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 ALBERT J. HOPKINS OPKINS, ALBERT J., lawyer, United States senator from Illinois, was born in De Kalb county, Illinois, August 15, 1846. He was reared on a farm, and after receiving a good common school and academic preparation, entered Hillsdale college, Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1870. He studied law, was admitted to the bar of Illinois, and began practice at Aurora, that state, where he has since resided. From 1872 to 1876 he was state's attorney of Kane county; from 1878 to 1880, he served as a member of the Republican state central committee of Illinois; and in 1884 as presidential elector on the Blaine and Logan ticket. The following year he was elected to the lower house of the forty-ninth Congress; and he was successively reelected to the fiftieth, fifty-first, fifty-second, fifty-third, fifty-fourth, fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh Congresses.

During the fifty-sixth Congress he was supported by the Republican congressional delegation from Illinois for speaker of the United States house of representatives. While a member of the house he served as chairman of the select committee on Census, and also on the Merchant Marine, Fisheries, and Ways and Means committees. His best known speeches were on the following themes : National honesty as the best policy; Our policy in Porto Rico and the Philippines; on the bill to regulate trade with Porto Rico; and on the necessity of a permanent census bureau. He has been an occasional contributor to the magazines, notably to the "Forum" in which appeared his article on the "Porto Rican Relief Bill" and "The Tariff a Live Issue."

In 1902, Mr. Hopkins was elected to the United States senate from Illinois, to succeed Honorable William E. Mason. He took the oath of office March 4, 1903. He is a member of the following important Senate committees: Fisheries, chairman; Cuban Relations; Interoceanic Canals; Privileges and Elections.