A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 5

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 904

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 5

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Their hotel, to be known as the Hotel Cleve- land, is now in process of construction on the site of the old Forest City House at Public Square and Superior Avenue. The ground and building together will cost $5,000,000 and the hotel will contain 1,000 guest rooms and when completed will be one of the most splen- did additions to the architecture surrounding the public square.

The Van Sweringens may be credited with- out exaggeration with having done wonders for Cleveland and at the same time accom- plished a great deal for themselves. It is their idea that what helps Cleveland will help them, and first and last they stand for a bigger and better city. As one examines the plans as well as the construction work which has already been completed, he is impressed with the re- markable ingenuity and the foresight ex- hibited in every detail. In laying out the boulevard and car lines the Van Sweringens looked ahead to the time when traffic would be so dense that overhead crossings would be necessary. Already one overhead crossing in the big allotment has been completed and the boulevards and thoroughfares have been so ar- ranged that when overhead crossings are a necessity they can be constructed with the least possible expense and inconvenience. The various streets are laid out in curves and in such way that they cross the car tracks in groups, making the fewest possible number of car stops. These are situated at intervals of about a third of a mile, and it is obvious that this means a great quickening of service over an arrangement which would compel a car to stop at every ordinary city block.

From the very beginning Shaker Heights

Village has been a high grade, carefully re- stricted residence district, and those restric- tions have been so carefully worked out in all the deeds of title that the high character of the subdivision is safeguarded in perpetuity. At the present time a splendid new grammar school and high school are being built in the village, but before the local school facilities were provided the Van Sweringens used auto- mobiles to take the children of the local resi- dents to the nearest schoolhouses and fur- nished this transportation free of charge.

Concerning the obvious material facts of the development of Shaker Heights Village and the means by which it has been brought, through rapid transit and automobile road building, within easy reach of the Public Square, the people of Cleveland are generally informed. Something should now be said in a brief paragraph or two of the Van Sweringen brothers.

O. P. Van Sweringen, the older, is thirty- eight years old, and his brother M. J. is thirty- six years old. Both were born near Wooster, Ohio. They are sons of the late Mr. and Mrs. James Van Sweringen. Their father was a Civil war veteran and was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. There were three boys and two girls in the family. The only one now married is H. C. Van Sweringen, the oldest of the brothers, who has offices with his younger brothers in the Marshall Building, but is an independent operator in the real estate field. From Wooster the family moved to Geneva, Ohio, and when O. P. Van Swer- ingen was about six years of age the family came to Cleveland. Their father was not a man of wealth and they grew up in a home of simple comforts and high ideals, and were educated in the local public schools. Both of them are Cleveland products, and the city takes a great deal of pride in these young men, who, utilizing the resources of their minds and characters rather than inherited capital or influence, have developed a business which represents millions and which involves easily the most stupendous real estate develop- ment in or around the city. Both of them are members of the Cleveland Chamber of Com- merce, the Union Club, Shaker Heights Coun- try Club, Willowick Club and the Hermit Club. O. P. Sweringen at this writing is a member of the Cleveland City Planning Com- mission.

HON. DAVID COURTNEY WESTENHAVER. After John H. Clarke was called from Cleveland to a place on the United States Supreme Bench

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

in the summer of 1915, there existed a vacancy in the United States district judgeship for Northern Ohio for seven or eight months. Finally, acting upon the dircet recommenda- tion of Attorney General Gregory, President Wilson in February, 1917, sent the appoint- ment of David C. Westenhaver to the Senate for confirmation.

In purely political circles Judge Westen- haver was scarcely known at all until his ap- pointment for the office of district judge. He has been a Cleveland lawyer since 1903, and he grew up and began the practice of law many years ago in that section of West Vir- ginia, where the former Cleveland mayor, Baker, now Secretary of War, was also get- ting his first distinctions. A very close friend- ship has existed between Secretary Baker and Judge Westenhaver for many years. Judge Westenhaver in Cleveland has given his time almost solely to the practice of law, and gained an enviable place in his profession.

He was born in Berkeley County, West Vir- ginia, January 13, 1865, of Dutch lineage and a son of David Westenhaver, who spent his active life as a farmer. The mother was Har- riet (Turner) Westenhaver, of an old Vir- ginia family of English origin. She died July 26, 1886.

Fifth in a family of eight children, seven of whom are still living, Judge Westenhaver attended the public and private schools of his native county, and took his higher educa- tion in Georgetown College at Georgetown, District Columbia. Before completing his classical course he entered the law department and was graduated with the class of 1885 and the degree LL. B. He was admitted to the bar at Martinsburg, West Virginia, in the same year and at the age of twenty-one was appointed prosecuting attorney to fill out an nnexpired term. He was a candidate for the next term but his ticket met defeat. He also served as a member of the city council of Mar- tinsburg. He soon became known as a hard working, able and skillful lawyer and had a large practice in West Virginia, part of the time being associated with W. H. H. Flick under the firm name Flick & Westenhaver. To Mr. Flick Judge Westenhaver credits a large amount of his practical technical train- ing as a lawyer. .

On coming to Cleveland in the fall of 1903, Judge Westenhaver became connected with the law firm of Garfield, Howe & Westenhaver. The older members of this firm were Harry A. and James R. Garfield and Frederick C. Howe, all of whom were men of national prom-

inence. The Garfields at that time retired from the partnership and in 1906 Mr. Howe also withdrew. Since then Mr. Westenhaver has practiced as head of the firm of Westen- haver, Boyd & Brooks. His associates are William H. Boyd and James C. Brooks. West- enhaver, Boyd & Brooks stood easily among the strongest law firms of Cleveland and Northern Ohio, and handled a large and im- portant general practice of law.

The case of Judge Westenhaver is conspic- uous among those who have depended entirely upon devotion to a chosen profession for their advancement in the world. He has seldom allowed outside interests to interfere with his practice, and his friends and associates have not known of any special recreation or hobby. While in West Virginia he was chosen presi- dent of the State Bar Association, and had the distinction of being the youngest presiding officer that organization ever had. He is a member of the Ohio State and Cleveland Bar associations.

In early life he was what might be termed a philosophic democrat, but for many years has been a political independent. He is the kind of democrat who spells his affiliation with a small "d." He has rather avoided purely partisan politics and the only office he held in Cleveland was as a member of the School Board and for two years was its president. While his law practice has brought him broad and varied knowledge of men and affairs, he has found much of the inspiration for his life in books, and his thorough knowledge and acquaintance with literature covers a broad range, but with emphasis upon sociology and economics. For many years he has been a member of the American Economical Associa- tion and the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and was president of the Cleveland Council of Sociology in 1906-07. He is a member of the Nisi Prius Club, the noted legal club of Cleveland and a very exclusive organization. He belongs to the Cleveland Athletic Club and University Club of Cleve- land, and the Columbus Club of Columbus, Ohio. Judge Westenhaver has been an oc- casional contributor to legal and economical publications. Whatever he has written is characterized by a clarity and conciseness, and that quality will prove invaluable in his service as a federal judge.

Judge Westenhaver was married at Martins- burg, West Virginia, in June, 1888, to Miss Mary C. Paull, daughter of Henry W. Paull of that place. They have one son, Edward P., who is a graduate of Princeton University and

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

is now an active member of the bar associated with his father's firm.

A writer in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, after his appointment to the Federal Bench, told some of the facts of his early career, in which he had to struggle with poverty and adverse conditions during his youth in order to secure an education, and he paid his way for his university training by teaching distriet school, by farm work and by loans from his friends.

Of some of his interests the Plain Dealer said : "Above his desk is a bronze head of Lineoln. He has read practically everything ever printed about the martyred president. There is another picture, showing Tom L. Johnson at work, with intimate glimpses into his life. Their friendship developed when Westenhaver was counsel for the Forest City Railway and Municipal Traction Company from 1905 to 1913.

"Law is first and last with him but he has a few other hobbies, chief among them books, real books of history, economics, philosophy and biography. He is a heavy-framed, quiet man. The new judge's face is determined, but there are long smile wrinkles beside the mouth."

Owing to the rush of business at the elose of Congress in 1917 President Wilson's ap- pointment of Judge Westenhaver was deferred for confirmation until the extra session of the Senate after March 4th. The appointment was confirmed on March 14th.

CHARLES E. ADAMS. If Cleveland should strive to seek from among its citizens one in- dividual who best approximated the ideal combination of constructive business energy with disinterested public service there would be none to question a choice that fell upon Charles E. Adams. As president of the Cleve- land IIardware Company for more than a quarter of a century he has built up one of the city's largest manufacturing institutions. His publie spirit has been as conspicuous as his private business record. Probably not a single important movement has been under- taken during the last twenty-five or thirty years with which his name has not been iden- tified. These services have risen to their su- preme exertion in recent months when the en- tire nation has been subject to the strain of war times. No community in the country with respect to proportionate share based upon population has done more to swell the war funds and resources needed in the different

lines of service than Cleveland. Mr. Adams has furnished a boundless amount of enthusi- asm, energy and wise judgment in all the va- rions campaigns. He was head of the local organization which in the closing weeks of 1917 raised nearly $400,000 more than the quota assigned to Cleveland for the Y. M. C. A. fund. This had hardly been completed when he was called upon to direct much of the policy and the plans for the Red Cross membership drive. These are only very recent instances, and going baek only a few years examples might be multiplied by the score of Mr. Adams' contributions individually and through organized movements in behalf of some undertaking for the benefit of Cleveland as a community and for the upbuilding of the prestige of this eity as one of the great and progressive centers of America.

Mr. Adams was born in Cleveland. June 8, 1859, a son of Edgar and Mary Jane Adams. He grew up in the city, obtained a public school edneation, and early took up a business career. From 1884 to 1891 he was connected with the Chandler & Rudd Company of Cleve- land. Since June, 1891, he has been president of the Cleveland Hardware Company, con- cerning whose importance as an industrial as- set little need be said. The company main- tains two plants in Cleveland, its special lines of manufacture being drop forgings. In this respect it is the largest institution of its kind in Ameriea.

Mr. Adams is also a director of the Cleve- land Trust Company, the First National Bank, the Cleveland Life Insurance Company, and has many other financial and business inter- ests. In 1910-11 he was president of the Cleve- land Chamber of Commerce. He is a mem- ber of the Union Club, the Engineering Club, the Mayfield Country Club, belongs to the Presbyterian Church and is a republican in polities. On June 11, 1884, he married Miss Jennie M. Bowley of Cleveland.

IION. THEODORE E. BURTON. Whatever may have been true in the earlier life of the Ameri- can republie, it is now quite generally recog- nized that being elected to Congress is a some- what uncertain and temporary distinction. The names and deeds of congressmen are writ- ten in the sand, and the nation has no long memory of them. Only the few and the ex- ceptional, and those endowed with something of the primeval qualities of leadership and power, become really national figures and forces. It is doubtful if even a well informed

Theodor E. Burton

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

student and observer of public affairs could readily name more than a dozen congressmen and senators since the beginning of this cen- tury whose names still have significance and vitality and stand out clearly in the national consciousness.

That approximation of political fame has been as nearly attained by Theodore E. Bur- ton of Cleveland as by any of his contempo- raries. There was an elemental ruggedness, a definiteness of conviction, and a certain loftiness of purpose in Mr. Burton's career in the House of Representatives and the Sen- ate during the twenty-two years he was a member of those bodies which men do not forget and which they do not choose to for- get. In Ohio, of course, and in Cleveland, his home city in particular, hundreds of associa- tions have been built up around his name. But considering him as a national figure, his work as an expert in finance and as a deter- mined enemy of unscientific appropriations for internal improvements, has gained him hundreds of friends and admirers who per- haps do not know and have never known from what state he comes or anything about his private life except his service in Congress.

Theodore E. Burton is a native of Ohio. In January, 1917, he was elected president of the Merchants National Bank of the City of New York. The duties of that position take him much to the national metropolis, but now as for more than forty years past his home is in Cleveland and that is his legal place of residence.

He was born at Jefferson, Ohio, December 20, 1851. Jefferson was the old home of Joshua R. Giddings and Senator Ben Wade, while other men of national stature and fame came from the same section. It was a com- munity well calculated to inspire high ideals in a boy. But Theodore Burton did not need to look outside his own family for such in- spiration. He was of New England stock. His father, Rev. William Burton, was a high- minded minister of the Presbyterian Church and held many pastorates in Southern and Eastern Ohio. In Southern Ohio, Rev. Mr. Burton was intimately associated with Rev. Thomas Woodrow and Rev. Joseph R. Wil- son, grandfather and father, respectively, of Woodrow Wilson. Senator Burton's mother was Elizabeth Grant, a distant cousin of the father of Gen. Ulysses Grant.

Senator Burton's people were in moderate circumstances. They could give him just enough advantages away from home to in-

spire his zeal and ambition to acquire more. As a boy he attended Grand River Institute at Austinburg, Ohio. When he was still only a boy he moved to Grinnell, Iowa, lived on a farm, and from the farm entered Grinnell College. Returning to Ohio, he graduated from Oberlin College in 1872, and owing to his special proficiency in the classics he re- mained as a tutor at Oberlin. While there he acquired a considerable knowledge of the Ilebrew languages and afterwards he familiarized himself with the French lan- guage. It is said that Senator Burton even to this day can quote entire pages from some of the Latin authors.

He studied law at Chicago with Lyman Trumbull, a contemporary and friend of Lin- coln and for eighteen years United States senator from Illinois. It might be mentioned incidentally that William Jennings Bryan was subsequently a student of law in the same office.

Mr. Burton was admitted to the bar at Mount Gilead, Ohio, July 1, 1875, and at once began practice at Cleveland with his cash capi- tal of $150, which he had borrowed.

Mr. Burton's first public service was as a member of the city council of Cleveland. An associate in the council was Myron T. Her- rick, later governor of Ohio and ambassador to France. It was characteristic of Mr. Bur- ton that he did not accept the duties of city councilor lightly. In fact, he gained consid- erable distinction by his diligent study of municipal problems and a thorough mastery of the questions of city finance.

It was some years later, and after he had acquired a secure position in the Cleveland bar that Mr. Burton was first elected to Con- gress. He was elected in 1888, and was asso- ciated with William McKinley in framing the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890. In the latter year he was defeated for re-election. He then resumed practice but in 1894 again became a candidate for Congress and defeated the late Tom L. Johnson. From 1895 until March 4, 1909, a period of fourteen years, Theodore E. Burton was continuously a member of the House of Representatives. Frequently no candidate was nominated in opposition to him. During much of this service he was a mem- ber and for ten years the chairman of the committee on rivers and harbors. He ap- pointed all the resources of a trained legal mind to the study of the vast and intricate problems that came before this committee for solution. From that study and work was

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

evolved his reputation as the leading author- ity in the United States on waterways and river and harbor development. President Roosevelt appointed him first chairman of the Inland Waterways Commission and sub- sequently he was chairman of the National Waterways Commission. These commissions under the direction of Mr. Burton published a series of reports which have become the standard library of waterway problems.

Another subject to which Mr. Burton gave special attention while in the House was mone- tary and banking legislation. He was promi- nent in framing the Aldrich-Vreeland Emer- gency Currency Act, and was a member of the Monetary Commission and author of much of its exhaustive report on the subject of finan- cial legislation and conditions throughout the world. His was one of the strongest influ- ences, both in the House and later in the Senate, in shaping and strengthening the Federal Reserve Law.

It would be impossible to describe in de- tail all his work while in the House of Repre- sentatives. But at least another point should be mentioned. One of the chief questions before the country at that time was the con- struction of a canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It will be recalled that a powerful contingent, headed by the late Sena- tor Morgan, favored the construction along the Nicaragua route. Mr. Burton had made an exhaustive study of both routes, and his presentation of data on the subject proved such a forceful argument for the Panama route that the House supported his conten- tion by a large majority. In a single speech he afterwards changed the opinion of the House from favoring a sea level canal to one of lock type.

On March 4, 1909, Mr. Burton took his seat in the United States Senate. He was elected a member of that body after a spec- tacular contest

with ex-Senator Joseph Foraker and Charles P. Taft. The reputation for sound wisdom he had made in the House preceded him into the Senate, and he at once became a leader in the debates and delibera- tions of the body. One measure championed by him in Congress, if none other, would make him a proper object of gratitude on the part of the American people. This was the Burton Law, the enactment of which prevents the spoliation of the beauty of Niagara Falls by private corporations. His support to other matters of the conservation of natural resources was always consistently and force-

fully given. He fought against the ship pur- chase program of the democratic administra- tion, and was especially powerful during the consideration of the tariff bills submitted while he was a member of the Senate.

But more than all else he gained the appro- bation of right thinking citizens by his work in connection with waterways and other in- ternal improvements. He took a firm stand for the application of business standards to the treatment of rivers and harbors and fought, both in committee and on the floor of the Senate, against the waste of public money by lavish appropriations for streams which by nature or experience were found unfitted for practical use. Those who have followed the work of recent congresses will recall how by a single-handed filibuster Senator Burton defeated the River and Harbor Bill of 1914. By that act he was credited with saving the Government the sum of more than $30,000,000. It required a speech seventeen hours long, during which he exposed the indefensible items contained in the measure. A prophecy made by him in the course of that speech, while not yet fulfilled, is as applicable to- day as it was then, and contains a political wisdom the country is slowly realizing. He said: "We must test government projects by the same economic rules as a successful business concern would apply to its enterprise and investments. Unless the whole system is overhauled, it will soon be impossible to pass any kind of a river and harbor bill. A commission should be created, preferably com- posed of the Secretaries of War, of the In- terior and of Commence, with or without other members from civil and military life, to study the whole question and recommend a proper policy for inland waterway and har- bor projects. The time is perhaps not far distant when the making of these appropria- tions will cease to be a legislative function and will depend on the recommendations of a commission, possibly appointed by the presi- dent."

Senator Burton declined to become a can- didate for re-election and retired from the Senate March 4, 1915. Since then he has been prominent in public life only in his capacity as a private citizen. In 1916 the Ohio repub- licans gave him their enthusiastic endorse- ment as a candidate for the republican nomi- nation for President.

Mr. Burton has been for many years, whether in public life or as a lawyer, a student of business and monetary affairs. These

CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS

studies have found expression in several books, including "The Life of John Sherman." "Fi- nancial Crises and Depressions," and "Cor- porations and the State."

WILLIAM A. OTIS. It would not be possible within the limits of a brief sketch to indicate with proper discrimination the part played and the place occupied by the late William A. Otis in the life and affairs of Cleveland. His was one of the big constructive minds, or rather the forcefulness which is an emana- tion of both mind and body which organized, planned, and brought to fruition many of those energies and movements which have been most important not alone in Cleveland, but in the history of Ohio and even of the na- tion. It is the very highest praise to say that a man belongs among "the makers of a na- tion," but in view of what William A. Otis accomplished, whether individually or as lead- er of a group of associates, it is not an exag- gerated distinction to place him in such a group.

While his life belongs so much to the broad- er issues of Ohio history, his residence in Cleveland for a third of a century is justi- fication for a somewhat detailed account of his career and experiences.

He had within him the best blood of New England. His first American ancestor was John Otis, who was born in Devonshire, Eng- land, in 1581, and arrived at Ingham, Mas- sachusetts in 1635. One of his descendants was James Otis, who as an orator and patriot was a remarkable figure in the period of the Revolutionary war. President John Adams said of him : "I know of no man whose serv- ices were so important and essential to the cause of his country and whose love for it was more ardent and sincere than that of Mr. Otis." Another eminent contemporary said : "Mr. Otis was looked upon as the safeguard and ornament of our cause. The splendor of his intellect threw into shade all the great con- temporary lights; the cause of American inde- pendence was identified at home and abroad with his name."

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 5

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 904

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 904