Ypsilanti High School - Ypsi Dixit Yearbook (Ypsilanti, MI)

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elaborate preparation of his cases before trial, and by clear and impressive presentation of the law and facts to the court and jury. Mr. Uhl was all his life identified with the democratic party in politics, which was in the minority in tl1e state. Had he been with the majority, there is little doubt that he would have been recognized by the offer of many honors and oiiices by his party. It was not until 1890 that he entered upon his public career. In that year he was elected mayor of Grand Rapids, the second city of the state, and in 1891 was elected for a second term by a large majority. It is not too much to say that he added more of l1o11or and dignity to the office than the position could possibly confer upon him. He left the office of mayor with the universal respect of his fellow townsmeng a11d in the democratic state con- vention of 1894 he received the unanimous nomination of his party for United States Senator. As his party was in a minority in the legislature, the nomination proved only an honorable endorsement by his party friends. Upon the inauguration of President Cleveland, March 1893, he tendered to Mr-. Uhl a high position in the War Department, which place was declined, on account of his entire unfamiliarity with military affairs. Later he was asked to accept a diplomatic post abroad, which was in like manner declined. Upon the resignation of Mr. Quincy as Assistant Secretary of State, in October 1893, that position was tendered Mr. Uhl by the Presi- dent, and accepted. As soon as he could arrange his business and private affairs, he took up his residence at Washington and entered upon the discharge of tl1e duties of the position. Under the law and the usage of the department, the Assist- ant Secretary of State becomes acting Secretary, in case of the absence or disability of the Secretary of State. As is well known, Secretary Gresham was too ill to attend at his oihce for several months, and during this period Mr. Uhl was de facto Secretary of State, and some very important diplomatic episodes were managed bv him. The most cordial relations of mutual esteem and confidence existed between Mr. Uhl and his chief, and no uncomfortable restrictions were put upon his freedom of action. Perhaps the most important matter entrusted to him as Assistant Secretary was the arbitration of the boundary between Brazil and the Argentine. This case involved what is known as

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ability, in which regard he was easily the leader in his class. In 1858 he entered Michigan University in the classical course, and there his career was marked by the same qualities as his preparatory course. The enviable standing he gained in college, was by virtue of conscientious, hard work, and he graduated in the class of 1862, with a most honorable record. For five years the writer of this sketch was his scl1oolmate. Immediately he took up the study of law in the oliice of Norris 8: Ninde at Ypsi- lanti, and in January 1864 he was admitted to the bar of Michi- gan, before the Supreme Court of the state. For about thirty years he devoted himself almost exclusively to the practice of the law, and in that time gained a position very near the head of the profession in the state. In 1866 he formed a partnership with Hon. Lyman D. Norris, then of Ypsilanti, under the style of Norris 84 Uhl, and this relation continued until 1871, when Mr. Norris removed to Grand Rapids. In 1871 and 1872 Mr. Uhl was prosecuting attorney for the County of Washtenaw, and declined a re-election. In 1873 he formed a partnership with Mr. Albert Crane, also an old pupil in the Seminary, under the firm name of Uhl 8L Crane, and this part- nership continued until 1876, when Mr. Uhl removed to Grand Rapids, and renewed his partnership with Mr. Norris, which business association continued uninterrupted for a period of eleven years. During tl1is time they became one of the best known and most highly esteemed law Hrms in Western Michi- gan, with a wide and constantly increasing clientage. But Mr. Uhl did not limit his activities to the legal pro- fession. In 1881 he was made president of the Grand Rapids National Bank, one of the large financial institutions of the western part of the state, and was identified with numerous industrial enterprises, and concerned in the management and settlement of very large estates. At the beginning of 1887, Mr. Norris retired fron1 tl1e firm, and Mr. Uhl once more became associated with Mr. Albert Crane, who had then also removed to Grand Rapids. Their partnership continued until Mr. Uhl accepted tl1e position of Assistant Secretary of State of the United States, in October 1893. Mr. Uhl's work as a lawyer was characterized by careful and

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the Missiones Strip, embracing 31,000 square miles of terri- tory and tl1e nationality of 68,000 people. It was a matter of the utmost delicacy and in otl1er times could have been settled only by war. Mr. Uhl devoted several months of the most severe 'and careful labor to the study and brieiing of this case, and so thoroughly and conscientiously was the work performed that the President signed his finding without change. To sig- nalize his approval of the labor of Mr. Uhl, Mr. Cleveland specially commissioned him to deliver the award ofthe diplo- matic representatives of tl1e contending parties. This award was delivered February 6, 1895, and during the same year, Mr. Uhl went abroad, and traveled through a large part of the continent, inspecting the consular service, and directing such changes in methods as his examinations suggested. Not long after his return from tl1is important tour, a vacancy occurred in tl1e post of ambassador plenipotentiary to the German Empire, through the death of Chancellor Runyon, the incumbent. Numerous names were urged for this important mission, but as a result of his personal knowledge of and acquaintance with Mr. Ul1l and his excellent judgment in matters of state, the President upon his own motion, tendered the appointment to him. This was in February 1896, and in the following n1ontl1 he proceeded to Berlin and entered upon the duties of his ambassadorship. In the spring of 1897, not long after the inauguration of Presi- dent McKinley, the latter commissioned Hon. Andrew D. White, who had been one of Mr. Uhl's teachers in the University, to suc- ceed him. Returning to the United States in the summer of 1897, Mr. Uhl resumed the practice of law, in Chicago and in Grand Rap- ids. In Chicago he formed a partnership under the style of Uhl, Jones SL Landis, and in Grand Rapids, under the firm of Uhl, Hyde 81 Earl. But after a time, he found this double work too exacting, and that the vigor and energy of youth had been impaired during the years of l1is public service, and he withdrew from the Chicago connection, and in 1899 settled down for a quiet life of comparative ease, at his beautiful country place Wald- heim, a little beyond the southern boundary of the city of Grand Rapids. He had been re-elected president of the Grand Rapids National Bank, and he received many tokens of the continued esteem and confidence of his old friends and townsmen.