Chapter VIII: Book THREE: Encyclopedic Biographies, (1)

OR THE ROMANCE OF REALITY.

Success Maxims

“Never give up: for the wisest is boldest,
Knowing that Providence mingles the cup;
And of all maxims, the best, as the oldest,
Is the stern watchword of ‘Never give up!’”
—HOLMES.

I find nothing so singular in life as this: that everything opposing appears to lose its substance the moment one actually grapples with it.—HAWTHORNE.

Perpetual pushing and assurance put a difficulty out of countenance, and make a seeming impossibility give way.—JEREMY COLLIER.

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.—NAPOLEON I.

He wants wit, that wants resolved will.—SHAKESPEARE.

When a firm decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how the space clears around a man and leaves him room and freedom.—JOHN FOSTER.

Self-distrust is the cause of most of our failures. In the assurance of strength there is strength, and they are the weakest, however strong, who have no faith in themselves or their powers.—BOVEE.

Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control—these three alone lead life to sovereign power.—TENNYSON.

There is no fate! Between the thought and the success, God is the only agent.—BULWER.

Character must stand behind and back up everything—the sermon, the poem, the picture, the play. None of them is worth a straw without it.—J. G. HOLLAND.

I hate a thing done by halves. If it be right, do it boldly; if it be wrong, leave it undone.—GILPIN.

Doing well depends upon doing completely.—PERSIAN PROVERB.

Things don’t turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.—GARFIELD.

We live in a new and exceptional age. America is another name for Opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of the Divine Providence in behalf of the human race.—EMERSON.

STATESMEN.

WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON.

William Boyd Allison was born at Perry, Ohio, March 2, 1829. His father, John Allison, was a farmer, and young William spent his boyhood in work on the farm and in attending the district school. At the age of sixteen he studied at the Academy at Wooster and subsequently spent a year at Allegheny college in Meadville, Pennsylvania. After that he made enough money by teaching school to pay for his admission in the Western Reserve college in Hudson, Ohio. He studied law in Wooster, and in 1851 was admitted to the bar. Soon after he became deputy county clerk. His political tastes were made evident early in life. In 1856 he was a delegate to the Republican state convention and supported Fremont for president. In the following year he moved to Ohio, and settled in Dubuque, where he has since resided. He was a delegate at the Chicago Republican Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. At the beginning of the Civil war he was appointed on the staff of the Governor of Ohio. In 1862 he was elected to the Thirty-eighth congress and was re-elected three times in succession. He was the leading member of the ways and means committee during the Civil war and was of great use to the President and the Secretary of the Treasury in devising plans for raising money. He was elected to the United States senate in 1872. His previous record in the house caused his selection as chairman of the senate committee on appropriations. Mr. Allison has always taken a prominent part in tariff questions and was chiefly instrumental in framing the senate tariff bill of the Fiftieth congress. In 1881 he was offered the position of secretary of the Treasury by President Garfield, but declined, and, in 1888, he was a leading candidate for nomination for the presidency. After the election of Mr. Harrison he was again offered the treasury portfolio, which he again declined. Senator Allison has always held the respect of public men, and has never used his position to enrich himself. His tastes are refined, he is an agreeable host, and popular in both public and private life.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

Grover Cleveland was born at Caldwell, New Jersey, March 18, 1837. His ancestors came from England. His father was a Presbyterian minister and he was named after the Rev. Steven Grover. In 1841 the family moved to Fayetteville, New York, where the future president was educated in the public schools. Between lessons he acted as clerk in a country store. He received further education at a local academy, and was later appointed assistant teacher in the New York Institution for the Blind. In 1855, while helping his uncle, Lewis F. Allen, at Buffalo, compiling “The American Word Book,” he began to read law, and, in 1859, was admitted to the bar. He was appointed assistant district attorney of Erie county in 1863, but in 1865 he was defeated for the district attorneyship of the same county. Thereupon he became a member of a Buffalo law firm. In 1871 he was elected sheriff of Erie county. At the close of this term he helped to form the firm of Bass, Cleveland & Bissel. In 1881 he was elected mayor of Buffalo by the largest majority to a mayoralty candidate ever given in that city. In 1882 he was made governor of the state of New York. He was nominated as Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1884, was elected, and inaugurated on March 4, 1885. His term of office was notable on account of his exercising the veto power beyond all precedent. He vetoed one hundred and fifteen out of nine hundred and eighty-seven bills, which had passed both houses, one hundred and two of these being private pension bills. On June 2, 1886, he was married, in the White House, to Frances Folsom, the daughter of one of his former law partners. In 1888 Mr. Cleveland was candidate for a second term as president, but was defeated by Benjamin Harrison. In 1892 he was again a candidate, and this time he was elected. Mr. Cleveland was without doubt the most popular Democrat of his time when running for the presidency. He is an enthusiastic devotee of gun and rod, an ideal host, and even those who differ with him politically admit his statesmanship.

WILLIAM PIERCE FRYE.

William Pierce Frye, who, since 1861, has been United States senator from Maine, was born at Lewiston, Maine, September 2, 1831. His father was Colonel John N. Frye and his mother Alice N. (Davis) Frye. Graduating from Bowdoin college in 1850, he subsequently carried out the wishes of his family and the trend of his own inclinations by following a legal career, in which he was eminently successful. Becoming a member of the Maine legislature in 1861, he was mayor of Lewiston from 1866 to 1867, and afterward held a variety of political offices, including the attorney-generalship of Maine from 1867 to 1869, presidential elector 1864, was made a member of congress in 1871, which office he held for ten years, was chairman of the commerce committee of the senate and member of the peace commission in Paris, 1898; was president pro tem, of the senate from 1896 to 1901, and after the death of Vice-President Hobart discharged the duties of that office during the Fifty-sixth congress. He is now acting chairman of the committee on foreign relations. Mr. Frye married Caroline Spears, who died in 1900. His life history is one that has for its moral the power of integrity when welded to unceasing effort.

JOHN HAY.

John Hay, who, since 1890, has been secretary of state of the United States, first saw the light at Salem, Indiana, on October 8, 1838. His father was Dr. Charles Hay, and John was educated in the common schools at Warsaw, Illinois, and in the academy at Springfield, Illinois. He graduated from Brown university in 1858, and after a preparatory period in a local law school was admitted to the Illinois bar. Mr. Hay was one of the private secretaries of President Lincoln. He was breveted colonel of United States Volunteers and was also assistant adjutant-general during the Civil war. He has also been secretary of legation at Paris, Madrid and Vienna and was charge d’affaires at Vienna. From 1879 to 1881 he acted as first assistant secretary of state. During the international sanitary conference of 1881 he was made its president. His services as ambassador to England from 1897 to 1898 will be long remembered in connection with his tactful and dignified diplomacy. Mr. Hay, notwithstanding his many and onerous official duties has found time to write books of both prose and poetry. His Castilian Days and Pike County Ballads are among the most popular of these. In 1874 he married Clara Stone, of Cleveland, Ohio.

GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR.

A commanding figure among the Republican forces in the United States senate, not alone from his personality and ability, but also because of his attitude on trust legislation and on the Philippine question, is George Frisbie Hoar, Massachusetts. Mr. Hoar was born in Concord, Massachusetts, August 29, 1826. A graduate of Harvard in 1846, aged twenty, and later of Harvard law school, he has retained his interest in higher education, and in scholarly matters. He has been an overseer of Harvard college from 1874 to 1880, at various times regent of the Smithsonian Institute, a trustee of the Leicester academy and the Peabody Museum of Archæology, and officer of various national and state societies. He settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, after graduating and practiced law. He has been married twice, his first wife being Mary Louisa Spurr and his second Ruth A. Miller. His service in the senate, since 1877, is exceeded by but few fellow-members, and he represents that body’s best traditions. He was elected because, as legislator from 1852 to 1856, as state senator in 1856, and as member of congress from 1869 until he was sent to the senate, he had shown marked ability, an unfailing watchfulness for public welfare and an unswerving honesty as rare as it is desirable. Senator Hoar is a striking example of how irreproachable integrity can take active and prominent part in party politics. He has kept his influence in his party and in general legislation in spite of sometimes opposing leaders of his own party, when his conscience and judgment bade him do so.

HENRY CABOT LODGE.

Henry Cabot Lodge was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 12, 1850. He prepared for college in Dixwell Latin school, and, entering Harvard, was graduated in 1876. After his graduation he spent a year in traveling. Returning to America in 1872, he entered the Harvard law school. In January, 1874, he became assistant editor of the North American Review, which position he held until November, 1876. In 1875 he was a lecturer on The History of the American Colonies, in Harvard. From 1879 to 1882 he was associate editor of the International Review of Boston. During the same period he was elected member of the Massachusetts house of representatives. In 1881 he was the Republican candidate for the state senate, but was defeated. He was nominated for congress in 1884, but was again defeated. In 1886, however, being nominated again, he was successful and was re-elected for three successive congresses, but resigned after his last election on account of having been made a United States senator, January 17, 1893. In the senate he has made his mark. Mr. Lodge is an orator of much ability, a far-sighted political executive, and a writer of considerable merit. Among his books are: A Short History of the English Colonies, Life of Washington, Daniel Webster, History of Boston, and he has contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica and other works. He is a fluent lecturer. He is a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, trustee of the Boston Athenaeum, a member of the American Antiquarian Society, and a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In 1874 he was elected an overseer of Harvard university, and was offered the degree of LL.D. in 1875. He married, on June 29, 1871, Anna, daughter of Rear Admiral Charles S. Davis, and has three children by her.

RICHARD OLNEY.

Richard Olney was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, September 15, 1835, and is of English ancestry. He received his preliminary education at Leicester academy, and graduated with high honors at Brown university in 1856. He was graduated with the degree of bachelor of laws from Harvard law school in 1858, and was admitted to the bar in the following year, entering the office of Judge Benjamin F. Thomas, with whom he was associated for ten years. Mr. Olney made a specialty of the laws relative to wills, estates and corporations. In 1893 he was appointed attorney-general by President Cleveland. By his advice Mr. Cleveland called out regular troops, July, 1894, to suppress the rioting that followed on the Chicago American railway union strike. In March, 1895, he successfully defended that action in an argument before the Supreme Court in the habeas corpus proceedings brought by Eugene V. Debs, who had been convicted of inciting the strikers. Upon the death of Walter Q. Gresham, Mr. Olney was appointed secretary of state and took office June 10, 1895. He was married, in 1861, to Agnes Park, daughter of Benjamin F. Thomas, of Boston.

ELIHU ROOT.

Elihu Root, secretary of war of the United States and one of the most successful lawyers of his generation, was born at Clinton, New York, February 15, 1845. His father was Orin Root, who was for many years professor of mathematics at Hamilton college, from which institution young Root graduated in 1864. For a year or more he was a teacher in Rome, New York, academy. Coming to New York, he studied in the University law school until 1867, when he was admitted to the bar, beginning to practice forthwith. He lost no time in getting into the current of affairs in the metropolis, and soon began to attract attention on account of his earnestness and ability, and so, while still a very young man, was retained on important cases. President Arthur appointed him United States attorney for the southern district of New York in 1883. He was delegate-at-large at the state constitutional convention in 1894, was appointed secretary of war, August 1, 1899, by President McKinley, and was reappointed in 1901. As a corporation lawyer he has had to do with some historical legal cases, such as the Hocking Valley suit, in which the amount involved was $8,000,000. A few years ago he erected in the Hamilton college grounds the Root Hall of Science as a memorial to his father. He is married and has three children—two boys and a girl.

INDUSTRIAL LEADERS.

E. G. ACHESON.

E. G. Acheson, the inventor of carborundum, which may be called an artificial gem that, unlike the majority of gems, is much more useful than ornamental, has proven that for a man of ideas and ability the world of to-day is as full of opportunities as it was in those periods which are somewhat vaguely alluded to by less successful men as “the good old times.” Mr. Acheson was born at Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1854, and after receiving a public school, college and technical training, entered the employ of Edison, the inventor. From the first he was a persistent and somewhat daring experimentalist, one of his scientific fads being the manufacture of artificial diamonds, and it was during the investigations made by him in relation thereunto that carborundum—a substance which has revolutionized some industries and incidentally brought fame and fortune to its discoverer and his associates—was obtained. The principle of the electric furnace, by means of which the substance in question is manufactured, was in existence many years before Mr. Acheson began to use it in connection with his experimental work, but other scientists had failed to recognize its possibilities. Carborundum is produced by fusing carbon and silicon by means of a huge electric arc, the result being a mass of beautifully colored crystals which are harder than any known substance except diamonds. Carborundum is rapidly taking the place of emery for abrasive purposes. Another product of the electric furnace—artificial graphite—is also a discovery of Mr. Acheson, and which is of great value in many of the arts and sciences.

CHARLES HENRY CRAMP.

“He did not cease to be a student when he left school.” This fact to a very great extent accounts for the achievements of Charles H. Cramp, who is the president of the largest shipbuilding enterprise in the United States. He was born in Philadelphia, May 9, 1828, and is the oldest son of William Cramp, who was the founder of the industry which bears his name. After receiving a thorough schooling and graduating from the Philadelphia high school, he learned the shipbuilding trade with his father. He is now recognized as the head of naval architecture on the American continent. Mr. Cramp’s services in the reconstruction of the navy and in connection with the revival of the American merchant marine alone entitle him to permanent distinction. Beginning in 1887 his firm built, in rapid succession, the Yorktown (gunboat), the Vesuvius (dynamite torpedo vessel), Baltimore (protected cruiser), Philadelphia (protected cruiser), New York (armored cruiser), Columbia (protected cruiser), Minneapolis (protected cruiser), Indiana (battleship), Massachusetts (battleship), Brooklyn (armored cruiser), and the Iowa (seagoing battleship). The fleet has an aggregate of nearly eighty thousand tons of displacement and one hundred and forty-seven thousand indicated horse-power. The shipyard covers thirty acres of ground, employs six thousand men and was capitalized at $5,000,000 in 1894. The William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Co., from a simple shipyard, has reached the status of the greatest and most complete naval arsenal in the western hemisphere.

CHARLES RANLETT FLINT.

The personality of Charles R. Flint does not suggest the strenuous nature of his life, past and present; yet but few men in this country have shouldered or for that matter are shouldering so many business responsibilities as he is doing—and of large caliber at that. Mr. Flint’s successes on the lines indicated are due to system, and system only. With him there is a place for each responsibility and each responsibility occupies its place in the total scheme of his business existence. He was born at Thomaston, Maine, January 24, 1850, graduated from the Polytechnic institute, Brooklyn, in 1868, and in 1883 married E. Kate, daughter of Joseph F. Simmons, of Troy, N. Y. To catalogue the industries and enterprises which Mr. Flint has organized or is connected with would be an undertaking in itself. Suffice it that he is prominently identified with the rubber and lumber industries, is interested in street railways in New York state, is a director in several banks, has organized iron and steel, steamship, starch, caramel and general export companies, has acted as United States consul in Central American countries, in 1893 fitted out a fleet of war vessels for the Brazilian republic, bought for and delivered to Japan a cruiser during the China-Japan war, and, in 1898, was the confidential agent of the United States in negotiating for the purchase of war vessels.

CHARLES MELVILLE HAYS.

It is a good thing for the world at large that human talents are of a diversified nature. It is an equally excellent thing that the possession of special gift on the part of an individual is recognized by those with whom he comes in contact. A case in point is furnished by Charles M. Hays, who, until lately, was president of the Southern Pacific railroad. Mr. Hays’ work in life seems to have been that of turning unprofitable railroad systems into permanently paying propositions. He was born May 16, 1856, at Rock Island, Illinois, his parents being in fairly comfortable circumstances. After a common school training he entered the railroad service in 1873, his first position being in the passenger department of the St. Louis, Atlantic & Pacific railroad. The rungs of the ladder of his subsequent upward climb are something in this order: Prompted to a clerkship in the auditor’s office, he was at length placed in the general superintendent’s office on the same line; next he is heard of as secretary of the general manager of the Missouri Pacific railroad, and in 1886 he was made assistant general manager of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific railroad; three years later he was appointed general manager of the Wabash & Western railroad, and was afterward made manager of the Wabash system, which was the outcome of the consolidation of the Wabash Western and Wabash railroads. He has also been general manager of the Grand Trunk system, and, as already intimated, was, until recently, the president of the Southern railroad. When Mr. Hays took hold of the Wabash lines they were in about as bad a condition as railroad lines can be. The same remark applies to the Grand Trunk system. When Mr. Hays severed his connection with these corporations they were in a flourishing condition—popular with the public and paying as to dividends. He created their prosperity by the industrious exercise of his special talents. The lesson may be taken to heart.

JOHN B. HERRESHOFF.

The person who is handicapped in the struggle for existence by physical infirmities excites our sympathy, but when such an one achieves as well as or far better than the normal individual, we regard him with an admiration that is akin to wonder. John B. Herreshoff, the famous blind yacht and boat designer, is such an individual. He is a marvel such as the world has never seen before, and is not likely to witness for some time to come. He is the admitted head of a profession which as one would believe calls for keen eyes as a preliminary. Yet Mr. Herreshoff has set all precedent at naught. It would almost seem that his blindness, so far from being a handicap, is of positive value to him, for it is certain that those exquisite floating creations of his, have never yet been duplicated by the owners of eyesight. When, in August, 1851, the America won the famous “Queen’s Cup,” which has ever since remained on this side of the water, two youngsters were playing on a farm at Point Pleasant, at Bristol, Rhode Island. John, the oldest, was then a blue-eyed boy of ten. As soon as he could use a knife he began to whittle boats, and when fourteen years of age built a usable craft, which was said to be a marvel of beauty by local experts. At fifteen, blindness descended upon him, but he nevertheless continued to study boats and build them. His younger brother, Nathaniel, also had a love for boats, and together the two brothers lived and ruled and had their being in an atmosphere of boats. Both boys were educated at local schools, and John, with the assistance of his mother, managed to keep pace with his fellow pupils. Nathaniel became a civil engineer and made a name for himself in his profession. In the meantime the reputation of John had so extended that in 1863 he founded the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., and fourteen years later Nathaniel became a partner in the concern and is now its superintendent. The fame of the Herreshoffs is perhaps best known to the public in connection with their construction of several of the defenders of the “Queens,” or, as it is better known on this side of the water, “The America Cup.” John B. Herreshoff, on being asked what the elements of success are, said: “Concentration, decision, industry, economy, together with an invincible determination and persistence, will always place a man in the position which he desires.”

LEWIS NIXON.

“Four letters sum up my idea of how to make a success in life; they are W-O-R-K (work).” These are the sentiments of Lewis Nixon, who starting life as a poor boy, has by sheer determination won social position, fame, wealth and political honor before he was forty. His story is a simple one, but none the less helpful. Born in Leesburg, Virginia, April 7, 1861, he was the son of Joel Lewis and Mary Frances (Turner) Nixon. His parents were in poor circumstances. His diligence in the public schools interested General Eppa Hunton (then representative from Virginia), who secured for him an appointment to the United States Naval academy at Annapolis as midshipman, and in 1882 he graduated at the head of his class. Going to England, he took a course in naval architecture and marine engineering. Upon returning to this country, he was appointed to the staff of the chief constructor of the navy and served as superintendent of construction at the Cramp yards and the New York navy yard. In 1890 he designed, in ninety days, the battleships Indiana, the Massachusetts and the Oregon. After resigning from the navy department, he became superintending constructor of the Cramps’ yard, Philadelphia, but soon after resigned that position and opened a shipyard of his own at Elizabeth, New Jersey. He has built the gunboats Annapolis, Josephine, Mangro and others, besides the submarine torpedo boat Holland. He was married in Washington, January 29, 1891, to Sallie Lewis Wood. Mr. Nixon is a member of the New England organization of architects and marine engineers, the chamber of commerce, and is a member of the Democratic club, Press club, Army and Navy club of Washington and others. He takes an active part in Democratic politics.

JOHN H. PATTERSON.

John H. Patterson, the president of the International Cash Register Co., of Dayton, Ohio, is a specimen of what, happily for this country, is not an infrequent young American, whose original capital being that of brains and industry, pays interest in the shape of great enterprises and a large fortune. Mr. Patterson’s parents were farmers. After a public school education he went to Miami university, and afterward to Dartmouth college. On graduating he began life without any definite plans, clerked, saved money and pushed ahead until he became manager of a coal mine. It was while he was holding this position that he heard of the then almost unknown cash register, bought two of them and saw that there was a field for their development and use. Together with his brother, Frank R. Patterson, he bought the patent of the machine and began to manufacture the registers. In 1894, after ten years of effort, and with success apparently in sight, the brothers were confronted with the complete failure of one of their new inventions and the return from England of a carload of broken machines, instead of an expected draft for $30,000. Nothing daunted, Mr. Patterson began to analyze the causes of the setback and came to the conclusion that the successful manufacture of the machines depended on the faithfulness of his workmen, which had to rest upon the mutual goodwill of employer and employe. This belief led him to adopt an industrial system which is probably unique in the annals of manufacturing enterprises. Briefly, it consists of developing the mechanical talents of the workmen by prizes and promotions; by making schools, clubs, libraries, choral societies and the like a part of the economy of the factory and by remembering that all work makes Jack and his bosses very dull boys indeed. That the principle is a sound one seems to be certain, if one may judge by the general use of the Patterson cash register.

MANUFACTURERS.

HUGH CHISHOLM.

The individual who begins life as a poor newsboy, and in the full flush of his manhood is found to be the head of an industry created by himself in which untold millions are invested, and which is of supreme importance to the community, serves his generation in more ways than one. If he has done nothing else he has acted as an exemplar for the faint-hearted, as a beacon for the persevering, and as a type of American manhood, and all that lies before it. Such an individual is Hugh Chisholm, who has brought into existence a corporation which is making paper for nearly all the newspapers of the United States. When it is said that one New York newspaper buys six thousand dollars worth of paper every day, some idea may be gained of the vast proportions of the industry. Mr. Chisholm was born at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada, May 2, 1847, and began life as a train newsboy on the Grand Trunk railroad, studying meanwhile in evening classes of business colleges in Toronto. When the Civil war broke out, the lad, who is of Scotch descent, with the shrewdness of his race, realized the possibilities of the situation and pushed his wares to the utmost, sometimes holding them at a premium. He at length was able to hire some other boys to sell newspapers for him. He next obtained from the railroad company the exclusive right to sell newspapers on the division east of Toronto. He extended his “combinations,” and when he was twenty-five years of age had the exclusive news routes over four thousand miles of railroad, and had two hundred and fifty men on his payroll. Selling out his interests to his brothers, who had similar interests in New England, he purchased the latter and located in Portland, Maine, where he added publishing to his business. Foreseeing a growth of the newspaper trade, and realizing that there would be a huge consequent demand for white paper, he organized the Somerset Fiber Company, the manufacturing of wood pulp at Fairfield. Later he established a number of pulp mills in Maine. Next he devised a plan of business consolidations and a few years ago the Chisholm properties and a score of other mills in New England, New York and Canada were merged into one company. The output of the mills is more than 1,500 tons per day and is increasing rapidly. In 1872 he married Henrietta Mason, of Portland.

THEODORE LOWE DE VINNE.

From a country printer boy to the head of one of the greatest printing establishments in the metropolis—this in brief is the story of the career of Theodore Lowe De Vinne. He was born in Stamford, Connecticut, December 25, 1828, being the second son of Daniel and Joanna Augusta De Vinne. His parents were of Holland extraction. His father was a Methodist minister, who was an uncompromising opponent of slavery. Theodore secured a common school education at Catskill, White Plains, and Amenia, New York, and at the age of fourteen entered the office of the Gazette, Newburgh, New York, to learn the printing trade. After he had gotten a general knowledge of the business he went to New York city in 1848. Two years later he obtained employment in the establishment of Francis Hart & Co. and rose to the position of foreman. In 1858 he became a junior partner in the firm and five years after the death of Mr. Hart, which took place in 1883, he changed the name of the firm to Theodore L. De Vinne & Co., making his only son, Theodore L. De Vinne, Jr., his partner. He now occupies one of the largest buildings in the United States, which is wholly devoted to the printing business. Mr. De Vinne has marked ability as an organizer, having, with the assistance of the late Peter C. Baker, formed the society now known as the Typothetæ. In 1850 he married Grace, daughter of Joseph Brockbant. He is the author of the Printers’ Price List, The Invention of Printing, Historic Types and Printing Types. Mr. De Vinne has done much to elevate the standard of typography. As early as 1863 the American institute awarded his firm a medal for the best book printing. The firm has published St. Nicholas and the Century since 1874.

WILLIAM LOUIS DOUGLAS.

William Louis Douglas, of Brockton, Massachusetts, who, through the medium of his widely advertised shoes, is probably one of the most easily recognized men in the United States, was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, August 22, 1845. The career of Mr. Douglas emphasizes the fact that the days of opportunity for young men without money or influence are by no means over. He was an orphan, handicapped by lack of schooling, a victim of injustice and apparently without any prospects in life whatever. Now he is the owner of a vast fortune, a great business, an honorable place among honored men, and has influence for good in laboring circles, and no small power politically. When Mr. Douglas was five years of age, his father was lost at sea. At the age of seven he was apprenticed to his uncle to learn the shoemaking trade. The uncle proved to be a hard taskmaster, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship William found himself the owner of just ten dollars and remembrances of many hard knocks. Subsequently he tried several ways of getting a livelihood, from driving ox teams in Nebraska to working at his trade. In conjunction with a Mr. Studley, he opened a boot store at Golden, Colorado. The venture did not pay, and returning to Massachusetts he took to shoemaking again until 1870, when he removed to Brockton to become superintendent of the shoe factory of Porter & Southworth. In 1876, with a borrowed capital of $375, he went into business for himself. Successful from the start, he, six years later, built a four-story factory, which had a capacity of 1,440 pairs of boots daily. In 1884 he placed on the market his well-known $3 shoe, with which his name and his face are so prominently identified. He has broken away from the old traditions of manufacturers by establishing retail stores, where he sells direct to the public. The Douglas factory of to-day was erected in 1892, and has a capacity of 10,240 pairs of boots daily. There are 2,724 employes. Mr. Douglas is Democratic in politics. He has been a member of the common council of Brockton several times and was its mayor in 1890. It was through his efforts that a bill was enacted in the state legislature of Massachusetts for the establishment of a board of arbitration and conciliation. Labor troubles are practically unknown in the Douglas factory. Mr. Douglas is also the author of the weekly payment law that observes in Massachusetts, is president of the people’s savings bank of Brockton, a director in the Home national bank and ex-president of the Brockton, Taunton & Bridgewater street railroad.

CHARLES EASTMAN.

Charles Eastman was born at Waterville, New York, July 12, 1854. Photographers, especially amateurs, need not be told who Mr. Eastman is, inasmuch as he has done much to popularize the camera and all that to it belongs. He was educated at Rochester, New York. Becoming interested in amateur photography, he began a source of exhausted experiments to the end of making dry plates and secured results which prompted him to make further investigations. These latter were successful also, and from this preliminary work rose the great business with which he is now identified. The kodak, which is probably the most popular of cameras in the world, is his invention also. He is manager of the Eastman Kodak Company, of Rochester, and of London, England; president of the General Aristo Company, of Rochester, and is the head of the so-called camera trust. Mr. Eastman is a member of many social and scientific organizations, and gives liberally to charitable institutions.

ALBERT AUGUST POPE.

The name of Colonel Albert August Pope is identified with the popularizing of the bicycle in this country, for he it was who, more than any other, gave it the impetus which made it a prime favorite with the public. Apart from that, however, he has furnished us with yet another example of the power of push, perseverance and probity. Colonel Pope was born in Boston, May 10, 1843, of poor parents. He had to leave school early in life in order to earn a livelihood. When ten years of age he peddled fruit, and it is said by persons who knew him in those days that he made it a rule to pay every debt as soon as it was due. After years of hard work young Pope, then nineteen, accepted a junior second lieutenancy in Company I, of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Volunteers. His record during the war was most brilliant, and he came out of it with the rank of colonel. He then went into business for himself and built up a profitable trade. It was in the centennial exposition in 1876 that he first saw a bicycle. Realizing the future of the machine, he in 1877 placed an order for “an importation of English wheels.” In the same year he organized the Pope Manufacturing Company. The vast nature of the business done by the corporation is a matter of familiarity to all those who were or are interested in bicycles. He also founded the publication entitled The Wheelman, putting upward of sixty thousand dollars in the enterprise. It is known to-day under the name of Outing. It was mainly through his efforts that public parks and boulevards were thrown open to the uses of bicycles, and that the machine was put upon the same footing as any other vehicle. When the bicycle interest began to wane, Colonel Pope turned his attention to the manufacture of automobiles. He also has a large interest in banks and other corporations. He is a member of the Loyal Legion and a visitor to Wellesley college, and the Lawrence scientific school. In 1871 he married Abbie Lyndon, of Newton, Mass.

C. W. POST.

The name of C. W. Post is identified with an industry that has only come into existence within the past few years, but which, nevertheless, has assumed tremendous proportions, and is remarkable in many ways, not the least of which is that it puts cereals to uses which were absolutely unknown a generation ago. Postum cereal coffee, for example, has only been before the public since 1895. Yet recently Mr. Post and his associates declined an offer of ten millions of dollars for the factories which made the coffee and its associated products of the wheat field. Mr. Post’s life story is that of a boy with a light purse, boundless ambition and a determination to reach the goal of large successes. He was born October 26, 1854, in Springfield, Illinois. After a common school education he entered the University of Illinois when thirteen years of age, took a military course, and remained there until he was fifteen, when the spirit of independence which has been a characteristic of his career throughout asserted itself. To use his own words, “I became weary of depending on my father’s money.” Leaving the university, he obtained a position with a manufacturer of farm machinery, which he sold and put in operation for the purchasers. After a couple of years of this work, he began business for himself in conjunction with a partner in the appropriately named town of Independence, Kansas. The firm dealt in hardware and farm machinery. But too little capital hampered his efforts, so he sold out and again took up drumming. Later he became manager of a wholesale machinery house in Kansas City. Returning to Illinois, he organized a company for the manufacturing of plows and cultivators, was quite successful, but his health breaking down, chaos resulted, and he lost all his savings. After dabbling in real estate in California, he ranched in Texas, fell ill again, recovered, and then bought twenty-seven acres of ground at Battle Creek, Michigan. Here it was that he began to make the famous coffee, to which allusion has been made. Here, too, he experimented with prepared, and finally placed upon the market those cooked and semi-cooked cereal foods with which we are familiar at the breakfast-table. The first year that the Post products were before the public, there was a profit of $175,000, the second year showed a loss of over $40,000—this being due to profits being sunk in advertising—and the third year there was a clear gain of $384,000. From that time on the business has been most profitable. It is stated that the concern is now preparing to spend one million dollars a year for advertising. Two years ago Mr. Post retired from the active conduct of the concern. He now divides his time between the offices in this country and abroad, and the chain of factories in the west. He is president of the association of American advertisers, and maintains at his own expense the Post check currency bureau at Washington.

JOHN WILSON WHEELER.

John Wilson Wheeler, whose name is familiar to every housewife who owns or wants to own a sewing machine, was born in Orange, Franklin county, Massachusetts, November 20, 1832, being the second of nine children. He was the son of a carpenter-farmer, and was educated in a district school. When about fourteen years of age he began to follow the trade of his father, and continued to do so until he was twenty-three years old. But he was not satisfied with his narrow surroundings, and so when the opportunity came for him to accept a place in a little grocery store in Fitchburg at one hundred and twenty-five dollars a year and his board he gladly accepted it. Returning to Orange some time later, he became a clerk in the store of one Daniel Pomeroy, finally succeeding the latter in the business, which he conducted for three years longer. Selling out, he became clerk in the claim agency of D. E. Chency, one of the leading men of the village. By this time he had established a reputation for ability and integrity, and so it came about that Mr. Chency and another of his friends loaned him two thousand dollars on his personal security to buy a grocery store. The venture was successful and was only given up in 1867, in order that Mr. Wheeler might become a partner in the firm of A. E. Johnson & Co. that had just started in a small way to make sewing machines. After some years of struggling the firm was turned into a corporation under the name of the Gold Medal Sewing Machine Company, Mr. Wheeler being secretary and treasurer. In 1882 the name was again changed to that of the New Home Sewing Machine Company. Of this corporation Mr. Wheeler was vice-president, as well as secretary and treasurer. He later became president, but subsequently resigned, but retained the office of treasurer, as well as being a member of the board of directors. How the business has grown from small beginnings to its present extensive status is a story that is familiar to everyone who knows somewhat of the sewing machine industry. The company employs nearly six hundred men and turns out about four hundred machines daily. Mr. Wheeler is also president of the Orange savings bank and of the Orange national bank, and has been president of the Orange Power company and the Orange board of trade. He has furthermore held office with the Boston mutual life insurance company, is the director of the Athol and Orange City railway company, is president of the Leabitt Machine company, of the Orange good government club and is vice-president of the Home Market club. He married Almira E. Johnson, by whom he had three daughters, only one of whom survives. He is the owner of much real estate, and is erecting a mansion near Orange at the cost of $150,000.

TRANSPORTATION LEADERS.

GEORGE F. BAER.

George F. Baer, when a boy, worked on his father’s farm in Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He was recently chosen president of the Philadelphia & Reading and New Jersey Central railroad systems, two of the most important transportation corporations in the country. He is also identified with many enterprises of a diversified and extensive nature. He is still in the prime of life, and the secret of his so attaining is an open one—he did not waste time. Young Baer attended school for but a few years, and then entered the office of the Somerset Democrat to learn the printing trade. But he did not permit himself to retrograde in his studies, but instead pored over books and practiced writing at night. When sixteen years of age he managed to get a year’s tuition in the Somerset academy and afterward secured a position as clerk in the Ashtola Mills, near Johnstown, Pennsylvania. At the end of twelve months he was made chief clerk. Resigning, he entered the sophomore class at Franklin and Marshall colleges. Next, and in conjunction with his older brother, he bought the Democrat. Then the war broke out and the brother enlisted. Mr. Baer, then hardly nineteen years of age, ran the paper alone. In 1862 he, too, got the war spirit and went to the front. He was mustered out in 1863 and forthwith began to read law with his two brothers. After practicing in Somerset for four years, he went to Reading, where he was retained by the attorney of certain railroads that were trying to compete with the Philadelphia & Reading railroad. The opposing company finally decided that he was worth more for them than against them and so made him its legal adviser. From that time up to his election as president of the corporation he had been its solicitor. He is also interested in coal mines, paper manufacture, banks and insurance corporations, is married and has five daughters.

AUGUST BELMONT.

August Belmont, builder of the New York City subway, began his career with the handicap of great wealth. His father, August Belmont, senior, was one of the richest and best known American bankers. His son August was graduated from Harvard University in 1875, and for a time gave himself up in large measure to the usual occupations of the youth of fortune. But as he grew older he interested himself more and more in the great banking business established by his father. In the course of a few years he became, on his own account, a power in the financial world. He is now an officer or director in many banking, railway, manufacturing and other corporations. In addition to these he has been a strong supporter of the best art, literary, patriotic and other American activities, being a member of numerous associations devoted to such movements. He has taken an active part in politics, and is much interested in the breeding of thoroughbred race-horses. His most conspicuous activity, however, has been the building of the subway, which has added so greatly to the transportation facilities of the metropolis.

ALEXANDER JOHNSTON CASSATT.

Another railroad man who has risen from a place of obscurity to a position of prominence is Alexander Johnston Cassatt, who has been president of the Pennsylvania railroad company since June, 1899. Like George H. Daniels, of the New York Central railroad, he started life as a rodman, in 1861, in the employ of the corporation of which he is now the head. Mr. Cassatt preferred to begin at the foot of the ladder for the sake of the knowledge of the primary details of the business which his so doing gave him, instead of making use of the influence as he probably could have obtained in order to assure him a less humble position. He was born in Pittsburg, December 8, 1839, and was educated at the University of Heidelberg and the Rensselaer Polytechnique institute. After his experiences as rodman, by force of sheer industry and integrity, he rose from place to place until, in 1871, he was made general superintendent of the Pennsylvania system and general manager of the lines east of Pittsburg. Between 1874 and 1882 he held the offices of third vice-president and second vice-president, was elected director in 1883 and was made president of the road in 1899. “Thoroughly ground yourself in the elementaries of your chosen business, and then stick to it,” is Mr. Cassatt’s advice to young men. He is a thorough believer in the old axiom that “a rolling stone gathers no moss.”

GEORGE HENRY DANIELS.

George Henry Daniels, who in his capacity of general passenger agent of the New York Central and Hudson River railroad, is probably better known personally or by repute to the traveling public, than any other man in this country, was born in Hampshire, Kane county, Illinois, December 1, 1842. He began his railroad career as a rodman in the engineering corps of the Northern Missouri railroads, and from that humble position has risen, not rapidly perhaps, but slowly and certainly, until he has the passenger transportation responsibilities on his hands of what is probably the greatest railroad in the United States. After some years of strenuous work, he became, in 1872, the general freight and passenger agent of the Chicago and Pacific railroad, and in 1880 was made ticket agent of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific road. After a number of varied experiences, all of which were in the west, and were connected with positions of great responsibility, he acted as assistant commissioner or commissioner for several roads, and in April, 1889, was rewarded for his years of faithful service by being appointed to the position which he now holds. No small portion of Mr. Daniels’s success is due to his personal tactfulness and unfailing courtesy; or, as someone has put it, he knows how to grant a favor without placing the grantee under an obligation, and he knows how to refuse a request without offending the individual who makes it.

GEORGE JAY GOULD.

George Jay Gould, whose name is so generally identified with high finance, is the son of the late Jay and Helen Day (Miller) Gould. He was born in New York in 1858 and received his education at the hands of private tutors or in private schools. Inheriting a genius for finance and an instinct for railroading, he has succeeded in successfully conducting those vast enterprises and investments which were brought into existence by his father. Mr. Gould is an ardent devotee of field sports, particularly those of which horses are a part and portion. He married Miss Edith Kingdon, who was at one time a member of Augustin Daly’s Dramatic Company in this city. By her he has two sons, both of whom are as fond of strenuous sports as is their father. Nevertheless he does not permit his pastimes to interfere with his business affairs, and is a familiar figure in the financial districts of New York City. He has been president of the Little Rock and Fort Worth railroad, Texas and Pacific railroad, International and Great Northern railroad, Manhattan Elevated railroad, Missouri Pacific railroad, and the St. Louis and Iron Mountain and Southern railroad. Mr. Gould is a good specimen of the young American who does not let his great wealth hamper his activities.

CLEMENT ACTON GRISCOM.

The placing of young men in positions of extreme responsibility seems to be peculiar to this country. Abroad such positions are usually held by persons of mature or advanced years. That the commercial world of America does not suffer from its departure from European customs in the respect cited is evidenced by its commercial and mercantile progress. Clement Acton Griscom, Jr., manager of the great American line of steamers is a case in point. He was born in 1868 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1887. His father is Clement Acton Griscom, Sr., president of the line. Griscom, the manager, entered the service of the company the day following his last examination at college and two weeks before he received his diploma. He first worked as office boy in the freight department at a salary of $3.00 per week, and, as the story goes, although a college graduate and the son of the president, the other employes treated him exactly as they did the other boys. His business progress then was something in this order: junior clerk at $5.00 per week; junior clerk in the passenger department, $7.00 per week; clerk in the ticket department, dock clerk from 7 a. m. until 6 p. m., assistant to the manager of the Chicago office, assistant to the general manager in New York, supervisor at the head of the purchasing board steward departments, and finally manager. It will be seen that young Griscom had to “hoe his own row” completely, and, although at the time he, like the ordinary boy, objected to so doing, he now recognizes the wisdom of his father in compelling him to learn all there was to be learned. Under Mr. Griscom’s management, the American Line flourishes. He is also president of the James Riley repair and supply company, a director of the Maritime Exchange and is interested in a number of other enterprises. He married the daughter of General William Ludlow, and his friends say that his home life has had a determining influence on his career in general.

JAMES J. HILL.