Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1893-11-23

E:a::. CARRIED, on a strong and more in
innate basis. When the latter became
President, he offered Gen. Rusk the po-
sitions of minister to Paraguay, minister
to Denmark, and chief of the bureau of
engraving and printing, but all of these
were declined by him.
In 1881 Gen Rusk was elected gov
ernor of Wisconsin, A month after his
Inauguration, the Chicago, Portage 4
Superior Railway Company failed, ow-
ing two months pay to 200 employees,
who became desperate. When citizens
appealed to the Governor to send mi
litia to quell the disturbance, his lacon-
ic reply was, these men want bread,
not bayonets," and he forthwith sent
them provisions. He further required
the company purchasing the effects OF
the defunct road to provide funds for
the payment of these }aborers and to re-
imburse the state for taking care of
them during the emergency. While
governor he took an active part IN pro-
noting the agricultural and dairy inter
ests of the state, and in forming
farmers institutes. During his first
term an amendment to the state
constitution was adopted providing for
biennial sessions of the legislature, and
extending the guDernatOrial office one
year. So uniformly popular was bis
administration as governor, that be was
three times honored by a reelection,
serving continuously from January,
1882, to January, 1885. At a soldiers
reunion at Minneapolis in 1884, Gov.
Rusk, instead disappearing Witha gorge
band Of crippled veterans OF the war
each of whom had lost leg
or an arm in the service of their coun-
try, thus winning the unbounded admit
ration of all present. During his second
term as governor the Milwaukee riots
occurred. In this emergency he as
sumed command in person Of the state
troops and promptly dispersed the
strikers and quelled the riots. The peo-
pie of the entire state heartily APP
plauded the governors frmness and
prompt action on this occasion. The
energy and courage he displayed won
for him q national reputation, and he
received praise from ali sections Of the
country.
At the Republican national conven-
ton in 1888, Gov. Rusk's name was con-
sidered for the presidential nomination.
President Harrison, upon the organi-
zation Of his cabinet in March, 1889,
gave him the portfolio of secretary of
agriculture, a cabinet office created only
one month before the inauguration
His long experience as a practical and
successful farmer admirably fitted him
for the place, which he filled with the
same success that attended him in all
other positions he held. Gen Rusk's
home is in Vernon County, and includes
though he had recently made large adj
ditional purchases, the original tract he
bought in 1853. when he first settled in
Wisconsin. His first wife died in 1853,
leaving three children, of whom the
eldest daughter, and the son, Col.
marriage with Elizabeth Johnson he
had one daughter, Mary. and son,
Blaine Daniel all Of whom survive him.
GEN. RUsK AND TIE BAY VIEW RIOT.
The part that Gen Rusk, as governor
of the state, took in the quelling Of the
Milwaukee riots in May, 1886, will long
be remembered by everyscitizen of the
commonwealth At the first init
nation Of expected trouble the
governor promptly repaired to
Milwaukee and Immediately held
number of conferences with
leading citizens in order to secure def
mite knowledge Of the state Of affairs
that had led up to the disturbance. On
the 1OllOWlng morning, alter the attack
had been made on the Chicago, Milwau-
kee & st. Paul shops and the E. P Allis
works, he took up his headquarters at
the Broadway armory, where, sur
rounded by his staff officers and militia
captains, he prepared to issue orders
and take such precautions as he
deemed necessary for the preserva-
ton of the peace and good order
OF the city. Shortly after the firing on
the mob at the Bay View mills by
number of militia companies, the Gov
ernor was asked If he intended to call
out any more troops. He replied, eyes,
if necessary. All the militia in the
state will be called out unless the rioting
ceases, and if the military don't succeed
there are fifty Grand Army posts to call
on" His promptness in ordering the
militia under arms spared the city the
horror and disgrace Of much bloodshed,
and saved property interests to the
value of many hundreds of thousands
of dollars. The popular judgment with
regard to the course pursued by him
was one of unqualified approval, and
though some criticized the necessity of
ordering out SO large a force of troops,
at meeting of representative business
men held at the Academy of Music on
the day following the riots, a formal
endorsement of the whole course pur-
sued by the governor in Guelling the
disturbance, was presented and unani
mOusly adopted.