The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-24

young lawyer was worn in health, but
he found a partner in j. H. Mahan, one
of the oldest lawyers of the state, and
entered on his duties At once he took
a place as a jury advocate vnd was in
demand to try criminal cases. Several
of the most famous trials of the states
early history came under his care, and
he made a reputation as an orator that
carried him into politics.
In 1882 he was elected to the legis-
latuTe and served three terms in all,
once being elected while speaking in
Maine for the national committee He
was defeated for the congressional
nomination once by two votes, and
went to work for the winner, making
a sChOOlhOUse campaign He ran for
congress once and, though he cut the
Populist majority down from 5000 to
1850. he was get defeated. But the fact
that he was the best speaker on the
platform in Kansas, with the single
exception of ingalls,, made him more
than local figure, and <when the ALI
ance movement came upon the state
his place was fixed as one of the leaders
Of the radical Republican politics III the
west He was a Worlds Fair commits
sioner in 1898 and served with credit
to the state.
When his friends urged congressional
nominations and appointments, Mr..
Burton refused and said: II shall be
United States senator some day" The
state laughed al the presumption. IN
gals and Plumb had been the idols OF
the people. and they could not consider
! seriously the ambition of a young man
to- attain their high station. Mr.. Bur-
ton had been unfortunate in the boom
days. His own town had been one of
the most inflated of the prairie cities,
and he was induced by the promise of
l.. TO n
ings in the additions that seemed
sure to return a fortune Instead he
reaped, as did thousands of others, only
large losses. and il made the struggle
hard for years.
But he faced the music and sought
to induce others to do so. Time and
again he stood before audiences partly
/ composed Of political opponents and de-
| clared that the only way to meet bad
obligation was to pay 1t. If the debt
| is a badly made one the more reason
why you should meet it, ne declared,
and he advised the farmers to tell their
boys that the only politics was honest
politics.
He spoke in every campaign, and
when the fall of 1896 brought its line
up of the parties on the silver question
! he found the Republicans or Kansas,
| who had been straddling the matter IN
their Platforms on his side and against
the free silver proposition. Since then
/ he has been acknowledged as the
! spokesman for the party on the ma
! tionaI questions in his state, and the
/ effect Of his speeches has been to solid
] fly the party in many ways.
/ During the campaign of 1900 he spoke
in every county in the state, making
/ nearly 200 addresses. He Travelled over
/ the western prairies in stages and
/ across and across country in the farm
ers' wagons. He lost whole nights of
sleep and came out OF the campaign ,.
/ almost exhausted by the strain OF MS
/ duties-Only to enter on another one.
/ g % 81
! Mr.. Burton's first serious campaign
for the senate was in 1895, and after
he had lined up his forces he had
! almost a majority. Day after day as
! the caucus approached the numbers
! grew. and when the meeting night
I came it seemed sure that he would
/ win the prize. But there were dozen
) candidates, and although Burton was
I far in the lead he could not break
| into any of the opposition ranks ma
! terially. At last. he received within one
| of enough to nominate him, when there
| was a motion for adjOurnment-and
through one of his supporters misun-
! derstanding the motion it was carried
| The next day the opposition agreed on
one of the caucus members, Lucien
Baker. and he was chosen Mr.. Bur-
ton made one of the best speeches Of
his life in the ratification that fol-
| lowed.
In 1897 he would have been elected.
but the Populists had the legislature
and he waited for 1901. He had spOk-
en- in every district, and when the
members Of the legislature came to
Topeka it was found that they remem-
bered the man who had helped them.
It went on for several days and then
Senator Baker. who was candidate
for reelection, withdrew and went
home. Mr.. Burton gained his place
Without a dissenting vote in his party.
The state had reason to respect its
choice, for he has given it a good
name abroad. He has spoken before
the Marquette club at Chicago, the
Union League club at Brooklyn and
the Republican club of New York City
When he was in the legislature he in
troduced the antitrust law that is
now On the statute book and which is
Incorporated in the national legislation
} on that subject. He was making ex-