ON. JOHN F. CORNELL, auditor of state, was born in De Kalb county, Indiana, February 7, 1847, of English-German ancestry, and came with his parents to Nebraska as early as 1856, when but a mere school-

boy. He was obliged, by reason of his lot being cast amid the severe requirements of pioneer life, to toil hard during the summer and fall of each year, attending school only about three months out of the twelve. As he puts it, he "led a rather monotonous life until twenty-one years of age." He taught school, farmed, rustled, and spent two years of his life in Mitchell county, Kan-

sas, on a homestead. He attended the State University of Nebraska for two years. In 1882 he was married to Miss Belle Patterson, of Richardson county, this state. He has never been considered a politician in the ordinary sense, though several times honored by his neighbors and friends with local offices, and served as a member of the board of county supervisors of Richardson county for five years. Since 1890 Mr. Cornell has been identified with the populist party, and in 1892 ran for the state senate from the first district, reducing the normal republican majority from 600 to 70. He was elected auditor over one of the strongest candidates for state office nominated by the republican party in the campaign of 1896. Auditor Cornell is a man of the strictest integrity, thoroughly conscientious in his discharge of public duties, and has the unbroken confidence of all who know him.

ON. CONSTANTINE J. SMYTH, attorney general of Nebraska, is a native of the Emerald Isle, having been born in Ireland December 3, 1858. He came to America at the age of eleven years, locating in New York City, where he resided until he came to Nebraska. He located in Omaha in 1877 and educated himself at Creighton College, paying his expenses from wages earned as mail clerk on the Omaha Herald. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1885. The year following he was elected to the house of representatives, and made a brilliant record as a legislator, taking part in many of the important debates on public meas-

ures. For three and one-half years he was a member of the Omaha board of education. In 1894 he was selected as chairman of the democratic state central committee, and served two years. He was one of the four delegates at large, and chairman of the delegation from Nebraska to the democratic national convention in Chi-

cago in 1896, and played a prominent part in bringing about the nomination of Hon. William Jennings Bryan. Mr. Smyth was nominated in the Omaha democratic convention of 1896 for attorney general, was endorsed by the populist convention held at Hastings, and elected by a large plurality. In January, 1889, Mr. Smyth was married at Omaha to Miss Katie Murphy.

He was a law student some years ago with Hon. J. D. Howe and H. J. Davenport, of Omaha. He has the reputation of always having been a close student, and during his professional career has taken part in many cases of note. Attorney General Smyth is a courteous gentleman of refined temperament, pleasing address, forceful in expression, and with high ideals. It is safe to assume that he will make a creditable administration, both to himself politically and to the state with whose interests he is charged.