completed his law studies in the office of George Rathbun, of Auburn. He was ad mitted to the bar of the Supreme Court at Albany by Judge Nelson in January, 1844, and was made a solicitor in chancery at Sar atoga, by Chancellor Walworth, soon after. In February, 1844, Mr. Cary opened a law office in Red Creek, Wayne County, New York, where he lived until 1850. In the latter-named year he removed to Racine, Wisconsin, and continued in the practice of the law there till 1859. His first law part ner was the late Judge J. R. Doolittle, afterwards United States senator from Wis consin. Judge Doolittle withdrew from the partnership in 1853, at which time he was elected a circuit judge. Mr. Cary became a member of the Milwaukee bar in 1859, and continued as such until 1890, when the re moval of the general offices of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company from the Wisconsin metropolis to Chicago, caused Mr. Cary to move also, he being at that time at the head of the legal department of that corporation. He continued to make Chicago his residence thereafter until his death in 1895. It was during Mr. Cary's residence in Ra cine that his legal ability began to attract attention and awaken interest. And while his rise in professional reputation was rapid and should be denominated eminently re spectable, it had not yet reached that stage where it could be said to have been conspic uous. He was a young lawyer of fair parts and with a promising future. He appears to have had the confidence of the community and was elected to the State senate and served his constituents in that body in 1853 and 1854. In 1857 he was mayor of the city of Racine. Mr. Cary's first case in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, the State court of last resort, was argued in 1853, while he was a member of the Racine bar. It is the
case of Hutchinson etal, v. McClellan, and is found in the 2 Wis. 17. Questions of prac tice are passed upon by the Court adversely to the interests of Mr. Cary's client. It was the opposing counsel, however, who was the moving party in the higher court. While Mr. Cary was laying well the foun dations for the eminent lawyer which he afterwards became, it was not until after his location in Milwaukee that he was identified with important litigated and financial inter ests, out of which we have the great railroad corporation lawyer of the Northwest. His was the master spirit, during the formative period of its life, which made possible the present splendid railroad system operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company, its various lines now aggregating over six thousand miles, and its capital stock amounting to nearly seventy-five millions of dollars. In his manipulation of the affairs of this corporation, of the legal department of which he was in charge from its organization in 1863, until his death in 1895, he was more than the mere lawyer; he was the business man of wonderful constructive abil ity as well. The case of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company against the Rail road and Warehouse Commission of the State of Minnesota was an important bit of litigation, not only to the parties directly concerned, but to transportation companies generally. It was known as " The Milk Rate Case," and involved the question whether the legislature of a State, acting either by positive law or through a commis sion, can prescribe rates of freight to a com mon carrier by railway which are not fair, reasonable or compensatory, less even than the cost of transportation, and then compel the carrier by mandamus to perform the carriage at the rates so fixed and prescribed. The case was decided against the Railway
