The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-06-07
SKETCH OF THE NOMINEE.
Synopsis of the Life and Public Serv.
Ices of James &. Blaine.

synopsis OF fhe Life and Public Serv.
Ices of James &. Blaine.
James G. Blaine, who won the nomination
for president of the Uuted States, at the Re
publican national convention, june 6, 1884,
was born at Indian Hill farm, Washington
county, Pennsylvania, Jan. 81, 1880. His
great-grandfather, Col. Ephraim Blaine, was
friend of Washington, and had charge of
the commissariat of the Revolutionary forces
during the terrible winter which they
passed at Valley Forge. At the age
of r. Blaine was sent to school in Lancaster
Ohio, where he lived in the family of
his relative, Hon. Thomas Ewing, then secre-
tary of the treasury. One year later he en-
tered Washington college, where he gradu-
ated at the head of a large class in lS47. In
1850 he went to Kentucky as teacher in the
military academy at Blue Lick Springs
Here be met Miss Stanwood, Massachusetts,
girl, who subsequently became his wife. In
the course of IA year or two Blaine made
up his mind that teaching school
wasn't his forte, and he went back
to Pennsylvania He then studied law, but
never practiced it. In 1858 he removed to
Maine and there began his public career. With
aid from bis wifes relatives be became the
editor Of The Kennebec Journal, and in the
course of a few months he moved to Port
land where he edited The Advertiser. His
position and family connections soon brought
him into prominence politically. In 1858 he
| was elected to the Maine legislature. He was
five times reelected, and in 1861 and 1862
| was chosen speaker of the house, in which
| position he exhibited the same excellent
qualities afterward displayed as speaker of
n,
In 1862 Mr. Blaine was elected to con-
gress. During his first term he gave himself
up to study and observation, but in the next
congress, the thirty ninth, he gained some
| prominence, and from that time to the end
of his career he occupied foremost place
| among the Republican leaders. 1t was about
this time that Blaine ran afoul of Roscoe
| Conkling and alluded to him in debate as
| turkey-cock, an epithet that Conkling
never forgave. During the period Of southern
reconstruction Blaine made many speeches
| that attracted much attention and spread his
| fame as an orator In the forty-frst, forty
second, and forty-third congresses he was
elected speaker of the house. In this capacity
he showed ready knowledge of parliament
airy usage and a fairness and unpartiality in
| his rulings that won him general praise from
both parties.
| When the country began to look around
for man to succeed Grant in the White
| House, it was impossible to overlook Blaine
His prominence in the house, the popular ap-
plause that his bold, aggressive and brilliant
career as a leader had secured, at once sug-
gested him as one of the most available can
didates For a year or two previous to the
Cincinnati convention of 1876, everything
favored Blaine in his efforts to push himself
for the nomination. For the first time
since the war the Democrats had pos
session of the house of representatives
The alarm at the north that the ex. Con-
federates were going to take possession of
the government was Blaine's opportunity
and he was noted in that congress for his
oratorical contests with the southern leaders.
He was a prominent candidate for the
presidency in 1876, but was beaten and