USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 2 > Part 7
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Moreover, he has been again and again called upon for important public service and in many ways has aided in molding the destiny and shaping the history of the metropolis of western Missouri. In April, 1905, without solicita- tion on his part, he was appointed city counselor and was reappointed to the office, his incumbency thereby covering four years. A contemporary writer has said in this connection: "There was never a time in the history of the city when so important and varied questions came up for consideration by the legal department of the city, and there was never an administration of this office more satisfactory in all respects than that of Mr. Meservey. During the four years that he was city counselor the expenses of the legal department were reduced more than one-half, and more suits involving larger amounts were dis- posed of than at any previous time." One task which Mr. Meservey performed in behalf of public interests should cause his name to be known and honored in Kansas City for decades to come. In November, 1909, the common council passed an ordinance granting a franchise extension to the Metropolitan Street Railway Company for a period ending in 1951. The terms of the franchise were most disadvantageous to the public at large, but political influence had been brought to bear upon both republican and democratic members of the city council to win their support of the franchise. Under the new city charter, how- ever, it was necessary that this franchise be ratified by a vote of the people,
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and to meet this condition a bi-partisan committee of one hundred citizens, com- posed of an equal number of demoerats and republicans, was organized to enlighten the public upon real conditions and Mr. Meservey was made chairman of this committee. He personally conducted a most energetic campaign. Seventy-five speakers were actively engaged in opposing the franchise and thou- sands of people wore buttons containing the single word "No," thus indicating their attitude upon the subjeet. While the street railway company used a very large campaign fund in promoting its interests, the franchise was defeated at the polls by a majority of over seven thousand on the 16th of December, 1909.
Another field in which Mr. Meservey did great good for the publie was as president of the first board of civil service of Kansas City, to which he was appointed in April, 1910, with John H. Thacher and J. W. S. Peters as his associate members on the board. They organized the first municipal merit sys- tem in Missouri and Mr. Meservey continued to serve as president of the board until the expiration of his term in April, 1912. He was appointed by Governor Hadley on the 28th of December, 1912, a member of the board of police commissioners to serve out the unexpired term of Theodore Remley and continued in the office until June 6, 1913, several months after the expiration of the term. In the spring of 1910 and again six years later he was urged by many prominent eitizens to accept the republican nomination for mayor, but on both occasions declined, preferring to continue in the private practice of law and perform his public service as a private citizen. On the 7th of November, 1916, he was elected chairman of a board of thirteen freeholders to prepare and submit a new charter to the voters of Kansas City. It was understood that this charter was to be drafted in accordance with what was known as the Kansas City Plan, which undertook to adopt the best features of the commission form of government and the city manager plan to the requirements of the Missouri state constitution and the state laws. A majority of the board, however, did not favor the Kansas City Plan, and a charter was prepared and submitted to the vote of the people which did not conform to the views of Mr. Meservey and those associated with him and which failed to carry at the ensuing election. IIe has ever been unfaltering in his allegianee to the republican party and has been a close and analytical student of the vital political questions and issues before the country since attaining his majority.
On the 18th of August, 1891, Mr. Meservey was married to Miss Bessie M. Harris, of Independence, Missouri, and they have become the parents of a son and two daughters: Frances II., Edwin C. and Mary Bess. The elder daughter on the 25th of June, 1917, became the wife of George Dawson Trimble and to them, on the 20th of June, 1918, was born a son, George Dawson Trimble, Jr.
June 19, 1917, Mr. Meservey was appointed by President Wilson a member of the local board for Division No. 3 of Kansas City, under the Selective Service Aet. He served as chairman of that board during the war and until his dis- charge about four months after the armistice was declared. His son, Edwin C. Meservey, Jr., served during the war in the United States Naval Flying Corps. and was commissioned as Ensign at United States Naval Air Station at Key West, Florida.
The cause of education has ever found in Mr. Meservey a stalwart champion and he was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of Hale II. Cook as a
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director of the board of education on the 21st of May, 1917, and served until the close of the term April 8, 1918. He attends the Independence Avenue Metho- dist Episcopal church and he has never been a member of fraternal organizations save the college fraternities, having joined the Phi Kappa Psi while attending the University of Kansas, and he was also elected to honorary membership in the Phi Beta Kappa. During his student days at the St. Louis Law School he became a member of the Phi Delta Phi and with these fraternities is still con- nected. He belongs to the Sons of the Revolution, the Mission Hills Country Club, the Mid-day Club and the Kansas City Bar Association. His life has been one of intense activity in his profession and in the service of his fellowmen in connection with public affairs and the value of his work is widely acknowl- edged.
Frank A. Ruf
F FRANK A. RUF was born .in Albany. New York. Apr !! 4. 1556. a son of John J. and Catherine P. Ruf. both nom mierea -- 1. His parents moved to Iowa when he was a small cand. He attended the public schools in Des Moines to the age of thir- teen, and then left home and started out to provide a livelli- hood for himself. resorting to the various kinds of work that a boy can do. After trying his luck in Coun i Bluffs. Iowa. Omaha, Nebraska, and St. Joseph. Missouri. he finally. h. 1:74. found himself located in St. Louis.
Fifteen years of active effort with MI. W. Alexander. the then leading St. Louis druggist. coupled with economy. at length brought him one-half interest in the firm of Frost & Ruf. a drug business at the southeast corner of S-ventb and Olive streets. He continued in the business as a member of this irm until 1see. when they entered upon the manufacture of one of the widest known me li- eines in the world-Anti-Kamnia opposed to pain . which was put upon the market as a headache and neuralgia remedy. On the incorporation of the business the capital stock was five thousand dollars. With -Le growth of the business, which was rapid. it was found necessary to interest new capital! whi i. was done, and the company was reorganized and incorporated under the laws of Missouri with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars. Since its organiza- tion Mr. Ruf has been president and treasurer of the company. Improved methods of exploitation and advertising were adopted and in consequene- of the growth of the business it was found necessary to have larger quarters, this lead- ing to the opening of the new laboratory and offices of the Anti-Kamnia Remedy Company at Nos. 717 to 725 Locust street, part of the site now occupied by the Mercantile Trust Company. Here again the pace proved inadequate and the company, in 1896, erected a building for its own use at Nos. 1723 :o 1731 Olive street. After eight years the volume of trade necessitated another removal and since 1902 the company has occupied its present building at Nos. 1622 to 1624 Pine street, used exclusively by this still growing American indus- try. There has been no change in the personnel of the company since the re- tirement of Mr. Frost, whose interests were taken over by Mr. Ruf. the president and treasurer of the company. In the space of thirty years this business has developed from a small one to the largest of the kind in the world. with offices and laboratories in London. Paris and Madrid and distributing depots in all of the larger cities on the face of the globe.
Lowell has said. "An institution is but the lengthened shadow of a man." and as such the corporation is the indication of the great business stature of Frank A. Ruf. Aside from his connection with the Anti-Kamnia Remedy Com- pany, he is also a director of the Mercantile Trust Company of St. Louis, with a
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capital and surplus of ten million dollars, the president of the C. E. Gallagher Medicine Company, and president of the Ilerriott Polish Company. He is also president of the Cinderella Ileel Corporation, a half-million dollar firm, manu- facturers of aluminum heels for ladies' shoes, said to be the most desirable patent metal heel on the market. As president of the Actoid Remedy Company, he looks after the interests of this well-known remedy. "Actoids Act Actively," accord- ing to Mr. Ruf, is the slogan which has caused this preparation to become world wide in its use. He is a director of the Bowen Motor Railways Corporation, which is building gasoline motor cars to run on railway tracks. A thorough trial of this car has demonstrated its practicability beyond a doubt. Mr. Ruf is also a director in the Watters Corporation, capitalized for three million dollars, mannfacturing the Indexograph and other Watters' office devices. The new plant of this eorporation in the new industrial district in the northwestern part of the city is most modern in all of its details.
Mr. Ruf was married at Buffalo, New York, in 1897, to Miss Alpha Haight, daughter of William Haight, of Middlebury, Vermont. In polities he is a republican with independent tendencies. Ile is a Mason of high rank, belonging to Cornerstone Lodge, No. 324, A. F. & A. M .; St. Louis Chapter, No. 8, R. A. M .; St. Aldemar Commandery, K. T .; St. Louis Consistory, A. A. S. R .; and Moolah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs moreover to the St. Louis, Raequet, Noonday, Century Boat, Automobile, Riverview and Lieder- kranz Clubs, the Missonri Athletic Association, the St. Louis Art Leagne, the Chamber of Commerce, the Zoological Society, the Apollo Club, the St. Louis Symphony Society, and is a member of the advisory board of the St. Louis School of Fine Arts.
Love of art is manifest in the beautiful canvases and fine Persian rugs which adorn Mr. Ruf's home. He was decorated by the shah of Persia with the Order of the Lion and the Sun because of his fame as a connoisseur of Oriental fabrics, especially Persian rugs. The decoration ceremonial took place in the anterooms of Mr. Ruf's office, the walls, floors, divans and balustrades of which were decorated for the occasion with Persian rugs and fabrics of exquisite design and color, many of which are centuries old and represent the investment of a fortune. Ilis love of these rugs comes not alone from his appreciation of color, design and texture but also from his knowledge of the art of rug making and of the history, traditions, superstitions and beliefs which are woven into these rugs. From their workmanship he reads many a life story and, more- over, is willing to share his joy therein with many admiring visitors at his home and office. Business affairs and love of travel take him frequently abroad and he is a familiar figure in the art centers of Europe and the orient.
Throughout his business career Mr. Ruf has displayed the keenest sagacity, combined with splendid powers of organization and the ability at all times to differentiate between the essential and the non-essential. The Bulletin of Commerce has said of him: "He is seemingly retiring in his disposition, not given to argument or controversy, and yet when touched upon matters of busi- ness or a subject engaging his interest, he is prompt in the expression of his opinions. The business side of his character is strict and decisive, displaying an energy that permeates every detail, and yet his management is highly diplo- matic, governing without a seeming effort and engaging an interest without
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appearing to urge it. His decision, however, is emphatic and conelusive within himself. He strikes only while the iron is hot and ductile-never when the metal is cold and hard. Hence he can fashion it to his purpose without strug- gling against impractical conditions. No misleading feature or breath of de- ception is tolerated in any of his transactions, having the wisdom to know and the experience to demonstrate that integrity is the only ladder to climb if you expect to reach the top. Sueh men are not plentiful. They may be strong in a few points and sadly out of balance in many. It is the mentally even, well rounded up man, who never flies off at a tangent like a dirigible air ship, that courts and wins success. A combination of qualities evenly adjusted are better and stronger than a genius with a single purpose."
He has been characterized as a "man of the people, filled to the brim with energy, living for a purpose and never losing sight of that fact ; prompt and decisive in business, less of a talker than an energetic worker and a distinet organizer of success. He is a man of faultless integrity to himself and others, one who believes in the principles of justice and is no friend to deception and double dealing. He is a promoter of good fellowship and high-class eitizenship. His principles and convictions of right are his party and his religion. He is pa- triotie because he loves his country and obeys its laws. He is one who never withholds a right nor imposes a wrong. He is, therefore, a good neighbor, encouraging by helpful example and otherwise those in misfortune or distress. Upon matters of public concern and business affairs his judgment is frequently consulted as an authority because of his standing, wide experience and confi- dence he enjoys among the people. It is a worthy and deserving record to make of such men, for they should be remembered hereafter and their good deeds not allowed to perish from the earth."
Cowards Whitaker
ARIOUS corporate interests have felt the stimulus of the enter- V prise and initiative of Edwards Whitaker and have been brought into form as splendidly organized concerns under his guidanee. He has indeed played a prominent part on the stage of business activity in St. Louis, where he is recognized as one of the leading finaneiers. The city is proud to number him among her native sons. He was here born April 29, 1848, his parents being William A. and Letitia (Edwards) Whitaker. He was but five years of age at the time of his father's death but was carefully reared by his mother, a lady of high character and excellent intellectual attainment. He , was a public school pupil to the age of sixteen years and when he left the high school he accepted a position under Colonel L. S. Metcalf in the quartermaster's department of the United States army. During the closing year of the Civil war he served as shipping clerk in that department and thus gained his first knowl- edge of practical business. It was an excellent training school, for the disci- pline maintained in all departments of the army constituted the basis of his well known habit of doing everything with military precision. A modern writer has said : "Success does not depend upon a map but upon a time-table." This fact Mr. Whitaker early recognized and throughout his life everything that he has had to do has been done promptly and with accuracy.
After leaving the quartermaster's department Mr. Whitaker obtained a clerkship in the sub-treasury under General A. G. Edwards and later became associated with General Edwards in the brokerage and banking house of Edwards & Matthews. When General Edwards withdrew as the senior partner of the firm, Mr. Whitaker joined Mr. Matthews under the style of Matthews & Whitaker, a relation that was continued for fourteen years. The firm of Whitaker & Hodgman was then formed, following the withdrawal of Mr. Matthews, and eventually the firm style of Whitaker & Company was adopted and has been so continued.
From each experience in life Mr. Whitaker has learned the lessons therein contained and the knowledge gained through hanking and brokerage business enabled him to prove a prominent factor in the successful direction of various other important business and financial interests. For a number of years he was the president of the Lindell Railway Company and is now president and one of the directors of the Boatmen's Bank, the oldest financial institution of the city, a director of the St. Louis Union Trust Company, and a stoekholder in various other business concerns. He became the first president of the United Railway Company, after having taken a prominent part in the consolidation of the street railway systems of the city. Ile conducted the negotiations which secured the terminal property in St. Louis for the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney Railroad
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Cowards Whitaker
Company, and many other financial transactions of large import to the city have benefited by his cooperation, his keen business sagacity and wise discernment in separating the essential features of a situation from its incidental or accidental circumstances.
In 1874 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Whitaker and Miss Sophia A. Taylor, a daughter of Thomas M. Taylor, of St. Louis. Theirs is one of the beautiful and attractive homes of the city, noted for its warm-hearted hospital- ity. Mr. Whitaker is keenly appreciative of the social amenities of life and holds friendship inviolable. He belongs to a number of the leading social organiza- tions of St. Louis, including the Noonday, St. Louis, Cuivre, Commercial and Country Clubs, also the Union, Manhattan and Mid-Day Clubs of New York. Nor has his attention been concentrated alone along lines that have had to do with his business progress and his social activities. He has ever recognized the duties and obligations as well as the privileges and opportunities of citizenship and has cooperated in many movements which have been valuable factors in the upbuilding and development of St. Louis and the maintenance of its high civic standards. He is the president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, a member of the Business Men's League and of the Civic League. He has ever been a man of broad vision and he looks at all public questions from the same wide standpoint that has characterized his understanding of commercial and finan- cial questions. To him opportunity has ever been the call to action-a call to which he has made ready response not only in his business career but in his citizenship connections as well. Forceful and resourceful, he never stops short of the successful accomplishment of his purpose and his course of action has ever been such as will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
@has In. Hourly
Charles Morgan Dowell
C HARLES MORGAN HIOWELL was born at Shoals, Indiana, in the seventies. Ile was the second of six children whose parents were Daniel C. and Emily C. Howell. Both were na- tives of Kentucky but upon marriage moved to Missouri and located at Sarcoxie. Thereafter they moved to Indiana, re- turning later to Missouri and settling in Atchison county which was then but sparsely settled. There the father fol- lowed farming for many years and becoming interested in polities was twice elected judge of the county court. He is still living but has retired from active business. The mother died in 1894, the year her son began the practice of law in Kansas City.
The Charles M. Howell of this review was a typical farmer boy. In the hills and woods which fringed the Missouri river he practiced intensive farming be- fore the days of modern implements and when hard and unremitting toil robbed agricultural achievement of most of its poetie glory. Ile pursued his early education in the district schools of Atchison county and afterwards at- tended the University of Missouri and William Jewell College at Liberty, Mis- souri. Ifis preparation for a professional career was made at the University of Michigan, at which he won the LL. D. degree in 1893; the same year he was admitted to practice at the bar of Michigan and of Missouri. Thereafter he went west to determine upon a suitable location to practice, but shortly returned and set his professional stakes in Kansas City in 1894. Soon thereafter he served as assistant prosecuting attorney of Jackson county, when Senator James A. Reed was prosecuting attorney. Mr. Howell filled the position with great ability and fidelity and afterwards, when Mr. Reed became mayor, he chose Mr. Howell as one of the trial lawyers for the city. In this work he became unusually skillful and for years thereafter engaged largely in trial praetiee, being frequently employed by other lawyers to assist them in the trial of their eases. Later on he and Senator Reed became law partners.
In recent years he has devoted most of his time to insurance and corpora- tion law. As to insurance law, he is regarded as a national authority. This is evideneed by the faet that he is general counsel for a larger number of in- suranee companies and associations than any other lawyer in the United States. He is also a stoekholder and counsel of several Kansas City banks. He is a member of the Kansas City, the Missouri State and the American Bar Asso- eiations.
In 1902 Mr. Howell was married to Miss Irene Gill, of Kansas City, and they became the parents of two children, Catherine, sixteen years of age, and Charles M., Jr., a lad of fourteen.
When the Spanish-American war eame on Mr. Howell at onee went in as
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an enlisted man. He was shortly elected first lieutenant and thereafter was promoted to a captaincy. He is well known in social circles, belonging to the Kansas City Club, Kansas City Athletic Club, Blue Hills Golf Club, and Mis- sion Hills Golf Club; also to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and other similar orders. At college he was a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. He is likewise a member of the Chamber of Com- merce and is deeply interested in all that has to do with the welfare and prog- ress of his adopted city. Moreover he is an active member of the Christian church, and it has been said of him: "He is in every respect a gentleman of the highest character, a man who has made his way by sheer force of intellect and by strict observance of the ethics of that broad profession which makes man the study and the world the college."
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dias Michael
Elias Alichael
E ELIAS MICHAEL was a national figure in the scope, diversity and importance of his life work. He made his home in St. Louis, but in his death the nation lost one of its representative residents by reason of the fact that his activities touched many of those interests which affect the general welfare of society at large. His career was one of continuous service and benefit to others.
"His life was noble, and the elements so mixed in him That Nature might stand up and say to all the world,
'This was a man.'"
Elias Michael was born in Eschau, Bavaria, Germany, September 28, 1854, his parents being Simon and Sarah (Ottenheimer) Michael. The father came to the new world in 1859, establishing his home in Memphis, Tennessee, and a year later he was joined by his wife and three children. His death occurred in 1861 and thus upon the mother devolved the support of her little family, to which end she opened and conducted a small store.
Because of the limited financial. resources of the household Elias Michael put aside his textbooks when a lad of thirteen years and began providing for his own support as an employe in the dry goods store of Hess, Levy & Company of Memphis. But he was ambitious to continue his education and attended business college at night. His entire life was characterized by a most progressive spirit and he utilized every opportunity for advancement. As the architect of his own fortunes he builded wisely and well and in character building, too, his achievement was notable. He was a youth of fifteen when he entered the em- ploy of Rice, Stix & Company of Memphis in the position of doorkeeper and from that humble capacity he steadily worked his way upward, winning various pro- motions until he had become buyer for their notion department when but nine- teen years of age.
In 1873 the mother of Elias Michael fell victim to the yellow fever and from that time forward he regarded his three sisters, one of whom was born after the father's death, as his own children and their education and support he made the dominant interest in his life. His position with Rice, Stix & Com- pany enabled him to maintain the little home and in 1879, when the firm de- cided to remove to St. Louis because of the frequent yellow fever epidemics in Memphis, he accompanied them and was made buyer of the hosiery, notions, furnishing goods and white goods, thus obtaining an understanding of the merchandise that constituted the larger part of the jobbing business. His de- veloping powers won the recognition of his employers and he was given an in-
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