USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, Volume III > Part 4
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The effect of this was to conserve several million dollars invested chiefly by Baltimoreans in this enterprise whose plan to establish a competitive lighting and telephone business did not work out. These investors faced at one time a large loss, the market value of their securities shrinking about $1,000,000. Mr. Warfield's handling of this situation averted this and provided for the paying off before maturity of a large amount of the bonds with outside capital, thus releasing considerable local money. Bonds not retired were protected by satisfactory guaranty.
During all this time he had watched the development of the Sus- quehanna River for electric power purposes. Prevented by the cir- cumstances above referred to from realizing his hopes to have this financed and controlled as a Baltimore enterprise, he followed the McCall Ferry Power Company's operations, which company had undertaken this gigantic work. After eighteen months of negotiations he succeeded in securing a contract with this company for electric current to supply his lighting company in Baltimore and in addition to also supply the United Railways of Baltimore. This action on his part headed this electric current towards Baltimore, diverting it from Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania cities. The development of
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the river being in the State of Pennsylvania, this was considered a master stroke. He had finally secured for Baltimore this electric energy without locking up Baltimore capital therein.
The McCall Ferry Power Company during the severe panic of 1907, upon the failure of a New York banking institution, its bank- ing agency, went into the hands of a receiver. Baltimore was on the verge of again losing this source of electric development, as any con- tract made, could be vitiated by receivership proceedings. This property was bought at receivership sale by a group of capitalists, and the Pennsylvania Water and Power Company succeeded the McCall Ferry Power Company. Forced to abandon the hope of getting this electric current for Baltimore under the old contract, Mr. Warfield proposed that the new owners of the Susquehanna River development should buy a substantial interest in the stock of the Consolidated Gas Electric Light and Power Company of Balti- more; taking with them the position that the Pennsylvania Water and Power Co. should have a substantial interest in the local Com- pany, the Consolidated, in developing its plans for the disposal of large blocks of electric current. He was thus working along the lines originally planned by him some seven years before when he did the pioneer work in this development.
With the possibility of securing natural gas for Baltimore, Mr. Warfield entered into negotiations with the Standard Oil interests of New York, who controlled the only available natural gas supply. This meant a vast undertaking, the piping of natural gas from West Virginia to Baltimore, some 260 miles, with a total outlay of some $18,000,000. After an arduous year's negotiations with the Stand- ard Oil officials, a contract was agreed on to supply natural gas to Baltimore through the mains of the Consolidated Company. The plans of Mr. Warfield were endorsed by some of the leading engineers of the world. At the prices proposed an initial saving at once of $1,500,000 per annum to the gas users of Baltimore at that time would have resulted, without respect to the great impetus the city would receive from natural gas for industrial and other purposes. His proposition was to have natural gas in Baltimore in December 1909. The Standard Oil natural gas interests required a contract for a term of years to justify the large investment of some $15,000,000 compelled to be made by them to pipe this gas from the West Virginia gas fields to the Consolidated Company's mains in Baltimore City, the latter
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company would also have to make large expenditures. Mr. War- field was not taken at his word when he said that the proposition made by the two interests was the result of the most careful inves- tigation and negotiations, and it would not be possible to substan- tially modify the terms proposed. It was demonstrated that for years the Consolidated Company's present earnings would be largely reduced by natural gas supplanting artificial gas, and while it meant a heavy loss to his company, Mr. Warfield acted on the broad view of the great benefits the city would receive from its introduction. The City Council of Baltimore desired to accept the proposition, in fact an ordinance passed one branch. In the history of the country probably there never has been shown such a popular demand for municipal legislation to enable a public service corporation to sup- ply the people of a city with a commodity so manifestly essential to their best interests and the best interests of the city at large. There was a long controversy, the proposition was not accepted by the Board of Estimates, notwithstanding the fact that 67,000 con- sumers of the company endorsed the proposition and requested its acceptance. As in all great enterprises, hostile influences developed, led by a few men and exerted through one of the newspapers of the city. These influences were able to divert from the support of the project men who personally believed in and endorsed it. All the other papers of the city favored the general proposition. Mr. War- field was now notified by the Standard Oil natural gas officials that they could not wait longer, that the gas intended for Baltimore must be sold elsewhere. This was finally done and Baltimore deprived of the great advantages therefrom. Notwithstanding the fact that the Standard Oil natural gas interests required a long term contract from the Consolidated Company, to offset any objection which might be made to a term of years contract, Mr. Warfield offered to make some concessions to the Board of Estimates on behalf of the Consolidated Company in the terms of the proposed contract, also proposing a sliding scale profit sharing plan with consumers by which all earnings over 4 per cent on the common stock (then earning 6 per cent) should be divided between the consumers and the com- pany. Since then 4 per cent has been paid on this stock and the city is without natural gas.
Certain that natural gas would be a potential factor in stimulating the industrial development of the city, Mr. Warfield again took up
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the question vigorously and had presented to the legislature a bill to authorize the Mayor and the Board of Estimates to negotiate again for natural gas, with power to make a contract; the whole subject to be submitted to a referendum vote of the people of Baltimore for their approval, no contract to become effective unless it received a majority of the votes cast. The same hostile influences which in the first instance caused the delay which killed the enterprise were able to defeat the referendum vote, thus preventing the people of Baltimore from voting their wishes on the subject and illustrates the difficulties which surround every great project. Mr. Warfield had here offered to submit a proposition to a popular vote, and the refusal to adopt such a plan constitutes a remarkable record perhaps unmatched in municipal history.
After thus smoking out the opposition, forcing it to take the unenviable position of distrusting the popular vote on this question, Mr. Warfield dropped the enterprise. The position in which he left his antagonists proved increasingly uncomfortable, and within a few months they were agitating a renewal of the negotiations. Should the revival of the project become practicable, those most active in destroying this enterprise would probably be in the forefront of its advocates. In so closing his campaign for natural gas, Mr. Warfield once again left the impress of the pioneer, and Baltimore still hopes for the ultimate success of his work in this direction.
While in the midst of this natural gas controversy, Mr. Warfield was not too busy to round up his plans in connection with the electric development of the Susquehanna River in the interest of Baltimore. In the latter part of 1909, he carried out the plans mapped out and negotiated the sale of a large block of the preferred and common stock of the Consolidated Gas Electric Light and Power Company, which belonged to interests and associates he had brought into the Company, to Canadian and European capitalists who were also identified with the Susquehanna River hydro-electric development. Hemade known to the purchasers that in such purchase they must leave him free to retire from the active work in connection with the company when he might desire to do so. At the annual meeting of the Consolidated Company in October 1910, having completed what he started out to undertake, and recognizing that the large interests with which he was identified demanded inore of his time than the active duties in con- nection with the Gas and Electric Company permitted, he carried out
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his intention of retiring as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Consolidated Company, but remained a director and a member of the Executive Committee of the Company.
During his five years' administration of this great property, more new capital was invested than in any similar period since the introduction of gas into Baltimore in 1817, and more money spent on the electric side of the business than in all the preceding years since electric lights first shined in Baltimore. But his administration was marked by something more than the investment of new capital, for under his wise management there was a phenomenal growth in the use of electricity and gas, especially of the former, for industrial pur- poses. Mr. Warfield had the pleasure during that period of seeing the consummation of a vast undertaking to which he had given much attention-the development of the Susquehanna River for electric purposes. Through the alliance he established by the sale of stocks of the Consolidated Gas Electric Light and Power Company, the capitalists behind the river development became largely interested in the future development of Baltimore, and as had been agreed on, plans were at once inaugurated for the transmission of electricity from the works on the Susquehanna River to Baltimore.
Of such a busy career it is impossible to give more than an outline of some of the work performed by Mr. Warfield. In addition to or- ganizing The Continental Trust Company, of which he is a director and president, and which now has a capital of $1,350,000 and a sur- plus and undivided profits of $2,457,982.91 and has handled a num- ber of large financial transactions, and to being a director and chair- man of the Executive Committee of the Seaboard Air Line Railway, director and member of the Executive Committee of the Baltimore Steam Packet Company, a director and member of the Executive Committee of the Consolidated Gas Electric Light and Power Com- pany, a director and Chairman of the Board of the International Cotton Mills Corporation, among others Mr. Warfield is a director of the Consolidation Coal Company of Baltimore, and a director of the Mercantile Trust Company of New York. He also arranged the purchase of the Maryland National Bank, its removal from an out- lying section of the business district to the heart of the financial district, and became a director. The capital of the bank was in- creased and the business has increased 'six-fold.
Mr. Warfield's activities in public matters are as striking as
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those in his business career, representing the same constructive work. His early boyhood days were when the great reform battles for bet- ter politics were being waged in Maryland, led by S. Teackle Wallis. a lifelong friend of his father and who for a generation was a legal and political leader in Maryland, and one of Maryland's most dis- tinguished men. Mr. Wallis represented perhaps one of the best types of political righteousness the State has ever known. After Mr. Wallis' death, Mr. Warfield organized and headed a movement to honor his memory by erecting in Washington Place, Baltimore, the present bronze statue of Mr. Wallis.
In the Cleveland campaign of 1888, Mr. Warfield organized the Cleveland Club, which did most effective campaign work. Result- ing from this, he, with a number of prominent Democrats, organized the "Jefferson Democratic Association," the largest and strongest Independent Democratic organization ever effected in the State. Mr. Warfield was selected as president, though then a very young man indeed. The executive committee included such eminent citizens as Severn Teackle Wallis, John K. Cowen, Charles Marshall, W. Cabell Bruce, William L. Marbury and George S. Brown. Mr. War- field took part in various recurring campaigns, and in 1891 was nomi- nated for Mayor of Baltimore by the Independents, but was defeated by the regular Democratic candidate by a narrow majority. He was by far the youngest man ever nominated for this office. Of recog- nized and marked business capacity, his interest in public matters and political affairs led to his appointment as Postmaster of Balti- more in 1894 by President Cleveland. In the election of the previous fall, he was mainly instrumental in securing for a number of Independ- ent Democratic candidates for the legislature, the support of the regu- lar organization, which resulted in their election and the launching of several of them on promising political careers. Among these suc- cessful candidates was Mr. W. Cabell Bruce, who was then elected to the state Senate and made its president. This was the first real resultful work of the Independent Democratic movement which had been going on for a great many years in Maryland under various leaders and was the beginning of a new era for better politics. A succeeding chapter in this work was the nomination by the regular Democrats and the election of that great lawyer leader, John K. Cowen, to Congress, which was brought about entirely through Mr. Warfield's efforts. A great lawyer and a great man, John K. Cowen
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was one of the finest public speakers Maryland ever knew. A warm friendship existed between the two men.
When Mr. Warfield took charge of the Baltimore Postoffice in 1894, he treated it as a business proposition. All political consider- ations were laid aside, and he gave Baltimore the first illustration of a large political office conducted on business and civil service lines. Old methods were revolutionized; branch offices were multiplied; suburban towns were given direct service; the use of street cars for mail service was introduced; and every department of the office was placed upon a high plane of efficiency. So successful was Mr. War- field's administration that when President Mckinley succeeded President Cleveland, he felt constrained to reappoint him and under this reappointment he served a term through the Republi- can administration of Mr. Mckinley. No higher compliment could have possibly been paid to his capacity and fidelity. He served as postmaster of Baltimore eleven years well into the first term of Presi- dent Roosevelt, though he gave notice to him of his desire to retire. In his administration of the Baltimore postoffice there developed a warm friendship between Mr. Warfield and President Cleveland, and the President frequently sent for him to confer in regard to Mary- land matters. Mr. Warfield's forceful and magnetic personality won a similar recognition from both President Mckinley and Presi- dent Roosevelt, and with both he was on terms of personal, as well as official intimacy.
The record here given illustrates the statement made in an earlier paragraph, that Mr. Warfield belongs to that class of developers and organizers which has sprung up in our country in the last twenty- five years. He has carved out his own career. To his credit be it said that he belongs to the constructive type of that class. Every enterprise he has undertaken has been based upon sound business principles and upon business needs, and every project which he has personally conducted has been handled in accordance with the strictest integrity and solely in the interest of the men who have in- vested by his counsel actual money. His loyalty to those he inter- ests in enterprises whatever obstacles or vicissitudes they may en- counter is recognized by sources of capital always ready to join in his undertakings.
In both the business and public life of Mr. Warfield, the domi- nant note is pride of State. While other talented sons of Maryland
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left their State and became captains of industry in other common- wealths, the lure of such foreign fields-and many inducements have been made him,-has had no attraction for the subject of this sketch. He has devoted his splendid energies exclusively to the advancemen: and prosperity of his own State and his own people. Every enter- prise engaging his attention directly relates to the development of Maryland and of the city of Baltimore. For his city his work in many instances has been marked by brilliant undertakings, and he has been generally regarded as ahead of his generation. The natural gas project which became the vortex of a violent controversy was un- dertaken by him, although a number of his associates in the control of the Consolidated Company were dubious of its commercial suc- cess so far as that company was concerned. Their hesitation to launch upon the enterprise, however, gave way to the vigorous per- sonality of its advocate. When the vast details reaching the basis for this great project had at last been worked out, Mr. Warfield was advised by the then regarded best informed authority upon the gas business in Baltimore to abandon the project, as in the opinion of this authority the terms proposed would not be profitable to the Standard Oil Company nor the Consolidated Company. From a friend of Mr. Warfield and the source to whom the publishers are indebted for much information entering into this sketch, the sub- stance of Mr. Warfield's reply was given as follows:
"I have reckoned with the probability that this enterprise for 3 number of years will not be productive to the Consolidated Company. but this is a work for Baltimore primarily and the company must bene- fit from it incidentally. In the end I am satisfied that the company will not only recover any temporary loss but make a reasonable profit. Progress is not made by yielding to our doubts, and a great city can be built only by taking corresponding risks. This project cannot be considered from a selfish point of view. I have entered upon it as a duty to my city, and if it is consummated there will be prosperity and glory enough for us all in making Baltimore one of the great cities upon the Atlantic Seaboard."
Mr. Warfield is now a comparatively young man; his active life beginning when he was in his teens, and the fact that he is a prodigiou- worker, has filled his career with important events that pass and suc- ceed each other with marvelous rapidity. He is unmarried. Of the personal side of his life the most attractive feature is that to be found
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in his home circle. Here he lives with his mother, who typifies the best example of a lady of the old school, so rare in modern society. Charming and gracious in manner, her whole life devoted to her children and grandchildren, Mrs. Warfield has a large circle of devoted friends. To those who have enjoyed the social atmosphere of this Southern home, its most prominent feature is the devotion between mother and son, and here the sentimental side of this captain of in- dustry presents its finest expression. Mr. Warfield is fond of hunt- ing, occasionally going after big game, and is a fine shot. He is also fond of fishing and of golf. It has been, however, aptly said of him that his real recreation is to undertake one big project after another, and this he does with the zest of the sportsman. He is a member of the Maryland Club, Baltimore Club, Merchants Club and Elkridge Country Club, and a Director and Treasurer of The Municipal Art Society, Baltimore. In New York he is a member of the National Arts Club, the Lotus, the Down-Town Association and Railroad Club. In Washington, D. C., of the Metropolitan Club. At the suggestion of Mrs. Cleveland, he has been named one of the national trustees of the Cleveland Monument Association now engaged in erecting a memorial to President Cleveland at Princeton.
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JOHN RANDOLPH BLAND
T O the student of American history, the name of Bland is a familiar one, for in all that array of strong men who contended so earnestly and so valorously for the liberties of their country no man was more conspicuous nor more efficient than Richard Bland, of Virginia, who as early as 1766 made printed inquiry as to the rights of the colony, claiming freedom from all Parliamentary legislation, and even then pointed to independence as a remedy in case of a refusal to redress the injuries complained of. Seventeen hundred and sixty-six was an early day for the expression of such advanced sentiments; but during the ensuing nine years, sentiment rapidly crystallized around the proposition advanced by the sturdy old legislator who gave nearly fifty years to the public service, and whose views were so logical, so just and so cogently expressed. The Bland family is one of the historic families, not only in America, but in Britain. The ancestral line is traced to Edward de Bland in the reign of Edward III. in 1346. The records show that William de Bland served with John of Gaunt, third son of Edward III. and earl of Richmond, in the wars with France in 1346, and under the Black Prince in 1350. Coming down the line we find Richard Wilkeyson de Bland and Thomas de Bland in the time of Richard II. and the next reign. In 1441, during the reign of Edward IV., we find Edward Bland and Adam Bland. In 1572, John Bland appears asa representative of the line. The first American ancestor was Theodorick Bland, who emigrated from England to Virginia in March, 1654, settled at Westover, which later became the property of the Byrds, and is now recognized as the most famous country seat in America. Theodorick Bland was the first owner of this splendid estate under a royal grant. He married Ann Bennett, daughter of Richard Bennett, Governor of the Colony of Virginia; became one of the King's Council; and both as to fortune and intellect was second to no man of his time in the colony. Richard Bland, son of Theodorick, married on February 11, 1701, Mary Swan, daughter of Colonel Thomas Swan, which marriage recalls a historic Mary-
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land name. Richard Bland was married a second time to Elizabeth Randolph, daughter of Colonel William Randolph. This brings us to the Richard Bland of the Revolution, who served in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1729 to June, 1775,-a period of forty-six years, and a record probably unequaled in American annals. As stated in the earlier paragraphs of this sketch, he was one of the very first to take up the argument in favor of independence. On September 5, 1774, we find him in the Continental Congress, and again on March 10, 1775. In July, 1775, he was chairman of the Prince George County, Virginia, Committee of Safety. July 17 to December 16, 1775, he was a member of the Virginia Provincial Con- vention. During 1775 and part of 1776 he was a member of the Virginia Committee of Safety. The only thing that prevented the old patriot from having his name signed to the Declaration of Inde- pendence was the fact that, after a long, noble and useful life, his sun was setting, and length of years combined with failing health pre- vented his taking an active part in that immortal congress. He died October 26, 1776,-three months after the Declaration was made.
This Richard Bland married Ann, only daughter of Peter Poy- thress; by whom he had twelve children. Peter Bland, born Febru- ary 12, 1736, married Judith Booker; inherited a good estate in his own right, and through his wife large landed estates in Virginia and Tennessee. Peter Bland II. born in 1769 in Abbeville, Notaway County, Virginia, died March 3, 1824; was educated at Hampden Sidney, and studied law. He married, first, Elizabeth Morrison; secondly, Martha Wallace Nash in 1819. The second wife was sister to General Frank Nash of the Revolutionary armies. Richard Edward Bland, born in Abbeville, Notaway County, Virginia, March 5, 1813, married Henrietta Williams. He studied medicine; grad- uated in Philadelphia; located in St. Louis, and practiced medicine there from 1835 to 1867. During his residence in Missouri was born his son, John Randolph Bland (the subject of this sketch), at Bridge- ton, St. Louis County, Missouri, March 24, 1851.
The ancestry of John R. Bland has been entered into here at some little length for more than one reason. We in America are prone to neglect our family history; and yet many of our people have a family record in which they can take a just pride, because it represents much service given to the state and the community by good men and women. The Bland family is a notable example, and
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