energies exclusively to the law, and permitting nothing to interfere with the work to be done, until he had built up a practice among the most extensive and important in Western Iowa.
His public spirit served to multiply his interests. He was the largest contributor toward the establishment of an academy and normal school at Denison, and he held the position of President of the Board of Trustees from the outset. At about the same time Mr. Shaw went into the banking business. He was impelled to take this step through noting the difficulty experienced by the Iowa farmers in obtaining loans for the legitimate extension of their operations, although the security afforded was of the very best to be found in the country. He became the president of banks at Denison and Manila, Iowa, and the success of these institutions eloquently attested the soundness of his theories with reference to financial matters.
Ever since he became a voter, Leslie M. Shaw has been identified with the Republican party, and with each recurring campaign he rendered aid in so far as opportunity offered. It was not, however, until the campaign of 1896 that his work began to attract attention outside of his own county. That memorable year found the state of Iowa one of the scenes of fiercest conflict between the advocates of free silver and of the gold standard, respectively, and Mr. Shaw's opportunity came when he was asked to reply to an address delivered by William J. Bryan. His grasp of the whole financial subject, his resistless arguments, and his convincing manner of presenting them caused him to be in great demand for public addresses all over the state.
When in 1897 Governor Drake declined a renomination because of ill health, Mr. Shaw was given the Republican nomination for governor of the state. He made a most remarkable canvass, based almost solely on his championship of the gold standard, and he was elected by a plurality of 29,975 votes. His first election as governor was in 1897, and he was reelected in 1899.
In 1898 Governor Shaw was selected by the Sound Money Commission to preside at the International Monetary Convention at Indianapolis, and his address on that occasion attracted wide attention. In 1900 upon the death of United States Senator John H. Gear, Governor Shaw unhesitatingly appointed Representative Dolliver to the position thus made vacant, although the governor's friends
