The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-05-14

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metropolis, and, whatever may be
the popular opinion of his career as
secretary of the treasury, no one
can deny that he has been eminently
successful in the life-work which he
selected as a penniless and friendless
boy.
ELIHU ROOT S HARD STRUGGLE TO
LEARN LAW.
Elihu Root, the secretary of war,
made up his mind, when he was only
ten years old, to be a lawyer, but he
had passed his majority before he
could crafty his ambition. For
several years, he taught school at
the Rome Academy, and each month
he put aside part of his salary to aid
his beloved project. He left Rome
in 1865 and went to New York City,
where he entered the University
Law School. He entered lawyers
office at the same time, and thus
eked out his somewhat slender
means. He was brave and in ear
nest, but found the ladder steep and
slippery, and, though he constantly
increased his income, success, as he
valued it, and as he dreamed of it,
did not crown his efforts until 1888,
when he was appointed by President
Arthur as district attorney for
southern New York. His caree
has been meteoric since then. He is
now in the foremost rank of his pro
fession, has made a large fortune,
and bears an unblemished reputation.
AS the successor of General Alger,
as secretary of war, he has made an
enviable record. He is now spoken
of as one of the ablest men in the
cabinet, and has the reputation of
being the President f~avorite adviser
and often his main support.
THE CAREER OF HON. JNO. w. GRIGGs.
John w. Griggs, who at this writ
ing is attorney-general, has been
more the favorite of fortune than
his colleagues; but he, too, has
struggled under the frown of the
tickle Goddess of Fortune. Like
Mr.. Root, he selected the legal pro-
fession in his early boyhood, and
all his efforts were bent in this direc-
ton, ever to studying dry law books
far into the night, after working all
day. He was admitted to the bar in
1871, and began practice Immediately
in his native town, Paterson, New
Jersey. In 1875 he was elected a
member of the Assembly of New
Jersey, and, in 1882, was promoted
by his constituency to the State
Senate. He was made President of
the Senate in 1895. To crown his
career in his home State, he was
elected governor of New Jersey in
1895. Mr.. Griggs has accumulated q
large fortune by his unaided efforts.
He is a genial and apprOachable man.
As a note to his character, it may be
stated that Nh. Griggs has broken
a long-established precedent of the
department of Justice. 1t has been
the vogue to abbreviate the title of
the legal adviser of the President to
General" and therefore there have
been a long line of legal authorities
who were known in public by this
military title. Mr.. Griggs quickly
discouraged this practice, smilingly
remarking, to those who used it,
that he was no more a general than
a colonel, and that he did not
like the term.
AS A POOR PRINTER POSTMASTER GEN
ERAL SMITH BEGAN LIFE.
Charles Emory Smith, the
able Postmaster General, is a native
of Mansfield, Connecticut but the
scene of his early life was laid in
Albany. In Mr.. Smith, the journal
istic profession is hOnored. He is an
example of the Woodworking, big
Drained men who begin as printers
and find their chosen field in the
editorial room. Notwithstanding
the fact that he has been from time
to time called from his desk to direct
larger affairs than those of a news
paper, he has never considered him
self graduated or eliminated from
the ranks of newspaper men. The
Postmaster General began his ca
reer at the bottom of the ladder. He
entered the Office of the Albany
"Knickerbocker" as a printer. He
became a proof reader, then a re-
porter. and in 1856 he became editOr