professor, author, public official, b. Mequon. He graduated from Oshkosh State Normal School (1893) and the Univ. of Wisconsin (B.L., 1894; Ph.D., 1897). He also did graduate work at the Univ. of Berlin (1894-1895). He was instructor in sociology at the Univ. of Wisconsin (1897-1899), assistant professor (1899-1900), and professor of political economy (1900-1910). In 1905 he was granted a leave from the university to serve on the Wisconsin Railroad Commission, and was its chairman (1907-1911). In 1910 President Taft appointed him to the U.S. Railroad Securities Commission, and in 1911 he became a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission. He served on the I.C.C. from 1911 until his retirement in 1939, and spent the remainder of his life as a consultant and mediator for the transportation industry with offices in Washington, D.C. Meyer was the author of Railroad Legislation in the U.S. (1903), History of Transportation in the U.S. before I860 (1917), and numerous monographs and articles on railroad legislation. Who's Who in Amer., 26 (1950); N.Y. Herald Tribune, Feb. 11, 1954; B. H. Meyer Papers.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Balthasar Henry Meyer Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]