USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 46
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to earn a bonus is like a board of directors employing an incompetent superintendent be- cause he is willing to pay something for the position."
One of the most important factors in the development of industrial property in Cleve- land was the Cleveland Short Line Railway, known as the Belt line. About ten miles of this road runs through land formerly used for agricultural purposes, practically none of which was more than ten miles from the Public Square. Many thousands of acres of this land are available for industrial pur- poses, and it is for the purpose of increas- ing that availability and directing the atten- tion of manufacturers to its value that The Schauffler Realty Company has rendered one of its biggest services. This company is in fact doing for Cleveland the same service that is rendered by the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, the only difference being that The Schauffler Company is frankly in the busi- ness for business reasons, with a proper con- sideration of the gain and profit involved. Mr. Fred Schauffler is a familiar figure in gatherings of real estate men and business men in general, and many times has spoken on his line of work and written many articles which have appeared in the daily press on the subject of industrial properties, on which he is without doubt one of the most highly qualified experts in the country.
The Schauffler Realty Company are mem- bers of the Cleveland Real Estate Board, and Mr. Fred Schauffler has been a member of the valuation committee of that board a num- ber of years. The company are also mem- bers of The Ohio Association of Real Estate Exchanges, members of the Ohio Tax League, Municipal League, Cleveland Fire Insurance Exchange and Civic League.
Mr. Fred Schauffler was born in Millers- burg, Ohio, November 24, 1876, a son of Carl and Emily (Joss) Schauffler. Not long ago a Cleveland newspaper considered Mr. Shauff- ler's position in business affairs of sufficient importance and interest to be worth a column or so of valuable space as a news story. A correspondent was sent out and finally suc- ceeded in eliciting from Mr. Schauffler an in- terview which has more significance to it than most stories concerning successful business men. This story as reported at the time runs as follows :
"I left school at the age of twelve and took a job 'hopping bells' in a hotel at Pittsburg. My hope in those days was to become a rail-
road man and after working at the hotel several months succeeded in getting a posi- tion with the Union News Company and ran from Pittsburg to Wheeling and back each day on the Pennsylvania Railroad. My mother thought I was too young for that kind of work, and after six months I gave it up and went to work in a store in Pittsburg. I worked in various places until the fall of 1896 found me selling sewing machines in New Philadelphia, Ohio. I was then twenty years old, and when McKinley's election was announced I told the family I was going to Cleveland and strike out for myself.
"The Cleveland Trust Company had just started in business in the basement of the Garfield Building, with no entrance except a stairway and elevator in the rear of the lobby, and I ran the elevator there until the Spanish war." At this point it should be mentioned that Mr. Schauffler volunteered during that war as a member of Company L of the 14th United States Infantry, in the regular army, and saw considerable active service during a year in the Philippines. After that, resuming his own language, "I returned to the Garfield building and ran an elevator for some time. I left and worked at other things for several years, but finally took my old elevator position. The spring of 1905 found me running an elevator at forty-five dollars per month. I was then over twenty-eight, and had made up my mind there was no chance for me ever to do better. I had never worked in an office and with little schooling felt that I was not qualified for such a position."
Mr. Schauffler was one day taking up to his office W. J. Hiner, a railroad man. Hiner said to the elevator hoy, "There is a job as filing clerk in the office of the superintend- ent of the Lake Shore Railroad; it pays fifty dollars a month, and if you want it you might as well have it." "I am making forty-five dollars where I am and maybe I'd better stick," responded Schauffler. "This is cer- tain and the other job is uncertain. I do not believe I am systematic enough to be file clerk. I haven't got the education, either." But the next day having revolved the mat- ter in mind, he decided to try the new re- sponsibilities, the extra five dollars a month and the prospect of passes making a strong appeal to him.
Mr. Schauffler says: "I went down deter- mined to do everything in my power to hold the job, but feeling it would be almost a miracle if I did. After I was there a week
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I discovered I could do everything that was expected of me and even more; that the other clerks were just like myself; that I could have done the same work ten or even fifteen years before; that a man is foolish to say he cannot do a certain thing because he knows nothing about it, and that a little digging into a seemingly mysterious matter often makes it easy." While this is Mr. Schauffler's per- sonal version of the matter, it is said that he was in reality more than a routine worker. In a few weeks time he had devised a new form of conductor's hat check. While filing correspondence he had discovered that every conductor had his own system of indicating destination of individual passengers, and that no outsiders could check up or understand the system. Mr. Schauffler's recommendation for a uniform plan was soon adopted at a meet- ing of superintendents. He also recommended a new sixty-ride transportation slip system, and that idea likewise was adopted. The dili- gence with which he performed his regular duties and the ideas he originated from time to time naturally attracted the attention of his superiors.
To resume his own story, "In a very short time I was getting sixty-five dollars a month, and had my eye on a stenographer's job that paid seventy-five dollars. I started to study at night and got along fine with shorthand, but I could never learn to spell and gave up the idea of being a stenographer. Two years later I was chief clerk of the land depart- ment of the Michigan Central Railway and was paying my stenographer as much as I had hoped to earn by learning shorthand. I next served as traveling land agent for the road with headquarters at Detroit and then took the same position with the Lake Shore & Ohio Central, with headquarters at Toledo. The Interstate Commerce Commission refused to allow the railroads to increase their freight rates in 1911, and the New York Central System started to retrench and all the travel- ing land agents were laid off on July 1st.
"I had by this time wide experience in in- dustrial property. On July 26, 1911, I rented desk room. On October 12, 1911, I received $51.60, which was my commission on my first deal, and December 11th I received $80. Those deals were all the business I handled the first six months. I was in business, but during that time I had walked over every mile of railroad in and about Cleveland and enquired into the history of every parcel of land that
appeared valuable for industrial purposes. In the spring of 1912 it was necessary to employ a man to assist me, and on March 6, 1912, we incorporated The Schauffler Realty Com- pany. On May 1, 1912, we went into larger quarters and on May 1, 1913, we moved into our present location in the Garfield Building."
After reading this it is easy for any reader to understand that there is an unusually rare combination of business enterprise and sound and constructive thinking in the man who is at the head of The Schauffler Realty Com- pany.
M. L. BERNSTEEN is a lawyer by profes- sion, being a member of the firm Bernsteen & Bernsteen, attorneys and counselors at law in Society for Savings Building, but not un- like many other professional men his incli- nations run strongly in the direction of the active outdoor life, and his special fondness is for ranching. He had several years of ac- tual experience in managing a ranch in Texas, and it would not surprise his many Cleve- land friends if Mr. Bernsteen eventually broke away from law practice and resumed the role of landed proprietor.
Mr. Bernsteen was born at Carey, Ohio, February 2, 1881, a son of Harris and Henri- etta (Meyers) Bernsteen. His father, a re- tired business man of Cleveland, for many years engaged in the manufacture of safes, is now enjoying the fruits of his good management and ability. Both he and his wife were born in Germany, and have lived in Cleveland over forty years. They had eight children, four sons and four daughters.
M. L. Bernsteen when two years of age ac- companied the family to Cleveland, and was educated in the public schools of this city, graduating from the Central High School with the class of 1899. He then spent five years in Western Reserve University in various de- partments and was graduated LL. B. from the law department in 1904, and admitted to the bar in the month of June in the same year.
Instead of immediately embarking in prac- tice, Mr. Bernsteen went to southwest Texas and participated strenuously in the scenes and activities of ranch and range until 1909. Re- turning to his native city he then embarked in the practice of law with his brother, A. E. Bernsteen under the name Bernsteen & Bernsteen. This firm enjoys a splendid repu- tation in Cleveland law circles, and has special-
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ized largely in personal injury practice, hav- ing about as large a clientage in that field as any other firm or individual.
Mr. M. L. Bernsteen is a director of the Consolidated Oil Company of Cleveland and of the M. E. Lazarus Company. In politics he is for the best man regardless of party and is affiliated with Cleveland City Lodge Free and Accepted Masons, Cleveland Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Cleveland Lodge No. 18 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Cleveland Bar Association. Mr. Bernsteen is unmarried.
STEPHEN G. RUSK. The firm Nau, Rusk & Swearingen, certified public accountants, with offices both in Cleveland and New York, has a business practically national in scope, and is one of the most complete organizations of the kind in the Middle West. The sec- ond member of this firm is an accountant of long and thorough practical experience, and began his career in Cleveland as a cash boy, and has climbed by his own exertions and abilities to his present position.
A native of Cleveland, Stephen George Rusk was born April 27, 1870, a son of Peter H. and Amanda (Clark) Rusk. On his moth- er's side he traces his ancestry back to Capt. Jacob Morgan, who was a gallant fighter, in not only the French and Indian war but the Revolution.
Mr. Rusk finished his course in the Cleve- land grammar schools in June, 1885, at the age of fifteen. He then found employment as cash boy in Hower and Higbee's dry goods store, but in the fall of the same year en- tered the employ of Root and McBride, whole- sale dry goods, as clerk in their shipping de- partment. He remained with that one busi- ness for eight years, being promoted to stock keeper and junior salesman. He left the em- plov of that firm in 1893 and took up stenog- raphy, and in the following year was em- ployed by the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company, continuing with them as stenographer and bookkeeper for twelve years. In 1906 Mr. Rusk accepted the position of senior account- ant with the old and well known firm of public accountants, Ernst & Ernst, but in 1909 became a partner in the firm of Nau, Rusk & Swearingen, certified public accountants.
Mr. Rusk is a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, of the local chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, of the City Club, Civic League, the Cleveland Athletic Club, and is well known in business Vol. II-16
and social circles of the city. He is a re- publican, a member of the Trinity Baptist Church, and is affiliated with the Lodge of Masons. August 11, 1906, at Cleveland Mr. Rusk married Lillian May Sencabaugh, daugh- ter of James and Georgiana Sencabaugh. Mr. and Mrs. Rusk have one daughter, Georgiana Rosamond.
LOUIS BARNES of the law firm Eshelman, Barnes & Richmond in the American Trust Building, has made an enviable record as a lawyer in Cleveland for a young man, and while now identified with general practice he early distinguished himself as a most keen and resourceful criminal lawyer.
Mr. Barnes was born at Newcastle, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, February 8, 1886, and has lived in Cleveland since he was a child. He comes of a family of lawyers, both his great-grandfather and his grandfather having been leading members of the bar in Pennsyl- vania. Mr. Barnes' parents are of Scotch- Irish ancestry.
He was educated in the Cleveland public schools, graduating in 1906 from the West High School under Charles P. Lynch. He then entered the law department of the Baldwin- Wallace University, taking his LL. B. degree in 1909, and was admitted to the Ohio bar June 23d of that year. He at once began practice in Cleveland, and until 1915 gave his time exclusively to the criminal law. In January, 1915, he became a member of the present firm of Eshelman, Barnes & Rich- mond. These are all young lawyers, and they handle a large volume of civil practice.
Mr. Barnes, who is unmarried, is a very enthusiastic republican, and has done much good work for the party, both in local and national affairs. He is affiliated with New- burg Lodge No. 379, Free and Accepted Masons, Baker Chapter No. 139 Royal Arch Masons, and is a member of the Gordon Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. His chief recreation is automobiling.
WILLIAM E. MCNAUGHTON. With the advan- tage that a liberal education gives a young man of industry and ambition he may find the road to success in many vocations compara- tively easy, but there are others in which hard, practical experience is the most reliable path. It will be found on investigation that many of the most efficient business men of to- day have had this kind of training, one that has made them more self reliant than other-
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wise and has given a wider sense of proportion. While William E. McNaughton, vice presi- dent of several of the most important manu- facturing companies of Ohio, may not have needed this experience, he undoubtedly values and gives it due credit as a factor in an un- usually successful career.
William E. MeNaughton was born at Ash- land, Kentucky, August 21, 1888. His par- ents are John and Florida P. (Walker) Mc- Naughton, both of whom survive. John Mc- Naughton was born December 1, 1860, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he remained dur- ing his school period and then moved to Ash- land, Kentucky. He became an iron worker in a blast furnace and continued there until 1895, when he came to Cleveland and entered the employ of the Cleveland Rolling Mill Com- pany as a blast furnace man. Prompt and reliable, he has never had any difficulty in securing a position of this kind, one requir- ing skill, knowledge and a sturdy constitution, and later entered the American Steel & Wire Company's plant, at present being connected with the Upsou Nut Company. He is well known and highly respected and is a mem- ber of the order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias. In 1885 he was married at Ashland, Kentucky. to Miss Florida P. Walker, and they have eight children.
William E. McNaughton attended the pub- lie schools at Ashland until 1895, and after the family settled in Cleveland continued his education here for three years, returning then to his native place to take his high school course and afterward to become a student in the University of Kentucky, from which he was graduated in June, 1905. After returning to Cleveland he became office manager for the firm of Knauff & Esterbrook, manufacturers of fire brick, and continued until 1909. It was at this time that Mr. McNaughton entered upon his period of practical experience as an open hearth man with the Upson Nut Com- pany.
Mr. McNaughton then became cashier and credit man with the Cleveland Tool & Supply Company. continuing for three years and then, in association with several other men of capi- tal and enterprise, organized the Cleveland Machinery & Supply Company, of which he is vice president and secretary, and additionally is secretary of the Simplex Machine Tool Com- pany. He has proven able and reliable in every business situation and enjoys the con- fidence as well as the respect of his business associates.
Mr. McNaughton was married at Cleveland, January 26, 1916, to Miss Irene E. Kelly, and they have two sons, John Francis, who was born March 7, 1917, and William E., Jr., born March 17, 1918.
Mrs. McNaughton is a daughter of Frank A. Kelly, who was born on Franklin Avenue, Cleveland, July 23, 1857. He attended the public schools and St. Patrick's Parochial School, and afterward was employed in the Cleveland Rolling Mills. On March 15, 1887, Mr. Kelly entered the police force of this city as a patrolman, and served continuously for twenty-seven years, with an exceptionally clean record. He was highly valued because of his fidelity to duty, for courage and hon- esty, and was promoted, and when he resigned, May 21, 1913, he was a sergeant of police. He was married at Cleveland October 25, 1879, to Miss Margaret C. Bartlett, and they have had a family of nine children.
In politics Mr. McNaughton is a republican, but in time of national danger (1917) is be- fore everything an American, and is a com- missioned ensign in the United States Naval Reserves. In civic matters he has always per- formed his full duty, and if dire circum- stances call for his patriotic duty far from home and kindred there too will he certainly be found ready and efficient. He is one of the active and popular members of the Cleveland Athletic Club, and for many years has been a zealous Mason, in which fraternity he is a Shriner. He is a prominent example of the effective younger business men of this city.
ALBERT HARLAN BATES. The reputation of the eminent attorneys in the field of patent law is not made in a day, unusual ability in this broad department demanding not only natural capacity, but the most thorough prep- aration and strenuous, continuous and intense application and industry. Broad education and extensive knowledge of business, com- mercial and industrial principles and condi- tions, are requisites for success. Commencing practice at Cleveland about twenty years ago, Albert Harlan Bates has steadily advanced to the front in reputation and the legitimate rewards of such a standing, and his contem- poraries are quick to acknowledge his special abilities and his high position among the law- yers of the state.
Albert Harlan Bates was born in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, January 24, 1869, and is a son of Cyrus S. and Lavena S. Bates. He was granted excellent educational advan-
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tages, attending Kenyon Military Academy, at Gambier, Ohio, and next completing a course in Lehigh University, from which splen- did institution he was graduated with the class of 1889, receiving the degree of mechani- cal engineer. His legal studies were prose- cuted at the Ohio State University, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1892, and, being admitted to the bar in the same year, joined the legal forces of the Brush Electric Company, with which concern he was identified during 1892 to 1893. Mr. Bates left Cleveland in 1893, temporarily, go- ing to Chicago, where he was associated with Robert H. Parkinson, a prominent patent law- ver. With this added experience, he returned to Cleveland in the latter part of 1896, and in 1897 became a member of the firm of Thurston & Bates, this combination continuing in existence until 1905. In 1906 the firm of Bates, Fonts & Hull was formed and soon took prominent rank in patent law and continued to be connected with many important cases during the entire time that it remained to- gether as an association. For some years after 1909 Mr. Bates was engaged in practice alone, but in 1916 formed his present partnership of Bates & Macklin, who maintain offices in the Society for Savings Building. He has at- traced to himself a large and representative clientele, and through fine abilities has been able to make his name known as one of the foremost practitioners in his particular field. Mr. Bates is a member of the American So- ciety of Mechanical Engineers, the Cleveland Engineering Society, the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and the City and State Bar as- sociations. He likewise holds membership in the Psi Upsilon fraternity, the City Club and the Cleveland Automobile Club. He is an ardent motorist and likewise is fond of tak- ing fishing trips.
On October 11, 1904, Mr. Bates was mar- ried at Atlanta, Georgia, to Miss Kathleen Jones, and they have now two children : Mar- garet and Darwin.
WILLIAM HOWARD BRETT. Few men have it in them to grow in understanding in pro- portion to the tremendous growth of modern life. It requires something of genius in the individual to adjust and adapt the capabilities and his service to the changing needs and demands of an ever new time and situation.
It is such a type of service that has made the work of William Howard Brett distinctive as an American librarian. Mr. Brett has been
head of the Cleveland Public Library over thirty years. He came to his post when the library was an almost immobile and unavail- ing collection of books, and has brought it into intimate and daily contact with the peo- ple of a great city. He has given vitality to one of the most important functions of the municipality.
William Howard Brett was born at Brace- ville, Trumbull County, Ohio, July 1, 1846, a son of Morgan Lewis and Jane (Brokaw) Brett. His father was born in New York State and his mother in Virginia, and both died in Cleveland. In the paternal line Mr. Brett is of New England descent. He is in the seventh generation from William Brett, who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, from England in 1630. The New England Bretts were associated and related with the families of Alden, Howard & Foote. Mr. Brett's moth- er was of Dutch Colonial stock. He was the only son among three children. His sister, Ida J., has for many years been a teacher at Cleveland. His sister, Mary V., now de- ceased, was also a Cleveland teacher.
As a boy William H. Brett attended the public schools of Warren, Ohio. He was not yet fifteen years of age when the war broke out. With most boys of the time he wanted to get to the front. Several attempts to en- ter the army were frustrated, either because he was rejected as being too young or else was claimed from the ranks by his father. Finally in April, 1864, he succeeded in his desire and was enrolled in the One Hundred and Seventy-first Ohio Regiment. When the time of his enlistment expired he re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Ninety-sixth Ohio. He was mustered out with this regiment at the close of the war.
During 1868-69 Mr. Brett was a student in the medical department of the University of Michigan. During 1874-75 he continued his studies in the Western Reserve University. The degree Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Hiram College in 1894.
During his vacations he had been in the book business, and in 1871 he came to Cleve- land and followed that as a vocation until he assumed his present post as librarian of the Cleveland Public Library in 1884. At that time the public library occupied the sec- ond and third floors of the old Central High School Building. Its quarters were there un- til 1900, when it was removed to the old City Hall Annex. At the present time a magnifi- cent library building. to cost $2,000,000, is
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in course of construction on the site of the old City Hall.
As librarian Mr. Brett has been indefatiga- ble not only in developing and extending the collection of books in all departments, but particularly in facilitating the use of the library by the people of Cleveland. He first made it an invaluable adjunct to the work of the public schools, and then songht every op- portunity to make the books readily avail- able to the reading public by liberalizing the circulation department and promoting the es- tablishment of local and branch libraries, read- ing rooms and delivery stations.
Doubtless his greatest contribution to the American library system was in originat- ing and giving the first practical and success- ful demonstration of the "open shelf" pol- icy. Cleveland was the first large city in the country to inaugurate the plan of allowing free general access to the book stacks. This system was adopted in 1889. In recent years practically every large library of the coun- try has adopted in modified form at least the plan. Mr. Brett says that when he was con- sidering the system librarians over the coun- try said it would prove impracticable, and that Cleveland would soon be without a library because books would be taken out and never returned. Probably with no important excep- tion, the plan has justified itself wherever tried, and it has done more than anything else to remove the formidable barrier which under the old system intervened between the library patron and the valuable contents of the library.
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