USA > Kentucky > Jefferson County > Louisville > The city of Louisville and a glimpse of Kentucky > Part 19
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The company has unsurpassed facilities for making this furniture. It begins at the beginning by selecting and felling its own trees and sawing them into planks in its own saw-mill, situated in the southern part of Indiana. These planks are then brought to Louisville after having been thoroughly selected. Here they are cut into strips of the required thickness aud length. Those for the curved backs of chairs are then turned. The strips are then steanied, afterward being taken to the bending room, where the wood is bent by machinery from castings that have been made after wooden patterns designed by a workman especially engaged for that purpose. It is astonishing into how many varieties of shapes the wood is bent. It is made into intricate scrolls or perfect circles, the ends iu the latter being joined by what is known as the "snake joint "-i. e., like a snake that has swallowed his tail. The wood is clamped about the castings and is then taken to the drying room. In the factory are 100,000 pounds of castings that represent hundreds of patterns.
After the piece is firmly set in the desired shape, the casting is removed. The wood has then become extremely flexible. It bends like a reed and bounds off the floor when thrown hard against it. This elastic strength is one of the merits of the furniture. Now comes the reduction of the rough wood to smoothness. The piece is planed, rasped, filed, scraped, and sand-papered until it is perfectly smooth. Then it is dipped into vats and stained with the funda-
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American Bent-Wood Furniture.
mental color, if it is not to be left in its natural color. The polish is now put on by rubbing it thoroughly into the grain. It is colored to imitate ebony, antique oak, mahogany, cherry, and other woods, and is rubbed in by hand. This polish consists of shellac and alcohol, with the proper chemical coloring matter. It becomes thoroughly ingrained with the wood and does not wear off. Sometimes the natural woods are polished in their own colors, the varieties used being beech, oak, ash, maple, and walnut. The pieces are then put together by means of bolts and screws, no glue being used for this purpose. Thus durability is secured, the chair not being liable to break in any part. The bolt-heads and screw-heads are concealed. The seat is bent in one piece and the chair back and back legs are also one piece. The chairs go fresh from the factory to the dealer, without having to endure an ocean voyage. They are packed in glazed paper and straw, so that they will not become bruised or scratched. This gives the company several advantages over the Austrian makers who ship to America.
A new style of bent-wood furniture is now being made at this factory. It is called the "American Bent-wood Furniture," and is an adaptation of the Vienna article to the needs of the trade in supplying cheap and durable furniture that is at the same time handsome and artistic. In the Vienna furniture all the pieces are rounded ; but in the company's American not all of them are. The finish is not so high in this style, though it is handsomely stained in different colors and nicely finished iu varnish. The furniture of this class is as durable as the Vienna, but is not nearly so expensive. The style is entirely new, never having been made before in this or any other country. It will certainly meet a long-felt want of the trade, as it will undoubtedly become popular.
One of the long-standing articles of manufacture by this company is the "double-caned seat standard chair," as it is known to the trade. It is made of maple, beech, and hickory, and its manufacture will be continued as of old. Many thousands of these chairs are sold an- nually, they beiug cheap, substan- tial, and useful. The company also makes a specialty of lawn aud gar- den furniture of an ornamental and durable kind.
As may be imagined, the factory of the LONG & BROTHER MANUFACTURING COMPANY is an extensive affair. The several build- pieces of other styles. Every chair made in this factory contains the firm's trade-mark on the bottom of the seats, which will enable purchasers to distinguish these wares from those of other American manufacturers who are not so well equipped as this company is.
ings of which it consists contain between 50,000 and 60,000 square feet of working space. In addi- tion to the factory proper there is a two-story ware- bouse 100 feet square. When the factory is run- ning at its full ca- pacity it employs 300 hands and turns out 700 pieces of bent- wood furniture a day, besides 300
In stating the number of hands employed the caners are not included, the cane seats and backs being put into the chairs by the children of the House of Correction of the city of Louisville.
Mr. Long was elected to the city council in 1866 and continued to serve in that body for ten consecutive years. He was president of the council in 1870-3 inclusive, his term of service in that office being unprecedented. In 1874 he was elected president of the Louisville Water Company, to which position he has been continuously re-elected since then. Under his management the company has greatly reduced its rates, increased its revenue more than fifty per cent., greatly extended mains, and otherwise perfected the service. He is a man of remarkably quick preceptions and of the first ability as an organizer and executive officer. His mind is always busy, and he has a comprehensive grasp of all subjects to which he addresses himself. As a member of the city government he has contributed much to the prosperity of Louisville, being essentially a progressive man. In his own business he has made many improvements, having greatly perfected the machinery required in making chairs. He has also invented several devices useful in his business, and which he has patented. He leads a life of the greatest energy and makes himself felt wherever he appears. He is an ardent Democrat and, though his services have been of untold benefit to his party, he has steadily declined to accept political office. In short, he may be described as a successful man who owes but little to the world and much to himself.
He has fought his own way through the world and has acquired a shrewdness that is untainted by any trace of harshness. He is generous and thoroughly honest in his dealings with men, but allows no chance to escape for the legitimate exercise of his strong mercantile faculty. In this new departure of bent-wood furniture he has found a field in which he can utilize all of his experimental force, that sort of energy which brought his ancestors out into the wil- derness of Kentucky, and enabled them to successfully combat the difficulties of their position. Mr. Long has under- taken the business with a determination to make the articles of his manufacture stand comparison with any in the world.
IOI
Anglo-Helada Assurance Corporation of California.
7 HE next thing to absolute protection of property against loss by fire is its insurance in a company of unquestionable soundness and undoubted integrity. America has mauy such corporations, but uone of them, perhaps, has acquired a position of such business renown in so short a time as the ANGLO-NEVADA ASSURANCE CORPORA- TION OF CALIFORNIA, of which Mr. Julius W. Beilstein is the general agent in Louisville. This young Company, starting with the prestige which enormous wealth bestows, has come forward with great strides, and though not yet two years old, it commands the confidence and pat- ronage of the public to a gratifying degree. The company was organized in November, 1885, the original idea being to limit the stock to $1,000,000, but there was immediately such an urgeut demand for the shares that this was increased to $2,000,000, which is now the paid-up capital. The high position at once assumed by the new institution is easily explained by a glance at the board of directors, which is as follows : J. W. Mackay, Louis Sloss, J. B. Haggin, J. Greenebaum, J. L. Flood, W. F. Whittier, J. Rosenfeld, George L. Brander, E. E. Eyre, E. L. Griffith, aud W. H. Dimond. The officers are Geo. L. Brander, President ; J. L. Flood, Vice- President : G. P. Farnfield, Secretary ; J. S. Augus, Assistant Manager. The names of Mackay. Flood, and Haggin are not only of local but national strength. They are synonymous with the gigantic fortunes of JULIUS W. BEILSTEIN. the Pacific coast, aud guarantee the solidity and success of any enterprise with which they are connected. The stock of the company is held mostly in blocks of $25,000 and upward, several of the directors holding $75,000. Its financial ageut is the Nevada Bank, of San Francisco. The new company is closely identified with that great moneyed conceru, Mr. Geo. L. Brander, the President of the Insurance Company, being the Managing Vice-President of the bank. The first year after its organization the ANGLO-NEVADA'S main field of opera- tion was the Pacific Slope, but since then it has extended its lines rapidly, and uow has the whole of the United States under organized agencies. Its security is peculiarly fixed by the insurance laws of California, which are founded on the principle enunciated in the great Glasgow Bank decision.
The ANGLO-NEVADA is the only American company which has followed the British companies in paying losses with- out discounts. This is a popular feature and a strong recommendation. The investments of the company are first class. According to the annual report, published last December, the following are the maiu items in the assets : Loans on real estate mortgages, $557,000 ; first mortgage 6 per cent. honds of the Southern Pacific of Arizona, $1, 500,000; United States 4 per cent. bonds, $50,000. The managers of the ANGLO-NEVADA by hecoming the pioneers in this movement have displayed good judgment and will be correspondingly benefited. The choice of Louisville as the headquarters for the Southern Department was exceedingly judicious, as this city is the natural and inevitable capital of the great and growing southern territory. The amount of business already transacted by the Southern Department as shown by its last report, speaks well for both the opportunities offered and the management.
The ANGLO-NEVADA was the first American company to establish a general agency at Louisville. The district of which this city is the headquarters embraces the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The department was established in September, 1886, and Mr. Beilstein was made the manager. Mr. Beilstein is a young mau of progressive ideas, energetic character, and possessing a comprehensive knowledge of the insurance business. It was his idea that the establishment of a Southern Department, with the management located at Louisville, would not only prove advantageous to the company, but would prove an important factor in advancing the prosperity and importance of Louisville. Every oue of the great insurance companies ought aud will in time have a department in the South, embracing a greater or less number of States, and Louisville is the natural location for the district offices. With the proper effort these can be secured for this city. The establishment of general agencies in Louisville for the leading insurance companies would increase aud facilitate the husiness of insurance in the South in a very large degree. The experiment which has heen made by the ANGLO-NEVADA has already proveu highly satisfactory.
At first only two States were allotted to Mr. Beilstein, but the results were so gratifying that his company added four more. This indicates that the ANGLO-NEVADA has established the system permanently and regards Louisville as a proper point for the general agency. Indeed, there is no reason why Louisville should not become, in relation to insur- ance in the South, what Chicago has to the North-west. The many and exclusive advantages which the placing of risks with it presents, coupled with the company's impregnable soundness, strongly recommend it to the business public, and iuspire property owners with a confidence which is highly valuable in these days of uncertain corporations. The recom- mendations of the ANGLO-NEVADA lie on the surface and simply require inspection to inspire trust.
The ANGLO-NEVADA now has a balance to its credit on the business in the South. Under the rapid but steady improvement that is taking place in the South, particularly in the locating of large amounts of capital among them for the improvement of their industries, towns, and cities, the outlook for the Southern Department is exceedingly encouraging. Already thoroughly established, its future growth is sure to be healthy and rapid, and to furnish a glowing tribute to the discernment of the central office. 102
The Louisville Times.
HEN it is considered that the establishment of a successful news- paper, requiring, as it does, a peculiar combination of intelli- gence, energy, and judgment, is one of the most doubtful and precarious undertakings of modern times, the position of power, influ- euce, and profit to which THE LOUISVILLE TIMES has mounted does indeed seem marvelous. It is only three years since the first number was issued, yet to-day it claims without coutest the proud and houorable distinction of heading the list of afternoon journals South of the Ohio, and in its peculiar features is not surpassed by any of the evening news- papers of the country.
If one is asked to tell the story of THE TIMES newspaper, he might, with considerable aptitude, reply in the words of Canning's knife-grinder, "God bless you, sir! I have uo story to tell." Its growth has been so rapid, spontaneous, and unchecked that it has reached its present position of maturity having scarcely had any youth, and consequently offering but few points upon which to hang a tale. Concerning its inception a few words may be instructive. In the spring of 1884 Mr. W. N. Halde- man, President and principal owner of the Courier-Journal Company, impressed with the circumstance that there was no afternoon paper in Louisville having either the Associated Press dispatches or possessing any well-defined, consistent, or respectable editorial policy, became con- EMMET G. LOGAN. vinced tbat a promising opportunity was presented for the founding of a paper which could display these advantages. To think, with Mr. Haldeman is to act, and preparations were immedi- ately begun for carrying out bis designs. They were quickly completed, and on the first day of May the new journal- istic ship was launched. Its intended track was clearly conceived. It had certain definite purposes to accomplish. Probably few events in the life of its founder have given him more satisfaction than the realization tbat the track has been closely followed and his aims very fully achieved.
It was primarily intended that the field of THE TIMES' endeavors should be confined mainly to local and State affairs, paying due regard, of course, to all national and foreign happenings so far as a concise knowledge of them was of general interest or concern. With this view the editorial control of the paper was placed in the hands of Messrs. Emmet G. Logan and E. Polk Johnson, two journalists of State-wide reputation and each fitted, by his intimate knowl- edge of Kentucky affairs and bis extensive and varied acquaintance with Kentucky people, to discharge the delicate and responsible duty of floating the new-made craft. Deeply impressed by the confidence which had been reposed in them and stimulated by the expectation which sprang up all over the State, these gentlemen, with their editorial associates, devoted themselves with enthusiasm and unremitting energy to that work, and in a few months the paper was removed from the list of ventures and had become an established fact.
THE TIMES was a complete newspaper from the very first. It had from the start the advantages of a thoroughly equipped office. The perfect and 'elaborate mechanical facilities of the Courier-Journal and that great paper's finely arranged system of news-gathering were at its disposal. The acquisition of these adjuncts, therefore, which usually constitute a long, tedious, and dreary period in a newspaper's life, was unnecessary, and the first number of THE TIMES was attended with almost as few drawbacks as the last one before this was written.
Its friends and patronage also weot right up with a steady increase. It is Democratic in politics and preserves a close affiliation with the organization of that political party in the State. Yet it is liberal in its opinions and absolutely fearless aud untrammeled.
While it is not always easy to discriminate and give to each element instrumental in the general success of a great concern its due proportion of merit, it is a self-evident fact that much of a newspaper's prosperity is due to a competent business management. In the case of THE TIMES this remark is specially applicable, for it has been the absorbing motive of Mr. John A. Haldeman, who has had charge of the paper's interests during its upward strides, to advance its prosperity. In fertility of resource he is unequaled, in application to his work indefatigable, and he may claim with perfect modesty a large share in the paper's good fortune. Of the other gentlemen who are on the staff and have been with the paper from the beginning, Mr. T. G. Watkins, city editor, Mr. Walter Emerson, telegraph editor, and Mr. W. M. Hull, dramatic critic, may be mentioned as most valuable assistants to the editor-in-chief.
THE EVENING TIMES to-day, has an average circulation of 15,000, continually increasing, and is respected, admired, and sought.
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JOHN A. HALDEMAN.
LouisVille City Railway Company.
ST. JOHN BOYLE.
7 HIRTY-FIVE thousand people ride every day upon the cars of the LOUISVILLE CITY RAILWAY. On some days the number rises as high as seventy thousand, but the first number is a fair average all the year around.
The system has sixty-eight miles of track, thirty-eight of which are laid with steel rail. It takes 245 cars and 1,400 head of mules to handle the vast traffic. Each car makes an average of ninety miles per day, and a day's work for the stock is reckoned a little over sixteen miles per head. The tracks form a network which penetrates every part of the city, and there is such a perfect system of transfers in operation that by paying only one fare a passenger may go almost wherever he pleases within the corporate limits. He may also visit the Homestead suburb, and, by taking his time, can make a complete circuit of the city. A more perfect system is not possessed by any other city iu the country.
There is no institution in Louisville more closely connected with the city's prosperity than her street railroads. They are fifty years in advance of the general business, and have done more to build up Louisville than probably any other one thing. They have given suburban homes and fresh air to rich and poor, and afforded facilities of quick transportation to all classes of people at the minimum prices. This has been appreci- ated, and there is a remarkably large and steadily increasing bulk of travel on the various lines.
The LOUISVILLE CITY RAILWAY COMPANY was organized in 1864. General J. T. Boyle was the originator, and after a charter had been secured from the Legislature and rights of way from the city council the company, of which he was president, made the start by laying four miles of single track. The first was laid on Twelfth street from Rowan to Main, then east on Main to Wenzel. The first cars were operated on this line on November 24th, of that year. From this small start has grown up the present magnificent system. The Citizens' Passenger Railway (Market street), which was organized in 1866, was, for awhile, a rival. The projectors were Isham Henderson and James R. Del Vecchio. They built the tracks on Market street, Shelby and Eighteenth streets, which they operated till 1872. In that year the CITY RAILWAY purchased all their tracks, rights, franchises, and other property, and have operated the lines ever since. Year by year other lines have been built and added until now they are operated on the following streets:
EAST AND WEST-Water street, from Thirty-fourth to Thirty-sixth ; Rudd avenue, from Thirty-third to Thirty-fourth ; Portland avenue, from Thirty-third to Seventeenth ; Bank street, from Sixteenth to Seventeenth; Main street, from Seventeenth to Story avenue, through and along Story avenue to Ohio; Market street, from Johnson to River (seven miles); Jefferson street, from Baxter avenue to Twenty-sixth ; Chestnut street, from Sixth to Ball Park ; Broadway, from Cave Hill to Twenty-first ; Breckinridge street, from First to Second ; Dumesnil street, from Eighteenth to Twenty-eighth.
NORTH AND SOUTH-Shelby street, from Market to City Limits ; Preston street, from Main to Oak ; First street, from river to Jefferson, and from Breckinridge to Oak ; Second street, from Jefferson to Jockey Club grounds and Wilder's Park ; Fourth street, from Main to Jefferson ; Sixth street, from Main to Lee; Twelfth street, from Main to Oak ; Thirteenth street, from Main to Jefferson ; Sixteenth street, from Main to Bank ; Seventeenth street, from Main to Bank ; Eighteenth street, from Market to Dumesnil ; Thirty-third street, from Portland avenue to Rudd ; Thirty-fourth street, from Rudd to Water.
Between six hundred and seven hundred men are given constant employment as clerks, drivers, conductors, track repairers, and in other positions. All operatives are paid by the hour, and settled with ou the Ioth and 25th days of each month. The drivers and conductors are treated with great liberality, and are paid at the rate of fifteen ceuts per hour.
The main offices of the CITY RAILWAY are at Thirteenth and Main streets, but it is the intention to erect a handsome building for the head- quarters at an early day. The officers are Alexander H. Davis, President ; St. John Boyle, Vice-President ; H. H. Littell, Superintendent ; R. A. Watts, Secretary and Treasurer. The directors are A. H. Davis, St. John Boyle, E. C. Bohne, Theodore Harris, J. B. Speed, A. P. Humphrey, and H. H. Littell. Superintendeut Littell has been with the CITY RAILWAY ever since its organization, and, though a young man, has a most respon- sible position. Upon his shoulders has devolved the active management of the company's affairs, and an admirable executive he has made. To him is largely due the perfection of the street railway system of Louis- ville, his foresight and enterprise being important factors in keeping the growth of the system co-extensive with the spread of the city. 104
H. H. LITTELL,
Duncan's monthly Magazine.
uncar's Monthly:
Maça of Live Stock, Farming Gardening John Duncans PUBLISHER & General Information. Louisville Ky. J OHN DUNCAN, the editor and proprietor of DUNCAN'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE, is a worker in what may be termed the liter- ature of live-stock, and for this business uo man is better qualified, either by nature or training. From early boyhood his tastes all lay in the line of scientific investigation of practical sub- jects ; and in treating breeding questions, he brings to bear a mind stocked with a thorough and complete knowledge of the fundamental priu- ciples involved. A wide knowledge of families and of their characteristics, and of marked iudi- vidual animals among the several branches of thoroughbred live-stock, enables him to apply these principles in such a mauner as to make him an authority upon the questions of which he treats, and the practical discus- sion of which he has made his life's business.
Mr. Duncan is a Scotchman of the purest Scottish descent, such names as Douglas, Ellis, and Kennedy appearing anioug his near ancestors. The name Duncan is itself significaut, since it is one of those survivals that dispute the asser- tion of the all-absorbing power of the Auglo-Saxon and the Norman races. The name appears in the remotest periods of Scottish history. Mr. Duncan was born in 1844. Absorbing from his surroundings a love of the natural, and being thus directed to inquire into it, as a mere lad he went to London for the purpose of studying the natural sciences. After taking courses of lectures under Huxley, Tyndall, Ramsey, and others at the School of Mines, he devoted his attention especially to botany, and studied at the Royal Gardens, Kew. In this work his success was marked. In his first year he took the Society of Arts and the Royal Horticultural Society's first prize. An original discovery made by him elicited attention, and upon this he wrote a paper that was read before aud published in the records of the Linnaan, a branch of the Royal Society. Thus he early evinced that aptitude for investigation and original thought that has since been of such material value to him. After concluding his course, Mr. Duncan entered the civil service aud took charge of the Herbaceous Collection at the Royal Gardens, where he remained until 1871, when he came to America.
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