Background
He was the son of Henry B. Folk, a leading lawyer in Brownsville, Tenn. , and Martha Estes, of a pioneer Virginia family.
(Great Britain in time of war seized Egypt under the guise...)
Great Britain in time of war seized Egypt under the guise of a protectorate and now, in violation of the principles of the proposed League of Nations and of common justice, asks that the seizure and continued holding of Egypt be approved by the United States and other nations and that Egypt, without the consent of theE gyptians, be turned over toG reat Britain as a subject and conquered nation. The annex to the Versailles Treaty, Section 6, Article 147, provides: Germany declares that she recognizes the protectorate declared over Egypt by Great Britain on December 18th, 1914, and that she renounces the regime of the capitulations in Egypt. This renunciation shall take effect as from August 4th, 1914. It will be noted that this article purports merely to declare the position of Germany. The United States and other nations, parties to the Treaty, are not mentioned in the Article in question. The apparent purpose in including this as an annex to the Treaty is to have the United States and other nations, through theN ote: Kespecting the Capitulations, Sidney Low in Egypt inT ransition ,says, on page 251: Most people know roughly what the Capitulations are, but it is only the resident in Egypt who is fully aware of the manner their most baneful influence is exercised. The Capitulations are the treaties and conventions which giveE uro eaS ln theE ast the riS ht of exemption from the local tribunals. If a foreigner commits acrime he cannot be arrested by theE gyptian police, nor may he be brought up before anE gyptian judge and tried by theE gyptian law. The police or the aggrieved party can only bring him before his own consular court. And before he can be punished it must be proved that he has committed an offense not only against the law of Egypt, but against the law of his ownS tate, or, at any rate, against such local law as the consular authorities agree to r (Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
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He was the son of Henry B. Folk, a leading lawyer in Brownsville, Tenn. , and Martha Estes, of a pioneer Virginia family.
He was educated in the public schools and in the School of Law of Vanderbilt University, graduating in 1890.
For four years he practiced law in Brownsville with his father before removing to St. Louis, where he entered the lucrative field of corporation law but devoted considerable attention to politics.
He held important positions in this body during the campaigns of 1896 and of 1898, and became well-known in party circles. In 1900, he was asked by a committee of Democrats to accept the nomination for circuit attorney, the chief law-enforcing officer of St. Louis.
In 1901-02, he instituted an investigation which led to a series of sensational exposures of the actual government of St. Louis and of the alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics. Acting quickly on vague and accidental information, Folk secured definite proof of bribery of members of the municipal assembly in the passage of a street-railway franchise, and brought to indictment for bribery and for perjury seven of the principals.
In 1903, he became an active candidate for governor. Most of the party leaders and committeemen in the cities were hostile and used questionable methods to defeat him, but his supporters in the rural counties were well organized and successful (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 1904).
Through their majority of the credentials committee the Folk forces were able to control the convention; he was nominated on the first ballot, and many of his ideas were written into the platform.
The election results were significant: Roosevelt carried the state for president by 25, 000; Folk, for governor by 30, 000, while every other state officer elected was a Republican in a state since 1868 overwhelmingly Democratic (Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1905-06).
The new governor proceeded on the Roosevelt idea, that the executive is the steward of the public welfare, and under his leadership, notable advances were made in the enactment and honest enforcement of statutes of a regulatory character, such as anti-lobby, dramshop control, and public-utility laws, while in the field of social-welfare legislation important laws were enacted.
Two devices intimately associated with the progressive era, the direct primary and direct legislation, were written into the constitution and laws of Missouri. Both measures were forced upon a reluctant state Assembly by Folk. He unwisely became a candidate in 1908 for the nomination as United States senator and was defeated by the incumbent, W. J. Stone, a master of political strategy.
In 1910, chiefly to remove him from Missouri politics, he was endorsed for president, but two years later the organization shelved him and supported Champ Clark. In the first Wilson administration, he served as solicitor for the state department, and later in a more congenial position, that of chief counsel for the Interstate Commerce Commission.
He secured the nomination for the Senate in 1918, but was defeated in the election by his Republican opponent. In every campaign for elective office he had the relentless and organized opposition of the urban machines and their leaders. Folk's lack of political acumen and his harshness toward politicians were unfortunate.
He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1922 and died suddenly at the home of his sister in New York City the following year.
His wife, Gertrude Glass, whom he married on November 10, 1896, survived him.
(Great Britain in time of war seized Egypt under the guise...)
He helped to organize the Jefferson Club, a local young Democrats' organization, and acted as the group's president in 1898–1899. By tradition a Democrat, Folk soon became active in the Jefferson Club, a local but powerful organization of young Democrats.
He reluctantly agreed and became the accidental beneficiary of a unique combination, in that his candidacy was supported by the Democratic boss and machine, who believed him to be "safe, " and by the reform element. He was elected by a scant plurality.
He then pressed forward, despite bitter political and financial opposition, to the exposure of three other notorious public utility franchise deals and to the demonstration of civic corruption and the open exploitation of the city by a sinister, bipartisan combination. Thirty-nine indictments, twenty-four for bribery and thirteen for perjury, were secured, including twenty-one members of the municipal assembly, the city boss, Edward Butler, that indispensable negotiator between politics and business, and several of the leading men of wealth.
Twelve were sent to the penitentiary, others turned state's evidence or became fugitives from justice (American State Trials, vol. IX). He also assisted materially in the investigations of alleged bribery and graft in the Missouri legislature and among certain state administrative officials, with results that shocked the public conscience and made clear the cynical corruption in the process of government.
There was about Folk a persistence and rigid honesty, combined with a calm relentlessness, which brought to this quiet, smiling, even-tempered man of thirty-three the support of the better elements of all parties and the bitter and undying opposition of all organization politicians.
His wife was Gertrude Glass, whom he married on November 10, 1896.