Person Sheet
NameHon Constantine Jacob Erdman
Birth4 Sep 1846, Center Valley, Lehigh Co., PA
Death15 Jan 1911, Allentown, PA
FatherEnos Erdman (1822-1884)
MotherAnna Keck (1816-1896)
Misc. Notes
HON. CONSTANTINE JACOB ERDMAN, former member of Congress from the Berks Lehigh district of Pennsylvania, prominent member of the Lehigh county bar, and leading citizen, was born Sept. 4, 1846, in Center Valley, Lehigh county, Pa., son of Enos and Anna (Keck) Erdman and grandson of the Hon. Jacob and Sarah (Hartzel) Erdman. He was the author of the widely quoted Erdman law for settlement of labor disputes. His boyhood days were devoted to the mastery of the branches of learning, taught in the public schools and in a private school at Quakertown, Pa. He subsequently attended a classical school conducted by Dr. A. R. Home, and his education was completed at the Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, Pa., from which he was graduated in 1865, with first honors, at the age of 17 years. He studied law in the office of Robert E. Wright, Sr. and was admitted to the bar, Oct 28, 1867.
He soon won distinction in his profession and became one of the leaders of the bar, and he was a well-known figure in the district and state courts, being retained on one side or the other of almost every important case. He was at first a partner with the late Major John H. Oliver, later with Thomas F. Diefenderfer, and latterly with his only son, Max S. Erdman. Mr. Erdman was elected District Attorney of Lehigh County in 1874 and served three years. During the same time also he was Adjutant of the Fourth Regiment, N. G Pa., under Col. T. H. Good, and he saw service in the labor riots of July, 1877 at Reading, when rioters assaulted the soldiers in the railroad cut with stones and other missiles, fracturing his collarbone. Mr. Edrman was also closely identified with industrial Allentown. For a number of years he was president of the Coplay Cement Company, the Allentown and Coopersburg Turnpike Company, and the Alien Mutual Fire Insurance Company, in addition to active connection with other enterprises conducive to the business development of the city.
He was at one time a member of the board of trustees of Muhlenberg College, and a member of the Livingstone Club. Religiously he held to the tenets of the Lutheran faith and was identified with St Lutheran church. During the 80's and 90's, the great rivalry for congressional honors between Mr. Erdman and the late congressman William H. Sowden, formed a matter of state interest He was, in 1892, elected to congress from the Berks-Lehigh district, and re-elected in 1894. He became noted for two things, first his great friendship with Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed, and also for his persistent objections to private pension grabs.
A staunch Democrat, Mr. Erdman was thoroughly versed in the history of his party, and all its principles and tenets, and he could apply to any political situation with soundest logic in line with Democratic Doctrine.
His greatest achievement and that which gave him a national reputation, was the passage of the Erdman Arbitration Act, which is now frequently resorted to as the last act in labor disputes and which has saved many an expensive battle between labor and capital. The great importance of this act was evident when the engineers of the Sixty-four railroads extending from Chicago, settled their difficulties with their companies under the Erdman Act.
The Erdman Act was designed to provide a means of enabling enter-state railroads and their employees engaged in operating trains to reach amicable agreements when disputes arise between them. It provided that in evidence of a controversy between a road doing an interstate business and its train operatives, if the dispute is likely to result in an interruption of interstate traffic, that at the suggestion of either side, the chairman of the interstate commerce commission, who was Judge Judson C. Clemens, and the Commissioner of Labor, who was Charles P. Neill, acted as mediators to bring about the agreement If the mediators fall in their efforts a method of arbitration is provided for whereby each side selects an arbitrator, and these two select a third, who acts as umpire. In the event of the failure of the first two to agree upon a third within five days, the mediators are empowered to designate such person. The findings of the arbitrators are final and binding, at least morally. No penalty is provided for failure to abide by it, however. The duty of the mediators ends if they are unable to bring about an agreement direct, or when both sides agree to arbitrate the differences, excepting to appoint a third arbitrator is necessary. The Erdman Act was advocated by President Roosevelt, soon after the settlement of the anthracite coal strike of 1902. During his term of office a great political fight occurred in 1905 over the recognition of the First Defenders of 1861. Congressman Erdman ably championed the cause for the five Pennsylvania companies, while Col. James, of the Sixth Infantry of Massachusetts, who then served as a member of Congress, savagely contested the honor for his regiment. A violent debate ensued resulting in that Mr. Erdman almost succeeded in having the Pennsylvania companies honored as the First Defenders of the National Capitol. The House of Representatives at the request of President Cleveland passed a resolution authorizing the award of Medals of Honor to both regiments. For twenty years he was attorney for the county commissioners.
He was a Past Master of Barger Lodge, No. 3331 F. & A. M.; a member of Coopersburg Lodge, No. 269, 1.O.O. F., and of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity. He died Jan. 15, 1911, from paralysis, having suffered, for some eleven years, many previous attacks of this malady. Interment was in Fairview cemetery, Allentown. Hon. Constantine Jacob Erdman was married in 1875 to Miss Mary Schall, daughter of John Rupp and Rosie Ann (Fogel) Schall. Mr. Schall, one of the oldest merchants of Allentown, was a son of David and Mary (Rupp) Schall, and Mrs. Erdman's mother was a daughter of Benjamin and Nancy (Trexler) Fogle. The marriage was the union of two of the oldest and most influential families in Lehigh county- families that helped to make the history of the county. Unto them were born two children, viz: Mary Constance and Max Schall Erdman
He soon won distinction in his profession and became one of the leaders of the bar, and he was a well-known figure in the district and state courts, being retained on one side or the other of almost every important case. He was at first a partner with the late Major John H. Oliver, later with Thomas F. Diefenderfer, and latterly with his only son, Max S. Erdman. Mr. Erdman was elected District Attorney of Lehigh County in 1874 and served three years. During the same time also he was Adjutant of the Fourth Regiment, N. G Pa., under Col. T. H. Good, and he saw service in the labor riots of July, 1877 at Reading, when rioters assaulted the soldiers in the railroad cut with stones and other missiles, fracturing his collarbone. Mr. Edrman was also closely identified with industrial Allentown. For a number of years he was president of the Coplay Cement Company, the Allentown and Coopersburg Turnpike Company, and the Alien Mutual Fire Insurance Company, in addition to active connection with other enterprises conducive to the business development of the city.
He was at one time a member of the board of trustees of Muhlenberg College, and a member of the Livingstone Club. Religiously he held to the tenets of the Lutheran faith and was identified with St Lutheran church. During the 80's and 90's, the great rivalry for congressional honors between Mr. Erdman and the late congressman William H. Sowden, formed a matter of state interest He was, in 1892, elected to congress from the Berks-Lehigh district, and re-elected in 1894. He became noted for two things, first his great friendship with Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed, and also for his persistent objections to private pension grabs.
A staunch Democrat, Mr. Erdman was thoroughly versed in the history of his party, and all its principles and tenets, and he could apply to any political situation with soundest logic in line with Democratic Doctrine.
His greatest achievement and that which gave him a national reputation, was the passage of the Erdman Arbitration Act, which is now frequently resorted to as the last act in labor disputes and which has saved many an expensive battle between labor and capital. The great importance of this act was evident when the engineers of the Sixty-four railroads extending from Chicago, settled their difficulties with their companies under the Erdman Act.
The Erdman Act was designed to provide a means of enabling enter-state railroads and their employees engaged in operating trains to reach amicable agreements when disputes arise between them. It provided that in evidence of a controversy between a road doing an interstate business and its train operatives, if the dispute is likely to result in an interruption of interstate traffic, that at the suggestion of either side, the chairman of the interstate commerce commission, who was Judge Judson C. Clemens, and the Commissioner of Labor, who was Charles P. Neill, acted as mediators to bring about the agreement If the mediators fall in their efforts a method of arbitration is provided for whereby each side selects an arbitrator, and these two select a third, who acts as umpire. In the event of the failure of the first two to agree upon a third within five days, the mediators are empowered to designate such person. The findings of the arbitrators are final and binding, at least morally. No penalty is provided for failure to abide by it, however. The duty of the mediators ends if they are unable to bring about an agreement direct, or when both sides agree to arbitrate the differences, excepting to appoint a third arbitrator is necessary. The Erdman Act was advocated by President Roosevelt, soon after the settlement of the anthracite coal strike of 1902. During his term of office a great political fight occurred in 1905 over the recognition of the First Defenders of 1861. Congressman Erdman ably championed the cause for the five Pennsylvania companies, while Col. James, of the Sixth Infantry of Massachusetts, who then served as a member of Congress, savagely contested the honor for his regiment. A violent debate ensued resulting in that Mr. Erdman almost succeeded in having the Pennsylvania companies honored as the First Defenders of the National Capitol. The House of Representatives at the request of President Cleveland passed a resolution authorizing the award of Medals of Honor to both regiments. For twenty years he was attorney for the county commissioners.
He was a Past Master of Barger Lodge, No. 3331 F. & A. M.; a member of Coopersburg Lodge, No. 269, 1.O.O. F., and of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity. He died Jan. 15, 1911, from paralysis, having suffered, for some eleven years, many previous attacks of this malady. Interment was in Fairview cemetery, Allentown. Hon. Constantine Jacob Erdman was married in 1875 to Miss Mary Schall, daughter of John Rupp and Rosie Ann (Fogel) Schall. Mr. Schall, one of the oldest merchants of Allentown, was a son of David and Mary (Rupp) Schall, and Mrs. Erdman's mother was a daughter of Benjamin and Nancy (Trexler) Fogle. The marriage was the union of two of the oldest and most influential families in Lehigh county- families that helped to make the history of the county. Unto them were born two children, viz: Mary Constance and Max Schall Erdman