Interstate telegraph and telephone business. Hearing before the Committee on Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, on the bill (S. 4395)..
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Address delivered before the literary societies of the West Virginia University
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Stephen Benton Elkins was an American lawyer, businessman, politician and national figure in Republican Party for more than 30 years.
Background
Stephen B. Elkins was born on September 26, 1841, near New Lexington, Ohio, the son of Colonel Philip Duncan Elkins and Sarah Pickett Withers, both of whom were Virginians.
His paternal grandfather was a slaveholder of considerable wealth, but, favoring emancipation, he removed to Ohio in 1821 when his son Philip was twelve years of age, settled in Perry County, and bought considerable land in the southern part of the state, including about 3, 000 acres in the coal region of the Hocking Valley, which was later sold by Philip for little or nothing.
Education
Elkins attended the Masonic College in Lexington, Missouri, in the 1850s, and graduated from the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1860 with the Bachelor's degree, and which later (in 1868) granted him the Master of Arts degree. He was especially well trained in mathematics, Greek, and Latin.
Career
After graduation, Elkins taught a country school in Cass County, Missouri, numbering among his students the later notorious Cole ("Bud") Younger, who during the Civil War saved his life by aiding his escape from the Quantrill guerrillas.
At the opening of the Civil War he enlisted in the Union army as a captain of militia in the 77th Missouri Infantry. In so doing, influenced by his knowledge of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and possibly also by his knowledge of incidents on the neighboring Kansas border, he acted against the advice of Gov. Sterling Price to his graduating class of 1860, against the decision of all other members of his class except one, and against his own father and brother, who joined the Confederates.
In spite of financial reverses to his family, which threw him upon his own resources but strengthened his spirit of self-reliance, Elkins entered law school, and in 1864 he gained admission to the Missouri bar. Soon thereafter (1864), in a prairie schooner, he crossed the plains to New Mexico, where he began practise at Messilia and applied himself to the study of the Spanish language in order to aid his transaction of legal business.
Within a year after his arrival Elkins was elected to the territorial legislature and in 1865 was reelected. He was appointed territorial district attorney in 1866 and served until January 14, 1867.
Later he served as attorney-general of the territory (January - March 1867) and as United States district attorney (1867 - 1870).
In 1872 he was elected as a Republican to serve as territorial delegate to the Forty-third Congress, defeating a native New Mexican by a majority of 4, 000; and in 1874, on his return from Europe, he discovered that he had been reelected to Congress, where he served until March 3, 1877. He was untiring in efforts to secure the administration of New Mexico to statehood, and made a speech which attracted wide attention, but his bill of Jan, public control of the great corporations. He was the author and creator of the anti-rebate act of 1903, and joint author of the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910. Stephen Benton Elkins died on January 4, 1911, in Washington, District of Columbia, and was interred in Maplewood Cemetery of Elkins, West Virginia.
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Politics
Stephen B. Elkins was a member of the territorial legislature in 1865 - 1866, attorney general of the territory in 1868 - 1869, and U. S. district attorney in 1870 - 1872. He was then elected a delegate to congress as a Republican, and served two terms, from 1873 till 1877, making a speech in 1874 on the admission of New Mexico to the Union, which attracted much attention.
In 1875 he became interested in the West Virginia system of railroads, and has lately resided in New York. Mr. Elkins was a member of the National Republican committee from 1872 till 1884. He took an active part in the Chicago convention of 1884 that nominated James G. Blaine for the presidency, and earnestly supported him in the canvass.
Personality
In physique Stephen B. Elkins was the personification of energetic health, six feet tall, with broad shoulders, muscular limbs, broad and open brow, kindly blue eyes, and a strong jaw. He was gentle and cheerful in manner, and was simple, domestic, and strongly American in tastes and habits, untempted by the ostentations of wealth.
Interests
Writers
Stephen Elkins had literary tastes and was a great reader.
Connections
On June 10, 1866, Stephen B. Elkins married Sarah Jacobs of Wellington, Missouri, by whom he had two daughters.
In 1875, Elkins met and married his second wife, Mary Louise "Hallie" Davis; they had several children.