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Robert Latham Owen, Jr. (February 2, 1856July 19, 1947) was one of the first two U.S. senators from Oklahoma. He served in the Senate between 1907 and 1925. Born into affluent circumstances in antebellum Lynchburg, Virginia, the son of a railroad company president, Owen suffered an almost Dickensian reversal of fortune when his family was ruined financially while he was still in his teens. Owen, who was part-Cherokee on his mother's side, responded by heading west to Indian Territory, where he built a new life as, in turn, a schoolteacher working with Cherokee orphans; a lawyer, administrator and journalist; a federal Indian agent; and the founder and first president of a community bank. Among the achievements that brought him to wider public notice, and helped pave the way for his election to the U.S. Senate in 1907 when Oklahoma (incorporating the former Indian Territory) achieved statehood, was his success as a lawyer in 1906 in winning a major court case on behalf of the Eastern Cherokees seeking compensation from the U.S. Government for eastern lands the Cherokees had lost at the time of the Indian removals. A Democrat active in many progressive causes, including efforts to strengthen public control of government, and the fight against child labor, Owen is especially remembered as the Senate sponsor of the Glass-Owen Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which created the Federal Reserve System. In discussions at the time, he resisted a campaign to put the Federal Reserve formally under the control of the banking industry, and the 1913 Act emerged broadly in line with Owen's compromise proposal, creating a central Federal Reserve Board nominated by the Government alongside twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks dominated by the larger banks. Owen subsequently became highly critical of what he saw as the Federal Reserve's bias towards deflationary policies during the early 1920s and again in the early 1930s, which he attributed to excessive influence by the largest banks upon the Fed, and which he identified as largely responsible for causing the Great Depression: a minority view at the time, but one widely accepted by economists in recent decades. In 1920 Owen unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency. Owen's mother, Narcissa Chisholm Owen (1831–1911), who did much to foster her son's career, published a set of memoirs in 1907 about her life lived between Cherokee and mainstream U.S. societies, which have more recently attracted scholarly attention and which were republished in a critical edition in 2005. ==Early life and career== Owen was born in Lynchburg, Virginia on February 2, 1856, the younger of two sons of Col. Robert Latham Owen, Sr. (1825-1873), a civil engineer and former surveyor who had become President of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, and Narcissa Chisholm Owen. The Owens were a family of Welsh origin, with a record of public service as doctors and teachers: Owen's grandfather, Dr. William Owen, and Owen's uncle, Dr. William Otway Owen Sr. (1820-92), both practised medicine in Lynchburg, and W.O. Owen Sr. served as Surgeon-in-Chief in charge of thirty hospitals in Lynchburg (which became a major wartime hospital center) throughout the Civil War.〔Houck, Peter W. ''A Prototype of a Confederate Hospital Center in Lynchburg, Virginia.'' Lynchburg, Warwick House Publishing, 1986.〕 During Owen's boyhood the family lived in Lynchburg's best-known mansion, Point of Honor. Owen attended private schools in Lynchburg and in Baltimore, Maryland.〔Narcissa tells us that, at the time of their father's death, her sons had just completed their five years of studies at the Merillat Institute, in the suburbs of Baltimore, "a classical school", where they studied "Latin, Greek, French, German, and mathematics." ''A Cherokee Woman's America: Memoirs of Narcissa Owen, 1831-1907.'' Edited by Karen L. Kilcup. Gainesville, FL. University Press of Florida, 2005. p. 117.〕 Narcissa relates that, not long after the Civil War, her husband resigned his position as President of the Virginia and Tennessee Railway due to his opposition to a proposed railway consolidation,〔Narcissa indicates (Kilcup, p.100) that her husband and his company opposed consolidation plans led by the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, which acquired much of the stock of the Virginia and Tennessee Railway. The Norfolk and Petersburg Company was led at the time by the colorful former Confederate General (and future U.S. Senator, 1881-87) William Mahone, who engineered takeovers of both the Virginia and Tennessee and the South Side Railroad, and the consolidation of the three companies into the new Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad or AM&O, sometimes referred to, in ironic tribute to Mahone and his equally colorful wife, Otelia, as "All Mine and Otelia's". Mahone reportedly took over the position of President of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad (formerly filled by Robert Latham Owen Sr.) in the latter part of 1867.〕 and ran — evidently successfully — for election as a Virginia State Senator.〔Narcissa does not explicitly state that her husband's election campaign was successful, but she subsequently writes of him answering letters in the Senate chamber and thus escaping injury when the floor of the nearby State Supreme Court room gave way (Kilcup, p. 100.). R.L. Owen Sr's service as a state senator is confirmed in Scales, James R. and Danney Goble. ''Oklahoma Politics, a History.'' Norman, OK, University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. p. 33.〕 In June 1873, however, when Owen was 16, his father died a financially ruined man, and the family fell on hard times. Owen, writing in 1934, connected their misfortune to the Panic of 1873, which struck the nation's railroads especially hard: "the value of my father's property was completely destroyed, and my mother, from a life of abundance, was suddenly compelled to earn her living by teaching music."〔Owen, Robert L. "Foreword" (dated October 29, 1934) to ''Money Creators'' by Gertrude M. Coogan, Chicago, Sound Money Press, 1935. The consolidated Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad, successor to Robert Latham Owen Sr's old Virginia and Tennessee Company, is known to have gone into receivership in 1873.〕 With support from scholarships, initially obtained via his mother's contacts, but subsequently including the 1876 President's scholarship, awarded on merit, Owen was able to graduate in 1877 as valedictorian from Washington and Lee University. He also received the University's gold medal for debating prowess.〔''Memoirs of Narcissa Owen, 1831-1907''. Washington DC, 1907; and Keso, Edward Elmer. ''The Senatorial Career of Robert Latham Owen''. Gardenvale, Canada: Garden City Press, 1938.〕 His older brother, William Otway Owen, Jr. (1854–1924), meanwhile, attended the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia, and went on to a medical career with the US Army, eventually retiring with the rank of Colonel.〔W.O. Owen, Jr. originally retired from the US Army around 1905 with the rank of Major, and is referred to as retired with this rank in his mother's memoirs (1907). He was later recalled to service during World War I and retired for the second time with the rank of Colonel. See ''Virginia Genealogy Trails,'' "Virginia Military Institute: Class of 1876" (note that the transcription erroneously records the last name as Owens), accessed on 03/01/11 at: http://genealogytrails.com/vir/rockbridge/vmi/cadet_class_registers/cadets_1876.html.〕 Owen was Cherokee through his mother, though there are conflicting indications of the extent of his Cherokee ancestry. Owen's listing on the Dawes Rolls, dating from around 1900, records him as 1/16th Cherokee by blood.〔("Native American Data for Robert L Owen." ) ''Native American Database.'' Retrieved 18 July 2012.〕 Yet his mother, Narcissa Owen, according to her own account in her memoirs (1907), would herself appear to have been only 1/16th Cherokee, which if correct would imply that her son was 1/32nd Cherokee.〔Narcissa Owen has been described in some secondary sources as 1/8th Cherokee. See e.g., Scales, James R. and Danney Goble. ''Oklahoma Politics: a History.'' page 33, Norman, OK, University of Oklahoma Press, 1982; as well as the unqualified quotation of this point from Scales and Goble in Brandon, Stephen. "'Mother Of U.S. Senator An Indian Queen': Cultural Challenge and Appropriation in The Memoirs of Narcissa Owen, 1831-1907." ''Studies in American Indian Literatures'', Series 2, Volume 13, Number 2 & 3, Summer/Fall 2001. However, in her own memoirs (pp. 43-44), Narcissa Owen portrays her Cherokee descent as stemming from her great great grandmother Queen Quatsis, and does not mention Cherokee or other Native American blood from any other line of descent. The family tree that she provides would imply that she was 1/16th Cherokee. Following Narcissa's own account, the line of descent runs from: (1) Queen Quatsis (by assumption, fullblood Cherokee), via (2) The daughter of Quatsis and John Beamor (English), Peggy Beamor Holmes (1/2 Cherokee), (3) The daughter of Peggy and Col. Holmes (English), Martha Holmes Chisholm (1/4 Cherokee), (4) The son of Martha and John D. Chisholm (of Scottish ancestry), Thomas Chisholm (1/8th Cherokee), to (5) The daughter of Thomas Chisholm and Malinda Wharton Chisholm (of Irish ancestry), Narcissa Chisholm Owen (1/16th Cherokee).〕 Beyond this, the editor of Narcissa's memoirs has raised the possibility that Narcissa might unwittingly have missed out "one generation or possibly two" in her account of her family tree; adjusting for this possibility might further dilute her Cherokee blood.〔In her 2005 edition of the Memoirs (p. xxiii and following chart), Kilcup raises the possibility that Narcissa might have missed "one generation, or possibly two" between John Beamor (and his wife Quatsis) and Peggy Beamor, taken by Narcissa to be their daughter. The problem is one of dates. Narcissa tells us that Beamor and Quatsis met around 1699, when he was about 23 and she about 16; whereas Kilcup estimates that Peggy married Col. Holmes, while still fertile, circa 1776. If these dates come even close to being accurate, they would not appear consistent with Peggy being Quatsis's daughter, hence Kilcup's speculation that a generation (or two) might be missing from Narcissa's family tree. Of course, whether adjusting for any such omission would increase or further reduce Owen's share of Cherokee blood would depend on the ethnic background of the "missing" spouse(s).〕 However this may be, Narcissa had grown up largely among the Cherokees, and she was capable of making skillful use of her Cherokee heritage, colorfully describing her father, Thomas Chisholm (a leader of the "Old Settlers" who moved west before the Trail of Tears), as "the last hereditary war chief of the Western Cherokees."〔''Memoirs of Narcissa Owen, 1831-1907'' Washington DC, 1907, p. 43. In their commentaries on the Memoirs, Kilcup and Brandon have questioned the accuracy of Narcissa's description of her father, arguing that chiefly positions were not hereditary per se, and also implying that Narcissa conflated the concepts of "chief" and "war chief".〕 She also gave both her sons parallel Indian names derived from famous Cherokee chiefs: she named Robert Oconostota after a noted Cherokee chief of the late eighteenth century who was also, according to Narcissa's Memoirs, her own great great uncle.〔''Memoirs of Narcissa Owen'' and Keso, Edward Elmer. ''The Senatorial Career of Robert Latham Owen''. Gardenvale, Canada: Garden City Press, 1938, p.13. Narcissa cites Oconostota as a son of Queen Quatsis and John Beamor. Narcissa gave her older son William the Cherokee name of Caulunna, meaning The Raven, after another Cherokee chief, whom she describes as the brother of Queen Quatsis.〕 On the advice of Col. William Penn Adair, a family friend, former Confederate Colonel and a leader among the Cherokees, Owen moved in 1879 to Salina in Indian Territory (now Salina, Oklahoma), where he was accepted as a member of the Cherokee Nation. He served during 1879-80 as the principal teacher of the Cherokee Orphan Asylum.〔For a discussion of the Cherokee Orphan Asylum, see the Oklahoma Genealogy webpage, accessed on 3/2/12 at: http://www.oklahomagenealogy.com/mayes/cherokee_orphan_asylum.htm〕 His mother joined him in 1880 and taught music for several years at the Cherokee Female Seminary.〔''Memoirs of Narcissa Owen, 1831-1907''; Keso, Edward Elmer. ''The Senatorial Career of Robert Latham Owen''. Gardenvale, Canada: Garden City Press, 1938; and Brandon, Stephen. "'Mother Of U.S. Senator An Indian Queen': Cultural Challenge and Appropriation in The Memoirs of Narcissa Owen, 1831-1907." ''Studies in American Indian Literatures'', Series 2, Volume 13, Number 2 & 3, Summer/Fall 2001.〕 Owen studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1880. During 1881-84 he served as Secretary of the Board of Education of the Cherokee Nation, and worked on reorganizing the Cherokee school system. In parallel, he served in 1882, 1883 and 1884 as the President of the International Fair at Muscogee, IT, now Muscogee, Oklahoma (sometimes billed at the time as "the Indian Capital of the World"), the only fair held in Indian Territory at the time. He was owner and editor of the "Indian Chieftain" newspaper, based in present-day Vinita, Oklahoma, in 1884.〔"Oklahoma's First Senator Dies." ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', accessed at: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v025/v025p178.pdf; ''Memoirs of Narcissa Owen''; and Keso, Edward Elmer. ''The Senatorial Career of Robert Latham Owen''. Gardenvale, Canada: Garden City Press, 1938.〕 In 1885, with a Democrat in the White House, Owen launched a successful lobbying campaign that saw him appointed as the federal Indian agent for the so-called Five Civilized Tribes,〔The "five civilized tribes" comprised the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole.〕 described by one student of his career as "the most important position to be held in Indian Territory".〔Belcher, Wyatt W. "The Political Leadership of Robert L. Owen." ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', 31 (Winter 1953-54).〕 In the absence of a court system, he promoted the use of compulsory arbitration to settle thousands of civil cases between 1885 and 1889, when he assisted in the establishment of the first United States Court in Indian Territory.〔"Oklahoma's First Senator Dies." ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', accessed at: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v025/v025p178.pdf.〕 His mother served as his hostess until his marriage on New Year's Eve, 1889, to Daisy Deane Hester,〔Hester is described by Kilcup (p. 176) as "the daughter of a farmer and missionary".〕 with whom he had one daughter, Dorothea, born in 1894. After the White House again changed hands in 1889, Owen left government service and organized the First National Bank of Muskogee in 1890, serving as its president for ten years.〔Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, accessed on 12/11/10 at: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/o/ow003.html 〕 He later wrote that the bank's narrow survival of the Panic of 1893 was to influence his thinking about the need for fundamental reform in the US banking system: This bank, like many other banks, lost fifty percent of its deposits within as many days because of the panic, which frightened people and caused them to withdraw their funds for hoarding throughout the United States and led creditors to strenuously press their debtors for settlement... This panic demonstrated the complete instability of the financial system of America and the hazards which businessmen had to meet under a grossly defective banking system.〔Owen, Robert Latham. ''The Federal Reserve Act''. New York, The Century Co., 1919.〕 As a lawyer and lobbyist, Owen handled a number of significant cases dealing with Indian land issues. Most notably, in 1900 he took on a celebrated case on behalf of the Eastern Cherokees against the US Government, seeking compensation which the Cherokees claimed was due to them under a treaty of 1835 for eastern lands lost at the time of the Indian removals. In 1906, after six years, Owen won the case and obtained compensation of close to $5 million for the Eastern Cherokees.〔The formal record is as follows: 202 U.S. 101; 26 S.Ct. 588; 50 L.Ed. 949. UNITED STATES, Appt., v. CHEROKEE NATION. NO 346. EASTERN CHEROKEES, Appts., v. CHEROKEE NATION and United States. NO 347. CHEROKEE NATION, Appt., v. UNITED STATES. NO 348. Nos. 346, 347, 348. Argued January 16, 17, 18, 1906. Decided April 30, 1906. See also discussion in "Oklahoma's First Senator Dies." ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', accessed at: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v025/v025p178.pdf and ''Memoirs of Narcissa Owen'' pp. 38-39.〕 He was also successful in his handling of important cases for the Western Cherokees, Choctaws and Chickasaws.〔See "Oklahoma's First Senator Dies".〕 Beyond his obvious drive and ambition, neither his legal nor his political career was to be hampered by Owen's physical presence. He was a tall man of erect bearing, who kept a full head of hair to the end of his life. One contemporary newspaper profile described him as looking "like a leading man in a society drama."〔Brandon quoting ''Current Literature'' from 1908.〕 The ''New York Times'' spoke of him on his arrival in the Senate as "the square-jawed, black eyed, lithe young man from the West" and continued that "The Senator's voice is his most impressive asset. Liquid and soft in quality when he is talking dispassionately, it is as harsh and rasping as a file when he is aroused."〔New York Times: "Characters in Congress --- Senator Robert Latham Owen of Oklahoma." Accessed on 12/16/10 at:http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F70F10F7395517738DDDA80894DB405B888CF1D3〕 By the time he launched his political career, the combination of Owen's lucrative legal and lobbying practice, sometimes controversial land deals,〔For an indication of the controversy over some of Owen's land deals, which largely focused on the terms upon which Owen had obtained access to various plots of Indian land, see: Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, accessed on 12/11/10 at: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/o/ow003.html. Belcher takes a more skeptical view of these criticisms of Owen, arguing that they tended to be raised at election time, and never resulted in any actionable charges. Scales and Goble in their history of Oklahoma politics report (p. 7) that, in pre-statehood days, much of the time of local politicians was absorbed in efforts to create scandals about one other.〕〔Author Kent Carter points to controversy over the use by Owen and other lawyers of contingency contracts in their representation of clients seeking enrollment as Mississippi Choctaws: "A number of lawyers, including Robert L. Owen and his partner, Charles F. Winton, were recruiting applicants in hopes of getting half of any land they might be allotted." "The Curtis Act of 1898 was to "strike a serious blow at Robert L. Owen and his associates in declaring all contingency contracts with Mississippi Choctaw null and void." Many years later, in 1922 (at a time when Owen was still serving in the US Senate), Carter relates, "Owen and his partners received $175,000 for their efforts," presumably as a result of Congressional action (Carter cites 70th Cong., 2nd Session. Sen Doc 263). Carter, Kent, ''The Dawes Commission and the Allotment of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1914.'' (1999, Ancestry.com).〕 and business activities including investments in ranching, mining and oil, had made him a wealthy man.〔Multiple sources quote Owen's fee for handling the 1906 Eastern Cherokee case at an estimated $160,000. Keso (p. 20) reports that, during Owen's campaign for the Senate in 1907, ''The Oklahoma State Capitol'' newspaper described him as "a millionaire... () a professional lobbyist in Washington".〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Robert Latham Owen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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