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18 and it was with money earned in this way that the first law books for the future senator were procured. During his last year at college he was one of the editors of the "Western Collegian" published at the institution. With a good record he was graduated from the classical course in 1872.

At Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he studied law, earning part of the money to pay his way by acting as agent for the Associated Press, of which one of his uncles, William Henry Smith, was the founder, and at that time the manager. He remained in Pittsburg for nearly a year, then he worked for a short time as a reporter, and studied for one term at a law school in Cleveland, Ohio. At the close of this term, in 1874, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio, and the same year he removed to Indianapolis, Indiana, and entered upon the practice of his profession.

From small beginnings his professional income rapidly increased, until his law practice became one of the most important in the middle West. Friends advised him to enter the political field, but, though he was deeply interested in public affairs, his preference was strong for the practice of law. He was a frequent speaker at large meetings in important political campaigns, and thus he became well known to the people of his state before he was a candidate for any office. In the Republican national convention of 1888 he earnestly advocated the selection of Judge Walter Q. Gresham as candidate for President of the United States, but in the ensuing campaign he worked with an equal degree of zeal to secure the election of General Benjamin Harrison who had received the nomination. In 1892, and again in 1898, he served as chairman of the Indiana Republican state convention. In 1893 he received the Republican caucus nomination for United States senator, but was defeated by the Honorable David Turpie, the Democratic candidate, the Democrats having a majority on joint ballot.

Mr. Fairbanks was a delegate-at-large to the Republican national convention at St. Louis in 1896, and was temporary chairman. On January twentieth of the following year he was elected United States senator by a large majority, receiving the unanimous vote of the Republicans in the joint assembly. He was appointed by President McKinley a member of the United States and British Joint High Commission for the consideration of the proposed abrogation of the treaty of 1817, which prohibited the maintenance of war vessels