Binger Hermann

Binger Hermann ( born February 19, 1843 in Lonaconing, Allegany County, Maryland, † April 15, 1926 in Roseburg, Oregon ) was an American politician. Between 1885 and 1897, and 1903-1907, he was the first electoral district of the state of Oregon in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years and rise in Oregon

Binger Hermann attended the schools of his home in Maryland and then the Independent Academy in Manchester, later, the Irving College emerged from the. In 1859 he moved with his father and a group of seven families to Oregon. The family farmed in their new home a farm. Binger Hermann founded the first school in the Coquille Valley and taught here and in two other communities themselves as teachers.

After studying law and his 1866 was admitted as a lawyer, he started working in Oakland in this profession. He became a member of the Republican Party and was 1866-1868 deputy in the House of Representatives from Oregon. The following two years until 1870 he was a member of the State Senate. From 1868 to 1871 he was deputy head of the tax authority in southern Oregon ( Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue ). In the years 1871-1873 he worked for the land administration authority of the federal government. From 1882 to 1884 he was a colonel in the militia of Oregon.

Political career in Washington

In 1884, Hermann was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he became the successor of Melvin Clark George on March 4, 1885. After several re- elections he could exercise his mandate until March 3, 1897. Until 1893, he was the only congressman from Oregon. Since this year there were two congressional districts and Hermann took the first, while William R. Ellis sat for the second district in Congress. Hermann was temporarily Chairman of the Irrigation Committee ( Committee on Irrigation ). In 1896 he opted not to run again. His seat fell to Thomas H. Tongue. Hermann was after his time in Congress by President William McKinley appointed head of the Landverwaltrungsbehörde in Washington DC appointed. This office he held from 1897 to 1903. In this capacity, it soon came to tensions between Hermann and Minister of the Interior Ethan Hitchcock.

After the death of Congressman Thomas Tongue Hermann candidate in the by-election due again for his old seat in Congress. After winning the elections, he was able to move back into the U.S. House of Representatives on 1 June 1903. After several re- elections, he retained the mandate until March 3, 1907 in 1906 he gave up for reelection.

The Oregon Country scandal

During his last term in Congress Hermann was accused of being involved in the so-called Oregon Country Fraud Scandal. It was about embezzlement of funds in connection with the land administration. Minister of the Interior Hitchcock threw Hermann ago also, he had removed the evidence. Hermann was tried and acquitted in 1907 of charges of destruction of evidence. The procedure for illegal machinations in 1910 adjusted because the jury could not agree. Hermann worked in the following years until his death in 1926 as a lawyer.