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About Capital city courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1893 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1889)
?WWs"( ,,vv',r,T'j""'T'w "yayyv "-q -r -v ""w-rvTtF- CAPITAL CITY COURIER, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1889. M 1 It WEST VIRGINIA WKALTII. REMARKABLE TERED DY ENTERPRISES FOS EX-SENATOR DAVIS. Ilia Rm.n-ljif. Stnvo I'.IMih, Will Hurrerri lllm, iiml llin Intuit, Will Hi' tlm Ulcli rat III A11111 Irn A Woniiiii Nim (Nmlniln tlm Cliirrrtl Intermix. Hpif ml Ciirriimti(leniv.l Washington. Oct. ill. One tiny last week 1 was In the city of Wheeling. V Vtt. At tlu r.illwuy etntion wits nn ac qualntnncc. l!npt. V. V. U'ltricn, oncol tho prominent bankers of tlie town and now 11 rich man Hall hoi "On jour way cast ovt tho mountain yon will see B01110 of the railroads cx-Hoiuitur D.ivU ami his Kon-lu-law. Mr. tilkliis, arc Imlltl log, l'i'iliaw you will bo Interested In knowing something of Mr. Davis and IiIh enterprises. Thirty years ago I was a porter wheeling a truck along this plat form hoic. My pay was 81.50 a day. and I thought 1 wan getting rich. because N foro that I had boon getting hut ninety fivo cents n day working In tho nail mill over thero. 1 remember very distinctly tho day tho llrst train on the Italtiiuore and Ohio railroad crotwed Wheeling creek into this station. "The conductor of the train was U.ivls, now the millionaire ex-huuator. Ilefon1 that lie had been a freight hmkemau. Davis always had a way of Having up money. Before ho left the road um eon ductor he had wived up actum littlenum, and he didn't take It from tue company either. At a little tow.i up in the moiin tains ho started u country store with llin savings. It was not much bigger at Unit than a freight car, and. if I iniHtnke not, his start was mtulo by throwing a coun ter across ouo end of a wrecked and abandoned cattle car, which ho boarded up and swung a door on for His uses, After a time ho stnrtcd a bank In one end of his Btore, invested in Innds and mines and began to grow rich "If cx-Senntor Davis lives ten or fif teen years,", continued Capt. O'Hrlen, "ho will bo one of the richest men in America, lie and Ills sou in-law are constantly buying timber and mineral lands In the interior of Went Virginia at astonishingly low prices. They have bought thousands and tensor thousands of acres of beautiful timber lands at a dollar or two an acre lands which will bo worth twenty-live or fifty tiiuoH as much as soon as a railroad reaches neat enough to them to develop their re sources. Davis and Elklns are building their own railways, thus bringing out tho valuo of their Immense lauded pos sessions. "Tho Davisca aro taking the place of tho Qarrutts us thu richest and moot im portant family in this section of' the country. While the Uurrctts have been having nothing but bad luck, tho Davises have gone right along, adding millions to millions. The Haltimoro and Ohio road has not paid a dividend for three years, but the Davis enterprises have all flourished. Actually, the Haltimoro and Ohio is now being supplanted in sections of this stato by tho Davis roads on ac r, count of better management. Davis r himself, who used to bo a freight brake- ' man on tho Baltimore and Ohio, is n richer man than Oarrett ever was. "People may think there is luck In this," added Capt. O Drien, "but 1 can -"., eco something better than luck. 1 see n fundamental difference In tho principles governing the two families. The (Jar re Us were brought up as votaries of fashion and pleasure. They were not trained to business, to railroading, to tho management of large enterprises. It is well known that Robert Oarrett lost his reason through excesses in the pursuit of pleasure. Queer that this great family should dually have all Its property come under tho control of a woman. I was in this very station in which wo nro now talking, a fow weeks ago, when a special car rolled in. From it stepped a beautiful young woman, u blonde, nttircd in a plain traveling cos tume. Ilereyo appeared quickly to take in everything tho Btatlon, the tracks, tho condition of tho railway property In general. Sho made inquiries of tho men who accompanied her, and gave some directions. 1 asked who she was, and was told, 'Miss Mary Garrett, tho boss of tho U and O. railroad.' Sho was on a tour of inspection. It is said sho has actual and active control of tho vast in terests of tho Oarrett family, and that under her management tho property is now in better shapo than it has been at any timo during tho last live years. "Now. ox-Senator Davis has no sons, ' uut iiu 10 uuiu miuvu uiui, ilia tuiu diiui, ' S nnt run out. nnd that tbo ereat nronertv .a, lmn In .1 ... n.. 1 .....I ,l.n, l.la ... nr olinll ho is building up shall not pass under the control of strangers after his death. Several years ago, ho brought his son-in-law, Elklns, back from tho west nnd in terested him in tho Davis enterprises. It is not necessary to say that Elklns has been a valuablo lieutenant. Ho is ono of tho keenest business men in America, a marvel of energy and resources. A curious fact is that tho ox-Senator nnd his son-in-law keep no books as between thcmsolvos, nnd tho extent of individual ownership in their property is not known. Everything is in Davis' namo, which mean's that it belongs to tho family. El kins is thoroughly familiar with every feature of tho family's enterprises, nnd on tho death of Mr. Davis will oasumo control thereof. As his own boys grow np, they will bo trained in tho manage ment of railways and mines in tlmo to tako'their father's placo. "Another son-in-law of Davis' is Lieut. Brown of tho navy, tho Lieut. Brown who was such a favorite with President Harrison and his family at Deer Park during tho8ummer. All his leaves of ab eenco Lieut. Brown Bpends in West Vir ginia, learning tho details of his father-in-law's business. I am told ho has mado special study of railway management, going out on tho trains, into tho shops, with tho construction and repair gangs, besides learning nil about executive work in tho general olllces and nt tho head quarters of the dlvlslo superintendents. In duo timo Lieut. Brown will probably retire from tho navy and becomo general manager of tho Davis system of rail ways. A third Hou-ln-taw Is Capt. Spell man of tho army, nnd he Is pursuing tho game oiurso, llo, ton, will In the fu ture lie found actively connected with the Davis system of mines nnd railways. Thu Ulaiuctt and thu D.ivIhcs are great friends, and I understand Emmons Ulnlno is to link his fortunes with the family in a business way lie was sent west to get an education In the freight and tralllc department of ilie Hnntn Fe road, and has returned to lake u promi nent post, at a nalary of $8.0(10 a year, on one of tho Davis roads "These facts give you an Insight to the methods of ex-Henator Davis lie l building for the future us well as lor tho present. The saute care and foresight are displayed In all phases of hls'work, ts It any wonder that he is successful, and that he him acquired property which needs nothing but development to make him ono of the richest men of America?" Hy the side of the railway tracks In Wheeling I had pointed out to me sev eral largo Htteryand glass works, nboiit which i good story and a story with a moral can be told. Of these my cntct tabl ing friend the banker said: "There, sir, aro Hoineof tho most prosperous concerns In this city. Each of them was Htarted years ago by poor men on theco-operntivo plan Take the big pottery over (here, foroxauiplo. Eight or ten pottery work ers of Pittsburg, tired of working for wages, loaded their household goods Into a freight ear, bought a lew tools, canto to this city and iottud an old shed in which to go to work. Their combined capital diil not exceed a thousand dollars, lint every man in the llrm was a worker and a skilled mechanic They found ready hale for their wares, and pros pered. Their pottery, as you now boo it, covers nn acre or moro of ground, and gives employment to several hundred persons. To this day It is owned by the original proprietors, or their children or grandchildren. It has made several men rich, and all interested are well to do. These (Hitters have kept close together, not only in business, but in church and society. They have Interinnrried, and thus we have a coterie of potters in our community, nnd no better citizens have we. This is tho history of several of our large enterprises. The men who started these shops worked in them, and taught their children to work In them, just as ox-Senator Davis is teaching his sons-in- law his business. There, in my opinion, is the keynote of prosperity, a thing which we know too little about In this country." At Wheeling I also met David It. Paige, of New York, a man whoso career points n moral and adorns a tale. Paige was a successful business man in Ohio, and. being extraordinarily and deserved ly popular, was Induced to enter politics. Here also he was successful, winning n seat in congress. Hut one term in Wash ington satislied him that the national legislature was not the placo for n man of energy, for a mnn who wants to coin maud success instead of waiting for it. So he left politics and went to Now York city ns a contractor. There he is ranidly growing rich. The years which ho devoted to politics wero lost years. Just now Mr. Pnlgo Ip engaged In nn enterprise of general Intcrcsi nnd im portance. He is bridging tho Ohio river at Wheeling, tunneling through tho mountain on tho West Virginia side, and constructing several miles of track. Odd that n city bo Important ns Wheel ing should have gone all these years without n railroad bridgo over tho Ohio. Now that town, by tho oxpendlturo of two or three millions of dollars in bridge nnd tunnel, is In a fair way to realize tho hopes of Its citizens by becoming a gateway between the east and the west. In the.so days of millionaires I was as tonished to hear that tho city of Wheel ing, a manufacturing town, full of nail mills, steel mills, blast furnaces, glass works and potteries, contains not ono millionaire. How many cities nro there in this country, of 80.000 Industrial imp utation, that can boast of tho absence of millionaires from their midst? I say boast, because no millionaires means dif fusion of woolth and general prosperity. A friend enmo into tho car thero and handed mo a small pastolioard box. "Tako that homo with you," ho said facetiously, "but bo careful how you use Its contents. It may make troublo in your fntnily." It was a box of Wheel ing stogns. "Statisticians havo calcu lated," added my friend, "that ono di vorco in ten in this country Is caused by tho smoking of Wheeling stogas by hus bands. So our town has a good deal to answer for. What is called tho Ken tucky stoga, mado hero of the strongest Kentucky tobacco, gives tbo smoker a breath that will stain furniture. But tho regular Wheeling stoga is not so bad. Try ono. Wo mnko mllllops of theso every year. Machinery is cm ployed in tho rolling of them, and the labor Is pretty cheap, olso wo could not mako them nnd pay tho enmo internal revenuo tux that is paid on high priced cigars, and sell at $0 a thousand, whole sale." Everybody in Wheeling smokes stogas. Thero must bo somo peculiar fascination in tho long, thin, twists of tobacco, for they say that after a man has smoked them for a timo tho most delicately per fumed cigar has no temptation for him. Ho is thoroughly wedded to tho stoga. General Manager Odell, of thu D. and 0., buys four or flvo thousand of theso Btogna ovcry month, smokes somo of them himself, and gives tho others away to tho railroad men whom ho meets out on tho lino. Whenever ho meets an en gineer, brnkemau, fireman or section boss, ho hands out n stoga. Ouo of tho division superintendents on the Pennsyl vania docs tho same thing, and says the cheap cigar materially helps him in making tho acquaintance nnd gaining tho friendship of his men. So the stoga is not such a bad thing after all, Walteii Weixman. Charley (to Ids pretty cousin, who Is llshing) Any bites yet, Maud? Maud Only a nibblo or two. Charley What would you do, Maud, if you should mako as good a "catch" as I am said to he? Maud Throw It back again, Charley. Montreal Star. KKKI IT BKFOKK Til KM! HOW THE BRITISH OUTDO AMER ICANS IN ADVERTISING. Knorinoii Nttm I'ulil In Unclnml tor Ail ii lining -OT.nOO.OOO tor "AiUmHiIng I'rlvllcun," In (Inn nr A lllll S Irkxr Miikr (CJ.OOO.OOO. lHn"clal OorrvKnipnco. Pim.Alir.l.t'iii.v. Oct. 111. America leads the world In so tunny things that when we havo to tako thu second place we can well afford to acknowledge lu tu the matter of advertising, for In stance, we nro In tho habit of thlu'du that we of the United States discount every other nation, and If asked where the greatest advertisers aro to bo found nhik people nut of ten would undoubted ly say hi this country. Hut It U not true. Great blowers of our own horn as wo are, tho Englishmen, nnd oven the Frenchmen, can giro us ixilnts in thh matter, Our business men are without doubt skillful and enterprising In their way, hut as yet I hey aro only students of nn art In which their brethren of Eng land are past masters. One of tho llrsl things that strike an observing American sotting foot In Liv erpool Is the number, variety and Inge nuity of street advertisements. Tho horse cars, or tram cars, as they call them over there, aro literally moving sign boards. These tram cars nro two Btory houses on wheels. The advertisements cover ovory Inch of space, Inside and out, which is not required for seating the passengers. IjKiklng upon the bewilder ing array of proclamations of tho vir tues of soaps ami mutches and announce ments of current amuseuients, It Is sim ply Impossible for thu stranger to tell tho destination or route of tho car. Omni buses aro decorated in tho saino way, nnd the drivers havo mud curtains, um brellas and waterproof coats all em blazoned with advertisements. "Sandwich men" nro neither fow nor far between. Wo havo them hero, but In English cities there nro hundreds to our dozens. They go about over thero in companies of twenty-live, straggling in Blnglo llloalong tho gutters for they are not rdiowed on tho sidewalks and when one company passes another thu sight has the effect of a procession of uni formed men. A few years ago I crossed thu Atlantic with n great American man ufacturer wlio was going over to teach the Old Country how business might be built up by novel advertising. His soap had conquered thu United Suites, nnd he proposed to wash nil England with it. Ho got no further than Liverpool, nnd had been but ono day on English soil when he confided tome that although he had come to tench ho would stop to learn. "We do not know the alphabetof tho art of advertising," said he, "and as to soap, well, hereafter I shall substitute 'carry soap to England' for tho proverb 'carry coals to Newcastle.' To my mind it is m )ro expressive." A railway siaiiou, wiiumer miriucu ur underground, is the paradise of the out door advertiser, Tho bill ixut"r fairly revels in tho opportunity which it af fordi for tho display of illuminated pa per and tho painter keeps him company. Tho biggest letters of all are employed in displaying tho namo of thu great bill posters of the United Kingdom, and ft Is not uncommon for the stronger to mis tako theso names for tho first three or four times that hu sees them for thu names of stations. To (1ml thu latter in this wilderness of signs requires ex pcrioncons well ns keeuuessof sight. Tho general recollection of them is a confused mingling of bright color nnd paint, but now and then a catchword from fre quent iteration lingers in the mind. Ono placard in flaring red and black letters two feet long reads, "What it costs to kill a cat." Thu rest of thu no tice was in much smaller type, nnd na often ns I scanned thu legend I am still In Ignorauco as to what tho awful pen nlty of fellcido may bo. I am not argu ing In favor of this sort of advertising on thu contrary my inclination is against ilB utility. It is nn open question how many of theso railway signs nro over rend except by tho few peoplo who are waiting over for trains and have neither newspaper nor books in hand for time killing. Thu spaces in tho tomb liko underground porches ought to bo moro valuable, slnco while shut into them you arc obliged to read what stares you in tho faco. I havo a number of theso advertise ments, together with notices to tho pas sengers, quite hy heart. If you look at your conipngnons do voyngo they glaro back at you with an air which accuses you of all sorts of ovil intentions, and rather than encounter their suspicions or tho lurking accusation of import! nenco you must perforce commit to memory the tributes of respect to cow slip wine and Bass' nlo, as well as tho records of convictions for stealing rides and assaulting passengers on "circlo trains." On tho other hand tho most useless of tho promiscuous bill sticking would seem to bo that on the pavements where all day long forlorn figures crouch In tho flush just outsldo of tho curb stone pasting bill after bill on tho wet stones to bo obliterated by tho feet of the throng, scarcely ono of whom pauses to glance nt tho paper on which ho trends. A few random figures obtained from authentic Bources without u view to pub lication impress tho idea of tho whole Balo way In which tho British ndvertiser goes about his business. William II. Smith, who is known to tho world of politics as tho first lord of tho treasury and tho Conservative leader in tho house of commons, and to tho stagu as Sir Jo seph Porter. K.C. H.,of "II. M. S. Pin afore," is also tho lessee of tho advertis ing privileges on tho railways of tho United Kingdom. Tho Income of Mr. Smith's firm from this source must bo as Inrgo as fiom tho uewsdealing busi ness, of which ho lias tho monopoly, or as that of Spiers & Pond from their res taurants. At nil events, I havo it from very high authority that lntt year his advertising privileges yielded hhnil.oOO.OOO-that is to say, over seven million dollars. I would llnd thin hard to bcllovo If I did not know that my informant himself, a oap "promoter," pays Smith & Son 1' 10,001) for handling and displaying a dingle advertisement. Willing nnd Part ington divide tho hill posting business of lnidon between them. Each began life with a brush In one hand and a panto pot In the other. Each Is uowu millionaire, and Willing, who Is said to bo unable to rend nnd write, hns an estimated fortune ir rj.ooo.ooo. The greatest advertiser In the world Is Pear, of soap -jelehrity. Ills expendi tures on this account stagger belief, but Mr. Barrett, who Is to all Intents and purposes Pear, says thai for every piiund that he has (-punt In printer's Ink, paint and paste, he er.pects to spend ten It wan this concern which enlisted the best brushes of the liuyal Academy In the execution of lis advertising schemes. (I I not unusual to pv $3 000 for an no cepi.dilu design, nnd thero nro scores of urtistieallv painted pictures on the dead walls of Loudon for which ho has paid ,m much as $()( npieco. But with him, as with nearly every 'other successful advertiser, dead wall advertising Is sec ondary to newspaper advertising. "It is pi inter's Ink thai pays the best after all: wv llnd that th.' quickest response always comes from newspapers nnd pe riodicals." Vnii may have some I'altil Idea of what such it concern spends In advertlsleg when I tell you that Pear's people paid JM0.000 (SWO.OOO) in laying the words. "Good morning. Have you used Pear's Miap?" befoio the public, and that they think they never tuadu a better invest ment. For Sir J. Mlllals' "Bubbles" they paid 7,500. Hero Is something for American bushiest men to put In their pipes and smoke. Puuhlng Pear's aro two other soaps, Brooke's and thu Sun light, tho former inndo by an Ameri can house, with headquarters In Phila delphia. Tho soap people, by tho way, tell me that It pays to advertise soap only In English speaking countries. Soap is not hi demand in any other. In this country the newspapers too often have to run after tho advertisers Instead of the advertisers running after them. Not so in England. There the question of the utility of udveitlslng is past tho point of argument. It Is only n question of choice of medium and methods mm ivlietner the advertiser can get tho space that he wants hi the me dium of his choice. In the counting rooms of the great dallies ami of such periodicals an Punch, The Graphic, the Queen, Tho Field, etc., thero is n Htih lime air of "take it or leave it" on tho part of tho men behind tho counter. Some papers so rigidly limit tho spaco given to advertisers that one must wnit weeks or months for the appearance of his announcement, and then perhaps accept a half less room than ho asks. Perhaps this diffcicnco is duo In some degree to tho fact that English publishers show their own fnith in advertising by taking their own medicino In most lllicinl doses. All of the big dally newspapers except, perhaps, Tho Times, which is a Inw unto itself are liberal advertisers. Homohnvuono method nnd somo another, but all mnuiigu to keep before tho public and have themselves talked about. In turn, their own advertising spaces nro in great demand, nt prices which nro high compared with tho tow rates ruling on this side of the Atlantic. In six consecu tive days The Loudon Times devoted COO columns to advertisements nnd 208 to other reading matter. In tho same num ber of Issues Tho Dally Telegraph pre sented C011 columns of advertising and only 182J of other matters. Tho Dally News gavo CIS of Its U'.IO columns to ad vertising. Thu proportion of advertise ments to pure reading matter in tho great American newspapers is smaller, but with us it is not always easy, even for the cxort eye. to tell the ono from tho other. Tho Dally Telegraph, which claims tho largest circulation in the world, and The Petit Journal, of Paris, which long ago distanced it in the race, aro largo bill Iward nnd dend wall advertisers, and Tho London Daily News follows on tho Biuno lines. By tho way, 1 havo often seen half a column or moro of journalists' wants nnd journalists w anted, thu former predominating. Tills class of advertisers is very raro with us outsldo of papers, of which Mr. Forman's Journalist Is easily chief, devoted to tho newspapermen nnd their interests. Tho Dally News pub lishes its rates in displayed typo under tho editorial head. I copy the following announcement that American publishers and advertisers may mnko their own com parisons: lUPORTAHT TO AOVEUTIBEIlft. THE DAILY NKWH has THE LARGEST CIHCULATION of any Liberal (aper IN THE WOULD ITlEPJin ADVERTISEMENTS from Managers, Articled Pupils. Secretaries, Houwkecpcre. Travelers, Clerks, Collectors. Apprentices, and Tutors, Domestic BervauU Governwws, of all kinds. Wuntlng Situations, or Employers requiring tlio sei-rli-va of such persons, TWO USES, SIXfENCX. 4 Insertions, Is. Ileyond S lines. 3d. a lino ler insertion Apartmenbl and Small Private Properties of every description to txi U't, Sold, or Wanted. TWO LINKS, ONE 8IIILUNO. 1 1nsertions, 8s. 0d Deyond 8 lines, Sd a lino ht insertion Imiulrloa for Mliwlnif Friends and Cipher Cor reoudenco, &c, Flvo Lines, .; Is. a lino after Illrths. Marriages, nnd Deaths, Flvo Lines, 5s. Threepence, you will remember, is six cents; sixpence, twelve cents; a shill ing, twenty-flvo cents; two shillings nnd six pence, sixty-two and a half cents, and flvo shillings a dollar and a quarter. Tho wording of this rating is peculiarly characteristic. Tho prices of mercantile advertising nro not given, nnd by far tho largest demand for spaco comes from this class. Thu principal advertisers nro patent niodiciuo men, soap makers, man ufacturers of proprietary articles gener nllv. real estate dealers, drajK'rs, grocers, publisher! of liooks and music, trans portation companies, nmusemcut mali ngers and projectors of joint stock com panies. Mosus P. Handy. 'I'M Light-Running DOMESTIC - WILL DO A Wider Range of Work Than any other Machine. Don't Buy until yon have XVi II 1 -uA seen Stool Sot of Attachments AND TIIU BENT WOOD WORK ON THIS tt Iniui 1 If y J 4 1 v I a-l . liSBB tr THE STAR ThatLeadS"thein"Ain NEARLY 2 MILLIONS NOW IN USUI The Doiiicstic is sold on payments to suit everyone, either for cash, notes, or on monthly payments. Needles, Oil, and parts for all Machines on sale. Call on our agent. V. A. DOGG-ETT, Green Store Front 142 M. 11th St. I'lllL. JACOHS, State Agent, Lincoln, Neb. Hew Fall and -ARE NOW IN AT 1 John McWhinnie's The Old Reliable Tailor. First Class Workmanship, Fine Trimming, and Satisfaction Guaranteed. 3Q5 B ZE)iLJE-vE3sra?23: Street! For Late Styles and GO TO Lincoln Shoe Store They make a Specialty of Ludlow's Celebrated Fine Shoes For Ladies'. They combine Service, Solid Comfort and Economy. 1C2S O STR1C1CT 12 lPi01 the UISNUINK DOMESTIC. Winter Goods Immense Satisfaction, THE LINCOLN N1SB. jfel 1 Jr J I" ft X J