USA > New York > The men of New York: a collection of biographies and portraits of citizens of the Empire state prominent in business, professional, social, and political life during the last decade of the nineteenth century, Vol. II > Part 4
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Attending primaries, speaking at public meetings, and taking part generally in proceedings, he soon made himself a factor in the politics of his district. So thoroughly did he learn the arts of political manipulation - knowledge indispensably valuable in his later reform work - that he succeeded in gain- ing control with his followers of the local organiza- tion. "Jake Hess's district " having dispossessed its lord, Mr. Roosevelt was sent to the assembly for three successive terms. In that body he made a reputation for fearless leadership against corrupt and evil legislation. Wherever " ring jobs " or " pri- vate steals " or underhand proceedings of any kind were going on, Mr. Roosevelt was likely to confront
the evil doers and thwart their plans. Perhaps no man in the assembly was ever more feared by the " bosses " than was he. As for positive results, the most important measure due to him was the Roose- velt aldermanic bill, which allowed the mayor of New York to make appointments without the con- sent of the aldermen. This gave the mayor a free hand, and made possible the best selections - Mr. Roosevelt's own appointment later, for example, to the police board. One consequence of his labors in Albany was the writing of " Essays on Practical Politics," which is admirable alike for its charming literary quality, vivid portrayal of actual legislative conditions, and philosophic discussion of existing evils.
In early youth Mr. Roosevelt was sickly - "pigeon-chested," to quote his own term -and one of his first achievements in life was to make himself over physically. He did the work so well that he became one of the foremost wrestlers, boxers, and all-round athletes in the Harvard gym- nasium. On his postgraduate continental trip he succeeded in mounting snow-capped Jungfrau and the rocky Matterhorn, thereby gaining membership in the Alpine Club of London. His interest in manly sports took him to the Bad Lands of the Northwest to shoot bear, buffalo, and bighorn. His first trips to the "cow country " were made during the long vacations of the assembly ; and after his re- tirement from the legislature in 1884 he started a cattle ranch on the Little Missouri in western North Dakota, and spent a large part of his time for the next two years in the toilsome, adventurous, and picturesque life of a ranchman. He has embalmed the essence of his experience in three works, "Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail," " Hunting Trips of a Ranchman," and " The Wilderness Hun- ter," which will have a permanent place in literature as faithful pictures of a romantic historical epoch doomed to swift effacement in this electrical age.
In the fall of 1886 Mr. Roosevelt ran for mayor of New York. Though Abram S. Hewitt, the Democratic nominee, was elected, Mr. Roosevelt polled a larger proportion of the total vote than any other Republican candidate up to the election of W. L. Strong in 1894. After the mayoralty cam - paign Mr. Roosevelt gave himself up to literary labors. Possessed of a vigorous, flowing, crystalline style, adorned with many rhetorical graces but direct and practical withal, he has a reputation as a writer not inferior to his fame in other lines. His " Naval War of 1812," published when he was one year out of college, his lives of Benton and Gouver- neur Morris in the American Statesmen series, and
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his history of New York city in Freeman's series of Historic Towns, constitute, with the works previously mentioned, a solid contribution to American liter- ature. His magnum opus, however, is the " Winning of the West," in four volumes, forming one of the most notable additions in recent years to works on American history.
Appointed by President Harrison in 1889 United States civil-service commis- sioner, Mr. Roosevelt retained that office for the next six years, and made a re- markable record for efficient administra- tion. Believing thoroughly in the work of the commission, he was able to en- force the law vigorously, and to extend its scope and usefulness. Partly because of his success in this office, he was selected by Mayor Strong in the spring `of 1895 for the vitally important post of police commissioner. Thoroughly sym- pathetic with the motives underlying Dr. Parkhurst's crusade, and anxious that the fruits of victory should not fail, Mr. Roosevelt accepted the appointment, and threw himself with titanic energy into the work of changing the police force from a nest of corruption into a bulwark of good government. His speedy and brilliantly decisive success focused the eyes of the nation upon him. He proved past all doubt that the law could be enforced even when obnoxious and admittedly defective ; and he and his colleagues on the board, in the face of disheartening obstacles and a mass of inherited evils, have raised the depart- ment to a high state of efficiency.
A final word about Theodore Roose- velt may fittingly concern his character, since that is the key to all his history. Sincerity, earnestness, absolute uprightness, joined to hard common sense and rare reach of intellect, with inextinguishable energy actuating all, and kindliness of heart domi- nating all - therein lies the secret of his marvelous success.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Theodore Roosevelt was born at New York city October 27, 1858 ; graduated from Harvard College in 1880; was a member of the New York assembly, 1882-84 : was a delegate to the Republican national convention in 1884, and candidate for mayor of New York city in 1886 : married Edith K. Carote of New York city December 2, 1886 : was United States civil-service commissioner, 1889-95 ; has been president of the
board of police commissioners of New York city since May, 1805.
3. Edward Simmons is still in the prime of life, but be seems older because he became so long
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
ago one of the most distinguished financiers in the country. Starting in life with priceless qualities of mind and character inherited from a long line of worthy ancestors, he followed up this advantage by getting a liberal education in college and law school. He then practiced law for four years in his native city of Troy. Deciding wisely, though not without some risk of error, that a greater career awaited him in another place and another calling, he boldly abandoned the law, and established himself in New York city as a banker. The result amply justified his course, and in a few years he had attained a rank among the foremost financiers of the metropolis. His prestige was such by the year 1884 that he was elected president of the New York Stock Exchange, receiving a larger number of votes than had been
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given to any previous candidate in a contested elec- tion. No salary is attached to this office, but the honor of incumbeney is highly prized, as the re- sponsibility is most weighty. Re-elected president in 1885, Mr. Simmons declined to run a third time. His retirement from the office occasioned the passage
J. EDWARD SIMMONS
of highly complimentary resolutions by the Ex- change, and the presentation of a beautiful gold watch, suitably inscribed, by the members of the governing committee.
Soon after this something happened to Mr. Sim- mons that is almost without precedent in the annals of banking. Without knowing a single director of the institution or owning any stock therein, he was invited to accept the presidency of the Fourth Na- tional Bank. He had never set foot in the bank even, and the offer came to him solely on the strength of his surpassing ability and flawless record during twenty years in Wall street. Accepting the high trust thus tendered, Mr. Simmons has made the " Fourth National" one of the five leading banks of
the country. With a capital of over three million dollars, deposits of abont thirty millions, and an ag- gregate annual volume of business of five billion dol- lars, the Fourth National Bank may well require at its head a man of stainless character, a banker of proved capacity, and a financier of the very first rank in every respect.
That Mr. Simmons is all this may be seen not only in the history of the bank during his administration, but as well in his multiform achievements in general finance outside that institution. In the panic of 1893 he was one of the strongest pillars that supported the tottering com- mercial fabric, serving on the Loan Committee that did so much to arrest the flood of demoralization. Through- out the trying times since then he has wielded a giant's strength in the life- and-death struggle between sound finance and ruin. In recent months he has taken a prominent part in the reorgan- ization of bankrupt railways, where his exceptional skill in finance and high standing in the banking world are of the utmost value. The railroad across the isthmus of Panama, which has had a re- markably prosperous career, is managed by an American board of directors, but .is owned chiefly by French investors. The latter require an efficient and trust- worthy executive head, and in 1895 they elected Mr. Simmons president of the Panama Railway Co., and of the tribu- tary Columbian line of steamers. In the same year he was chosen a vice president of the New York Chamber of Commerce for a term of four years. In
October, 1896, he was unanimously chosen president of the New York Clearing House Association, one of the highest positions attainable anywhere in the banking world.
Consistently with his character and attainments, Mr. Simmons has frequently been solicited to let his name appear in connection with high places in pub- lic life. Having no ambition in such directions and a clear field of duty elsewhere, he has uniformly rejected such overtures. In 1881, however, he ac- cepted an appointment from Mayor Grace as com- missioner of education, and a reappointment the next year from Mayor Edson ; and he served as president of the board for five successive terms from 1886. In recognition of his gratuitous work in the cause of education the degree of L.L. D. was
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conferred upon him in 1885 by the University of Norwich, Vermont. He is a director of several charitable organizations, president of the New York Infant Asylum, and a governor of the New York Hospital.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY - Joseph Ed- ward Simmons was born at Troy, N. Y., September 9, 1841 ; graduated from Williams College in 1862, and from the Albany Law School in 18633 ; practiced law in Tror, 1863-67 ; married Julia Greer of New York city April 12, 1866 ; was president of the New York Stock Exchange, 1884-85, and of the board of education of New York city, 1886-91 ; was made president of the New York Clearing House Association in October, 1896 ; has been engaged in banking in New York city since 1SSS.
Charles A. Dana, the Nestor of American journalism, was born in New Hampshire seventy-seven years ago. He spent his boyhood in Buffalo, N. Y., serving as clerk in his uncle's dry-goods store for seven years. The panic of 1837 having terminated this employ- ment, he took up the study of Latin at the age of nineteen, and otherwise fitted himself to enter Harvard College in 1839. Serious eyesight trouble forced his retirement from Harvard at the end of his sophomore year ; but the college authorities afterward gave him his de- gree. In 1842 he joined the famous colony at Brook Farm, West Roxbury, Mass., in the attempt to combine intel- lectual and social ideals with fertilization of the soil and the milking of cows. Of the distinguished farmer-philosophers thus assembled, including Hawthorne, Curtis, Alcott, Channing, and Ripley, Mr. Dana is said to have given most promise of ultimate success as a tiller of the soil.
After two years' editorial and general work on Elizur Wright's daily news- paper, the Boston Chronotype, at a sti- pend of five dollars weekly, Mr. Dana went to New York in February, 1847, to become city editor of the New York Tribune, at a salary of ten dollars a week.
The next year he spent eight months in Europe, supporting himself and family by writing letters to several newspapers. Going back to the Trib- ยท une, he remained on that paper until April 1, 1862. He was Horace Greeley's right-hand man
during all these years, and as one of the proprietors and managing editor of the paper had an em- phatic voice in its affairs. The progress of the great journal in the decade preceding the Rebellion must be ascribed in a large degree to his newspaper talent. Without disparaging Mr. Greeley's bril- liancy as a writer, power as a moral leader, and strangely winning personality, one may still main- tain that these and other valuable qualities of the founder of the Tribune do not wholly explain the splendid success of the paper at that time. An es- sential factor in the general result was Mr. Dana's staff organization, his comprehensive sense regard- ing news, his firm maintenance of a consistent policy, his imperturbable, balance-wheel adjustment of the great engine.
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CHARLES A. DANA
Variance of opinion between Mr. Greeley and Mr. Dana regarding the proper conduct of the Civil War led to Mr. Dana's resignation from the Tribune in the spring of 1862. He was at once intrusted with important missions for the war department by
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Secretary Stanton, and was made assistant secretary of war in 1863. From that time until the fall of Richmond he was, in Lincoln's phrase, "the eyes of the government at the front." Spending much of his time in the saddle, wherever conflict was most imminent or the fortunes of war most precari- ous, he became the chief living link between the war department and the generals at the front, and rendered invaluable service to Lincoln and Stanton in their assignment of commands and general over- sight of the army. At great crises of the war he sent to Secretary Stanton daily or hourly dispatches, which were so vivid and accurate and complete in essentials that the secretary could see with his own eyes the whole situation. Mr. Dana's judgment of men was unerring. and was so regarded by the President and his secretary of war. In the early summer of 1863; for example, when a strong effort was making to depose Grant from command, Mr. Dana sent dispatches from Vicksburg containing facts that strongly tended to prevent such a step ; and a colossal blunder was thus averted.
After the war Mr. Dana became editor of the Chicago Republican for about a year. When that enterprise failed, from causes not connected with the editorial management of the paper, he returned to New York and acquired control of the Sun. Issuing the first number under the new management January 27, 1868, he has ever since been solely responsible for the conduct of the paper. He has identified himself more thoroughly with the Sun than has any other living journalist with any other paper. He is regarded by inany as the foremost journalist in America.
Whatever else may be true of a Sun editorial, its sparkling, vigorous, idiomatic English cannot be denied. Many of Mr. Dana's leading articles might be cited in rhetorical text-books as models of style and diction. Similar, if not equal, literary excellence characterizes the Sun throughout ; for Mr. Dana dominates the whole paper, and not merely the editorial page. The part of the Sun given up to news is widely noted for its entertaining quality. Mr. Dana welcomes whatever is refreshing or picturesque in language, if it be also simple and unaffected. As for the matter itself rather than its verbal dress, the essential element there, according to his standards, is human interest. Any fact -or fancy, as for that -- which if skillfully presented will interest mankind, may properly be treated by a daily journal. In the pages of the Sun, accordingly, one may find not only the conventional news of the day, but also numerous items or articles regarding science, art, philosophy, humor, literature.
Mr. Dana belongs to the American Geographical Society, the New England Society, the Sons of the American Revolution, and some other similar or- ganizations ; but he is not a clubman. He goes almost daily to his unpretentious office in Nassau street, and finds his pleasure otherwise in his home, his books, and his beautiful estate at Dosoris, near Glen Cove, Long Island. He is a veritable poly- giot, knowing familiarly many of the spoken lan- guages outside the oriental tongues. His admira- tion for the Bible is boundless, and Dante has been his intimate for thirty years. Having never ex- perienced a single hour of serious illness in his life, he still works hard six days in the week, no older now at the age of seventy-seven than most men at fifty.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY- Charles An- derson Dana was born at Hinsdale, N. H., August 8, 1819 ; was clerk in a dry-goods store in Buffalo, 1830-37 ; attended Harvard College, 1839-41 ; lived at Brook Farm, 1842-47 ; married Eunice Macdan- iel of New York city March 2, 1846 ; worked on the Boston " Chronotype," 1844-47, and on the News York " Tribune," 1847-48; was foreign corre- spondent in European capitals in 1848 ; was a pro- prietor and managing editor of the New York "Trib- une," 1849-62; was assistant secretary of war, 1863-65 ; has been editor and chief owner of the News York " Sun" since January, 1868.
Vlilliam IR. Grace, formerly mayor of New York, and otherwise known in many lands from his importance in the world of commerce, was born in Ireland sixty-four years ago. He spent most of his boyhood in Dublin and vicinity, but found life there so little to his taste that he ran away to sea. Landing in New York in 1846, he entered the serv- ice of a shipping house, and there acquired the liking for the business with which he has ever since had more or less to do. When about eighteen years old he recrossed the Atlantic, and established in Liver- pool the shipping firm of W. R. Grace & Co. This enterprise was fairly successful, but was not suffi- ciently promising to satisfy Mr. Grace.
Becoming interested in Peru, he went thither in 1851. He visited Lima and Callao, entered the employ of the firm of John Bryce & Co., dealers in ship stores and chandlery in Callao, and afterwards became a partner in the concern. The firm pros- pered exceedingly, acquiring the control in a few years of most of the foreign shipping trade on the west coast of South America. Various branch houses and interrelated concerns were established from time to time, at convenient shipping centers,
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as the business developed, including the firms of W. R. Grace & Co., New York, M. P. Grace & Co., London, J. W. Grace & Co., San Francisco, Grace Brothers & Co., Lima and Callao, and Grace & Co., Valparaiso, Santiago, and Concepcion. Mr. Grace, together with his brothers, Michael P. and John W., and his nephew, Edward Eyre, held a controlling interest in all of these firms. In 1895 the business of these concerns was transferred to the corporation of W. R. Grace & Co., of which Mr. Grace is president, and all of the houses now bear that name.
The corporation of W. R. Grace & Co. controls the New York & Pacific Steamship Co., Ltd., which has a fleet of five large and specially constructed freight steamers regularly employed in the trade between New York and the west coast of South America, carrying kerosene, dry goods, and articles of American manufacture to Chile, Peru, and Ecuador, and returning with cargoes of wool, cotton, and nitrate of soda. Of the last-named article Mr. Grace's firm is the heaviest importer in the country, besides shipping the product largely to European ports.
Spending much of his time earlier in life in traveling between South America, Europe, and the United States, Mr. Grace opened his permanent office in New York city in 1865, and has ever since regarded the metropolis as business and home headquarters. He soon be- came widely and favorably known in commercial circles, and was called upon to fill many positions of trust and respon- sibility. He has been president of the Export Lumber Co., and has held directorates in the Lincoln National Bank and the Emigrant Indus- trial Savings Bank. He is president of the Inger- soll-Sergeant Drill Co., and takes an active part in the management of the business. He is a trustee of the Terminal Warehouse Co., the Terminal Im- provement Co., the New York Life Insurance Co., the United States Casualty Co., and the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum. He is president of the Sevilla Home for Girls.
Becoming interested in political affairs, Mr. Grace rose rapidly to prominence in the Democratic party, and received the nomination for the mayoralty in 1880. Elected to this high office, he so arranged his private affairs that he could devote all his time
to municipal matters. His administration was re- garded with so much favor that in 1884, after an absence from the mayor's chair of one term, he was again elected to the position of chief magistrate.
Many readers will recall Mr. Grace's magnificent gift to his mother country at the time of the famine
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WILLIAM R. GRACE
in 1879, when the New York Herald organized a relief movement, and the United States ship " Con- stellation " was assigned to carry the cargo to the stricken country. Mr. Grace on that occasion con- tributed personally half of the entire cargo, besides providing without charge all the clerical services connected with the undertaking. The total amount of his contribution was not far from 850,000.
Mr. Grace belongs to various prominent clubs, including the Manhattan, Downtown Association, Lawyers,' Reform, Country, Democratic, Catholic, and Metropolitan.
PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY-William Rus- sell Grace was born at Riverside. Cove of Cork, Ire- land, in 1833 : came to the United States in 1846,
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and entered the service of a shipping house ; married Lillius Gilchrest of St. George, Me., in 1859; was mayor of New York city, 1881-82 and 1885-S6 ; has engaged extensively in the shipping trade, export- ing, and importing, with headquarters in New York city, since 1865.
ANSON G. MCCOOK
Anson G. MDcCook, belonging to a family famous for its fighters, has himself perpetuated this ancestral distinction, and has besides gained fame in other and no less worthy ways. Born in Steuben- ville, Ohio, in 1835, he received a common-school education in the neighboring town of New Lisbon. The spirit of adventure, always prominent in the family and at times irrepressible, sent the young man forth in 1854, bound for California in one of the historic wagon trains that trailed their slow way overland forty years ago. Everything was in a state of flux on the Coast at that time, and he returned to Ohio in 1859, for the purpose of read- ing law in his cousin's office. He was admitted to the bar, but never became a practicing lawyer. He
had almost completed his legal studies when the Civil War broke out.
His name would not have been MeCook if he had not dropped everything else, and thrown him- self into the conflict. Raising a company of volun- teers on the first call for troops - the first company to enter the service from eastern Ohio -- he was elected captain, and served as such with the 2d Ohio infantry in the bloody baptism of fire at Bull Run. Upon the reorganization of his regiment for three years he was made major, and ultimately colonel, serving in the Army of the Cumberland under Buell, Rose- crans, and Thomas. He participated in many of the battles in the West, in- cluding those at Perryville, Murfrees- boro, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge. He was also with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, where he took part in the battle of Resaca, and com- manded a brigade at the battle of Peach- tree Creek, near Atlanta, July 19-20, 1864. When the 2d Ohio was mustered out at the close of its three years' term of enlistment, he was appointed colonel of the 194th Ohio, ordered to the valley of Virginia, and assigned to the com- mand of a brigade. At the close of the war he was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers " for gallant and meritori- ous services." Similar honors were be- stowed upon others, of the "fighting MeCooks."
Returning to Ohio, General McCook remained there for about seven years as United States assessor of internal reve- nne. He then took up his residence in New York, and became interested in the Lato Journal of that city. When he had been there about three years he was elected to congress on the Republican ticket from the 8th New York district. and was twice re-elected, serving six years alto- gether, in the 45th, 46th, and 47th congresses. In December, 1883, he was chosen by the United States senate secretary of that body, and held the position until August, 1893. He became a great favorite with the members of the upper house, irrespective of party. Returning to New York in 1893, when the Democrats obtained control of the senate, he devoted himself to business until August. 1895, when he was appointed chamberlain of the city of New York by Mayor Strong. General McCook's name has constantly been mentioned in
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