Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1889 — PORTER FOR THE CABINET. [ARTICLE]

PORTER FOR THE CABINET.

All Indlcallona Point to tbe Selection of Our Dlstlnarululled Ex-Governor. “ ' ■ -4- I—- 1 —-

For the first time in seventytwo years Indiana has been honored with the Presidency, and now the Hoosiers, following a long line of precedents, lay claim to a place in the Cabinet. They point to the fact Cleveland appointed two men from his own state, and insist that an Indiana man should be in the Cabinet so as to relieve General Harrison to a certain extent of the pressure from the many thousand hungry Hoosiers who will throng to the public crib. It is generally accepted that he will select an Indiana man. The question is, who will he be? At present everything points iu the direction of ex-Governor Albert G. Porter. That gentleman is enjoying more or less of a boom. Delegations are calling on Harrison iu his interest and letters are pouring in upon him from every quarter of the state. Porter is by all odds more deeply imbedded in the hearts of the people of his state than any other man in it He rises head and shoulders above all the men so far mentioned for Cabinet material from Indiana.

Along in the forties he graduated from Asbury University, a Methodist college Jat Greencastle, at the head of his class and is one of the ablest and ripest scholars that institution has ever sent forth. He was in Congress before the. war, and made his mark there as a debater and parliamentarian. He is fair minded, conservative, yet a courageous ' leader. 1 At present and for years past he has been industriously at work writing a history of his own ssate, and when one reflects op the laborops zeal and tipe scholarship which has characterized his former undertakings, one can readily deetrmine \yhat a publication of his book will be, and how it will rank with other histories. His own and General Harrison’B lives afford a striking parallel. They were born near each other, the one in Lawrenceburg, Ind., the other almost in sight, just across the line, at North bend, in Ohio. *Soon after Harrison settled in Indianapolis, Porter, who was enjoying a good law prac--tice, was struck with the young man’s precocious and industrious nature, and invited him into partnership. The firm name was Porter, Fishback & Harrison for many years. Later Porter nominated his partner Reporter of the Supreme Court, to which oilice he was elected, and from which a Democratic Legislature tried in vain to dispose him. In 1880 Porter was elected Governor and Harrison U. S. Senator. The following year the lamented Garfield offered Harrison a Seat in his Cabinet but he declined, and in turn suggested Porter. The offer was repeated to Porter, but he also declined giving as his reason that he had been elected Governor for four years by his fellow-citi-zens and he believed it his duty to refuse offers for alt position and serve out his term. Iu 1884, Harrison still being Senator and only having served a little more than half his term, Porter received the caucus nomination of the Republicans to serve as his old friend’s colleague iu the Senate, but the democratic majority in the Legislature sent Daniel Voorhees instead. Still the strong bonds between the two remained unbroken. Porter being chosen by acclamation a delegate-at-large k> the Chicago Convention, last summer, was designated by Harrison as the man to present his name to the Convention, and the tremendous euthsiasm following Porter’s brilliant presentation proved he fw his speech was received. In the convention he moved from delegation to delegation urging tnem m person to vote for his old friend Harrison. As soon as the canvas 1 opened Porter rolled up his sleeves and went earnestly to work. He went the romids of the State, traveling by day and by night, and making forty-six speeches in all. H

Since the election he has remained at home working on his history. Every few days he goes over to Harrison’s house, sn<Ttifl*y

are frequently closeted together. The geui.aJ ex-GQvernor it not a candidate for any office. He is a popalar idol, especially strong with the laboring men of the state, whose jeause he espoused in the courts immediately after the famous railroad riots in 1877. Last Summer he would have been nominated Governor unanimously by the State Convention, but owing to a public declaration,, made six months before declining the anticipated honor, he refused to permit the presentation of Jbis name on the ground that other candidates had meanwhile been induced to become candidates, Just now a formidable list of newspapers in tbe country districts have declared for Porter for the Cabinet. The Delphi Journal, Greencnstle Banner, (published where Porter Attended college,) Boonville U'Vabiipan, Bloomfield News. Rensselaer PtErucoicAX, Brazil I Enterprise. Worthington Times, i Indianapolis Herald, Marion] Chronicle, Noblesville Daily Jour-1 nal and many other journals, I metropolitan and rural, have pronounced for him. Judging from present indications, if the people of Indiana are to determine the mattei, the affable and genial exGovernor will be the man. Nothing else will satisfy them, and if Porter becomes a member of Harrison’s political household, the demands of tiie horde of hungry! iloo.-iors will retviv.: that fair, ] caln.i and ad quate consideration \ widen the Republicans of the thir. j ty-«eveu other stale/-.are willing iJiry should ha re letter in the Cincinnati- Commercial Gazette. a