Before war was declared Mr. Herrick's suc cessor had been appointed, and although he had then served nearly two years under a Demo cratic administration, he remained .at, his, post at the request of President Wilson until long after the battle of the Marne, returning to America in December 1914. After retiring from office; the French government in recognition of ins services, conferred upon him the cross of the Legion of Honor. He was also admitted to membership in the Gens de Lettres. The British government presented Win with a piece of old English plate, and in his letter of trans mittal the British Ambassador wrote: "His Majesty's Government desires to ask your ac ceptance of this piece of old English plate which they hope will serve to you and yours as a memorial of the exertions which you so devotedly and generously employed on behalf 6f the British subjects, both soldiers and civilians, in that time of stress and suffering and as a token of the King's grateful recog nition of the same Before the war Mr. Herrick had been inter ested in securing the articipation of France in the Panama-Pacific ition in San Fran cisco in 1915. After e declaration of war most of the European countries decided to give up their •preparations, but the French govern ment voted to continue with its plans ((in com pliment to Ambassador Herrick, as they said. Mr. Herrick initiated the rural credit movement in this country, and upon taking up his resi skate in France,,the ambassadors, ministers and councillors of various European countries were directed by their governments to report to him rural conditions and credit systems existing in these countries. In 1913 he reported the results
of his investigations to the Department of State, and later published a book on the subject, Credits' (New York 1914).
For many years Mr. Herrick was a director of several railroads representing foreign inter ests. He is interested in many business enter prises which have been uniformly successful. Among them are the National Carbon Company and the Union Carbide Company, which have merged under the name of the Union Carbide and Carbon 'Company and elected Mr. Herrick chairman of the board; and the Cleveland Hardware Company, in which he has been in terested for over 30 years. He is a director in the New York Life Insurance Company, the National Surety Company and the Erie Rait road. Since returning to America, Mr. Herrick has received the honorary degree of LL.D. from 'Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and West ern Reserve universities and from Miami, Union and Kenyon colleges. He has been presented with a medal by the National Institute of Social Sciences and is a trustee of Carnegie Institu tion of Washington. Immediately on his return w.this country he became actively interested in war relief and is connected with many organ izations engaged in this work, having given up •the greater part of his time to these activities.
Herrick has one son, Major Parmely W. Herrick, who is in the service of the United States army.