Leslie Mortier Shaw (November 2, 1848 – March 28, 1932) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He served as the 17th Governor of Iowa and was a Republican candidate in the 1908 United States presidential election. He was Secretary of the Treasury from 1902 to 1907.[1][2]
Biography
Shaw was born on November 2, 1848 in Morristown, Vermont, the son of Boardman O. Shaw and Louise Spaulding "Lovisa" Shaw.[3] He attended Cornell College in 1874. Shaw married the former Alice Crenshaw on December 6, 1877, with whom he had three children.
Shaw was a part-time lawyer and part-time apple salesman in Denison, Iowa.[3] He later became a banker.
Like his predecessor Secretary Lyman Gage, Shaw firmly believed that the Treasury should serve the money market in times of difficulty through the introduction of Treasury funds. To this end, Shaw bought back the government bonds from commercial banks that owned them, increased the number of government depository banks, and in 1902, he told the banks that they no longer needed to keep cash reserves against their holdings of public funds. The intended effect of these actions was to provide a more elastic currency which would then respond to the needs of the market. The government intervention in the money market reached its height with Shaw. He supported tariff theory according to the New York Times.[4] He resigned on March 3, 1907, to become a banker in New York City. Later that year, the Panic of 1907 took place.[5]
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