YOUNG, OWEN D. (1874— ), American lawyer and business man, was born at Van Hornesville, N.Y., on Oct. 27, 1874. He was educated at St. Lawrence university, N.Y. (A.B., 1894), and Boston university law school (LL.B., 1896). He commenced the practice of law in Boston (1896), being associ ated with and later a partner of Charles H. Tyler until 1912, when he retired in order to become general counsel for the Gen eral Electric Company. In 1913 he was elected vice president in charge of policy and in 1922 was elected chairman of the board of directors. He organized and became chairman of the board of the Radio Corporation of America. He was also a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, General Motors Cor poration, the International General Electric Company, and chair man of the American section of the international chamber of commerce. He was a member of President Wilson's second in dustrial conference, chairman of the committee on business cycles and unemployment appointed by President Harding, and chair man of the American group, international court of arbitration of trade disputes of the international chamber of commerce. In
Dec. 1923, he accepted the invitation of the reparations com mission to act as a member of the first committee of experts charged with the enquiry into the balancing of the German budget and the stabilizing of the German currency. Their ensuing report was accepted by the commission. He was appointed agent-general for reparations payments ad interim on that date, holding the position till Oct. 31, when he resigned. Again by invitation Young became a member of the second committee of experts which met in Paris in January, 1929, to draw up a plan for the permanent settlement of the reparations problem. Because of the confidence in his ability and fairness felt by the European governments, he was drafted as chairman of the conference against his own desires. When the conference seemed on the verge of collapse in mid-April he offered a compromise which was the basis of final settlement in June. (See REPARATION AND THE DAWES PLAN.)