USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea : with selected biography of actors and witnesses to the period of growth and achievement, Volume II > Part 39
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Mr. Ralphs died June 21, 1914. He and his family had gone for a week-end to the San Bernardino Canyon. While taking a stroll in the canyon Mr. Ralphs seated himself on a boulder beside the trail and in attempting to assist his wife to a place beside him he dislodged a huge stone which had been the support of the boulder. It rolled down the mountain side carrying him with it. One leg was caught and severely injured and though he was immediately hurried to the Ramona Hospital at San Bernardino, the shock proved too severe and he could not survive the operation. For several months prior to his death Mr. Ralphs had been serving with the trial term jury in the United States District Court. His fellow jurors subscribed to a resolution which reflects the general sentiments and opinions of the entire community as to Mr. Ralphs' char- acter and business standing. One paragraph of the resolution reads : "Associated with Mr. Ralphs as we have been during the past four months we have formed an estimate of his character which has placed him in the front rank of the best citizens of this community where he has lived for half a century and marked him as an efficient, intelligent, painstaking and conscientious man, whose views of duty were reflected by his remarks when asked why, with abundant reasons therefor, he did not ask to be excused, said: 'I feel it to be my duty as a citizen to serve when called and do not care to ask the court to excuse me.'"
ALBERT GEORGE RALPHS, JR. An executive official of the Ralphs Grocery Company, whose stores are distributed throughout Los An- geles, Albert George Ralphs, Jr., returned in the spring of 1919 from active service as a soldier with the allied armies in France.
Mr. Ralphs, who is one of the youngest of Los Angeles' business men, was born in this city April 30, 1897, son of George A. Ralphs, whose career is sketched elsewhere. He attended grammar and high school, graduating from the latter in 1914, and for a year and a half was a student in Occidental College. He made a fine record in col-
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lege as an athlete, playing center on the football team, and also had the same position in the high school team. In 1915 some of the ex- pert critics picked him for membership in the "All Star Foot Ball Team."
He left college to join the army, being assigned to the 17th Com- pany of Coast Artillery. He went to France with the 55th Ammunition Train as a sergeant, and served as a First Class Observer both in Ar- tillery and Infantry. At the signing of the amistice he was thirty miles back of the front lines. He received his honorable discharge March 25, 1919, and since resuming his status as a civilian he has been vice- president and director of the Ralphs Grocery Company. This business founded by his father now has in active operation seven stores in Los Angeles, with an aggregate employment of five hundred persons and operates sixty-three auto delivery trucks.
Mr. Ralphs is affiliated with the Owl and Keys Fraternity, is a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, Brentwood and Wilshire Clubs and the Recreation Gun Club. He was married in Los Angeles April 29, 1918, to Miss Ava Richards.
JOHN J. HAMILTON, formerly chairman of the County Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles county, and now one of the city commis- sioners of Pasadena, has been a man of intellectual and civic leadership for many years, is a vigorous writer, for many years was a successful editor and publisher in Iowa, and through his writings and personal influence has done much to advance the cause of civic enlightenment and progress.
Mr. Hamilton was born at Harrisville, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1854, son of William and Catharine (Logan) Hamilton. His father was a soldier in the Union army, and Mr. Hamilton by other ancestors is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. His early edu- cation was acquired in the public schools of Pennsylvania. In 1877.he graduated from the State University of Iowa. While in the university he showed his first talents as a newspaper man, and was publisher of the University Reporter and first assistant librarian, much of the time having actual charge of the University library. For a year following he was employed as a teacher in the Iowa City High School and in the University Library. One summer vacation he spent gathering data for a sociological study of the negro is southeastern Virginia, following an extensive study of the same subject in the Gulf States.
For three years Mr. Hamilton was editor of the Bloomfield Repub- lican in Iowa. His main work in the editorial field, however, was at Des Moines, where he began as a reporter with the Des Moines Daily News. He finally became editor and publisher of that paper, but after twenty-one years he sold his interests in the News and became assistant general manager, with headquarters at Des Moines, of the Iowa Homestead, Kansas City Farmer and Stockman, Wisconsin Farmer, Farm Gazette, and Homemaker. At the end of four years he resigned his heavy responsibilities with these publications and for a year was editor of the Literary Magazine at Des Moines.
It was during that year that he produced his most notable and influ- ential literary work. He wrote the "Dethronement of the City Boss," three editions of which were published by Funk & Wagnalls Company of New York City. This was the first book which took up and dis- cussed and brought out the ideals and plans subsequently formulated in the familiar Commission form of government for cities. For that
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reason it might well be accorded a place among the epoch-making books in our civic literature.
Mr. Hamilton came to California in 1911, locating at Palms in Los Angeles county. He soon was made secretary of the Los Angeles Charter Revision Commission and Board of Freeholders. He also wrote special articles on municipal government for the Los Angeles Tribune and Los Angeles Express. In 1912 he moved to Pasadena and for two years devoted his time to looking after his personal interests. He was then appointed to the Board of Education, and made a survey of the Pasadena School System. In November, 1914, he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles county, and in January, 1917, was chosen chairman of the Board.
He married at Des Moines, Iowa, October 26, 1893, Miss Margaret George. They have had three children: George Chase, born in 1894, died December 28, 1918, formerly of the One Hundred Forty-third Field Artillery; John Judson, Jr., born in 1899, attending Pasadena High School, and the daughter, Catharine, is a student in the State University of Iowa.
ALBERT SHIELS, LITT. D. The people of Los Angeles have a deep appreciation of the fact that in their superintendent of city schools they have a man nationally recognized as one of the foremost educators in the country. Dr. Shiels first came to Los Angeles when he and Dr. Walter A. Jessup, president of the State University of Iowa, were selected by the local Board of Education to examine Los Angeles school conditions. As a result of this investigation a report was prepared and the Board of Education accepted it with a special resolution of appreciation. Then in June, 1916, the Board tendered Dr. Shiels the position of city superintendent, which he accepted.
A detailed study of his administration as superintendent need not be made at this point. It is well known that he has made many changes without disturbing the school system or arousing the antagonism which radical movements engender. Among such changes might be noted the extension of education to foreigners, a work which is only a continua- tion of efforts that have been made by Dr. Shiels for many years. In fact he is looked upon as a national leader in many movements affecting the immigrant and assimilation of foreign population and was therefore a promoter of Americanism long before that movement became so sig- nificant as it has been made through the results of the great war. As superintendent he also established advisory committees among the teach- ers and principals, giving them a voice in the initiation of school policy. He reorganized the Health and Development Department, established a special division for abnormal children, created a division of research which has greatly raised the level of accomplishment in the elementary schools, extended agricultural instruction to all the high schools, and initiated a system of vocational instruction which has received the approval of state and federal authorities.
Some of the most significant work accomplished has been the reor- ganization of school administration and method of instruction to meet conditions resulting from the war. These changes and the results achieved have received a great deal of public commendation, primarily due to the fact that while enabling schools to aid the government at a critical time in its history, it has also vitalized the educational system and become an excellent object lesson of ethical and patriotic training.
During his first year as superintendent, notwithstanding the fact
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that classes were made smaller and educational work extended, Doctor Shiels was able to reduce unnecessary waste in school expenditures to an extent which effected a saving of $246,000. In the matter of school expenditures, however, Doctor Shiels has maintained the attitude that the real value of any system is not in its relative cost, but in the service which it yields. For that reason he has always put forth the contention that a school administration should undertake to show its value, so far as such values are susceptible of measurement.
Doctor Shiels is a man of wide experience in life as well as in edu- cational work. He was born in New York City, July 9, 1865, son of George E. and Alberta Shiels. He finished his education in the College of the City of New York, receiving his A. B. degree in 1886, the degree Pd. M. in 1896, and his Master of Arts degree in 1899. During 1887- 90 he was cashier of the Panama Railroad, and was also consul for Mexico at Colon and Panama and in charge of the British Consulate and the International Mail Station at the city of Colon.
From 1890 to 1899 Doctor Shiels was teacher in various grades and principal of evening schools in New York city. He was appointed first principal in Greater New York in 1899, and from 1906 to 1913 was district superintendent of schools of New York City, in charge of evening and supplementary instruction. From 1913 to 1916 he was director of the Division of Reference and Research, Department of Edu- cation, New York City.
He has served as a lecturer and instructor at the College of the City of New York, Dartmouth College and Columbia University. He is allied with a number of national associations engaged in social wel- fare, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science, a member of the National Education Association, the National Association of Educational Research, National Board of Review, American Academy of Political and Social Science, American Library Association, and is a Phi Delta Theta. He is a Presbyterian and a Mason, a member of the City and Graduates Club of New York, the Automobile Club of Southern California, and the Sunset Club. His experience and views on educational subjects have been set forth in many articles that have appeared in educational and other periodicals.
In 1915 Doctor Shiels was elected director of the People's Institute, but declined to serve as he was requested to continue his work with the New York Board of Education. In 1917 he was requested to take charge of the social welfare of soldiers in fourteen cantonments of the United States Army, but owing to the demands of the Los Angeles schools at that time considered it best to decline. In December, 1917, he was made Federal director of the educational phases of the War Savings Com- mittee Work in the states of Arizona, California and Nevada, and also accepted the chairmanship of the Advisory Committee on Americaniza- tion in Southern California.
In the summer of 1918 Doctor Shiels was granted a leave of absence by the Board of Education, effective August 1st, to enable him to inaugurate and direct an organization known as Community Councils for War Work in the City of New York, under the auspices of the Committee for National Defense. This movement involves a mobiliza- tion of civilian population to meet demands brought about by the war, and of especial value was its influence in eliminating duplications and in centralizing the direction or executive functions of various organiza- tions engaged in or contributing to war work.
Q.C. Canthis
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ALFRED GUIDO RUDOLPH CASTLES, retired physician and surgeon, a prominent California capitalist, art connoisseur and world traveler, who has crossed the Arctic Circle and Equator several times, has been a res- ident of Los Angeles since 1900. His wonderful home at Hollywood, known as Castle Sans Souci, has been one of the points of interest in- cluded in the itineraries of all tourists to southern California. But to a more intimate and exclusive circle is it esteemed as one of the rarest centers of art in the state.
Dr. Castles was born in the city of Chicago, Illinois, April 19, 1851. His father was Rudolph Schloesser and his mother Amalia Hoffman Schloesser. Rudolph Schloesser was a pioneer Chicagoan, and for over half a century the history of that city has included numerous references to members of the Schloesser family. He was a successful banker and real estate investor, and was often associated in business with Marshall Field, George Pullman, Potter Palmer, J. Y. Scammon, P. D. Armour and others. He built one of the first pretentious office and bank build- ings in Chicago immediately after the fire of 1871, a structure known as the Schloesser Block. Although Rudolph Schloesser and his wife, Amalia Hoffman, were descendants of the nobility of Germany and had entree to the royal courts of Europe, the elder Schloesser soon tired of the despotic oppression and militarism of Prussia, sought America in his early youth, and immediately upon his arrival here became a natura- lized citizen. He with his brother-in-law, the Hon. Francis A. Hoffman, assisted substantially in the campaign which elected Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. Hon. Francis A. Hoffman, Dr. Castles' maternal uncle, served as lieutenant governor of Illinois with Hon. Richard Yates, famed as the war governor of that state. By his splendid oratory and magnetic personality Francis A. Hoffman was instrumental during the first years of the war in inducing many of the young men of the city and rural sections of Illinois to enlist in the Union army. He further distinguished himself by not only organizing but arming and equiping at his own expense a matchless company of cavalry known as the Hoff- man Dragoons. This practical demonstration of his loyalty and liberality won for him the gratitute and lasting friendship of Abraham Lincoln. It was through President Lincoln that Francis A. Hoffman, Jr., was appointed a midshipman of the Naval Academy at Annapolis.
Dr. Castles received his preparatory training in the public schools of Chicago and under private tutors, graduated at the Select High School of Chicago presided over by Professor C. J. Belleke, LL. D., and also attended Concordia College at Fort Wayne, Indiana. He graduated in medicine and surgery from Rush Medical College, now affiliated with the University of Chicago, receiving his diploma in 1871. Later he took post-graduate courses at the Universities of Heidelberg, Wurtzburg, Ber- lin, Vienna, Rome, Paris and London. During the cholera epidemic in 1873 Dr. Castles volunteered and served as assistant physician in the Im- perial Royal Allgemeine Krankenhaus at Vienna. Dr. Castles is author of a number of scientific works, is a licentiate of the State of Cali- fornia, and practised medicine and surgery, eventually specializing in laryngology and dermatology at Chicago for some twenty years.
His professional eminence and family position brought him most un- usual opportunities to know the world and many of the world's most con- spicuous people. He has been much abroad and has made several world tours. He has mingled in social affairs with royal houses in a number of European states, and one time was a guest of General Lew Wallace, Minister at Constantinople, and was introduced to the late Abdul Hamid,
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Sultan. Dr. Castles was a. close friend of the late James G. Blaine, and has always valued greatly a letter written by Mr. Blaine, then secretary of state, introducing him to the ministers and representatives of the United States government abroad.
Though medicine and surgery were his chief study while abroad, Dr. Castles also made a profound study of painting and sculpture, and for that purpose spent much time and made special trips to Munich, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. By purchasing meritorious works of art during these various trips he finally accumulated what has been pro- nounced a very rare and valuable collection by one of the leading art journals of America.
In 1894, through the influence of an old mining friend, a California forty-niner, Samuel Locke, Dr. Castles was induced to purchase a mining prospect at Hayden Hill, Lassen county, for ten thousand dollars. He presented Mr. Locke with a one-eighth interest in the property, known as the Golden Eagle Mine. After some development work this mine yielded a net profit of forty-five thousand dollars monthly. Though being the majority stockholder, Dr. Castles entered into all stages of the work from pick and shovel to the assay office in order to become thoroughly familiar with mining. On this property he built a hundred ton cyanide reduction plant, the first of the kind in Lassen county, thus saving ninety- seven per cent. of the gold.
Attracted by the climate and people of Los Angeles, Dr. Castles decided to make California his permanent home in 1900, and became a resident of Hollywood, erecting Castle Glengarry, named after Mrs. Castles' forefathers' castle at Inverness, Scotland. This handsome place being too small for his ambitious plans for entertainment, Dr. Castles finally erected Castle Sans Souci, contained in a three-acre park in the highest state of horticultural development. Its landscape gardening was done under the direction of the famous Nils Emitsloef, late gardener to the Czar Alexander the Third of Russia, also creator of Queen Vic- toria's orchid beds, and a park designer for the late Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey. This park, the larger part of Schloesser Terrace Tract, is the environment of Castle Sans Souci, a beautiful mansion built in the Tudor-Gothic style of architecture, and one of the most interesting sites of Hollywood, being situated at Franklin and Argyle avenues, just oppo- site Castle Glengarry, the former family residence. Two great lions guard the entrance to the building. They are made of Carrara marble and for one hundred forty-four years guarded one of the palaces of the Doges in Venice. The massive front door of the castle opens in a great Tudor-Gothic hall two stories in height and lighted with two large cathedral windows containing stained art glass executed by the famous Royal Art Glass Institution at Munich, representing Emperor Maximilian the First, and the Coat of Arms of the Castles family Above the massive Gothic mantel is contained the famous Van Dyke heroic size painting of Charles the First of England. Soft lights gleam amid mural paintings of old and new masters, while around the hall stand dummies in suits of armor, reminding the guest of the old days when the Crusaders fell. The Flemish Gothic dining room with its Jacobin ceiling, mantel and other decorations represents strictly that medieval period. The Louis XV drawing room, with its panelings covered with silk and tapestries, its cream and gold decorations, frescoes and mantel, represents strictly that period of French history. There is also the Louis XVI bedchamber, with its mantel and decorations. From the upper rooms, whose balconies and windows look upon the great hall, it is possible in times of the dances,
RESIDENCE OF DR. A. G. R. CASTLES.
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theatricals or musicales to sit and look down as though from private boxes. The embattled tower a hundred feet high was built after special permission was obtained by act of common council to amend the building restrictions as to height. From this tower the waves of the Pacific some twelve miles distant may be seen, and at night Los Angeles with its lights over the wide plain gleams like the milky way.
To this California home Dr. Castles has brought many art treasures, selected through a period of many years and with the care and judg- ment of a real connoisseur. Some of the great artists whose works are represented are those of his old friend and neighbor Paul de Longpre, F. Andreotti, Van der Hyse, Landseer, Madame Le Brun, Van Dyke, Alexandre of Paris and others. Besides paintings he has a remarkable collection of ancient wood carvings, tapestries, vases, statuary and bric- a-brac.
From the very beginning of United States activity in the war Dr. Castles' home was the scene of many benefits for the Red Cross and other patriotic societies engaged in war relief work. Dances were given every second Saturday, at which hundreds of the Army and Navy boys were entertained. One of these gatherings was the time chosen by a sailor boy to marry his sweetheart. When the Citizens Committee of the Council of Defense organized the precincts in order to systematize the civilian war work, Dr. Castles was the first one in the city to offer his home, and it became the headquarters for Precinct No. 391, which ranked among the first in the work accomplished.
Dr. Castles is intensely American in spirit, and it was decidedly characteristic of the man and his unchallenged patriotism that in the spring of 1918 he petitioned the courts to change the old proud name which his forefathers, men high in the confidence and service of kings, had borne for centuries, to Castles, a direct translation from the name Schloesser.
Dr. Castles is a prominent Mason, a member of Hollywood Lodge, Los Angeles Commandery No. 9 of the Knights Templars, and the Mystic Shrine. Dr. Castles married Emma M. R. MacDonell in Chicago November 19, 1874. Their children are Alexander R. Schloesser, mining engineer; Mrs. J. G. Barnett, of Chicago; Mrs. Carl E. Thomsen, of Berkeley, California ; and Mrs. Eric E. Eastman, of Ames, Iowa.
Dr. Castles has two nephews who achieved distinction in the great war. One, the oldest son of his sister, was Captain John F. Spread of the Royal Fusiliers. He was on Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig's staff during the late war. Another is Lieutenant William Slayter, eldest son of Dr. Castles' youngest sister. He was with H. M. S. Queen Mary and was transferred to another dreadnaught some ten days before the sea fight at Jutland. In that fight every man of the war ship Queen Mary was destroyed. At Zeebrugge Lieutenant Slayter volunteered to assist in sinking the war ship with thirty-six men for the purpose of blocking up the channel. He returned with some six men. Lieutenant Slayter was in the same class of the Naval Academy with the Prince of Wales.
EDWARD S. IRVIN, secretary of the Los Angeles Can Company, has been a business man all his life, but started at the very bottom round of the latter, and his range of experience well qualifies him as one of the leaders in Los Angeles industry.
The Los Angeles Can Company was established in 1902 by F. F. Stetson and T. J. Spencer. It was first known as the Stetson-Spencer Can Company. In 1903 they incorporated as the Los Angeles Can Com-
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pany, with F. F. Stetson, president ; T. J. Spencer, vice president ; E. S. Irvin, secretary, and D. K. Stetson, treasurer. In 1915 F. B. McCoskey succeeded D. K. Stetson as treasurer and he in turn in 1917 was suc- ceeded by J. P. Williams.
The founders of this business recognized a tremendous opportunity in Southern California for an industry to manufacture fruit and vege- table cans convenient to the great sources of use. In 1903 the company occupied a low, one-story building 60x80 feet. Today the plant covers two and a half acres, the main factory being a two-story brick building, and the entire factory is equipped with an automatic sprinkler system for fire protection. The machinery is of the most approved type and whereas the first year's output was only three hundred thousand cans, the capacity today is a hundred million a year, and the prospects for increased growth seem practically unlimited. When the business was started in 1902 there was only one helper. Six months later they were employing a force of twenty-five, and today the number of employes is two hundred and fifty. The plant occupies a full city block between San Fernando Boulevard and North Avenue, Humboldt Street and the Santa Fe Railway.
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