The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-03-04
GENERAL RUSSELL A. ALGER, SECRE-
TARY OF WAR.

Mr.. McKinley's secretary of war, eX-
Governor Russell A. Alger of Michigan,
has been a public character for many
years. Although a native of the great
northwest, he is of New England an
cestry. His parents settled in Lafayette
township, Medina county, O., in 1885,
where, on Feb. 81 in the following year,
the future governor was born. Hard
ships came to him early. At the age Of
ID he was left alone in the world with
out a dollar and burdened with the care
of a younger sister and brother Young
Alger was strong and outrageous, how
ever, and showed his mettle at once. He
found places for his brother and sister
and went to work for his board and
clothes and three months schooling per
year AfterWard he exchanged his serv-
ices as farmland for a small monthly
wage. But he stuck hard to his studies,
and by the time he was 20 years of age
he was able to take charge of a district
school. While engaged as a teacher he
applied himself diligently to the study
of law, and in 1857 entered a law Office
at Akron. A year later, having been ad-
mitted to the bar, he went to Cleveland
to practice his profession.
The strain of hard work and overstudy
began to tell on his constitution, and
he determined to adopt some other bust
ness in which he could take better care
of his health. In order to accomplish
what he desired he removed to Grand
Rapids, Mich, where he and a friend,
whom he had taken as a partner, en-
barked in the lumber business.
For a few months the business seemed
to prosper, and young Alger, feeling
himself warranted in such a step, took
to himself a wife-Miss Annette H
Henry Misfortune came to him soon
after. A Chicago house upon whose
welfare the fate of the young lumber
merchants depended went to pieces, and
with it went the entire business which
Alger and his partner had built up
In August 1861, the breaking out Of
the civil war opened another opportunity
for Alger. He enlisted in the Second
Michigan cavalry and was soon after
made captain of company G. At this
time Philip H. Sheridan was a captain
in the same regiment, and on the promo
ton of its colonel, Gordon Granger,
Alger was sent by the latter to Pitts
burg Landing to induce Governor Blair
to appoint Sheridan to the vacant colo
nelcy. This Alger succeeded in doing,
and here began the rapid advance of
Sheridan in the army.
In October, 1862, Alger became lieu
tenant colonel of the Sixth Michigan
cavalry and colonel of the Fifth in Feb
ruary, 1865. His promotion to the Office
Of brevet major general for gallant
and Ineritorlous service during the war;
came at the close of the war, June ii,
1865
When he had finished fighting, Gen
eral Alger laid down his sword and re-
turned to the lumber business His great
success is a matter well known. It was
he who first made extensive use of the
railroad in getting logs and lumber out
of the forests and into the markets. He
has interested himself in various other
enterprises, all of which have thrived
One of his highest political aspira-
tions was realized when, in 1884, he
was elected governor of Michigan. The
vote which made him chief executive in
the state was the highest the Republican
party ever cast i'll Michigan. His ad-
ADMINISTRATION was characterized by strict
integrity, and his business methods
were vastly useful in the conduct of
state affairs. Although he was pressed
to become a candidate for reelection,
he persistently refused to allow his
name to be put forward.
Though threescore years of age Gen