The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-03-16
President Grants Cabinet.
SECRETARY OF STATE.

| DEChEIAh1 Ot DlAlf.
Elihu .Washburne of Illinois who sue
ceeds to the responsible and leading place
Of Secretary of State in the new Cabinet,
was born in Livermore, Oxford county,
Maine. Sept 23d 1916, and is now, there
fore, in the fifty third year of his age, be
ing member of the distinguished hed"Wash-
burne family" He received the rudi
ments Of his education in the district
school, and served an apprenticeship in
the printing office of the Kennebeck jour
nal He afterwards studied law at Har'
ward University, and removed to the West,
he began the practice of his profession at
Galena, Illinois, where he has continued
to reside ever since lie was elected a
member of the Thirty-third Congress, and
has been steadily reelected down to the
present time, thus obtaining even some
years ago the title of 4" Father of the
House," on account of his unequaled con
tinueus service, He has generally SER
we'd as Chairman of the Committee on
Commerce, for the duties of which he has
shown signal qualifications. He was
Chairman of the Special Committee on
the death of Abraham Lincoln, and also
to Investigate the Memphis Riots. Mr..
Washburne has always been known on
the floors of the House as most vigilant
guardian of the peoples money and the
inveterate foe Of lobbyists and rings y
few years ago he made the tour Of Europe,
where his keen observing powers put him
in possession of a stock of information
which cannot but prove of great value in
bis new position
The friendship subsisting between Mr..
Washburne and the new President has
been of rare character, equally honora-
ble to both. 1t was at the formers sug
gestion that Captain Garnt' offered his
service to the governor of Illinois at the
outbreak of the rebellion, and from that
moment he continued his unwayering
friend and his effective defender, when
the far-off soldier needed friends at Wash
ington. 1t was proud moment, there
fore, for Mr.. Washburne, when the sun
of Vicksburg illumined the true deserts of
its conqueror, and enabled the former to
carry through Congress bill for reviving
the grade of Lieutenant General for Cen
Grant. The latter, with all the strength
OF his undemonstrative but tenacious
character, has fully reciprocated the affec-
ton, and it was known that be would
confer upon Mr.. Washburne almost any
Office which he might be willing to take.
And although the public speculation had
generally pointed to some other position
than that of Secretary of State, yet the
nomination will be heartily approved by
all who have marked the industry, honest.
ly, enlarged views and sterling patriotism
Of Mr. Washburne,
SECRETARY OF TIE TREASURY.
Alexander Il. Stewart, who has been ap,
pointed Secretary Of the Treasury,is more
widely known as a merchant, not only IN
our own country, but in every CONNER.
cial mart and manufacturing district
abroad, than any other American thai
can be named. He was born near Bel
fast, Ireland, in 1896, and his grandfa,her
had him educated for the ministry, and il
; is stated that he took degree at Trinit,
College Dublin. He arrived in New
York in 1919, and his first occupation
was that of school teacher, having open
ed private institution at No. 50 Rost
? street. His introduction to busines was
the result Of loan which he made TO &
friend, taking as securely stock of dr.,
goods. He found himself in possession o
the goods, and in order to sell them to re-
cover his loan he dismissed his school ant
took to the counter. His success wa
greater than he had anticipated. liz
found that he possessed business tact which
promised to be remuneratve, and he a
once visited Europe, made his own pur
chases, and, after the yellow fever in 1922
he opened store On Broadway in an oil,
e wooden tenement house directly opposit,
to where his down town marble palac,
r now stands. During his business career
/. he has had but one motive-to build ~
and organize great firm; and to accom-
= plish this end he has labored with untir
ing zeal, and with measure of success
y rarely achieved. He stands to-day thu
richest merchant in this country, with
colossal fortune, estimated at forty mil
lions Of dollars-the result of a life of har,
work, marked by strict integrity and hon
r orable dealing, His sales amounted 4
over sixty millions of dollars in a year
and he returned in one year persona
income Of over four millions.
His life has not been one marked b.
any peculiar incidents, or by those vicis
studes which sometimes checker the exis
tence of merchant. He refrained, u
to the breaking out Of the war from tskin
s. any part in public affairs. If he had an
:. =. political leaning prior to 1860 it wa
toward the Democratic party, but durini
the war he gave his personal influence t
the loyal cause and sustained by generou
contribution the credit of the government
g. Though engaged in business to the exclr
sion of all else, Mr.. Stewart has don
more charitable acts than he has bee
"A credited with. At the time of the fan
ad inc in ireland he sent to the suffering DO,
ID, of his native land ship ladened wit
W provisions, and he has also appropriate
n