Page:Men of Mark in America vol 1.djvu/162

94 departmental service a number of important reforms were instituted by him, particularly in connection with the system of accounts of United States ministers and consuls; and he continued in office under Secretaries Windom, Folger, McCulloch, and Manning. During this period he was made Grand Army of the Republic Commander of the Department of the Potomac.

In 1885 Mr. Alexander relinquished his position in Washington, and removed to Buffalo, New York, where he formed a law-partnership with Honorable James A. Roberts, formerly comptroller of the state of New York, a college classmate. Four years afterward, in June, 1899, President Harrison appointed him United States district attorney for the northern district of New York, the duties of which office he discharged with success and ability during the four years of his incumbency. The affairs of the two national banks, which became insolvent during his tenure, as well as a large defalcation in the Albany City National Bank, gave ample opportunity for the exercise of his legal skill and careful judgment. And seven criminal convictions followed his efforts, out of eight indictments in connection with these irregularities.

In 1897 he was nominated for congress in the thirty-third New York district, and elected a member of the fifty-fifth Congress. His service in that body as a member of the house has been attested by his reelection to five successive congresses. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee and of the committee on Rivers and Harbors.

Throughout his wide experience Mr. Alexander has shown a marked ability for public affairs. He has devoted his energies largely to politics, and though an intense partisan, at no time has he permitted himself to degenerate into that class of politicians who place party above public duty and the demands of good citizenship.

He was married September 14, 1871, to Alice, daughter of James Colby, of Defiance, Ohio, who died February 23, 1890. On March 28, 1893, he wedded Mrs. Anna Lucille (Gerlach) Bliss, daughter of David Gerlach, of Buffalo, New York.