DAWES, CHARLES GATES ), American statesman and financier, was born in Marietta, O., on Aug. 27, 1865, the son of Gen. Rufus R. Dawes. He was educated in his home town, graduating at Marietta college in 1884 at the early age of 19. He then attended the Cincinnati law school and in order to defray his expenses obtained employment during his vacation on the Marietta, Columbus, and Northern Ohio railway. Before finishing his two-years law course he was made chief en gineer in charge of construction on this railway—a fact eloquent of the energy and versatility which were to distinguish his whole career. He graduated in 1886, before he was old enough to practise. Admitted to the bar several months later, he corn menced practice at Lincoln, Neb., in 1887.
Dawes' reputation as a lawyer was established by his part in the Nebraska rate case, in which he appeared successfully as counsel for the Lincoln board of trade in an effort to obtain a reduction in railway rates in Nebraska. In 1894 he became ex tensively interested in the gas business at Evanston, Ill., and at other western points, and removed to Evanston in that year. In 1896 he organized the movement in Illinois to nominate William McKinley as Republican candidate for the presidency. He was active in securing McKinley's nomination and election and was chosen a member of the executive committee of the Republican national committee. He was appointed comptroller of the cur rency by President McKinley on Jan. 1, 1898. His tenure of office was conspicuous for efficiency of administration and disre gard of "red-tape" methods, especially in the conduct of the many receiverships and trusts created by the financial disorders follow ing 1893. Retiring from this office in 1902, he organized the Cen tral Trust Co. of Illinois, which, under his presidency, became one of the strongest financial institutions in Chicago.
On the declaration of war against Germany by the United States (April 6, 1917) Dawes volunteered for service and was given a commission as major and later as lieut.-col. of the 17th Engineers (Railway), his well-known ability and early experience in railway construction outweighing the fact that he was over age. He landed in France July i7, and was placed on the head-quarters staff of the A.E.F. by General Pershing as chairman of the general purchasing board and chief of supply procurement, charged with the duty of collecting supplies in Europe and of co-ordinating their purchase in such a way as to guard against inflated prices and duplication of orders. His conspicuous success in directing these transactions, which secured for the American army io,000,000 ship tons of supplies in Europe as against 7,000,000 shipped to it from the United States, led to his promotion to the rank of brigadier-general in 1918. On the unification of command of the Allied forces under Foch, General Dawes was appointed as U.S. member of the Military Board of Allied Supply, the organization of which had been largely due to his efforts. This board for the last four months of the War co-ordinated the movement of sup plies for the Allied Armies in the zone of the advance.
After the conclusion of the Armistice, Dawes became a member of the liquidation committee of the A.E.F., charged with the task of disposing of the huge accumulations of American property in France and of settling outstanding claims against the army. This engaged his efforts until Aug. pp g, when he resigned his commis sion and returned to the United States. Upon the creation of a budget bureau by Congress, April 1921, the directorship of it was offered to General Dawes by President Harding and was accepted on condition that the bureau should be non-political, that in gathering information the director should be assumed to be acting for the President and his calls for consultation or information should take precedence of all others. His work in organizing this bureau and creating under executive order the existing system of co-ordinating boards now operating in Government business was carried through with characteristic vigour and directness and re sulted in savings estimated officially at $25o,000,000 in the first year. Having completed the task of placing the budget on a sat isfactory and permanent basis, he resigned his position on June 3o, 1922.
In the meantime the collapse of the German financial structure and international reactions resulting therefrom had precipitated a crisis in European affairs, the outcome of which appeared omin ous. At this juncture, the Allied Reparations Commission, in 1923, appointed General Dawes and Owen D. Young as U.S. members of the committee of experts to report upon means of balancing Germany's budget and stabilizing its currency. Dawes was selected as chairman, and the committee's report, known as the "Dawes Plan," was subsequently ratified and accepted by all the Powers concerned. By making the actual transfer of reparation payments conditional on the stability of the German exchange, this plan provided a non-political and automatic means for determining Germany's ability to pay and so withdrew this vexed question from international controversy and paved the way for the later agreements entered into at Locarno. (See REPARATIONS.) At the Republican National Convention held at Cleveland, O., June io—t 2, 1924, following the nomination of President Coolidge for re-election, General Dawes was nominated for vice-president on the third ballot by a vote of 6821 against 3341 for Herbert Hoover and 75 for Judge Kenyon. Following the overwhelming triumph of the Republican ticket at the ensuing election, General Dawes assumed office on March 4, 1925. In his inaugural speech he called for a revision of the rules of procedure in the Senate so that a majority vote could apply the closure to debate. He later carried his proposals for senatorial reform before the people in a series of public meetings in various parts of the country.
Another aspect of General Dawes's character is revealed by two acts of philanthropy. In memory of his son, Rufus Fearing, who was accidentally drowned (Sept. 5, 1912) he established the Rufus F. Dawes hotels in Chicago and Boston, at which impoverished men could obtain food and accommodation at nominal rates. As a memorial to his mother he established the Mary Gates Dawes memorial hotel, where women might live cheaply and retain the physical comforts and social opportunities compatible with self respect. In the course of his varied and successful career as en gineer, lawyer, politician, comptroller of the currency, public utility operator, banker, philanthropist, soldier, organizer of the Government budget, leading spirit in the settlement of German reparations, and vice-president of the United States, General Dawes found time also to become an accomplished musician on the piano and flute. In March and April, 929, he headed a finan cial commission to the Dominican Republic. In April he was appointed ambassador to Great Britain.
Dawes wrote The Banking System of the United States and its Relation to the Money and Business of the Country (1894); Essays and Speeches (1915) ; A Journal of the Great War (1921) ; and The First Year of the Budget of the United States of America (1923).