WILLIAM SULZER
SULZER, WILLIAM, lawyer from 1884; member of the assembly of the state of New York five consecutive terms, 1890-94; speaker of the assembly, 1893 (being the youngest speaker in the history of the state); delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1896, 1900 and 1904; representative from the tenth district of New York to the fifty-fourth to fifty-ninth Congresses, was born in Elizabeth, Union county, New Jersey, March 18, 1863. His father, Thomas Sulzer, a native of Germany, while a student at Heidelberg, joined the patriots, engaged in the Revolution of 1848, was captured and imprisoned, making his escape to Switzerland, and then emigrated to America, landing in New York in 1851, where he was soon after married. Thomas Sulzer subsequently became a contractor and farmer near Elizabeth, New Jersey, and was assisted in his farm work by his son William until the boy was fourteen years old. William Sulzer attended the public schools and was graduated from the grammar school in 1877. He attended lectures at Columbia College law school, and studied in the law office of Parrish and Pendleton, in New York city. He was admitted to the bar on reaching his majority in 1884 and began the active practice of the law in New York city. He early achieved success as a lawyer, and soon became recognized as an eloquent public speaker and rendered effective service to the Democratic national committee as a campaign orator in the campaigns of 1884 and 1888 and in every state and national contest since. He was elected to the New York assembly in 1889 and was reelected each successive year for five terms, serving as speaker of the assembly in 1893, and as leader of the Democratic minority in 1894. He made a brilliant record during his term in the New York assembly for honesty, ability and industry. In 1894 he was elected from the tenth district of New York a representative to the fifty-fourth Congress, and was reelected by an increased majority at each successive election. His present term will expire in March, 1907. His service in congress was conspicuous for his championship of popular rights, and especially his defense of the cause of the people
