The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Nagel, Charles

NAGEL, nā'gĕl, Charles, American lawyer and cabinet officer: b. Colorado County, Tex., 9 Aug. 1849. He was educated at Saint Louis and studied Roman law and political economy (1873) at the University of Berlin, when he was admitted to the bar and practised at Saint Louis. He was (1903-05) member of the firm Finkelnburg, Nagel and Kirby, and (1903-05) of Nagel and Kirby. From 1885-1909 he was lecturer at Saint Louis Law School and was member of the Missouri house of representatives from 1881-83. He was (1893-97) president of Saint Louis city council and (1908-12) member of the Republican National Committee. President Taft made him (1909) Secretary of Commerce and Labor, which position he retained during the life of that administration. In 1872 he was given the degree of LL.B. by Saint Louis Law School, and was made LL.D. (1911) by Brown University, Villanova University, Pennsylvania, and Washington University, Saint Louis.