THE BEE: OMAHA. SATURDAY. JULY 20, 1918.
7
Life
Story
of
EDWARD A. RUM ELY
-eaBnaBaaaaemWaen-n","""
Man Who Bought the New York Mail for the Kaiser
'(Copyrilht. 1I1I.-U. I,
(A ncrww ut articles aketehlnf the
career o( l)r. Edward A. Bomely, who
baa been arrested on charge of hT
ina; bontcht the New Ifork Evening Mall
with nione'j furnished by the German
. government and of having used tt for
tierman propaganda.)
By FRANK STOCKBRIDGE
(Former Managing Kdltor of the Evening
Mall.)
It was through the Interlaken
tchool that Dr. Rumely met and
gained the friendship of Mr. S. S.
McClure. with whom he was later to
be associated in the New York Even
ing Mail. Mr. McClure was one of
ihe first to respond to the doctor's an
nouncement of the opening of the
school and enrolled his adopted son,
Enrico, no serving with the colors
in France, as one of the very first
oupils. Enrico developed a special
iptitude for agriculture and for some
:ime before his enlistment managed
successfully the McClure farm in
Connecticut.
I want to make piysclf perfectly
clear in pointing out that there is not
the slightest ground for suspicion that
the Interlaken school, either as to its
inception or its conduct, was any part
3f a conscious German propaganda in
America. The German language and
history were and are taught there, but
so, too, are French and English. The
number of the teachers, at various
fimes, especially those employed as
instructors in the arts and crafts, have
been German born. I have told in
iome detail of the plan and pro
gram of the school because it
plays an important part in any at
tempt to analyze and understand the
man who founded it.
- School teaching alone, however,
provided no adequate outlet for the
unbounded energies and unquenchable
snthusiasm for new ideas which are
Edward A. Rumely 's dominant ichar
icter. The development of American -agriculture
on big lines had taken posses
sion of his fancy. It is characteristic
of, the man to think in big terms. To,
One Minnie
Store Talk
As long as good tailors
haVe not been called from
the bench8 to the
trenches, we see no reason
for offering you poor
tailoring.
There are factors in the
coming higher prices for
clothing, but Greater Ne
braska will be last to sub
stitute the machine for
human hands in clothes
making.
Are you enjoy
ing Greater Ne
, braake, reliabili
ty and values?
and Cauda, Us N. T. Herald C.
whatever line of activity he directs
his interest, his confidence in himself
and his ability to carry the project
through is not dimmed by the mere
size of the enterprise.
tlere at hand lay the nucleus of an
enterprise that was not only directly
connected with agriculture, but which
seemed to offer the opportunity to de
velop a gigantic industrial enterprise
as well the agricultural implement
business that .his grandfather had
II rights rsMrrsd.)'
and getting cheaper. He convinced
the other members of his family, who
were, with himself the controlling
owners of the Rumely company, that
a fortune lay within their srrasn if
they coild develop a kerosene engine
ana a tractor operated dv it.
Kerosene Engine Developed.
The idea of an internal combustion
engine operated by kerosene was not
new nor was the idea of a kerosene
tractor original. None that had been
tllUIUlllCl , , . ,
founded and his father and uncles had ! Pu""" . K " u'". "me- "oweyer.
ly had learned that John A. S. Secor.
a famous mechanical engineer, had
, continued.
Develops Earnings to $1,000,000.
"When I took over the management
of the Rumely company it was earn
ing about $30,000 a year," Dr. Rumely
once told me. "I made 'it earn $100,
000 in my first year, around $500,000
the second year and above a million
the third year."
The Rumely company business had
been growing rapidly while Edward
A. Rumely was abroad. When he
came back he found the family enter
prise was building a much larger line
of agricultural implements than ever
before. Among the other products
of the company was a steam tractor
for hauling plows, operating thresh
ing machines and taking the place of
horses generally in farm. work.
Among his other talents Dr. Rume
ly has a distinct bent for mechanics.
In the course of his life in Germany
he had witnessed the astounding de
velopment in that country of the in
ternal combustion engine. The steam
engine was to his mind antiquated
and crude.
What the American farmer needed,
he decided, was a tractor operated by
an internal combustion engine. To
compete wkh the steam engine it
must be simple and rugged in its con
struction and use fuel readily obtain
able anywhere at reasonable cost. Gas
oline was expensive and growiifg
more so, but kerosene, no longer the
chief product of the oil refiner, but
now an incidental bv-Droducf to the
i manufacture of gasoline, was cljeap
been working ort an entirely new tvoe
of kerosene motor which he had de
signed for use in motor boats. The
Rumelys financed Secor's develop
ment of his motor and designed a
tractor to be operated by it.
The first kerosene tractor built in
the Rumely plant was an object of
the greatest interest and curiosity to
every one connected with the concern.
It was affectionately nicknamed
"Kerosene Annie," and great was the
speculation in the shops and the of
fices as to whether Kerosene Annie
would really work. At last the trac
tor was finished and it worked. Un
der Dr. Rumely's management, for he
had now been made general manager
of the M. Rumely company, the or
ganization at once entered upon a
career of tremendous expension.
When the development work on
Kerosene Annie was completed in
1910, the business represented per
haps $2,000,000 of investment.
In a statement signed by Dr. E. A.
Rumely, general manager, issued in
January, 1912, he pointed out that in
15 months a million-dollar plant had
been constructed for the manufacture
of the new Oil-Pull tractor, which
was the name by which "Kerosene
Annie" had been officially christened;
that the company's stock had been in
creased to $10,000,000 of common
stock and $12,000,000 preferred; that
the agricultural implement businesses
of Gaar. Scott & Co. of Richmond,
Ind., and the Advance Thresher com
pany of Battle Creek, Mich had been
acquired and absorbed, and that noth.
ing but prosperity lay ahead. There
was, apparently, ample pround to jus
tify this optimism.
The -Oil-Pull tractor had made a
big hit from the start. Dr. Rumely
had spent huge sums in advertising
it to the farmers and it was provinp
its superior efficiency wherever trac
tor trials and plowing contests were
held. The new plant was a model
factory in every sense of the word.
I went through it soon after it was
in full operation. I had seen many
big manufacturing plants, but never
before one in which every process
seemed to be so nearly automatic.
"What did -you think of the new
plant?" Dr. Kiimely asked me after
I had inspected it.
Nobody Worked Hard at Plant
"It is the first plant I ever saw
where the men sat in rocking chairs
and let the machines do the work," I
replied. "The only men I saw doing
any work were some fellows out in
the shed chipping castings."
"We're putting in a pneumatic ma
chine to do that also," replied Dr.
Rumely.
Soon the new plant was turning
out oilTpul) tractors faster than the
railroads could carry them away
faster, indeed, as it proved later, than
the men on the road could sell them.
Travelers on the Lake Shore railroad
in the summer and autumn of 1912
got so that they knew when the train
was approaching La Porte by the
literal miles of red-painted threshing
machines and Oil-Pull tractors lined
up in rows two and three deep in ihe
fields on both sides of the right-of-way
for a mile or so in either direc
tion from the town.
Other manufacturers tame to see
the sew plaru and to study the meth
ods by which the ousiness of the M.
Rumely company had multiplied so
rapidly. One of these visitors was
Henry Ford, the automobile manu
facturer, whose gigantic success has
been built on the application of the
soundest methods of quantity produc
tion. Mr. Ford took a liking to the
enthusiastic young general manager
of the Rumely company, but he shook
his head after he had looked into th
general scheme of the business.
"You are making too many different
things," he told Dr. Rumely. "Besides,
your tractor is too expensive. There
are not enough farmers who can use
or afford to pay for tractors that cost
from $1,500 to $3,000 each. What you
want to do is to make one design of
cheap tractor and reach the bioader
market.
His advice went unheeded. The
plant continued to turn out great
quantites ot high pricetwractors un
til the warehouses and sheds along
side the loading platform overcrowd
ed into the fields and the lines of ma
chinery along the railroad tracks grew
longer and longer.
Every tractor turned out meant
$1,000 or more tied up in manufac
turing cost which could not be real
ized until the machine was sold. And
ihese machines could not be sold to
very many larmers mr casn tne
farmers had to have long time m
which to nav for them. It became
apparent that a great deal'more cap
ital would be needed. Dr. Kumely
set out to get additional funds. One
of the first men he went to was Henry
Ford,,
. "He wanted me to lend him $10,000,
OOO," Mr. Ford told me recently, "but
I didn't believe his methods were
sound, and' I did not let him have it
He said that if I did not lend' it to him
he could get it in Wall street. I told
him if he did that it would not be long
before Wall street owned his business,
and that is exactly what happened."
The first time I ever met Edward
A. Rumely was the day he got back
from his successful visit to Wall
street in search of additional work
ing capital. I had stopped off at La
Porte on my way west with a letter
of introduction to him, in June, 1912.
He got in on the next train and we
had hardly shaken hands before he
began to tell me about the wonder
ful piece of financing he had just put
through for the Rumely company.
"I have just placed two billion dol
lars back of the Rumely company l"
he exclaimed. "I have got the back
ing of the United States Steel cor
poration and the Standard Oil!"
He showed me documents in which
New York private bankers agreed to
J!llliMII!llll!lllitlil!tliitiH::i'ii!i:il'i'-:il!!in:iiH!HiH!il::i:'liH1i PHONE TYLER 3000 Bll,.ti
discount ten millions dollars cf the
Rumely company notes received by
deposits of farmers' notes to the
Rumely company. He was as gay ands
ebullient as a school boy. Hia
troubles were over I There were un
limited millions yet available wher
these had come from and the Rume
ly company, with the Oil-Pull tractor ,
was going to show the International
Harvester company just where to
head inl - V .
(In his next article Mr. Stock
bridge will tell the story of the.
Rumely company's crash and the se
lection of the general manager of the
International Harvester company ai
president and chief executive of the
reorganized Rumely company.)
(Continued Tomorrow)
Herbert Hoover Arrives
At Port in Great. Britian
Londcto, July 19. Herbert "C
Hoover, American food controller, ar
rived today at a British nort from
America. s
'!liiiiiiiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii:iiiiii!iut!!i:ii!iii!iiiiiiiiiintnttiliil!l
lMMillli4
414-416-418 South 16th Street
JOHN A. SWANSON, Pres.
SWM. L. HOLZMAN, Trees.5
SHOP EARLY STORE CLOSES AT 6:30 P. M. SATURDAY.
Comfortable CloftI
lies
1 P
t "' ' "
Make You More Efficient for the Day 's Work;
Earn You Money !
THE right clothes are always a good in
vestment. Right now we've vast stocks
of comfort clothes clothes that afford de
lightful coolness, luxurious comfort and
priceless peace of mind in hottest weather.
. ; Fotiputings, For Business, For Vacations,
Extraordinary Clothing Values Values that
we. alone are equipped to offer.
Pakn Beach Suits, Tropical Worsted, Mo
. hair Suits, Kool Klothi Suits,
$10, $15, $20, $25
Compare today. Save $2.50 to $10.00. In justice
to yourself, always compare clothing values even if you
don't spend much. A saving of $2.50 on a $10.00 Palm
Beach suit is worth while. Others in proportion here.
s '
Superb Silk Treated Cool Suits, Homespun,
' Flannels, Serges,
$25, $30, $35, $40
See what the finest designers have produced in sum
mer clothes. One-eighth, one-quarter or one-half lined.
The clever Society Brand, Fashion Park, Hickey Free
man, Brandegge Kincaid, comfort and good style com
bined as never before.
i
Summertime is Extra Trousers Time
$3.50. $5.00 and $7.50.
Save $1.50 to $2.50 on Quality Trousers Here.
Men's, Young Men's and Boys' Clothing, Entire Second Floor Main Building and Annex
A Smashing Sale of Union Suits
AH sizes, 34 to 50. "Superiors fit a man always."
THINK of an opportunity, like this to secure at a liberal reduction Superior Union' Suits in exactly the
style, size and weight you want. We bought the season's surplus and "run of the mill" of the Superior
Knitting Company and pass these wonderful values on to you as we bought them.
$2.00 Superior CI IE $2.50 Superior ,04
Union Suits dl.aCu Union Suits tll.Uli
Reduced to V W Reduced to "WV
i
$3.00 Superior AA AA $3.50 Superior ft A FA
Union Suits daCillv Union Suiu - UaCiUU
Reduced to ,. . Reduced to -
. " i
$2.50 Chalmers Knitting Company AJ
Union Suits Reduced to. UiiVV
$1.75 Shmdeker Athletic Qf IIP
Union Suits Reduced to IfaCv
$1.00 and $1.30 Boys' Superior Cotton OC j
Ribbed Union Suits, Sires 8 to 18, at UVV '
SEE OUR
WINDOWS
TODAY
COMPARE
OUR VALUES
ALWAYS
CORRECT APPAREL FOR MEN AND WOMEN. -
OUR JULY SALE
Means more to you this year than ever before
in the history of tins company because of the
increased cost of our merchandise. "Why not
take advantage of the many attractive offer-
mgs oerore it is too latei
. COME SATURDAY
Doors Open at 8:30 A. M.
A few among many c ,
FURNITURE
offerings are listed below
foOOnl
$39.00 Talne, now !!.00.
S13.50 Tains,.
$10.00.
$57.00
$30.00
$32.00
$27.00
$25.00
$16.00
$18.00
$14.00
$56,00
$16.00
$11.00
$10.00
$50.00
Jacobean Oak Buffet, very
pleasing type, now $45.00
Serving Table to match $23.00
full size mahogany Bed,
Charles II period, with cane
panels, now $20.00
Ivory Dresser, very practical
style, now ...$19.50
Chiffonier & match.... $17.00
Dressing Table to match..... $12.00
full size Bed . ..$12.75
Ivory Bedroom Chair, now $ 9.50
Mahogany Chiffonier, Adam
type $38.00
Fumed Oak Serving Table.... $ 7.50
Mahogany Bedroom Chair.... $ 7.50
Mahogany Folding Table $ 5.00
Console Table and Mirror, in
fumed, oak, Charles II style $32.50
Pyrex
Special Offer
This transparent Oven and Serving Ware Is
guaranteed absolutely unbreakable by heat. It
is the most convenient ware on the market, sav
ing both time and labor as well as aiding in bet
ter cooking. The 8-inch pieplate (illustrated) Is
a regular 75c piece, but so that every woman
may test this ware it is priced SATURDAY
ONLY, at
59c J
$27.00 Napoleon Bed, in mahogany.. $13.78
$15.00 Charles II Arm Chair 8.00
$ 9.50 Dining Chair to match....... $ B.00
$ 6.50 cane Back Dining Chair $ 4.75
$ 7.00 Rush Seat Dining Chairs (3
only), each $ 4.50
$11.00 William and Mary Dining
Chairs with Spanish leather ,
seats (3-only), each $ 7.B0
$28.00 "Wing Arm Chair, upholstered
in Denim, frame in mahog
any, now 4 $14.00
$75.00 Tapestry Overstuffed Daven- .
port, now ....$59.00
$40.00 Chairs or Rockers to match,
each .j ....$30.00
$29.00 cane panel Chairs in mahog
any, as illustrated......... $22.00
$13.50 mahogany Chairs wtyh damask
upholstery, as illustrated... $10.00
Cretonne
Sale of Remnants
A very attractive assortment of good
Cretonnes in a large variety of designs
and color schemes is offered in one large
lot at a price that will certainly save you
much expense. The pieces range from
5 to 35 yards to a pattern. The regular
prices from 65c to $1.25; All in one lot
Saturday and Monday only, at per yard
-49c
m
i
i
3
S
: '
a
a
s
i
a
a
m
4
1
4
' a
8
4
4
a
3
RUGS
Onlya few of the
many listed below
Several Cross Seam Rugs, made from our traveler's
Tapestry Brussels Rug Samples, in the 9x12 size, just
as good as our regular stock except in the one extra
seam across the rug. Regular qualities from $29.50 to $35.00.
In the July sale, for..........'. $19.50 and $22.00
mm
$130.00 Royal Bengal Rug, 9x12,
now ' $95.00
$ 55.00 Hartford Body Brussels, 9x12,
now v $32.50
$ 40.00 Axminster Rug, 9x12, now.. $31.75
$105.00
$ 47.50
$ 18.00
Mahal Wilton,' 9x15 ....$75.00
Mahal Wilton, 8-3x10-6 $28.75
Axminster Rug, 6x9. $13.75
$ 30.00 Hartford Body Brussels, 6x9 $23.75
Many small'Rugs at SALE PRICES.
Linoleum Remnants, from one square yard,
at, per piece 25o, 50o
SpeciaKPrinted Linoleum in parquet pat
terns, 7-6 in. wide. Regular $1.00 qual
ity, for 60c
llillllllllfllllllilllltilllliill'liiliilMliiliilltlillllllllltlltliiliillil!;!
ORCHARD & WILHELM CO
"I know somethirt;
that wd&ryour skirt
- "When my complexion wa
red, rough and pimply, I was so
ashamed that I never had any
fun. I imagined that people
voided me perhaps they did!
But the regular use of Resinol
Soap with a little Resinol Oint
ment just at first hat given me
back my clear, healthy skin. I
wish you'd try it!"
Kg
Xlaol Ointment and Raitaol Saap aio dew
any daaareS and acta Mm hair Walthy ana
attnctivai For trial fra. vrita to Dpt t-IU
ftettBol, Balttnora, aid.
BLME SCHOOL FOR BOYS
LAKEWOOD, N. J.
8ummr KMion from Job to OetoNr. BUntd
preimrtttoa far coUtg lor bojv wtialag to outer
(aiemmeBt nrrtoc Military tratalnt by exvtrta,
boneback rldlnf, land and water porta U you
nan a too from IS to IS Ton will be latartMd
la oar booklet. ddresi eoretaiy.
"Th graaUit tUp toward'
food government that vnt
taken in Omaha," .-.wu the
World-Herald' comment on the
Dodge Hone Election Law.
VOTE FOR N. P. DODGE FOR
CONGRESS
, Improving Every Day .
Compare
BEE Gains
With Others
Improving Every Day i