USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 7
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choice of his partner, for the two men made a "team" which worked admirably from the start. The rest- less, untiring energy required to lift the business out of the ordinary rut of similar manufacturing enter- prises, was the element infused into it by Mr. Hos- tetter, who, having conceived a project, was not the man to abandon it while a possibility of making it a success remained. In four years the business of the firm outgrew the original location, and new accom- modations were securcd in one of the buildings now occupied, on Water street. Every legitimate means was employed to spread a knowledge of the efficacy of the firm's special and only product, and to increase its sale. Additional buildings were soon necessary, and a corresponding increase in the staff of em- ployees. Newspaper advertising was reduced to "a science," and millions of annual publications in the form of almanacs-so compiled as to be welcomed in every household-were sent broadcast over the land. Such enterprise could have but one result, viz., success, and this in a superlative degree was the reward harvested by the firm. Space does not permit of any detailed mention of this manufacture or the buildings, nor of the statistics of production, sale, etc. It may be said, however, that there is no civilized country in the world into which this medicinc has not gone in a steady and constant trade. For over twenty years the business of the firm has averaged about three-quarters of a million dollars annually, and during the thirty-four years or more that it has been in operation it has aggregated fully twenty millions of dollars. This enormous total has all flowed inward through the ordinary trade chan- nels of Pittsburgh, which has been benefitted by it in a notable degree. The partnership, as originally formed between Mr. Hostetter and Mr. Smith, con- tinued without break or interruption down to the death of the last named gentleman, in 1884. The old firm was then succeeded by Hostetter and Com- pany, by whom the business is still conducted. But while busily occupied with this manufacture Mr. Hostetter was by no means absorbed in it. His activities were constantly reaching out into some new field. Promising enterprises were developed and fostered, good ones financially weak were strengthened, and occasionally novel ones were conceived and promoted. Finance has always had marked attractions for Mr. Hostetter's clear and active mentality, and in two instances at least in the city of Pittsburgh he has been of great public ser- vice through the interest he has taken in founding, backing and carrying on banking institutions which have contributed in no slight degree to the city's prosperity. When the Fort Pitt National Bank was organized, nearly a score of years ago, he was prom-
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inent in the movement, and as a member of the board of directors has assisted in its management from the beginning, and for fourteen ycars past has been its President. For some sixteen years he has becn a valued member of the board of directors of the Farmers' Deposit National Bank. Both of these institutions are among the most stable in the State of Pennsylvania. In the development of the rail- road facilities and possibilities of Pittsburgh, Mr. Hostetter has likewise taken a profound interest. Largely through his activity and investment, the building of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, begun in 1877, was carried to successful completion. Through this admirably planned construction the city of Pittsburgh was relieved of its thraldom to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and was afforded a new and most desirable competitive out- let to the West and Northwest. Operated in con- nection with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern and the New York Central and Hudson River Rail- roads eastward, and the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad eastward and westward, it forms an air line between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, via Youngstown, and a direct line to New York, Chicago and St. Louis, passing through a most beautiful country, with no change of cars, and is in all respects one of the most perfect railroad highways in America. Mr. Hostetter has been in the directory of this road from its inception, and has held the office of Vice-President in it for many years. Mr. Hostetter is also President of the Pittsburgh, Mckeesport and Youghiogheny Railroad, and was one of the prime movers in the organization and development of the South Pennsylvania Road, which recently came into existence, serving on the committee appointed to build the road, and, since its construction, as a mem- ber of its board of directors. He has always been ready with his capital and experience to give life and strength to any railroad enterprise which prom- ised to be of aid to the city of Pittsburgh, or to promote the development of the surrounding neigh- borhood, and his courageous support has been of infinite service in this direction. When the solu- tion of the natural gas problem was a matter of doubt and uncertainty, Mr. Hostetter boldly as- sumed the responsibility of action, freely invested in the experiments primarily undertaken, and did not hesitate to back up his early expenditures by subsequent outlays ; his judgment compelling the conclusion that in this great discovery lay wealth and prosperity for the locality with which his in- terests and his heart were so indissolubly bound. For about fifteen years he has been President of the Pittsburgh Gas Company. He is also interested in the gas works at Allegheny, and is a director in
the East End Gas Company and Consolidated Gas Company of Pittsburgh. Such an extensive con- nection, with the utilization of this natural pro- duct, could not fail to draw his attention very fully to its possibilities, and in consequence he is one of the few great capitalists who have mastered the subject in its numerous and intricate details. From first to last he has been courageous and active in making and ascertaining the trying and varied experiments which have culminated in rendering this important agent one of the most valuable ser- vants of man. The first strong well of natural gas was found at Millerstown, somc thirty miles distant from Pittsburgh, in 1873. Mr. Hostetter was quick to awaken to the possibilities of this magnificent discovery. He had quantities of it brought to Pittsburgh in rubber bags for analysis. Before long the product of this well was employed on the ground to furnish fuel for the engine driving machinery engaged in drilling other wells. The second large natural gas well, discovered in Murraysville, on property owned by a farmer named Haymaker, about the year 1878, was offered to Mr. Hostetter, first for one hundred thousand dollars, and later for less than half that sum. Both offers were declined, as he was so thoroughly engaged in railroad enter- prises that he had not the necessary time to give attention to any new projects. Two or three years ago, finding himself under less business pressure, he turned his attention again towards the natural gas question, and one of the immediate results was the organization of the Fuel Gas Company, of Allegheny County, of which he took forty per cent. of the stock. About the same time he became interested in the " Penn Fuel Company," and later he became proprietor of both companies, which he afterwards sold to the " Philadelphia Company," of Pittsburgh, taking his pay in stock and notes, and becoming, by the transaction, one-fourth owner in the Phila- delphia Company, in which he has since been a director. The capital of this company is 7,500,000 of dollars. Immense outlays were incurred in laying pipes, some of the wells being from fifteen to twenty- five miles distant from Pittsburgh, where the gas is chiefly consumed. When the discovery of oil was made in Pennsylvania, Mr. Hostetter, in common with many other residents of the State, was more or less affected by the fever of excitement which ran from one end of the country to the other. In 1869 he was induced by parties in the oil business to make a venture in that direction. The result, so far from being attended by the profit predicted, in- volved him in a heavy loss and a long litigation. To recover a part of his loss, he engaged in 1875 in the building of a pipc-line from Pittsburgh to Millers-
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town-a distance of thirty-one miles-the oil being pumped to Pittsburgh to supply the refiners at that point. This was the first long line for pumping oil that had four pumps along it-a precaution wisely taken to prevent interruption in the flow of oil from any damage to the line, and entirely novel at that date, although since then machinery has been em- ployed to force the oil one hundred miles on lines leading to the seaboard. In opening his line for business, Mr. Hostetter encountered the opposition of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, sufficiently powerful in judicial matters at that time to render nugatory an attempt to curb its arbitrary action by recourse to the courts of law. Although Mr. Hos- tetter had paid for the right of way across the road on which the railroad was built, the company paid no heed to his rights, but shortly after the pipe was laid, sent an engine to the point, and by means of a hook and chain attached thereto, dragged the pipe from its bed, parting it by the strain, and permitting the oil to flow into the fields. Mr. Hostetter was not the man to be balked, even by a powerful corpor- ation, from whom redress could not possibly be ob- tained. With the nerve and power of resource which always characterized him in an emergency, he deter- mined to carry his oil to a public road and there find a crossing for it. Easily finding such a point, he purchased property on both sides of the railroad, and erected on each lot huge receiving tanks. The oil was hauled across from one to the other in twenty-five barrel tanks on wheels, drawn by horses. For a time this was the only opposition he encoun- tered, but later the Baltimore and Ohio Road, with which he and his associates had a contract for freight to Baltimore, declined to receive and ship the goods as promptly as their contract required. Becoming disgusted at what he believed a further attempt to victimize him, Mr. Hostetter, in self- defence, sold his interests to the Standard Oil Com- pany, of Cleveland, O., in 1877, realizing a profit which enabled him to quit the oil business whole. It is scarcely necessary to add that since then he has given it a wide berth. Many of the details that would illustrate and bring out in living colors the genius and strength of character of Mr. Hostetter, are necessarily omitted in a mere biographical sketch. But the foregoing outline of his career will suffice to indicate the inherent courage, self-reliance and activity of his nature. A contemporary writer has said : "Those who, as strangers, look upon David Hostetter, see a man of brain and will power, and instinctively accord to him the possession of a high order of faculties. Acquaintance serves to strengthen this impression, and the quietness and control in which he carried himself suggest a reserve
power of intellect and courage that is vouchsafed to few mcn. He has been a tireless worker and close thinker, and the success he has won has had within it no form of accident. As a business man and financier, he stands in the front rank of this country. The linking of his name with an enterprise stamps it as an honorable and honest undertaking, to which success is practically assured. His personal and business reputation is of the highest possible char- acter, and he is admired and respected wherever known. His great wealth is never used to the harm of any one, but all his investments have been of aid to the public while benefitting himself. He has, in various ways, held great power for good or harm, and has always used it for the good of his fellow- men. He has held himself always to a quiet line of private life, and has never sought office, nor listened to any approaches that would lead him in that direc- tion. He is a Republican and a believer in a protec- tive tariff, has always taken a deep interest in public questions, and is well posted on all the current topics of the day." The city of Pittsburgh is noted for the energy and public spirit of its wealthiest citizens, but there are few of them who have equalled the subject of this sketch in energy, judgment and courage. Having a firm faith in the future of the city, which he believes holds a strategic point in the commercial advance of the country, he has been unwearying in his devotion to its interests and de- velopment, repeatedly risking large amounts of his capital, and always ready and willing to back its pet industries. The wisdom of his course finds its best attestation in his great personal popularity and in the magnificent fortune which he has accumulated. Identified with Pittsburgh for fully thirty-five years, during the larger part of this period as an investing capitalist, he stands to-day among the patriarchs of the city, respected and estcemed by all. Mr. Hos- tetter was married July 13, 1854, to Miss Rosetta Rickey, daughter of Randall Rickey, of Cincinnati, Ohio, a young lady whose acquaintance he formed during one of his early visits to the West in connec- tion with the promotion of his business interests. Four sons and a daughter have been born to this union. His eldest son, the late Harry Hostetter, entered Yale College in 1874, but in obedience to the wishes of his instructor, went to Europe in the fol- lowing year to study the languages of Germany and France. After a year's absence, having successfully accomplished the purpose of his visit, he decided not to return to Yale, but, instead, to enter at Heidel- berg University, where he graduated the following year, enjoying the signal honor of being the only student who ever graduated in the first year in that renowned seat of learning. The achievement was
James Buchananf
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due to hard study, and his father felt that an addi- tional year of travel on the Continent would not be unadvisable under the circumstances. In company with his mother, sister and a younger brother, he visited numerous points of interest in France, Ger- many and England, and finally went to Rome, where unfortunately he tarried rather late. At Florence, on the return journey to Paris, the sister was stricken by the Roman fever. When she became convales- cent, Harry, who with his mother had given her every attention, was in turn seized with the disease. A car was chartered for the purpose of conveying him to Paris, but he died en route. Mr. Hostetter, being informed of the unfortunate turn affairs had taken, made every effort to reach bis son before the latter's death, but unsuccessfully. This blow was the saddest of his life, a deep affection for his family being one of the dominant traits of his manly and generous nature.
JAMES BUCHANAN.
JAMES BUCHANAN, statesman and diplomat- ist, and fifteenth President of the United States, was born near Mercersburg, Penn., April 23, 1791, and died at Lancaster, Penn., June 1, 1868. After receiving his early instruction in Mercersburg the boy was sent to Dickinson College, Penn., where his education was completed and from which in- stitution he graduated in 1809. Being attracted to the law, he followed that study for the next three years, and in 1812, began practice in Lancaster. This was a period of excitement in American politi- cal circles, it being the time of the outbreak of the war with Great Britain. Mr. Buchanan's political sentiments were those of the Federalist party, and with them he disapproved of the war on political grounds. Yet, when the war broke out he was one of those who believed earnestly in the patriotic duty of every citizen to defend his country. In 1814 the British captured Washington, and shortly after that Mr. Buchanan made his first public address, being then twenty-three years old, the occasion being a public meeting in Lancaster to consider measures of resistance. In this address he strongly urged the enlistment of volunteers, and enrolled his own name among them, the immediate object of the enlistment being the defence of Baltimore, which was threat- ened by the enemy. It is not on record, however, that he was engaged in actual warfare at any timc. In October, 1814, he was elected to the Lower House of the Pennsylvania Legislature for Lancas- ter County. Early in the following year peace was
proclaimed, and on July 4, Mr. Buchanan de- livered before the Washington Association of Lan- caster an oration, in which he characterized the war as "glorious in the highest degree to the American character, but disgraceful in the extreme to the ad- ministration." Even thus early, as can be seen in this quotation, was Mr. Buchanan's strong partisan bias forming. The speech evolved a good deal of criticism, and in his later years Mr. Buchanan is said to have regretted the sentiments that it voiced. He was re-elected to the Legislature in 1815, but at the close of the session returned to the practice of his profession, in which he had already become noted. At this period occurred the death of a young lady to whom Mr. Buchanan was engaged, and which is said to have affected his whole future life and to have been the reason why he never married. Desirous of change and distraction of mind, he accepted the nomination to Congress in 1820 for the district including the Counties of Lancaster, York and Dauphin. Entering the National Legislature as a so-called "Federalist" his political opinions were not yet clearly defined. Mr. Monroe was now President, and the country was unusually quiet as regarded its politics. He devoted his attention in Congress at this time mostly to questions of internal improvement, and began to make a study of the relations between the Federal and the State powers. He continued in Congress for ten years, including Monroe's second term, the administration of John Quincy Adams and the first half of that of Jackson. In December, 1829, he was appointed Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House, and while occupying that position introduced a number of important measures. It was during Mr. Adams' term that the party opposing the administration assumed the name of Democrats, and of this party Mr. Buchanan was one of the leaders in the House, being a strong supporter, as well as a warm per- sonal friend of General Jackson. In 1831 he accepted from Jackson, who had by this time be- come President, the mission to Russia, for which country he set sail from New York in 1832, arriving at St. Petersburg about the middle of June. Here he devoted himself to negotiating a commercial treaty between Russia and the United States, and though this was opposed by some of the members of the Russian ministry, he enlisted the powerful support of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Nesselrode, and the treaty was eventually concluded Dec. 18, 1832. Mr. Buchanan appears to have been much liked in St. Petersburg, though he does not himself seem to have been favorably impressed with the absolutism of that country. He, however, appreciated and liked the Emperor Nich- -
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olas. In the latter part of the summer of 1833 he left St. Petersburg, and after stopping a short time in Paris and London, sailed for home, which he reached in November. He remained quiet during the next year, but in 1834 was elected by the Legis- lature of Pennsylvania to the United States Senate, to succeed Mr. Wilkins, who had followed him as Minister to Russia. Mr. Buchanan entered the Senate with a very decided opinion of the duty of a Senator to be guided in regard to liis votes by the State Legislature which elects him. The period was important. Jackson had issued his celebrated proclamation against nullification and had per- formed tlie grave act of removing the public deposits from the United States Bank. While Jackson was very popular and influential throughout the coun- try, he was opposed in his financial undertaking by a large majority of the Senate. This opposition, formerly known as "National Republicans," but by this time called "Whigs," included such men as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Ewing of Ohio, Clay- ton of Delaware, and Frelinghuysen and Southard of New Jersey. Among the Democrats, the leaders were Mr. Buchanan, Silas Wright of New York, Thomas H. Benton of Missouri and Mr. Wm. R. King of Alabama. Mr. Calhoun was not allied with either of the great political parties. Oddly enough, one of the first important questions which Mr. Buchanan had to debate in the Senate was one which has come up in recent years in regard to President Cleveland. This was upon a bill which required the President, when making a nomination to fill a vacancy occasioned by the removal of any official, to state the fact of such removal, and to render reasons for it. This bill was opposed by Mr. Buchanan on the basis of his rendering of the Con- stitution to the effect that the consent of the Senate was only necessary in appointments and not in re- movals. Another important discussion in which Mr. Buchanan was engaged referred to the French Spoliation Claims under the Convention of 1831. In this debate Mr. Buchanan was pitted against Web- ster and Clay, and for a time there was danger of a war with France, but the meditation of Great Britain was accepted and the trouble blew over. In January, 1837, Mr. Buchanan delivered a speech which was considered his ablest in the Senate. It was in support of a resolution offered by Col. Ben- ton proposing to cancel, in the Journal of the Senate, Mr. Clay's resolution of censure against President Jackson for his removal of the deposits from the United States Bank. The resolution which he supported was adopted. Towards the conclusion of Jackson's administration the question of slavery came up in Congress on petitions for its
abolition in the District of Columbia. Mr. Buchanan disapproved of slavery, but held that Congress had no constitutional power to interfere with the insti- tution in States where it existed, and this was, in fact, his opinion on this question during all his life. In a speech in opposition to the interference of federal officers with elections, Mr. Buchanan set forth his political views as follows : " I support the President because he is in favor of a strict and limited construction of the Constitution according to the true spirit of the Virginia and Kentucky reso- lutions. I firmly believe that if this government is to remain powerful and permanent it can only be by never assuming doubtful powers, which must necessarily bring it into collision with the States. I oppose the Whig party because according to their reading of the Constitution, Congress possesscs and they think ought to exercise powers which would endanger the rights of the States and the liberties of the people." In this speech Mr. Buchanan showed his leaning towards the States Rights doc- trine, which he held during his whole life. His first election to the Senate had been to fill a vacancy, but in 1837 he was re-elected for a full term, being the first person who had then ever received a second election from the Legislature of Pennsylvania. In 1839 he was offered by President Van Buren the Attorney-Generalship, but declined it on the ground that he preferred to be a Senator from Pennsylvania. In the meantime the panic of 1837 and the subse- quent general commercial depression brought about the political upheaval which resulted in 1840 in the election of Harrison to the Presidency by the Whig party. Harrison died a month after he had taken office, and was succeeded by Vice-President Tyler, who was energetically supported by Mr. Buchanan when Mr. Clay made his celebrated attack upon the veto power. Concerning this power Mr. Buchanan said : "It owes its existence to a revolt of the people of Rome against the tyrannical course of the Roman Senate. The President of the United States, elected by his fellow citizens to the highest position of trust in the country, is directly responsible to them for the manner in which he shall discharge his duties, and he will not array himself by the exer- cise of the veto power against a majority in both Houses of Congress unless in extreme cases where, from strong convictions of public duty, he may be willing to draw down upon himself their hostility." Another important question at this time was that of the annexation of Texas, which came before the Senate with only fifteen votes in its favor, Mr. Buchanan being the only member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs to report in favor of its annexation. The measure was carried, however,
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in the form of joint resolutions three days before the close of this term of Congress. In 1843 Mr. Buchanan was elected to the Senate for a third term, and in the following year he was the Demo- cratic candidate for Pennsylvania for the Presi- dential nomination, bnt withdrew in the interest of the party, James K. Polk being the only name upon which its strength could centre. On his accession to office, Mr. Polk appointed Mr. Buchanan his Secretary of State, and while holding this office he had before him the two questions of the North- western boundary and the annexation of Texas, the latter of which resulted in the Mexican War, and that in the cession to the United States of Califor- nia and New Mexico. Mr. Buchanan was a strong advocate of the Monroe Doctrine, and vigorously opposed the encroachments of Great Britain in Cen- tral America and its protectorate of the Mosquito Indians, but the policy which the Secretary of State inaugurated was not followed by the succeed- ing administration. In 1849 Gen. Taylor became President, and Mr. Buchanan retired temporarily from public life. He purchased a property of twenty-two acres known as Wheatland, a short dis- tance from Lancaster, Penn., and there he made his home. His family at this time included Miss Har- riet Lane, a niece, and James Buchanan Henry, a nephew, who were brought up by their uncle with great tenderness and judgment. During this period of rest Mr. Buchanan conducted a large correspon- dence with public men concerning politics and pub- lic measures. In onc letter he declared that "two things are necessary to preserve the Union from danger : 1. The agitation in the North of the sub- ject of Southern slavery must be rebuked and put down by a strong and enlightened public opinion. 2. The Fugitive Slave Law must be enforced in its spirit." In 1852 Mr. Buchanan became again a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Presi- dent, but the nomination was given to Gen. Frank- lin Pierce, who was elected. In 1853 President Pierce appointed Mr. Buchanan Minister to Eng- land, a position which he was loth to accept, both on account of his age (62 years), and because he was inclined to complete retirement. He, however, accepted the office and arrived in England on the 17th of August, 1853. He at once entered upon the discussion of a question which possessed peculiar interest to him, namely the consideration of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. The Crimean War, how- cver, delayed negotiations upon this question. In the conduct of this war the influence of Mr. Buchanan was felt in the manner of the treatment of neutrals, and during his stay in England he was treated with attention and respect both by the royal
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