WHITLOCK, Brand, American ambassa dor and author: b. Urbana, Ohio, 4 March 1869. He was engaged in journalism in To ledo, Ohio, in and was on the staff of the Chicago Herald in 1890-93. He was a clerk in the office of the Illinois secretary of state in 1893-97. He had meanwhile studied law and was admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1894 and to that of Ohio in 1897, then establishing him self in law practice at Toledo. He was elected mayor of Toledo in 1903 and served four suc cessive terms, declining a fifth nomination. He succeeded in securing a new city charter pro viding for the initiative, referendum. recall and direct nominations. He was by this time a well.established magazine writer, producing both verse and prose. the latter dealing in the main with politics and economics in an un compromising fashion. He was appointed Min ister to Belgium by President Wilson in 1913 and was in office at the outbreak of the Euro pean War. He was entrusted with the repre sentation of seven of the warring nations, re maining at his post after the German invasion. His skill in dealing with the difficulties of the situation under the German occupation earned for him a worldwide reputation; and he won scarcely less praise for his handling of the Belgian relief work. The necessity for his leav
ing invaded Belgium when the United States declared war upon Germany in April 1917 was viewed with deep regret in Belgium. He re fused to leave Brussels unless accompanied by the other Americans there, and crossed into Switzerland 4 April 1917. He later visited King Albert of Belgium at the battle front, and after the signing of the armistice in November 1918 he resumed his duties at Brussels. He returned to the States for a visit in 1919, and while at home the country's repre sentation in Belgium was raised to rank of an embassy, Mr. Whitlock thus becoming Am bassador. He is author of 'The Thirteenth District' (1902); 'Her Infinite Variety' (1904); 'The Turn of the Balance' (1907); 'Abraham Lincoln' (1908); 'The Gold Brick' (1910); 'On the Enforcement of Law in Cities' (1910 13) ; 'Forty Years of It: An Autobiography' (1914); 'Memories of Belgium Under the Ger man Occupation' (1918); 'Belgium, A Personal Narrative' (1919), etc.