Born on a farm in the old Belknap settlement near Monroe, Benton County, Oregon, May 5, 1864; attended the country schools and was graduated from the academic and law departments of Willamette University, Salem, Oreg., in 1888.
A principal of the Umpqua Academy, Wilbur, Oreg., 1884-1886; president of the Oregon State Normal School at Drain 1888-1891; was admitted to the bar in Oregon in 1893; president of Willamette University 1893-1902 and was professor of history and economics for sixteen years; engaged in numerous business and educational enterprises; member of the National Forest Reservation Commission; member of the Special Committee on Rural Credits created by Congress in 1915; member of the Commission for the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of George Washington.
Elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth and to the twelve succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1907-March 3, 1933); chairman, Committee on Ways and Means (Seventieth and Seventy-first Congresses); co-sponsor of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930.
Unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1932; returned to Salem and resumed the practice of law; died in Salem, Oreg., July 24, 1941; interment in City View Cemetery.