Edwin Hurd Conger was an American soldier, military, politician, and diplomat. He served as a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Iowa from 1885 to 1890.
Background
Edwin Hurd Conger was the son of pioneering parents, born on March 07, 1843 near Galesburg, Illinois, United States. Both his father, Lorentus E. Conger, and his mother, Mary Hurd Conger, were of thrifty American stock, endowed with the ambition and common sense of a long line of New York and Vermont ancestors. They prospered at farming and banking.
Education
Conger was sent to Lombard College, a Universalist school in Galesburg, where he graduated from the classical course in 1862. He also graduated from the Albany Law School in 1866 and was admitted to the bar.
Career
About 1862 Conger enlisted in the army, and on September 02, 1862, was mustered into the United States service as a first lieutenant of Company I, 102nd Illinois Infantry. In October 1863 he was promoted to the rank of captain and served in that capacity until the end of the war. Although he was regarded as “an intelligent officer” and marched with Sherman to the sea, the records credit him with no particularly notable military achievements.
About 1866 he opened a law office in Galesburg, Illinois. Two years later he moved to Madison County, Iowa, where he operated a large stock farm and engaged in banking so successfully that he accumulated a modest fortune, most of which was lost, however, through the failure of friends and relatives whose notes he had endorsed. The same traits of character which made him successful in business—a genial disposition, honest dealing, and a knack for remembering people, together with a wide personal acquaintance— were essential factors in his political career.
Beginning as a Madison County supervisor in 1870, he afterward served two terms as treasurer of Dallas County and held the office of state treasurer for two terms. Meanwhile, in 1884, he was elected to the Forty-ninth Congress from the 7th district of Iowa, and was twice reelected. In the Fifty-first Congress, when the Republicans resumed control, he became chairman of the Committee of Coinage, Weights and Measures, and ranked second on the committees on agriculture and banking and currency.
On September 27, 1890, Conger resigned from Congress, his appointment as minister to Brazil being that day confirmed by the Senate. After three pleasant and rather uneventful years at at Rio, he was displaced by a deserving Democrat, but in May 1897, he was reappointed by his friend, President McKinley. Then, in less than a year, he was unexpectedly transferred to China. Arriving in Peking in the early summer of 1898, he observed the development of the anti-foreign feeling and, during the terrible weeks from June 20 to August 14, 1900, when the Boxers besieged the legations, he conducted himself with the courage and firmness of a veteran soldier. After the uprising, as before, Conger steadfastly refused to demand concessions or aid other schemes for the exploitation of the Chinese, with the result that he won their confidence, respect, and high esteem. For a few months he served as ambassador to Mexico, but the expense of that post and his need for rest caused him to quit the diplomatic service on October 18, 1905.
Achievements
Religion
Conger was reared as a Universalist and he never departed from that faith.
Politics
Edwin Hurd Conger was a member of the Republican Party. While in politics he devoted much of his energy to securing pensions for old soldiers. As a member of the conference committee on the Silver Purchase Act of 1890, he agreed to the elimination of the free coinage provision. In harmony with his constituents, he favored the suppression of trusts and advocated the taxation of “compound lard”.