"Wait a minute, and I will tell you. You see I had good school advantages, and was a great reader. For a time I read what was elevating and good, and I might have continued to read such works, but stories of adventure attracted and charmed me. My chances for a noble and successful life were good up to that time, but I swapped the opportunity for the best life for the worst. Bad books made me long to imitate the young heroes. They gave me a start downward and the rest was easy. Warn young people to beware of such reading, for it does great harm; it has ruined me."

There was a crisis in his life. Two ways met; had he chosen the best books, companions, and habits that offered, his brilliant talents and great advantages would have led him to usefulness and renown, but he spurned the opportunity and let it slip. Then, ruin was speedy.

LOCAL POLITICS ELECTED TO CONGRESS FIRST IMPORTANT SERVICE-
BECOMES AN AUTHORITY ON PUBLIC FINANCE-A TEMPERATE PARTISAN
IN POLITICS SOME CHARACTERISTICS. POWER OF CHARACTER.

There is no real success without integrity, energy, industry, intelligence, and perseverance in pursuit of the object in hand. It is possible that all of these elements may not be present at the same time and with equal force, but they must nevertheless enter into and become components of that which we call character. They are strong allies and will brook no opposition; he who possesses them will turn aside for no obstacles that are not absolutely insurmountable.

A strong character, thus equipped, above any suspicion, and a reputation without re

proach, is the best capital a business man, a professional man, or any other man can possess. It will command honor, and bring honor anywhere.

ILLIAM BOYD ALLISON, senior senator from Iowa, was born on a farm near Ashland, Ohio, March 2, 1829. He removed to Iowa, in February, 1857, making his home in the city of Dubuque, where he has continually resided until the present time. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, not only on his father's side, but also on his mother's. His ancestors were early settlers of Pennsylvania, his father removing from there in 1823 to Ohio, where he purchased a tract of unimproved land in what was then Wayne county

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and commenced the making of a farm by clearing away the heavy timber which spread over that entire section. Mr. Allison's early education was acquired at a country school in the neighborhood of his home. The particular school which he attended had the good fortune to have an excellent teacher, who had the faculty of instilling into the minds of his pupils the idea that knowledge is power, and that this could only be secured by careful study. At the age of sixteen he left his home on the farm to attend an academy at Wooster, then the county seat of Wayne county. After this he spent a year at Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pa., and another year at Western Reserve College, then at Hudson, Ohio. Returning to Wooster he entered the office of Hemphill & Turner as a student of law, spending a portion of his time in the office of the auditor of that county, thus earning a portion of his expenses. After reading law two years at Wooster he removed to Ashland, which had then become the county seat of a new county established some years before and which was nearer his father's home than Wooster. He continued the practice of law at Ashland until the spring of 1857, when he removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where an older brother had preceded him.

The father of Mr. Allison took an active interest in the politics of the period. He was justice of the peace for the township continuously for more than twenty years, and at that time there were many contested neighborhood cases brought before these minor courts, and the young man thereby had an opportunity of hearing many discussions of the law. His father was a Whig in politics and a great admirer and supporter of Henry Clay, voting for him in 1824 and again in 1844. Mr. Allison took an active part in the local politics of Ashland county after his removal there and was a delegate from that county to the State convention of 1855, presided over by the late Senator Sherman, and was made one of the secretaries of the convention. This convention nominated Salmon P. Chase for governor. In 1856 he took an active part locally in the campaign of Gen. John C. Fremont for president, and was placed upon the ticket for the position of district attorney. The county being Democratic he failed to secure an election. During his residence at Ashland he made the acquaintance of Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood, who was a

practitioner at the bar there, residing at Mansfield, only fourteen miles distant. Mr. Kirkwood came to Iowa in 1854, three years before the removal of Mr. Allison. Many of the younger men of Ohio removed to Iowa about this time, and no doubt many of them were influenced, as was Mr. Allison, by'the fact that Mr. Kirkwood, who was a prominent man in Ohio, had changed his residence to this new and growing state.

Mr. Allison was a delegate to the convention of 1859 which nominated Mr. Kirkwood for governor. He was also a delegate to the Republican National convention of 1860 at Chicago which nominated Abraham Lincoln, and was one of the secretaries of that convention.

In the beginning of the Civil War Governor Kirkwood made him a member of his staff and authorized him to raise regiments in northern Iowa and to equip them for service in the field. He had charge of the organization of two regiments in 1861 and two additional regiments in 1862, all these regiments having their rendezvous in a camp established at Dubuque. In the summer of 1862 he was nominated by the Republicans at West Union, Iowa, to represent the old third district in Congress, and was elected.

During the year 1862 several regiments were organized in different portions of the state, and Mr. Allison became satisfied that it would be a wise thing to allow the soldiers in the field and in camp to vote at the coming election, believing that if this was not done Iowa would lose at least two of her six Republican members of Congress. He presented his views to Governor Kirkwood and asked him to call a special session of the legislature to make provisions to that end. The governor, while expressing himself as favorable to the plan, hesitated on account of the expense of an extra session, and he did not wish to make the call unless it was approved by Republican state leaders generally. He requested Mr. Allison to go to Burlington and consult with the late Senator Grimes, and in the meantime he himself consulted with others. Senator Grimes unhesitatingly advised an extra session and wrote a note to the governor to that effect, which was delivered to the governor in person by Mr. Allison. The next day the special session was called and a law was passed providing for taking the vote of soldiers in the field. The

lead taken by Iowa in this respect was followed by many states.

His services in the House of Representatives began March 4, 1863. He was three times re-elected, serving in that body until March 4, 1871. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1870. At the beginning of his second term in the House he was placed on the Committee on Ways and Means, which then had charge of all financial subjects relating to taxation, tariff, loans, currency, and the standard of money, and all questions incident thereto.

In 1872 he was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Senator Harlan. He has been continuously a member of that body since that time, and his fifth term will expire March 4, 1903. He took his seat in the Senate March 4, 1873, and was assigned to the Committee on Appropriations, the most important committee of the Senate. He was also placed on the Committee on Indian Affairs, then as now an important committee, taking rank next to the chairman, and became chairman of that committee in 1875, which chairmanship he held until made chairman of the Committee on Appropriations in 1881. He has remained chairman of this latter committee up to the present time, except for two years when the Democrats had control of the Senate.

His first important service began almost immediately after the opening of the session in December, 1873. There had been serious complaints respecting the government of the District of Columbia as organized under the law of 1871. A joint commission of investigation was appointed to examine and make report, with full power to send for persons and papers, examine witnesses under oath, etc. It began its labors in the spring of 1874 and continued in session day by day. during the long session of Congress which followed. Senator Allison became chairman of this committee, and at the end of the investigation made an elaborate report, which proposed to abolish the then existing District government and Board of Public Works, and provided for a complete settlement of all accounts and debts of the District government up to the time of the passage of the proposed law, and the conversion of the District debt into fifty-year bonds, bearing .0365 per cent. interest, interest and principal to be paid proportionately from the United States treasury and from the taxes levied on