Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1881 — GARFIELD'S ADVISERS. [ARTICLE]

GARFIELD'S ADVISERS.

Brief Blographlen of the Cablaet miulMtern. James G. Blaine, of Main), Secretary Of State, was bom in Washington connty, l*a., Jan.*Bl, 1830 ; graduated at Washington College, Pa.; adopted the editorial profession, and went to Maine, where he edited the Portland Advertiser and the Kennebec Journal. He was a member of the Maine Legislature in 1869, 'BO- - and '62, serving the last two years aH Speaker of the Houso; was elected to the Thirtyeighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, For, ty-second, Forty-third and Forty-fourth Oougresses (serving in the Forty-first, the Fortysecond and the Forty third as Spoakor) ; was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Lot M. Morrill, appointed Secretary of the Treasury, and was elected for the ensuing term, which will expire March S, 1883. The people are familiar with his campaigns for the nomination for the Presidency. William Windom, of Minnesota, Secretary of the Treasury was born in Belmont county, Ohio, May 10, 1827 ; received an academic education ; studied law at Mouut Vernon, Ohio ; practiced his profession in that State an 1 ill Minnesota until 1859 ; was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Knox county, Ohio, in 1852 ; removed to Minnesota in 1855 ; was a Itepretentative in the Tliirty-Hixth, Thirty— eveulli, Thirty-eigihth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses ; was appointed by the Governor of Minnesota, in July, 1870, to fill the unoxpirod term of the Hon. Daniels. Norton, deceased, in the Senate of the United States ; was subsequently elected ns a Itopublican, and was reelected in 1877. His term of Bei vice will expire March 3,1883. Robert Todd.. Lincoln, of Illinois, Secretary of War, is the only surviving child of A 1 raintiu Lincoln. He was born in Springfield, 111., Aug. 1, 1843. Ho prepared for college at Phillips’. Academy, Exeter, N. H., and, having euteied Harvard,.graduated in tlio summer of IHOI. Four months subsequently lie became a member of the Harvard Law School. But hi fore finishing the course he went into the niuiy and was on Gen. Grant’s staff with the rank of Captain, from Feb. 20 to Juno 10, 1805, serving until the war closed. He then returned to lus law-books, and completed Ids studios, lie located in Chicago, and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of the State Feb. 25, 1867. He has taken very little part in politics, but has devoted his attention almost exclusively to his law practice, which has been large and lucrative. Samuel J. Kirkwood, of lowa, Secretary of the Interior, was born in Harford county, Me., 10ec. 20,1813: received a limited education at the academy of John McLeod in Washington city; removed to Richland county, Ohio, in 1836, and studied law there ; was admitted to the bar in 1843 ; was elected Prosecuting Attorney in 1846 and again in 1847 ; was in 1650-61 a member of the convention that formed the present constitution of the State of Ohio ; removed to Johnson county, lowa,in 1855: was elected h> the State Senate in 1866 ; was elected Governor in 1850 and again in 1861 ; was in 1803 nominated by Prosident Lincoln and confirmed as Minister to Denmark, but declined the appointment ; was in 1866 elected to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired term of Hon. James Harlan ; was in 1875 again elected Governor of lowa and resigned that office Jan. 31, 1877; was elected in Jaunary, 1876, to tlio United Staton Senate as a Republican to succeed George G. Wright, Republican. His term of service will expire March 3, 1883. Thomas L. James, of New York, Postmaster General, was born in Utica March 20, 1831, and is now in his 60th year. He was educated at the Utica Acafiomy, but, at the ago of 15. he was thought old enough to begin to work lor Himself, and w<*a 10 I—irn flic printing business to Wesley Bailov, the veteran abolition editor of the Liberty Press. Young James served the full term of his apprenticeship, five years, and in the meantime rote several articles for the JAlhvlu Press, which were accepted and printed. In 1857, shortly after the close of Lis apprenticeship, ho started the Journal at Hamilton, N. Y. He was also made Collector of Canal Tolls, which office he held for five years, performing at tlio same time liis editorial duties. In 1861 he located in New York city, and from that year until 1869 he held various responsible positions in the Custom House. In 1869 ho was made Deputy Collector of the Third Division, which position he held until 1873, when ho was appointed Postmaster of New York city, the duties of which he has continued to discharge ever since. William H. Hunt, of Louisiana, Secretary of the Navy, is a native of the State from which he is appointed, having been born in 1835. During tne war. he was a Union mn«, and since the war has acted with the Republican party. He was first broughtinto prominence in Louisiana politics when he became the counsel for Gov. Kellogg in his contest with McEnery. Ho subsequently became a candidate for Attorney General on the Republican ticket, was elected, and served one term ; ho was re-elected as Attorney General on the ticket with Packard. Curiously enough, he was thrown out of office through the influence of the MacVeagh Commission, which overturned the Packard Government and insti.llod Nichollx while the preparations were being made to soat Hayes m Washington. MacVeagh, the head of tlio commission, and Hunt, the overthrown Attorney General of Louisiana, now meet on a common plane in Gen. Garfield’s Cabinet. Soon after this Mr. Hunt was appointed a Judge of the Court of Claims. Wayne MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania, Attorney General, was born at Phoßinxville, Chester county, Pa., April 19, 1833. He graduated at Yale College in the famous class of 1853, and then studied law with the Hon. Joseph J. Lewis, of Westchester, and was in that borough admitted to the bar April 26, 1856. Soon after his admission to the bar he was elected District Attorney of Chester county, and served in that capacity for three years. In 1863 he was made Chairman of the Republican State Committee. Iu 1873 he was appointed Minister to Constantinople, but rosigneck in 1871. In 1872 he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention, in which he took a leading position. He was one of the organizers of the National Republican League, which worked against the nomination of Gen. Grant for the Presidency last year. Mr. KaoVeagh, in an address at a public anniversary in New York, a year ago, thus set forth his political platform : “ I happen, among other unpopular and impracticable things, to entertain a sincere desire for the relief of the civil service, and I would trust to your practical common sense whether or not It might lie of advantage to our foreign trade in the future that that service, instead of being filled by decayed noliffeians seeking a temporary asylum as a reward for partisan labors, should lie filled by such busy, energetic and working men as can only be secured by the attraction of that permanent tenure."