Populist Senator from North Carolina.

Of the three National Committee Chairmen, Marion Butler, the Populist, is by far the most interesting. Both Mr. Hanna and Senator Jones are, to the country at large, new men. Mr. Butler was a country editor, sprung from the plain people and reared on a farm. At 33 this young man found himself in control of the party machinery of a political organization larger in numbers than that which elected Lincoln for the first time; an acknowledged party leader, and a United States Senator to boot. In his brief and quite dazzling career he has shown himself a shrewd manipulator and a dexterous tactician, with a genius for success and an unusual talent for taking advantage of other men's necessities.

It was in the campaign of 1896 that Butler, of North Carolina, came to the front. His standing in the Populist party was strong. He had made himself master of his own State; he was president of the National Farmers' Alliance; he had all the prestige that goes with success. When he went to the convention in St. Louis he had not committed himself. He had already learned the power that is often gathered from waiting until a decisive moment; he had won his leadership largely through his ability to gauge the feeling of the ranks and direct this feeling to his own end.

Made temporary chairman of the convention, in his speech he played skillfully upon the passions of the mass and the desires of the leaders. It was then that with the strength gained by his foresight in making himself, so to speak, the balance of power, he formulated his plan for the endorsement of Bryan and the nomination of a Southern Populist for second place. The chief leaders, Weaver Allen and others, fought his plan bitterly. But the Tarheel statesman carried the convention. And as a result, he was put in charge of the campaign.

This at 33 years of age.

Mr. Butler, himself, says that his political career was entirely an accident, that it was not the one he had picked out for himself, and that it was due almost directly to the death of his father when the young man was attending college. He was born and brought up on a farm, and received the larger share of his early education from his mother. From her, with the occasional aid from a neighboring academy-the free schools of North Carolina are a comparatively recent innovation-he received his preparation from the University of North Carolina. Graduated from the Academic department of that institution, he entered its law school and was on his way to his chosen profession when he was called home by his father's demise to undertake the care of the farm and dependent family.

A supporter of Mr. Cleveland in 1888, the latter's renomination in Chicago in 1892 drove Butler out of the Democratic party, and the Populist campaign of that year in this state found him prominently at the fore. Though Cleveland carried the state, the Populists cast 44,000 votes, and a fusion with the Republicans would have been successful. But all overtures for a union that year were defeated by the obstinacy of the chairman of the Republican committee, who headed a faction of office-seeking Republicans who had descended from the carpet-bag era.

Personally he is a tall, broad-shouldered, rather angular man, who swings down the street with that long stride that seems typical of his political career. He is a strider all over. He has a rather heavy head of hair, and a full beard, which keeps you guessing as to whether his face is a strong one. As he talks, his deep-set eyes shut narrowly as though they were looking out of the smallest possible space.

Butler has shown in his speeches unquestioned industry, and a considerable reading in the lore of the patriot fathers. The latter has often stood him in good stead. In the finished sense of the word he is not an orator, and his place in the progress of his party will be more of a manager. For this working he has shown, judged by his success under many trying situations, really consummate ability.

Republican Senator From West Virginia.

SENATOR ELKINS started life a poor boy, without influence and without friends to help him. He was born and brought up on a farm. Whatever he has in the way of means or capital he has acquired by his own efforts. He is a large employer of wageearners, and enjoys their sympathy and confidence. He has for more than a quarter of a century taken an active interest in national politics; but during all this time he has been a hard-working business man, and known as such rather than a politician. During his service as a member of Congress and a Cabinet officer, and in all his business transactions, which have extended from one ocean to the other, there has never been a reflection on his fairness or integrity. His standing and credit as a business man is good, not only where he has lived, but all over the country. In all the walks of life he has made himself popular with all who have known him. He is unostentatious, plain and simple in his manners, and is easily approached by all classes of his fellow citizens.

A brief sketch of his life will show how his great experience, his wide acquaintance with men, and knowledge of the country has been acquired. He was born in Ohio, reared and educated in Missouri, lived ten years in the Rocky Mountains, and is familiar with the Pacific Coast. He lived eight years in Washington City, twelve years in New York City during the winters, spending the summers in his adopted State of West Virginia, where he now resides in the town bearing his name. Having lived in the East and in the West, he knows both sections and their people as no other man in public life. Mr. Blaine once said that Mr. Elkins knew more men and had a wider acquaintance than any other man in the country. He served as member of Legislature, AttorneyGeneral and United States Attorney for New Mexico. He has been a member of Congress, served in Cabinet and is now Senator of the United States

William B. Allison

Iowa's Favorite Statesman.

William B. Allison, Senator from Iowa, is a native of Ohio, the commonwealth which of late years has furnished so many statesmen to the Union.

Mr. Allison was born in 1829, and was graduated from the Western Reserve College. His first entrance into public politics, as he states, was in 1860, when he was appointed one of the tally secretaries at the convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency.

Although Mr. Allison was deeply interested in politics from the first, and always inclined to the principles of the Republican party, he felt no special ambition to become a politician. Nevertheless, his neighbors appreciated his ability, and he was nominated for Congress in 1862 and elected. Mr. Allison remained in Congress until 1871, and two years later was elected to the Senate, where he has remained ever since.

President Garfield was so impressed by Allison's attainments and complete mastery of financial questions, that, in the face of the strongest pressure from other quarters, he urged him to accept the portfolio of the Treasury, but this he declined on account of illness of his wife.

Mr. Allison is a handsome man, genial and fond of a good story, and he can tell one and join in the ringing laughter which greets a witticism. He is fond of books, art and travel, and is almost as familiar with the politics of Europe as with those of his own country. He is dignified and kindly without a trace of egotism or vanity. Senator Gear of Iowa said of him: "There is nothing of a coward about Allison. He is cautious, but not cowardly. He has a stiff backbone in him, and when the occasion demands, he always shows that he has convictions and the courage to support them. He has been in public life for a generation, and although he is nearly seventy years of age, he looks and really is ten years younger, and in the prime of physical condition.

Congressman from Iowa.

AN ELOQUENT SPEAKER, AN ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORTER OF REPUBLICAN POLICY, AND A FAVORITE WITH MANY FOR THE VICE PRESIDENCY NOMINATION OF 1900.

The subject of this sketch was born in Preston County, Virginia, February 26, 1858. He was educated in the common schools of his native state, and afterwards graduated from the Western Virginia University in 1875. He made the law his profession, being admitted in 1878 to practice at the bar. His father was a minister in the Methodist Church, being one of the old-time circuit riders. He was an eloquent man and a great speaker and exhorter. From him Mr. Dolliver, no doubt, inherited his oratorical powers. He shows by the full, mellow, round voice his Virginia ancestry and raising. A story is told to illustrate his oratorical powers, that the girls have nick-named him "Rolled Oats" because of his habit of rolling his r's when he gave his orders to the waiters at a hotel at a certain summer resort.

Mr. Dolliver confined himself to the practice of his profession and had no ambition for office until he was placed in nomination and elected to the Fifty-first Congress, although he had for some time before made a reputation as a campaign speaker. James G. Blaine, in one of his tours in the West, met Mr. Dolliver and was so pleased with him that he prophesied that he would have a brilliant public career. Mr. Dolliver soon made himself known after taking his seat in Congress, and came under Speaker Reed's notice and was complimented for his thoughtful and eloquent speeches. After being in Congress for three terms he was made a member of the Ways and Means Committee, by Speaker Reed, in the Fifty-fourth Congress. It was Mr. Dolliver who, in the campaign of 1896, dubbed Mr. McKinley "the advanced agent of prosperity." This became one of the watch-words of the canvass and brought Mr. Dolliver into much prominence.

Mr. Dolliver is a large, heavily-built man, of healthy and genial