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loaned Grover Cleveland twenty-five hun dred dollars, without security, with which he obtained his education, all of which was duly repaid. Randolph W. Townsend, of New York City, a prominent member of the Bar, who is upwards of eighty-six years of age, is a brother of Martin I. Mrs. Nason of Troy is the only child of Mr. Townsend, and she has but one child, Hon. Henry T. Nason, the present judge of Rensselaer county. Mr. Townsend has always maintained a high reputation for ability and integrity, and his neighbors, among whom he has resided for over sixty-five years, fully ap preciate and respect him. On February 5, 1899, the day before he became eighty-nine years of age, the " Troy Northern Budget" thus spoke of him : — "Hon. Martin I. Townsend, the Nestor of the Rensselaer County bar, and one of the three

oldest active members of the State bar, closes to-day the eighty-ninth year of his distinguished, and in many respects remarkable, life, and will to-morrow enter upon his ninetieth year. Mr. Townsend is the most vigorous man of his years known to the profession of law in the State. His only professional rivals in years are Mr. Austin of Chautauqua, who is ninety years old, and Mr. Silliman of Brooklyn, who is ninety-three years old. He attends daily to his professional busi ness, and is as much interested as ever in the work of his profession and the events of the day. Nature has been very kind to him, equipping him for the battle of life with splendid physical powers and talents, which have given him a place of high honor among men of mark." The writer of this sketch has been per sonally acquainted with Mr. Townsend for over sixty years, and deems it a duty as well as a pleasure to place upon record a brief biography of an eminent citizen, a dis tinguished and venerable member of the American Bar.

CONSTITUTION OR THEORY,— WHICH? By Eltweed Pomeroy, PRESIDENT NATIONAL DIRECT LEGISLATION LEAGUE.

Talk about anarchy! talk about breeding the spirit of commercialism! What does it more than the representative citizens of Chicago? Who bribes the common council? It is not the men in the common walks of life. It is you representative citi zens, you capitalists, you business men. Ex-Mayor Sw1ft, of Chieago. Prominent merchants who were " on the inside" as to contracts, manufacturers enjoying special mu nicipal privileges, wealthy capitalists, brokers, and others who were the holders of securities of traction, and other corporations, had their mouths stopped, their convictions of duty strangled, and their influ ence before, and their votes on, election day pre empted against us because identified with the city ring. The support of great steam railroads and the largest manufacturing corporations was thrown

against us because, as one frankly explained, it was much easier dealing with a " boss." We even found the directors of many banks in an attitude of cold neutrality, if not of actual hostility, because their bank either was or wanted to be the depository' of the city's funds (to be enjoyed without interest), or because of the profits in discounting municipal obligations. As one of them puts it, "If you want to be anybody, or make money in Pitts burg, it is necessary to be on the side of the city ring." The venality of some of the newspapers was another surprise to us. This pitiable bartering of conscience and servile espousal of a cause they really despised was the price paid for a share in the city advertising, which was at the disposal, but not at the expense, of the city boss. The extent of this demoralization among the higher ranks of citizens, of bankers, manufacturers