Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-25
RECORD OF ACTIVITY
Strenuous Experience of the
United States Consuls.
AID AMERICAN INTERESTS
First Representative in Western
Canada Appointed in 1869.
ONE Is SPECIALLY HONORED
Portrait Among Those of Winnipeg
Celebrities Of Consul
General Jones.
ONE Is SPECIALLY H0NoRED
KY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

Fs
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
WINNIPEG, September 81, 1911.
The walls of the main corridor of the
city hall in Winnipeg are hung with por-
traits of men who have ruled over that
wonder city. The only exceptions are
two fulI-length figures which hang in the
center of the rows. All the others are of
musts only. One of the 1ife-sized figures
is presentment of Maj. Henry NJ.
Arnold. commander of the Goth Regiment,
Winnipeg Rifles, who, as the inscription
tells US. was killed at the battle of
Paardberg in South Africa, in 1900. and
the portrait is a tribute from a common
council of the city to his memory and a
recognition of his patriotism and valor.
The other large portrait is of James w.
TAYLOR, for many years United States
consul at this place. who. everybody will
tell you, did more in early days to pro-
mote the interests of Winnipeg and
Manitoba than any other single, man of
any race or nationality. This picture was
painted and hung in this conspicuous
place by order of the city council as a
recognition of the obligations of Winni-
peg to Mr. Taylor. 1t has the place of
honor in the municipal portrait gallery.
American representatives.
The first American consul in western
Canada was Oscar Malmros. who came in
1869 and remained two years. Mr.. Tay-
lor succeeded him in 1871, and remained
In charge of the consulate until his
death in 1889, eighteen years. Mr.. Tay-
lor was a newspaper editor in Ohio, and
an intimate friend of the late Jay Cooke,
who proposed, promoted and partially
built the Northern Pacific railroad. 1t
was the failure of his banking house in
Philadelphia which precipitated the ter
rible panic in 1873. During the civil war
Cooke was financial reservoir of great
strength and constancy to the govern
ment and his bank handled the greater
part of the war bonds issued during Lin
coins administration. He was an init
mate friend of Chief Justice Chase. and
had confidential relations with all the
great statesmen of the day.
Mr. Taylor first came to Canada in 1862
with a party OF surveyors who were
seeking route for telegraph line to
encircle the globe. Gen. Arson Stager,
then superintendent of the Western Union
Telegraph Company at Cleveland, and
afterward general manager at Chicago,
was one of the promoters of this enter
prise and organized the company. which
strung a wire through Canada and pro-
posed to do so through Alaska. across the
Boring strait into Siberia and thence to
ST. Petersburg and Europe. The survey
was made and a line would undoubt-
eddy have been built had not Cyrus w.
Field been successful in laying the Allan
tic ca bic.
During his observations in what was
then known as the northwestern prov
inces of Canada Mr.. Taylor recognized
with the eye of prophet the possibili-
ties of the country, and from that time
until his death he was the most enthu-
siastic and persistent boomer of the
Canadian northwest. He was an orator