USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 52
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
Harry B. Wallace was educated in Smith Academy at St. Louis and then went east to enter Yale, and completed his university course in 1899, at which time the Bachelor of Arts degree was conferred upon him. While in college he was very prominent in athletics, having played three years on the varsity baseball team. He became connected with the Samuel Cupples Woodenware Company in September, 1899, accepting a position in the sample and stock room. Later he served as city desk clerk until 1901, and then entered the buyer's department as assistant. He afterwards became buyer and manager of the manufacturing department and was called to official position in 1907, when elected assistant secretary. In 1909 he was chosen for the office of secretary and in 1912 became vice president. His election to the presidency of the company occurred in 1918, so that he has come to the chief
HARRY B. WALLACE
475
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
executive office in connection with this business, which through an orderly progression has reached the point of world's leadership.
On October 29th, 1902, Mr. Wallace was married to Mary R. Kennard, a daughter of Samuel M. and Annie (Maude) Kennard of St. Louis, and a represen- tative of one of the old and prominent famlies of the city. They have two children, John K., born November 6, 1903, who is now preparing for Yale University at the Taft school in Watertown, Connecticut, and Anne K., who is now a student at Mary Institute.
Mr. Wallace belongs to the Civic League and has been a member of the City Plan Commission. He is also connected with the Municipal Voter's League and the Mercantile Library Association of which he was formerly the president. He is now the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Louis, is vice president of the Noonday Club and was formerly one of the governors of the Racquet Club. He also became one of the founders of the City Club, and he is a member of the Round Table. His recreation is found largely in golf and tennis, but these are made sub- servient to his activities and duties in other connections. His interest centers in his family and he finds his greatest happiness at his home fireside. When America entered the World war he was among those extremely active business men who put aside personal considerations in order to give the utmost possible service to their country. In December, 1917, he was called to Washington and took entire charge of the Red Cross relief and welfare work in all military camps, canteens, and motor corps, and in fact was in charge of the welfare work having to do with the enlisted men throughout the United States. Mr. Wallace was instrumental in influencing Secretary of War Baker to issue the general order from the war department, authorizing and defining the work of the Red Cross in the army. In July, 1918, he received a cable from the war council calling him to France as deputy commissioner with the rank of major. On his arrival in France he was put in entire charge of the Red Cross work and its activities in the American zone which covered all places where American troops were in line. He remained in France until December, 1918, and his activities there have become a matter of history in connection with the service of the khaki clad men on European soil. When one comprehends the magnitude of the Cupples Company it is easily understood why Mr. Wallace was selected by the war council to take entire charge of Red Cross work in France, for he is a past master in the work of organiza- tion and in assembling and distributing supplies and materials. He measured up to
the fullest expectations in this connection and every soldier in France bears testimony to the efficiency of the work done by the Red Cross organization. Mr. Wallace is a member of the executive committee of the Yale Alumni Advisory Board, and is ex- president of the Yale Alumni Association of St. Louis. His interests are indeed broad and his cooperation is always of most effective and resultant force in anything which he attempts.
COLONEL JOHN HENRY PARKER.
Colonel John Henry Parker, army officer of St. Louis, is regarded by many as in advance of all others in the matter of promoting a practical and constructive policy in relation to military affairs in America. His record covers thirty-two years of distinguished service to his country through days of peace and in times of war, ending with active service in the great World war and he is the author of a plan known as military government in occupied territory that has become not only a law of this country but which became international law at The Hague and has been adopted by all civilized nations. He wears many distinguished badges of honor that indicate his courage and his loyalty in times of actual defense of America but per- haps his greatest work in behalf of his country has been in formulating the con- structive policies which have had to do with the improvement of military condi- tions and the upbuilding of the army. It was Colonel Parker who promoted the idea of vocational training for military men aud by this method brought the army up to required numerical strength. His present plans, resulting from his experi- ence on the battle fronts of France and his long study of military conditions, would institute an even more progressive policy and one which would prepare young men for the pursuits of peace as well as the duties of war. Missouri may well be proud
476
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
of his record as it reflects credit and honor upon the state, for he is one of her native sons, his hirth having occurred near Tipton on the 19th of September, 1866, his parents heing Thomas H. and Nancy (Maxey) Parker. Receiving appointment to the United States Military Academy he was graduated therefrom with the class of 1892 and later took up the study of law, winning admission to the Missouri bar in 1896.
In the year in which he completed his course at West Point Colonel Parker was married to Miss Ida Burr, a daughter of G. W. Burr, of Sedalia, Missouri, the wedding being celebrated on the 22d of September, 1892. He was then Lieutenant Parker, wearing the insignia that marked him a second lieutenant of the Thirteenth Infantry, to which rank he was assigned on the 11th of June, 1892. He became a first lieutenant on the 26th of April, 1898, was advanced to the rank of major of the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth United State Volunteers on the 17th of August, 1899, and thus served until May 6, 1901. However, he was commissioned captain of the Twenty-eighth Infantry on the 2d of February, 1901, and became major of the Eighth Infantry, November 21, 1914. Later he was transferred to the Twenty- fourth Infantry and became lieutenant colonel of infantry on the 15th of May, 1917, and on the 5th of August following was made colonel of infantry in the national army. This constitutes the hare outline of his military career to the time of his entrance into the World war. His active field service hegan during the Spanish-American conflict when he commanded a Gatling gun battery at Santiago, Cuba, in 1898. Ridpath says in his History of the World that "Parker's work was the decisive factor at the critical moment of that battle, which turned possible defeat into decisive victory." Roosevelt tells the same story in "The Rough Riders" and similar credit is given to him in the histories of Senator Lodge and President Wilson. Then followed the period of Philippine insurrection when Colonel Parker did distinguished service by organizing a system for the administration of justice among the natives, during the interval between military occupation and the final establishment of civil government. It was his final thesis on this subject, termed "Military Government in Occupied Territory," that became international law. For this thesis he received the official approval of every superior in line, up to and in- cluding the chief of staff, General A. R. Chaffee, Secretary of War Elihu Root and President W. H. Taft.
In the peaceful interim that followed up to 1906 Colonel Parker organized the first officially approved machine gun unit of the United States army in the Sixth Infantry, this heing the forerunner of all the machine gun elements now in the service. His machine gun ideas revolutionized warfare. For twenty years he stood alone in this connection, but the World war demonstrated the soundness of his ideas, which became the basis of military reorganization in every army in the world- our own last of all, hut in time to win the war by the application of his ideas with American initiative and ingenuity.
During the second Cuban intervention, from 1906 until 1908, Colonel Parker as adviser to the governor of Matanzas province rendered most valuable service by instituting the policy of providing for the support of the Cuban population hy com- mencing great public works of permanent benefit at low wages, to tide the people over until crops could be planted and harvested. The governor-general adopted this policy which resulted in the building of the great military highway across the island of Cuha. Moreover, he rendered valuable service in Cuha in the advice given for the organization of the new conservation party to replace the disintegrated constitutional party, and the young party soon became and has since remained the governing force of the Cuban republic. It was in 1908 that Colonel Parker organized the first company of machine guns in the army and wrote the texts that shaped the permanent policy of the United States on that subject. The German government looted eighty-nine pages of this text, without credit, for their official texts on machine guns and the Japanese government adopted his idea on ma- chine gun organization in toto. Colonel Parker's plans for the military education of youth which have since become the standard plans of every military school in the United States, won him the gold medal of the Military Service Institution in 1912. In 1916 he was judge advocate and legal adviser to General Pershing in the puni- tive expedition into Mexico to drive back Pancho Villa.
Colonel Parker was attached to and one of the general staff committee that wrote the organization tables of the military forces of the United States and in
477
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
May, 1917, he went to France as machine gun expert on General Pershing's staff. He was a member of the general staff committee on the organization of the Amer- ican Expeditionary Force and organized the First Division and First Corps, Auto- matic Weapons School, at Gondrecourt, also the Army Automatic Weapons School at Langres; was colonel of the One Hundred and Second Infantry, known as the Charter Oak regiment, at Chavignon, at Chemin des Dames, at Seicheprey, at Bois de Jury and at Chateau Thierry; and was colonel of the Three Hundred and Sixty- second Infantry-the Pine Tree regiment-at Bois de Cheppy, at Epinonville and at Gesnes. He organized and commanded the American garrison in Paris from January to June, 1919. He also instituted vocational training with the aid of the Red Cross, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Knights of Columbus and the Salvation Army, introducing this for the first time among the American mil- itary troops. Colonel Parker was thrice wounded in France. He is a gold medalist of the Military Service Institution in 1911; was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal; received citations in orders of the Twenty-sixth (Yankee) Division for gal- lantry in action in twelve combats; was awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm; was made an officer of the Legion of Honor; received the Distinguished Service Cross with two oak leaves; and was recommended for promotion to the rank of brigadier general for services in battle. He was also made commander of the Black Star and it is worthy of notice that he is the only holder of the Distinguished Service Cross with two oak leaves. He won distinction during the peace negotiations in Paris by cleaning up the "Hard Boiled Smith" scandal and created morale in the Paris garrison by the introduction of vocational preparation of soldiers for return to peaceful occupations. He also organized and commanded the President's Guard and the Peace Conference Guard in Paris between January and June, 1919, and it is notahle that while acting in this capacity he never once sought for personal ad- vancement or favor and in fact commanded the President's Guard for five months without once seeking for an interview with the president. Colonel Parker has since rendered most valuable service in connection with recruiting and has twice been the recipient of thanks and congratulations by the adjutant general, the chief of staff and the secretary of war. He is the author of the slogan: "Use the army in peace to prepare for peace."
Colonel Parker's authorship includes "Gatlings at Santiago," 1898; "Tactical Uses and Organization of Machine Guns in the Field," 1898; "Trained Citizen Soldiery," "1915; and an "All-American" military policy. The last we here give in full as it is of the utmost importance at the present time when, military problems are being solved by all of the world powers:
"Minimum of 'professional soldiers.'
"Maximum of trained citizen soldiers, trained minute men.
"Reduction of 'overhead' for the 'regular army.'
"An annual class of 'students,' voluntarily enrolled, with vocational training. "Recruiting service to act also as an employment agency to help them back to jobs.
"Military training of 'students' to he completed in the National Guard.
"Friendly relations to he established with organized industries, both capital and labor.
"The army should train young men for peace.
"An overseas force, one army corps, sixty thousand men.
"An expeditionary force, one army corps, sixty thousand men.
"A training force, two army corps skeletonized, trainers for the above 'students.' The 'training force,' thus skeletonized, need not be more than thirty thousand men.
"Total professional soldiers, one hundred and fifty thousand.
"Annual class of 'students,' one hundred thousand.
"Inducement, vocational-military training, and employment agency service.
"Obligation, on discharge, three-year term in National Guard, as trained minute men.
"Period as 'students,' one year.
"An administrative component, ahout twenty thousand men.
"The overseas force cannot be smaller than the smallest military unit that contains all the utilities of war. At present this is an army corps. It cannot be larger, because we must practice economy of national expenditures.
"The 'Expeditionary Force' is limited to the same size, for the same reasons.
478
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
"The 'student class' is placed at one hundred thousand, because that will give to the nation as large an insurance policy against war as will ever be needed. In five years this will give us five hundred thousand trained minute men in civil life; in an- other five years there will be a million, not costing the nation a cent, all under thirty, and all ready for any military duty at a moment's notice. It is enough.
"The term of instruction is fixed at one year because that is time enough to give a thorough basic military training to any young man, with a 50/50 split of the time on military-vocational training. It is not desired to inoculate these young men with the professional military virus, but only to teach them the basic duties of a soldier at the hands of 'regulars.' Then it is desired that their period of military duty as trained minute men shall be passed in the National Guard, which came out of the World war accepted by all as an efficient and effective fighting force. In the National Guard there will be no slant toward professional militarism but quite the contrary; and every ten- dency will be to make these young men true citizen soldiers thinking as civilians, but capable of effective military action.
"Vocational training with employment agency service is offered as an inducement, because it has been proved that this inducement is effective, that it will secure all the the young men desired and that such young men can get a great industrial improve- ment by this means without in any way taking from their military training, but rather with actual improvement in a purely military sense as a result of the awaking of greater trained skill in each man. It is not expected to make expert workmen in this time of all these men but it is expected greatly to improve their industrial efficiency as a result of a year of such training. This has been proved.
"This plan makes of the military department of the government a feeder of organ- ized industries and will enable the maximum reduction to be made in the army with safety."
Colonel Parker was the first to institute the idea of the army training young men for peace and so original and unusual is his theory and plan in this connection that the following will be of widespread interest: "The doctrine was originally proposed, with a concrete plan for its introduction, by Colonel Parker, while commandant of cadets at Kemper Military School, in September, 1912. It was at that time reduced to writing, with prediction that about seven years would be necessary to get it into any extended application, and was formally witnessed by Major Walter S. MacAaron, assist- ant commandant, Kemper. Ever since that time Colonel Parker has steadily worked for the accomplishment of this as a national policy.
"Its first extended application on a large scale was made by Colonel Parker in Paris, while he was in command of the Paris Garrison and the President's Guard, Jan- uary to June, 1919, as a measure to restore morale to that command after detection and punishment of 'Hard Boiled Smith' and his gang of ruffians. Colonel Parker's official position enabled him to carry out his plans. Their successful application attracted the attention of the congressional committee then investigating the conduct of war and,led to two acts of congress, May, 1920, and September, 1919, by which this system was made statutory in the regular army.
"The fundamental principle of the doctrine is that any soldier in time of peace may voluntarily devote fifty per cent of his time to learning a gainful occupation for civil life and shall be furnished competent instructors for that purpose. It is substan- tially the extension of the West Point system, for industrial development instead of ed- ucational training in the higher grades, to all enlisted men in the army who are willing to take advantage of it.
"In June, 1920, Colonel Parker introduced in the St. Louis recruiting district the additional doctrine that the same recruiting agencies that induct a man into the army can and shall be used to secure for him a job in civil life upon his discharge from the army. To make this doctrine work Colonel Parker secured the cooperation of forty big employers of labor, with a payroll of forty thousand names, creating what he calls a list of allocated employers, all of whom promise to give a trial to such soldiers who have been graduated from the army vocational training schools. The success of this unique plan has attracted nation-wide attention."
Colonel Parker's initiative has led to a proposal for the establishment of a new department of the federal government to be called the department of public welfare, in which women shall be given the leading part. This received the approval of President Harding, October 2, 1920. The proposal was made in an address by Colonel Parker to the National Council of Women, in St. Louis, in December, 1919, and to the national
479
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in the same month, and was unanimously adopted by both bodies. In not a single instance has any of the great reforms which Colonel Parker has advocated failed when applied and not a single one has proven impractical. His contribution to the military history of the country is indeed a valuable one. He is a thorough soldier in all the qualities of discipline and of courage and most of all in his constructive methods, which have largely revolutionized military organization and which promise still greater benefits in the future.
ALEXANDER C. KRUG.
Alexander C. Krug, manager for the Krug Lumber Company, has always directed his business activities in St. Louis, the city of his birth. His natal day was July 1, 1899, and he is a son of Louis C. and Fredericka (Noltkemper) Krug. The father was born in St. Louis in 1871 and was engaged in the hardwood lumber business for several years prior to his death, which occurred in February, 1917. The mother was also a native of Missouri and they were married in St. Louis. They became the parents of two sons, the younger being Chester Louis Krug.
Alexander C. Krug was educated in the public and high schools of St. Louis and started out in the business world as an employe of his father, thoroughly learning every phase of the lumber trade under his father's direction and steadily working his way upward until he became manager of the Krug Lumber Company in February, 1920. He is yet a young man but possesses business ability that might well be envied by many a man of twice his years. He has today comprehensive knowledge of every phase of the lumber business and displays sound judgment and keen sagacity in the control of his affairs.
In his political views Mr. Krug is a republican and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church. He belongs to the Eden church at Nineteenth and Warren streets and is assistant secretary of its Sunday school. He takes active part in various branches of the church work and is keenly interested in the advancement of all those moral forces which make for the uplift of the individual and the benefit of the community at large.
JOHN J. HOFFMAN, M. D.
Dr. John J. Hoffman, a surgeon of St. Louis and a representative of one of the old families of the city, was here born June 10, 1860, in the neighborhood of Fourth street and Clark avenue, which in those days was one of the principal residential districts of the city, since taken over by business and industrial interests. His father, David Hoffman, was a native of Munich, Germany, and came to America with his parents at the age of three years, being a son of Christopher and Mary Hoffman. The former was a cabinet-maker, and on coming to the new world settled in Hermann, Gasconade county, Missouri, where he followed his chosen vocation and resided to the time of his death. He was among the first settlers in Hermann and there reared his family, including David Hoffman, who pursued his education in the schools of that town and in his native city of Munich where he studied art in the Bavarian Academy of Arts for seven years. He specialized in ecclesiastical works, painting many religious pic- tures, and won wide fame in his chosen field. In 1849 he became a resident of St. Louis where he made his home until his death in 1905 when he was seventy-eight years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Annie M. De Vore, is a native of Pennsylvania and of French descent. At the age of five years, following the death of her parents, she was brought to St. Louis by friends of the family who adopted her. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman was celebrated in St. Louis and to them were born three children, two sons and a daughter, of whom Dr. Hoffman is the eldest. The other son died in infancy and the daughter is Annie S. Hoffman. The mother still makes her home in St. Louis and is enjoying excellent health for one of her years.
Dr. Hoffman pursued his education in public and private schools of St. Louis and at the age of thirty-two years entered the Marion Sims College for the study of
480
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
medicine, being graduated with the class of 1895. Prior to this time he had followed art as a profession, having studied under his father, hut turning to the medical pro- fession he has since been in continuous and successful practice, giving his attention exclusively to surgery. He took post-graduate work under leading physicians and sur- geons before entering upon general practice and also had broad experience in con- nection with Rebecca Hospital and the clinics of St. Louis. He has utilized every means in his power to promote his knowledge and thus advance his efficiency and is regarded as one of the skilled surgeons of the city.
On the 12th of January, 1888, in Terre Haute, Indiana, Dr. Hoffman was married to Miss Mary G. Franz, a native of that state and a daughter of Frederick F. and Fannie Gertrude Franz, the latter from Coblenz, Germany, while the father was from the Mosel. Dr. and Mrs. Hoffman have one son, William D., who was born October 16, 1891, and married Miss Ivy Schroeder, of St. Louis. They now reside in St. Louis.
Dr. Hoffman was a member of the Bain Zouaves, a very celebrated military organi- zation in its day, and during the World war he served on the Volunteer Medical Corps and was a member of the National Council of Defense. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and fraternally he is connected with Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 40, A. F. & A. M., and with the Knights of Pythias. His art work and his writing enabled him to pursue his college course and his force of character has been demonstrated in his constantly developing ability in the line of his profession.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.