The American Spirit in the Writings of Americans of Foreign Birth

by Unknown

OSCAR SOLOMON STRAUS

Oscar S. Straus, formerly United States Ambassador to Turkey, was born in Bavaria. Besides the degree A.B. from Columbia University, he has received honorary degrees from various institutions. He was appointed a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, 1902, and Secretary of Commerce and Labor in the cabinet of President Roosevelt, and has held many other prominent positions in civil and political affairs.

His chief writings are: “The Origin of Republican Form of Government in the United States,” 1886; “Roger Williams, the Pioneer of Religious Liberty,” 1894; “The American Spirit,” a collection of various addresses, published in one volume by the Century Company in 1893. The address selected for quotation here is that delivered at the banquet of the American Hebrew Congregations, in New York, January 18, 1911.