BAKER, NEWTON DIEHL (1871-1937), American law yer, administrator, and party leader, was born at Martinsburg, W. Va., Dec. 3, 1871. He was educated at Johns Hopkins (B.A. 1892) and at Washington and Lee (LL.B., 1894). In 1897 he began the practice of law in his native town, removing later to Cleveland, Ohio. There he soon distinguished himself as a lieu tenant of Mayor Johnson in the latter's long struggle for tax reform and three-cent fares. Appointed city solicitor by the mayor in 1902, he held that office by election from 1904 to 1912 and that of mayor from 1912 to 1916. On the floor of the Demo cratic national convention of 1912 he fought successfully to release the Ohio delegation from the unit rule, thereby contribut ing 18 votes toward the nomination of Wilson. As President-elect the latter offered him in 1913 the secretaryship of the interior, which he declined in order to push forward municipal reforms in Cleveland. Upon the resignation of Garrison three years later, however, he was appointed secretary of war. Although an avowed pacifist, immediately after the organization of the 65th Congress in 1917 he submitted a plan for universal military conscription, and remained at the head of the department of war throughout the whole period of the World War and to the retirement of Wil son in 1921. Administration policies regarding preparedness, con duct of the War, and treatment of conscientious objectors, became the subjects of severe criticism, much of it for partisan ends. In reply to this, he maintained before the Chamberlain Senate corn mittee early in 1918 that "no army of similar size in the history of the world has ever been raised, equipped, or trained so quickly." After 192I he resumed the practice of law in Cleveland. In the Democratic convention of 1924 he made a strenuous but losing fight for a strong League of Nations plank. (R. C. B.)