Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-17
AMERICAS D|SRAEL|.
Oscar Straus and the Secre-
taryship of State.
FIRST HEBREW IN CABINET
Made Phenomenal Record in Diplo-
4 macy at Constantinople.
MEMBER OF HAGUE TRIBUNAL
Success in Bringing Labor and Capt.
tai Together and in Promoting
Organized Social Charities.
FIRST HEBREW IN CABINET
MEMBER OF HAGUE TRIBUNAL

Copyright, 1905. by John Elfreth watkins)
Oscar Solomon Stratus will be the first Jew
to sit in the American cabinet He is not,
however, the first of his race to have been
invited to hold an executive portfolio His
brother Isidor declined that of Postmaster
General, offered to him by Mr.. Cleveland,
while Joseph Selig.nan was rendered the
secretaryship of the treasury by Grant. 1t is
rumored that Mr.. Straus is already consid-
cred for promotion from the secretaryship
of Commerce and Labor to that of State
that he may be the Disraeli of the Roosevelt
administration in its latter days. Should
Mr.. Straus become Secretary of State upon
the retirement of Elihu Root, and should
an unforeseen fatality remove the Vice
President, Mr.. Stratus would not as did
John Hay after the demise of Mr. Hobart
stand next in order of succession to the
presidency. Indeed. regardless of the de-
gree of patriotic zeal, of fearless honesty,
of self-sacrifcing irfdefatigability with
which Mr.. Straus may continue to work
for the benefit of the republic. 1t can never
reward him with its highest office. This
Is because the Secretary elect of Com
merce and Labor is of foreign birth.
Mr.. Straus was born In Gutenberg, Rhen-
!. isb Bavaria. in 1880 Just century ago his
paternal great-grandfather, Jacob Lazarus,
was elected from the department of Mont
Tennere to the assembly of the Jewish no.
tables. convened by Napoleon preliminary
to his establishment of that council of Jews
known as the French sanhedrin. Mr.
Strauss grandfather, Isaac, dubbed him.
self Stratus in 1905 when Napoleon issued
the decree ordering all Alsatian Jews to
adopt family names.
From Bavaria to Georgia.
Lazarus. the father of Oscar Straus. be-
came possessed of considerable means. made
IN both agricultural and commercial pur-
cults. During his young manhood a liberal
movement was gradually brewing In Bava-
ria against the ultramontane party, which
controlled the king and favored the pope.
Lazarus Straus became a liberal In Bava-
rian politics, and as such became involved
in the revolutionary movement of 1S4S,
which resulted in the abdication of Ludwig
i and the Punishment of his mistress, the
notorious creole-1rish dancing girl, Lola
MonteZ. who, 1t will be remembered spent
= fso last days In America. devoting herself
to vice crusades and repentance until her
death on Long Island in 1861. Macmillan
the new king, turned also to the ultramon-
tame party. and Lazarus Straus emigrated
to Georgia in 1854 In a few months he was
followed by his wife, Sara and their three
sons-lsidor. aged nine; Nathan, aged six
and Oscar. aged four. The father kept
store first at Talbotton and then at Column
bus. Ga. but in 1855 moved to New York
and established himself as an importer of
pottery and glassware AT this business
into which he gradually received his sons
he grew continually richer until his death
In 1888. at near the age of ninety years. He
was patron of research, and 1t was due to
his instgation that DR.. Moses Kayserling
OF Buda Pesth undertook the researches in
Spain that threw entirely new light upon
the steps which led up to the discovery of
America by Columbus 1t was this research
which proved that-as Prof. Adams of
Johns Hopkins says-"not jewels but
Jews, were the financial basis of the first
expedition of Columbus" DR.. Kayserling
proved the story of Isabella and the pawn
Ing of her Jewels to be myth and demon
strated that Santangel, chancellor of the
royal household of Spain and a Jew, ad-
vanced the funds for Columbus first expe-
dition from his private interests-that he
did so in the interest OF CASTLE only.
Career as a Lawyer.
Oscar Straus was in his thirteenth year
when the family moved from Talbotton Ga
to Columbus, in the same state. He was
nearing fifteen when, at the close of the
civil war, the final removal was made to
New York. After reaching the metropolis
he was entered in the Columbia Grammar
School and there prepared for Columbia
College. where he was graduated In 1871, at
the age of twenty. The next two years he
spent at the Columbia Law School. receiv-
Ing his diploma in 1879. He became part
ner in the law firm of Hudson & Straus and
later that of Sterne. Straus & Thompson,
the senior partner in the latter being Simon
Sterne. former editor of the Commercial
Advertiser. the notable Jewish attorney
who drafted the interstate commerce act
and who as secretary of the committee of
seventy greatly aided in the overthrow of
the Tweed ring In January. 1881 Mr.
Straus' health broke down. He was per-
suaded to release himself from the seden-
tary confinements of the law and to enter
his fathers firm.
Recommended to Cleveland by Beecher
He was a democrat, as were his brothers
He was prominent in the merchants move
ment for the election of Grover Cleveland
in 1854 In 1881 at the suggestion of Henry
Ward Beecher President Cleveland appoint
ed him minister to Turkey and at Constan-
tinople he did forceful work. resulting in the
reopening of many American schools that
had been closed in the Ottoman empire. He
also succeeded in gaining recognition of
many American schools and colleges by
the Turkish government and was altogether
osuccessful in his difficult mission-Constan-
tinople having always been our most trying
diplomatic poSt-that Mr.. Harrison desired
10 retain him there. But private easons
caused Mr.. Straus TO decline. Mr.. Cleve-
land. when he returned to the White House
four years later, endeavored to persuade