Men of Mark in America/Volume 1/Robert Adams, Jr.

ROBERT ADAMS, JR.

 

ROBERT ADAMS, Jr., representative in congress from the second Pennsylvania district, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1849; son of Robert and Matilda Maybin (Hart) Adams. After graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1869, he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but had hardly commenced practice when he was induced to enter the United States Geological Survey and took part in its explorations of the Yellowstone Park (1871-75).

Practice of the law soon led to a participation in politics—to his election to the state senate in 1883, with service therein until 1887, and graduation from the Wharton School of Economy and Finance of the University of Pennsylvania meanwhile (1884). On April 1, 1899, he was appointed United States Minister to Brazil, but resigned June 1, 1890, to enter a career in congress as Republican representative of the second Pennsylvania district in the house of representatives; beginning with the fifty-third Congress and continuing without interruption until the present time (second session of the fifty-eighth).

Always vigorous in action he has served on important committees and on occasion with marked efficiency, as when, in his capacity of acting chairman of the committee on Foreign Relations, during the fifty-fifth Congress, he reported the Cuban resolutions, conducted them through the House and had charge of them in conference with the committee of the Senate, and afterward, within an hour, introduced,reported, and passed through the House the declaration of war with Spain.

Patriotic in spirit as well as scientific in taste, he has always had part in the work of numerous organizations, state and national, including the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Society of the War of 1812, the Society of Colonial Wars, and the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution. He has also been a member of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, serving as judge-advocate and major, with staff duty, and acting as aide-de-camp to the state executive during the term of Governor James Addams Beaver.

At present he is doing active service as ranking member of the congressional house committee on Immigration and Naturalization.