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FRED S. CALDWELL
Vol. 3, p. 1094-1095
Book has photo

Admitted to the bar of Oklahoma Territory in 1903, Mr. Caldwell has
since been engaged in the successful practice of his profession in
Oklahoma City, is one of the well fortified and influential member of
the bar of the capital city, being a member of the representative law
firm of SCOTHORN, Caldwell and MCRILL.

Mr. Caldwell is a scion of a staunch Scotch-Irish family that was
founded in America in the colonial period of our national history,
the original progenitor having settled in Virginia, and a branch of
the family having later been established in New England. Benjamin
Caldwell, great-grandfather of him whose name introduced this review,
was born at Rutland, Vermont. Milton P. Caldwell, the grandfather,
likewise was a native of the old Green Mountain State, whence he
removed to the State of New York, and finally he moved with his
family to the West and settled in Wisconsin as a pioneer.

Fred S. Caldwell was born in historic old Monroe County, Michigan,
on the 11th of November, 1876, and is a son of Alfred P. and Clara
(JONES) Caldwell, who now maintain their home in Oklahoma City, where
the father is living virtually retired. Alfred P. Caldwell was born
in Wisconsin, eventually became a prosperous farmer in Michigan, from
which state he removed to Decatur County, Kansas, in 1879. There he
continued to be identified with the basic industries of agriculture
and stockraising until 1891, when he established his home at
Longmont, Colorado, where he availed himself of the advantages of the
public schools until he had completed the curriculum of high school.
He thereafter completed a course in Colorado College, at Colorado
Springs, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1900 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of
Philosophy. In the summer of the same year he went to Cripple Creek,
that state, where he devoted his attention to the study of law and
mining until September, 1901, after which he was for one year a
student in the law school of the University of Denver. Thereafter he
held an executive position in a savings bank at Colorado Springs
about one year, and in the meanwhile completed his work of
preparation for the legal profession.

In 1903 Mr. Caldwell came to Oklahoma Territory and at Guthrie, the
territorial capital, he took the bar examination and was admitted to
practice, the solidity of his legal learning at the time having been
indicated by the fact that he passed the required examination with
the highest mark of all of the class of thirty applicants.
Immediately after his admission to the bar Mr. Caldwell established
his permanent residence in Oklahoma City, where has since given
unremitting attention to the practice of law and where he has gained
a staunch vantage-place as one of the representative attorneys and
counselors at the bar of the Oklahoma metropolis and capital city. He
has proved himself capable, honorable and resourceful in all of his
professional activities, has achieved noteworthy victories in many
important cases in the various courts and, with a true appreciation
of and regard for the true ethical values, he has signally honored
the profession of his choice.

A citizen of high ideals and mature judgment, Mr. Caldwell has given
his co-operation in the furtherance of the general welfare of the
community, both as a lawyer and as a loyal and public-spirited
citizen. He became influential in the councils and activities of the
Anti-Saloon League at the time of the prohibition campaign that was
made when Oklahoma was preparing for statehood, and for a number of
years he has been a valued member of the board of trustees of the
Oklahoma Anti Saloon League. In June, 1908, at the solicitation of
the representative member of this organization, Governor Haskell
appointed Mr. Caldwell prohibition-enforcement attorney, under the
enforcement act that was passed at the first session of the State
Legislature and which is commonly designated the "Billups law."
Concerning his service to the new commonwealth in this important
office, the following pertinent statements have been made, and the
data are well worthy of preservation in this article: "In discharging
the duties of this office Mr. Caldwell was early confronted by the
inter-state commerce barrier to the enforcement of the prohibition
laws of Oklahoma, and numerous suits were brought in the Federal
courts, by the railroads as well as by foreign liquor dealers who
wished to market their goods in this state. As a result of this
important and harassing litigation, which finally terminated in the
Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. Caldwell became an authority
and legal expert on inter-state commerce law, and in his final report
to Governor Haskell he submitted a draft of a proposed bill to be
presented in Congress and to provide for a solution of the vexing
problem of inter-state commerce in intoxicating liquors, and in his
report he also recommended that the Oklahoma Legislature should
memorialize Congress upon this subject, and that this draft of a
proposed bill be offered as a concrete suggestion for definite
congressional legislation.

"Early in 1911 E. C. DINWIDDIE, national legislative superintendent
of the Anti-Saloon League at Washington, D.C., and a close personal
friend of Mr. Caldwell, presented to Hon. E. Y. WEBB, a
Representative in Congress from North Carolina, a copy of the
proposed measure as drafted by Mr. Caldwell. Mr. Webb promptly
recognized the intrinsic value and consistency of the measure, and in
the first session of the Sixty-second Congress he introduced it in
the House of Representatives, as the original Webb bill. In December
1911, a convention of representatives from the Anti-Saloon League and
other temperance organizations was held in Washington, and largely
through the efforts of Mr. Caldwell and his clear and convincing
exposition of the intricate legal questions involved, the Webb bill
was agreed upon as the measure upon which all should unite. In March,
1912, at the request of the Anti-Saloon League of America, Mr.
Caldwell appeared before the judiciary committees of both the House
of Representatives and the Senate and argued for the passage of the
Webb bill, besides giving cogent reasons to establish its
constitutionality. This effective argument was used by Mr. CLAYTON,
chairman of the house judiciary committee, in the fight for the bill
which he led on the floor of the national House of Representatives.
The Webb bill was passed by both houses of Congress, was vetoed by
President TAFT, and was repassed over this veto by considerably more
than the necessary two-thirds vote. For his ability, zeal and
faithful service in this connection Mr. Caldwell merits the enduring
gratitude of the friends of temperance and prohibition throughout the
entire United States.

During the earlier years of his professional activities in Oklahoma
City Mr. Caldwell conducted an individual or independent practice,
but since the 1st of February, 1911, he has been associated with John
W. Scothorn and Albert L. McRill, under the firm name of Scothorn,
Caldwell & McRill. They control a large and important civil practice
and make a specialty of fire-insurance law. The well appointed
offices of the firm are in the Insurance Building. Mr. Caldwell is a
member of the American Bar Association; is affiliated with the
Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America; and both he
and his wife are zealous member of the First Presbyterian Church of
Oklahoma City, in which he holds the office of deacon.

Mr. Caldwell was married on November 29, 1906, to Miss Blanche
ATCHISON, daughter of Mrs. Pauline Atchison, of Colorado Springs,
Colorado, and the two children of this union are Robert and Fred S.,
Jr.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Earline Sparks Barger, December 8, 1998.