accept the position of secretary of the treasury during his administration. The same tender was made by President Harrison in 1889, and it is well known that he could have taken the position of secretary of state under President McKinley's first administration, but he declined all these tempting offers of administrative positions, preferring to represent the state of Iowa in the United States senate, that position being more congenial to his tastes and more in line with his life-work and his studies. He was frequently mentioned as an available candidate for president, and was three times strongly supported for that office by his own state in national conventions. It should be said in justice to him that he never had a consuming ambition for the place, and no disappointment in that respect has embittered his feelings or disturbed his devotion to duty or to party.
Always an active though temperate partisan. Senator Allison has been able to command the interest, respect and esteem of his political opponents by his fairness, and his deference to the opinions of those who differ from him. His methods and his manners are so unpretentious and conciliatory that they invite support instead of provoking antagonism. In debate, or in any form of public speech, he does not seek to be kno^vn as an orator; but as a clear, instructive, and direct speaker, free from flights of fancy and florid rhetoric. The confidence of the senate in his statements is very notable, and his explanations are always trustworthy, because utterly devoid of indirection or subtle concealments. He is often called conservative, because he does not hesitate to give full consideration and investigation to every subject brought before him. In this sense he is conservative, and this very conservatism is the element in his make-up that gives authority and confidence to his words.
He was married in 1854, to Miss Anna Carter, daughter of Daniel Carter, of Ashland, Ohio. She died in Dubuque in 1860. His second marriage was with the adopted daughter of Senator Grimes, Miss Mary Nealley, of Burlington, Iowa, in 1873. She died in August, 1883.
