478 



MEMORIAL DAY. 



MERCUR, ULYSSES. 



of May a national holiday, was received and 

 adopted. 



The committee appointed at the last annual 

 encampment for the purpose of having an act 

 passed by the Legislature of the State of New 

 Jersey, making May 30 a legal holiday, re- 

 ported as follows : 



CHAKLES BI-RROWS, ESQ., Dept. Commander. 



Comrade : I am sorry to say this bill was defeated 

 in the Senate yesterday. With the assistance of others 

 I got it through the lower house without difficulty. 

 It was introduced at my request by Col. Geo. Patter- 

 son, member from Monmouth, who took charge of 

 and advocated it. No serious opposition was made 

 to it. It passed the House day before yesterday. As 

 soon as it got in the Senate yesterday, unexpected op- 

 position was developed there ; before the necessary 

 measures to overcome the opposition could be made 

 effective, and while I was so engaged, it was taken up 

 and lost. Gen. W. J. Sewell, the only soldier in the 

 Senate, had charge of it in that body. It is too late 

 now to get the bill up again witli any hope of success, 

 as the Legislature adjourns sine die to-day. The 

 matter will have to be deferred until another year. 

 The first assault has carried the first line, the second, 

 if vigorously made, should carry both. I suggest that 

 if the effort be made next year each post should pass 

 a series of resolutions, and send a copy to each mem- 

 ber and senator from their respective counties, and 

 also appoint a committee to wait upon them person- 

 ally at their homes ; then, with a strong lobby com- 

 mittee to visit and work at the State-House, Iain con- 

 vinced it could be made a success. 



I beg to be discharged from further duty in this 

 matter. My feelings are very much averse to this 

 business of lobbying : I have heretofore entirely de- 

 clined to do such work. Please file this and have it 

 reported, if ( urn not present, at the next annual en- 

 campment. Your obedient servant, 



E. L. CAMPBELL, Chairman. 



Trenton, March 27, 1874. 



On Dec. 8, 1870, James S. Negley, of Penn- 

 sylvania, introduced in the U. S. House of Rep- 

 resentatives the following resolution, which 

 was referred to the Committee on Printing : 



Resolved, That the proceedings of different cities, 

 towns, etc., held on the 29th and 30th days of May, 

 1869 and 1870, in commemoration of the gallant heroes 

 who sacrificed their lives in defense of the republic, 

 and the record of the ceremonies of the decoration of 

 the honored tombs of the departed, shall be collected, 

 printed, and bound, under the direction of such per- 

 son as the Speaker shall designate, for the use of Con- 

 gress. 



But this resolution was never reported upon. 



Feb. 3, 1871, the Senate Committee on Mili- 

 tary Affairs reported adversely on a joint reso- 

 lution introduced in the House by Robert C. 

 Schenck, of Ohio, " to establish the 30th day 

 of May in each year a public holiday." Sena- 

 tor Thayer, of Nebraska, in presenting the re- 

 port, said: "I do not concur in the report, and 

 am in favor of the resolution, and will call it up 

 at an early day, with a view of taking the 

 sense of the Senate upon it " ; but no record 

 appears of his having done so. June 1, 1872, 

 Mr. Duell, of New York, introduced in the U. 

 S. House of Representatives, a joint resolution 

 to establish the 30th day of May in each year a 

 public holiday, which was referred to Com- 

 mittee on Judiciary. No reference to any sub- 



sequent action is to be found in the " Congres- 

 sional Record." 



The U. S. Senate generally, and the House 

 sometimes, adjourned over Memorial Day, and 

 in 1878 both houses adjourned, the Senate, " in 

 order that members might take part in the in- 

 teresting ceremonies " ; the House, u as a mark 

 of respect to the memory of the illustrious 

 dead." But the law allowing pay for legal 

 holidays to the employes in the Government 

 Printing-Office does not include Memorial Day 

 in the list of such days, nor has Congress ever 

 legalized the day as a holiday, though petitioned 

 by the Grand Army to do so. The Legislature 

 of New York, by Chap. 577 of laws of 1873, 

 (amended in 1881), designated " the 30th day 

 of May, known as Decoration Day," as one of 

 the "public holidays for all purposes whatsoever 

 as regards the transaction of business in the 

 public offices of the State," or counties of the 

 State, and " in the acceptance and payment of 

 bills of exchange, bank checks, and promissory 

 notes." Rhode Island made the day a legal 

 holiday in 1874, Vermont in 1876, New 

 Hampshire in 1877, Wisconsin in 1879, Mas- 

 sachusetts and Ohio in 1881, and it is believed 

 the same has been done in the other Northern 

 States. 



The general sentiment of the victors in the 

 fight is beautifully expressed in one of Thomas 

 Bailey Aldrich's simplest and teuderest poems, 

 " Spring in New England " : 



So let our heroes rest 

 Upon your sunny breast ; 



Keep them, South, our tender hearts and true ; 

 Keep them, South, and learn to hold them dear 

 From year to year ! 

 Never forget, 



Dying for us, they died for you. 

 This hallowed dust should knit us closer yet. 



MKKtl It, ULYSSES, an American lawyer, born 

 in Towanda, Pa., May 28, 1818 ; died in Wal- 

 lingford, Pa., June 6. 1887. He was gradu- 

 ated at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa , in 

 1842, read law in the office of Judge William 

 McKennan, of Pittsburg, and began practicing 

 in Towanda in 1843. He rose rapidly in his 

 profession, and, possessing oratorical powers of 

 a high order, soon attracted attention in public 

 and political circles. He was a delegate to the 

 first convention of the Republican party, 1856, 

 casting his vote for John C. Fremont, and four 

 years later a presidential elector on the Lin- 

 coln and Hamlin ticket. In 1862 he was ap- 

 pointed judge of the Court of Common Plea?, 

 in Bradford County, by Gov. Curtin, to fill the 

 vacancy caused by the election of Judge Wil- 

 mot to the United States Senate, and in the 

 autumn of that year was elected to the office 

 for the full term of ten years. In 1864 he was 

 elected a representative in Congress from the 

 district comprising Montour, Bradford, Sulli- 

 van, and Wyoming counties, and in March, 

 1805, resigned his judgeship. His services in 

 Congress were so appreciated that he was re- 

 elected in 1866, 1868, and 1870. When near 



