A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 77

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 77

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A. C. ERNST was born with or early acquired a genius for mathematics. It was a genius with a practical turn for commercial life. Though he did not pose as such, he was an effi- cieney expert and business systematizer long before those phrases were in common use. As an auditor and certified public accountant he did important work on his own responsibility in Cleveland a number of years ago but his ambitions were not satisfied by the restrictions of a completely personal service and he used

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his ability and experience to organize a con- cern of his own. Through his energy and versatile talents has been built up the organ- ization known nationally if not internationally as Ernst & Ernst, certified public accountants, with offices in a dozen American cities and with business connections all over the country.

At Cleveland, where the nucleus of the busi- ness began, the offices of the firm are in the Schofield Building. The firm also has offices and completely equipped staffs and organiza- tions in New York, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Dallas and Houston. A business like this is based not only on technical expertness, but like every other permanent commercial enterprise, upon the solid rock of integrity. Ernst & Ernst have long enjoyed the confidence of the leading financial, mercantile and manufacturing in- terests of America. Their services have been retained for confidential investigations and in an advisory capacity, and they have also done much public investigation. Rapid changes in methods of financing and the increased de- mands for certified financial statements in mat- ters of credit caused the certificates and re- ports of Ernst & Ernst to enjoy increased prestige and standing in the great financial centers.

Cleveland takes proper pride in claiming one of America's foremost public accountants. He was born at Cleveland and is a son of John C. and Mary (Hertel) Ernst. He grew up in Cleveland, attended the public schools, the West High School and a business college. He was regarded as an expert accountant before he reached his majority and he has concen- trated all his enthusiasm and ambition upon one vocation and has never done anything else, having devoted all of his energy since leaving technical school to the accounting profession. He is managing partner of the firm Ernst & Ernst.

Mr. Ernst is a member of the Automobile Club of America, the Bankers Club and the Railroad Club, all of New York City, the Busi- ness Men's Club of Cincinnati, the Toledo Club of Toledo, and the Union Club, Mayfield Coun- try Club, Hermit Club, Cleveland Athletic Club and the Western Reserve Club, all of Cleveland, and the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Ohio So- ciety of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Accountants. A certifi- cate as certified public accountant was issued to him by the State of Missouri, as well as by

many other states where the firm does an ex- tensive business.

When Mr. Ernst first organized the firm of Ernst & Ernst, it was barely known outside of Cleveland, but from modest beginnings its work has been extended and is accepted as authority in practically every large city and state. Many commissions of national interest and importance have been given this firm. An honor shared by the firm and especially by Mr. A. C. Ernst was his appointment as secretary of the Red Cross Ohio Flood Relief Commis- sion, following the great floods in Southern Ohio. Governor Cox gave him this appoint- ment in April, 1913. He had the burdensome responsibility of organizing a system of ac- counting and reports whereby all the funds would be accurately and systematically ac- counted for. The system he devised not only met every requirement of the emergency situation, but was also approved later by the auditors of the Treasury Department at Washington.

This firm had the investigation of the finan- cial affairs of "the first apostle," Alexander Dowie of Zion City, Illinois. They examined the affairs of the Cincinnati Trust Company, Cox's Bank, and made the disclosures which followed the investigation. They investigated the old Cleveland Electric Railway Company, and Mr. Ernst's important testimony given be- fore Judge R. W. Tayler in the United States Circuit Court, led to the appointment of re- ceivers. The firm disclosed the famous "fare box scandal," in which the late Mayor Tom L. Johnson of Cleveland was interested. They were appointed the first auditors of the Cleve- land Railway Company, representing the City of Cleveland under the now famous 3 cent fare franchise. They made complete investigation and rendered expert testimony in the notable patent litigation suit, Vulcan Detinning Com- pany vs. American Can Company, which led to one of the largest awards ever handed down in a patent litigation suit. They handled the complete investigation of the affairs of the Pope Motor Company of Hartford, Conn., un- der receivership, together with many sub- sidiary companies in other cities, including the plant at Toledo, later purchased by the Over- land Automobile Company. They also investi- gated the East Ohio Gas Company during its negotiations with the City of Cleveland for a natural gas franchise. Probably one of the most important accounting undertakings due to the war was that in connection with the

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affairs of the International Mercantile Marine Company with its large number of subsidiary companies in this country as well as in Eng- land and other foreign countries. Mr. Ernst was retained by the Preferred Shareholders Protective Committee to defend the preferred shareholders against the threatened foreclosure by the bond holders. As a result of this inves- tigation the foreclosure of the bonds was pre- vented and both the preferred and common shares rose in the stock market from practically nothing to very high values. The capitaliza- tion represented by the parent and subsidiary companies was in excess of $200,000,000.

Mr. Ernst is a member of the board of di- rectors of a number of important corporations, Not all his work is done in the field of business. He is one of Cleveland's most charitable and philanthropic citizens. He is one of the fiscal trustees of the Young Women's Christian Association. He is a trustee of the Winder- mere Presbyterian Church and no important charitable or philanthropic campaign in Cleve- land has failed to find him giving his time and money to aid a worthy cause.

THOMAS S. FARRELL is one of the most con- spicuous men in the public life of Cleveland today. He is director of public utilities, hav- ing been appointed to that place as a member of Mayor Davis' cabinet. The director of pub- lic utilities has the responsibility of adminis- tering plants and equipment of the City of Cleveland representing a total investment of $25,000,000.

His career is another example of the won- derful resources and power that reside in the individual character irrespective of environ- ment or humbleness of calling. At one time Thomas S. Farrell was a hotel waiter, and he still retains and is proud of his card in the local waiters' union. For a number of years he has been one of the most conspicuous labor leaders in Ohio and his name is known among and his work is a factor of influence in the national councils of labor.

Mr. Farrell was born in West Rutland, Ver- mont, December 25, 1878, a son of John and Bridget Farrell. His early education in pub- lie school was limited to what he could attain before he was ten years of age. He then went to work as a bell boy in a local hotel. At the age of fourteen he moved to Springfield. Massachusetts, and there and at Boston he worked in three different hotels as waiter, bell boy and clerk. In 1899, at the age of twenty- one, Mr. Farrell came to Cleveland. Here he

was employed as a waiter with the Union Club and subsequently with various well known cafes of the city.

In order the more effectively to serve the interests and welfare of his fellow workinen he resigned in July, 1902, to become business agent and financial secretary of the Cleveland Waiters' Union Local No. 106. That was his chief position and the object of his best thought and energies for nearly thirteen years. The union had 150 members when he became its business agent, and when he resigned it had 500 members. The wages in that time had been increased from $5 to $6 a week for an eleven-hour day seven days in the week to an average of $10 a week for a ten-hour day six days in the week. He proved aggressive also in getting other reforms, including sanitary quarters and dressing rooms.

In July, 1914, Mr. Farrell became secre- tary of the Cleveland Federation of Labor. From that office he resigned on January 1, 1916, to accept the appointment from Mayor Davis as director of public utilities. From 1908 to 1916 he was also first vice president of the Ohio State Federation of Labor. Many times he served as a national delegate to the · American Federation of Labor conventions and he has the acquaintance and friendship of all the great labor leaders in this country.

In polities Mr. Farrell is a republican. HIe is a member of the Catholic Church and is affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. On June 14, 1904, after coming to Cleveland, he married .Jennie .J. (Byers) Fitzgerald, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo Byers, of Ravenna, Ohio. Mrs. Farrell died May 8, 1915. The one child of that union is Ethel, now attending Norting- ham Convent. On October 17, 1916, Mr. Far- rell married Ethel B. North, of Greenville. Ohio, daughter of George and Mand (Spayd) North.

Of Mr. Farrell's work as a labor man some- thing surely should be said, and those who know him best will agree with an appreciation which appeared not long ago in a local publica- tion :

"Mr. Farrell is notably one of the Union labor leaders who have got into politics but who have kept polities out of Union labor. The services he has rendered labor in politics it seems to us even outweigh the good he has wrought as a Union official. He was a mem- ber of the State Constitutional Convention and fought for the Workmen's Compensation Law, the initiative and referendum, home rule for

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cities, which proved to be far more beneficent and important than even its proponents could foresee, and helped draft the liquor license amendment. As a representative of labor dur- ing Legislative sessions at Columbus he has fought for the fifty-four hour law for women, factory inspection, safety devices for the pro- tection of workers in dangerous callings, and other labor legislation.

"As a union labor champion naturally he was an enthusiast for municipal ownership. His name had been prominently linked with all public ownership campaigns in Cleveland and always as a proponent and fighter for the principle. This fact gave Mayor Davis a chance not only to toss a bouquet to union labor for its hearty support of his candidacy, but also to select one of their number whose heart was in the success of municipal owner- ship."

Under Mr. Farrell's directorship the mu- nicipal light plant has been operated at a minimum of cost to the domestic consumers and has at the same time shown a profit. Equally gratifying results have been obtained from the operation of the municipally owned waterworks system.

Mr. Farrell is a student as well as a man of affairs, and in the article above quoted it is said that he "has the vocabulary of an English professor and the business ability of a captain of industry. He knows the writings of all the great economists, he pays the high- est tribute of all to Samuel Gompers for his breadth of vision and intimate knowledge and sympathy of the world wide problems of labor. "Mr. Farrell," to quote another paragraph of the article above mentioned, "has for years handled delicate problems involving the wel- fare of many workers and many thousands of dollars in investments. He has constantly grown in the confidence and esteem of Union men and there is not a mark against his record on the slate of the employers with whom he has dealt in behalf of union labor. He has matched his wits with the best and the score is all in his favor. As he sits at his desk he looks at home. Also he looks like a Vermont Baptist preacher not long out of divinity school. His manner and talk are serious and the movie actors might learn something from watching him roll his eyes. Also it is said he has a punch that might well be practiced by Johnny Kilbane. Flippancy is no part of him ; he has the whole air of a man accustomed to serious enterprises and who takes them se- riously."

GEORGE M. GARRETT. To the ordinary man or one of less talent the ability that is evi- denced by the truly competent civil engineer is a matter of both wonder and admiration. He may look about him in his own neighbor- hood and be a witness of the changes taking place. Probably he does not always understand them until he sees the regulated streets and boulevards, the carefully laid out parks, the erection of water and other power plants, the putting down of sewers, all according to exact rule which the civil engineer knows. Further, while he may never have seen such feats of engineering as the tunneling of mountains, the bridging of mighty chasms, the harnessing of tempestuous waterfalls or the building of sub- ways below busy and congested streets, yet he knows that these marvelons things have been done and that they are but a part of what his neighbor, the civil engineer, is able to ac- complish. This profession, so vital, so neces- sary to the life of nations, deserves to be placed high in the list of useful arts and sci- ences. Cleveland has not been negligent in her encouragement of men talented in this line, and one whose achievements have reflected credit upon her as well as upon himself is George M. Garrett, who during the past eighteen years has established building and property lines and laid out the greater num- ber of large buildings constructed in the busi- ness district within this time.

George M. Garrett was born at Huron in Erie County, Ohio, January 1, 1870. His parents were George and Catherine (Myers) Garrett, who moved to Cleveland in 1871, George M. by but a few months escaping being a native of this city, to which he has always given the devotion of a son and in which he has achieved his enviable professional reputa- tion.

In the public schools of Cleveland Mr. Gar- rett continued a student until his graduation from high school in 1890. In May of that year he went to work in the city engineer's department as rodman, and, sı.owing great aptitude, became draughtsman and transit man and remained until a change in the city administration, John Farley being elected mayor, caused his discharge with others, for political reasons, in May, 1899. He then went to work for Samuel J. Baker, then county sur- veyor, with whom he continued until Mr. Baker's death in October of that year.

By this time. through muel. experience as surveyor, Mr. Garrett determined to put his thorough practical knowledge of civil engi-

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neering to the test in a business of his own. Although circumstances had not favored him in the way of technical schooling he had en- joyed unusual advantages of a practical kind, and shortly after establishing himself in the Cuyahoga Building he found great business encouragement and completed some very sat- isfactory professional work. In 1904 he re- moved to the Citizens Building and maintained his offices there until 1912. His next location was at No. 1900 Euclid Avenue, and three years later he took possession of his present well appointed quarters in the Erie Building. Here he carries on a general civil engineering business and it is with pardonable pride that he can point to the following list of notable buildings of which he had charge of construc- tion as engineer : The Cuyahoga County Courthouse, the Bingham Building, the Ninth Street Terminal Warehouse, the new City Hall, the Old and New Guardian Building, the First National Bank Building, the Union National Bank, William Taylor & Sons Build- ing, the Hippodrome, the Cleveland Trust Company Building, the Athletic Club, the Statler Hotel, the Halle Brothers Building, the Kinney & Levan Building, the Leader- News Building, the Winton Hotel, and was also engineer in charge of construction on Nela Park for the National Electric Lamp Company. This list, comprehensive as it is, by no means covers all of Mr. Garrett's pro- fessional accomplishments, but it serves to show the high measure of confidence felt in his capacity as a civil engineer by his fellow citizens, whose choice is not limited because of lack of engineering talent here.

In March, 1896, Mr. Garrett was married at Cleveland to Miss Clara Clymonts, of this city. and they have two children, a son and daughter : Thomas C., who is a student in the University of Michigan; and Ruth Marian, who is attending Lakewood High School.

Mr. Garrett has always been identified with the republican party. He is a director of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce and is an active member of the Civil Engineers' Club, the West Shore Country and the Cleveland Automobile clubs.

RAYMOND B. OLIVER, attorney and counselor at law with offices in The Guardian Building. has had a range of experience and service far outside the scope of the average successful lawyer or business man. Mr. Oliver is an ex- pert in many technical processes of manufac- ture and industry. Almost in a minute's

notice he could leave his law office and trans- form himself into an efficiency expert in ma- chine shops or other large industries. Were the records not at hand to substantiate his practical experience it would seem incredible that one person could adapt himself to expert service in so many widely separated depart- ments of business, law and industry.

Mr. Oliver was born at East Sparta in Stark County, Ohio, October 30, 1881. On both sides he represents a family long noted as ministers and evangelists. His father, Rev. George F. Oliver, is now pastor of the Methodist Episco- pal Church of Quincy, Illinois. He was born near Dennison, Ohio, and has been a Meth- odist minister since he graduated from Mount Union College at the age of twenty-two. He filled many pulpits in Ohio, was presiding member and elder of the East Ohio Conference a number of years, was then transferred to the Central Ohio Conference and from there to the Kentucky Conference, afterwards to the pastorate of the largest church in Wheeling, West Virginia, and from there went to Mat- toon, Illinois, and then to Quincy. While presiding elder with headquarters at New Philadelphia, Ohio, he had the supervision of more than eighty churches. He has been an extensive traveler and is a well-known anthor of religious and biblical works. He is per- sonally familiar with the Holy Land and with many points of interest in Europe.

Rev. George F. Oliver married Mary Baker. She is descended from the prominent Baker family of Philadelphia. Rev. Sheridan Baker, D. D., was a noted evangelist and as an author his books were for many years standard text- books in theology, and as an author practically every Methodist minister is familiar with his output. Doctor Baker died at the home of the family in Wellsville, Ohio. His two daughters, Mary and Maggie, the former the mother of Mr. Oliver, were evangelistic singers in their younger days and noted for the splen- did quality of their voices. They traveled with Doctor Baker, their father, all over the country in evangelistic work. Raymond B. Oliver is the oldest in a family of three sons and one daughter, all of whom are living. His next younger brother, Howard Taylor Oliver, is an importer and exporter at New York City and general manager and operator of the Oliver Trading Company, which conducts the Oliver fast trains between El Paso, Eagle Pass, Mexico City and San Antonio. This com- pany has experienced practically no molesta- tion from the Mexican bandits during the

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troubled conditions in the Southern Republic in recent years. Howard F. Oliver married a daughter of the head of the paper trust, the late Mr. Reigel of Reigelsville, Pennsyl- vania. The only daughter, Mina Grace, is the wife of Morgan Clark of Wheeling, West Vir- ginia, a member of one of the oldest and wealthiest families of Wheeling. Joyce, the youngest son, is now seventeen years of age and spent the summer of 1917 with his brother on the Mexican border. He was named for Bishop Joyce of the Methodist Episcopal Church. All these children were born in Ohio, but at different places where the parents resided during the varying pastorates of the father.

Raymond Oliver was'educated in the pub- lic schools of New Philadelphia, through the high school course, and in 1902 graduated Bachelor of Science from the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. He then entered the law department of Yale University, where he took his Bachelor of Law degree in 1905. He was admitted to the bar of Kentucky in 1904, and the Ohio bar in 1905, and has been ad- mitted, upon motion, in Indiana and Tennes- see. He practiced at Cincinnati, Ohio, about a year and four months, and was then located at Louisville four and a half years, during which time he was field adjuster and attorney for The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford.

His active career began while he was still in college. The summer vacation of 1902 was passed as draftsman, in map and bridge work as assistant in the Engineering Corps with Thomas Rodd. chief engineer of the Pennsyl- vania line west of Pittsburgh. During the summer of 1903 he was clerk in the law office of W. K. Stanley of Cleveland, and in 1904 he was assistant to general counsel of the Great Central System at Cincinnati until that sys- tem was placed in the hands of a receiver. During 1905-07 Mr. Oliver was first assistant with Furber & Jackson, attorneys of Cincin- nati, in real estate and banking law and gen- eral practice until the firm dissolved partner- ship. Then from February, 1907, to May, 1911, he was district attorney and field execu- tive for The Travelers Insurance Company as above noted, his headquarters being at Louis- ville and his territory the State of Kentucky and fifteen counties in Southern Indiana and Northern Tennessee.

From May, 1911, to March, 1912, Mr. Oliver was located in New York City as first assistant to Walter Jeffreys Carlin, engaged in the de-

fense of food and drug litigation in Federal courts and interstate commerce matters. Mr. Oliver came to Cleveland in April, 1912, and until the following February was in practice for himself at the Rockefeller Building, hand- ling mechanical cases and sales force in elec- trical and school equipment lines. Since then he has been connected with the legal depart- ment of the Pennsylvania Railway over its western lines. For one summer Mr. Oliver also had the experience of running a hotel in the Catskill Mountains. Among other impor- tant affairs he is now president of The Cast Steel Foundry and Manufacturing Company of Cleveland.

For a period of five years Mr. Oliver had active charge of the trial of over a hundred fifty lawsuits annually besides the preparation of briefs in hundreds of cases involving con- tracts, personal injury and negligence, insur- ance, partitions and mechanical cases and the settlement and adjustment of hundreds of claims of almost every type that comes to the attention of a lawyer. He has handled bank- ruptcy, injunction, incorporation, railroad, patents and food and drug matters.

In the line of technical and business experi- ence Mr. Oliver has had practically the expe- rience of the office manager, the efficiency ex- pert, the correspondent, the auditor, the book- keeper and the handling of the manifold de- tails that comprise the technique of business organization and system. He has supervised, originated and introduced numberless plans and devices in the technical management of factories and other industries, and is a recog- nized expert on the great subject of safety ap- pliances. Through a long experience he ob- tained more than a working knowledge of va- rious classes of machinery, foundry processes, machine shop practice and his experience would involve a dozen or more of the great classes of manufacturing enterprise.

It would be natural to expect that Mr. Oliver is an all round man both in his mental attain- ments and his physical activities. While in college and also at Yale he was active in track athletics and he still pursues such ontdoor sports as golf, tennis and motoring. He is a member of the Cleveland Tennis Club, the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, the Yale Alumni Association of Cleveland, the Ohio Wesleyan Alumni Association of Cleveland and the First Methodist Episcopal Church.

His home is in Cleveland Heights. On No- vember 30th, Thanksgiving Day of 1916, Mr. Oliver married Miss Hazel Carlton Lewis of

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 77

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