Bucknell University - L Agenda Yearbook (Lewisburg, PA)

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GENERAL CHARLES MILLER.

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The foundation of his wealth was acqnired throusfh the business now carried on bv tlie corporation known as the Galena-Signal Oil Conipau}-. Of this great enterprise General Miller was the founder and is still the president and controlling spirit. There are over a dozen other important companies of which General Miller is president, and nearly half a hundred of which he is a director. He has been one of the Board of Directors of the American Jersey ' Cattle Club, twice Mayor of Franklin, for eight years President of the Pennsylvania Baptist State Mission Society, for ten terms Commander of the noted W. B. Mays Post, Department Commander of the G. A. R. of the State of Pennsylvania, a member of the State Board of Charities, and is at the present time the efficient Major. General of the National Guard of the State. His services in connection with the settlement of the great anthracite coal strike during the fall of iga were such as to win the approbation of the miners, also of most capitalists and of fair-minded, well-disposed people generalh-. Many .schools, churches of all denominations and charitable institu- tions have been aided bv General Miller ' s generous gifts. Though denied the advantages of a college education General Miller has read and studied diligenth ' many of the world ' s best books, and has, therefore, a rare fund of information from which he often draws to illustrate ami enforce his very practical public addresses. He was the recipient a few years ago from Bucknell Universitj- of the degree of Master of Arts in recognition of his acquire- ments, his zeal for knowledge and his strenuous efforts in behalf of the cau.se of higher education. His lively, genial manners, his honorable record in bu.siness transactions, together with his sincere desire to be of assistance to all classes of people, have, as might naturally be supposed, combined to win for him the lii,gh regard of a host of friends, and to render him one of the most popular men in the Kevstone State. From various quarters of the Commonwealth he has been repeatedly urged to accept the Republican nomination for Governor Such a nomination, as is well known, is equivalent to an election. But in view of the numerous vast mining and manufacturing interests and commercial projects demanding his attention, it has seemed incumbent on General Miller to forego all political honors, and he has, therefore, positive!} ' refused to allow himself to be considered a candidate. An appropriate testimonial to General Miller ' s powers of initiative and to the worth of his services in the realm of industry and trade was the conferring upon him during the past year b}- the French Government of the decoration of the Legion of Honor, an order instituted by the first Napoleon, and bestowed only upon great generals, scientists, historians, poets, statesmen, discoverers, and others of preeminent merit and achievement.