The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-21
that he needed his assistance.

here, but don't know them. They are
not used to me. 1 need some one about
me whom I can trust and who will see
that no mistakes are made in the carry
ing out of my orders. want you to be
my military secretary, and will have
the war department assign you to the
| White house"
To this Gen Porter assented, and
became a sort of continental adviser
| to Gen. Grant. He was not a private
secretary nor secretary to the presi-
dent, but he was associated with him
in many important matters of his ad-
ministration. He had a great deal to
do with the fisheries commission Of
| Grants first term and also with the
settlement of the Alabama claims, by
which we got from Great Britain $15,-
SOC, 900.
HE SPEAKS FRENCH.
In this work Gen Porter was able to
| be of the more advantage to Gen. Grant
on account Of his thorough knowledge
of the French language. He is a nat
ural linguist and he can speak French
and Spanish quite as fiuently as Eng
lish. He can make an after-dinner
speech in French, and he is noted as
! being one Of the best after-dinner
| speakers Of the United States, being
ranked by many higher in this regard
! than Chauncey Depew. He is also
man Of literary note. He has the degrees
! Of LII. D., and has written a number
OF books. This fact will add to his
| standing at Paris, for the French have
a high respect fer literary characters.
| His position as an army officer will also
! help him. and the fact that he is a rich
| man is another important item. The
! ambassadors from other countries will
! spend all the way from $4,000 and up
| ward a year in entertaining. Gen,
| n1,tQ will "a III L.
though his salary is $17.5G0. He has
| made a fortune, you know III railroads
| and other investments. He was for
| years manager Of the Pullman Palace
! Car company and he has been the
| president and director Of a number or
the largest business enterprises of the
| United States He has made some in
ventions which have brought him in
money. and he understands our bust
1 ness relations in their brOadest sense.
! WE NEED BUSINESS MINISTER'S.
Gen. Porter's business experience will
! at the start make him especially valu-
! able as ambassador to France. [ hap
/ pen to know something about how he
! feels as to cur business situation He
! believes that an enormous increase can
! be made in our foreign commerce, and
! that the reciprocity feature may be so
| developed in connection with certain
!
! to this country. Both he and the presi-
| dent think that the national exposition
! at Paris in 1900 can be used to great
advantage to us by proper American
| exhibits, and Gen. Porter goes abroad
with the idea Of pushing American in
! dustries at that exposition.
He believes also that the consular
| service can be very much improved,
and that our cOnsuls should be to a
| large extent the advance agents Of
American business men. They should
! devote their time to studying the for
eign market where they are located,
and to finding every loop hole possible
! for American manufacturers to come
! in.
BLUE BLOOD AND BRAINS.
| Just one word about Gen. Porter's
| family. You can tell good deal about
a man from his ancestors. Horace
! Porter has no reason to be ashamed
! of his His genealogical tree Is a big
| one One of its roots is found in
John Porter who won his spurs as
| soldier at the battle of Warwick, under
! William the cOnquerOr. The first POr-
| ter of this branch who came to this
! country was an Irishman. His name
! was Robert. and he had enough money
! to be able to buy some land in Penn
! sylVania shortly after he landed. This
| man was the great grandfather of our
| new ambassador. His son was Andrew
! Porter, one of the most distinguished
| characters of the Revolution Andrew
! Porter was teacher of mathematics
! in Philadelphia in 1875. Congress made
J him the captain of the marines on one
! of the frigates, but he soon left the
navy of the army. Before the RevO-
! lutionary war was over he had risen
! to be a colonel. At it's close he re-
tired to his farm, refusing a professor
! ship in the University of Pennsylvania,
| because, as he said, it did not look we'll
! for one who had been commanding
men to come down to fogging boys.
! This man, you know, was Horace
/ POrter's grandfather He afterwards
! became a brigadier general and he re-
/ fused the place of secretary of war III
! President MOnrOe's cabinet. He was u
/ thrifty man, and thrifty seems to be
one of the attributes of the POrters.
! This was the case with Gen. POrter's
! father, whose name was David Ritten-
! house Porter, and who was the first
! man to put up anthracite furnaces at
! Harrisburg. and the first to engage III
! the manufacture of steel in this cOun-
try.
AMBASSADOR TO LONDON.
I see that Col. John Hay has already
rented his house in London. He has
taken one of the most expensive estab-
! liShmentS in the most fashionable part
of the city, and the dignity of the
United States will be upheld without
regard to cost Colonel Hay is also a
very rich man. He has made some
thing of a fortune himself by his liter
airy and other work, but he became a
millionaire when his father-in-law,
! Amasa Stone, died. Amasa Stone was
a Massachusetts boy. He developed a
great capacity for railroad building
He was the superintendent of the New
] p Co.. 4 l.
was thirty. and had shown remark
able talent as bridge builder by the
time he was out Of his teens. When
he was still young he came out to Ohio
and settled at Cleveland. He built the
Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati
railroad from Cleveland to Columbus.
This is now part of the Big -Four sys-
E,1tl b. ,;.c a, Il