Chapter C: T. Cox

_Answer._—There is no prospect of an early union of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan by a canal. The length of such waterway would be about 200 miles. The distance around the lakes, from the eastern mouth of the proposed canal to the western mouth is about 700 miles.

A RETIRED CONGRESSMAN.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.

Who represented the Ninth District of Ohio in Congress in 1864 and
1865? Please give a brief sketch of his life.

A READER.

_Answer._—Warren P. Noble, who represented the Ninth District of Ohio in Congress from 1861 to 1865, was born in Pennsylvania, June 14, 1821. He received a common school education, and in his youth moved to Ohio, where he studied law. He began to practice at Tiffin, where his abilities were soon recognized, and he became a member of the Legislature of his State, serving in that capacity from 1856 to 1860. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-seventh Congress in 1860, re-elected in 1862, serving in both Congresses on the Committee on Patents. Being defeated by the Republican nominee in 1864, and this party having grown powerful by the success of its wise and patriotic policy before another biennial election came around, Mr. Noble retired permanently from politics.

SAMUEL J. RANDALL.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.

Send us a few facts in regard to ex-Speaker Randall, one of the big
chiefs in the Democratic camp.

S. MOORE.

_Answer._—Samuel J. Randall is undoubtedly one of the leading spirits in his party. He is a shrewd, sagacious politician rather than a great statesman, but in statesmanship he is one of the prominent figures on the Democratic side of the House. He is shrewd enough to know that a Democrat of out-and-out free-trade professions would have no encouragement to aspire to any office in the gift of Pennsylvania, but besides this it is only fair to grant him credit for knowing that it would be ruinous to the enormous mining, manufacturing, and farming interests of his State for this country to practice free trade. So he has been instrumental in keeping a considerable following of Democrats who will vote with him against violent reductions in the present tariff. Mr. Randall is a Philadelphian by birth. He was born Oct. 10, 1828; received a fair academic education; was for a time engaged in mercantile business; was for four years a member of the City Council; then a member of the State Senate for a year; was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and has held membership in the House ever since. In the election of 1880 he carried his district by 13,661 votes, against 9,880 for B. L. Berry, Republican, and he was re-elected last November by a still larger majority. He has sat on several of the most important committees in the House; was Speaker for the last session of the Forty-fourth Congress, for the Forty-fifth and the Forty-sixth Congresses, and has a fair prospect of being Speaker of the next Congress.

CAN A JEW BE A GERMAN?

ROCK FALLS, Ill.

Is it possible for a Jew to be a German, or a German a Jew? And how
is it in other countries?