Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-08-26

/ villain, he il surrounded by the rltf-rat and
rascalitv of his partv-that the managers OF
his candidacy at Chicago were the bummers
Of the East and Star Reuters of the West :;
so that even if Mr.. Higginson and Mr.. Clarke
and Mr. Eliot and Mr. Everett were otherwise
disposed TO vote for Mr.. Blaine they coult
not because they would thus find themselves
4 forced 10 affiliate with-fOr instance
STEVE ELKISs
Nothing more forcibly illustrates the Rip
Van Wrinkle sleep of our Gentle Hermits of
Cambridge than this estimate of Mr. Elkins;
for while thev have slumbered and slept
Stephen B. Elkins has sprung from unknown
IboyhoOd into the most vigorous and dlstInc-
tive type of American manhood. He is a
brilliant example of the class which we may
be proud to show to the foreigner as a speci
men Of what our American institutions pro-
duce and we can assure our gentle hermlts
that unless they shake themselves awake and
seduously cultivate Mr.. Elkins, the chances
are hundred to one thew will never be in
such good company in their lives.
Mr. Elkins was born in Ohio, reared in
Missouri, and graduated at the University of
Missouri in the year 1860 at the age of
eighteen. He took the highest rank in his
class and bears the degrees of A. B. and A.
! NJ from his University. For the last two
wears he has been elected to deliver the ad-
dress before the Alumni Association. but this
! year he was obliged to decline. as the Chica-
/ 60 Riff convention assembled on the
same day.
| do not mention these facts as in any de-
| gree tending to relieve Mr.. Elkins from the
faint of iliteracy in the eyes of Mr. Theodore
! Lyman-who, by the wav, has not given you
audible evidence of Mr. Blaine's bad political
| standing in Maine nor do I suppose the Rev
erend William Everett TO have any overween-
/ ing respect for the A. BIS of what he is
/ pleased to dub the ''fresh-water colleges.
/ But the Rowdy West did what she could for
her boy. who returned her service by bravely
! fighting her battles in the civil war. Through
out his bOyhood and youth he was surrounded
by Southern associations. In spite of these
influences, however, with a father and two
brothers in sympathy and identified with the
confederate service, he fought on the side of
the Union Having studied law he went to
New Mexico to take a survey before striking
out for life, and was sufficiently suited to
remain. The population was so largely Span
ish that young Elkins found it necessary to
learn their language. which he practically
mastered in the first year, and while engaged
in his legal profession. At the end of that
first year he elected to the legislature.
little anecdote which has long been cur
rent among his friends is so characteristic of
the sordid, vulgar, mercenary and unfair
ward like character which the Independents
attribute to him that shall be pardoned for
producing it. The youngters savings from
his law practice at the end of a year were
about fifteen hundred dollars 1t was the first
money ne had ever earned and it was all he
had One of the United States Judges held
what. for that region, was a fair law library.
and it came into the market for sale. The
rising young lawyer and legislator looked
upon il to covet it, and the result was that the
fifteen hundred dollars went out of his pocket
and the library came into his house.
In 1867 being then twenty five years old,
he was appointed by the Governor and con
irmed by the Legislative Council as Attorney
General of the Territory. In 1858, at the
age of twenty-six, he was appointed United
States Attorney bv the President In 1873.
he was elected to Congress bv the largest ma
| ioritv every cast for a candidate for that
office in the Territory. In 1875 he declined
being a candidate and went to Europe, with
his newly welded wife, the daughter of a
Senator of the United States, who NAV &C
qure some distinction in the eyes of Mr.. q
| w. Curtis by being democrat, Landing at
! New York on his return. Mr.. Elkins found
that in spite OF his declination and without
his knowledge, his constituency had again re
turned him to Congress, where he served
until 1877 with great credit; especially for
his speech for the admission of New Mexico
as State. 1t may be well supposed that
| Mr. Elkins will never be nearer the King.
| dom of Heaven than he was when an august
Boston newspaper declared his to be the only
case in which a single speech carried meas
ure of so great Importance.
During Mr.. Elkins' public career his official
!
was ever brought against him.
In 1872 he was made president of the First
National Bank of Santa Fe, a bank which is
Depository of the Public Funds, which is
and has ALWAYS been strong and prosperous.
| Its stock has paid Is per cent dividend and is
now worth Sl65 per share. He has very
lately resigned this presidency and the Board
of Directors have passed and published reso-
| buttons expressing their profound regret" at
! losing him, and their belief that "the great
success enjoyed by the bank since its organ
ization" is largely due to the confidence re-
posed in him by the business community and
to his ability and prudence in the manage
ment of its affairs" In severing the rela-
tons which have so long existed between
Mr.. Elkins and his associates on this board
they heartily testify to his unblemished and
sterling integrity. both as business man
and private citizen.
The parents of Mr.. Elkins we're members
of what is known as the Christian Church
the same church to which President Gar
field belonged From child he had been
carefully reared by pious mother. and in
his seventeenth year, while at the Univer.i-
ty, he joined her church. When he went to
! New Mexico society was crude. there was lit
tie moral restraint, and vice was common
! Though so young. and without home, Mr..
Elkins never contracted the prevailing hab-
it's Neither during his ten years residence
in New-Mexico nor during his subsequent
| life in the East has any one ever seen him
take a drink" in bar-room or heard him
utter an oath. He has honored his faith in
his life. While in Wash ington he regularly
attended the Presbyterian Church of which
DR. Mitchell was pastor. In New-York he
is vestryman of DIR. Heber Nevtou's church,
q devoted attendant upon its services, and
the intimate personal friend Of its pastor
Mr.. Elkins is a man Of gentle manners and
refined tastes. of vigorous intellect. extra
ordinary tact and energy, OF comma nding
ability, of iron will and unfaltering courage
of large wealth, founded on his countrv's
prosperity and destined to increase with the
growth of the country. He is a man of
domestic rather than of social habits shrinks
from crowds and public places, is rarely seen
/, at clubs, or even at hotels except on busI-
/ ness. He is great reader, a special student
and admirer of Emerson, and whether on
/ Western ranch or in New York office