USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 30
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Under the title noted above is conducted one of the splendid manufacturing industries of Detroit and one which has grown from a most modest nucleus to its present magnificent proportions as one of the largest concerns of the sort in the world.
The inchoation of the enterprise dates back to 1865, when J. H. Worcester established on Jones street, between Third and Fourth streets, a diminutive factory, in which he began opera- tions on a small scale, under the title of the Detroit White Lead & Color Works. Un- favorable circumstances finally forced the
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failure of the business, but Mr. Worcester again resumed operations, which he continued until 1880, in the autumn of which year he again made an assignment, having in the meanwhile amplified the facilities of his plant to a point which placed it upon a modern basis for the time. At this juncture Colonel Fordyce H. Rogers, the present president and general manager of the corporation, purchased from the assignee the entire plant and business, and a short time afterward he effected the organization of the Detroit White Lead Works, which was incorporated December 22, 1880, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, of which amount twenty-two thou- sand five hundred dollars was paid in. The original president of the company was F. D. C. Hinchman, and the others of the executive corps were as follows: Horace M. Dean, vice- president; Carlos B. Shotwell, secretary; and Colonel F. H. Rogers, treasurer and general manager.
Colonel Rogers inaugurated at once a most vigorous, progressive and well defined policy, and to him more than any other is due the upbuilding of the business to its present solid and extensive status. More capital was paid in within a short time and the plant was mod- ernized and remodeled. The first dividend of ten per cent. on fifty thousand dollars' capi- tal, was declared in July, 1882, and since that time as high a dividend as forty per cent. has been declared, the average being sixteen per cent.
February 27, 1896, the plant was destroyed by fire, entailing a loss of ninety thousand dollars, with insurance indemnity of forty- two thousand dollars. The company at once prepared to rebuild upon a far more extensive and elaborate scale and secured the present eligible site, on Milwaukee avenue, in the northeastern environs of the city, where sub- stantial brick buildings were erected, admira- bly adapted for the various departments of manufacture. In the new plant operations were instituted on the 6th of November, 1896, and the buildings now cover a total of nearly four acres, having all modern facilities and ac- cessories, and being equipped with an auto-
matic sprinkling system for protection against fire. No superior plant of the sort is to be found in the world and there are few more extensive in scope or controlling a larger busi- ness. The company maintains branch houses in Chicago and Buffalo, and maintain agencies in other leading American cities, as well as in the principal foreign countries. The trade of the concern ramifies into all sections of the civilized globe and is constantly expanding in scope and importance, owing to the aggressive business policy and the superiority of the pro- ducts. To meet insistent exigencies, the capi- tal of the company has been amplified from time to time and is now placed at seven hundred thousand dollars.
The present executive corps of the Detroit White Lead Works is as follows: Ford H. Rogers, president and general manager; George Peck, vice-president; H. B. Levan, treasurer; and Henry Duffield, secretary. The personnel of the directorate is as follows: Ford H. Rogers, George Peck, J. M. Thurber, W. H. Brace, and W. J. Weaver, the last men- tioned being superintendent of the works.
THE MICHIGAN SUGAR COMPANY.
Michigan's active interest in the beet-sugar industry dates from 1898, when the first fac- tory was erected. The preceding year both the state and nation passed favorable legislation to encourage the industry. In the course of an European trip Mr. N. B. Bradley, of Bay City, took occasion to investigate the beet- sugar industry in Germany and Holland. He became convinced that certain sections of Michigan, especially the Saginaw valley, are well adapted to beet culture. In his experi- mental work he was ably assisted by Professor Kedzie, of the State Agricultural College. As a result of this experimental work, a company was organized and a factory erected at Bay City to care for the crop grown the summer of 1898. The following year the industry was established in three distinct sections of the state. An additional factory was erected at Bay City and another at Alma, thus occupying the Saginaw valley. In southwestern Michi-
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gan factories were erected at Holland, Benton Harbor and Kalamazoo; in the eastern section of the state, at Caro and Rochester. During the next two or three years two additional factories were built at Bay City, two at Sagi- naw, and one at each of the following places : Tawas, Owosso, Lansing, Croswell, Sebewa- ing, St. Louis, Mount Clemens, Marine City, Blissfield, Menominee and Charlevoix. Ex- perience taught that the light soil in certain sections of the state was not adapted to beet culture, and consequently the factories at Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor, Tawas and Rochester were moved to other states. It was also found that too many factories had been located in the Saginaw valley, and the original Bay City factory and one of the Saginaw fac- tories were moved west.
Detroit capitalists early became interested in the factories located at Caro, Croswell and Rochester. Among those who supported the movement were Hon. James McMillan, Messrs. W. C. McMillan, George Peck, G. W. Lee, Henry B. Joy, Charles B. Warren, Cyrus Lothrop, C. A. Black, E. H. Parker, and Charles Bewick.
Originally each company owned and oper- ated one factory. Later it was found that economies in operation could be made by ef- fecting certain consolidations. The factories at Lansing and Owosso were consolidated under the title of the Owosso Sugar Com- pany, with general offices at Bay City. In 1906 six factories, located at Bay City, Sagi- naw, Alma, Caro, Croswell and Sebewaing, were consolidated under one company, known as the Michigan Sugar Company, with a capi- tal of twelve and a half million dollars. The officers of the company are: Charles B. War- ren, Detroit, president; A. W. Wright, Alma, first vice-president; T. A. Harvey, Saginaw, second vice-president; F. R. Hathaway, De- troit, secretary; H. A. Douglas, Detroit, treasurer; and W. H. Wallace, Saginaw, gen- eral manager. The operating offices of the company are in Saginaw, while the offices of the president, secretary and treasurer are in Detroit.
The beet-sugar industry of Michigan has increased during the past ten years to a point where this state is now manufacturing as much granulated sugar as it consumes, rank- ing second in the entire United States. The amount of sugar produced for each of the past two years is about two hundred million pounds, valued at nine million dollars. Some thirty thousand farmers are engaged in rais- ing the one hundred thousand acres of beets used annually by the factories of the state. For these beets they receive years five million dollars. This amount has been added to the agricultural output of the state without dimin- ishing in any way the other agricultural re- sources of Michigan. The general effect has been to improve agricultural conditions so that in those sections of the state in which beets are raised the actual yield in other farm pro- ducts has been increased by virtue of the im- proved methods necessitated by the cultivation of beets. The influx of ready money occa- sioned by the beet-sugar industry exerts a powerful beneficial influence in many lines of commercial activity.
During the manufacturing season each of the sixteen factories now operating in the state employs from three hundred to four hundred workmen at an average daily wage of two dollars and twenty-five cents. About thirty- five per cent. of the beets used at the factories is received by wagon haul, the remainder by rail. No other crop yields as great returns per acre to railroads as does that of beets, the average freight on raw material, finished product and supplies being fourteen dollars an acre where the beets are transported by rail, and nine dollars an acre where they are hauled to the factory by wagon. The annual freight bill of the Michigan sugar companies is nearly a million dollars.
When judged by the money invested, the money distributed, the effect upon rural dis- tricts, railroads and labor, it is safe to say that the beet-sugar industry is the most im- portant enterprise that has marked the de- velopment of the state during the past decade.
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THE CADILLAC MOTOR CAR COMPANY.
Within the past decade there has come a most gratifying realization and utilization of the advantages of Detroit as a manufacturing and distributing center, and the result has been the extraordinary development in industrial lines within that period, so that the term "Greater Detroit" is no misnomer.
Among the great industrial enterprises here established and one that has important bearing upon the commercial prestige of the city is that conducted by the Cadillac Motor Car Company, whose vehicles have gained and maintained the highest reputation for superi- ority and whose trade has reached an enor- mous annual aggregate.
The Cadillac Motor Car Company had its practical inception in 1902, when the business was established under the title of the Cadillac Automobile Company, and the concern was incorporated with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars. In preparing for active op- erations the company purchased the plant of the old Detroit Motor Company, and in 1903 the works were considerably enlarged, to meet the demands of the new institution. In April, 1904, misfortune overtook the company, in that the greater part of its plant was destroyed by fire, entailing a very considerable loss above the insurance indemnity carried. The upbuild- ing of the present finely equipped plant was at once instituted, and it now covers five hundred and twenty-five thousand square feet, most of the buildings being three stories in height. While the new quarters were in course of con- struction the company continued its manufac- turing, utilizing a storage building across the street from the present plant and completing and shipping one machine on the day follow- ing the fire. By the Ist of July the concern had made the record of shipping from its plant a larger number of machines than had any other automobile factory in the world, in the quarter ending July Ist, and they now manu- facture four thousand machines annually and place the same on the market, still maintaining the record of turning out more motor cars each year than any other manufactory in ex- istence.
In 1905 the company secured control of the plant and business of the Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of engines of all kinds, and this plant became an accessory and complement to the original con- cern, whose facilities were thereby greatly ex- panded. In 1905 of the year last noted a reorganization of the company took place and the present corporate title was adopted, while the capital stock was increased to the signifi- cant amount of one and one-half millions of dollars, giving the concern precedence over all others. The personnel of the executive corps of the company is as follows : Lem W. Bowen, president; William H. Murphy, treas- urer ; Wilfred C. Leland, secretary ; and Henry M. Leland, general manager.
In the direct operation of the gigantic plant employment is given to more than two thou- sand men, and as many more are retained in service in outside factories maintained by the company for the manufacturing of bodies, springs and other accessories. Of the labor employed fully seventy-five per cent. is of the skilled order, and the weekly pay roll repre- sents an expenditure of twenty-five thousand dollars. About ninety per cent. of the output of the plant is sold in the United States, and the export trade is steadily increasing, ex- tending to Great Britain, Australia, Mexico, Russia, Germany, Sweden, South America and the Dominion of Canada. The company has successfully met all foreign competition and its products are coming into greater favor as their superiority becomes known. A note- worthy fact in connection with the machines manufactured by this company is that not the slightest detail of mechanism and finish is per- mitted to fall below the highest possible standard. Inspection of all parts is most scrupulous and any piece of inferior order is rejected. The motor cars turned out represent the acme of excellence thus far attained in automobile manufacture, and this claim ap- plies not alone to the engines, driving mecha- nism, etc., but also to the finishing of every part of the vehicle. Detroit may well be proud of possessing, in this day of phenomenal produc- tion and popularity of automobiles, a factory
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which exceeds all others in the world in the total of its annual output and which produces machines of indubitable superiority. Since 1905 the general supervision of the entire fac- tory has been in the able control of Henry M. Leland, of whom individual mention is made in this work. It is not within the province of this publication to enter into full details con- cerning the manufacturing and commercial industries which are given representation here, but it is gratifying to make record concerning so magnificent and effectively managed a con- cern as that of the Cadillac Motor Car Com- pany, which represents one of the industrial giants not only of Detroit, but also, of the sort, in the entire world.
THE CLARK WIRELESS TELEGRAPH & TELEPHONE COMPANY.
In no branch of science pertinent to practical industrialism and public utilitarian purposes has been accomplished so wonderful a work as in the field of applied electricity. In fact, it cannot but be admitted that the subtle force which is engaging the attention of the best scientific minds and many of the leading in- dustrial economists of the day, is destined to still more marvelous development. Within the limits of a sketch of this character it is im- possible, and, indeed, unnecessary, to enter into an extended consideration of the applica- tion of wireless telegraphy and telephony in connection with practical commercialism. Proven results attest the value of the wireless systems, whose splendid showing has been a matter of wonderment and admiration. One of the successful inventors, developers and pro- moters of these systems is Thomas E. Clark, a brief sketch of whose career appears on other pages of this volume, and to him is due the establishing in Detroit of the plant and head- quarters of the Clark Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company, of which he is vice-presi- dent and directing engineer. It is needless to say that the company has proved a noteworthy addition to the industrial concerns which con- tribute to the pre-eminence of Detroit, and the institution is one whose continuous expansion
and cumulative success are emphatically as- sured.
In the review of Mr. Clark's career are given adequate data concerning the efforts and movements which led to the organization of the Clark Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company, which was incorporated under the laws of the state of Arizona in February, 1907, with a capital stock of two million five hundred thousand dollars. The capital stock is divided into two million five hundred thou- sand shares at a par value of one dollar each. There is no preferred stock, no bonds are issued, and all stock is non-assessable. At the time of incorporation five hundred thousand shares of the company's stock were exchanged for the property of the original Clark Electric Engineering Company and Clark Wireless Telegraph Company, which latter company had been organized and incorporated in 1906. This special block of five hundred thousand shares of stock is to be held in escrow until the company shall have attained to a dividend- paying basis. The remaining two million shares of the company's stock have been set aside for the use of the treasury and will be offered for sale in limited allotments, at such time as expediency shall dictate, through the requirement for capital to increase the capa- city of the manufacturing plant, for the instal- lation of new stations in interior and lake- coast cities, for equipping steamships and other vessels on the Great Lakes with wireless tele- graph and telephone apparatus and for the necessary expenses to enable the company to operate on an extensive scale. The enterprise is in no sense a speculative scheme, but, as stated in a prospectus of the company, "is a plain business proposition, now in actual operation, easy of investigation, and of the merits of which any and all conservative in- vestors can fully familiarize and convince themselves before investing in shares of the company's stock."
The personnel of the official and executive corps of the company stands as voucher for the legitimacy and strength of the proposition and for its practical and well demonstrated suc-
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cess at the present time. These officers are numbered among the representative capitalists and business men of Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo,-men of high financial standing and unassailable reputation. The list of officers is as here noted: R. R. Sterling, president; Thomas E. Clark, vice-president; J. H. Liv- sey, second vice-president; N. A. Hawkins, secretary ; and E. E. Collins, treasurer. They also, with the addition of Edward Smith, of the Great Lakes Towing Company, Captain John Mitchell, of Cleveland, and William Gray, constitute the board of directors. Gray & Gray, of Detroit, are attorneys for the com- pany. Literature, descriptive and statistical, has been issued by the corporation and may be had upon application.
Several of the leading lines of steamers on the Great Lakes are making practical and ef- fective utilization of the Clark wireless sys- tems, including the boats of the Detroit & Buffalo Steamship Company and the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company, which in- stalled the service in 1904. It is purposed by the Clark Company to rapidly and extensively expand its service on the Great Lakes and, based upon past results, the revenues from this source alone will be large and substan- tial. From the company's attractive brochure, which has already been mentioned, is secured the following excerpt : "Ten years ago ( 1898) saw the origin of the Clark Wireless Tele- graph & Telephone Company. This company had its birth in Detroit, carried on its experi- ments in the heart of the city, and learned to overcome all the difficulties that commercial wireless-telegraph companies will encounter. There is a vast difference in land and fresh- water conditions as compared with wireless transmission over or by salt water. Where the old-world demonstrators have been suc- cessful in the comparatively easy work over the ocean, this company has been doubly suc- cessful in the extremely difficult problem of wireless transmission over land and fresh water. The Clark Company was the first to advertise wireless instruments for sale for practical use. It was the first wireless-tele- graph company to communicate with a for-
eign country by means of space telegraphy. It has the first and only factory ever built and equipped anywhere in the world solely for the purpose of manufacturing commercial wire- less-telegraph apparatus for sale to everybody.
The fact that the Clark wireless-telegraph system was subjected to a most stringent in- vestigation by the United States signal corps department before it was accepted and adopted by the government, has dissipated much of the skepticism with which it has previously been regarded. The United States government adopted the Clark wireless system in various departments in the latter part of 1905. As is well known, the government requires the most rigid investigation before purchasing supplies of any kind. After the inventor, Thomas E. Clark, had demonstrated his apparatus before a board of experts, and in competition with several foreign systems, the Clark system was favored." In this connection a flattering re- port was made to the chief signal officer by the electrical engineer who conducted the in- vestigation and experiments. The Clark ap- paratus was the first to be introduced into educational institutions and many of the lead- ing universities and colleges of the country now utilize the same for illustrative and prac- tical purposes.
The Clark wireless apparatus is also in use by the Japanese government, and from every source have come recommendations of its great efficiency and its economy in operation.
In December, 1906, Mr. Clark made dem- onstrations of wireless telephone, achieving a noted success in his experimental work and has greatly developed wireless-telephone com- munication, so that now the scientific journals of the country predict that he has demonstrated practically what may be the nucleus of a won- derful telephone system in the future. In June, 1908, Mr. Clark showed the successful operation of wireless telephone which had been installed on the new steamer "City of Cleve- land" and on the Clark wireless-telegraph sta- tion at the foot of Wayne street, Detroit. Passengers on the steamer were able to talk twenty-five miles by the Clark wireless tele- phone. This apparatus Mr. Clark is contin-
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ually developing and perfecting, extending the talking distance so that he is now able to talk fifty miles. He has every confidence that the time is not far distant when it will be possible to talk by wireless telephone from Detroit to New York city or Chicago.
Following is a brief description of the pres- ent factory of the Clark Company, and it is the purpose of the corporation to erect in De- troit within the near future a magnificent laboratory and extensive plant, in harmony with the vast business possibilities which the enterprise offers.
The factory of the Clark Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company, corner of Cass and State streets, is located in the central down- town district of the city of Detroit. The build- ing is of brick and stone, fifty-eight by one hundred and thirty feet, three stories high. On the first floor is located the office, well equipped with modern office furniture. A door leads directly from the office into the large factory room. Here are found the lathes, drill presses, screw machines, planers, auto- drills and electric winding machines, with a force of men turning out the machine-shop part of the work, electric motors being the power used to operate the various machines, both on this and the second floor. Adjoining the machine-shop is a specially large labo- ratory-testing room, used for testing and try- ing out the various instruments and apparatus manufactured by the company. Here is gath- ered together a complete storehouse of electric- testing instruments, scientific and chemical- laboratory apparatus to carry on the varied re- search work that is necessary in connection with the development of the Clark wireless telegraph and telephone systems. The second floor is equipped with wood-circular saws, planers and the accessories necessary for cabi- net work, as well as an assembling and drying room. Here a force of men are engaged in assembling instruments and apparatus; and on long, narrow tables are completed wireless- telegraph and telephone instruments of the various types, from the smaller miniature sets to the larger station sets for long-distance work. A part of this floor is devoted at times to the giving of instruction to young men on the apparatus. The efficiency of all apparatus manufactured is fully up to the standard of the best electrical instrument, and the wireless telegraph apparatus is superior to any other.
THE MICHIGAN STATE TELEPHONE COM- PANY.
As representing one of the important public utilities of the state of Michigan, this com- pany, whose official headquarters are main- tained in Detroit, wields a most positive and valuable influence in connection with civic and commercial affairs. The corporation bases its extensive operations on large capital and most effective administration. The ramifications of its lines are virtually co-extensive with the lim- its of the state, and the system is maintained at the highest standard of modern telephony.
The Michigan State Telephone Company was organized in February, 1904, and is the direct successor of the Michigan Telephone Company, which was practically the pioneer concern in the development of the telephone business in Michigan. The control of the original company was vested in William A. Jackson and the Newberrys and the McMil- lans of Detroit, but in reorganization four years ago it passed into other hands.
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