The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-08-07

member of the Board of Supervisors in
that county. In 1874 he removed to Dex-
ter. Dallas county, and opened banking
Pierce & Co. Mr.. Pierce was his sisters |
husband, and it is their daughter who |
was with him in China. In 1877 Major
Ccnger was elected county treasurer of
Dallas county. and while serving sec
ond term he was, in 1880, nominated by
the Republicans and elected State treas
urer, holding the Office for two terms. In
Congress from the Seventh District. and
was twice reelected, resigning in 1890 to
accept the Brazilian mission from Presi-
dent Harrison. AS Minister to Brazil he
a. sisted in the negotiations for the first
reciprocity treaty under the Mckinley
tariff law, that with Brazil. In the dis
charge of this duty he was highly sue
cessful.
When the Republican party returned
to power in the spring of 1897 Major Con-
ger was sent back to Brazil to complete
the work he had begun. During the year
which he spent in Brazil at this time Min
lister Conger found ways to render i'm
portant assistance in developing the COM
mercial relations between the United
States and Brazil. He was transferred
to China In 1898. During his service in
Congress Major Conger became the init
mate personal friend of Mr.. Mckinley and
they occupied adjoining seats in the
House. When it became necessary to
appoint new Minister to China Presi-
dent Mckinley picked out Major Conger
and without hint from any one offered
him the Chinese mission in 1898. He did
SO because he considered Major Conger
as man who had diplomatic experience,
good sense and knowledge of the inter-
ests of the people of the United States.
Major Conger's Congressional career
was a useful one. He was chairman of
the Committee on Coinage, Weights and
Measures, and a member of the Confer
cree Committee that framed the Sher-
man Silver Purchase Act of 1890. He was
the promoter of the Conger pure lard bill,
that passed the House in $780, but failed
In the Senate. Among the most impor-
tant of his Congressional services was
his successful effort to secure the trans
fer Of the Weather Service from the War
Department to the Department of Agri-
work and responsible for important
amendments to the pension laws.
Major Conger had never been anything
but Republican and had always been
active in the party's service. In 1896 he
was unanimously chosen to head the
Iowa Electoral ticket for Mckinley. He
made a thorough canvass Of every Con-
gressional district In the State, making
fifty-seven speeches. and his work was
among the most satisfactory and effect
i've done IN that campaign. Political hon.
ors usually came unsolicited to Major
Ccnger. He had never at any time in
his career met with strong opposition. No
man in politics in Iowa had fewer enc
mics than he.
| Major Conger came of Revolutionary
stock. His great-grandfather James
lConger of New York, served in the Fifth
Albany Company n the New York Mill
tia In the Revolutionary War. His par
tents were l.. T. Conger and Mary w.
Hurd Conger, the latter of Vermont an
lcestry- They came West at an early day
and settled in Knox county, Illinois,
Were they accumulated a competency.
Their son, Edwin H., was born at Gales
burg, March z. 1S4s In his boyhood he
worked on the home farm
He married Miss Sarah ]. pike Of
lGalesburg. H., whom, he net as studen,
at Lombard University He belonged 10
the Masonic order and the Unfversalist
Church His wife and their one daugf,-
tier. Miss Laura Conger, were with hin,
in China, and so were several other Ia.
ldies. friends and relatives of the family.
Baron Won Ketteler, the German Minis
tier. who is reported murdered by the
Chinese troops on the 18th ult., came out