History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II, Part 64

Author: Mills, James Cooke
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Saginaw, Mich., Seemann & Peters
Number of Pages: 838

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Seemann & Peters

This well known and reliable printing house, the publisher of the new History of Saginaw County, enjoys the distinction of being the oldest in its line in Saginaw Valley. Thirty-eight years ago Joseph Seemann and Charles H. Peters, Senior, both veterans in the printing and publishing business, joined forces in a co-partnership under the above name, which continued until the death of Mr. Peters on November 12, 1910. In the following year the business was incorporated with Joseph Seemann as president, Charles H. Peters, Junior, vice-president, and Edwin C. Peters general manager. The business thus founded has developed rapidly, and the plant, operating all the departments comprised under the general art of printing and engraving and book making, is now one of the most complete in this section of the State.

Opening a job printing shop in 1879 in a small room fifteen by twenty feet in size, on the second floor of the building at 319 Genesee Avenue, the firm of Seemann & Peters began a long and successful career. In those days everything was done by hand, it was all hand composition and very often hand power that operated the presses. Two or three job presses, with such an equipment of type as would serve a small print shop, comprised the outfit. but by indomitable will and energy the partners gained a very strong patronage.

As the business increased larger quarters were needed, and in 1885 the firm acquired sixty feet of frontage on Tuscola Street, at Nos. 307-309-311, and erected thereon the Saginaw News Building to which the business was removed and the facilities increased to handle the rapidly growing trade.

One of the important events in the formative period of the business was the founding of the Saginaw Evening News. now the Saginaw Daily News. the first issue of which appeared May 2, 1881. Although the paper was launched on troubled seas, both its promoters had great faith in the under- taking, and through their strong personalities and energies and the able management of Mr. Seemann, the enterprise became thoroughly established and the paper entered upon a prosperous career which has continued to the present time. Later, finding that the paper conflicted in certain ways with their increasing printing business, they sold the Evening News to E. N. Dingley, of Kalamazoo, who took charge on February 15, 1893.

About 1900 the firm enlarged its plant and increased its facilities for handling high-class work, by the acquisition of the property measuring one hundred and eighty by one hundred and twenty feet, at the corner of North Franklin and Tuscola Streets, adjoining the News Building. The cost of this property and the improvements then made in the building and the pur- chase of improved machinery, was forty thousand dollars ; and by rearrange- ment of the plant the Evening News Company took additional space for its editorial department. A third story was added to the corner building for the exclusive use of the bindery, which is managed by Edward Heim. The bindery is in itself a large and complete plant, with machinery and expert workmen for producing all kinds of blank books and high class general book- binding.

An important feature of the business is the thoroughly equipped art engraving and electrotyping department, which for a number of years has been under the management of Charles H. Peters, Junior. The process engraving business was started in Saginaw by O. M. Pausch in 1882, and from that small beginning a large business has been developed. The electrotyping department was installed in 1900, and is now a large part of the growing business. Commercial photography is a branch which is commanding more attention, and thousands of fine photographs of public buildings, factories,

STATIONERS

PRINTER

PRINTING. BINDING. ENGRAVING AND OFFICE OLITFITTING ESTARI ISHMENT OF SEEMANN & DETEDC

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

machinery, manufactured products and live stock are taken yearly for the embellishment by illustration of catalogues, circulars and other advertising matter.

Some ten years ago another important branch of the business was created in the stationery, office outfitting and plate printing and die stamping depart- ment. The large corner store with show rooms above for the furniture is a fitting adjunct to the progressive printing, engraving and binding establish- ment, where all classes of office furniture, safes, metal filing cabinets and business appliances, together with social stationery, fine leather and brass goods can be obtained. For the last six years this department has been under the management of Lynn B. Emery, who literally grew up in the stationery business.

In 1914 Seemann & Peters purchased of F. & C. Reitter the old estab- lished German newspaper, the Saginaw Post-Zeitung, and removed the entire printing plant to its own building on Tuscola Street. The Zeitung is the oldest weekly newspaper in the Saginaw Valley, having rounded out a half century of continuous publication. The Post was consolidated with it in 1887. The acquisition of this prominent German newspaper enables Seemann & Peters to produce all kinds of German job printing, which is considerable in this thickly populated German community.

The Post-Zeitung is a first-class publication, sets its reading matter from a linotype machine set with German letter characters, is ably edited by a veteran journalist, Mr. Hans Dabis, and is managed by George A. Klette, who has filled this responsible position on the paper for nearly ten years. The Post-Zeitung circulation exceeds four thousand copies, and reaches every locality where Germans have settled in Northeastern Michigan and in the Upper Peninsula.

The Saginaw Daily News, which is controlled by the Scripps-Booth inter- ests, in August, 1916. removed to the new building at Washington and Germania Avenues. This left vacant a large part of the Franklin Street prop- erty, as well as space in the old News Building, and with characteristic enter- prise Seemann & Peters proceeded to remodel the former structure to house under one roof all the departments of their extensive business. The ground floor was practically rebuilt, walls and partitions changed, and concrete foun- dations laid for the big cylinder presses and other heavy machinery. All openings between the two buildings were then closed, and the Tuscola Street building was leased to the Wolverine Glove Company. Merrill & Kren, an old and reliable plumbing concern, occupy a portion of this building.

With the beginning of 1917 the entire business of Seemann & Peters is consolidated in the remodeled building at Franklin and Tuscola Streets, with a floor space of more than forty thousand square feet. While not the largest, it is yet one of the most complete establishments of its kind in the State, embracing all the allied trades of the printing class, designing, plate printing, electrotyping, stationery and office outfitting, and publishing of the Saginaw Post-Zeitung. On the first floor are also the general offices of the Company. very conveniently arranged for the efficient conduct of the business, which comprises seven distinct branches.

The printing department has been developed through many years, until the composing room alone occupies twenty-five hundred square feet of space, with a complete equipment of labor-saving machinery and with facili- ties for putting in type the most intricate of general book and special com- position. Two of the latest design linotype machines give facilities for the rapid handling of all kinds of composition work, including books and cata- logues, of which the Company does a large volume of business. In the press room is a battery of five large cylinder presses and seven platens, all operated

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DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES

by electric power through separate motors, as are also the paper cutters. ruling machines, staplers, binders and other small machinery in the various departments. This large part of the business is efficiently managed by Carl Schossow, who has been connected with the printing trade since boyhood and identified with Seemann & Peters for several years.

An average of sixty-five men and women are employed in the various departments of the business, and the monthly pay roll, not including the executives, exceeds four thousand five hundred dollars, while the annual busi- ness transacted by the Company is about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Industry Among Blind Folk

What the blind folk of Michigan are doing to earn a living, renew their hope, regain their usefulness and self-respect, and brighten their lives, is graphically told by the notable work of the Michigan Employment Institution for the Adult Blind, which was established in this city in 1903-5. It was during the governorship of Colonel Aaron T. Bliss that the Legislature passed a bill to create this institution, and it was located on Houghton Avenue opposite beautiful Bliss Park, which had been given to the City of Saginaw by Mr. Bliss.

The question, "What can the blind do for a living?" is answered in a logical way by an enumeration of their activities in those occupations in which they are least at disadvantage with seeing competitors. As a result of this rational system, fully one-half of the three thousand blind folk in Michi- gan are self-supporting.

On the theory that all real happiness is founded on productive effort, the keystone of this institution is Industry. It is a trade shop, pure and simple, for blind people and those partially blind, between the ages of eighteen and sixty; and many have learned a self-supporting trade in six months to a year, and returned to their homes to follow it. Some oppor- tunities also exist in business, which appeal to energetic and ambitious blind people, and progress has been made in perfecting a special commercial course, in addition to literary, musical and manual training afforded.

The apprentices, who always form the major part of the enrollment, as it is intended they shall, are allowed their board, lodging, washing, and instruction ; and, after a trade has been learned they become wage-earners, if they care to remain. They are then put on the payroll and paid by the piece at current wage rates, but begin at once paying for their living expenses at the nominal rate of two dollars and fifty cents a week. At this rate the slowest worker has earned above his living a dollar in a month, while the skilled and rapid operator has cleared from twenty-five to thirty dollars in the same time.

There are about one hundred inmates in the institution during the greater portion of the year, of whom seventy are men. This disparity in the sexes is due to the fact that the problem of how best to care for and give profitable employment to blind women, has not been solved. New industries are being introduced, but the difficulty seems to be in finding occupations adapted to women's strength and endurance, at which they can work rapidly enough to be self-supporting, and which they can follow when they return to their homes. A few of these inmates are employed in sorting broom corn, or selecting feathers for duster-making, besides those who are engaged in the direct work of housekeeping in the institution. The visitor's attendant is a blind girl. and she shows people around the buildings so fearlessly that many refuse to believe that she is entirely blind. The seamstress is a blind girl, and does all the mending and making of table-cloths, napkins, pillow-

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

MAKING FEATHER DUSTERS AT BLIND INSTITUTION

cases and sheets, using a sewing machine as well as any of her sighted sisters. Since a blind girl was put to work in the kitchen the dish washing has been done satisfactorily.

Chief Occupations for Men

From time immemorial broom-making has been the chief occupation for blind men, and in the Michigan Institution it forms the principal trade taught. This must always be so because a considerable number of blind men elect to remain as wageworkers in the institution, and some steady and profitable work must be given them at all times. There is always a ready market for brooms of different grades and sizes, including whisk brooms, and the making of them is simple and well adapted to handwork. Many blind men take to it instinctively and soon become proficient workers. As nearly all the work is done by hand, very little machinery is used. and it is of the simplest kind. Each apprentice learns every process in the making of a broom, so as to be able to make one completely ; but when he becomes skilled in the whole operation he generally chooses some particular process in which he is the most adept. By this practice the workers become rapid operators, and the production of the shop is greatly increased.

In sewing brooms the accuracy and precision with which the blind workers use their fingers for eyes, is astonishing. One of the sewers is also deaf and dumb, but despite his double affliction he is one of the most cheerful men in the shop. His other faculties seem to be acutely attuned to every sensation, to every vibrant pulse of the shop, for when the superintendent enters, that fact is instinctively borne to him. With less fine perception the other sightless ones determine the same fact by the distinguishing foot- falls of his step. This blind and deaf and dumb man recognizes his friends by passing his hands quickly over the face, with a light and hardly percep-

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DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES

tible tonch. He converses with the foreman and with other inmates thus afflicted. by use of the double-handed alphabet of the dumb. They simply take hands and the reader with his fingers follows the motions of the other's hands, conversation being thus carried on quite smoothly.

Feather-duster making is the second industry in importance; about fifteen kinds of dusters being manufactured, from the gilt-edged affair with yellow feathers handsomely striped and tinted with delicate colors, to the common cheap sort for ordinary, everyday use. The turkey feathers as received in the shop are wrinkled and matted together, and after cleaning are sorted to lengths, the different divisions on the measuring board being indicated by little brass knobs, which the blind operators feel.

Of the industries which blind men may learn in the institution and follow outside in their home towns, cobbling and rug-making offer the greatest returns. Almost any corner of the main street in the village will support a little cobbler's shop, and all the work is brought in and called for which is an advantage to the blind workman. All the shoe-repairing for the inmates of the institution and some from outside is done by the blind cobblers, and they have even undertaken the making of shoes for themselves. The accur- acy, style, and finish of their work is remarkable. Rug-making from old carpets offers many advantages to blind men. The work is simple, the looms suitable for their work are inexpensive ; and, where the worker is well known plenty of weaving can be found. AAll those from the institution, who have set up looms in their home towns, have done well.

Employment Suited to Women.

The profitable occupations suited to the physical limitations of blind women are limited to chair-caning, raffia-work in basket-making and other forms, tapestry weaving, stenography and typewriting, hairdressing and

₩

BLIND COBBLERS MAKING SHOES FOR INMATES OF THE INSTITUTION

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

BLIND GIRL AT TAPESTRY LOOM

massage, and domestic science. Of these tapestry weaving and stenography are, perhaps. the most promising. A large amount of chair recaning is done in the institution, mostly by the blind past middle age, and is to women what broom-making is to the men, in furnishing steady and at the same time profitable employment.

The tapestry looms, which are constructed to meet the special require- ments of the blind, are said to have solved the industrial problem for blind women. They are operated entirely by hand; but by diligent application the difficulties have been overcome, and towels, table scarfs, sofa pillows. laundry bags, and similar articles are woven entirely from the raw material. Complicated designs in flowers, trees, animals, emblems, and geometrical lines and figures, are reproduced in the linen with absolute faithfulness and exquisite finish. The artistic touch, too, reveals a conception so subtle, and defitness so precise, as to seem incredible in persons without sight. The sense of feeling is, in this absorbing work, most highly specialized.

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The paper pattern by which the design to be woven in the linen is communicated to the mind of the blind operator, is a marvel of simplicity, and is easily made by a sighted person. A small sheet of ordinary cross- section paper, such as is used by surveyors, and which is ruled in little squares one-eighth of an inch in size, is embossed by pin pricks, so that each one represents a thread of the warp which enters into the figure. Likewise, other pricks on the vertical lines reveal the outline and composition of the figure, and by them the woof is laid. The blind operator, by an exceedingly light but rapid touch reads a portion of the pattern, and lays down as many threads as called for by the pin pricks. The particular shuttle is then slipped through, and the operation is repeated until the figures and the fabric itself is finished. A table scarf, twenty by twenty-eight inches in size, with a pine tree design done in green, was made in fourteen and one-half hours, and the cost, including the linen and silk, was one dollar and seventy-four cents. The actual market value of the scarf was considerably more ; the difference repre- senting the returns for the operator's time and a reasonable margin of profit.

Shorthand for the blind is an assured fact, and is now regarded as a practical field for them. This seemingly impossible accomplishment is made entirely feasible by the use of a wonderful machine, so simple in its mechan- ism, yet arbitrary in its action, as to surprise those who have witnessed its operation under the deft manipulation of the sightless, skilled in the art. It weighs only nine pounds, and has only six keys with which to form all the combinations used in the system: yet the operator can take the most rapid dictation and afterwards read the notes correctly. The process is simply to press on the keys with a quick. elastic touch, by which the raised shorthand type cipher is printed on a slip of white paper, which unwinds from a large spool and travels across a tray on the top of the machine. After the dictation has been taken, the paper is rolled back again, and is then read with the fingers and transcribed on the typewriter.

Learning to Read and Write.

Instruction in the use of the ordinary typewriter, and in reading the various point systems for the blind, are important courses taught in the institution. It is given under the direction of A. M. Shotwell, the able lib- rarian who, though blind, is an authority on all matters pertaining to those so afflicted. Many of the inmates, who became blind in later life, and have had no chance to learn to read or to use the typewriter, find these privileges of the greatest value. To be able to read once more, even though it be slow and a laborious task, and to communicate with others by putting his thoughts on paper, after years of not having written a single letter, is a source of boundless pleasure to every blind person.

One of the most important features of the institution is the Free Lending Library, which is maintained for the use of blind folk in Michigan and ad- joining states. By the provisions of the Rucker Bill, reading matter for the blind may be sent free of postage anywhere in the United States, when sent from and returned to a free lending library. Scattered throughout Michigan and other states are many blind people to whom books of the various Braille point systems are sent when asked for. and after being read or studied are returned to the library. Thus to many not in the institution, hours of recrea- tion and profitable study are given, as the list of books includes works of history, poetry, fiction, science, music, and current literature, including a magazine regularly published in the Braille.

The Michigan Employment Institution for the Adult Blind is ably managed by Frank G. Putnam, who was appointed superintendent on May 9. 1910. James M. MeCaren is president, and Earl F. Wilson is secretary of the board of trustees.

WASHINGTON STREET, LOOKING NORTH FROM GENESEE STREET, ABOUT 1860

[From a Daguerreotype preserved by J. S. Estabrook, now owned by W. B. Mershon]

CHAPTER XXI VARIED COMMERCIAL INTERESTS

Primitive Trading Posts - Trade Development Slow - Little Items of History - The First Taverns - Hotels of Saginaw City - Hotel Fordney - Building of Ban- croft House - The Opening Celebration - Toasts - Finis of the Old House - New Hotel Bancroft - Other Well Known Hotels - The Hardware Trade -Dry Goods and Notions - Clothing and Furnishing Trade - Little "Jake Seligman" -- Other Suc- cessful Clothiers - Furniture and House Furnishings - Drugs and Medicines - Real Estate and Insurance - Coal, Lime and Cement - Grocery and Provision Trade - Retail Grocers of Olden Times - Packing and Meat Trade - Early Newspapers - A Reporter's Reminiscences - Pioneer Newspapers at East Saginaw - Edwin Cowles - German Papers - Saginaw Post Offices - Growth of Postal Business - The Federal Building - Why Saginaw Has Two Post Offices - \ Detriment to the City - Postal Business for 1915-16 - Amusements - Academy of Music - A Unique Character - Franklin Theatre - Picture Theatres.

T HE beginning of trade and barter in Saginaw Valley, long before there was a permanent settlement here, was in the log block-house set up in 1816 by Louis Campau. Although Jacob Smith, known to the Indians as "Wah-be-sins," and other trappers preceded him by a number of years. they came at irregular intervals and took away to market such furs as they inight gather. Campau's log house was the first habitation built by white men on the then far western frontier. It was substantially made of heavy squared logs, two stories in height, and stood on the west bank of the river. near what is now the intersection of Niagara and Throop Streets. For about ten years it served a double purpose-a pleasant residence overlooking the placid river, and a storehouse for furs and goods for trade with the Indians. Long after it was abandoned by Campau, who left the valley about 1826. an old Frenchman, J. Baptiste Desnoyers, occupied the residence portion ; and the old building was a somewhat cherished landmark. About 1862 the old house fell a victim to the flames.

These early efforts to open up trade with the Indians were followed by the building of a trading post by the American Fur Company, in a small clearing on the west side of the river. In 1828 a Frenchman, named Reaume. was the "factor" at the post, but owing to difficulties between him and the savages the Williams Brothers were sent here to take his place. After several years of successful trade they bought out the interests of the fur company, and about 1830 occupied the "red warehouse" at the foot of Mackinaw Street. Sherman Stevens, Archie Lyons and Me-je-au, an Indian of quarter- blood, who were masters of the Chippewa dialects, were successful traders employed by Williams Brothers.

Gradually the old-time trading posts gave way to the pioneer store, with ils general stock of goods -- necessities of human existence in the wilderness. They were operated on well defined principles of trade, necessary articles and a few luxuries being sold at regular prices in the English shilling and pence. The word "shilling" appears to have been in general use among the Indians in those early days. In the following list of goods, derived from old records, the prices of small articles is marked in shillings and pence :

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

Whiskey, per gal. U

Indian Knife

Young Hyson Tea, 1b 0

Small Bell

Coffee, 1b. 1

Pocket Pistol

6 0

Sugar, 1b.

Blue Cloth, per yd. 24

Meat of one Coon 7

Shawl

Venison Hams

0 Cotton Thread, skein 0

Meat of One Small Deer 8

Blanket 36

llog, 204 lbs. 51 0

Martin Skin 8

Potatoes, per barrel

8 Socks, per pair

Salt Pork, per lb.

Buckskin 14

Corn, per bushel 1

0 Calico, per yd. 1

Labor for splitting one thousand rails 20 to 30 shillings.

In 1831 one of the store-keepers introduced the words "dollars" and "cents," and henceforth the foreign terms of exchange fell into disuse.

Trade Development Slow.

The development of trade and commerce in Saginaw Valley, following the early settlements, was very slow and suffered several setbacks. This was due almost entirely to the physical condition of the country, which tended to discourage permanent residence, and not until the natural resources of the valley were exploited did the country begin to attract men of energy and capital. The story of this development through the various stages and by subjects bearing on manufactures, commerce, education and social life, has been quite thoroughly covered in the preceding chapters, the reader being referred especially to Chapters VIII, IX. X, and X1, pages 117 to 206.

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History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II, Part 64

Author: Mills, James Cooke Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Saginaw, Mich., Seemann & Peters Number of Pages: 838

Author: Mills, James Cooke
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Saginaw, Mich., Seemann & Peters
Number of Pages: 838