After that Mr. Cortelyou made an efficient officer in this Department, then was transferred to the Treasury, which he ably conducted during the panic of 1907. At the end of the Roosevelt Administration he was called to the presidency of the Consolidated Gas Company in New York City.
Mr. Garfield was soon called to deal with the great corporations, and confronted the greatest problem of the times. He came to his responsible place a comparatively unknown man. His name carried something of the halo which surrounds the name of his distinguished father, and for that reason he started with the best wishes of his countrymen.
Mr. Taft placed at the head of the Department of Commerce and Labor Mr. Nagel, of St. Louis, whose history the Congressional Directory sums up as follows:
CHARLES NAGEL, of St. Louis, Mo., Secretary of Commerce and Labor (the Arlington), was born August 9, 1849, in Colorado County, Tex. He left his home in 1863 as a result of the civil war, accompanying his father to old Mexico, and from there, by way of New York, to St. Louis. He graduated from the St. Louis High School in 1868; from the St. Louis Law School in 1872; attended the University of Berlin 1872-73; admitted to the bar 1873. In 1876 he married Fannie Brandeis, of Louisville, who died in 1889, one daughter surviving her. In 1895 he married Anne Shepley, and they have four children. He was a member of the Missouri Legislature from 1881 to 1883; president of the St. Louis City Council from 1893 to 1897; member of the St. Louis Law School faculty since 1886; Board of Trustees of Washington University; Board of Directors of St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts. Made national committeeman from Missouri in 1908. Has taken an active part in politics for the last twenty years by participating in conventions and speaking during campaigns, and has from time to time delivered addresses before bar associations and similar organizations upon various topics of public interest.
The new department has a wide scope, and under efficient administration may exert a good deal of influence. It takes over practically the scientific and statistical work of the government, especially the Coast Survey, the Bureaus of Statistics from the Treasury and State Departments, and the Fish Commission, besides the Labor Bureau, the Immigration Bureau, and the enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and it has a new Bureau of Manufactures, with considerable duties. But undoubtedly the most important work it can perform is in the Bureau of Corporations. It will do a great work, if it only secures publicity of accounts. The powers of this bureau extend to "diligent investigation into the organization, conduct, and management of any corporation, joint stock company, or corporate combination engaged in commerce among the several States and with foreign nations, excepting common carriers." For this work the Commissioner is to have the "right to subpœna and compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence and to administer oaths." One of the objects of this power is to enable the Commissioner to "gather such information and data as will enable the President of the United States to make recommendations to Congress for the regulation of" interstate and foreign commerce.