RECOLLECTIONS OF E. L. APPLEGATE 261
The convention had finished all of its preliminary business and adjourned until a certain hour in order that the committee on platform might have time to prepare a report. When the convention reconvened the committee had not completed its work, and asked for more time. While waiting, speakers were called upon to address the convention, and among them was Applegate. He responded, with a speech of great vigor replete with wit and eloquence and bristling with telling points. He had been in retirement for so many years that he was a stranger to a majority of the delegates, and they were so im- pressed with his effort that the notion that he would be a good standard bearer took possession of them and when the ballot- ting for electors took place he was one of the chosen. His speeches during that campaign added nothing to his fame, and after its close he went into comparative retirement for several years. In 1888, however, he stepped into the arena again, and took a part in the Presidential contest of that year. Shortly after the inauguration of Harrison he was appointed agent for the Klamath Indian Reservation in Southeastern Oregon. It was perhaps a place he was least suited to fill, of all the offices in Oregon which were at the disposal of the President. At any rate it soon developed that he was not the man for the position, not because of lack of general ability or financial honesty, for there was never a suspicion of crookedness that I ever heard of in connection with his administration of the financial affairs of his office, but he lacked the tact and the self-restraint which are so essential in a position of that kind. It was not long after assuming the duties of his office that there was friction between him and the church authorities that had supervision of the educational and religious work among the Indians on the reservation, and after a time it became so serious that a change was required and a successor to Applegate was ap- pointed. On account of this action "Lish" considered that he had been unjustly treated by the administration and was in- tensely embittered. His resentment was about equally divided between President Harrison, who performed the act, and the church that occasioned it. He was heard to say after the con-
