Bio of PREUS, Jacob A. O. (b.1883), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol III, pg 720-723
J. A. O. PREUS (Jacob A. O. Preus)
J. A. O. Preus, serving for the second term as governor of Minnesota, comes well
qualified by educational training and by business and professional experience to
the duties of chief executive of the state. He was nominated for the office in
1920 and the people of the commonwealth recognized his fitness for the duties of
the high position which he sought. He is descended from a distinguished
ancestry, his grandfather in the paternal line having been Bishop Herman A.
Preus. His father, Dr. C. K. Preus, was president of Decorah College of Iowa for
many years and died while still occupying that position. His wife was the eldest
daughter of the Rev, O. J. Hjort, a pioneer Norwegian minister of Iowa.
It was upon a farm in Wisconsin that Governor Preus was born in 1883 and his
preliminary educational training was that afforded by the district schools.
Ambitious to advance, however, he later attended Luther College, from which he
received his academic degree, and then became a law student in the University of
Minnesota, from which he gained the LL. B. degree, while the honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Gustavus Adolphus College. Soon after
the completion of his law course he was appointed messenger in the United States
senate and subsequently filled the position of secretary to Senator Knute
Nelson, continuing to act in that capacity in Washington until 1909, when he
resigned to take up the practice of law in Minnesota. In due time he became
executive clerk to Governor Eberhart, from whom he afterward received
appointment to the position of state commissioner of insurance, rendering
distinguished service to the state in that capacity during a four years' term,
in which he was instrumental in promoting the passage of some of the most
effective and most desirable legislation pertaining to insurance matters that
has been enacted. Upon questions of insurance law he is regarded as an
authority. In 1914 he was called to the office of state auditor and filled the
position most acceptably for six years, finding in that connection enlarged
opportunities for important and valuable public service. He had proven his
capability in the management of his personal affairs and he displayed the same
sound business principles in control of the financial interests of the state.
His administration attracted wide attention, and the accounting system which he
installed is now regarded as a model in many other states. He was instrumental
in promoting legislation affecting the administration of trust funds and the
protection of other interests of the state in financial matters. Thus step by
step he was advancing to the high executive office to which he was called in
1920 and endorsement of his excellent and effective service during his first two
years' term came to him in his reelection on the 7th of November, 1922. The
Educational Digest said of him: "The distinctively outstanding feature of
Governor Preus' administration has been his advocacy of cooperative marketing
for farmers. Under his leadership, an agricultural legislative program was
organized, during the legislative session of 1921, which led to the passage of
more constructive laws for the benefit of the farmer than had been enacted at
any session of the legislature in the history of the state. Today fifty per cent
of the agricultural products of Minnesota are marketed cooperatively. Minnesota
is said to lead the other states in this respect. Governor Preus was nominated
last June for reflection. Descended from a distinguished ancestry, Governor
Preus has devoted his inherited tendencies to serve and his acquired
attain­ments to the upbuilding of the social fabric of the state and nation. The
fundamental' principle of right thinking and consistent action has characterized
Governor Preus' public activities, and any epitome of his civic accomplishments
would have to be built around that principle. Dryden said of one:
A man so various that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome.
So can it be said of Governor Preus; and as the years come and go, this
impelling thought, in any estimate of his public worth and capacity, will occupy
the minds of men to the exclusion of political sophistries. He is a many-sided
man, but he is never two-sided. Stalwart in character, his sympathies are as
broad as are the varied interests of the people whom he serves. Attainment and
accomplishment, in Governor Preus' life, have gone hand in hand. Education has
played an important part in his career. His student and manhood record shows him
to be, in point of character and personality, one of the finest types of the
college man in public life today; and he is easily one of the most prominent
living examples of what liberal education, enthusiasm, and integrity of purpose
can accomplish."