Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-05
BRIEF SKETCH GIVEN
CABINET OFFICIALS
Nine counseIors Who VIII Advise
President Taft Are Skilled in
Craftsmanship and
Diplomacy
Continued from Page Three,

with having prepared ana cdtiloo'
through the Panama canal purchase in
1903. It was shortly after the conclu-
sion of the Panama purchase that Mr..
Knox was appointed to the United
States senate by Governor Pennypacker
to fill the vacancy caused by the de@In
of Senator Quay, and afterward he was
elected by the legislature for the run
term expiring in March, 1911.
1t was at Mount Union college that
Mai. Mckinley first became acquainted
with young Knox. Mr.. Mckinley was
at that time prosecuting attorney OF
Stark county, and the acquaintance be-
gun when they were both young finally
ripened into the friendship of later
years, and eliminated in the Pennsyl-
vanian's entry into the second Mckin-
ley cabinet. 1t has always been under
stood that President Mckinley sought
to induce Mr.. Knox to accept the at
torney genera1ship in his first cabinet,
but the offer was declined on the plea
of private interests. Mr.. Knox is en-
titled to twice write the degree OF IL.
D. after his name, both the University
of Pennsylvania and Yale universities
having conferred that honor upon him.
Richard A. BalIIneer
Four states may claim a proprietary
interest in Richard A. Ballinger the
new secretary of the interior. He is
a native of Iowa, having been born IN
Boonsboro in 1859; after practiclng law
in Illinois for a while he removed to
Alabama. and in 1889 he became
resident of Port Townsend in Washing
ton state. The next year he was APP
pointed United States commissioner at
Port Townsend and later was elected
Judge of the superior court of JEFFERSON
county. Five years ago Mr.. Ballinger
was elected mayor of Seattle, and when
his term as mayor expired President
Roosevelt appointed him commissioner
of the general land office.
AS a practitioner at the bar Mr.. Bal
linger made a speciality of the admir-
atty and maritime law, and his position
as commissioner of the general land
office gave him a wide knowledge of the
land laws and other important prob
lens which will fall under his jurisdic-
ton as secretary of the interior.
Mr.. Ballinger's father studied law in
the office of Abraham Lincoln, and
his ancestors on both sides participated
in the war of the Revolution and the
war of 1912. He was prepared for col
lege in the public schools and is
graduate of Williams college, class Of
'S4 He is the author of "Ballinger on
Community Property and of "Ballin-
gers Annotated Codes and Statute of
Washington" Mr.. Ballinger is Re-
publican state committeeman for the
state of Washington, and was a mem
Der of the advisory committee during
the last campaign.
Jacob M. Dickinson
Jacob McGavock Dickinson, the new
secretary of war, is the southern men,
Der of President Taft's cabinet. A
Mississippian by birth, he is citizen
of Tennessee and as a Cleveland Demo-
81 fn hn nci-
dency Probably his most notable pub
lie service was as counsel for the Unit
ed States in the Alaskan boundary
case before the arbitration tribunal in
London in 1903. He was an assistant
attorney general of the United States
during Clevelands administration, and
has been general counsel for the Hi
nois Central Railroad company for
some years, spending most of his time
in Chicago, where the general offices Of
that company are located. Mr.. Dickin-
son is IS years old, having been born
in Columbus, Miss. in 1851. He is a
graduate of the University of Nashville,
from which school he has a degree as
master of arts, and ne studied law at
Columbia university, at the University
of Leipzig, and in Paris. He is presi-
dent of the American Bar association
and belongs to the Chicago club, the
Onwentsia and the Iroquois clubs. all
of Chicago. Mr.. Dickinson is the own
err of the famous Belle Meade stock
farm in Nashville.
George Won Lengerke Meyer
George Won Lengerke Meyer, who
goes from the postmaster general Of
flee to the navy department, was
brought into the cabinet in February,
1907, to succeed Postmaster General
Cortelyou. He was at that time am
bassador to st. Petersburg, to which
post he had been transferred from
Rome, where he had served five years
as ambassador Mr.. Meyer is a native
of Boston, in which city he was born
in 1858. After graduating from Har-
ward he entered the employ of COM
mission firm, and some years later be-
came a member of the firm of Under
& Meyer, East India merhants, which
had been established by his father. He
is an officer or director in many large
manufacturing and financial concerns,
and has always been active in politics,
having been a member of the Boston
common council, an alderman, mem
Der of the state legislature, serving as
speaker of the lower house for three
consecutive years. Mr. Meyer was
elected a member of the Republican ma
tional committee in 1899, and on Nc
Kinley's election he was made ambas-
sador to Italy. He is a member of the
Athletic, the Somerset and st. Botolph
clubs of Boston, and among other
business offices is president of the
Ames Plow company and a director of
the Old Colony Trust company and the
Amoskeag Manufacturing company.
Mr.. Meyer is a sportsman and an an
gler, and is known as a crack shot.
George w. Wickersham
New York's representative in the new
cabinet is George w. Wickersham, who
becomes attorney general. Mr. Wick
ersham is a member of the law firm
in which President Taft's brother, Hen
ry w. Taft, is a partner and he is
known as an expert in railroad law.
Although a resident of New York city,
Mr. Wickersham is a native of Penn
sylvania, having been born in Pitts
burg in 1858 He first took civil en-
cheering at Lehigh university, but
later entered the law school of the
University of Pennsylvania, from which
he holds the degree of bachelor of
laws. He Immediately entered practice
in Philadelphia, but later went to New
York and associated himself with the
firm of Chamberlain, Carter q Horn
blower. A year later he became man
aging clerk of the firm of Strong e
Cadwalader, of which President Taft's
brother is a member, and eventually
was taken into partnership.
Mr.. Wickersham is counsel for a
large number of corporations, among
them the Interborough railroad, and as
attorney for the railroads in the ia
nous Chicago traction case came into
considerable public prominence. He
is fond of travel, usually spending a
portion of the year abroad and is a
devoted equestrian. He has a country
residence at Cedarhurst, Long Island