Background
Clark was born in Lima, New York on February 18, 1856, and attended Williams College.
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Edgar Erastus Clark
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Williams College.
Career
He would later receive a law degree. In 1872, he went West, eventually settling in Iowa, and after serving as a brakeman on various railroads, became a conductor on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1884. In 1888, he was elected Grand Senior Conductor of the Order of Railway Conductors, and in 1890 became Grand Chief Conductor of the Order.
Clark would hold that position until 1906.
He was succeeded as president on September 1, 1906 by Austin B. Garretson. Clark involved himself in lobbying, and received cr for the 1898 enactment of a Mediation and Arbitration Acting, which provided for a permanent board to settle disputes between railways and their employees.
In 1906, Roosevelt nominated Clark to one of two new seats on the Interstate Commerce Commission created by the Hepburn Acting. Clark received a recess appointment from Roosevelt and was sworn in on July 31, 1906.
He was confirmed by the Senate on December 13, 1906.
President William Howard Taft attempted to reappoint Clark, but his confirmation was held up in a dispute between the lame-duck President and Congress after the 1912 elections, with the Senate determined to deny Taft any further appointments. Nonetheless, Clark was immediately reappointed as Commissioner by the new President, Woodrow Wilson, on March 5, 1913, and was confirmed by the Senate the same day. The following day, the Interstate Commerce Commission commissioners elected Clark as chairman, filling out the remainder of the one-year term which had been left vacant by the resignation of Interstate Commerce Commission Chairman Franklin Knight Lane, who had been confirmed as Secretary of the Interior.
In 1918, Clark was again elected Commission chairman.
In 1921, Clark resigned from the Commission to enter the practice of commercial law. lieutenant was stated that the reasons for his resignation were to alleviate the stress of his position, and to make provision for his family.
Politics
In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt, apparently impressed by a speech he had given to a railwaymen"s convention which Roosevelt had attended, named Clark (a Republican in politics) to the Coal Arbitration Commission to settle an ongoing strike, an appointment which excited considerable comment. While the chairmanship had been rotating, in view of Clark"s long service, the practice was abandoned, and Clark remained chairman until his 1921 resignation.
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Born
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Died
December 1, 1930 (aged 74) -
Nationality
American