Stewart, Ethelbert (1857-1936)

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Lettie Cox Stewart to Jane Addams, November 22, 1903

Jane Addams to Mary Rozet Smith, August 9, 1904

Jane Addams et al. to Members of the American Association for Labor Legislation, October 30, 1908

Lettie Cox Stewart to Jane Addams, December 29, 1909

Graham Taylor to Jane Addams, September 8, 1912

Ethelbert Stewart to Jane Addams, July 3, 1908

Jane Addams to Ethelbert Stewart, October 2, 1917

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Birth Date

1857-04-22

Death Date

1936-10-13

Birthplace

Texas, De Witt, Illinois

Biographical Text

Ethelbert Stewart was a coffin maker who became interested in labor issues. After an unsuccessful campaign for city clerk in 1885, he was appointed the Secretary of the Illinois Board of Labor and became active in the Knights of Labor. Stewart began a series of positions at other government agencies, the Federal Bureau of Labor, the Children's Bureau, and the Tariff Board, before taking up the position of Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Labor in 1913. In 1921, he became Commissioner of Labor Statistics under President Harding. Stewart expanded statistics that were reported on wages, prices, the cost-of-living, industrial safety, pension and retirement income and labor productivity. He was retired involuntarily by the passage of the Economy Act of 1932 at the age of 74. Stewart died in 1936.

Stewart married Lettie Cox in 1880. They had seven children: Zelda, Elliot Walter, Ruby Gay, Estelle, Margret, Henry Demarest, and Lettie.