Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-03-04
MAToR JOHN SHERMAN, 9EcRE- isss TARY OF STATE,

Ef TARY OF STATE,
 oanotor John Sherman, MeKinley's '.o+arv of state, has been prominent in Seelts,' 1.l;c affairs since 1844, when he made pp;,nself heard ill advocacy of the presi- nl1as lAaov He was born i'll Lancaster, O., aeIs5 p6os He lived humbly in those early ln 1lzs What education he got was such u"g goonld gs be had in the country schools 'e s tl,ot time. It was not of an extensive oa 4 t When he was II years old, he se- erred oy employment in surveying party oa, oo rodman Afterward he got olerkship ,'7 g9 lS o,,e of the county offices. At the ago la la 9, ta he went to Mansfield, O., and be- san to read law in the office of his 5Sso4ber. 1t took him four years to per sao+ himself in Blackstone and Kent and ltg otbar worthies of the reading schedule Os of tbat date and pass the examination tbot secured him admission to the bar. Trlh,is.eyentful rl, period was reached on cbe8an's twenty-frst birthday, and the aolebration of that occasion made the onn;versary more than usually pleasant aud memorable.
 His career as q lawyer and statesman ;o familiar to the merest schoolboy of tbe land. Beginning with his election +o the national house of representatives ;n 1854. his record has been one of suc- cesqive honors and promotions. After having served as representative he was made senator, and such was the esteem in which he was held by his eonstitu- ontq that his re-eleetions to the office were as regular as the aspirations of his terms. Indeed, since 1854 there has been onlv one day whereon John Sherman waa out of office. That was March 8, 1881, the day after he had tendered his resignation as secretary of the treasury under the Hayes administration and the day before he took the oath of office as reelected senator.
 TSot only has MT. Sherman been thus continuously honored in connection with the legislative branch of the govern ment but he has been pushed by his friends very hard for the presidency time and time again. There Is no doubt that Sherman has nourished warm and strong ambition for this high place, and at one time it seemed almost a cer- tainty that he would be tho candidate of his party for tho coveted post. This was in 1880, when James A. Garfield, Sherman's advocate in tho convention, milaea s rsal.l better than he knew that he himself secured what he sought for his chief.
 Four years later. too, there was a strong Sherman sentiment working in the national convention. md again it Ssmed possible that tho Ohio solon Would be put in the first place on the ticket, but Harrison was selected. It is generally believed that this was the bit terest disappointment Sherman ever ex- perienced.
 Senator Sherman is now nearly "A years of age. He is white haired and his tall, slender form bends somewhat under the weight of these many years, but there is grim tenacity in his make up and his vitality is many times stggnger than it appears to be. Mentally he is as keen as a seimiter, though his words are far less acrid now than they were in his youngor days. His accept mce of cabinet position is generally regarded as his political eapitulation-a compromise with his higher aspirations.