St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-15

the fighting spirit which is now abroad
in the land. Within the space of three
months he has shown himself to be
the strongest element in Cleveland's
administration, and today upon him,
to large extent, rests the question as
to whether America shall have peace
or war. Within less than three months
he has jumped from comparative OBJ
scurity to international prominence,
and the situation at present is such
that he may be a strong presidential
quantity at the Democratic national
convention.
And still, with all this, neither the
politicians nor the people know much
about Richard sOlney. He was not per-
sonally known to the people of Massa-
chusetts before he was made attorney
general, and today the majority of the
statesmen of the Democratic party
have no close personal relations with
him. He has never been a politician,
and does not know what it is to play
the toady and lick boots to get office
He was, one of the biggest lawyers of
Massachusetts at the time of his ap-
pointment He had practice largely
connected with railroads, which I am
y
and, like most railroad lawyers, he was
to a great extent an autocrat in his
own office. He saw whom he pleased
and did as he pleased He has carried
the same principle into his work here
at Washington and congressman and
senators have at times had to cool their
heels in his ante room before they
could get to see him.
WHO OLNEY IS.
But before I go farther as to Mr..
Olney, the secretary of state, let me
tell you something as to Mr.. Olney,
the man He is one of the most strik-
ing figures in Washington. His face is
that of an Irishman, though his blood
is Of Puritan blue. The pictures which
have been published do not do justice
to him. His face is strong and pug
nacious. 1t is Irish in every feature,
and though it is said that his ances-
tors emigrated to this country from
England, they must have originally
come from the vicinity of Cork. The
first Olney settled at Salem, Mass He
was preacher and his name was
Thomas. He is said to have been the
founder Of the Baptist church in Amer
lea. One of his sons was a colonel in
the Revolutionary war, and another
was a captain, who received a num-
ber of bullet and bayonet wounds dur
ing the struggle. Another Olney-
who, 1 think, belonged to the same
family-was the author of the Olney
biographies. These were used in the
public schools of America for more
than thirty years. They had, it is said,
larger sale than any other book out
side of Webster's Spelling Book They
ran through ninety-eight different edi-
tions, and millions of copies of them
were sold.
Secretary Olney's father was the
cashier Of a bank in Oxford, Mass.
Richard Olney, the secretary of state,
was his oldest child. He was born in
1885, and he is now just 81 years of
age. He was educated at Brown uni
Versity and the Harvard law school.
and he began his study of law under
Judge Benjamin Franklin Thomas. one
of the most famous lawyers of Massa
chusetts. He soon showed his fitness
for the law, and it is said that he has
made fortune out of his legal ability.
AN ATHLETIC SECRETARY.
Secretary Olney has better physical
machinery than other man in the cab
met. He keeps himself in perfect con
dition by exercise. His joints are well
piled His blood is full of iron, his eyes
shine with life, and he has the spring
lest step of all those who tramp Penn
sylvania avenue. There is no public
man who goes to more dinners. There
Is no man who has better digestion
and greater physical activity. He is
the champion walker of the admins
tration. He takes from three to