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theory and speculation, but in the light of severe practical experience and new and dearly acquired knowledge. The great body of our citizens know what they want, and that they intend to have. They know for what the Republican party stands, and what its return to power means to them. They realize that the Republican party believes that our work should be done at home and not abroad, and everywhere proclaim their devotion to the principles of a protective tariff which, while supplying adequate revenues for the Government, will restore American production and serve the best interests of American labor and development.

"Our appeal, therefore, is not to a false philosophy or vain theorists, but to the masses of the American people, the plain, practical people whom Lincoln loved and trusted, and whom the Republican party has always faithfully striven to serve.

"The platform adopted by the Republican National Convention has received my careful consideration and has my unqualified approval. It is a matter of gratification to me, as I am sure it must be to you and Republicans everywhere, and to all our people, that the expressions of its declaration of principles are so direct, clear and emphatic. They are too plain and positive to leave any chance for doubt or question as to their purport and meaning."

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LIFE OF GARRET A. HOBART.

GARRET A. HOBART, nominee of the Republican party for Vice President, in 1896, was born at Long Branch, N. J., in the year 1844. His youth was spent in that vicinity, where the opportunity for education was good. He entered Rutgers' College at the age of fifteen years, and graduated therefrom at the age of nineteen.

After graduation he entered upon the study of law in the office of Socrates Tuttle, of Paterson, who ranked as one of the leading attorneys of the State. Mr. Hobart was admitted to the bar in 1866, and three years after was enrolled as a counsellor of law. He entered upon practice in Paterson, and his success was rapid and brilliant. In 1871 he was elected Counsel of the City of Paterson, which office he filled with great force and ability. The next year he was chosen Counsel of the Board of Freeholders of Passaic County, another office of great legal responsibility, and also acceptably filled.

Mr. Hobart's political career began with his election to the House of Assembly of the State of New Jersey. Here he displayed such energy and parliamentary knowledge, such tact and rare executive force, that in his second year of service, he was elected Speaker of the House. In this responsible capacity he served so ably as to win the regard of all members without distinction of party, and the favorable impression he made was not lost on the people of Passaic County.

In 1875 he was urged to accept a renomination, but was forced to decline the honor owing to a pressure of legal business. When the honor of a nomination for the State Senate was extended in 1877, he was induced to accept, and at once entered upon an active campaign. He was elected by a large majority. So satisfactory had his service proved, that his constituents renominated him for the Senate in 1879, giving him a majority far larger than before, and the largest ever given to a candidate for the same office in Passaic County.

During the years 1881 and 1882 he was President of the Senate, and when he closed his career in the Legislature, it was with the thanks not only of his county but of the entire State for the ability and care with which he had served the best interests of the people at large. It was while he was a member of the Senate that he was chosen a member of the State Republican Committee, of which body he was elected Chairman in 1880. This brought him into more direct contact with his party in general, and just such high character of service as he was qualified to give was much needed in the State, for the Republican party had long been confronted by a horde of Democrats who defied honest party methods, and had so fattened on the spoils of office as to regard all efforts of opponents to dislodge them with scorn.

No set of men in political life ever had a harder task before them, than Mr. Hobart and his associates of the State Republican Committee. They worked persistently and heroically for years to rout the enemy from his entrenchments and restore the lost honor of their State. Inch by inch they gained ground, and after three years of incessant warfare they succeeded in capturing the enemy's salient points, and in wresting the Legislature from his

iron grasp. Much of the honor of this signal victory belonged to Mr. Hobart.

He was not content, however, with victory, nor with anything short of the utter rout and demoralization of the corrupting forces within the State. Still a member, of the State Committee, and one of its hardest workers and most trusted advisers, he was found in every fray that punished the retreating enemy, and in every council that helped to strengthen his party and promote its grow. ing welfare. Under his able organizing direction, with his swift and keen executive ability, by reason of the invincible blows he prepared and struck, the enemy was forced from cover to cover, and, at length, out of the prolonged and herculean strife came the great Republican victory of 1895, which seated Governor Griggs in the executive chair, and redeemed the State from Democratic misrule.

But Mr. Hobart's splendid political achievments have not by any means been limited to his State. As early as 1884, he became a figure in national politics as the choice. of his State delegation for member of the national committee. Into this wider sphere of political influence he carried the same sagacity, industry and influence that had made him so conspicuous and useful a force in local affairs. This honor of membership in the national committee was continued in 1888, 1892 and again in 1896. In 1892 he served as vice chairman of the committee.

Mr. Hobart's business career has covered wide field and been a series of proud successes. The energy and ability that heralded the great advocate, the courage, sagacity and persistency that crowned the political leader, were largely supplemented in his nature with the qualities and inclinations that demanded the activities of business.

His skill, diplomacy and acumen came into request in connection with industrial enterprises, and his genius found agreeable vent at the head of various important institu

tions.

Among his first business connections was his receivership of the New Jersey Midland Railway. He found the affairs of this corporation in a most demoralized condition, but by the application of his extraordinary business tact and energy he was enabled to rescue the company from its perilous position, and to turn it over to the stockholders in a state of solvency.

Subsequently he was appointed to the receivership of the Montclair Railroad, and of the Jersey City and Albany line. In 1880, when the First National Bank of Newark failed, Mr. Hobart was appointed its receiver. He took hold of the delicate and intricate task with his usual vigor and acumen, and managed it so successfully that in six months he closed up its affairs, with the payment of all the depositors in full.

He filled the responsible position of general manager of the East Jersey Water Company and its allied interests, and is president of the Passaic Water Company, the Acquackanonck Water Company, the consolidated lines of the Paterson Railway Company, the Morris County Railway, and the People's Gas Company.

To these important trusts he adds the duties of director in several National Banks and of legal adviser in numerous industrial and improvement companies. Thus Mr. Hobart is one of the busiest as well as most successful of men. Personally he is endowed with nearly all the graces that go to make a man popular with his fellows and useful to the State. His temperament is unruffled by any of the petty annoyances of everyday life, and it is said of him

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