Representative Walter Russell Stiness

Walter Russell Stiness (March 13, 1854 – March 17, 1924) was an American lawyer, state official, and Republican U.S. Representative from Rhode Island who served four consecutive terms in Congress from 1915 to 1923. Born in Smithfield, Providence County, Rhode Island, he was educated in the local public schools before pursuing higher studies. He attended Brown University in Providence as a special student in 1873 and 1874, an experience that introduced him to the political and legal circles of the state’s principal city and helped lay the groundwork for his subsequent legal and public career.

Stiness continued his formal education in law, enrolling at Boston University School of Law. He was graduated from that institution in 1877 and was admitted to the bar the same year. Immediately upon admission, he commenced the practice of law in Providence, Rhode Island. His early professional years combined private legal practice with growing involvement in local government, reflecting an early and sustained interest in public service and statutory administration.

Stiness’s political career began at the municipal level. In 1875 he served on the city council, an early elective position that provided him with experience in local governance and urban affairs. He soon moved into state politics, serving as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1878 to 1881. During this period he also held an important judicial-administrative role as clerk of the justice court of Providence from 1879 to 1885, a position that placed him at the center of the city’s lower court operations and gave him practical insight into the administration of justice.

In addition to his legislative and judicial clerkship responsibilities, Stiness undertook a series of executive and quasi-military assignments for the State of Rhode Island. From 1883 to 1885 he served as aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Augustus O. Bourn, participating in the ceremonial and organizational functions of the governor’s office. He was appointed state railroad commissioner from 1888 to 1891, a period when regulation of railroads was a critical economic and legal issue, and he played a role in overseeing the operation and compliance of these vital transportation lines. Concurrently, he developed a long association with the state’s military legal apparatus, serving as assistant judge advocate general of Rhode Island from 1888 to 1898 and then as judge advocate general from 1898 to 1913, positions that involved legal oversight and advisory duties relating to the state’s militia and National Guard.

Stiness’s influence in state government expanded further in the early twentieth century. He served as a member of the Rhode Island State Senate from 1904 to 1909, participating in the upper chamber of the General Assembly during a period of progressive-era reforms and modernization of state law. In 1909 he was chosen as chairman of the commission to revise the statutes of Rhode Island, a significant assignment that entrusted him with leading the comprehensive review and modernization of the state’s legal code. His expertise in statutory law and public administration led to his appointment as United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island, a federal post he held from 1911 to 1914, in which he represented the federal government in civil and criminal matters before the federal courts in the state.

Building on decades of legal and governmental experience, Stiness was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fourth Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1915, to March 3, 1923. His eight years in Congress coincided with a transformative era in American history, encompassing World War I, the nation’s mobilization and demobilization, and the early years of Prohibition and women’s suffrage. As a member of the House of Representatives, he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Rhode Island constituents, contributing to debates and votes on national policy during a period of rapid social and economic change. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1922, thereby concluding his congressional service at the end of his fourth term.

After leaving Congress, Stiness retired from public life and resided in Warwick, Rhode Island. He lived there in retirement until his death on March 17, 1924, four days after his seventieth birthday. He was interred in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island, a resting place for many of the state’s prominent political and civic leaders, marking the close of a long career in law, state service, and national legislative office.