CHARLES F. SCOTT

CHARLES FREDERICK SCOTT was born on a farm in Allen county, September 7, 1860. His father was Dr. John W. Scott, who came to Kansas in 1857 and was a conspicuous figure in the free-state ranks, being speaker pro tem, of the first state legislature, and a member, either in the house or senate, of several subsequent legislatures. He served through the war as surgeon of the Tenth Kansas, was president of the company that laid out the town of Iola, was a director in the L. L. & G. Railroad (now the Southern Kansas branch of the Santa Fe), was a regent of the State University, and for many years active and influential in the business and political affairs of the state.

Charles F. Scott was educated at the State University, graduating in 1881, later receiving from that institution the degree of M. S., and from the State Agricultural College the degree of LL. D. He was regent of the State University for ten years, and was chairman of the first board of alumni visitors.

In 1892 he was one of fifteen Republicans elected to the state senate. In 1900 he was elected congressman-at-large, and twice reelected to that position. Upon the redistricting of the state he became a representative in Congress from the second district, and was re-elected, serving in all ten years in the national house of representatives, during the last four years of which time he was chairman of the committee on agriculture. During his service in Congress he was a member of congressional parties that at different times visited the Philippines, Hawaii, Porto Rico and Panama, and in 1911, after the conclusion of his service in Congress, he was sent as one of the five delegates from the United States to the International Institute of Agriculture which met at Rome. In 1915, upon the request of the committee in charge of the donations, he went to Belgium to oversee the distribution of the cargo of food and clothing that had been contributed by the people of Kansas for the relief of the Belgians, spending some time in the war zone. In 1913 Mr. Scott engaged in joint debate with Mr. Henry J. Allen, of the Wichita Beacon, under the direction of the Redpath-Horner Chautauqua Bureau, dates being filled in six different states. In 1915 he spent some weeks on the lecture platform in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, under direction of the Redpath-Brockway Chautauqua Bureau, and he is filling a similar engagement this summer with the Redpath-Vawter Chautauqua in Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota. Besides these "continuous performances," Mr. Scott has made occasional speeches on many topics in many states, and for twenty years has participated in political campaigns in this and other states. During the campaign of 1912 he was in charge of the publicity bureau at Republican national headquarters in Chicago, and he was one of the delegates-at-large to the late Republican national convention, being chosen to that office by the largest vote cast for any of the candidates before the state convention. At different times Mr. Scott has been president of the Kansas State Editorial Association, of the Kansas Day Club, and of various other organizations, and is at present president of the Kansas State Historical Society. He is a member of the board of trustees of Emporia College, a member of the state Y. M. C. A. board, president of the Y. M, C. A. at Iola, an elder in the Presbyterian church, and chairman of the board of trustees of Neosho presbytery.

Mr. Scott has been owner and editor of the Iola Register since October, 1882. His family consists of his wife and four children.

CLICK TO GO BACK TO KANSAS NEWSPAPER EDITORS AND PUBLISHERS INDEX