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Payne (JOHN BARTON Secretary)

JOHN BARTON, Secretary of the Interior of the United States.

Born in Virginia 1855, and admitted to the bar in West Virginia in 1876. In 1883 he removed to Chicago where he practiced law and in 1893 was elected Judge of the Supreme Court of Cook In 1898 he resigned his judicial position and entered the firm of Winston, Payne, Strawn and Shaw, in which he remained until 1918. In that year he became counsel for the Shipping Board of the United States Government and later became its chairman. In 1920 President Wilson appointed him Secretary of the Interior.