Neill, Charles Patrick, 1865-1942

Charles Patrick Neill was born on 12 December 1865 at Rock Island, Illinois to James and Julia (Walsh) Neill, who had emigrated from Ireland in 1850. The family moved to Austin, Texas in 1871, where James practiced law. Charles was employed from age 10 in 1876 until 1885 as a bank messenger. He attended the University of Notre Dame from 1885 until 1888, the University of Texas at Austin from 1888 to 1889 and graduated from Georgetown University with a degree AB summa cum laude. He taught at Notre Dame from 1891 until 1894. He studied at Johns Hopkins University from 1894 until 1897 and earned a doctorate in economics and politics. He joined the faculty of the Catholic University of America, where he served successively as instructor, associate professor and professor in economics from 1896 until 1905. He married Esther Waggaman of Washington, D.C., in 1901. In 1902 Neill was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to serve as assistant recorder of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission and his work received recognition. In 1904 an ultimately successful board of arbitration was appointed to defuse a threatened coal strike in Alabama and one of the members, Judge George Gray of Delaware, made his participation dependent upon Neill serving as recorded, adding much to Neill's prestige. Shortly thereafter, in 1905, Roosevelt selected Neill to succeed Carroll D. Wright, who had also taught economics at Catholic University, as United States Commissioner of Labor. Neill provided federal mediation services in railroad labor disputes and he drafted the Newlands labor act in 1913. His investigation of the meat packing industry, prompted by Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, resulted in a federal inspection law in 1906. In addition, his detailed report on child labor provided a basis for congressional legislation. After his departure from the Department of Labor later in 1913, Neill specialized as an arbitrator while working for the Southeastern Railways from 1915 to 1939 and the United States Railroad Board of Adjustments from 1919 to 1921. Charles Patrick Neill died in Washington, D.C., on 3 October 1942.

From the description of The Charles Patrick Neill papers. 1883-1956. (Catholic University of America). WorldCat record id: 68726291