STATEMENT OF HON. ISAAC SIEGEL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK. Mr. SIEGEL. Mr. Chairman, under House bill 344, introduced by me, Lincoln's birthday would be observed as a public and legal holiday to all intents and purposes as Washington's birthday is now observed. In 26 States of the Union Lincoln's birthday is now a legal holiday. The list of States is as follows: STATE LAWS MAKING LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY A LEGAL HOLIDAY. California. Deering's General Laws, 1915, page 564 (act 1470). Delaware. Revised Code, 1915, section 2841. Illinois. Hurd's Revised Statutes, 1917, chapter 98, section 17. Iowa. Supplement to Code 1913, section 3053. Kansas. McIntosh General Statutes, 1915, section 5079. Kentucky. Carroll Statutes, 1918 Supplement, section 2089e. Massachusetts. General Statutes Supplement, 1908, page 8. Special exercises in public schools. Michigan. Compiled Laws, 1915, section 6233. Minnesota. General Statutes, 1913, section 9412. Nebraska. Laws 1915, chapter 98. Nevada. Laws 1913, chapter 73. New Jersey. Compiled Laws 1910, page 3091, article 5. New York. Birdseye & Cummins Consolidated Laws 1917, chapter 27, article 24. North Dakota. Compiled Laws 1913, page 1691, article 7297. New Mexico. Statutes 1915, section 4862. Oregon. General Laws 1913, page 158, chapter 94. Wisconsin. Statutes 1917, section 2577. Special exercises in schools for half day. Now, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, there is no question that here in Washington, where Lincoln rendered his greatest service to the Republic and where the Nation's chief memorial to him is nearing completion, there should be recognition of his great work by making his birthday a legal holiday. As the years roll away the people of the entire country, whether of the North or of the South, realize that in Lincoln America had its greatest American: that his speech, particularly at Gettysburg, shows that few men ever equaled him in ability to express in simple language the innermost thoughts which were his, namely, love of country and desire to keep the Union together. I believe that the feeling regarding Lincoln at the time when he passed away is best expressed in the words of Henry Ward Beecher when he spoke of the effect of the death of Lincoln. I quote: (From the Washington Post, Apr. 14, 1917:) HENRY WARD BEECHER'S GREAT EULOGY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. No words of the famous Henry Ward Beecher were more eloquent than those he pronounced on "The effect of the death of Lincoln," the annive sary of whose assassina tion is observed to-day. The following is an extract of the speech: "You and I can comfort, but how can I speak to that twi ight million to whom his name was as the name of an angel of God? There will be wai ing in places which no minister shall be able to reach. When, in hovel and in cot, in wood and in wilder. ness, in the field throughout the South the dusky children, who looked upon him as that Moses whom God sent before them to lead them out of the land of bondage, learn that he has fallen, who shall comfort them? O thou Shepherd of Israel, that didst comfort thy people of old, to thy care we commit the helpless, the long wronged and grieved. "CITIES AND STATES HIS PALLBEARERS. "And now the martyr is moving in triumphal march, mightier than when alive. The Nation rises up at every stage of his coming. Cities and States are his pallbearers, and the cannon beats the hours with solemn progression. Dead, dead, dead, he yet speaketh. Is Washington dead? Is Hampton dead? Is David dead? Is any man that ever was fit to live dead? Disenthralled of flesh and risen in the unobstructed sphere where passion never comes, he begins his illimitable work. His life now is grafted upon the infinite and will be fruitful as no earthly life can be. Pass on, thou that hast overcome. Your sorrows, O people, are his peace. Your bells and bands and muffed drums sound triumph in his ear. Wail and weep here; God made it echo joy and triumph there. Pass on. "PLEA OF A MARTYR'S BLOOD. "Four years ago, O Illinois, we took from your midst an untried man and from among the people. We return him to you a mighty conqueror. Not thine any more, but the Nation's; not ours, but the world's. Give him place, O ye prairies. In the midst of this great continent his dust shall rest, a sacred treasure to myriads who shall pilgrim to that shrine to kindle anew their real and patriotism. Ye winds that move over the mighty places of the West, chant his requiem. Ye people, behold a martyr whose blood, as so many articulate words, pleads for fidelity, for law, for liberty.' Now, Mr. Chairman, in 1917 I reviewed Lincoln's work and his own. short biography of himself at the time. Mr. WHALEY. Mr. Siegel, if you will pardon an interruption, how many legal holidays have we? Mr. SIEGEL. To-day? Mr. WHALEY. How many legal holidays are there to-day? Mr. SIEGEL. In the United States? Mr. WHALEY. Yes. Mr. SIEGEL. Federal legal holidays? Mr. WHALEY. Yes. Mr. SIEGEL. As a matter of fact, I do not think we have one. Mr. SIEGEL. Oh, no. Mr. WHALEY. Well, you have Thanksgiving Day, you have Christmas, and you have New Year's Day. Mr. SIEGEL. They are not legal holidays in the sense that they are holidays by Federal enactment. Mr. WHALEY. I think you are mistaken about that. Mr. SIEGEL. Oh, no. As a matter of fact, it has always been the contention that we have no general Federal legal holidays. The CHAIRMAN. We have none that apply to the Nation as a whole, but we have Mr. SIEGEL (interposing). By common consent? The CHAIRMAN. No; we have by statute, so far as our own employees are concerned, a number of holidays. Mr. SIEGEL. Oh, yes. The CHAIRMAN. Teachers, for instance, and the employees of the various departments have the different holidays. The 25th of December is one; January 1, I believe, is another; also Washington's Birthday, the Fourth of July is another, and Labor Day. Mr. WHALEY. And Memorial Day. The CHAIRMAN. Yes; and Memorial Day. Mr. WHALEY. And Thanksgiving Day. Mr. SIEGEL. Thanksgiving Day is set by the President. Mr. WHALEY. Well, it is a holiday. Mr. SIEGEL. Yes. Mr. WHALEY. Dodging the fact as to whether it is set aside by the President or by statute, it is a holiday, and a man employed by the Government does not have to work on that day. Mr. SIEGEL. My understanding has always been that there is no such holiday as a general Federal legal holiday. The CHAIRMAN. No: there is not. Mr. SIEGEL. Now, I may be wrong, but that has been my general understanding. Now, there is a greater reason than the mere leaving off of employment on that day which should underlie the thought of every Member of Congress in regard to this kind of a measure, and that is this: We are erecting, as I said before, the greatest memorial to the man we deem to be the most beloved American up to the time that memorial was proposed, and when 26 States of the Union, taking in more than two-thirds of the population of America, have declared that day a legal holiday, it is only fitting and proper that the Government of the United States should observe that day in the same manner. There can be no real logical reason advanced against it. Mr. WHALEY. They have never done it with Washington's Birthday. You admit that yourself; you say that Washington's Birthday is not a statutory legal holiday. Mr. SIEGEL. No; it is not. Mr. HUSTED. The bill provides that it is hereby made a public and legal holiday to all intents and purposes in the same manner as the 22d day of February is now made by law a legal holiday. Mr. WHALEY. But is it? I understand we have no legal holiday made by law. Mr. HUSTED. So that, according to the language of this act, if February 22 is not a legal holiday, then the 12th of February would not be a legal holiday. Mr. WHALEY. My recollection is that we looked into this question some years ago and there is a statute providing for some legal holidays. The CHAIRMAN. If you will pardon me, Mr. Whaley, I looked into it a couple of days ago. There are a number of statutes making certain days legal holidays in the same sense in which the 12th of February, by this bill, is made a legal holiday. It simply means that it is made a legal holiday so far as work is concerned for the various Government employees. Then there is a general statute defining what various terms shall mean, and in that statute a number of holidays are enumerated, among which, I think, are Washington's Birthday, the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and maybe one or two more. Mr. WHALEY. There is a statute on that subject, from what you have just said. Now, if you are going to make this a legal holiday that statute ought to be amended so as to include this. Mr. SIEGEL. I do not think they have ever adopted a statute naming certain days as legal holidays. Mr. WHALEY. The chairman has just said they have. Mr. SIEGEL. That is a matter that the committee can settle in executive session, as to how it wants to reach the proposition. What I am aiming at and what the people at large are aiming at is to have Lincoln's birthday declared a holiday and observed in the same manner as we observe other holidays. Now, I think there are very few people who will argue against the proposition that if 26 States, with over two-thirds of the Population of America, have acted, that at least in the District of Columbia and in the various territories under the jurisdiction of the Government, the same kind of honor should be bestowed on Lincoln which has been bestowed by all these States. Of course, there are many holidays observed by certain States which some other States do not observe, and, as I said before I think I am right in stating that there is no such thing as a general Federal legal holiday up to date. The CHAIRMAN. I do not suppose we could pass a statute that would make a legal holiday in the ordinary sense and make it applica ble to the citizens generally, because it would be interfering with the affairs of the States, would it not? What power would we have to pass such a law as that under the Constitution? Mr. SIEGEL. Now, we make Thanksgiving Day a holiday, do we not, by proclamation throughout the country, and then the various States follow? Now, in this case the States have led and we are following. In conclusion I ask that you include in the hearing an extract from the Congressional Record of February 12, 1917. There are some other gentlemen here who may desire to be heard in regard to the matter. I have a committee of my own upstairs which is waiting for me. (The extract from the Congressional Record referred to follows:) Mr. SIEGEL. Mr. Speaker, when, on April 15, 1865, Gen. Garfield heard that Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated he uttered the ever-memorable words "God reigns, and the Government at Washington still lives." No other sentence and no other speech ever made has more thoroughly embodied Lincoln's faith and Lincoln's sole ambition in lite. During all the four years of that terrible irrepressible confict he constantly hoped and prayed that the Union would be preserved, and that when the time would arrive for him to hand over the reins of government to his successor, it would be a united Nation that would greet him. The battle had been fought and the victory was his, but like Moses he was not destined to reap the harvest. In the short span of 56 years, having first seen the light of day on February 12, 1809, he wrote his name on the pages of history in such a way that time can not efface it. To have been merely the savior of the Union would have entitled him to the lasting generous regard of generations yet unborn, but to have been the one who freed 3,000,000 of men from the bondage of s'avery was bound to win him such a measure of fame as to forever make his name secure not only in the hearts of his countrymen but in the memory of all mankind. Where can you find a man whose patriotism has not been strengthened and his pulse quickened whenever he has read or heard I incoln's Gettysburg address. I onger speeches have been made but no orator pleading for the highest interests of the Republic has ever been equal to that address, either for punity or language or for sounding a clarion note to citizens to rally to the defense of the Union. In a few minutes of time one is unable to give full expression to that nobleness of character that was his by nature to that spirit of mercy displayed by him on many an occasion when some poor unknown mother appealed to him to save her boy from death after having been condemned by court-martial: to his constant and abiding faith in Him that guides not only the destinies of men but nations as well; to that inborn wit and humor that immediately removed the seriousness on the faces of the members of his Cabinet: and to his genuine loyalty to the generals in the United States Army who achieved victories. Fifty years have come and passed away since I incoln was taken from us. The Union has grown larger and stronger each year. The bitterness of civil strife has gradually melted away until now all men, whether descendants of those who fought for the gray or those who battled for the blue, have come to recognize the greatness of the man who stood by the helm of the ship of state during the four trying years of 1861 to 1865. Men have commenced to judge him rightly until now in more than half of the States in the Union his birthday is of served as a legal holiday. I am looking forward to the time, and believe it will be very shortly, when Congress will take action toward observing the day in the same manner in the city of Washington. Then indeed shall we have visible evidence and give proof to the world that the men of the South and the North have at last joined hands in acknoledging Lincoln's greatness and able achievements and at the same time forever cement the ties that bind us together as a Nation, so that this "Governm ent of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth," but shall always be a power seel ing to be at peace with the world, at the same time commanding universal respect for cur flag both at home and abroad. Men and rulers may come and go, but as long as men can read so long will Abraham Lincoln's loving memory and is noble deeds survive. Mr. Speaker, a year ago the Outlook published an article on Abraham I incoln by Mr. E. S. Nadel, formerly in the Diplomatic Service of the United States, so full of recollections and con parisons of Abraham I incoln that I deem it worthy of being read here to-day. It is as follows: "I. LINCOLN AND STANTON. "I am indebted to a friend, who was not one of I inccin's admirers, for the following: "When the last call for troops was made and a conscription odered, the proportion assigned to the city of New York was sen e thecusands in excess of what some people believed to be our legal liali'ity, and our committee on volunteering were certain they could prove this if they could have access to the books of the War Department. The committee Orison Blunt, John Fox, Smith Ely, and William M. Tweed-went to Washington and asked Secretary Stanton's permission to examine the records, which was brusquely refused on the pretext that the books were in constant use. The committee then went to the White House and saw Lincoln in his private office. After asking them to be seated, he resumed his chair, in which he sat partly on his back, with his heels literally on the mantlepiece. His linen bosom was unbuttoned, exposing his red flannel shirt. He was told that we had furnished, in excess of previous calls, more than enough to exempt us from the present call, which we would prove if we could have access to the records for any two hours during the night when they were not in use. He was also assured that in no event would a conscription be needed in New York, as we were getting 50 volunteers daily, and a short postponement of the draft would enable us to supply all the demands, just or unjust. He listened with an expression of profound sadness, and said he thought the request a reasonable one, but he feared if the order for a draft was postponed volunteering would ceise. He said that a similar committee from Cincinnati had applied to him for a postponement of the draft, as they were getting 20 volunteers a day. It was done, and the day following not a single volunteer appeared. That,' said Lincoln, is human nature. When you think death is after you, you run: but as soon as death stops, you stop. At this he sprang from his chair, throwing his arms about, and laughed loudly at his own dismal joke. Lincoln gave the New York committee a note to Stanton, substantially as follows: DEAR SECRETARY: These gentlemen from New York ask only what I think is right. They wish access to the records, with two accountants, for two hours at any time to-night. I have told them that they may have double that time. "Yours, A. LINCOLN.' "They took the note to Stanton, who handed it to Frye. The latter glanced at it, and, saying, Take seats, left the office. In a few minutes he returned and said curtly, The order is annulled; you can't see the books.' The committee withdrew and returned to New York the next forenoon. The clerk of the comu ittee, Eugene Durbin, said that late in the evening an Army officer with two orderlies called at the committee's rooms and presented the chairman with a note, which read as follows: The Secretary of War expects to be informed that the committee on volunteering from the county of New York have left Washington prior to noon tomorrow. The committee, after their return, said it was Stanton, and not Lincoln, who was President of the United States." "The gentleman to whom I am indebted for this-Mr. Smith Ely, a former mayor of New York and a Member of Congress was a Democratic political leader of war times, and, although one of the most amiable and kind-hearted of men, had, of course, to some degree the feelings regarding Lincoln shared by the men who in those days frequented the Manhattan Club. He does not see much point in Lincoln's remark about death and the draft. To me the point seems clear enough. When the devil was sick, the devil a saint would be,' etc. Nor will the reader conclude with the committee that Stanton was President and not Lincoln. Stanton was a man of great administrative ability, kind of human dynamo, such as you could hardly duplicate |