Memorial Address in Congress

For Congressman Brownlow: First Congressional District - Tennessee

WASHINGTON, DC.    December 5, 1910

Address of Representative David Massey, of Tennessee

Mr. Speaker:  I rise for the purpose of paying an humble tribute to the memory of my predecessor in this House and to voice, inadequately though it may be, the deep sense of the irreparable loss sustained by the people not only of the First Congressional District of Tennessee, but the entire State in the demise of my distinguished predecessor, Hon. W.P. Brownlow.  

WALTER PRESTON BROWNLOW was one of my most devoted personal friends, and I admired him as one of the ablest, most useful, and resourceful public men I ever knew.  From our first meeting I was attracted to him; I never knew a man who possessed in so high a degree that indefinable quality termed "personal magnetism"; I at once became his friend, and I take pride in saying that friendship was reciprocated.  I championed him in all his conflicts, some of them most strenuous and bitter, though all of a successful character; and I take pride in the fact that I, in the language of my own beloved mountain people, "stood by him in thick and thin."

Mr. Speaker, I not only admired and liked Mr. Brownlow, but I loved him, and the passing years increased rather than diminished my friendship for him.  I appreciated his wonderful ability and had the utmost confidence in him.

Mr.  Brownlow was born on the 27th day of March, 1851 at Abingdon, Virginia, the county seat of Washington County, and within 15 miles of the line separating the State of Virginia from the District in Tennessee he had the honor to represent.  The place of his birth, as we all know, is historic, and now more historic in the hearts of the people of the First District of Tennessee.

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Loss of a Great Leader

Mr. Speaker, since Tennessee's admission to our great Federal Union, 115 years ago, no one has represented my District in Congress as long as did Mr. Brownlow, with the exception of the Hon. John Rhea, and had Mr. Brownlow lived, he would have surpassed Mr. Rhea's period in length of service.  Mr. Brownlow had been nominated for an eighth term in a district where the nomination of his party is equivalent to an election of from ten to fifteen thousand majority.  The people of my District were strong adherents of the Union cause in the Civil War and furnished to the Federal Army more soldiers than any District in the United States - and under the leadership of Mr. Brownlow the Republican majority has been increased some 15,000.  His supporters were not confined to his own party.

Mr. Speaker, until Mr. Brownlow came to Congress the First Congressional District of Tennessee had never had a dollar of public money appropriated for any purpose, but during the time he served he had established a fish hatchery at Erwin, Tennessee; a public building at Bristol, a rapidly growing city of about 20,000; a public building at Greeneville and another at Johnson City, all among the most prosperous and growing cities of the South.  He also caused to be established at Greeneville, Tennessee, the burial place of former President Andrew Johnson, a fourth-class national cemetery, the only one of this class ever established by the Federal Government.  There was a poetic justice in this tribute to Andrew Johnson.  He rendered, as we all know, invaluable service to his country, which was recognized by the National Union Convention of 1864 at Baltimore, when he was nominated for Vice President on the ticket headed by the immortal Lincoln.  

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National Soldiers Home

And Mr. Speaker, in addition to all this, Mr. Brownlow had erected in his District at a cost of $2,100,000, a National Soldiers Home, and this home was the pride of his whole life.  It is situated in one of the most beautiful sections of the mountains of east Tennessee, where the atmosphere is the most desirable and the water bears the finest test as to purity.  The climate is unequaled, and one of the greatest pleas rendered by Mr. Brownlow before the American Congress for the establishment of this home was that it would be located in a latitude the most desirable in the country, being 1,600 feet above sea level.  

He was so much interested in this home that he and his wife lived there, notwithstanding that he owned a home of his own at Jonesborough, one of the most palatial in upper east Tennessee, and his pride in this home was evidenced by his dying request that he be buried in its cemetery by the side of Union veterans, for whose comfort and in whose interest he had it established.  After he had viewed its final completion he was not satisfied, but his every thought was for the well-being of its patrons, who were not only the veterans of the Union Army, but of the Spanish-American War, including many of the sons of old Confederate veterans.  First he conceived the idea of furnishing reading matter for the veterans, so he wrote to that noble philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, requesting that he contribute to the erection of a library building, and in answer to this appeal he received a check of $25,000 for the library building; with this sum he had erected a splendid building, superior- because of the cheapness of building material in Tennessee - of any that could have been erected in other sections of the country for the same money.  To get books for this library - there being no public money for this purpose - Mr. Brownlow wrote to all the leading publishing houses in the country, and in response to this appeal he received 16,000 volumes of the best literature of the world in history, poetry, and fiction.

In addition to this it occurred to Mr. Brownlow that in the hospital in this home for the old soldier, left alone in the world, without those he loved the most around him, should have something more than bare walls to look upon while sick, and he wrote to the leading art firms, describing, as only Brownlow could describe, the home, and asked them to contribute one or more works of art framed.  In answer to this request he received valuable works of art; sufficient to cover the walls of the hospital.  Then, again, it occurred to this man of wonderful resource and brain that the old soldier should have music during his declining years, and while on his sick bed he wrote to many firms in this line requesting contributions to his grand cause.  In response to this request he received valuable pianos and other musical instruments.  Not yet feeling that his work was complete, he procured, without cost to the Government, one of the best artists in the country to fresco and decorate the dining room.  This was done in elaborate style, and for beauty and work is unequaled in the South, or I might say, in the entire country.

Mr. Speaker, I mention these details to show the intense interest he had in this noble institution.  In the very center of our glorious Southland he has placed this magnificent home, an object lesson and typical of the generosity of our glorious republic; and in this connection I might say that a movement is now on foot to erect a monument in memory of Mr. Brownlow.  But while I am heartily in sympathy with the movement, and look forward with pride to the unveiling of this monument, at the same time no monument of stone or marble is needed to perpetuate his memory in the hearts of the people of our country, as the National Soldier's Home at Johnson City, Tennessee will ever stand as a monument to his untiring energy, brain power, and love for his fellow beings.

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Private Life

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Brownlow in his private life was above reproach; he lived for those around him and about him.  I believe, Mr. Speaker, if a man ever lived a life of self denial and devoted his life to his family, friends, and country, that man was WALTER PRESTON BROWNLOW.  He believed that in "casting his bread upon the waters" it would be returned to him many days hence."  In this connection I wish to speak of a little incident in this life, told me by his wife several years before he was elected to Congress.  A newspaper article one morning denounced him in very scathing terms, and upon reaching home his wife said, "Did you see this article, Walter?" and he replied, "Yes my dear."  "Well, why won't you do something about it?"  "Because, my dear, if I stop to take up all such matters as this I will never reach the place to which I have started."  "For what place have you started?"  To which he replied, "The United States Congress."

As to whether he took the wisest course, I leave to the decision of his friends in the First District of Tennessee and in the United States Congress.

Mr. Speaker, as previously intimated, Mr. Brownlow needs no monument of marble and stone to perpetuate his memory, for above all this is the affectionate and grateful regard and love of the people whom he so long and so faithfully represented.

Mr. Speaker, I desire to have published in the Congressional Record, as an appendix to my speech on our distinguished and much-loved Congressman, Hon. W.P. Brownlow, the speech made by the Reverend Dr. Ruble, Chaplain of the National Soldiers' Home in Tennessee.