OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 55 



Governor Richardson. Without solicitation on his part, he was 

 four times made candidate for Governor of Nebraska on the 

 Democratic ticket, missing the election as first governor of the 

 state by only 145 votes. He was twice nominated for congress 

 in a similar manner, and had suJScient supporters to make him 

 an almost perpetual candidate for Senator. He was a member 

 of the state legislature for many years and was extremely active 

 in his opposition to the "wildcat" banks that contributed to so 

 many Nebraska failures in early Cornhusker days. During the 

 turbulent times of Populism, forty-five Republican state legis- 

 lators, in caucus, declared their support for him in preference to 

 any populistic candidate. But the nation had more immediate 

 use for him, and he was appointed Secretary of Agriculture in 

 the cabinet of President Cleveland in 1893. His service here 

 met with some hostile criticism on the part of the agricultural 

 interests, but anyone serving during those days of financial 

 upheaval was bound to find much of his efforts negated and many 

 of his accomplishments unpopular. He died from a stroke of 

 apoplexy, April 27, 1902. 



Secretary Morton's love and devotion for his wife were con- 

 spicuous. At the time of her death in 1881, he erected a granite 

 shaft to her in the private burying ground on the home acres. 

 Calling his sons together on its completion, he announced, "A 

 spot for each of you is situated within the compass of the shadow 

 of that shaft, but if one of you at any time dishonors the mother 

 that lies here, his body must find other resting place." Fortu- 

 nately his sons arose to almost equal position in the world, and 

 Paul was not only Secretary of the Navy under President 

 Roosevelt in 1904-05, but resigned to become president of the 

 Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York City. Secretary 

 Morton's statue by Randolph Evans stands in the public square 

 of Nebraska City, a gift of the citizens of the state. 



