying under that tree? Now there are only two apples there. If the bill was a good one there would be three apples there. Do you think you can remember that? ' ' After forty-six years I can answer, "Yes, I think I can remember that." In fact I could not forget it if I would try. It was my first object lesson in "sound money," and I have always been in favor of good money ever since. My employer made it good to me, but the loss fell on him and I appreciated the magnitude of his loss. Father was a man of infinite mechanical capacity. He not only knew his own trade but he could mend a clock, build a barn, make a basket, cut stone, or do any kind of mechanical work to which he cared to turn his hand. He was not a jack-at-all-trades but he had a natural facility for turning his hand to any kind of work that I have never seen equaled. His trade only gave him employment dur- ing good weather and he abhorred idleness and spent his winters at some kind of indoor work. He cut many grave- stones and monuments and his lettering and carving were in the best of style. My earliest recollection of any particular date is 1844, when I was three years old. Father was cutting stone in 388 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY his shop at New Martinsville. It was a cold day in late fall. He had bought me a little plush cap with small red spots on it. I tossed it up in the air at his suggestion and shouted, ' ' Hurrah for Henry Clay. ' ' The cap at once be- came my ' ' Henry Clay cap. ' ' A few days afterwards I was parching corn on the top of the little cannon stove in the shop when I took this cap and putting it against the stove raked the corn into the cap with a small stick. The cap caught fire and the whole side was burned out of it. My father at once gave me a severe flogging so that the circumstance was doubly impressed on my body and mind ; and that is why I remember it so well after all these years. Father, in his winter's work at New Martinsville, had prepared a fine freestone monument for his mother, who lies buried at Cadiz, Ohio. This monument he took out in 1854 to Cadiz to set it up over grandmother's grave. I went along with him and took my first long journey from home. This monument was long after removed by Uncle Robert, with the remains, to the new cemetery at Cadiz where it now stands. The small monument at New Mar- tinsville over my little sister's grave and the monument at Oskaloosa over father's, mother's, and James's graves are also the workmanship of my father. At Wheeling my father constantly discussed the project of going West. Iowa was then attracting much attention and one of our New Martinsville friends, John Morgan, visited us on his return from the West and spoke of the beauties and fertility of the new state. In the spring of 1855 we embarked on the Swallow, a steamboat, at Wheeling, with passage paid to St. Louis. It was a long and interesting journey and the boat was loaded with emigrants mainly bound to Missouri, as the Virginian generally preferred a slave state. We caught a glimpse of New Martinsville as we passed AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 389 by there in the night, and stopped for a short time, where I saw a few of the boys of my acquaintance. When I next saw them it was 1875, and twenty years had elapsed with all its vicissitudes. At Cincinnati, Ohio, we stopped for two days, which we spent diligently seeing the city. Wm. Lacey, son of John S. Lacey, of Cadiz, was living there and he visited us. He was then in the wholesale grocery business in which he made a large fortune but died comparatively young. I remember one particular thing at Cincinnati with great distinctness. James and I went to see Hiram Powers 's "Hell." Before Powers went to Italy and carved the Greek Slave, he showed his first skill in wax figures, and designed a museum in which he exhibited his ideas of what the devil's realm would be. There was a clashing of chains, a roaring of furnaces, diabolical noises, and a variety of demons and condemned souls that I can yet see in my memory. While standing at an iron railing looking at the horrible vision, a charge of elec- tricity went through the railing throwing us all on our knees. A constant stream of visitors was passing through the building and the electric shock seemed to be sufficient to clear the way for more visitors. At Louisville, in going through the canal, we visited the Kentucky giant, Porter. He had retired and was keeping a public house near the canal. I wonder if he would seem as large now, but he was surely a gigantic specimen, even for Kentucky. At St. Louis we changed boats to the beautiful side- wheeler, Thomas Swann, one of the old Wheeling and Louisville Line, and she soon took us up to the Gate City of Keokuk which was then in the height of its boom period. The landing was crowded with people and goods and it seemed like all the world was going to Iowa, or I-owe-a, as we called it then. 390 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY There were no railways in the state and we had brought our team from Virginia with us and we loaded our goods and started for Oskaloosa. The front of the destroyed Mormon Temple at Nauvoo rose white and beautiful in the distance when we got out on the high prairies north- west of Keokuk. I was anxious to see a real wild and unbroken prairie and soon we began to see them, covered with waving grass and flowers. We took our time for the trip and I walked nearly all the way full of wonder and delight at every- thing that we saw. Oskaloosa was a small village when we arrived, having less than one thousand people. From the time of our ar- rival till the present, Oskaloosa, or the county of Mahas- ka, has been my home. In the summer of 1855 I helped my father, tending him at his work as a mason and plasterer, and learned the trade sufficiently during the next few years to be eligible to a bricklayers' or plasterers' union. In the winter of 1856 James and I attended George W. Drake's Academy in the old Normal School Building and Will went to the public school. In the spring of 1856 father moved out on the Des Moines River to the farm that he had purchased there, and we at once commenced the active work of making a farm. The farm was part timber and brush and part prairie, so that there was a variety of work. Both game and fish were plentiful and the next few years had much of enjoy- ment and an unlimited amount of hard work. In the winter of 1856 I worked for my board with Judge Wm. Loughridge, who was then state senator from Ma- haska County, afterward congressman, and I attended Professor Johnson's school in the old Normal Building. In the summer of 1857 I worked on the farm and with AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 391 ray father at the plastering and bricklaying and stone- mason trade, and in the winter James and I kept bach- elor's hall with George Godfrey in Oskaloosa and attend- ed the school of Professor Howe and Professor A. Hull. In 1858 I had a repetition of the experience of 1857, but spent all my spare time in study and taught school at Frits 's school-house in Monroe County during the winter. I received $20 a month and board, but boarded around with the patrons of the school. This was an interesting life, but had many drawbacks. The year 1858 had been one of continual rain and the crops were the nearest a total failure of anything I have ever seen in Iowa. Cattle died of actual starvation and old hay and strawstacks of the year before were sold at almost fabulous prices. In the winter of 1859 I again taught a winter school at Crowell's school-house, not far from the scene of my pre- vious experience, and both winters I spent in most de- lightful study. Every Friday night both these winters, I walked home, nine miles, and there was never a more pleasing sight than the light in the window at the old home as it appeared in view when I got within two or three miles of home. A great log fire in the chimney welcomed me, and my father, mother, and such of the children as were at home, made these weekly visits sources of the greatest pleasure. The year 1860 I again worked on the farm and James went to Shelby Comity, Missouri, where he taught school. In the year 1860 I had my last actual schooling. I board- ed with my uncle Robert's family and attended the acad- emy of Professor M. A. Robb. The war threatened us all winter but I put in the time with extra diligence. I stud- ied Latin, mathematics, and many other studies. Being alone in nearly all my classes I could take as long lessons as I wished and I doubt if any boy of nineteen ever studied harder than I. 392 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY When the spring came I returned to the farm, and one day while digging post holes in the Des Moines River bot- tom, I heard of the firing on Sumter. Next day, with some of my neighbor's big boys, including George God- frey, I went to Oskaloosa, to see about enlisting, and we joined Captain John H. Warren's company. The company was not accepted in the first call, but when the second call for three year men came it was accepted and became Company H, Third Iowa Infantry. The com- pany drilled a few weeks at Oskaloosa and finally left for the war on my twentieth birthday, May 30, 1861. At the old South Spring Mills we lined up and bade all our friends good-bye. Mother kissed James and myself and she and father gave us their blessing and we started off on the march to Eddyville, and then indeed, for the first time I cut loose from all my home moorings and thence- forth attempted to direct my life in my own way. WITH THE THIRD IOWA INFANTRY My connection with the Third Iowa was only from May to November 7, 1861, but that service has greatly influ- enced the course of my life. My brother James was my messmate, also Wm. E. Shepherd, who had been a schoolmate and who from Jan- uary 1, 1866, to January 1, 1873, was afterwards my law partner. We organized Mess No. 5, which consisted of James F. Lacey, George Godfrey, Jesse McClure, Wm. McClure, David McClure, John McClure, Wm. E. Shepherd, John W. Mehanna, Richard Campbell, Al Lough and myself. Captain John H. Warren messed with us also during the time that I remained with the Third Iowa. Nearly all of these boys were my neighbors and we had been long acquainted. All of them are now dead, except AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 393 Jesse McClure, David McClure, Wm. E. Shepherd, John H. Warren, and myself. The Third Iowa had a hard service, and was literally fought out of existence. All that remained of the regi- ment after the bloody fight at Atlanta, where General McPherson was killed, was consolidated with the Second Iowa Infantry. The regiment organized at Keokuk and was mustered into the service June 8, 1861. The First and Second Iowa Infantry regiments were there at the same time. When Stephen A. Douglas died these three regiments marched in solemn procession behind a great catafalque in which the funeral of the deceased was sym- bolized. It was a hot and dusty day and my brother James showed much signs of suffering in the march and a few days after we marched in review before Major-General Samuel R. Curtis and our officers, which kept us at a shoulder arms for more than an hour at a time. When we broke ranks my brother began to bleed at the lungs, and from that hour I think he was doomed to death. It was not till February 11, 1862, that the end came. He died then at home in father's and mother's arms. He and I had been inseparable from my earliest recol- lections. We were side by side in the only battle in which I fought in the Third Iowa. We campaigned together during the summer of 1861 in north Missouri and guarded the bridges of the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad from bushwhackers during all the hot weather. On the 4th of July we celebrated the day at Utica, Missouri. We spent some weeks at Locust Creek bridge and Brookfield. In this service I was filled with malaria and on a raid to Kirksville I was taken down with chills and fever which developed into an every-other-day ague. We chased the Confederate, General Tom Harris, and his raw levies all around over north Missouri. Under 394 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY General Pope we marched to Florida, Missouri, for a night attack, but the enemy took to the woods, leaving their fires burning. While resting in the rebel camp next day a squadron of cavalry rode into our camp. We took them for Missouri Union Militia, but Colonel Moore, afterwards of the Twenty-first Missouri, saw that they were rebels who were returning to what they supposed was their own camp, and firing at once commenced, lead- ing to great excitement. The enemy got away and our hard march was in vain. Mark Twain was one of the Con- federates under General Harris, and after this expedition he concluded to go west and grow up with the country in Nevada, where he began his literary career upon a mining newspaper. Our regiment had a small battle at Hagar 's Woods and another at Monroe. I had been left behind on guard at Brookfield. James was in these actions, and the first Iowa soldier killed in the war, Cyrus B. West of Company H, fell at Monroe. The guard was ordered to board a train and reenforce the regiment at Shelbina. I was corporal of the guard, having been made fourth corporal, and James eighth corporal, so that I had a small command of twelve men of Company H, under Lieutenant Crossley, afterward Lieutenant-Colonel Crossley. We met the regi- ment near Shelbina, but the fighting was over and the en- emy had retired. Colonel U. S. Grant came out to reenforce us with the Twenty-first Illinois, and we little thought the history that he would make in the next four years. In September Colonel Atchison of the Confederate army started to Lexington, Missouri, with his new levies of troops, and the Sixteenth Illinois and Third Iowa were ordered to march after him. We expected to make a junction at Liberty, but the Sixteenth Illinois was not on time, and after waiting several hours Colonel Scott con- AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 395 eluded to follow the enemy and make the attack alone. We marched out of Liberty, towards Blue Mills Landing, and when we reached the river bottom we found five of our Missouri scouts lying dead side by side with their hats over their faces. They had been placed in a row by the roadside and we marched by with rather unpleasant forebodings. We had a piece of artillery and a caisson along, and they were at the head of the column with a skirmish line in front. The dense undergrowth prevented the skir- mishers from keeping far enough in advance and we sud- denly found ourselves at close range with the enemy, who were concealed in a depression of ground, or dry bayou. They had squirrel rifles and double-barreled shotguns and they enfiladed our men, who were marching by the right flank along the road. The artillery horses were soon killed and the gunners, after firing two rounds, were driven from their guns. The regiment scattered right and left in the woods and all fought on their own account without much system or order. The enemy was in heavy force and well sheltered, and after a two hours ' fight a retreat was ordered. Captain (afterwards General) Trumbull rushed forward with his men and drew off the cannon but the caisson fell into the enemy's hands. We lost nearly 100 men killed and wound- ed in this our first genuine battle. The excitement of the battle caused me to forget my ague and weakness, but when the retreat was ordered I stepped out into the road and fired a farewell shot into the smoke in the direction of the enemy and then started to obey the order to retreat. I soon found that I was wholly unable to keep up and was ready to drop with sheer exhaustion at any moment. Later in the war I would not have thought of starting out on a march in my condition of health, but we had not yet 396 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY been in a hard fight and we would have felt it a disgrace to be left behind. I saw the enemy were following us at close range and I climbed into a cornfield and fell down repeatedly over the pumpkin vines and bent cornstalks. Finally I got through the field, when I saw that the enemy were far in advance of me, marching along the road and following up our regi- ment. I concluded to conceal myself in a thicket and try to rejoin my regiment at Liberty after dark. Suddenly a squad of Rebel cavalry discovered me and one shouted, "Here is one of them now." They took my gun and my only money, a half dollar, letters from some of my friends at home, but worst of all, my box of quinine pills. They soon found I was unable to march and brought up a horse and put me on it with so much force that I went clear over and fell on the ground on the other side. One of them said, "Boys, don't you see the fellow is sick?" They then helped me on the horse with greater care and two of them started back with me towards the river. They rode on each side of me, holding my horse's reins, and each fondled a double-barreled shotgun loaded with buck- shot, the copper caps gleaming maliciously from the nip- ples of the guns. We met several heroes in the rear of the army as we went back, and two of them wanted to show their bravery by shooting the Yankee right there and then, but my guards forbade it and said, ' ' Don 't shoot a prisoner." Arriving at the river, we crossed on the steam ferry- boat "Little Blue," a name quite typical of my then con- dition. We camped on the south side of the river all night and the Rebel forces were ferried across and next morn- ing started to join General Price's army which we under- stood was besieging Lexington. Next day the Third Iowa sent details to visit the field and bury our dead, after which they marched to Kansas AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 397 City. My fate was unknown for several weeks, but my name was published under the word "missing." One of my comrades went home on furlough about that time and cheered up my sister at Hannibal and the folks at home with the statement that the heads of several of the dead were eaten off by the hogs and he thought, though he was not quite sure, that my body was one of those mutilated. It afterwards turned out that this im- aginative comrade was at Brookfield during the fight. My gun, which fell into the enemy's hands, had my name on the strap, and it was a satisfaction to me to know that it was afterwards recaptured on the other side of the Mis- sissippi by the Fifth Iowa at Iuka. Next day we marched towards Lexington. My fever raged all day, but I kept going, and every few hundred yards we would cross a beautiful stream of spring water. I drank all I thought I wanted and when I got into our first camp the fever had ceased. I shall always remember a jolly fellow named Ben Roar, from Quindaro. His father was a hot secessionist and had ordered Ben "to go and fight the black aboli- tionists." Ben came down to where the prisoners were (there were eight of us) and sang songs for our amuse- ment. We were in charge of Colonel Green's regiment, and Mr. Holloway, one of my guards, afterwards recalled these incidents when he was doorkeeper of the committee on agriculture of the Fifty-third Congress. On the next day, as we approached Lexington, General Price rode out to meet us and was received with immense enthusiasm. "We went into camp at Lexington in a deep ravine near where General Mulligan was besieged, and the shot and shell from Mulligan's men passed over our heads and struck the sides of the hill beyond us. An old sergeant-major was very anxious to put the 398 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY prisoners in the front rank and give us a taste of Mul- ligan's fire, but his suggestion did not meet with much favor among the Confederates. One day the order came for Colonel Green's regiment to get ready to take their places behind the hemp bales from which the enemy fired on the Union works. They all lighted fires and commenced to mold bullets and went to the front. One of them was killed that day and several wounded, and on their return they were very sullen and sad in the evening, and Ben Roar did not come around to sing his favorite song about Dives and Lazarus : ' ' The dogs came along and they licked his sore-um Oh, bless God, glory halleloojerum-um Oh, Mr. Dog, won 't you lick a little more,-um Oh bless God, glory halleloojerum-um." How remarkable is the human memory ! How many valuable things I have forgotten, and yet this senseless jargon of good natured Ben Roar no doubt will stay in my remembrance whilst I recollect anything. Mulligan surrendered for want of water, and his men were paroled and turned loose to march to the Hannibal and St. Joe Railway. After they had gone one day the or- der came for our little squad, now enlarged to twelve, to go to General Price's headquarters. Price was a benevo- lent looking gentleman with a combination face, half Quaker and half Presbyterian. His cheeks were rosy and a pair of little English side-whiskers set off his wholly unmilitary looking countenance. His adjutant told us to hold up our hands and take the oath, "Not to take up arms against the state of Missouri, or the Confederate States of America, during the exist- ing war unless exchanged," etc. We were then turned loose and ferried over the river. At Richmond, four miles north, an old judge invited our AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 399 party all to drink with him, and a man named Harris, whom I would surely like to meet again, asked the judge if it would be all right for him to take us home with him for the night, as he lived on the road that we in- tended to travel. Both the Judge and Mr. Harris claimed to be secessionists, and after a conference it was determined that we should go on with Mr. Harris. We arrived at his house at dark and his family got us all a good supper and I was one of the fortunate ones who got a bed, and those for whom there were no beds slept in the barn. Next morning Mr. Harris gave us our breakfast and detailed instructions as to our journey, advising us to spend the night with a certain Mr. Green who was, he said, a Union man. I have always thought that Mr. Harris was on our side though he did not dare let us know it. At noon we stopped at an old tavern in a cross-roads town and got a dinner of salt pork, corn bread, and water, for which we were unable to pay, but were told it was welcome, and that Mulligan's men had eaten them out so that the fare was the best and all that they had. At dark we arrived at Mr. Green's. He and his fam- ily made us welcome, fed us the best they could, and next day hitched up teams to drive us to Hamilton, eighteen miles distant on the railroad. As we got to the edge of the town a train was just ready to pull out. We shouted and the train stopped and waited for us. There were a number of soldiers on the train and the old flag was fly- ing from it. I never saw that banner look so lovely as it did then. I had got heartily tired of the Confederate flag and the everlasting jungle of " 'Way Down South in Dixie." I never quite overcame my prejudice against that tune till in 1898, during the Spanish War, when all the old Union tunes and Rebel ones were mixed up by the various regimental bands. 400 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Fremont's celebrated order, freeing the slaves and or- dering all rebels shot who were taken in arms within a specified territory, was issued just before the Battle of Blue Mills, but I knew nothing of it till the Rebels showed us some St. Louis papers with the published order. As we were taken prisoners within Fremont's prescribed limit it was a game that two could play at. The Rebels read it to us and told us that for every Confederate prisoner Fremont shot they would shoot ten, and it was not very pleasant to be reminded that I was one of ten. When we got within the Union lines this order was the subject of discussion, and the idea of freeing the slaves met with much approval. I took sides against the order, and when I pointed out the prisoner-shooting part of it, I found that our boys all agreed with me, and when Mr. Lincoln revoked the order I think that there were not many soldiers who disapproved of his action. On arriving at our old camp at Brookfield I found it nearly empty. The men had gone from Liberty to Kan- sas City and my brother James was with them. Orders soon came for us to pack up and go to Quincy, Illinois, to recruit and rest. We boarded the cattle cars and on arriving at Quincy went into a beautiful camp on the bluffs just north of the town overlooking the river. In a few days the rest of the regiment rejoined us and we spent a few weeks of the greatest enjoyment. The peo- ple of Quincy strove to make our stay agreeable. Some of our friends from Iowa took the opportunity to visit their relatives and the days sped away on swift and joy- ous wings. President Lincoln refused to exchange prisoners, and ordered all on parole to be discharged. Lieutenant-Col- onel Scott on November 7th discharged me under this order of the President. James got a few days furlough and we went home to- AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 401 gether and this short furlough was the last of our pleas- ant personal associations. The day we started home we got the news of Grant's battle at Belmont and of the killing and wounding of many of my good friends in the Seventh Iowa. Thus ended my connections with the old Third Iowa, as gallant a body of men as ever shouldered muskets. Many of them served in other organizations. Major Stone became colonel of the Twenty-second Iowa and gov- ernor of Iowa. Scott became colonel of the Thirty-sec- ond Iowa; Trumbull colonel of the Ninth Iowa Cavalry and then brigadier-general. The regiment had a great reputation for its fighting qualities and its history would be a record of the war in the west and thence with Sherman till the name of the regiment was merged in that of the Second Iowa. Tin- boys were given to foraging. A story is told which I do not vouch for. One day in Mississippi an old planter came out to the roadside and complained to General Sher- man. Said he, ''Your men have taken my niggers, my mules, my turkeys, my chickens, sir, but thank God, sir, there is one thing they cannot deprive me of, sir ; I still have my hope of Heaven." Sherman replied, "Don't be sure about that for the Third Iowa Infantry will be along here in a few min- utes." It was said of the regiment that they could catch a hog, skin him and divide him without coming to a halt or breaking ranks. These stories were fabrications, but the fact remains that the old Third Iowa were pretty skillful at foraging. I watched the subsequent career of the old regiment with great pride. At Shiloh, at the Hatchie, at Vicks- burg, on the Atlanta campaign they were always heard from in the thickest of the fray. 402 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY There are but few of them living today, and I have always felt sure that but for the accident of my capture and discharge I would have died early in the war. But I came home in November, 1861, and good home food, a good bed, and the frosty Iowa air soon fully restored me to health and by early spring no trace of malaria re- mained. BEADING LAW When I came home after my discharge from the Third Iowa, I commenced actively to read law. I saw Samuel A. Rice, then the leading lawyer at Oskaloosa, and attorney- general of the state. He furnished me books and I read at home through the winter. He examined me thoroughly as to my preparation for the law and I explained to him the difficulty encountered in my education. He had worked as a pilot on the Ohio to earn money to obtain his education and sympathized with my difficulties. He asked me if I had read ancient and modern history and when he found that I had read nearly everything accessi- ble on the subject but Hume's England, he advised me to read Hume before I commenced on Blackstone, as the understanding of the law would become easier if I knew the history out of which it was evolved. I read at home all winter and when father brought James home in February, 1862, he found me quite hard at work. I remember that he told me he believed I would make a good lawyer. That was our last talk the day before his death. In the spring I grubbed out ten acres of jack oaks for father as my farewell contribution to making the farm and then went to Oskaloosa and continued my reading law in Rice, Myers & Rice 's office. The sounds of war filled our ears and the study of the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN P. LACEY 403 law seemed very dry that summer of 1862. I heard that exchange of prisoners was being negotiated and I wrote to General McKinstry at St. Louis, to ascertain if the discharged prisoners were included in the cartel. He wrote me that they were, and I again enlisted as a private in Company D, Thirty-third Iowa, under Captain John Lofland, in July, 1862. Samuel A. Rice was commissioned colonel of the regi- ment, and when it was fully organized I was appointed sergeant-major and so my studies again came to an end. Though I read Willard's Equity afterwards at nights during the siege of Mobile in 1865, my life from July, 1862, till my return home in 1865 was that of a soldier. MY SECOND SERVICE IN THE WAR I soon found that the sergeant-major of a regiment has plenty of work to do and his field of usefulness is a very wide one. I made all the details of enlisted men for guard, fatigue, or other duties. They reported to me from day to day by name and soon I knew by name every man in the Thirty-third Iowa, which circumstance has given me much pleasure in my after life and was a most excellent practice in the useful art of learning names and faces. This knowledge I made valuable to the colonel in various ways and no doubt aided me in my subsequent promotion. We rendezvoused at Oskaloosa and were quartered in barracks at the fair grounds. October 1st we were mus- tered in by Lieutenant Charles J. Ball, U. S. A. Colonel Rice was an indefatigable student and mastered the tac- tics with the greatest ease. I was well trained in the manual of arms while in the Third Iowa, and night after night I put the colonel through the drill with an old Springfield musket until he became most proficient. 404 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Colonel Rice was brave beyond any man whom I have ever known. He soon acquired the confidence of his men. We organized at Camp Tuttle (fair grounds) at Oska- loosa and there drilled daily until our muster in, October 1, 1862. From Camp Tuttle we went to Keokuk and thence to St. Louis where we were assigned to duty guarding Rebel prisoners. From St. Louis we were sent to the field to meet Forrest at Columbus, Kentucky. We spent a short time in service in Kentucky and Tennessee, and then went by water from Columbus, Kentucky, to Helena, Arkansas. Our camp life at Helena was pro- ductive of much sickness. We took part in the remark- able campaign by water from Helena through the Yazoo Pass, trying to take Vicksburg by a back-door entrance. The Yazoo, Tallahatchie, Coldwater, and Mississippi were once connected by a bayou known as the Yazoo Pass. This pass had long been closed by a levee. We cut this levee and entered in high water at the upper end of the river and attempted to go to the rear of Vicks- burg. The enemy hastily constructed earthworks at Greenwood and here the enterprise came to a stand. The country was inundated and we could not reach the forts and an about face was ordered. The Yazoo and Tallahatchie had not seen the Yankee forces before and this region was the granary of the Confederates in Mississippi. A general exodus of the negroes followed us and the region became a ruin. As a war measure this was beneficial to the Union cause. The pass had been closed for a generation and had never been used for steamboats, so the coming of a vast fleet of iron-clads and transports was looked on by the slaves as marvelous or supernatural and we were received with every expression of joy by these darky friends. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 405 On our return to Helena, we again resumed our old camp and commenced a thorough system of fortifications. One side trip to Cotton Plant, Arkansas, was made by the regiment. In May, 18G3, Captain A. J. Comstock recommended me for the position of first lieutenant, vice R. F. Burden, who resigned. This took me out of the non-commissioned staff and put me in a new company. I accepted the offer, knowing that it meant considerable hostility on the part of the men with whom I must serve as there were some excellent men in the company who aspired to the same position, and my promotion over the second lieutenant was not a very pleasing thing to that official. I knew that only two things would reconcile the men to this obtrusion of a new man into the second place in the company ; one was active, persistent, and efficient at- tention to all the wants of the men and the demonstra- tion of fitness which would satisfy them that I was the right man for the place. The other was a demonstration of nerve and coolness in danger, a thing which men al- ways admire even in their enemies. The first requirement I had a good chance to fill by as earnest work as any officer ever did in behalf of his men, but no engagement occurred while I served with the company. Colonel Rice was assigned to the command of a brigade and detailed me as acting assistant adjutant- general of the brigade and from that time until his death I was always at my post performing this duty. In the battle of Helena, July 4, 1863, Colonel Rice com- manded on the right wing. The Thirty-third Iowa of his brigade happened to be in the center and bore the brunt of the battle. Just as Price's forces made their gallant charge in the center I was in Battery A, from which I could overlook the whole battle. The charge of 406 MAJOK JOHN F. LACEY the enemy on our works was one of the bravest perform- ances of the war, but it was bravery without discretion. On they came in splendid array, with flags flying, and charged over our lines and the Thirty-third Iowa was compelled to fall back. The Union troops made a firm stand at the next ridge, using the top of a sharp ridge as a natural embankment. Fort Curtis thundered over the heads of our men, and the gunboat Tyler sent heavy shells among the Rebel ranks and all at once the enemy disappeared as if they had been swallowed up by an earthquake. I had left my horse with an orderly just below the fort, under the shelter of the hill. I remounted and rode to Colonel Rice and reported what I had seen and he or- dered me to go to General Prentiss and say to him that we could spare some reinforcements from the right of the line. I went to General Prentiss as quickly as I could and as I met him I saw what had become of the charging enemy. They had concealed themselves in the deep ravines from our fire and there surrendered to our men. A steamboat from Grant's army near Vicksburg land- ed during the battle and these prisoners were at once loaded under guard and were soon steaming away up the river, and the recent splendid line of fighting men spread over the boat a dusty mass of brown, with nothing of the heroic in their appearance. Vicksburg surrendered the same day and the closing of Gettysburg occurred on the 3d, so the glory of the battle at Helena was overshadowed by the greatness of contemporaneous events. July 4th, 1863, was really the turning point in the great contest. The most ghastly scene of the war, for me, was the mass of Rebel dead along the center where they broke AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 407 through our line. One could easily have walked over that part of the line stepping only on the bodies of the dead. After this battle General F. Steele came up from Vicksburg, ordered by his old classmate, Grant, to or- ganize an expedition against Little Rock. Steele recog- nized in Rice a man capable of commanding and so as- signed the various regiments as to make Rice the ranking colonel of a division of three brigades and so I found myself promoted to be the assistant adjutant-general of a division, in which capacity I served during the Little Rock campaign. There was but little fighting in this campaign, for General Steele by a most masterly move- ment placed his cavalry on the south side of the Arkan- sas, and Price had to fight with the chance of being cooped up in the works or else had to retire, which latter alternative he selected and withdrew, leaving Steele in control of the line of the Arkansas River. Rice in the meantime was appointed brigadier-gen- eral, and at once recommended me for the position of captain and assistant adjutant-general of United States volunteers. In March, 1864, began our march towards the south- west. I will not give the details of that severe and bloody campaign. General Rice carried himself with honor and lost his life in battle. His staff was exposed with him constantly and received at the hands of the army due credit for duty well done. Rice was wounded at Jenkins Ferry April 30th and died of his wounds July 6th following. Captain Town- send, an aide on his staff, was killed. Major Duncan, another aide, and Lieutenant Baylis of his staff each had a horse killed under him, and I had a beautiful horse killed under me by a shell at the battle of Prairie d 'Anne April 10th. The strong hold that Rice and his staff had 408 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY in the affection of the army may be illustrated by an in- cident in my own experience. At Jenkins Ferry our train was hopelessly mired down and the wagons were destroyed and mules taken across the river to keep them from falling into the hands of the enemy. My small valise was in the headquarters wagon and I supposed had been buried with the wagon. A few days after arrival at Little Rock, after the battle, I met a soldier on the street who said to me that he had found the valise in the mud and had put it in an ambulance and brought it with him to Little Rock. Said he, "I saw your name on it and I thought if I could do anything for General Rice, or any one connected with him that it was my duty to do so." I keep that little old canvas covered valise yet as a memento of that campaign. Rice 's first fight in the campaign was with Shelby, who attacked the rear guard April 2d, at the Terre Noir Creek. April 4th he had another fight with Marmaduke at Elkins Ford on the Little Missouri. April 10th he had a fight at Prairie d'Anne; April 15th at Poison Springs, and finally the bloody battle of Jenkins Ferry April 30th. I was hit by a minie ball during the battle, but the rain was falling and I had a poncho over my shoulders and the poncho turned the bullet aside or I should have been killed, as the ball struck me fair in the right side, just above the point of the hip. I wrote an account of Gen- eral Rice at Jenkins Ferry which is published in the Annals of Ioiva, and also an article on General Steele in the same publication. My promotion as assistant adjutant-general of volun- teers had not yet been received when Rice died, but a few days after. I was still first lieutenant of Company C, Thirty-third Iowa, when I returned to Little Rock. T AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACE Y 409 asked to be relieved from staff duty with Colonel Salo- mon, who succeeded Rice, as I presumed he would prefer a German from his own regiment, the Ninth Wisconsin. I went back to Company C and commenced duty again when one evening Major J. B. Wheeler, U. S. A., Steele's chief of engineers, rode up and called for me and said General Steele wished to see me. I went to department headquarters and Steele told me that he wanted me to serve on his staff until Rice should recover. I accepted his tender of position and at once entered on duty as an assistant to Lieutenant-Colonel W. B. Green. In a few days after I received my commission from President Lincoln and my direct connection with the Thirty-third Iowa ceased. I found that my work with Steele was not very active, as Colonel Green could read- ily do most of the work in the adjutant-general's office and Major B. B. Foster had also been assigned to the same work. General J. R. West was ordered on a cav- alry expedition after General Shelby in northeastern Arkansas and I volunteered as his assistant adjutant- general for the expedition. We spent a couple of weeks hunting Shelby but did not find him and I then returned to my duty at department headquarters. Refugees, de- serters, and escaped prisoners were coming in daily and I organized a system to utilize all the information that could be gathered from all these and other sources in regard to the rebel army. All such persons and all scouts were sent to me and I collected all the information that I could get from every source. I arranged these scraps of information system- atically and soon had a complete roster of the Rebel army in Arkansas and Louisiana, with a pretty accurate ac- count of the strength of every regiment, brigade, and division. Discrepancies in statements arose as to the strength of various regiments and I sifted the evidence 410 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY and made my reports on what seemed the most reliable estimate. General Steele was advised of my undertaking and approved it, but he was much surprised when I laid before him the result of my labors. About this time General Sterling Price broke through our lines and start- ed to Missouri to invade that state and gain recruits from the secessionists there. Steele sent for me and told me to take a copy of my Rebel roster and statement of Rebel army and go to St. Louis and report to General Rosecrans who would send me to the front with introduction to General A. J. Smith. A boat was ready at DuvalPs Bluff to start to Memphis. A telegram was sent to hold her until my arrival. The Rebel citizens came into Duvall's Bluff quite freely and no doubt the word got out that the boat was to be de- tained presumably for dispatches. Below Duvall's Bluff there is a long bend in the river where it is many miles around but only a few miles across. Whether the enemy had notice of our coming or not at any rate they waylaid us in a short bend of the river where the pilot afterwards told me the sternwheel steamers almost invariably ran into the bank in making the turn. I was lying in my state room reading a copy of Pope's translation of the Iliad when the rattle of musketry and the shrieks of the cham- bermaid brought me to my feet. I immediately placed my dispatches and papers in a large envelope, put in some pistol bullets for weight and sealed the package up ready to throw overboard. This I did very rapidly under the heavy fire raking us in all directions. The vessel began to obey the rudder and swung into the stream. A soldier in the ladies' cabin called to me and said, ' ' Here is a safe place, come and lie down by me. ' ' As he had a marble topped table turned up between him and the direction of the bullets I promptly accepted his hospitality and we lay in assured security until the boat AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 41 1 got out of reach of the enemy's guns. When the soldier and I got up I saw that the marble top of the table lay some distance away and we had simply the legs and frame work of the table, covered with a woolen cloth, turned up between us and the rebel musketry. But we had felt safe — in our minds. Notwithstanding that the boat was fairly riddled with bullets no one happened to be hit. The pilot hugged close to the shore, keeping inside his armor of boiler iron but not getting close enough for the enemy to jump aboard. At Memphis I spent a few hours while waiting for an upriver boat and while there saw one of my old friends of the state of Iowa, Captain C. R. Searle, who had been badly wounded a few days before by General Forrest's men on their raid into Memphis. I stopped at the Gay- oso Hotel where Forrest had ridden into the office and one of his staff had dismounted and registered "Gen. N. B. Forrest & Staff." I took the first boat for St. Louis where I presented my letter to General Rosecrans and after a long inter- view he sent me to A. J. Smith at Franklin. My docu- ments were of value to General Smith but not worth as much as General Steele had supposed, for Price reorgan- ized his army en route, changing brigades and divisions in such a way that the value of the information was much weakened. I returned to Steele with letter of thanks from General Smith and resumed my work. Steele sent copies of my reports to General Canby, who at once detailed an officer for similar work upon his staff and inaugurated my sys- tem throughout the military division of the Mississippi. I was gratified to see that my labors were thus appre- ciated by skilled West Point soldiers such as Canby and Steele. I was only twenty-three years old, but I found 412 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY myself freely called upon for the most difficult work on the staff. Colonel Wood of the Eleventh Missouri Cav- alry now offered me a position as major in his regiment. General E. A. Carr also offered me a position as his ad- jutant-general. Steele was relieved from the command of the department and ordered to report to General Can- by for service in the Mobile campaign. As my place was only temporary with Steele I thought best to consult him about these two offers. He promptly replied, "My pres- ent staff with but few exceptions is attached to the De- partment of Arkansas. You are not one of the regular corps of staff officers so assigned by the War Department and I want you to go with me to my new field as my adjutant-general. ' ' This was a much better position than either of the others tendered and I accepted and in December, 1864, went with the general to New Orleans and reported to Canby. On January 1, 1865, I was required to report to the adjutant-general of the army what duty I was on and as for a few days General Steele was unassigned I re- ported that fact and later on in April, while in the trench- es besieging Blakely and when I was adjutant-general of Steele's command of about 20,000 men, I received an or- der from the War Department to go to Virginia and re- port for duty to General Godfrey Weitzel of the Twen- ty-fifth Corps (colored). This is not, however, in the chronological order of my story. I laid the order before General Steele and he took the liberty to retain me and asked the War Department to revoke the order as he could not spare me. Later on, General Weitzel reported to me as Steele's adjutant-general in Texas where Weitzel was sent to join and report to Steele. I there complied with the order formally. Weitzel told me to stay with Steele and he would report to me. But to return: Canby directed AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 413 Steele to proceed with the organization of troops for the Mobile campaign. The regiments reported at Kenner- ville, twelve miles above New Orleans, and were there reshipped for Mobile Bay and Barrancas, near Pensacola. We afterwards followed the troops, spending a week at Fort Morgan and then went to Barrancas. Steele's army reorganized there and he sent Colonel A. B. Spur- ling's cavalry brigade from Milton up into Alabama while the infantry marched by way of Pollard to Blakely. Spurling made a brilliant raid through Alabama, cap- turing more men than his own brigade amounted to. We met General Claxton near Pollard, badly wounded him, and captured nearly all his brigade. We met the enemy near Blakely and drove them into the works and at once entered upon a regular siege. At Spanish Fort many of our old army of Arkansas troops took part in the siege, including the Thirty-third Iowa and Steele 's old regiment the Eighth Iowa Infantry. I will not give the details of this siege. On April 9th we charged the works and took them by storm. I went into the works with Steele who joined the charging party of the Thirty-fourth Iowa. Lee surrendered to Grant that same morning at Appomattox, but we did not know it, and so the storming at Blakely was the last real battle of the war. General Canby recommended me for a brevet for this campaign and I was brevetted major. Grant had re- quested Canby to give Steele the Thirteenth Corps which would haye given me the rank of lieutenant-colonel and A. A. G., but Canby gave the corps to Granger and gave Steele an independent command composed of part of Granger's corps, the colored division of Hawkins, and a force of cavalry. The position was a better one for Steele but prevented his staff from obtaining corps rank. For some months I had foreseen the collapse of the 414 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Confederacy and was considering the course I should take on my return home. As I intended to practice law I wanted to prepare myself for admission to the bar as early as I could so I took up my law books again and carried some of them with me to read. During the siege of Mobile I read Willard's Equity in my tent at night after completing my official work for the day. An occa- sional shell lighting near my tent somewhat diverted my mind from the principles of equity, but I found it good mental training, for if one could read a dry book under the fire of siege guns he could study law almost anywhere. When we captured Mobile, Steele was next sent to Montgomery, Alabama, with a large force of transports. General A. J. Smith marched by land to the same place. Some conflict arose as to whether Steele or Smith should command the forces in Northern Alabama. Steele as- sumed and held the command as the ranking officer for a • time. Here I first met Captain C. A. Boutelle, U. S. Volunteer Navy, afterward congressman from Maine. Poor Boutelle. He since died demented. He brought up dispatches announcing that the Sherman-Johnston truce was declared off and that hostilities must be resumed. The difficulty was not long in adjusting itself and there was no more fighting. On the way up the river we had met a flag of trace in a skiff announcing the cessation of hostilities, which was greeted with great cheering. We returned to Mobile and there were ordered to Texas to capture E. Kirby Smith and at the same time make a diversion in favor of Juarez in his contest with Maxi- milian in Mexico. We crossed the Gulf, landing at Bra- zos, Santiago. The French fleet came up and paid us a visit, the officers being quite anxious to know what so large a force (42,000) could have to do in that part of Texas. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 415 At Brownsville we met Cortina, the Liberal leader, and Mejia, the Imperial general, who was afterwards shot at Queretaro with Maximilian and Miramon. Mejia was a full blooded Aztec. Cortina had been a bandit and was a Spaniard in blood. Speaking of Mejia he said, "He is one baboon dressed up in magnificent uniform." Poor Mejia! He died like a hero, though they compelled him to turn his back to the firing squad while Maximilian was given the honor of facing his executioners. When I saw the three stone crosses marking the scene of this execution in 1895, I was carried back thirty years to the summer of 1865 at Brownsville and Matamoras. The breakbone fever, a kind of substitute for yellow fever, broke out in July along the Rio Grande. Every- body took it and I along with the rest. An order had been issued by the War Department authorizing officers holding commissions from the President to be sent home, there to report for muster out. I availed myself of this order and General Steele got out of a sick bed and wrote a very complimentary general order relieving me from duty and directing me to return to my home for dis- charge. I crossed the Gulf of Mexico and took boat at New Orleans for St. Louis and Keokuk, and home by rail. On my arrival at home I spent a few days visiting home and friends and then made arrangements for im- mediately commencing the practice of the law. I was at once employed in some cases and it was necessary that I should be admitted to the bar before the approaching term at Oskaloosa, so I went to Fairfield and there took the examination and was duly admitted by Judge Wm. Loughridge (afterwards congressman). I had been engaged to be married to Miss Mattie Newell for more than three years and now there was no reason for further delay in our marriage except the uncertainty of being able to make a living. We resolved to take the 416 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY chances, and accordingly, September 18, 1865, I opened up a law office and on the 19th we were married. When my discharge came from the adjutant-general's office a few days later it was also dated on the 19th of September. I was not ready for the practice of the law but what was better I knew of my inadequate preparation. My studies had been broken into by the war. I had had a splendid school in the study of men and officers and per- haps that has been worth more to me than a more thor- ough study of books would have been. But I immediate- ly commenced to make good my shortcomings by steady unintermitting study which I have kept up ever since. I may add that after my exchange and reenlistment in July, 1862, 1 did not lose an hour's time from duty until after the end of the war when I was discharged. My en- tire service was about three years and eight months, my final discharge bearing date September 19, 1865. THE PRACTICE OF LAW I commenced practice with inadequate preparation, as I have already stated, but I only just began to read law when I commenced active practice. From 1865 to 1888, twenty-three years, I worked from twelve to sixteen hours a day at my profession. It was my custom, though, not to abandon my other studies, but to always keep some good book on hand to read in course. If I went to Sig- ourney or Knoxville to try a case I had the book with me which I was then reading and any spare time that I might have on hand coming or going, or while waiting for my turn in court, I spent in study or reading. The number of books that I have thus read is very large. By taking up outside studies in this way a pro- fessional man may broaden the range of his vision and prevent the tendency to narrowness which too close appli- cation to a single profession is apt to occasion. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 417 I studied geology with great pleasure, also took up astronomy and read all kinds of history and literature. It became my custom, as soon as I could afford it, to take a month's vacation every year and travel somewhere, al- ways going to a new place each time, thus visiting every state in the Union and every territory but Alaska.3 I did not travel for my health but by this travel and an- nual relaxation kept my health in spite of the intensity of my professional employment. In 1878 my wife and I took a journey to Europe, visiting England, Scotland, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Switzer- land. In 1884 we again visited Europe and journeyed through Ireland, England, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and Italy, visiting Rome on this journey. In these days of easy travel it will not be necessary to spend any time in describing the familiar scenes through which we traveled. There is no knowledge so easily obtained as that which is absorbed by a wide-awake traveler. The days are long in summer in the high altitude of Europe, and much sight-seeing may be done between sun and sun. We traveled too hard and tried to see too much, as Amer- icans are apt to do. In journal letters written daily to the children at home we gave a faithful chronicle of both these tours of Europe. In those days Mrs. Lacey was a good traveler and kept up with the procession, even though it was a rapid one. In 1869 I was solicited by many of my old comrades to stand for the legislature. I was nominated by a primary election and elected by a large majority and took part in the deliberations of the Thirteenth General Assembly. I served on the judiciary committee and several minor committees. I resolved then to keep out of active personal politics and though taking part in all political contests I refused 3 Major Lacey visited Alaska in 1907. 418 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY to enter in any contest for personal political preferment and devoted my time to my business. In 1870 I wrote and published the Third Iowa Digest, a volume of Iowa law, being a continuation of the pre- vious digests of Judge Dillon and Professor Hammond. In 1875 I published the first volume of Lacey's Railway Digest and in 1884 the second volume. This work in- cluded all cases of railway law in the English language from the time of the invention of railways to the year 1884, including Australian, Canadian, and English cases. The work involved in the preparation of these two large volumes was very great. The work speedily passed into the hands of all practitioners of railway law. My royalty on the volumes was not an adequate compensation for the labor involved, but it was of great value to me in the practice of my profession to have actually examined per- sonally every railway case in the English language, and to have digested the same. I was called into the trial of many railway cases and by employment in that line of work received many very satisfactory fees, thus obtain- ing my reward for the work done. My name was in 1872 brought up in the Republican convention for circuit judge, but I did not actively seek the position and was fortunately not nominated for the position. Going upon the bench would have withdrawn me from the active practice which had now become second nature to me. I tried cases continually in all the courts, state and federal, and for thirty years no Iowa report was published that did not contain one or more of my cases. I have preserved in bound volumes the printed records of my cases in the Supreme Court of Iowa and other courts in which the records are printed, and the record is quite a voluminous one. I was fortunate in the selection of a location for the practice of the law on one account, and that was the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 419 strength of the local har. The best school for a lawyer is the trial of cases among strong lawyers. Philip Myers, of the old firm of Rice, Myers & Rice, quit business soon after I came to the bar, but I learned his office methods by reading law with him when I was on parole in 1862. Judge Wm. H. Seevers, Judge J. A. L. Crookham, Lieu- tenant-Governor John R. Needham, Attorney-General and Congressman M. E. Cutts, Judge and Congressman Wm. Loughridge, Judge J. Kelley Johnson were among the gentlemen whom I was called upon to meet of the older bar, while J. B. Bolton, Judge Ben McCoy, and Liston McMillen were among the younger members. At Knox- ville I had to meet Governor Stone and Judge Ayers ; at Newton, Judge D. Ryan and Judge H. S. Winslow; at Sigourney, Colonel C. H. Mackey, Judge and Congress- man E. S. Sampson, and Geo. D. Woodin. All these men were good lawyers and some of them exceptionally strong. In the United States courts and the Iowa Su- preme Court I met the bar from all over the state. There is scarcely any kind of a case, civil or criminal, that I have not tried. It has been my custom in every case to go to the bottom of it. If it involved an injury to an arm I studied the anatomy of the arm as carefully as any surgeon would have done. If it involved a ques- tion of insanity I obtained and read every work on the subject. In short it has been a pleasure to me, for I loved work, to study every question that might arise in the progress of each case as it came up. I might at any time have availed myself of my special knowledge of railway law by taking employment with one of the great railway corporations and growing up in its business. From a financial point of view I should have done this, but there was always a fascination in the general practice. I liked a multitude of clients. I liked to have them take their turns waiting for me to consider their cases. I shrunk 420 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY from throwing up the independence of a numerous, in- dividual clientage and placing myself where a railway superintendent or board of directors of a single corpora- tion might turn me out to commence life over again. And so it was that I continued to put my nose to the legal grindstone and watched the sparks fly in the practice of Iowa. It is well understood that it is this kind of practice that makes the best lawyers. The attorney whose business compels him to take and study every kind of a case be- comes an all-around lawyer. The specialist may become very skillful in his work but he cannot be a broad lawyer. The best and most successful lawyers in the great cities are those who have first traveled the hard and laborious path of general practice in smaller places where special- izing was impracticable. In 1865 I formed a partnership with my old schoolmate and comrade of the Third Iowa Infantry, Win. E. Shep- herd. The firm was Lacey & Shepherd. Unfortunately for Mr. Shepherd he had had sufficient political influence to secure the appointment of postmaster at Oskaloosa, and though at first it seemed that the salary of the office ($1600) was a considerable addition to the resources of the firm, it soon became a disadvantage, for our business rapidly grew, and Mr. Shepherd was compelled to attend to his affairs in the postoffice and found it difficult to keep up with the rapid growth of the business of the firm. Our partnership was most pleasant and we kept it up till 1873 when Mr. Shepherd emigrated to California, selling out to me, and my brother, Wm. R. Lacey, took his place and the firm became John F. & Wm. R. Lacey. One of the most interesting cases tried by me was that of the State vs. Pleasant Anderson, tried in 1883. Anderson was charged with a most brutal murder and was acquit- ted. His neighbors near Blakesburg, Iowa, took him out AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LA ('MY 42] afterwards and hung him, believing him to be guilty, a belief that I did not share. They placed a noose around his neck and took him in a sled to the scene of the murder and tying the rope to a limb were about to pull the sled out from under him when Anderson called to a little boy to come and pull off his boots so that he might not ' ' die with his boots on. ' ' This incident illustrates the character and coolness of the man, but it did not soften the hearts of the men who had resolved upon his death. Whilst I did not refuse criminal practice I never sought it and it bore a small proportion to my general business. My practice in the various courts in southern Iowa en- larged my acquaintance and led to many suggestions of nomination for office, and especially for Congress. I did not care to have my business broken into by the uncertain- ties and labor of a personal political contest and up to 1888 gave no serious thought to any of these suggestions. I had held the position of city solicitor one term, and al- derman one term, but these places interfered but little with my usual professional life. MY CONGRESSIONAL LIFE 4 My bill for the protection of the lives of miners in the territories was my favorite measure. The gases in the Indian Territory mines were a source of dreadful danger there and I foresaw that unless some proper legislation was had there would be a great slaughter some day in these mines. I got copies of all the mining laws of all * Major Lacey's story of his congressional life is intensely interesting and not only records personal history in connection -with important com- mittee work and the passage of noteworthy bills but includes many anec- dotes of public men that are vastly entertaining. It is unfortunate that the limitations of this volume forbid the printing of the complete manu- script of forty-seven pages but it is to be hoped that in the near future the entire account may be published. The report of one bill is given here. 422 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY the states and territories and also of England and her colonies, and then prepared a short but effective bill for the territories. The bill was delayed in the House, but finally was reported favorably and passed. In the Sen- ate I followed it up and obtained a favorable report and it was placed upon the calendar. I pressed it for action there but could not get it up until the last day of the last session of the Fifty-first Congress. As I had been de- feated for the Fifty-second Congress this day was my last opportunity. It must all be gone over again in an- other Congress. I went to the Senate and it was called up and unanimous consent asked to put it on its passage. John Sherman objected. I went to Mr. Sherman and proposed to explain the bill and he declined to hear me. Said he, "This is the last day of the session and this is too important a bill to go through without discussion by unanimous consent." I conceded the force of his objec- tion but said I could explain the necessity in a moment, but he said he had no time and could not hear me and must insist on his objection. I replied with much feeling and earnestness, "Senator Sherman, the passage of this bill is imperatively necessary. Hundreds of human lives are at stake. If this bill passes it will be of no personal ad- vantage to you, but if it fails on your objection you will not soon hear the last of it. There are many thousand of miners in Ohio. If the bill passes they will recognize that Congress has not neglected their brethren in the ter- ritories. But if the bill fails because of your objection, you will probably soon hear of a fearful slaughter by a gas explosion and everybody will then demand of you to know why you killed this bill. ' ' I struck the senator in the weak point. The rule in the Senate is said to be that "No one cares what happens, so that it does not happen to him," and the senator at once saw what might happen to him, and was also im- AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. LACEY 423 pressed by my earnestness and be promised to examine the bill. He did so and it was called up again. Senator Sher- man arose and said that "This was the same bill that he had objected to, but that he had taken pains to carefully examine it and withdrew all objections and hoped the bill would pass." This statement prevented any further objection and the bill passed. It was then after eleven o'clock and the Congress adjourned sine die at twelve. I hurried back to the House, Mr. Reed put me on the com- mittee on enrolled bills as a temporary additional member to hasten the enrollment of some delayed bills, and I took pains to get this bill in the hands of President Harrison just in time for him to sign it, four minutes before twelve, it being the last bill signed in the Fifty-first Congress. But it was too late for an appropriation in that session and before the next session a great explosion occurred in Indian Territory mines by which sixty-seven men were killed or badly wounded. At the next session President Harrison sent a special message to the Congress asking an immediate appropria- tion to put the law in operation, and it has since been in successful operation without amendment and has proved a great blessing to the miners there. Though many of the miners of Iowa have always a strong tendency to populism and visionary monetary schemes, yet they have treated me with kind consideration because of this bill. Though it is not likely that it gained me any votes among them, it disarmed active hostility and no doubt has been of personal advantage to me. INDEX INDEX Abbot, Judge, 44, 212, 219 Achilles, 242, 258 Acoma, 210 pueblo, 44 ruins, 212, 219 Adair, James, 54 Adamana, 205 Emery mill at, 204 Adams, C. F. Eetort of, 251 John, 129, 277 Death of, 277 John Q., 333 Samuel, 277 Sarah, 78 Adamson, W. C, 152, 153 Adirondacks Forest Reserve, 104 ^Eneas, 301, 307 Affidavit sergeant, 291 Africa, partition proposed, 172 United States flag in, 351 War in, 354 Agathocles, 354 Agriculture, Department of Enlarging powers, 136- 140 Secretary of, 96 Alaska, 417 Elastic boundary of, 317 Poem on, 365, 366 purchase, 134, 326, 332 Yields of, 134 Albert Nyanza, 326 Aldine Club Address at, 160, 167 Dinner, 167 Alexander VI, 316, 329 Bull of, 281, 287 Alexander, E. A., xiii Allnrd buffalo bmd, 114 Allen, A. F. of Ames, xiii Allen, A. F. of Sioux City, xiii Ethan. Monument, 279 J. M., 224, 226 M. C, xiii Allison, Wm. B., 15, 305 Alps, 365 Alsace, 235 America, Discovery of, 329 for Americans, 336 not represented in St. Mark 's, 264, 329 American Archaeological Institute, 210 Forestry Association, 69 Game Protective Association, 407 Monopoly of title, 303 Peace Society, 355 progress westward, 310 Republic, 358 Americans recognize each other, 232 wasteful, 81 Ames, Asa L., xi Ancestors revered, 324 Ancestry not essential to rank, 261 Anderson, L. W., xi Pleasant, 420-421 Anecdote about affair at Duvall 's Bluff, 410 Confederate soldier, 283 counterfeit dollar, 387 Japanese student, 234 Lacey -Weaver campaign, 48, 49 Mark Twain, 75 Niagara Falls, 320 old soldier, 50-51 plush cap, 388 428 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Sherman, 401 soldier at Stony Point, 273-274 Springer, 218 from Punch, 87 Anglo-Saxon, 330 race, 271 Annals of Iowa, 408 Annapolis, 354 Antarctic Continent American flag on, 351 Antelope Illegal shipment of, 137 near Gardiner, 176 Anthracite coal exhausted, 78, 81 Antiquities, Preservation of, 36 Ants battle with centipede, 214 Apostles' Creed, 264, 277 Appalachian forests, 95 Appeal against departmental regula- tion, 185 Appenines, 72 Appomattox, 249, 254, 306 Apprentices' food regulated by law, 82 Arbela, Battle of, 318 Arbitration, 337, 355 Arbor Day, 77, 87, 91 Archaeological Institute, American, 210 Archaeologists, Outing with, 210-219 Archaeology, American School at Athens, 210 Jerusalem, 210 Santa Fe, 210, 211 Rome, 210 Arctium, 284, 318 Arey, M. F., xiii Arizona a resort for invalids, 207 Cliff dwellers ruins in, 222 deserts, 94 Arkansas part of Louisiana, 285, 321 Arminius, Monument to, 248 Army of Observation, 22, 338 Artesian well at Oskaloosa, 285 Aryan race, Origin of, 307 Associated Press, 96 Astronomer, Discoveries of, 265 Atchison, Colonel, 394 Athens Archaeological school at, 210 Message from, 270 powerful, 306 Atlanta, Battle of, 393 campaign, 401 Audubon Society, 31, 42, 164 Augustus, 248, 265, 324 Auk, 82, 89, 106 Austerlitz, Napoleon at, 239-240, 319 Australia, Settlers in, 273 Austria in Holy Alliance, 330 signs Treaty of Verona, 331 Autobiography of Major Lacey, 46, 47, 377-423 Automobile, 352, 359 Ayauway, 324 Ayers, Judge, 419 Aztecs, 314, 325 Civilization of, 329 Baker, Professor, 296 Baldauf, Sam, 346 Baldwin, W. W., xi Ball, Lieutenant C. J., 403 Baltimore, 357 Bamboo, 118 "Bank of the Holy Ghost," 331 Bar Association, State Address before, 3-11 Barn raising, 294 Barrancas, 413 Barrington, E. P., xi Bass, A. J., 54 Bates, C. O., xiii Battery A, 405 Battlefield parks, why created? 247 Battles Arbela, 318 Atlanta, 393 Belmont, 401 Blenheim, 250 1NDKX 429 Blue Mills Landing, 21, 63, 395- 396, 400 Bull Bun, 249, 251, 260 Corinth, 347 Flkin's Ford, xviii, 23, 408 Ft. Blakely, xviii, 23, 413 Gettysburg, 244 Hagar's Woods, 394 < ' Hatchie, ' ' 401 Helena, xviii, 23, 254, 351, 405-406 Jenkins' Ferry, xviii, 22, 23, 407, 408 Foison Springs, xviii, 23, 408 Prairie d'Anne, xviii, 23, 407 Sedan, 318 Shiloh. 234, 247, 24S, 253, 280, 292, 401 Spanish Fort, 413 Terrfenoir (Terre Noir) Creek, xviii, 23, 407 Vicksburg, 401 Battles fought because of omens, 314 Battleships, Cost of, 355 Baylis, Lieutenant, 407 Bean Creek, (See Eito de los Frijoles) Behring Straits, 340 Sea, 366 Belmont, Battle of, 401 Bennett, Lake, 365 Benton, T. H., 360 Bicycle, 359 Big Trees of California, 83, 89, 207 Beaver, 171 Becker, F., xiii Bennett, F. A., xiii Billmyer, Representative, 200 Beport of deer propagation, 201 Bills discussed Alaska game, 168 Arizona petrified forests, 7, 9, 203, 206, 207 Cliff Dwellers National Park, 220 Crater Lake, 9 Curtiss Act, 46 Establishing bird breeding grounds, 168 Forest preservation, 7 Forestry, 38, 109 Eomestead, 367, 369 Indian citizenship, 16 I irrigation of arid lands, 104 Lacej bird law, xix, 7, 14, 16, 17, 24, 25, 39, 11 Lacey game law, 38, 39, 60, 109, 136, 164, 168 Leasing public lands, 120-123 Mills, 49 Miner's protection, 421-42:'. Mining, 38 Nationalizing game ami bird laws, 169 of Bights, 318 Railroads in Alaska, 32 Biver and harbor improvements, 357 To protect buffalo, 158 Wichita preserve, 168 Yellowstone National Bark, 7, 9, 24, 25, 60, 168, 190 Yosemite Park, 9 Biloxi, Blants of, 320 Bird conservation law, 7, 14, 16, 17, 24, 25, 39, 41, 194 millinery, 83, 145-164 preservation, 12, 96 Utility and sentiment in, 171 protection, xix, 7, 172, 174 Birds, Columbus watched flight of, 2S0, 314 Flight directed events, 280, 329 Migratory, 41, 175, 178, 179, 180, 181, 185, 195 Beintroduetion of, 141 Unwise introduction prevented, 165 Bison, 15, 17, 400 adapted to arid plains, 155, 164 Allard herd, 114 at Mammoth Hot Springs, 197 Buffalo Jones herd, 156 Corbin's herd, 97. 156, 196 Domestication, 109 east of Mississippi River, 154 emigrate westward, 154 430 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Extermination of, 71, 82, 96, 108, 146, 155, 163, 196 Flathead herd, 97, 156, 196, 197 Fort Pierre herd, 197 Goodnight herd, 97, 156, 197 Habits of, 108, 155 in New Mexico, 157, 158 Yellowstone Park, 96, 156, 158, 196 Zoological Parks, 156 preservation, 96, 158 preserve, 154 Value of, 82 Black, G. D., xiii Blackstone, 402 Black Hills, Settlers in, 102 Blaine, J. G, 347 Blakesburg, 421 Blenheim, Battle of, 250 Bliss, G. R., xiii Bloomfield Republican, 32 Blue Mills Landing Battle of, xvii, 21, 63, 395, 396, 400 Blue Ridge, Soldiers in the, 258 Board of Trade, 362 Boar's Head, 277 Bolton, J. B., 419 Bonaparte (See Napoleon) "Bonnie Blue Flag," 239 Boone and Crockett Club, 60, 61 "Boston men," 303 Boulogne, 319 Bourbon dynasty defeated, 330 Bourrienne, 127 Boutelle, Capt. C. A., 414 Bowdish, J. W., xi Boyd, W. R., xi Boyer, Dr., 291 Barn raising at home of, 294 Josephine, 53, 57 Boyle, 262 Brant, David, 29 Brant protected, 180 Brazil abolishes slavery, 242 becomes republic, 337 Brazos, Landing at, 414 Breakbone fever, 415 Breech-loaders rapid destroyers, 105 Breeding places for wild life, 195- 202 Brewer, L. A., xi Brewster, Doris, xi, 302 Elder William, 302 Eleanor Lacey, xi, 35, 46, 371, 372, 377 James B., xi Mrs. J. B. (See Eleanor Lacey) Bridgman, Laura, 78 British policy to hold territory, 337 in Egypt, 337 in Venezuela, 337 Brookfield, 393, 394, 397, 400 Brooks, Beauty of, 72 Brown, John Captured, 305, 306 Daughter of, 306 J. A., 187 Timothy, 73 Brownsville, 22, 415 Brundusium, 73, 84 Bryan, W. J., 347 Bryant, quoted, 71 Buchanan, Mrs. R. E., xiii Buckner, Gen. S. B., 240, 252 Buell, Gen. D. C, 281, 292 Buffalo (See Bison) Bull of Alexander VI, 281, 287, 316, 329 Bull Run, Battle of, 249, 251, 260 Bunker Hill Monument, 279 Burden, R. F., 405 Burial customs among cliff dwellers, 213 Burlington Gazette, 33 Hawleye, 30 Burns, Robert, 355 Burrell, W. C, xi Burrit, Elihu, 352 Burrows, J. C, 346 Butler, F., 54 INDEX 431 Byers, S. II. M., xi, 11, 29, 53, 56 Poem by, 56, 65 Cadiz, 381, 388 Cairo, 279 Calhoun, J. C, 333 California, 339 Camden, Campaign against, 23 Camp Tuttle, xviii, 404 Campbell, Eichard, 292, 392 Campus at Ames, 369 Canada, 42 exchanged for Guadaloupe, 133 Canada de Cochiti claim, 220 Canal not rival of railroad, 359 Suez, 340, 359 through Nicaragua, 339, 340 Canals of Mars, 359 Cssars, Power of the, 324 Canby, Gen. E. R. S., 22, 411, 412, 413 Cannon, Joe, 96 Anecdote, 144-145 Canton, McKinley at, 325 ' ' Cape of Good Hope, » ' 252, 279 Circumnavigation of, 329 route to India, 340 Cape Horn, 340 "Cape of Storms," 252, 329 Carlotta, 339 Carr, Gen. E. A., 412 Carroll, Charles of Carrolton, 276 Dr. Mitchell, 217 Carter, C. F., xiii Carthage, Sea power of, 261 Castle Garden, 299 Cathedrals of Middle Ages, 288 St. Mark's, 264, 329 St. Paul's, 249 Catholics settle in Maryland, 315 Cattle companies and grazing lands, 119 Cave dwellers, Ruins, 210, 212 Cedar Rapids Gazette, 33 Republican, 271 Cedars, 69, 80 of Lebanon, 84 Celt combines with other nations, 309 Centennial Years, Scries of, 313 < 'entipede hatt les with ants, 21 I Central America, Ruins in, 211 Foreign dominion over, 340 Century, Nineteenth Events of the, 259 Cephalonians, 301 Chalcedony in petrified forest, 209 Champlain Lake, 365 Charles II, Grant of, 128 Charles the Bold at Granson, 250 Cheronea, 248 Chester, Castle at, 380 Chicago, 3 claimed by Connecticut, 305 Exposition, 281 Cost, 282 Iowa exhibit at, 358 History of, 128, 129, 130 Tribune, 88 Chichen Itza ruins, 211 Chickamauga field, 254, 258 Chicken coops taken to war, 314 Chinese, 312 Christian, G. M., xi Churchyards in Maryland, 70, 84 Cincinnati, 389 Citadel important to Romans, 288 Citizenship, Good, 368 City Point, 254 Civil War, 4, 63, 107, 134, 248, 256, 283 Survivors, 260 Woman's share in, 311 Clarington, 381 Clark, Champ, 48, 150 E. H., 270 Geo. Rogers, 129 I. H., xiii Clarke, C. F., xiii G. W., xiii Claxton, Gen., 413 Clay County, 392 Clay, Henry, 362 Clayton vs. Breckenridge Case, 38 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. 339, 340 432 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Cleburne, 274 Cleveland, Grover, 78 Cliff dwellers Burial customs of, 213 Drawings by, 214-216 National Park, 220-223 Eegulations, 220 Eeligious rites of, 213 Ruins of, 210-^19, 220, 221 Climate and weather, 73 affected by forests, 112 Clinton Herald, 27 Cloakroom stories, 48-49 Clubwomen, Work of, 83, 89 Coal deposits, 70 in Mississippi Valley, 287, 320 oil, 70, 82, 89, 95 in Australia, 320 Texas, 106 Wales, 320 miners, Protection of, 25, 421-423 Power of, 320 Coates, Mr., 320 Cobbett, Wm, 245 Cochiti, 210 church, 216 claim, 220 Coddington, Colonel, Will of, 282 Coldwater Elver, 404 Cole, Cyrenus, xi Coleridge, Lord John, 125 S. T., 205 Colfax Springs, 309 College equips students for life, 350 Colonies settled in United States, 281 Spanish, claim independence, 332 Colorado, Cliff-dwellers ruins, 222 Massacre in, 163 part of Louisiana, 321 Columbia Eiver, Lewis & Clark, Ex- pedition to, 324 Columbus, 69, 329, 353 at San Salvador, 301 Descendants of, 262 Expenditures for voyages, 287 Voyages of, 281-282 Columbus, Ky., 404 Comet, Halley's, 352 Commandments, Ten, 256, 264, 277 Committees, Lacey's work on elections, 38 enrolled bills, 423 Indian, 46 interstate and foreign commerce, 136 invalid pensions, 48 public lands, 99, 110, 120, 160, 220 Common Place Book, 47 Communal ruins, 212, 222 Como, 365 Company C, xviii, 408, 409 D, xvii, 63, 403 F, 53 H, xvii, 21, 63, 392, 394 Comstock, Capt. A. J., 405 Conard, H. S., xiii Conaway, Freeman, 37 Concord, Sage of, 342 Confederacy, Collapse of, 414 High mark of, 250 Confederate forces, 238, 369 fought for respective states, 274 Patriotism of, 274 Confederate soldier, Anecdote of, 283 Congressional action and the market, 363 campaign against Gen. Weaver, xix, 5, 6, 48, 49, 347 speculators, 361, 362, 363 Conkling, Eoscoe, 125 Connecticut boundary, 130 claims, 305 laws, 82 Connor, Thomas, 236 Conservation of national resources, Committee, 187 Constantine, Arch of, 283 Constantinople, Capture of, 265, 325 Constitution of United States, 132, 133, 288 Slavery not mentioned in, 288 Consuls, Eoman, followed omens, 314 INDEX 433 Contents, Table of, vii-ix Continental army, Monroe in, 333 Cook County, 111., claimed by Wis- consin, 131 Cook's tourists, 352 Cooper, Albert, 54, 351 Corbett, 269 Corbin 's herd of bison, 97, 156, 196 Corinth, 347 Corinto seized by English, 336 Coroebus, 270 Cortina, 415 Cotton Plant, Ark., 405 Corey, Hiram, 292 Cork, 301, Earl of, 262 Cortez, 354 Cosmo de Medici, Statue of, 346 Cosmopolitan Magazine, 361 Costa Eica, 340 "Cotter's Saturday Night," 355 Council Bluffs Nonpareil, 28 County fair, First in Oskaloosa, 343 Cowan, W. E., xi Creasy, 301 Creed, 256 Apostles', 264, 277 Crittenden, T. T., 35 Crinoids, Anecdote about, 218 Croesus, 355 Cromwell's troops disbanded, 243 Crookham, Judge J. A. L., 419 Crossley, Lieutenant, 394 V. C, xiii Crowell's school, 391 Crozier, M. W., 54 Cruzen, B., 54 Cuba, Spanish power in, 337 Travels in, xix War in, 258 Culley, F., xiii Cummings, Amos, 150 Cummins, Gov. A. B., 25 Curry, Eobert, 266, 343 Curtis, S. E., 393 Cutts, M. E., 5, 419 Cuvirr, Baron George, 269 Cyclone Dcstructiveness of, 269 Dalles View of Mt. Hood from, 160, 161 Damascus blade, 268, 278 Darnell, Sumner, 292 Daubigne, 385 Daughters of the Eevolution, 262 l>;i\is, Dan, 62 Eleanor, 378 Evan, 378 Jefferson, 236 Mary, 378 Dawson, A. F., xi De Armond, D. A., 229 De Lacey, 380 De Soto, Ferdinand, 315 De Tonty, Henry, 315 Dean, Henry Clay, 346 Decisive landings of the world, 301 Declaration of Independence, 264, 318 Signers of, 277 Decoration Day, 262 Dedication, iv Deer along Long Island Sound, 200 in Connecticut, 200 Massachusetts, 200 Pajarito, 213 Vermont, 200 Shipment of, 137 Delaware, 357 Militia, 379 Delhi, 162 Delphi, Oracle of, 266 Priestess of, 325 Demetrius Phalerins Greeks of, 283, 306, 367 Demost'ienes, Philippics of, 304 I >ea Moines Capitol, 31 Eiver, 343 Devitt, J. A., xi, 3, 61 434 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Dewey, G. F., 254, 259 Dido, 307 Diet at Worms, 385 Dillon, Judge John F., 20, 418 Diplomatists, English, 339 Disarmament conference, 259 Dissete, Miss, 215 "Dixie," 238, 239, 267, 399 sung in Congress, 284 Dodge, G. M., xi Dodo, 82, 89, 106 Dolliver, J. J., 383 J. P., 383 Dora Pedro, 337 Dominion Day Celebration, 268 Donnell, John, 20 Douglas Guards, 347 Douglas, Stephen A., 393 Dove incident, 55 protected, 180 Dover records, 379 Downs, O. N., 62 ' ' Doxology ' ' sung by Congress, 284 Drake, G. W., 390 Mary, 284 Drinkle, Beulah, 53 Dubuque Times, 28 Duck anecdote, 106 Labrador, 408 Ducks protected, 180 Duncan, Major, 407 Dunne, Edward F., 130 Duvall's Bluff, 410 Eastman, E. W., 344, 345 Eaton, Howard, 196 Eddyville, 392 Edison, Thomas, 269, 278 Inventions of, 325 Editorial Association, Southeastern Iowa. Address, 125 Edmundson, J. D., 346, 348 Win., 266 Education in U. S., 285 Egret plumes, 146-147, 164 Egypt, British in, 337 Eisteddfod at Oskaloosa, 378 Eldon, Address at, 328 Eliot, George, 242 Elizabeth, Queen, 285 Income, 282, 368 Elk, 114 in Olympic Forest Reserve, 200 Eeserve, 44 Elkin's Ford, Battle at, xvii, 23, 408 Elliot, Settlement at, 312 Elm, Tracy, 36 Emerson, E. W., 342 Emery substitute made from petri- fied trees, 203, 208 Emigration, 131 Westward, Eate of, 299 Emmetsburg, Address at, 287 England and Holy Alliance, 330, 331 endorses Monroe doctrine, 336 mistress of seas, 318 violates Monroe Doctrine, 336 Engle, Nancy, 385 English, The, as colonizers, 330 English Sparrow, 49, 396 Importation forbidden, 142 Introduction, 137, 142 English, Thomas, quoted, 83 Entail in Europe, 131 Ephesus, Temple of, 80 "Era of good feeling," 332 Erwin, A. T., xiii Eternal City, 369 Euphrates, 327 Evangeline, Quotation from, 319 Evans, Capt. Joe, 291 Capt. Eobley D., 284 Eve, 290 Eveland, Frank, 293 Henry, 295 Lewis, 293 Address at, 290-300 Origin of name, 290 Events in Major Lacey's life, xvii- xix Ewers, A. F., xiii Exploration, French, 315 IXDKX 435 Eye Tooth lot, 343 Ezekiel, Quotation from, 233 Fairfield Ledger, 29 Fallow land, 74, 85, 90, 123 Farmers interested in bird preserva- tion, 165 Field and Stream, Reprint from, 178- 180 Field parks, why created, 247 Fields, E. A., xiii Fifteen decisive battles, 301 Fish in Hudson Bay, 107 "inconnu, " 107 "unknown," 107 Fish-wheels' destructive work, 161 Fitch, C. L., xiii Fitchpatrick, J. A., xiii Flag, American, 318 English, 351 French, 318, 351 fund, 54 German, 351 on High Seas, 284 Spanish, 318, 351 Flathead Indians, 97, 197 their herd of bison, 97, 156, 196, 197 Fletcher, Admiral F. F., 346 Flickinger, R. E., xiii Flood of 1847, 382 1852, 382, 384 Florence, 346 Florida bought by TJ. S., 332, 333 Cost of, 326 owned by Spain, 317 Transfer of, 316 Flower, Gov. R. P., 237 Flying fox Importation forbidden, 142 Flying machine, 352 Flying squirrel, 213 Forest affected by rainfall, 73, 74 as source of revenue, 115 as source of water supply, Ins Cemetery, 53, 372 Congress, 92 destruction Asia Minor, 83 Atlantic Coast, 72, 89 Prance, 95 Italy, 83 Maryland, 70 Pacific Coast, 71, 72, 39 fires, 102 in California, 89 New York, 104 Oregon, 89 Washington, 89 preservation, 16, 88 rangers, 191 reserves, 24, 25, 42, 65, 76, 85, 90, 99, 103, 109, 134 breeding places for wild life, 198 management transferred, 92, 93, 103 permanent, 191 Utility of, 80 Foresters, 94, 103 Forestry Address, 78-87 Bureau of, 113 Department of, 93 in Europe, 86 France, 104, 105, 201 Germany, 104, 201 Iowa, 93 Spain, 104 Movement, 86 Forrest, General N. B., 404, 411 Ft. Blakely, 23, 412, 413 Ft. Curtis, 406 Ft. Morgan, 413 Ft. Pierre Buffalo herd, 197 Foster, Major B. B., 409 Sidney, 323 Thomas D., xi Fountain at Oskaloosa, 348 Fourth of July Celebration, 267, 268 436 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Fox Indian names, 267 Fox's Boole of Martyrs, 385 France Army of, 235 ceded land to Spain, 316 Crops of, 285, 322 regained territory in America, 316 signed treaty of Verona, 331 withdrew from Mexico, 339 Franklin, 411 Franklin, Benjamin, 109, 129, 133, 213, 276, 277, 353 Frederick the Great presents sword to Washington, 306 Free trade, 49 Fremont, J. C, 400 Journal, 118 Order by, 400 French, 4 claims to U. S., 128 in American Revolution, 330 Pink in Oregon, 143 trappers, 129 Friends, Old, 290 Frink, S. G., xiii Frits 's School, 391 Fruit bat, Importation forbidden, 142 Funeral procession for Major Lacey, 53-54 sermon, 53, 57-59 Gakves, J. H., 148, 226 Game dealer convicted, 194 fowl, 137 "hog,"" 145, 162 killers, 40 law, amendment to, 139-140 State, 139-140 Statement regarding, 175 preserve in forest reserve, 192 protection, 12, 13, 31, 137, 164 refuge in Oklahoma, 170 seized in Chicago market, 173 Shipping, 170, 173 Warden, 138, 139, 143 power given by "Lacey Act," 170 Garden of Eden, 290 Gardiner, Antelope near, 176 Garfield, James A., 130 Garret, Eobert, 270 Gas, Natural, 70 fields, 82, 89, 95, 162 Worship of, 106, 162, 325 Gayoso Hotel, 411 Geese protected, 180 Geneva award, 355 Geneva Lake, 365 Geological survey, 113 George, Lake, 365 George III, 276, 281 Monument, 268, 281 Georgetown, 378, 380 Georgia cedes land to TJ. S., 130 Germany aggregation of little king- doms, 308 Army of, 235 Gettysburg, 253 Battle of, 244 Lincoln's address at, 250 Surrender of, 406 Gibraltar, 258 Gladstone, W. E., 308 Godfrey Benjamin, 292 George, 261, 292-293, 391, 392 of Bouillon, 278 Samuel, 292 Gods, Belief in the, 308, 367 Greek and Roman, 307 Gold in Mississippi Valley, 287 Goldsmith's Roman History, 385 Goodnight herd of bison, 97, 156, 197 Gould, Jay, 226 Government formed, 296 Gow, J. E., xiii Grady, Henry W., 323 Grand Army of the Republic, 53, 54, 57, 232, 237 Badge of, 238 Numbers decreasing, 257 INDEX 437 Grand Canyon, 208 Reserve, 100, 112, 190 Granger, Lieut. Col. Robt. S., 413 Granson, Swiss troops at, 250 "Grant," The voyage of the, 258 Grant, U. S., 22, 234-235, 237, 239, 240, 244, 252, 258, 259, 338, 339, 353, 394 at Appomattox, 413 Shiloh, 281 Death, 240, 252 Descendant of, 262 Soldiers under, 274 Grasses Annual, 120 as food plants, 118 native in the west, 117 Gray, Elisha, 278 Dr. Robert, 323 Grazing lands belonging to the U. S., 134 in Texas, 120 leased, 120 on public lands, 116 Great Britain Ancestry important in, 262 approved Monroe Doctrine, 332 proposed exchange of territory with France, 133 Sea power of, 261 Great Lakes, Shrinking of, 74 Great Slave Lake home of bison, 155 Greece, Sea power of, 261 Greek civilization, 234, 283 Greeks, Citadel of, 288 Combine with other nations, 309 Greeley, W. M., xiii Green, Colonel W. B., 397, 398, 409 Green, Mr., 399 Greene, Wesley, xi Greenwood, 404 Grinnell, G. B., 158 Herald, 33 Grizzly Bear, 38, 171 Grouse, 137, 141 illegally shipped, 137 1 nt roduction of, 137 Guadaloupe, L33 Spring at, 278, 325 Gulliver, 21 1 Gulls, Destruction of, 146 Gunpowder used by Chinese, 312 "Gushers," 106 Habeas Corpus Act, 318 Hagar's Woods, Battle of, 394 Hague tribunal, 355 Hamlet, 241, 355 Hammond, W. C, 20, 418 Hampton, Wade, 274 Hancock, John, 276 Hanna, Mark, 130 Hannibal, 354 his camp at Rome, 369 Harding, W. L., xiii Harlan, E. R., xi James, 15 Harper 's Ferry, 305 Harrington, Dr., 217 Harrington, F. O., xiii Harriott, G. C, 292 Harris, General Tom, 393, 394 S., 292 Harris, Mr., 399 Harrison, Benjamin, 277 Benjamin F. T. Inauguration, 237, 423 Carter, 130 General Benjamin, 272 W. H., 381 Hartman, J. C, xiii • Harvard College, Founding of, 305 Harvest Festival address at Ames, 367-370 Harvest Home Festival address, 342- 349 Hatch, Vice-consul, 336 ' ' Hatchie, "401 Hauser, M. A., xiii Havana Harbor Relics recovered from, 346 438 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Havre Railroad to Paris, 359 Hawkin's division, 413 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 83 Hayden, Ada, xiv Hayne, John C, 127 Haynes, L. J., xiv Hayward, W. J., xiv Head-waters of streams, 74 Hebrews' treatment of land, 123 Helena, Battle of, xviii, 23, 254, 351, 404, 405, 406 Henderson, O. J., xiv Hendershott, H. B., 20 Henderson, Thomas, 342 Hennepin, Louis V., 315 Hercules, 303 Herd, Timothy, 118 Herder, Nomadic, 117 Herrick, E. S., xiv Hewitt, E. L., 44. 210, 211, 217, 221 Hinkle, A. J., 236 Thomas, 236 History of the Confederacy, 238 Hitchcock, E. A., 220 Hoffman, C. V., xi Hoit, Nick, 291 Mehanna, 292 Holbrook, 205 Holbrook, P. K., xiv Holland, Sea power of, 261 Holloway, Mr., 397 Holtman and Baker, 343 Holmes, O. W., quoted, 69, 80 Holy Alliance, 330, 331, 332, 334, 336 City reached by steamship and railway, 278 Land, 355 Sepulchre visited, 278 "Home, Sweet Home," 239 Homestead era, 133 Homestead bill, 367, 369 Homesteaders in Kansas, 119 Homesteads in forest reserves, 99-102 Pastoral, 116 Hooker, Gen. Joseph, 244 Horace, 73, 84 Hornaday, W. T., xi, 12, 41, 155, 156, 163, 181, 395, 398, 403, 407 Hough, Emerson, 39, 42 Houghton, Mr., 186 Houston, Secretary David F., 7, 55 Howard, H. S., xi Hudson River, 327, 365 Headwaters of, 104 Hudson 's Bay, Animals of, 320 Bison near, 156 Boulders of, 309 Fish in, 107 Railway, 107 Hugo, Victor, 337 Huguenots come to America, 315 Hull, A., 391 Hume, David, 402 Humming birds, Sale of skins of, 147 Hymns sung at funeral of Mr. La- cey, 57 Illlinois, 129, 288 bird law, 409 in Civil War, 394 part of N. W. Territory, 133 Immigration, Dangers from, 272 "The Imperialist," 337 ' ' Improvement ' ' and destruction, 168 Incas, Civilization of, 329 "Inconnu" fish, 107 Independence Day address, 276-286 India Portuguese in, 329 Indian Creek, 357 names euphonic, 266, 342 Ocean, 259 Territory, 321 wars, Pension roll of, 225 Indiana, 129 part of N. W. Territory, 133 Indians hold land title, 132 owners of bisons, 154 Religion of, 308 Indies became Spanish, 330 Ingersoll, R. J., 302 Ingham, Harvey, 37 INDEX 439 Innsbruck, Work of women in, 298 Insectivorous birds, 144 protected in Georgia, 143 Interior, Department of, 112 Interstate Commerce Bill protecting game and birds, 141-153 in game, 138, 139, 141 Inventions since Augustan age, 325 Iowa admitted into Union, 312 attitude toward unfortunates, 312 bird law, 409 boundaries, 287-288 built vipon limestone, 285 center of fertility, 287, 288, 370 climate, 309, 311 description of, 382 Digest, xviii, 413 exhibit at Centennial, 358 First settlers in, 309 Generosity of, 270 Geological survey, 384 Growth of, 269 Illiteracy in, 311 Minerals of, 309 Name derived from Indian, 324 National Guard, 53 Infantry Seventh, 401 Eighth, 413 Twenty-second, 401 Thirty-second, 401 Thirty-third, 403, 405, 406, 408, 413 Thirty-fourth, 413 Park & Forestry Association, v members, xiii-xv Eesolutions of, 65 part of Louisiana, 285, 310, 321, 323 Michigan, 323 Missouri, 323 Wisconsin, 323 Eecord of, in Civil War Cavalry, ninth, 401 Infantry Second, 393, 401 Third, 329, 393, 394, 396, 402, Hit, 420 Fifth, 397 School house in, 288 system, 368 soldiers in Civil War, 367 State College founded, 370 Horticultural Society Library, xiv Resolutions, 65 "Iowa" christened, 284 Iowa City Citizen, 27 Eepublican, 29 Ireland demands home-rule, 297 Iron in Mississippi Valley, 287 Irrigation, 86, 90, 92, 104, 134 in Pajarito, 213 interests, 198 of arid lands, 104 Isabella of Spain, 287 sold jewels, 279, 353 Islam, 126 Israel, Army of, 233 Italy, a chaos of principalities, 308 Desolation in, 115 Landing of JEneas in, 301, 307 Iuka, 397 Ivy, 72 Jack and the Beanstalk, 385 Jack the Giant Killer, 385 Jackson, Stonewall, 250, 257, 305 his soldiers, 258 James I, 128 James II, 251 Jamestown, 357 John Smith at, 301 Oaks of, 84 Japanese students Anecdote, 234 Jasper in petrified forest, 209 Jasper County, 307 Settlement of, 312 Jane Jones, 352-354 Jay, John, 129 Jefferson, Thomas, 277, 317 440 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY criticized for Louisiana Purchase, 316 Death of, 277 made many plans, 324 ordered Louisiana Purchase, 285, 310, 333 Jenkin's Ferry, Battle at, xviii, 22, 23, 407, 408 Jerrel, B. O., xi Jerusalem, 355 Archaeological School at, 210 Eailway to, 326 Jimez Mts., 44, 219 Jinghis Khan, 248 Job, Quotation from, 73, 84 Johns, H. A., xiv Johnson, Andrew, 259 I. C, xi Judge, J. K., 419 Professor, 419 Tom, 130 Joliet, Louis, 315 Jones, C. J., 156, 157 Price, 293 Josh Billings, 362 Journalists, Attitude toward game preservation, 176 Juarez, Benito, 338, 414 Judd, Eev. Allen, xiv, 53, 57-59 Juliet, 241 Julius Cassar, 275 landing in Britain, 301 Juneberry, 83 Kalbach, George, xi Helen, 53, 57 Warren, 53, 57 W. H., xi Kansas, best pnrt nearest Iowa, 288 organized regiment, 311 part of Louisiana, 285-321 Kansas City, 400 Kaye, G. F., xiv Keating, W. H., xi, 62 Keats, John, epitaph, 135 Keen, Land commissioner, 210 Keller, Helen, 78 Kellogg, Harriette S., v, xi, xvii, 377 Kennerville, 413 Kenoyer, L. A., xiv Kentucky Giant, 389 Kenworthy, W. S., 347 Keokuk xvii, 21 Ketchikan, 365 Khartoum, 279, 326 King, Ben, 352 ' ' King George 's men, ' ' 303 Kirkstall Abbey, 380 Kirksville, 393 Kirkwood, Samuel J., 15, 346 Kivas, 214 Klan, 215 Knights of Pythias, 54 Knox, Philander C., 110 Knoxville, 416 Knoxville Journal, 29 Kokomo, Gas at, 325 Glass factory at, 266 Koran, 126 Kosciusko, Will of, 282 Kougorok, 365 La Barge Lake, 365 La Rabida Convent, 281 La Salle, Eobert C. de, 315 Lacey, Berenice (See Saywer, Bere- nice Lacey) Eleauor (See Brewster, Mrs.) Eleanor Patten, 63, 377, 379, 380 Eliza Adeline, 384 Isaac, 381, 384, 386 James, xvii, 381, 382, 384, 386, 389, 390, 392, 393, 394, 400, 402 John, 378 Lacey, John F. "Act," xix, 167, 170, 173, 190 Addresses of, v, 65-370 admitted to Bar, xviii, 5, 23, 37, 63, 415 Advocated game protection, 60 aids old soldiers, 50, 51 Ancestry of, 377-381 INDEX 441 approachable, 50 as Adjutant General of Division, xviii, 412 Alderman. 42] Assistant Adjutant General of Division, xviii, 407 bricklayer, 4 captain, 4 citizen, 9 city solicitor, 23, 421 conservator, 7 debater, 27, 32 First Lieutenant, xviii, 22, 405 lawyer, v, xviii, 3, 4, 7, 8, 18, 19, 37, 63, 416, 418-421 Mayor, 4, 37, 63 Member of Congress, xix, 5, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18, 23, 38, 64, 421 Member of Legislature, xviii, 23, 64, 417 President of State Bar Associa- tion, xix, 3 prisoner of war, xvii, 4, 21, 63 private soldier, v, xvii, 4, 21, 22, 63 Sergeant Major, xvii, 22, 403 statesman, v, 19, 33 teacher, xvii, 391 at home, 34, 64 Attitude toward Confederates, 373, began practice of law, xviii, 23, 65, 415 Birthplace, xvii, 19, 37, 63, 377, 381 brevetted Major, xviii, 413 Characterization, 166-167 Congressional life, 421-423 Death, xix, 10, 26-34, 36, 52, 56, 58, 60, 61, 65, 371-372 discharged from army, xvii, 402 Education, xvii, 9, 19, 37, 63, 383, 386, 390 elected to State Legislature, xviii, 417 Enlistment, xvii, 4, 21, 37, 63, 392 Events in his life listed, xvii-xix Funeral, •">:-' ,; 1 his capacity for labor, 8, 9, 10 journey west, 3SS outside studies, 416-417 in army of observation, 33S Law practice, 416-421 learned the alphabet, 3Nf> Letters, 182, 185-186, 189-192 Life in Wheeling, 386, 387 Life on farm, 390-392 Marriage, xviii, 35, 63, 416 Military career, 21-23, 392-416 moved to Oskaloosa, 19 organized information system, 409- 410 paroled as prisoner of war, xvii, 398 Political career, 23-27 Political addresses, 36 prisoner of war, xvii, 396 read law, xvii, 402, 414 Eecreation, 9 Reenlistment, xviii, 403 Relieved of army service, xviii, 415 Religious belief, 64 Travels in Alaska, xix, 9, 47, 417 Cuba and Porto Rico, xix Europe, xviii, xix, 9, 47, 417 Mexico, xix Western U. S., 89 Vacations, 9, 417 Writings, v, xviii, 20, 35, 64, 365, 408, 418 Lacey, John M., Jr., 63, 292, 377, 378, 380, 381, 385, 386, 387, 388, 390, 402 John M., Sr., 379 John S., 389 Marion, xviii, xix, 381 Martha Newell, iv, xii, xviii, xix, 35, 63, 264, 415 Mary, 379, 381, 386 Mary Hurley Clifton, 379 Raymond F., xviii, 380 Robert, 378, 385, 387, 388, 391 442 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Spencer, 378, 379 Manumission papers by, 380 William, 389 Wm. E., xii, 384, 390, 420 Lacey and Shepherd, 420 Lake Albert Nyanza, 279 Bonneville, 271 George, 365 of the Woods, 319 Lakes Drainage of, 74, 85 Iowa, 74 Lamoreux, H. H., xiv Land department and forest reserves, 112, 113 Land-grant Colleges, Bill authoriz- ing, 370 Land grants in aid to railroads, 134 to Connecticut, 128, 129 Massachusetts, 128 New York, 129 Virginia, 128 lying fallow, 74, 85, 90 title held by Indians, 132 Landings, Decisive, 301 Lane, J. R., xii Lannes, Marshal, 304 Law, C. W., xiv Law, John, Speculations of, 316 Lazell, F. J., xii Lead in Mississippi Valley, 287 Learning dispersed in 1453, 265, 325 Leasing rights limited, 120 Lebanon, Cedars of, 84 Lee, John S., 291 Eobert E., 237, 257, 258, 274, 305 Surrender of, 413 Thomas, 291 Lees, J. H., xiv Letter to Col. Shields, 182 Lewis and Clark, 410 Expedition, 117, 324 Lexington, 394, 396, 397 Liberty, 394, 395, 396, 400 Liberty Cap, 419 Torch of, 282 Lichens, 72 Lieu land law, 99 Lilly, Quotation from, 384 Limestone soil, Value of, 321, 322 Lincoln, Abraham, 250, 256, 308, 353, 369, 409 Address at Gettysburg, 250 Descendant of, 262 Example of, 242 Quotation from, 245 Revoked order of Fremont, 400 James Rush, Letter from, 373 Lisbon, Sea power of, 261 "Little Blue", 396 Little Rock, Campaign against, 23, 407-408 Lions, Mountain, 97 Livingston, L. F., 48 R. R., 317, 333 Livingstone, David, 351 Locust Creek, 393 Lofland, Captain John, 403 Loftus, Father, 27 Logan, Virginia K., 53 Gen. J. A., 347 Lombard, Frank, 238, 239 Jules, 238, 239 Lombardy, Irrigating ditches of, 322 Lomond, 365 Longfellow, H. W., quoted, 319 Lookout Mountain, Battle, 244 Field, 254 Lord's Prayer, 264 Lorraine, 235 Lough, Al., 392 Loughridge, Judge Wm., 5, 390, 415, 419 Louisiana, 321 bought from France, 332 ceded to Spain, 316 Purchase, 129, 133, 285, 310, 313- 327, 332 Boundaries, 310 INDEX 44.'] Centennial, 284 Cost, 321, 326 Money for, 319 Soil of, 321 States carved from, 285, 321, 327 Treaty, 315-316, 319 sold to France, 316 taken by French, 315 Louisville, 389 Lucerne, 365 Lummis, C. F., 211, 218 Quimu, 218 Luther, Martin, 385 Luxor, Euins of, 211 Lyell, Sir Charles, 299, 310 McAllister, Chris, 20 Macaulay, T. B., quoted, 243 Macbride, T. H., xii McCall, Ed., xiv McClain, Judge Emlin, 20 McClure, David, 392, 393 Jesse, 293, 392, 393 John, 392 Thomas, 291 William, 392 McCoy, Benjamin, xii, 62, 419 McDermott, J. TL, 187 MacDonald, G. B., xiv John, xiv Macdonnell, Wm, 383 McEldowey, Eobert, 383 McEntee, Mr. 291 McGhee, E. E., xiv Mackey, Col. C. H., 419 McKinley, Wm., 7, 17, 30, 305, 325 McKinstry, General, 403 McLean Act, 182 McMillen, Liston, 62, 419 McMullin, Captain, 347 McNeil, Colonel J. F., xii, 54 McNett, William, 19 McPherrin, J. M., xiv McPherson, General J. B., 234, 281, 393 McPherson, Judge, Smith, 8 Madison, James, 333 Madison Home, 344 Magnetic needle used by Tartars, 312 pole, 73 Mahaska County, 266, 290, 292, 342 Bar Association, 61, 62, 63 Resolutions by, 63, 65 Mahaska, Statute of, 344, 346 Mahon, S, xii Maine, Belies of the, 346, 348 Mair, Charles, 154 Malcolm, J. O., xii, 62 Malta, 258 Mammoth, 105 Mammoth Hot Springs, Buffalo at, 197 Mandan, River voyage to, 324 Manila Bay, 284 Dewey's victory, 254, 258 Manitou Springs, 278 Mankin, Mr., 221 Mansfield, J. M., 33 Manual training avocation of Greeks, 270 Manumission papers, 380 Marathon, 234, 254, 283 Battle of, 280, 367 Marbois, Francois, Marquis de, 317 March to the Sea, 244 "Marching through Georgia". 238 sung in Congress, 284 Mariner's prayer, 262, 275 Mark Twain, Anecdote of, 75, 394 Marks, Mr., 343 Marlborough, Duke of, 250 Marquette, Jacques, 315 Mars, Rays from, 269 Marshall, John, 46 Martin, Billy, 291 Mrs., 344 Martineau, Harriet, 195 Maryland, 354 First settlers in, 315 laws, 82 444 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY makes conditions of federation, 129 "Maryland, My Maryland", 238, 267 sung in Congress, 284 Mason and Dixon's line, 274, 308 Massachusetts claims, 130, 305 Land grant, 128 Plantation, 128 Massacre by Indians, 163 Mastodon, 82, 89 Matamoras, 415 Mayflower, Cost of, 287 Deaths on, 301 immigrants, Descendants of, 302 Landing of, 301 Mayflowers, 301 Maximilian, 337, 339, 414, 415 Mediterranean, a Eoman lake, 324 Mehanna, John W., 392 Mejia, 339, 415 Memorial Day, 256 Confederate, 254 Memphis National Cemetery, 261 Mentone, a resort for invalids, 208 Mershon, W. D., Book by, 184 Letter from, 187-189 Metternich, Prince, 331 Mexican Purchase, 133 Cost of, 326 War gave Texas to U. S., 332 Pension roll of, 225 Soldiers of, 260 Mexico, City of, 314 Civilization destroyed by Spain, 331 Commerce with, 332 Cortez in, 354 Emperor of, 337 Empire of, 338 Gulf of, Animal life of region, 320 Separated from Spain, 334 Travels in, xix Trouble with, 22 Meyers, Philip, 345 Michael Angelo, 346 Michigan claimed by Massachusetts, 130, 305 part of N. W. Territory, 133 yields part of Ohio, 131 Migratory birds, 41 Annual journey of, 175 belong to no one state, 191 Federal protection of, 178-180 Law regarding, 175, 185 Letter about, 185 Protection of, 398 Milliman, J. C, xii Mills bill, 49 Miltiades, 234, 280 Greeks of, 283, 367 Mines of Indian Territory, 423 Minnesota, 287 part of Louisiana, 285, 321 part of N. W. Territory, 133 Miramon, 339, 415 Mission Eidge Field, 254 Mississippi River, 404 boundary of U. S., 130 Discovery of, 128 Scheme, 316 Valley center of power and wealth, 287, 360 Minerals of, 287 Missouri part of Louisiana, 285, 321 Mistinger, Frank, 293 Mobile, Capture of, xviii, 414 Storming of, 240, 403 Mobile Bay, 415 Mohammed, 126 Mohammedan fond of tobacco, 265 Mojaves, 217 Mondell, F. W., 100 Mongoose introduced into Jamaica, 142 Moninger, W. R., xiv Monroe, James, agent in Louisiana Purchase, 285, 310, 317 Biography of, 333 Monroe, Battle of, 394 INDEX 1 15 Capital of Iowa, 310 first cabin in Jasper Co. built at, 310 Monroe Doctrine, 318, 328-341 Congress should endorse, 336 Text of, 334-335 Montana, Action of legislature of, 118 part of Louisiana, 285, 321 Montesquieu, Baron de, Epigram of, 252 Monuments in battle field parks, 247 Monuments, National, 44 Preservation of, 65, 210 Moore, Colonel, 394 J. L., 54 Morbeck, G. C, xiv Morgan, E. G., 53, 57 John, 382, 388 Morris, Joe, 295 Morrison, T. N., xiv Mosaics at St. Marks, 264 Mosquito Coast, 340 Moss, 72 Mothers determine standard, 298 Mt. Ararat, 301 Mt. McGregor, 240, 252 Mt. Hood, 89, 161 Mt. MeKinley, 366 Mt. Eanier National Park, 207 Mt. St. Elias, 366 Mt. Sinai, 258 Mountain lions destroy buffalo, 197 Mountains denuded of forests, 86 Mueller, H. A., xiv Mulberries, Eussian, for birds, 149 Mulligan, General, 397, 398 Mulligan's Men, 398, 399 Mummies made into paints and fer- tilizers, 204 Myers, Philip, 419 Nagelstad, O. T., xiv Napoleon, 127, 317 at Austelritz, 239, 240 Elba, 244 Waterloo, 248 defeated by Russia, 259 Diplomacy of, 318 Empire of, 330 in Russia, 244 sold Louisiana, 285, 319, 332 War chest of, ::l!) "Napoleon the Little", 337 Narragansett Bay, 1-^ River, 128 "Narrows", The, 312, 343 Nash. F. T., 62 National Commission for the Protec tion of Migratory Birds, "> Geographic Society, 69 Monuments, 65, 210 Reserves as propagating grounds, 198 Nations, Character of builders of, 311 "Natural Bridge" in Petrified For- est, 205 Natural Gas, 70, 106, 162, 165 Nauvoo, Mormon Temple at, 390 Navigation interests, 198 Nebraska, Boundaries of, 288 part of Louisiana, 285, 321 Neill, Colonel, 37S Needham, Lieut.-Gov. J. A. L., 419 Negroes, Exodus of, 404 Neptune, Prayer to, 262 Nevada, 73 Neutrality, French and English idea of, 338-339 New England anti-slavery crusade. 305 Influence of. 306 New Forest created by Normans, 195 New Jersey, 354 New Martinsville, xvii. 19, 37, ::77, 382, 383, 384, 388 New Mexico, Deserts of, 94 Dr. Lummis's description of, 211 Legislature appropriates money for museum, 211 446 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY New Orleans, 310 Change of ownership, 318 Purchase of, 317, 333 ' ' New Purchase ' ' opened, 342 New York, 354 cedes land to U. S., 130 New York City, 357 New York Zoological Garden, xi Society, 15 Newcomerstown, 379 Newell, Martha (See Lacey, Martha Newell) Newman, Cardinal, 78 Newton, 49 Newton, Bar of, 419 Niagara Falls, 89 Anecdote about, 320 Nicaraugua, 340 Canal through, 339, 340 Port seized by English, 336, 337 Nice, a resort for invalids, 208 Nichols, A. S., 266, 343 Niger, 326 Nile, Eiver, 284, 327 Source, 326 Nineveh, 135 Noah, 301 Noe, J. B., 344 Noe's Ark, 344 Nome, xix, 302 Norfolk, 357, 378 Normans, created New Forest, 195 North America became Anglo-Saxon, 330 North Carolina and forestry, 115 North Dakota part of Louisiana, 285, 321 Northmen, Discovery of, 279 Northwest saved, 129 Northwest territory, 133 boundaries, 132 claimed by Virginia, 305 Nunivak, 366 Oaks, Virginia, 84 Ohio, 73, 129 part of N. W. Territory, 133 Oklahoma, 15, 171 part of Louisiana, 285, 321 "Old Guard", 25, 30 Old Guard of Napoleon, 248 Old Settlers' Eeunion, 348 Old World Nations First settlements unknown, 309 Nobility of, 304 Origin of, 303 Olympic forest reserve, 200 elk reserve, 210 Elk saved from destruction, 200 Games, 270, 325 Range, 44 Onyx in petrified forest, 209 Opals in petrified forest, 209 Oppenheimer, A., xii Ordinance of 1785, 131, 133 1787, 132, 134 Oregon, 136, 339 claimed by U. S., 133 grain, 123 Orr, Ellison, xiv Osceola, 342 Oskaloosa, v, xvii, 3, 23, 266, 342, 382, 390, 403 City park, 342 Dedication of, 348 College, 343 Daily Herald, xii, 21, 24, 26, 33 House, 344 named for Indian princess, 342 Times, 28 Ottumwa Courier, 32 Oxford, 350 Pacific Railroad bill, 367 and bison, 154 Padua, Statues of, 345 Paestum, 271 Pajarito, 210-219, 221, 222, 223 Canyon, 221 region, 44, 222 National Park, 221 INDKX 117 Palenquie ruins, 211 Palestine, Desolation of, 1 1 5 Palmer, E. L., xiv Capt. Fred, 347 Dr. T. S., 181 Palmyra, 135 Pammel, L. H., v. xii, 36-47 Paradise named by Adam, 290 Paris, Railroad to Havre, 359 Parrots, Flight determines Colum- bus's course, 280 Indian, Sale of, 147 Partridge hunting illegal in Mich- igan, 188 Pasturing on forest reserves, 86, 101 Paton, J. M., 217 Patriotism a common ground, 264 Patten, Eleanor, 379 H. B., 379 Isaac, 377, 378, 379 Manumission papers by, 380 Rachel, 378 William, 377, 378 Patten's Mill, 379 ' ' Pauper legislation ' ', 225 Payne & Sons, xiv Pearson, R. A., xiv Peasants, French, 75 Pella, 357 Pellett, F. C, xiv Penn, William, 46, 128, 351 his colony, 354 College, xix, 46, 350 Colors of, 350 Day, 350, 356 Pennsylvania, 354 boundary line, 130 First settlers in, 315 issue with Connecticut, 130 Pension office, Administration, 226, 227, 228 roll, 226, 368 Pensions for disability, 228, 229 Revolutionary soldiers, 224 Boldiera in Mexican War, 230, 231 soldiers in War of L812, 225 Boldiers' widows. 231 eh on, 224 231 Pericles, Days of, 306 Perkins, Ebenezer, 342 G. D., ::2 Peru, its civilization destroyed, 33] Peters, E. ('.. xiv Petersburgh, Evacuation of, 240 Grant's course at, 237, 240 Petrified forests, 7. 37, I I U 203, 207, 209, 210 Emery from, 203 National Park, 207 Origin of, 204, 208 Vandalism in, 203 "Petrified religion", 205 Pheasant, Chinese, 136 Phil Kearney Post, 54 Philadelphia, 357, 358 Exposition in, 358 Philip, James, 197 of Spain, 368 "Scotty", 197 Philippine Commission, 115 Islands, 259 Cost of, 326 Forestry in, 115 Philipps, Wendell, 304 Phillips, Mrs.. 287, 344 O. C. G., 62 T. G., 266, 344 Phonograph, 269 Photography, Advance in, 352 Pickett, General, 244 Pig-sticker, 71 Pigeon, Passenger, 1S4, 1S9 protected, 180 roost, 176 Wild, 17, 96, 106, 141, 11 7 Disappearance of, 195 Pilgrim day, 301 fathers, 301 448 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Pilgrims, Lauding of, 301, 305 Pimlieo, 337 Pinchot, Gifford, 93, 94, 96, 1S7 Pinnock, 385 Pioneers in Iowa, 323 Hardships of, 293 not -weaklings, 304 Pitt, William, Death of, 319 Placer mining law, 102 Plantain in New Zealand, 143 Plato, 266 Plover protected, 180 Plutarch, 266 Plymouth Bock, Landing at, 210, 301 Poison Springs, Battle at, xviii, 23, 408 Political dead heads, 241 Pope, General John, 394 Port Arthur, Defenders of, 301 Port Hudson, Victory at, 254 Porter, Pearle, 53 Porto Rico, xix, 326 Portugal, 287, 316 shared in South America, 331 to improve condition of people, 334 Portugeese, 281, 329 Pot hunter, Destructive work of, 137, 138, 169 Bill against, 146 Photographed, 162 Potomac, 327 Powell, James, 32 Powers, Hiram, 389 Greek slave of, 389 "Hell" by, 389 Prairie chickens, 137 illegally shipped, 137, 170 in Iowa, 144 migratory birds, 181 protected, 182 City, Address at, 307, 312 Settlement of, 312 Schooner, 300 Prairie d' Anne, Battle of, xviii, 23, 407 "Prayer meal", receptacle for, 215 Prentiss, General B., 406 Prescott, Harriet, 78 President of U. S., Power in regard to forest reserves, 110, 111 Preston, Judge B. W., xii, 62 Price, General Sterling, 396, 398, 405, 407, 410 Printing employed by Chinese, 312 Prize shooting, 148 Proctor, Eedfield, 200 ' ' Progressive movement ' ', 25 Prouty, S. F., 25 Prussia in Holy Alliance, 330 signs Treaty of Verona, 331 Public domain, 125-135 Lands Committee, 7 school in Greece, 270 Pueblo Indians, 215 Punch, Anecdote from, 87 Puritans, 315 Putnam, H. S., xii Puye, 212 Canyon, 213 Quail, Illegal shipment, 137 in Iowa, 144 Quakers in America, 315 Queretaro, 339, 415 Quincy, 400 Quiucy, Josiah, Anecdote of, 262 Quiriga, Ruins, 211 Babbits in Australia, 142, 143 Race dominance, 297 Rail protected, 180 Railway Digest, 20, 64 Lacey's, 20, 64, 418 Railways of the future, 326 Rain and forests, 85, 89 Rainmaker, 84 Ramon Vigil Grant, 221 Ranges over-stocked, 119 Rankin, E. N., xii Rats arboreal in Jamaica, 142 Ray, W. G., xii, 33 Raynal, Abbe, 354 IXDKX 449 Rebel Army, Roster of, 409 Rebellion, War of, See Civil War Reclamation from Nature British Isles, 72 Europe, 72 Italy, 72 Recreation, Excerpt from, 166-167 Red Sea, 259 Reed, Thomas B., 275, 42:; Reeve, Moses, 292 Reeves, Elmer, xiv Register and Leader, 37 Reign of Terror, 272 Religious freedom sought by settlers, 315 Remus, 307 Resolutions upon death of Major Lacey, 60-65 Resources, National, 69, 89 Revolution, American, Influence of, 299 Laceys in, 378, 379 Revolutionary War England learned lesson by, 330 Reynolds, S. V., xii, 62 Rice, James A., 63, 342 Samuel A., xviii, 4, 21, 22, 35, 37, 63, 402, 403, 405, 406, 409 Death of, 407 Life of, 408 Rice, Meyers & Rice, 63, 403, 419 Richard the Lion Hearted, 278 Richards, W. A., 100 Richmond, Fall of, 22 Richmond, Mo., 398 Rickey, Mrs. A. B., xii Riley, James Whitcomb, 83, 94 Rio Grande, Army of, 22 Riots of 1893, 244 Ritchie, Leitch, 358 Rito de los Frijoles, 211, 212 Canon, 214 River and harbor improvements, 357-360 Roar, Ben, 397, 39S Robb, M. A., 391 Robinson, J. M., 148 J. T., 398 Yankee, 3 18 Robinson 's < lircus, 3 I B Bodey, B. S., 210 Roman Lake, 324 Roman legion, Influence of, 245 Rome Archaeological School, 210 Downfall of, 265 ignorant or learned, 245 Sea power of, 261 Rominger, Ellsworth, 32 Romulus, 303, 307 Roosevelt, Theodore, 7, 38, LOO, 347 Annual Message, 199 Career of, 305 had confidence in Major Lacey, 7, 24, 43, 183 Letter from, 24, 183, 184 Rose Hill, Army Tost, 236 Rosecrans, Gen. W. S., 410 Rosenberger, Absalom, 354 Roses, red and white, Union, 2-1 8 Ross, Elmer, xiv Rowe, Lena, v Rowe, Professor, 391 Russia abolished slavery, 242 defeated Napoleon, 259 in Holy Alliance, 330 signed Treaty of Verona, 331 sold Alaska, 134, 332 Russian thistle in Dnkotas, 14.". Ryan, Judge D., 419 Sac City Sun, 24 Sac names, 267 Sackville-West affair, 49 St. Helena, Napoleon at, 319 St. Louis, 404 Lewis & Clark return to, .121 Message from Athens to. '■'•-'> Valuation of, 321 St. Mark, 264 St. Mark's Cathedral. 264, 329 St. Paul, 162 St. Paul's Cathedral, 249 Salamis, 284 450 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Salmon destroyed on Pacific coast, 107, 161 in Connecticut, 82, 161 Salomon, Colonel C. E., 409 Sampson, E. S., 419 Samuels, B. M., 346 San Francisco forest reserve, 112 San Ildefonso, 210, 213 Treaty of, 316 San Joaquin Valley, Elk in, 114 San Salvador, 301 Columbus landed upon, 314 Santa Clara, 210 Santa Fe 210 Archaeological school, 210 Pounding of, 210 Palace of the Governors, 211 "Santa Maria" The, 353 Santiago, 284 Victory at, 25S Saracen's Head, 277 Sargent, A. H., xii Sawyer, Berenice Lacey, v, xii, xviii, xix, 35, 46, 367, 371, 377 Sawyer, Carroll, xii, 371 Sayers, Mr., 227, 230 Schavoir, Dr. P., 187 Schee, G. W., xii Scipio, 354 Scotchmen virile, 302 Scotland asks for home rule, 297 Scott, Colonel John, 21, 394, 401 Lieut., 400 Searle, Capt. C. E., 411 Secession, Eesult of success, 235 Sedan, Battle of. 318 Seevers, G. W., xii, 61, 63, 344 Poem by, 345 Judge W. H., 5, 266, 419 Seine, 327 Seminole names, 267 Seneca, 326 Sermon on the Mount, 256, 264, 277 Service berry, 71, 83, 111 Seton-Thompson, Ernest, 146 Settlers in reserves, 101 Old, Meeting of, 307 1776, Patriots of, 260 Seward, W. H., 134, 326 Shackleford, Dorsey, 149 Shad, Migratory, 192 Shakespeare, Wm., 79, 80, 312 quoted, 80, 249 Shangle, L. T., 62 Shannon, J. A., 53 Shaw, Wm., 54 Shelbina, 394 Shelby, Gen, 408, 409 Shepherd, W. E., xviii, 63, 64, 392, 393, 420 ' ' Sheridan ' ', Voyage of the, 259 Sheridan, General Philip, 4, 22, 244 Sheriff, H. H., xii, 62 ' ' Sherman ' ', Voyage of the, 259 Sherman, John, 422, 423 J. S., 136 W. T., 237, 244, 401 Soldiers under, 274 Sherman-Johnston Truce, 414 Sherman Law, 363 Shields, G. O., xii, 16, 181, 182, 187, 193 Shields' Magazine, Article from, 203-206 Shiloh, Address, 46 Battle of, 234, 280, 292, 348, 401 Fiftieth anniversary of, 247 Park, 253 Shimek, B., xii Shiras, George 3rd, 178, 191 ' ' Shouldered his axe, ' ' Origin of, 345 Shull, H. W., xiv Sidon, Sea power of, 261 Sieyes, Count E. J., 272 Sigourney, Bar of, 416 Silver in Mississippi Valley, 287 "Side hunt," 162 Simpson, Bishop, 381 Sioux City, 3 Journal, 32 Skagway, 365 Skunk River, 343 1NDKX 451 Slavery in Brazil, 282 Kussia, 282 United States, 236, 282 not mentioned in Constitution, 288 tolerated in Ohio, 383 Slaves' food regulated by law, 82 Importation into U. S., 288 Smith, Alexander, quoted, 69, 80 Gen. A. J., 410, 411, 414 Charles Emery, 358 C. F., 350 Gen. E. Kirby, 414 Hoke, 226 John, 84, 301 W. I., xii W. T., 348 Snipe protected, 180 Snows, Conservation of, 102 Soil-making, 322 Soils of Iowa exhibited, 358 Soldier, Young, 244 Soldiers, Characteristics of, 240 Correspondence of, 246 Decorating graves of, 260 mustered out, 243 Keunions of, 347 Song birds protected, 13, 194 Sons of Veterans, 242, 262 Soothsayers augur from night of birds, 280 Sopor, C. M., xiv South America, 344 Commerce with, 332 divided between Spain and Portu- gal, 331 settled by Spanish, 314, 330 South Carolina settled, 315 South Dakota part of Louisiana, 285, 321 South Spring Mills, 302 Spain, 281, 287, 316 destroyed civilization in New World, 331 in possession of Florida, 317 losing power in Cuba, 337 sold Florida, 326, 332 To improve condition of people, 334 Spanish colonics independent, 332 Spanish Fort, rviii, U3 in America, 329 goldseeker, 129 law on metals, I .". 1 Needle, 382 Republics recognized, 336 War, 260, 284, :;<)<> Sparrow, English, 19, 137, 165, Spartanville, 350 Spencer, A. 1'., xii H. L., xii Sportsman a friend of birds, 14f> Sportsmen, American League of, 37, 141, 166, L93, 407 Address before. 166 Gift of, 38 Object of, 193 "Spring shooting" prevented, 179 Springer, Frank, 218 Springs, Conservation of, 102 Spurling, Col. A. B., 413 Spurrell, J. A., xiv Standing army source of danger, 273 Stanley, Henry, .".HI Wilson, .".4:; Stanton, Edwin M., 381 E. W., xiv Star of empire moves westward, 327 "Star Spangled Banner," 239, 267 Sung in Congress, 284 Starling, Importation forbidden, 142 Starr, Frederick, 216 Stars and Stripes, 318 State vs. Pleasant Anderson, 420 States' rights in forest reserves, 110, 111 protected by game law, 137, 138, 139 Steel rails test of national achieve ment, 268 Steele. General Frederick, xviii, 4. 21, 22, 23. 35, 338, 339, 407, 408, 4(19. 410, tli', 413, HI. 415 452 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY Stephens, E. F., xiv Stephens, F. C, xv Sterling, Earl of, 128 Stern, A., xii Stiles, E. H., xii, 19 Stock Exchanges, 361-364 gambler, 362 Stone, Gov. George M., 401, 419 Stony Point, Anecdote of soldier at, 273-274 Stuart's Iowa Colonels and Regi- ments, 21 Suez Canal, 258, 340 Summers, H. E., xv Sumter, 392 "Sunfish", 381 Superior, Lake, Wealth of, 129 Superstition of Indians, 216 Sunflower State, 288 Supreme Court of Iowa, Decision of, 20 "Swallow", 388 Swalm, A. W., xii Letter from, 371, 372 Mrs. A. W., xii Swans protected, 180 Swiss troops at Granson, 250 Syracuse, 354 Tafp, Paul, xv Taft, Wm. H., 7, 347 Tallahatchie River, 404 Talleyrand, 317 Tanana, 366 Taney, R. B., 46 Tanner, Corporal, 260 Message to, 261 Taos pueblo, 44, 219 Tartars used magnetic needle, 312 Tasmania, Settlers in, 273 Taylor, Gen. Dick, Confederate forces under, 338 Rose S., xv Telephone, Use of, 265 Temple center of Grecian city, 2S8 Tennyson, Quotation from, 73, 84, 267, 296 Terraces built, 86 Terrapin, use restricted, 82, 161 Terre Noir Creek, Battle of, xix, 23, 407 Terrefenoir Creek (See Terre Noir Creel) Territorial acquisitions, Cost of, 326 Teuton combines with other nations, 309 Tewa Indians, 212 Spectacle presented by, 217-218 Texas, acquired by U. S., 332 Emigration to, 382 Oil in, 106 U. S. army in, 338 Thames, 327 ' ' The Narrows ' ', 266 Thermopylae, Heroes at, 253 Thistle a pest in Canada, 142, 143 Thomas, Gen., Soldiers under, 274 H. G., 200 "Thomas Swann", 389 Thompson, L. O., xv Tiber, 327 Tigris, 327 Timber policy, 75 Timothy, 118 Tipperary, 301 Toledo blades, Construction of, 278, 2S3 Town meeting, 306 Townsend, Capt., 407 Tracy Elm, 36 Trafalgar, 284 Trappers, Destructive work of, 143 Treaty of 1803, 318 Tredick, Henry, 344 Tree farming, 111 maxims, 87 Trees, Oskaloosa, 344, 345 Trenton, Federal Court at, 130 Trout stream preserved, 18S Truax, E. R., xv True, G. C, 61, 62 Trueblood, B. F., 355 Trumbull, Captain, 395, 401 INDUX 4."):; Tschrege, 212 Canyon, 213 Turkey, Wild, 108, 213 Turkish claim of land near Joppa, 132 Turks captured Constantinople, 265 Tweed River, 235 "Tyler", 406 Tyler County, 382 Tyre, Sea power of, 261 Tyrolese Alps, 298 UNITED STATES, Cost of Govern- ment, 368 Department of Agriculture, 41, 42, 86 Department of Interior, 42 Fish Commission, 188 Not visited by Columbus, 314 Uruguay Railroad, 320 Usonians, 303 Utica, 393 Uxmal, Ruins, 211 Valley Forge, Veterans of, 282 Van Delashmutt, Mr., 291 Velocipede, 359 Venezuela oppressed by England, 336, 337 Venice, 329 A'er Ploeg, C, 62 Veragra, Duke of, 262 Verona, Treaty of, 331 Veteran reunion, Address, 232 Veterans, number decreasing, 234 Vicksburg, 407 Siege of, 238, 250, 254, 401, 404 Surrender, 406 Villages near Mississippi River, 3S8 Vinton Eagle, 28 Virginia, 94, 354 Claims of, 305 land grant, 128 Monroe governor of, 333 Voltaire, 116 Von Tungeln, G. H., xv Wadswobth, J. W., 185 Waite, .1. I... 30 Wall's seeks home ru]<\ L*i<7 Walker, .1. B., 361 Walker Museum contains cast of Pajarito lions, 216 Wall Street, 363 Walling, C. S., xii Walnut trees, 7."> Walrus, Destruction of, 169 War of L812, Pension roll, 225 Soldiers of, 260 Ward, Artcnius, lL'o Warren, General, Death of, 279 John II., 392, 393 Washington (D. C), Return of Lewis & Clark to, 324 Washington, George, not a humor- ist, 284 Sword of, 306 Lewis, 306 Washington Territory, 339 claimed by U. S., 13:: Water sources protected, 198 supply affected by forests, 86 Waterloo, 247 Battle of, 318 Watrous Nursery Co., xv Wayne, Anthony, 27 3 Wealth produced by labor, 29S Weather and climate, 73 Weaver, J. B., xix, 5, 6, 48, 19, 347 Webster, Daniel, 127 Weekly, Mr., 293 Weeks, John W., 185 Weeks Bill, 180 Weeks-McLean Law, 41 Weitzel, (ion. Godfrey, -112 Welborn, Judge, 185 Welfare of Nation. Forest vital to. 88 Welsbach burner, 278 Wentworth, E. N.. xii Wesley, John, 2.",S West, C. B.. 394 General J. R., 409 West, Building the, 310 454 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY West Indies, Columbus landed in, 314 Population destroyed by Spain, 331 West Point, 252, 354 West Virginia, xvii, 4 Laeey family moves to, xvii, 382 Western Reserve a part of Connecti- cut, 130, 131, 305 Wetzel County, 382 Wheeler, Major J. B., 409 Wheeling, Laeey family moves to, xvii, 382, 385, 3S6 White Hart, 277 White House, 369 White, Justice E. D., 8 Whitehorse Rapids, 365 Wichita Forest Reserve, 100, 190, 199 declared a game refuge, 100, 170 National Bison Range, 15, 176, 177 Wide Awakes, 347 Wilcox, Willis, 291 Wild game and settlement of Amer- ica, 39 Wilderness battle ground, Visit to, 253 Williard's Equity, 403 Willcockson, K. E., 61, 62, 63 William the Conqueror, 301, 380 Williams, Capt. 272 Jesse, 342 J. C, 61 M. T., 266, 342 Wilmington, 357, 358 Address at, 356-360 Wilson, D. C, xv Capt. Robert, 292 Wilson original package bill, 139 Wilmer, Bishop, 283 Winnipeg, Plants of, 320 Winslow, Judge H. S., 419 Wisconsin claimed by Massachusetts, 130 claims part of Illinois, 130 Game wardens in, 410 Most fertile in west, 288 part of N. W. Territory, 133 Wise, H. A., 306 Wofford, 350 Woman as hod carrier, 298 her position in America, 298 Woman's Relief Corps, 54, 242 Women helped build Iowa, 311 Women 's Clubs, Address before, 78- 87 Iowa Federation of, 42 Wood, Col. W. D., 412 "Wood buffalo," 156 Woodcock protected, 180 Woodin, G. D., 419 Woodlot Farm, 76 Woodsfield, 381 World Review, 172 AVren, Sir Christopher, Monument, 249 Wylie, R. B., xv Wyoming, 73 part of Louisiana, 321 state law, 100, 198 X-ray, Discovery of, 269, 352 "Yankee Doodle", 238, 267 Yankee Robinson, 348 Yankees, 303 Yazoo Pass Expedition, 23, 404 Yazoo River, 404 Yellowstone Park, 7, 9, 13, 15, 38, 60, 96, 97, 100, 198, 207 an educator in game protection, 171 Buffalo in, 176 York and Lancaster, War of, 248 Yorktown, Veterans of, 282 Young, Lafayette, 31 Yucatan, Explorations in, 211 Yukon, xix, 366 Zama, Battle of, 318 Zinc in Mississippi Valley, 287 Zoological Parks, Buffalo in, 156 Zuni pueblo, 44, 219