Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1887 — IMPORTANT APPOINTMENTS. [ARTICLE]

IMPORTANT APPOINTMENTS.

of the Interstate Commerce Commission Griven to the Public. Judge Cooley, of Michigan, Heads the List, with Morrison for Second Place. <v Sehoonmaker, New York; Walker, Vermoat; and Bragg, Alabama, Complete the Board. [Washington special ] The President has appointed the following Interstate Commissioners: Thomas M. Cooley of Michigan, for the term of sir years. William It. Morrison of Illinois, for the term of five years. Augustus Schoonmakor of New York, for the t r *rm of four years. Aldace P. Walker of Vermont, for the term of three years. Walter L. Bragg of Alabama, for the term of two years. Temporary quarters for the Commission will be found by the Secretary of the Interior before the end of the next week. It is likely these will be in the new Pension Building. The Commission has for its use from new until July 1, 1888, a little more than fifteen months, SIOO,OOO. If the salaries of its members are to come out of this nearly half the sum will be gone, and the remainder will not go far toward covering tjje necessary expenses. But the appropriation is available at once and the Commission will have money enough to start with. If the sum set aside is not enough it will at least last until December, when Congress will be in session.

Sketches of the Men, Thomas M. Cooley was bom in Attica, N. Y., in 1824, and removed to Michigan in 1813, where he has since resided. In 1857 he was elected compiler of the State laws, and in-1858 he was chosen reporter of the Supreme Court. In 1859 he was appointed commissioner to organize the law department of the University of Michigan, and he has ever since been connected with it. He served three terms in the Supreme Court, but was defeated in 1885. He is the author of numerous standard legal works and holds high rank as a jurist. He was appointed last December by Judge Gresham as receiver of the Wabash Bailroad. WJlliam It. Morrison, of Waterloo, 111., was born in Monroe County, Illinois, Sept. 14, 1825. He was educated at the common schools and at McKendree College, Illinois. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. 'He was made Clerk of the Circuit Court, and for four terms was a member or and for one term Speaker of the Illinois House of Bepresentatives. He was elected to the Thirty-eighth, Foity-tbird, Fortyfourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Fortyseventh, Forty-eighth, and Forty-ninth Congresses as a Democrat. In the contest for the United States Senatorship in tho TUinois, Legislature in 1885 he was one of the favorites of the Democratic members, and all through that memorable contest, which resulted in Logan being returned, Morrison held the sympathies of his followers.. In the last Congressional campaign he was defeated by the Hon. Jehu Baker. Aldace F. Walker is about 41 years old, and is a Bepablican in politics. He studied law with Senator Edmunds. He served as a Colonel in the Union army, and since the war has practiced law at Rutland. In tbe.yermout Senate he has taken a leading part'in framing legislation to solve the railway problem, and has given much study to the qneiAon. Walter L. Bragg was born in Alabama in 1838. He is a graduate of Harvard University and Cambridge Law School, and practicedJUiw in Alabama for some years. At the close of the war he settled in Alabama, and was for some years the law partner of General Morgan. Ho has been a leading Democrat in that State for some years, and has served as national delegate, Presidential elector, and member of the Democratic National Committee. In 1881 he made President of the Alabama State Railroad Commission, and served in that position four years, during which time many important questions arising between the railroads and their customers were satisfactorily adjusted. AugustSchoonmaker, of Kingston, N. Y., was bom in Bochester, in that State, in March, 1828. He studied law and has practiced it ever since. From 1851 to 1870 he was a member of school boards and a County 'Judge. In 1875 he was elected to the State Senate as a Democrat. In 1877 he was nominated by the Democratic convention for Attorney General, and was elected by a plurality of over 11,000. In 1879 he was nominated for Attorney General, but was defeated. In 1871 he was the Democratic nominee for Judge of the Court of Appeals, but was defeated. In 1886 he wasjsresented by the anti-Tammany delegation from New York in the Democratic State Contention as their candidate for Governor nSu was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1876 and 4880, aiid also to the Chicago convention in 1884.