Born in
Athens, Ohio, Foster attended the public schools, and graduated from the
Ohio University at Athens in 1895. He studied law at the Harvard Law School in 1895 and 1896, and graduated from the
Ohio State Law School in 1898, commencing practice the same year in Athens, Ohio. He served as prosecuting attorney of
Athens County from 1902 to 1910. He served as member and secretary of the board of trustees of the
Ohio University for twenty-four years, and was Secretary of the Republican State central committee in 1912.
Congress Foster was elected as a
Republican to the
Sixty-sixth,
Sixty-seventh, and
Sixty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1919 – March 4, 1925). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1924. While in Congress, he is best known for proposing the
Child Labor Amendment to the
United States Constitution.
Later career After serving in Congress, he was appointed a commissioner of the court of claims on April 1, 1925, and served until April 1, 1942, when he retired. == Death and legacy ==