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WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1892

Vindicator, San Francisco, Cal.

Senator Stanford returned to Washington a few days ago, after a brief stay in this city, yet even this short time he spent among us, and the manner in which he was received, serves to convince one who looks into the roots of things, and can take a forecast of the political situation, how near the Senator is to the hearts of the people. And what is meant by the word 'people' is not the wealthy, the purse-proud, or those who are termed 'men of mark,' but the masses of ordinary intelligent California citizens. These are well aware of what Senator Stanford has done for the State. They know that the best efforts of his life have been spent in doing works which should redound to the good and glory of the State. No matter how much demagogues may prate of vast sums of money accumulated by gigantic enterprises, such as the construction of transcontinental lines of transit, the fact remains that Senator Stanford has done what not one in a million would do, deeded and transferred the bulk of his vast wealth to the people of this State in the worthiest and most beneficial manner in which such a donation could be made, namely, by conferring upon the children of our citizens the opportunity of acquiring that best of all benefits which can be conferred upon the young, the advantages of a liberal, practical and technical education. To this end the Great Palo Alto University, an institution which has excited the surprise and admiration of the world, has been established, and is now being administered by as able a staff of professors as the mature wisdom of our chosen Senator could select. What do the agriculturists of this State acknowledge? They acknowledge that Senator Stanford has used his vast means towards the improvement of stock, and towards the cultivation and development of lands and industrial enterprises. Yet this is not surprising, considering that the Senator was governor of the State thirty years ago, and accordingly may be at any rate considered to know the wants and necessities of its citizens. It is widely mooted now that Senator Stanford is to be the Presidential choice of the new political party termed the Farmers' Alliance. This party will most certainly be a powerful element in politics at the coming election.

NATIONAL VIEW, WASHINGTON, D. C.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 1893
HON. LELAND STANFORD

He has Erected a Monument for Himself that Will Last for Ages.
In Founding and Endowing Leland Stanford, Jr., University, He Will Be Known in all Countries.
Vindicator, San Francisco, Cal.

It was said of the late Peter Cooper that he built his monument during his life-time by the erection and creation of the Cooper Institute in New York and by his numberous benefactions while living, fearing to leave to posterity the task of carrying out his intentions for the good of man-kind, lest they should miscarry. The same remark may be made with truth in reference to the Hon. Leland Stanford, United States Senator from the state of California. In founding and endowing the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, he has erected for himself a monument that will last for ages, and cause his name to be known in every land upon which the light of civilization shines. Generations yet unborn will learn to reverence him for the legacy he will leave them, and the amount of good which will follow the carrying out of his plans is beyond all human calculation. Mr. Stanford is still with us, and the work he is engaged in is a matter of every day history, but his early life is not so familiar a story, and it is with this more particularly that this sketch will deal.

Leland Stanford was born on the old homestead farm of his father, which was called Elm Grove, on the stage road between Albany and Schenectady, in Albany county, New York, March 9, 1824. It was a little later, in 1825, that De Witt Clinton's great enterprise, the Erie canal, was completed, and in 1829 the success of railroads and steam locomotives was established. It is a coincidence that the crowning success of Mr. Stanford's life should have been thus foreshadowed while he was yet of tender years. The boy was sent to school near his father's farm, together with his brothers, of whom he had six, he having been the fourth son, and young as he was, he still remembers the interest he took in the novel enterprise. Until the age of twenty years he divided his time between his studies and work on his father's farm. In 1845 he went to Albany and entered the law office of Messrs. Wheaton, Doolittle & Hadley as a student, remaining with them three years at the end of which time he was admitted to the courts as a member of the bar, and in 1848 he went to Port Washington, Wisconsin, and commenced the practice of his profession.

In 1850 he married Miss Jane Lathrop, a daughter of Dyer Lathrop a merchant of the town, who had formerly been a resident of Albany. The reports of the richness of the mines of California, caused five of his brothers to come to this state, and they met with so much success that they finally prevailed upon Leland to come, and he arrived here July 12, 1852. After trying the mines in a number of locations, he at length settled at Michigan Bluff on the American river in Placer county. He also associated himself with his brothers in mercantile business in Sacramento, and in everthing he prospered.

In politics Mr. Stanford was a Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican party in 1856, he made his influence felt in the campaign which followed. At the State election in 1857, he was the candidate of the Republican party for state treasurer, but the whole ticket was defeated. In 1859, he was the candidate of his party for the office of governor and was again defeated. In 1861 he was again nominated for the office and although there were two other candidates in the field, he ran nearly 6,000 ahead of his ticket, and was elected. The vote polled was 119,730 of which Mr. Stanford received 56,036; Conness, Douglass Democrat, 30,044 and McConnell, Administration Democrat, 32,750. This result made Mr. Stanford
the eighth governor of California.

In January, 1862, he was inaugurated. The country was plunged in the horrors of civil war, and Governor Stanford made frequent visits to Washington to consult with President Lincoln. During the first year of his term of office a local calamity visited the state, devastating its fairest portion. The Sacramento river overflowed its banks, and hundred of miles of country were inundated. Sacramento city was submerged, lives were lost, farms destroyed and houses, bridges and roads were carrried away. The governor and legislature were compelled to transfer themselves to San Francisco. But notwithstanding the many drawbacks and difficulties he was called upon to contend with, his administration was so successful that at its close the senate and assembly, by a unanimous vote of all parties, tendered him with the unusual compliment of a concurrent resolution of thanks.

It was while governor of this state that Mr. Stanford conceived and carried into affect the crowning act of his life. Together with Messrs. Crocker, Huntington and Hopkins, a company was organized and on the 22nd day of February, 1863, in the presence of a large concourse of citizens, he shoveled the first earth in the construction of the Pacific railroad grade, and at the time he predicted that trains of cars would be running entirely across the continent by 1870. The result more than verified his prediction, and notwithstanding the opposition which had to be overcome, the entire through line was completed early in 1869. The magnitude of the work will be understood when it is known that 530 miles of track was completed in 293 days.

Mr. Stanford was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican, in the place of J. T. Farley, Democrat, in 1884; re-elected in 1890, took his seat March 4, 1891, and his term of office will expire March 3, 1897. His bill to loan farmers money at a low rate of interest is at this time attracting much attention.