In reply to these violent accusations Mr. Morton published the address without note or comment and incorporated with it the most violent criticisms of his traducers, in order that the public might discover the grounds on which they planted their enginery. A copy of this most valuable address, falling under the attention of a distinguished economist, received the compliment, "clear as a bell, sound as a nut, and lively as a play."
   When the Hansborough bill was before Congress, offering a government appropriation for the destruction of the Russian thistle, and an applicant was seeking appointment as chief of exterminators, the Secretary ironically suggested including "cockle-burs and fan-tail grass," and further said:

   When Mr. Morton took charge of the Department of Agriculture, March 4th, 1893, he found 2,497 employees on its pay rolls, of whom 305 were discharged within nine months. He was able to submit an estimate for the fiscal year, to end June 30, 1894, of $369,658 less than was appropriated for the previous year. He found the Department in its fifth year taking on all the extravagant vices of the older ones, as indicated by a few items from an interview.
   The conversation here turned to the Department of Agriculture and I asked the Secretary whether he was making any changes in the methods of running it. He replied:

   I got a request the other day for $50 for a United States flag, which was to be put up over the sugar beet farm at Schuyler, Neb. I couldn't see the reason for the appropriation and I investigated the station. I found that it was costing us over $5,000 a year and that all we could get out of it was some beet seed, which the regular sugar beet factories would send to us if we would only pay the freight. We pay on these experimental stations about $360,000 a year, and I think the most of them should be abolished. My idea is that experimenting should be done through the agricultural experiment stations of the states. There are forty-four of these scattered all over the Union. They get an appropriation from Congress of $750,000 a year. This goes directly to them, and over it we have no control. I think that the seeds could be distributed through these experiment stations and not by the congressmen. It costs $133,000 a year to send out seeds from here. I am going to recommend Congress to abolish this part of our business. As the seeds are now sent out they do not reach the parties they should nor do the proper kind of seeds get to the proper localities.

"What are you going to do as to the meat inspection, Mr. Secretary?" I asked. He replied:

"How about American Corn in Europe? Is Cornmeal Murphy going to revolutionize the continent?"

   While the above shows in what spirit of intelligent discrimination he began placing his department upon an honest basis, the general outcome has become his splendid vindication. During the absence of Secretary Morton in Europe, in the fall of 1894, studying their agricultural systems, and economic methods., D. MacCuaig, Esq., Chief Clerk of the Department, in successfully vindicating him against political campaign charges of a republican committee, incidently (sic) touched upon the subject of the foregoing interview. If there is one thing which Secretary Morton detests more than paternalism it is nepotism.
   Amid the subsidence of premature clamor, the words of the Hon. E. J. Hainer of Nebraska, in the House of Representatives, February 4, 1895, add to the official vindication:

   In the February number of the North American Review, 1895, there appeared an article from the pen of the Secretary, in which he illustrated the proposition, that "to-day analyzed, is only a portrait in miniature of an aggregate yesterday." From the history of early exchanges of property, and the opinions of ancient authors upon a circulating medium, he passed to the object lesson of Nebraska in her infancy, with an inflated paper currency, before her possession of exchangeable commodities, and the crash two years later, when the inferior currency had expelled the superior. In a subsequent interview the salient points of the article were condensed:

   The appointment of Samuel W. Black¹, as associate justice of the territory of Nebraska, in 1857, was the date of his introduction to the "Far West." Born in the city of Pittsburg, Pa., in 1818, then on the confines of western civilization, and educated under the severe moral constraints of covenanter influence, he reached man's estate better furnished for the battle of life than a majority of American youths. At twenty-two years of age thousands were charmed by his brilliant oratorical efforts in that incomprehensible campaign of 1840, when speech and song, hurled in passion, drove democracy from the White House and enthroned "Tippecanoe and Tyler too."
   Sanguine friends were predicting for him the garlands of success at the bar, when the Mexican war gave an outlet for youthful valor, and a colonelcy commission filled the demands of an enthusiast's ambition. When introduced to Judge Hall, of Nebraska, a Mexican remembrance incited his wit, when he exclaimed, "Judge Hall, are you related to 'The Halls of the Montezumas?'" and received the retort, "Governor Black, are you a relative of the Blacks of South Carolina?"
   After the resignation of Governor Richardson in the fall of 1858, the Hon. J. Sterling Morton, territorial secretary, became acting governor until the arrival of Governor Samuel Black on the 2nd of May, 1859.
   On the 6th day of December, 1859, Governor Black delivered his first official message to the legislature. Being a man of scholarly attainments and well posted in political history, he devoted half of the space of a long message to dispel the cloud cast over the Territory by the ignorance and hasty decisions of early explorers, as to its being a desert region, and further, to establish its right to speedy admission as a state.

   But inasmuch as practical agriculture has completely dissipated the illusion, and the question of an admission to the Union been a fixed fact for twenty-four years, both theories may be passed over in silence. At the threshold of discussion we meet the following:

   The recommendations relative to lands bearing the greater share of taxation, homestead exemption from sale for debt, prudent usury laws, the intelligent limitation of official fees, the enactment of laws to protect debtors and secure creditors in the sale of real estate under execution, were worthy of a sound lawyer and impartial judge. The brief allusion to the mistakes and calamities of the past was pungent and graphic:

   By far the most notable message ever delivered, up to that date, in Nebraska closed, pure in morals and beautiful in style:

   A railroad to the Pacific Ocean is no longer a problem without a solution, and its construction and completion are but a question of time. These prairies will all be peopled from the great rivers to the mountains. The farm-

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   On the occasion of vetoing an act of incorporation, the governor said: "It is time that the spirit of incorporation should be subdued and checked. All special privileges and chartered rights conferred on a few, are so much taken away from the general privileges and unchartered rights of the many." As illustrative of the bungling way in which laws had been enacted, a committee reported: "That there was no law in existence in 1858 which authorized the levy and collection of territorial tax. The legislature of 1857, in attempting to adopt a revenue law, only adopted the enactment clause." As only four counties paid anything into the treasury in 1858, said amounts were recommended to be returned. There seeming to be no doubt that there were six slaves in Nebraska and had been formerly as many as thirteen, a bill was introduced and passed for the abolition of slavery in the territory, which was vetoed on the ground that slavery existed in the Louisiana purchase when we acquired it by the treaty, and could not be disposed of until the adoption of a state constitution. On the 4th day of December 1860, the governor delivered his second and final annual message to the legislature, and proceeded at once to the vital questions in which the people were specially interested. Referring to the previous session, he said:

   In response to this utterance the rate of interest was placed at 10 per cent in case there was no agreement for another rate not exceeding 15 per cent. Of salaries he said:

   To remedy this evil, a most searching and comprehensive law was passed covering the whole range of fees and salaries. The territorial debt was stated at $52,960, with collectible resources amounting to $30,259. Contemplating the manner in which the public debt had increased from a small amount in five years to $50,000 his indignant language was:

   His plea for an indirect bounty by which the growth of timber on the treeless prairies might be encouraged was promptly met by the passage of an act allowing a reduction of $50 on the valuation of real estate for every acre of cultivated fruit, forest or ornamental trees. On the supposition that "the relation of a Territory to the general government is peculiar, and one in many respects of entire dependence," he urged that Congress be called upon for aid for bridges and roads on the lines of western travel, and for emigrant hospitals, and an arsenal of repairs and supplies. No important interest of the home-seeker seemed to escape his attention. His confidence in the future of the Territory was reiterated:

   With his eye upon the storm cloud in the sky of the Union, and his ear sensitive to the strains of discord, he came to his final appeal:

   Up to the assembling of the legislature in 1860, the government officials had been members of the democratic party, and those of them from slave states uniformly brought with them one or more slaves, claiming that slavery was national. During the first four or five years of territorial existence the anti-slavery sentiment of the people had been in restraint by the theory that it was better for the material interests of the new community that they should not antagonize the policy of the party in power. And as the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the struggle to force slavery upon Kansas had threatened the life of the Union, it seemed nothing short of the Republican cyclone of 1860, which brought Mr. Lincoln into the White House, could consolidate the emigrants and check the domineering assumption of official dictators. But the make-up of this legislature proclaimed the emancipation of sentiment and the

dawn of a new political era. Of course there were at all times a few bold spirits, illustrating the fact that a true reformer must be in advance of his dines.
   On the 23d day of the session, in reply to the governor's message of censure, a committee of whom T. W. Tipton of Nemaha county was chairman, made the following report:

   On the 6th day of the term Governor Black served upon the legislature a veto message of "A bill prohibiting slavery in the Territory," which was promptly passed over his veto by a vote of 10 to 3 in the council and 33 to 2 in the house. Of the votes in the council 8 of the 10 were cast by republicans and 2 by Douglas democrats. Of these republicans Dundy became United States district judge, Elbert governor of Colorado, Marquette and Taffe representatives in Congress, Strickland, Douglas democrat, United States district attorney, and Thayer and Tipton United States senators, evidence sufficient that the people were not misrepresented on the slavery question. On a motion of Mr. Tipton the public printer was ordered to accompany the governor's message with the action of the Legislature in passing the bill over the veto, on which subject he delivered the following remarks:

   The republicans had declared in their Chicago platform, "that the normal condition of all the territories is that of freedom., and we deny the right of Congress, or of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any

territory of the United States." National democrats held that slavery was national, and could follow the master at his pleasure. The Douglas democrats, followers of the distinguished Illinois senator, claimed that the people, as an act of "popular sovereignty," could "vote it up or vote it down," according to their preferences. Before the end of the session Gov. Black found numerous occasions to exercise his veto, and in no additional case did the legislature reverse his decision. On the last day of the session he concluded his last veto message with the following sentences:

   On the 11th of January, 1861, when the hands of the clock indicated final adjournment, as a passenger from the deck of the vessel waves a final adieu to friends on shore, the council, on motion of General Thayer, sent to the house greeting:--

   The 24th of the next month marked the departure of the governor to his native Pennsylvania, and on the following June dates the death of Col. Black, shot from his horse at the head of a Union regiment, leading a desperate charge against a Confederate army. A statement of his tragic death was communicated to the Nebraska State Historical Society by his daughter.¹

Hon. A. S. Paddock came to Nebraska under the most favorable circumstances possible for a young man of ambitious tendencies in being twenty-seven years of age and possessing a. good education, free from all public vices, and with a "sound mind in a sound body," possessed of fundamental principles of law, and the experiences of self-support. Pioneer neighbors naturally hailed him as one qualified for counsel and aggressive action,. a new man, in a new country, where a new set of political issues were beginning to monopolize public attention. Having inherited anti-slavery sentiments from a New England ancestry, his natural affiliations would be with Fremont as a presidential candidate in 1856, and for Lincoln in 1860. When, therefore, he met New Yorkers in the Chicago convention in 1860, from whom he had parted as an emigrant in 1857, and was with them in voting for William H. Seward for nominee, a mutual co-operation in the future was easy and natural. With Lincoln elected and Seward in the cabinet, and the prestige of a campaign orator associated with the name of Mr. Paddock, the appointment was made and confirmed, and he entered upon the duties of Secretary of Nebraska April 1st, 1861. In 1864 he was candidate for nomination before the republican convention of Nebraska, for delegate in congress, with T. M. Marquette, H. W. Hitchcock and T. W. Tipton as friendly competitors. Each being voted for separately, Mr. Tipton lacked four votes of the nomination while Mr. Marquette was a few short also. On the next ballot the first count gave Mr. Paddock a majority of one, but before the announcement a delegate claimed the parliamentary right of changing his vote, which left it a tie. Up to this point the friends of Mr. Hitchcock had been casting com-

plimentary votes to each candidate, and now that his time of trial had come, all were "returned with interest," and he received the nomination.
   In 1866, while Mr. Seward was still in the cabinet of Andrew Johnson and many conservative republicans were sustaining the administration, Mr. Paddock became a candidate for Congress, receiving a conservative republican and democratic vote, but failed of election by a majority of 848 votes, in favor of John Taffe.
   In 1867 President Johnson gave him the nomination of Governor of Wyoming territory, which was finally declined. Subsequently he was elected a senator of the United States, in 1875, and re-elected in 1887, while in the interim he served on the Utah commission.
   Among the many duties devolving upon him as acting governor, was his preparation for the subjugation of the hostile Indians in the year 1862.

OMAHA, NEBR., TERRITORY, Sept. 9, 1862.

   Hon. E. M. Stanton, Sec'y of War:  Powerful bands of Indians are retiring from Minnesota into the northern counties of this Territory. Settlers by the hundreds are fleeing. Instant action is demanded. I can turn out a militia force, a battery of three pieces of six pounders, and from six to ten companies of cavalry and mounted infantry. The Territory is without credit or a cent of money. Authorize me to act, for the general government in providing immediate defense and I can do all that is necessary with our militia, if subsisted and paid by the government.

A. S. PADDOCK,
Sec'y and Acting-Governor of Nebraska.

   Authority being granted, all preliminary steps were taken, the Second Nebraska, cavalry organized and placed under the command of Col. Furnas, and a complete victory obtained over the savages in the battle of Whitestone Hills, with the Brules, Yankton and Blackfeet Sioux.
   When the legislature convened in January, 1867, the governor being absent on official business, the duty of presenting the annual message devolved upon the territorial Secretary, Hon.

A. S. Paddock. The facts and figures of the accompanying reports of state officers belonged to the administration of Governor Saunders, while the secretary was entitled to full credit for most wise and conservative views upon the national land system, results of the war, impartial suffrage, and kindred themes of vital importance to the embryo state.
   The financial statement gave an available surplus of $61,810, whereas six years before, the date of the governor's first message, the indebtedness was $37,226. The revision of the laws had been accomplished in an admirable manner. "The wise economy" of the homestead law "had been no more clearly illustrated than in this territory." Said he, "How much wiser then the economy which gives to productive industry the possession of the national domain free of cost, than that which disposes of it in large tracts to speculators, in whose hands it remains unoccupied and unimproved, a veritable obstacle in the way of the rapid settlement and development of the country." Among numerous recommendations made to the legislature was that for a memorial to Congress protesting against any future cash sales of public lands, or withdrawing from market for prospective railroads, or locations by script or warrants unless for new state uses, and also asking that government buy the Union Pacific railroad lands and devote them to free settlement. It was also recommended that a liberal amount be appropriated to secure the active labors of immigrant agents, and to accomplish a geological survey of the Territory. In order to bring in closer relations, commercially and socially, the inhabitants north and south of the Platte, a free bridge was urged as an unavoidable necessity.
   A very satisfactory review of the railroad situation was closed as follows:

   After commending the admission of the Territory as a state of the Union, and proffering co-operation in behalf of greater efficiency in the common schools, the acting governor concluded his official communication with temperate and patriotic allusions:

   At the time he delivered his message there was a peculiar significance in the following:

   In conclusion, permit me to assure you that I shall most earnestly cooperate with you in every endeavor to promote the varied interests of our Territory. Whatever measures may commend themselves to your wisdom and judgment, as

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