Bertrand Snell

Bertrand Snell

Bertrand Hollis Snell (born December 9, 1870 in Colton , St. Lawrence County , New York , †  February 2, 1958 in Potsdam , New York) was an American politician . Between 1915 and 1939 he represented New York State in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Bertrand Snell attended the public schools in his home country and then until 1889 the State Normal School in Potsdam. In 1894 he graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts . He then began a long career in business. He first worked as an accountant and then as a manager of a paper mill in Potsdam. In 1904 he founded Canton Lumber Co. , a lumber company . He also became president of a cheese factory in New York City and owner of a power station in Higley Falls. He was also a director at Northern New York Trust Co , Agricultural Insurance Co of Watertown, and Gould Pumps, Inc. in Seneca Falls . From 1908 to 1910 he was vice president of the Northern New York Development League .

Politically, Snell joined the Republican Party . Between 1914 and 1944 he was a member of their state board for New York; from 1916 to 1940 he took part as a delegate at all Republican National Conventions . In 1932 and 1936 he chaired these party congresses. From 1920 to 1945 he was chairman of the board of trustees of Clarkson College in Potsdam.

After the death of MP Edwin Albert Merritt , Snell was elected as his successor to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he took up his new mandate on November 2, 1915, when the by-election was due for the 31st seat of New York . After eleven re-elections, he could remain in Congress until January 3, 1939 . World War I fell during his time in Congress . In addition, the 18th and 19th amendments to the Constitution were ratified in 1919 and 1920 . It was about the ban on trade in alcoholic beverages and the nationwide introduction of women's suffrage . Since the autumn of 1929, the work of the Congress was also shaped by the events of the Great Depression. From 1933 onwards, most of the Roosevelt government's New Deal laws were passed. With a few exceptions, Snell was initially an opponent of the New Deal program. In 1935 the provisions of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution were applied for the first time , according to which the legislative period of the Congress ends or begins on January 3rd.

From 1921 to 1923 Snell was chairman of the Committee on War Claims ; between 1923 and 1931 he headed the Rules Committee . Since 1931 he was Republican faction leader ( minority leader ) in the US House of Representatives. In 1938 he renounced another candidacy. In his hometown of Potsdam he worked in the newspaper industry until 1949. He also became the owner and manager of the New York State Oil Co. of Kansas . Bertrand Snell died on February 2, 1958 in Potsdam, where he was also buried.

Web links

Commons : Bertrand Snell  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Bertrand Snell in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Edwin Albert Merritt	United States House of Representatives for New York (31st constituency) November 2, 1915 - January 3, 1939	Wallace E. Pierce