196
��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��bers, and he was rapidly working his way to a prominent place among them, when he turned aside to enter political life, — a step which many of the emi- nent men with whom he was associat- ed in the trial of causes, regard even now as a great mistake, his brilliant success in the field of politics failing, in their estimation, to compensate for what he was capable of achieving in the law. For several years he practiced alone ; but in 1S75 formed a partner- ship with Alvin Burleigh, which con- tinued until his election to the U. S. Senate.
In 1866 Mr. Blair was elected a representative to the popular branch of the state legislature, and there began the political service which has since made him so widely known. The next year he was promoted to the state senate by the voters of the eleventh district, and in 1S68 was re- elected. In 1872 the third district, composed of the counties of Coos, Grafton, Sullivan, and Cheshire, elect- ed a Democrat to congress ; and in 1S74 the Republicans, looking about for a candidate under whose lead they could redeem it, found him in Mr. Blair, whose reputation as a soldier, clean record as a citizen, personal popularity, and indefatigable industry and zeal dictated his enthusiastic nomi- nation, and after an exciting campaign secured his election to the fortv-fourth congress. In 1876 he was again elected, and in 1878 declined a re- nomination. The next summer the term of United States Senator Wad- leigh having expired, Mr. Blair came forward as a candidate for the .suc- cession. He was earnestly supported by the younger men of the party, by the temperance and soldier elements ; and, though his competitors were the ablest men in the state, he bore away the great prize, and immediately en- tered upon the discharge of his duties at Washington, to which he has since devoted himself.
Mr. Blair's election to the national senate was largely due to the record he had made in the house, and to his
��remarkable faculty of winning and retaining the hearty friendship of nearly all with whom he had ever beer* associated. From his youth up he had held radical views upon public questions ; and the persistency and zeal with which he advanced and de- fended these under all circumstances convinced even his opponents of his entire sincerity, and bound to him his co-workers with locks of steel. Men liked him because he was cordial, frank, and earnest, and respected him because he had ability, industry, and courage ; and so they rallied around him with a devotion and faith which overcame ail opposition.
During the four years he represent- ed the third district in the house, he served upon the committees on Rail- roads and Accounts, and several special committees. In the senate of the forty sixth congress, upon the committees on Education and Labor, Agriculture, Transportation, Routes to the Seabord, Election Frauds, Pen- sions, and Exodus of the Colored People : and in tlv* present congress is chairman of the senate committee on Education and Labor, and a mem- ber of those on Pensions, Public Lands, Agriculture, and Woman Suf- frage. In committees he is known as a working man.
Soon after entering the house he introduced and advocated with great ability a proposition to amend the national constitution so as to prohibit the manufacture or sale of distilled spirits in the United. Slates after 1890* a measure which gave him a national reputation, and caused him to be re- cognized by die temperance people of the country as their leader and cham- pion in the national capitol. Thejr regard him also as the special pro- moter of the great movement to amend the constitutions of the several states so as to prohibit the manufacture of intoxicating liquors for other than medicinal, mechanical and chemical purposes. The woman suffragists have also found in him a vigorous and un- wearying defender. His speeches and
�� �
