Loomis was a delegate and fought vigorously against the will of the machine. Being unsuccessful, and having imbibed independent principles and ideas, he became an independent. He is now known as a silver republican, and in the election of 1896 was the candidate of the free silver forces representing the democrats, populists, and one wing of the republican party. He was elected by a handsome majority, and has served his constituency by arduous labor on all committees to which he was assigned, and has performed an enormous amount of hard work as chairman of the committee on privileges and elections. Representative Loomis is a close observer and a conscientious student of the reform movement of his day. In addition to the post of duty already referred to, he has served during the session as a member of the committees on rules, and revenue and taxation.

HE forty-ninth district, comprising the counties of Garfield, Greeley, Wheeler, Loup, Blaine, and the unorganized territory west of Blaine, is represented in the house by Hon. R. S. McCarthy. He was born at Dayton, Ohio, December 25, 1853, and came with his parents to Jackson county, Iowa, in 1855, where he received a common school education,

and at the age of seventeen assumed entire charge and management of the farm, his father having died. In 1880 he engaged as a clerk in a general merchandise store at Zwingle, Iowa, and four years later emigrated to Nebraska and began farming near the village of Spalding in Greeley county, where he still resides. In politics Mr. McCarthy was formerly a democrat, but became a populist when that party was first organized, and has been one of its most zealous adherents, extending and developing its influence by his teachings. In 1896 he was nominated by the populists and democrats for the legislature, and was elected. Representative McCarthy has made an excellent record in the house, and his district was appropriately recognized by his appointment as chairman of the committee on immigration, and he has served as a valuable member of the committees on constitutional amendments, county boundaries, county seats and township organization, insurance, and irrigation.

ON. D. McCRACKEN, of Franklin county, represents the sixty-first district in the lower house. He is a native of Indiana, and was born in Davis county in 1862, of Scotch-Irish parentage. His family moved to Kentucky when he was but a boy, and there he received a fair education in the public schools. He afterwards entered the Academy of Siema, at Lebanon, from which he graduated in 1880. The next year he removed to Illinois, where he farmed and taught school. Of a professional turn of mind, he took up the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar, but abandoned the practice of his profession on account of poor health, and in 1886 came west to Nebraska and located in Franklin county. He has since followed the vocation of farming. He was married in 1888 to Miss Anna Doyle, of Ivesdale, Illinois. Several positions of public trust have been conferred upon him by his fellow citizens, and he is now chairman of the board of supervisors of Franklin county. In 1896 he was nominated by the populists and democrats for the legislature, and has served with credit to his constituents on the committees on constitutional amendments, accounts and expenditures, and county boundaries, county seats and township organization.

HE twenty-first district is represented in the house by Hon. G. H. McGee, of Antelope county, who was born in Dubuque county, Iowa, September 30, 1848. His father was a native of Ireland, and his mother was born in Kentucky, and his ancestors participated in the wars of the revolution and of 1812. After receiving a fair education in the common schools, young McGee attended Cornell College at Mt. Vernon, Iowa, for a time. He taught school a portion of the time in 1868 and 1869. He was principally engaged in farming until a short time before he came to Nebraska, when he took up surveying, and after locating in Antelope county was elected county surveyor, which position he held for ten years. He was afterwards elected to the board of supervisors and served four years, two of which he was chairman. In 1896 he was the nominee of the republican party for the house of representatives, and carried his district by a majority of 45. Representative McGee is engaged in farming, stock raising, and milling, and is a gentleman who enjoys the confidence of the people of his county to a marked degree. He is a member of the committees on county boundaries, county seats and township organization, and immigration.