Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/88

 70 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

with Hon. Josiah H. Hobbs, of Wakefield, and at Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar in Strafford County in August, 1854. He commenced the practice of his profession in Great Falls. The following year he was elected cashier of the Somersworth Bank. In 1856 he resumed the practice of law, and formed a partnership with Hon. Ichabod G. Jordan.

In the spring of i860 Mr. Rollins was elected to the Legislature, from Somers- worth ; was reelected the two following years ; and was called upon to preside, as speaker, over the largest legislative body in America, in 1S61 and 1862, when the nation was in the turmoil of a great civil war.

In the fall of 1862 the Bureau of Internal Revenue was established, and in April, 1863, Mr. Rollins was appointed, by President Lincoln, cashier of that department. The following year he was appointed deputy commissioner. In November, 1865, he was appointed Commissioner of Internal Revenue, being the fourth officer appointed to the position, — Hon. George S. Boutwell being the first ; Hon. Joseph J. Lewis, the second ; and Hon. William Orton, the third.

Mr. Rollins held this office until March 8, 1869, or until President Grant was established in the executive chair, when, completely worn out and exhausted by the mental strain and pressure of business, he insisted upon his resignation being accepted. To appreciate the difficulties under which he labored, it must be understood that he was at the head of a department in which there were about six thousand officers and employes, all dependent upon him for instruction in duty, and many for their continuance in office. President Johnson, unfort- unately, had abandoned the Republican party, and consequently antagonized Congress. He committed arbitrary acts which led to his impeachment and almost to his conviction. The tenure of office act had been passed, and under its provisions Mr. Rollins, although at variance with the executive, continued to hold his office and protect his subordinates in their positions. It may be here stated that the personal and friendly relations between the president and commissioner, in abeyance during their respective terms of office, were cordially renewed in after years, when each had thrown off the cares and responsibilities of political positions.

Mr. Rollins only consented to hold his place because strongly urged to do so by the " old guard " of the Republican party. Blaine, Chandler, Washburne, Schenck, Colfax, Maynard, Morrill, Garfield, and many others personally appealed to him, by letter, for the good of the revenue, and for party purposes, to maintain his position. He did so for several years. All this time the trans- actions of the department were stupendous. The war had been brought to a close, and the country was in debt three thousand million dollars. The money to meet and reduce this indebtedness had to be obtained by the direct taxation of a thousand and one things manufactured and in daily use in every liome in the land. All had to share their part of the enormous burden, — nearly one thousand dollars for every man, woman, and child in the land, red, black, or white. In this office Mr. Rollins's great executive ability had full exercise. At times a million of dollars were the average daily receipts of the department.

In the summer of 1869 Mr. Rollins removed to Philadelphia, and was elected Vice-President of the National Life Insurance Company of the United States of America. Upon the resignation of the president, Mr. Clarence H. Clark, in 1872, Mr. Rollins was elected to that office, and continued to hold it until, in 1874, the stock of the company was sold and transferred to John V. Farwell and others of Chicago, when he was succeeded, at his request, by Mr. George H. Stuart, of Philadelphia.

Mr. Rollins took advantage of the leisure thus afforded him to travel in this country and in Europe several months with his family, making a tour through England, Ireland, France, Holland, Germany, and Switzerland. After a long

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