The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-03-09
HON. W. A. STEEL FOR CONGRESS.

able timber in il that is fit for the office T
prove it one need only refer to the present il
cumbent, and to state that the best timber tn
party in the district have to offer as his su,
cessor are such men as jim Goodspccd Wn
Cullen o. A. Marshall and that class of pre-
cnct bummers.
This is an "oif" year. Old political issue
are comparatively worn out and laid aside
The war is ovcr-thc southern question settle
the negro has found his placc-llaunlng TIT
bloody shirt no longer inilamcs northern ir
like shaking red flannel at the untamed bull
The live issues Of the day relate to currency
finance, tariff, cheap transportation and I'm
provcmcnt of our great western water ways
and these are questions about which the con
test is not between democrats and republicans
but between dead capital and live enterprise
between monopoly and free labor; between
eastern capital and western production in
word, between eastern greed and western pro
gress and enterprise.
The men for the west to send to congress
then, are not democrats or republicans, bu
men of western idcas-rcprcsentatve men O
western enterprise and business courage anC
mental grasp. Nnctcnths of the voters say
they care nothing about politics-thcy wan
MEN. The west has been tributary to the east
too long. Our farms are covered by eastern
mortgages at cXorbitant rates of interest; We
pay millions of tribute annually to eastern in
surancc companies; and ii moiety of what
with painful labor the west annually digs out
Of the ground is paid to eastern capital to haul
it to market. We want men in congress who
can cast aside the petty trammes of party poll
tics and grasp and deal with the great problems
of labor and transportation.
Who is such "A man in this district? The
Joliet papers for a week or two have been urg-
ing for congress the name of w. A. STEEL.
Is he not the man we are looking for? We
JANUARY sketch of Mr. Steel, from which we
make an extract
When 10 years old Mr. Steele was engaged
on the construction of the Northern Missouri
r. X. In 1857 he came to Joliet and entered
the service of Messrs. Sanger d Casey who were
contractors for building the State penitentiary
then in course Of construction The old Alton
penitentary having been leased to the firm in
1853, Mr.. Steel was induced to accept the posi-
ton of deputy warden, with entire charge of
the commerce and discipline, and worthily at.
tended to their interests until the removal of
the prisoners to Joliet in 1860. Largely owing
to his administrative talents, the Alton peni.
tertiary was, during this time, the abode of or
der and healthtul discipline and he had the
good fortune to transfer his slippery charge to
Joliet without single casualty. Having
meanwhile continued his legal studies, he now
entered the law Office of Judge Newton d.
Strong at St Louis, Mo. He was soon admit.
ted to the bar in that city, and IN later DAYS
was licensed for the Supreme Court of Illinois
and the Supreme Court and Court of Claims of
the United States. The outbreak of the civil
war precluded Mr.. Steel from the practice of
his profession, but it inspired him with the OK.
ccllcnt idea of raising an Independent battalion
of $50 men for the Union army, whereof he
was commissioned commanding officer, with
the rank of major. While the war endured,
however, his attention was directed to naval
matters also, and he constructed four monitors
for the general government, besides rendering
other valuable service which secured to him
the friendship OF General Grant
After the day OF AppomattoX Mr. Steel again
settled in Joliet, and entered at once on the de.
vclopment OF the stone resources in its vicinity
and also of the coal beds in the Wilmington
region, where he was the first to sink mine
shafts. Since then, and specially in connection
with the first mentioned industry, the onward
progress ofJolict has been coincidcnt with that
of Mr. Steel. The valuable quarrics have won,
under his control, universal celebrity, and the
most notable structures in the country have
been raised from their product. OF these may
be instanced the Rock Island arsenal in which
10000 car loads of Joliet stone were used
while of public buildings built from the same
material are the custom house at Des Moines
Iowa, and the custom house and post office at
Madison, Wis. The United States Marine
Hospital, at Chicago, the new State Capitols,
at Springfield, ILL.,, and Lansing, Mich, and
thirty court houses in the Western States also
derived their stone material mainly from the
same source. The Joliet quarrics, in short are
the chicicst element in the prosperity of the
city, employing constantly many hundreds of
men, and helping along ali affiliated industries
by the name and fame they have acquired toI
themselves, In the present year, us we learn,
they Will be more active than ever, the enter.
prising owner having increased considerably
their productive capacity The tests made by
the United States Government too, have pro
nounccd the stone to he unrivalcd of its kind,
and superior in usefulness to many hvoritc
GRANTEES now used in building.
To illustrate the spirit and indomiablc cour-
age TO overcome obstacles with which Mr.
Steel is gifted, reference may be- made to his
action in establishing the Joliet Iron and Steel
Rolling Mills. In the face of all distractions,
not the least being the governors veto, he pro
cured from the State legislature, over the veto,
the power to enable the city of Joliet (ofwhich
he was then mayor To afford the corporation
the means which enabled il to establish itself
These works are now the largest on the CONT
nent, and with but two exceptions are the larg.
est IN the world.
Five or six years ago Joliet elected Mr..
Steel mayor. When he went into office the
city had about 5000 population. He held the
office -four years and at the end of his last
term the city boosted Il solid population of
10000.
But no 'pcnt up Utica like Joliet contracts