George E. Roberts
George E. Roberts | |
|---|---|
 Roberts in 1917 | |
| Born | George Evan Roberts August 19, 1857 Colesburg, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | June 6, 1948 (aged 90) Larchmont, New York, U.S. |
George Evan Roberts (August 19, 1857 – June 6, 1948) was Director of the United States Mint from 1898 to 1907, and again from 1910 to 1914.
Early life and education[edit]
George E. Roberts was born in Colesburg, Iowa, on August 19, 1857, the son of David and Mary (Harvey) Roberts.[1] He was raised in three areas of Iowa, Dubuque County, Manchester, and Fort Dodge.[1]
Career[edit]
Newspaper industry[edit]
Roberts began a career in the newspaper industry by working as a printer's apprentice at the Fort Dodge Times, and later the Fort Dodge Messenger.[1] He served briefly as city editor of the Sioux City Journal.[1] In 1878, he purchased the Fort Dodge Messenger and served as its editor.[1] Roberts was active in the Republican Party of Iowa and, in 1883, was elected State Printer of Iowa, an office he held until 1889.[1] In 1902, he and a partner purchased the Iowa State Register and the Des Moines Leader, which they merged to form the Des Moines Register and Leader.[1]
Author and journalist[edit]
As a newspaper editor, Roberts was particularly interested in economic and monetary policy. He was an opponent of free silver.[1] In 1894, he published a response to William Hope Harvey's Coin's Financial School (1893), entitled Coin at School in Finance.[1] He followed this up with Money, Wages and Prices (1895) and Iowa and the Silver Question (1896).[1] Both of these works were important parts of the campaign that defeated William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 U.S. presidential election.[1] In 1902, Roberts authored the Iowa Republican Party's platform on tariffs, which criticized protectionism and supported reciprocity.[1]
United States Mint director[edit]
In 1898, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Lyman J. Gage recommended to U.S. president William McKinley that he appoint Roberts Director of the United States Mint, and Roberts held that office for nearly a decade, February 1898 to July 1907.[1] He then became president of the Commercial National Bank in Chicago.[1] In 1910, President William Howard Taft appointed Roberts to a third term as Director of the U.S. Mint, with Roberts holding office from July 1910 to November 1914.[1]
In 1914, he left government service to become assistant to the president of the National City Bank in New York City.[1]
In 1916, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.[2] He became a vice president of the bank in 1919, a position he held until 1931, when he became one of the bank's economic advisers, a position he held until his death.[1]
From 1914 to 1940, Roberts edited the bank's monthly economic letter, an investment bulletin dealing with world events, economic affairs, and national and international finances.[1] In 1929, he headed a delegation of financiers to Panama to study that country's finances.[1] He was a member of the Gold Delegation of the Financial Committee of the League of Nations from 1930 to 1932.[1]
Death[edit]
Roberts died at his home in Larchmont, New York, on June 6, 1948.[1]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1857 births
- 1948 deaths
- Directors of the United States Mint
- Fellows of the American Statistical Association
- Members of the United States Assay Commission
- People from Fort Dodge, Iowa
- People from Dubuque County, Iowa
- People from Manchester, Iowa
- People from Larchmont, New York
- People from Delaware County, Iowa
- Mathematicians from New York (state)
- McKinley administration personnel
- Taft administration personnel
- Woodrow Wilson administration personnel