Signature and Inscription

This successful Ohio-born industrialist, investor and businessman practiced law and entered politics in New Mexico, serving in Congress (1873-77); he served in the Union Army during the Civil War (father and brother joined the Confederacy) and was filled with disgust over the carnage and cruelty he witnessed, so when Benjamin Harrison appointed him Secretary of War in 1891 no one felt the irony more than he, but he served until 1893; later he served West Virginia as U.S. Senator (1895-1911). Big, bold "With regards of / S.B. Elkins / Nov 10./85" on a 5 3/4" X 2" heavy stock buff slip, n.p. Very good. Bit of irregular inoffensive offsetting from long-ago acidic contact. (Judging from the paper stock, almost certainly the top portion of a pamphlet, likely of a speech Elkins gave such as the 1885 "The Industrial Question in the United States," an address he gave before the Alumni Association of the University of the State of Missouri, June 3, 1885 published in 36 pages by Styles & Cash in New York.) A nice example.…