TONBAY BEE:
PART FOUR
EDITORIAL
PART FOUR
AMUSEMENTS
VOL. L NO. 7.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 1, 1920.
1 D
TEN CENTS
in
REAL ROMANCE? Or TUE COMMCBCIAL
VOBLT) ACE- UNFOLDED IN TWC STOQIES
Or TUC SUCCESS QF OMAUA PUSlNfSS MEN
The
Omaha
1
imp
By R. S. McCULLOUGH.
Victims of the supposed-to-be na
tional malady, of unrest, who are
seeking their ideas of success by
shifting from job to job, should have
their pet theory jolted completely out
of them by the life stories of leading
business men of Omaha, who have
acquired position, wealth, and, above
all, the respect and confidence of
' their associates, through picking
their own line of wprk and sticking
to it until they came out on top.
Examples 'of this solid success are
to be seen on all sides in Omaha,
but careers that illustrate as graph
ically as- any the fruits of industry
and persistence are those of Charles
W. Tickens, president' of Paxton
eV Gallagher; Everett Buckingham,
president of Union Stock Yards Co.;
Carl R. Gray, president of the Union
Pacific railroad; A. C. Scott, presi
dent of the Scott-Omaha Tent and
Awning Co.. and George Brandeis,
of the Brandeis stores.
Mr. Picken'sbusiness growth has
kept pace with the growth of Omaha,
for he came to the city before rail
roads did, and has been here ever
fsiiice. He was born at Detroit in
1859. After the civil war his parents
moved west, first to St. Joseph, Mo.,
and then to Omaha, by steamboat.
Mo Pickens was 7 years old when
he first saw the city. , . ,
, Carries Omaha Daily Bee.
His '.first 'schooling in Omaha was
a a small frame schoolhouse where
Jefferson square is now. The next
vintcr he attended classes farther up
town, and later went for one year to'
the- Seagrave Military academy,
which stood on the site of the Union
Pacific building.
His first actual employment be-
' Ran with the establishment of The'
Omaha Bee. Mr. Pickens was the
circulation department at that
time, and delivered all the city sub
. scriptions of each issue. He con
tinued to carry papers for five years,
delivering his routes, riding his
ponies.
Mr. Pickens made his first "jump"
when he gave up the newspaper bus
iness and accepted a job at the lin
seed oil mill of the Harris, Taft
and Woodman company. In a few
gears' time he had worked up from
small position in the mill to super
intendent, and on the side had found
time to study telegraphy and short
hand. His tutor for the later sub
ject was John.T, Bell, then the only
shorthand court reporter in Omaha.
Mr. Pickens' next change in occupa
tion was to-be his last.
Chosen General Manager.
In 1879 he became connected with
the Paxton & Gallegher wholesale
grocery, when that firm was or
ganized. The late Ben Gallegher
knew of his shorthand study and in
duced him to enter their office. He
started as bill clerk and collector, but
during his eaerly years with the com
pany did a little bit of everything
around the warehouse and office.
When the company left its original
two-story building at Fifteenth and
Farnam streets and moved to its
present location Mr. Pickens was
figuring profits, and later became a
, s buver and had charge of house sales.
The company was incorporated in
1895, with Mr. Gallegher, president;
W. A. Paxton, vice president, and
Mr. Pickens, secretary-treasurer and
general manager. He served in that
capacity until 1907, when he was
elected president, following Mr. Pax
ton's 'death. He has served in that
position ever since.
Mr. Pickens has been a prime
mover in semi-public enterprises for
more than 30 years. He has been a
"V member of the Chamber of Com
C"merce and the old Commercial club
since the latter's organization. ( For
24 years he has been a member of the
executive committee and served as
chairman in 1900 and was elected
president in 1901.
Everlastingly at It,
For 12 years he was a member of
the board of governors of Ak-Sar-Ben,
and served five years as presi
dent. In 1913 he declined to con
tinue as one of the governors, as
he "was not able to devote the neces
sary time to it. In accepting his
resignation the remaining governors
presented him with a valuable watch
anH rtiain Mr. Pickens belongs to
the Omaha. Universtiv, Athletic,,
Country and Happy Hollow clubs,
"fv secret of success?" Mr. Pick
ens said when asked. "For 20
years I kept my motto framed on
my desk. It was: 'Keeping ever
lastingly at it brings success I
took that sentiment seriously from
the start, and I believe in it as
firmly today as when I began.'
"Success is bound to come to the
man who will do his 'very best, no
matter what his task may be, and
practice the rules of honesty, integ
rity, .loyalty and punctuality. When
I started to work here my hours
were from 7 in the morning to 6
in the evening, with a lot of night
work thrown in, too. My first va
cation came after I had been with
the firm nine years.
Railroad Messenger Boy.
"My advice to anyone starting ir.
would be to pick the line of work
he is best suited to and give his
job the best he has. It's only
through that kind of effort that ohe
tan reach the top." ' .'
There is no one in Omaha with
' wider acquaintances or who has
' more warm personal friends . than
Charles H. Pickens.
So well does Everett Buncking
ham, vice president and general
manager of the Union Stock Yards
Co., governor of Ak-Sar-Ben," and
prime mover in nearly everything
Jhat is going on to. boost Omaha,
chas. rt. Pickens.
FIRST-JOB WAS
CARRYING PAPERS
NOW PR6S OF BIG
WHOLESALE GROCER
FIRM
wear his honors, that no one at first
glancVAVould ever visualize him as.
a one-time messenger boy in a rail
road office. "
Students of Train Loads.
?But he -was, nevertheless. For Mr.
Buckingham began his business ca
reer as a messenger in the St, Joe
office of the St. Joseph & Denver
railroad, when he was 11 years old.
He then earhed the munificient sal
ary of $2.50 per week, and .the hours
were long. But he perserved and
after 13 years with the same road
had advanced to chief clerkship. In
1880 the railroad became a Union
Pacific property and Mr. Bucking
harit came to Omaha as chief clerk
to the car accountant of the U. P.
Shortly after his arrival he was ad
vanced to the position of car ac
countant. A few years in that capacity, and
he became car service agent for the
Union Pacific, then superintendent
of car service, and finally superin
tendent of transportation. In 1904
Mr. Buckingham was selected to go
to Ogden, Utah, to keep things mov
ing at that point of the Union Pa
cific concentration. His technical
position was general superintendent
of the Qregon Short Line, but his
duties were to keep things moving
and on time on that road, the South
ern Pacific and Union Pacific on
the Ogden division.
'During his railroad career Mr.
Buckingham was noted among his
associates as a student ot train
loads, and for continual study for
means of increasing the sizes of
freight trains. He was one of the
earliest advocates of capacity
weights behind locomotives, and
extraordinarily long 'freight trains
becaftje known on the system as
"Buckingham specials."
Station Agent's Helper.
In 1907 Mr. Buckingham . termi
nated his railroad connections, when
apparently he was within, a step of
the top, to return to Omaha as gen
eral manager of the South Omaha
Stock Yards company, the forerun
ner of the present organization he
is with. Housing conditions were
scmewhat better that year than they
are now, for within a week Mr.
Buckingham had resigned his rail
road position, accepted the one in
South Omaha and had moved and
fsettled his family and household
possessions in Umaha.
He has been identified with pro
gressive activities in the stock' busi
ness and boosting Omaha in general
ever since.
Like Mr. Buckingham, Carl Gray,
now head of one of the largest ar,d
soundest railroad systems in the
country, began in a railroad office.
The difference is, he stuck to the
business; Mr. Gray vas brn at
Princeton, Ark., in 1867. When he
was 16" years old he began his rail
road career, helping the station
agent of 'the St. Louis &. San Fran
cisco railroad in a litWe Kansas
town. Later he became telegrapher
and agent himself, and served in .that
capacity until 1886.
World's Crookedest Railroad
In that year he was transferred to
the Wichita office of toe road, and
saw his last of station work. His
first position there was clerk for
the general western agent of the
road. After a few years of training
he became general afcent himself.
He then successively filled the of
fices of district freight agnt. divi
sion freight agent, and division su
perintendent. In 1900 he went to
the St. Louis headquarters of the
road as superintendent of transpor
tation. In a short time he was made
general manager of the road, then
elected a vice president, and in 1911
vai serving as. senior, vice president
ENERITT
RUCKIN6HA1
ftAS ONCE A
MESSENGER SOY
HE'S MANAGER Op
ISTOCKYAROS.
and general manager cf the road
with which he had started
In that year James J. Hill, rail
road genius of . the northwest, needed
a man to build and have charge of
the crookedest railroad in the world,
the Spokane, Portland & Seattle
railroad, -which follows the banks of
the Columbia river.
Mr. Gray was the man he picked
and the late Mr. Hill had a facudty
for getting what he went after. 5o
Mr. Gray went to the Pacific north
west to head the .Hill subsidiary
lines,' which included the Oregon
Electric railways.-
In Less Than Forty Years.
After the retirement of the elder
Hill, Louis W. Hill, a son, became
the head of the Great Northern rail
road, the great Hill line, and so head
of the famliy interests. In keeping
with an announced plan. Louis NHill
retired on his fortieth birthday, and
Carl Gray was elected president of
the Great Northern.
He served with that road until a
short time before the war, when he
acceptid the presidency of the West
ern Maryland road. While guiding
the destinies of that system the war
Came on, the railroad administration
was organized and Mr. Gray was one
of the selected for an executive post
in Washington, x 1
When the return of the roads to
private ownership was announced
and railroad reorganization all over
the country began, the Union Pacific,
conceded to be. on as fine a footing
as v any railroad in the country,
reached out for Mr. Gray. In less
than 40 years he has climbed from
helper at a country station to head
of one of the greatest transportation
systems on the globe.
No more convincing example of
the fruits of application along one
line of endeavorcan be found in
Omaha than in the Jife of George
Brandeis, head of the Brandeis in
terests, who has climbed from the
very bottom to apposition of national
importance-in the department store
world. ' '
Mr. Brandeis came to America 30
years ago from his home in Europe,
with his uncle, the late J. L. Bran
deis, founder of the Omaha stores.
He went to work in the old Bran
deis store on Thirteenth street and
spent his spare time and evenings
studying. It was his duty in those
days to open the store in the morn
ings, build fires and sweep out the
rooms. ,
Worked for $2 a Week.
After a year in his uncle's stor?. j
Mr, .Brandeis went to Chicago and
n 11 r- TENT AND AWN1N6 MAN fc
1 J I IN THELCOUNTRY ; ,,
i i - .:
)
secured a job in the Bos'ton store
in that city. His wages when he
began were the munificent sum of
$2 per week. But he started work
ing as soon as he got the job. Two
years later he was promoted to the
silk department, and after five years
was made silk buyer for the store.
The annual sales of that department
amounted to $300,000 when he be
came buyer, and increased to $1,300,-
000 before he left that position..
Becomes Firm Manager.
On the death of Charles Nefcher,
proprietor of the store, Mrs. Netcher
selected Mr. Brandeis. out of .,4,400
other employes to become manager.
He continued in that capacity until
1913, when he came-to Omaha, fol
lowing the deaths of his cousins.
Emit and Hugo Brandeis.
Mr. Brandeis has only one recipe
for success, and that is ambition
and determination to forge ahead
"You can't keep a good . man
down," he declared "Anyone who
is determined to succeed is bound
to rise, maybe not in one year, and
maybe not for 10 years, but if he
has the spirit to climb,) notliing. can
keep him down." '
Increase in Tents!.
Al C. Scott, president of the Sfcott
Omaha Tent and Awning Co., and
a similar establishment at Seattle,
and connected with other firms man
ufacturing canvas goods, and also
president of the Omaha Mnufac
turers' association, hasn't always
been a commanding figure in an
industry.
As a mattet of fact, only 15 years
ago Mr. Scott still' had his future
before him. At that time he was
handling shipments for an express
company, with $50 a month his re
ward. He switched, however, to his
present line, and began his rapid
rise toward the top. It wasn't so
many years ago that the old Omaha
Tent and Awning Co. had the
"Scott" prefixed to its title, signi
fying that Mr. Scott had begun to
arrive.
That Was a Starter.
That was only a starter, however
and the- connections that make his
iame known all over the country-in
'vitfc canvas roods, came later. Next
he acquired the Seattle factory, the
largest in the west, which gave him
control cf one of the .largest com
binations in that industry. When this
country entered the war .there was
an immediate demands for tents,
tarpaulins, bags, and dozens of
ether, .tems . of equipment, .The
Pa Rpurke Oldest Owner
Of Ball Club in America
Completes 21 Years' Con
tinuous Ownership of
Omaha Base Bail
. Franchise.
With the completion 'of his 21st
year as an owner of a professional
base ball club in one city, W. A.
(Pa) Rourke of the Omaha club of
the Western league, today enjoys
.he unique distinction of being the
oldest ;'owner in point of years'
service in the United States.
And though the popular local
sporting magnate -has had to carry
his club through some varying
vicissitudes, lie .ha; triumphed in a
business way and made this point
un mc western ci'. uuu ue ui wic
most popular base ball towns in the
country.
"Pa" Rourke, as he is affection
ately known to fans everywhere, is
crowded close, however, in record
of ownership by another equally
famous base ball man, President
Charles Comiskey of the Chicago
White Sox. The latter has had 20
years' service as the owser of the
well known "windy city" machine;
and, strangely enough, the careers
of the two great sportsmen have
paralleled closely in the way of
base ball success.
Began 'As Infielder.
Rourke started in professional
base ball 38 years jiro as a thiid
baseman with the Muskegon, Mich.,
team of the old Northwestern
league. Since that time he had
played ball on two Omaha teams,
once in 1887 and again in 1894, be
fore finally coming here permanent
ly to acquire the ownership of
Omaha's entry in the Western
league. ' .'
Starting professionally with the
S.-.ott factories were able on a mo
ment's notice to switch production
from awnings and commercial can
vas goods to military orders.
Well Known in Army.
If you were in the army, you mav
have slept under a Scott pyramidal
tent; likely you carried one of their
shelter halves, and it's a cinch that
if you were at Fort Omaha you
helped pitch one of their tialloon
hangars, juggled Scott sandbars
and maybe packed Scott pmrachutes.
Taking advantage of. opportunities
and applicatioa to the job in hand
is Mr. Scott's prescription for gei
ting ahead. He believes that his
own success is the result of practic
ing those rules. Making the mcst
of your job fits you for a better
one, he holds, for the minute a man
gets too big for one place there's
a pisser one awaiting ' . . . .
i -
'5k -
old Muskegon team in 1SS3, Rourke
was the teammate of uch great
players of the period as.John Clark
son, Dave Fouts, Bobby Carruthers,
Porter, "Lady" Baldwin and others.
All of these old-tuners were great
pitchers, and at one time or another
found their way into the "big show"
just the same as Rourke did before
his playing days were -finally over.
When' "Pa" referred to his service
with -Muskegon a smile spread over
his features. "I recall now," he said,
"that the old Muskegon club still
owes me money, which of course I
never expect to get."
With Columbus Team.
The next year, in 1884, found
Rourke with the Columbus team of
the American association when it
finished second, next to the New
York Giants.
"And that, by the way, was the
year when the old New York major
league club acquired the title of
Giants," said Rourke. ,
"I remember the personnel of the
old club well and say, they were
whales of fellows, every one of them.
There was not a man of the Giants
under six feet, and the most of them
were above that in stature. And myl
how they could pound the old horse
hide. They were fast fellows, too.
Yes, the original Giants were well
named and the title has stuck to the
New York team ever since."
In the fall of 1885,' according to
the reminiscent narrative which "Pa"
spun for the edification of the fans
far and wide, he went to the Atlanta,
Ga., club of the Southern league. In
that year he was with his first pen
nant winner, Atlapta capturing the
bunting by a good margin. , The
next year he was with Duluth of the
Northwestern league and played hjs
part in another pennant gain.
, Joins Omaha Club.
With the beginning of the season
of 1887 "Pa" Rourke played his first
professional basa ball in Omaha, the
city which was eventually to be his
home town, and in which he was to
achieve such pronounced success.
He played through that season with
Omaha, which was then, as now, a
part of the Western league. The
next year he went to Lima, O., in
the Tri-State league, and again there
he helped to make a pennant win
ner. .
The spring of 1889 found Rourke
lined up with the Fort Worth team
of the Texas league, but 'in 1890 he
again switched north and joined the
St. Paul team of the Western league.
The next year found him "in Cedar
Rapids, la., of the Three-I league.
It was in --the latter place that
Rourke had his first experience as
manager as well as player.
HoVever, even this .berth failed to
hold the wandering player, and the
next year, 1892, found him in the
Nebraska State league, an independ
ent organization. He remained with
this league through 1893.
Scout for the Cubs.
In the spring of 1894 Rourke
came back to Omaha as manager
and part owner of the local club.'
However, he was not yet ready to
settle down, and the succeeding
year found him playing with Bloom
ington, 111., as manager and sole
owner. ' ,
This venture was not a financial
success, and in 1896 he-went to
Birmingham, Ala., to manage that
city's entry in the Southern league.
This was his last year as an active
-ftall player. For the next three years
he was . a scout for the Chicago
Cubs.
In the fall of 1899 "Pa" Rourke
came back to Omaha and purchased
the franchise of the local club, and
he has continued as owner up to
the present time. In the interven
ing period he has had sometimes a
good playing combination, some
times a bad; but he has everdis
r.layed such a spirit, of clean sports
maifship and such a 1 fine zest for
the game that he has Tiad the fans
with him at all times, in the suc
cessive years of fighting for a pennant.-
t
Displays Fighting Spirit.
During the years that Rourke has
been the owner of the Omaha club
he has trained and brought out
scores of young players who have
made good here and been a credit
to the game, passed on for a time
to the "big show." and since either
dispersed themselves here and
ther as managers or owners, or
YOUTHFULiTHIEF
HAD LAID PLANS
FOR LIFE OF EASE
1 6-Year-Old Boy Confesses to
Robbery of 25 Estab
lishments. By International Hmbfierrif.
' Detroit, Mich., July 31. Suave,
well-groomed, .manicured and bear
ing the mien of a "man about town,"
16-year-old-Alton McGill was ar
rested charged with the robbery of
more than 25 business places.
Young McGUl confessed, police
say, and escorted the' officers about
town, pointing out the" places 4ie ad
mitted having pilfered. (
" The youthful Raffles" boasted of
;hisprowess since hist release from
a boy' : industrial home. He told
the officers that he. had planned a
wild . life : fdr himself and frowned
on the conventional method of ob
taining money by labors ' .
When arrested h had rooms in two
hotels, both of which were hiding
places for a miscellaneous collection
of loot, about -which ; he, said he
hadn't yet bothered to realize any
money. , - . '
" His clothing was of the best and.
he told the police, he was about to
make the final payment on an auto
mobile. In a tailor shop, which he
is charged with robbing, he told the
police that he picked out a new suit
and left his old clothing with a note
to the tailor, ordering them cleaned
and pressed.
The police turned McGill over to
the juvenile authorities. who imme
diately charged him with violatinjr.
his parole. He has 10 brothers and
sisters.
Nebraska 02 Booms
Are Due to Rainfall,
Says Uni Professor
Heavy rainfall in Nebraska's sand
hills is the principal cause of the oil
boom in this state during the last
lew months, according to .Dr.
George Condra of the University of
Nebraska department of conserva
tion and soil survey, who has dis
covered the iron "pyrites" or "fools'
gold" of the oil miners.
The water tabid in Nebraska has
risen during the heavy rains, Dr.
Condra states, forming an iron
compound which, seeping out on
sandy areas, somewhat resembles
oil. This compound has been the
cajise of much excitement in various
quarters, Dr. Condra finds. The de
partment' of conservation and soil
survey has been flooded during the
past few weeks with requestsfor in
formation on oil and gas 'forma
tions. quit the diamond for business or
.he professions.
"It is fine and exciting to fight
tor a pennant," he said, "but that fs
only a secondary matter, after all,
in playing the game of base ball.
Good, clean diamond sport at all .
times is . what the public wants; it is
what the people pay for, and they
are entitled to it Every team and
, player in each respective league
should feel that they are in the
game to do their best and play it
tor the winning of every contest
In myv playing days we did M
have anything like the remunera
tion to' incite us to a high standard
of talent as the players have now,
but we played the game for all we
were worth and enjoyed it"
When he started out, like all
young players, hw ambition was to
climb into the majors, and "Pa"
achieved that point of fame long
before his playing days were c-ver. 1
As an owner and director of a Club
in one of the best cities ' in " the
country, he feels that he has many
more years ahead before he finally
relinquishes the reins to youngei
hands.
t !
