Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1915 — POLK IS NAMED AS COUNSELLOR [ARTICLE]

POLK IS NAMED AS COUNSELLOR

His Selection Has Been Formally Announced by Secretary LansingVDescendant of Pres. Polk. Washington, Aug. 30.—The selection of Frank L. Polk, corporation counsel jf New York City, to be counsellor of the state department, has been formally announced by Secretary Lansling. The president has tendered the J position to Mr. Polk, who has accept- ' ed. Mr. Polk will succeed Mr. Lansing, who became secretary on the resignation by Williams Jennings Bry--lan last June. The counsellor’s office has been vacant since Mr. Lansing I took his place in the cabinet and there ! has been much gossip as to who would 1 fill it. | While John Bassett Moore was counsellor* he acted for the secretary .in all matters in the latter’s absence frdm Washington, and the rule continued in effect while Mr. Lansing held the post. Diplomatic callers were referred to the counsellor, and when matters of pressing importance were pending, such as the correspondence ,-ith Germany over the Lusitania case, the counsellor was called into conference at cabinet meetings. While it has not been definitely decided, it is virtually certain that the rule will continue in effect.

Polk is the son of Dr. William Mecklenburg Polk, dean of the Cornell Medical school, the grandson of Confederate Bishop-General Leonidas Polk and the grandnephew of President James K. Polk. He was bom in 1871 and was graduated from Yale in 1894. He studied law at Columbus law school and was graduated there in 1897. In 1898 he went to the Spanish war with Troop A and became assistant quartermaster under General Erast, with the rank of captain. In 1908 he married iMiss Elizabeth Potter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Potter, of Philadelphia. They have three children.