USA > Pennsylvania > The Book of Prominent Pennsylvanians; a standard reference > Part 10
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98
VAN BITTNER.
Van Bittner, a well-known labor leader of the Pittsburgh district, was born at Bridgeport, Pa., the son of Charles and Emma Bittner. He was born March 20, 1884, and received his education in the Vanderbilt high school, from which he graduated.
After graduating from the public school he entered the coal mines, and at 15 years became a member of the United Mine Workers of America, in which labor organization he took a most active part from his initiation. Desirous of learning more about the business, he took a course in mining from one of the big correspondence schools, and later re- ceived their diploma, graduating with high marks in every branch of study.
Shortly after he joined the United Mine Workers of America he was elected to a minor office in the local of which he was a member, and soon took the lead in the work of that organiza- tion. For a number of years he went to the annual conventions and also local conventions as a delegate from his union, and several years ago he per- mitted his name to go before the mem- bers of District No. 5 for the office of vice-president.
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It was at a time when the organiza- tion was in a turmoil on account of strikes and labor troubles, and Mr. Bittner was elected to the office by a big majority. Francis Feehan was elected president at the same time. Then it was that the two began working on their big task to bring peace and quiet out of chaos. It was a gigantic task, but by working day and night Mr. Bittner, who was in the field continually with the miners, was able to bring it about, and the organ- ization was once more purged and put upon a much firmer base than it had ever occupied.
President Feehan tendered his resignation to the organization, and Mr. Bittner was then called upon by the organization to take up the work where it had been left off by Mr. Feehan. Mr. Bittner is the youngest district president in the United Mine Workers' ranks.
Besides holding the reins of office of president of District No. 5, United Mine Work- ers of America, Mr. Bittner is also chairman of the district executive board and has charge of the deliberations of that body for the district miners.
Several years ago Mr. Bittner joined the the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and while he has taken no active part in the organization, his heart is with the work that is being done by the members.
Mr. Bittner was vice-president of the United Mine Workers of the Pittsburgh dis- trict for three years before he was called to the head of the union, and has been instru- mental in settling a number of strikes. He was in charge of the work in the Westmore- land field for a number of months, and has also been prominent in the wage scale contract settlements in this and other sections.
Several years ago Mr. Bittner married a Westmoreland county girl, and a daughter has been born to the couple.
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A. C. Gumbert, assistant director of the Depart- ment of Charities of Pittsburgh, is a native of Pitts-
burgh. He was born October 10, 1867.
A. C. He started life as a newsboy. He
GUMBERT. launched into the grocery business and later worked in the office of the county treasurer of Allegheny county, and in the prothonotary's office. Baseball engaged the attention of Mr. Gumbert, and unusual success was his. He was a member of the Chicago National League team under the famous regime of "Pop" Anson. He was on the pitching staff, and during his continuance in baseball was one of the leading pitchers in the major leagues. He quit playing professional ball in 1896. In 1906 he was elected sheriff of Allegheny county and remained in that office during 1907, 1908 and 1909. He was appointed to the office he now holds in 1911.
Howard J. Owens, paymaster for the city of Pitts- burgh, was born December 26, 1868, in Pittsburgh. He was educated in the Soho and Ann street HOWARD J. OWENS. public schools. When a youth he worked in the office of an architectural draftsman. Later he secured a position as transcribing clerk in the Allegheny County Court House. His next position was a clerkship in the Pittsburgh City Hall. He was appointed city paymaster by Mayor William A. Magee when that office was created. Mr. Owens is married and lives at 1225 Locust street. He belongs to the Americus Club, the P. G. Brushton Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows; Aerie No. 76, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and J. K. Moorehead Conclave, No. 82. Mr. Owens has always been interested in politics. His most recent service was as secretary of the First Ward Republican Committee.
Robert G. Robinson is one of the best known de- tectives in the United States, and is at present in-
ROBERT G. vestigator for the city of Pittsburgh. He is a native of that city, and started ROBINSON. his public career in the City Health De- partment. After a year he came under the notice of Mr. Rodger O'Mara, and in 1887 entered the detective service under him, with whom he continued for seven years. He served twelve years on the county force under District Attorney J. C. Haymaker and also under District Attorney Robert E. Stewart. Mr. Robinson opened up his own agency in the Berger building, where he still maintains offices, but upon Mayor Magee's taking office he was appointed "Special In- vestigator for the Law Department." Practically his entire time is devoted to the city's service. Mr. Robin- son was with "Patty" Fitzgerald in the capture of the Biddles, when Ed Biddle shot Fitzgerald.
100
JOHN EATON.
John Eaton, son of Hiram W. and Anna (Mott) Eaton, was born August 20, 1840, at Esopus, Ulster county, N. Y., and died in Atlantic City, N. J., September 16, 1911. Mr. Eaton attended the public schools at Brooklyn, N. Y., and commenced his business career in New York city at the age of fourteen years. He afterwards - attended night school for several years and took a course in a commercial col- lege. At the age of twenty he entered the employ of the firm of Joseph Nason & Co., of New York city, who were manufacturers of brass and iron steam, gas and water goods, and within a year was promoted to the management of the business.
Mr. Eaton's first visit to the oil re- gions of Pennsylvania was in 1861, as a representative of Joseph Nason & Co. in the sale of goods for use in drilling and operating oil wells. In 1867 he estab- lished the business of dealing in oil well supplies on his own account, and two years later he organized the firm of Eaton & Cole, which was afterwards merged into a corporation under the laws of Connecticut, known as the Eaton, Cole & Burnham Company, with its principal office in New York city. In 1878 the Oil Well Supply Company, Limited, was formed by the union of several concerns in a similar line of business, including the supply department of the Eaton, Cole & Burn- ham Company, and in 1891 the present corporation, organized under the laws of Pennsyi- vania, succeeded the limited corporation. Mr. Eaton was president and manager of all of these various concerns, and his career in manufacturing and selling oil well supplies is practically a history of the business.
In March, 1904, while on a trip around the world, Mr. Eaton was elected president of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, of which he was an active and influential mem- ber for nearly twenty years.
Mr. Eaton was a member of the Duquesne, Union, Civic and Country Clubs of Pittsburgh, the Engineers' Club of New York, and the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was also a thirty-second degree Mason.
Mr. Eaton was a man of commanding presence, standing over six feet in height, and of military bearing. He was eight years in the New York State militia, and served a short time in the Civil War. He was a man of pleasing personality and always genial and courteous. He was prompt and sagacious in business affairs, broad and liberal in his ideas, and had the courage of his convictions. His ability to select the best men for subordinate offices and to set them an example of industry in business affairs was a marked characteristic.
Mr. Eaton was married in 1863 to Margaret H. Collins, of Brooklyn, N. Y. They had two daughters-Mabel, wife of Rev. Frederick Ward Denys, formerly rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church of Baltimore, Md., now residing in Washington, D. C., and Lulu, wife of Louis Brown of Pittsburgh, Pa., formerly treasurer of the Oil Well Supply Com- pany, who has succeeded Mr. Eaton as president of the said corporation.
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Alvin Curtis Spindler was born at Beallsville, Pittsburgh, was born in Pittsburgh, March 10, 1870.
ALVIN son of William Riley Spindler and Eliza-
beth Colvin Spindler. Subsequent to his CURTIS elementary education, Mr. Spindler se- SPINDLER. cured a very liberal higher schooling. He entered Washington & Jefferson College and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1886. He attended the University of Michigan, from whose law school he was graduated in 1890. As a legal practitioner in Pittsburgh he has established for him- self an enviable record. He has attained prominence in the great financial circles of the Smoky City, and is at present a director of the Columbia National Bank. He is also a clubman, retaining membership in the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh. He has been promi- nently identified with many movements tending toward the best advancement of Pittsburgh's interests.
John A. Martin, alderman of the First ward of Pittsburgh, was born in Pittsburgh March 10, 1870. He is the son of John Martin and Mar-
JOHN A.
MARTIN. garet Gallagher Martin. Mr. Martin
was educated in the Hancock public school and was graduated from there and from Duff's Business College. He studied law in the office of Blakeley, McElroy & Smith for a year; was assistant agent at the Pennsylvania Railroad Station, and in 1896 was elected alderman, and has served continuously in that position ever since, having been re-elected three times. Mr. Martin is a Democrat in politics. He takes an active part in civic affairs, and is a mem- ber of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Society, the Inde- pendent Order of Heptasophs, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Knights of Equity and the Knights of Columbus.
Harvey A. Lowry, Pittsburgh Alderman, was born April 17, 1859, in Pittsburgh. His parents were James HARVEY A. Lowry, Jr., and Eliza Shore Lowry. He was LOWRY. in Curry Institute. For 10 years Mr. educated in the Franklin public school and Lowry was employed as an engineer on the Panhandle railroad. He then became a deputy sheriff of Allegheny county. In 1890 he was elected to common council, rep- resenting the old Seventh ward, Pittsburgh; was re- elected for three succeeding terms, and was then elected sheriff of Allegheny county, serving three years. For one year Mr. Lowry was with the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Telephone Company, as manager of the right of way de- partment. Since 1909 he has been Alderman of the new Eleventh ward, being appointed first by Gov. Penny- packer and elected in 1910. Mr. Lowry has been married twice; his first wife was Miss Clara White, who bore him five children ; his present wife was Miss Amelia Mildred Fox.
I02
HARRY WILLIAM CROFT.
Harry William Croft, president of the Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, December 12, 1865. His parents were Will- iam Croft and Abigail Jane Croft. After finishing the grammar grade in the old Sixth Ward public school, in Chartiers street, on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Mr. Croft attended the Iron City College, Pittsburgh, where he took a commercial course of study. When a boy of 15 years he secured a position as bookkeeper in the office of the Liv- ingston Foundry Company, of Alle- gheny. After seven years, he was of- fered a better position with the Wood- land Fire Brick Company, at Woodland, Clearfield county, Pa., a concern con- trolled by the Harbison-Walker inter- ests.
Mr. Croft later became manager of the Woodland plant, and in 1898 was appointed general works manager in charge of the seven plants controlled by the Harbison-Walker interests at that time. The next year he was elected vice-president of the Harbison-Walker Company, and became general manager of all the company's interests.
Under Mr. Croft's management the business grew rapidly and steadily. But Mr. Croft not only knew the brick manufactur- ing business from beginning to end, but in addition he was skilled in the art of finance and organization. At that time there was pretty vigorous competition in the brick mar- ket, participated in by a number of manufacturing concerns. Mr. Croft, S. C. Walker, then president of the Harbison & Walker Company, and several others, determined to unite the most desirable of them at least into one large brick manufacturing corporation.
Within three years after he became vice-president of the Harbison-Walker Company a consolidation was effected between the Harbison-Walker Company and 11 other brick manufacturing concerns, the new organization being known as the Harbison-Walker Re- fractories Company. Mr. Croft was elected vice-president and general manager. He held this position until the death of S. C. Walker, whom he succeeded as president in 1907. The general offices are located in Pittsburgh.
Under Mr. Croft's management the Harbison-Walker interests have opened markets for their high grade bricks throughout the entire United States. Not content with this, they have invaded the markets of Canada and many countries in the old world, and now many thousands of bricks are shipped to all parts of the world. The products of the Harbison-Walker Refractories Company include bricks made of magnesite shipped from Austria, bricks made from chrome ore shipped from Greece, although, of course, the greater part of the output is of high grade fire bricks made from native fire clay and silica.
Mr. Croft was married in 1892 to Miss Augusta Graham. There are four children. Mr. Croft's amusement is golf, and he belongs to many organizations which maintain golf links, including the Country Club, Oakmont Country Club, Allegheny Country Club. He belongs to the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, the Duquesne Club and the Pittsburgh Club.
103
JOHN C. SCHMIDT.
Among the prominent manufactur- ers of Pennsylvania is John Charles Schmidt, of York, born March 14, 1859, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the son of Henry Danneman Schmidt and Mary Louisa Carson Schmidt. His family moved to York, Pa., where he was edu- cated in private schools, and later at the Institute Rouscher, Stuttgart, Germany. In 1876 Mr. Schmidt entered the emloy- ment of the P. A. & S. Small Company in York. In 1881 he embarked in the chain manufacturing business in York. Mr. Schmidt was elected president at the organization of the new Standard Chain Company in 1900. He is presi- dent of the Schmidt & Ault Paper Com- pany of York, a director of the York Water Company, the York Gas Com- pany, the York Railways Company and the York National Bank. His clubs are : the Duquesne of Pittsburgh, the Pitts- burgh Athletic Association, the Lafay- ette and the Country Club at York. April 17, 1890, he was married to Anna Maria Small.
ALBERT GRAHAM.
Albert Graham, president of the Graham Nut Company, was born in Chartiers township of Allegheny county, March 17, 1848, the son of John and Mary Bishop Graham. In 1864 Mr. Graham became bookkeeper for a lum- ber company, working for four years; then paymaster of the Eagle Rolling Mills of James Wood & Company, for an additional four years. From 1874 until 1881 he worked for a firm of contrac- tors, and in 1881 entered the nut manu- facturing business. Mr. Graham is president of the Graham Nut Company, president of the Crafton and Ingram Building and Loan Association, presi- dent of the Board of Trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Crafton, director in the West End Sav- ings and Trust Company, director in the Crafton Trust Company and vice- president of the Crafton Athletic As- sociation. He is a member of the Union Club, the Crafton Athletic Association and of the Thornburg Country Club.
104
1
ANDREW CARNEGIE
105
CARNEGIE STEEL COMPANY.
HENRY PHIPPS.
To the Carnegie Steel Company is due much, if not most of the credit at- tached to the development of the world's greatest enterprise-the steel industry.
The Carnegie Company, the work of Andrew Carnegie's brains, grew from practically nothing until it was one of the country's largest producers, weath- ering all kinds of misfortunes and disas- ters meantime.
It was in the days of the start of the steel industry in its rise to supremacy that Carnegie and his partners had to struggle along as best they could, tak- ing advantage of every opportunity, making opportunities, and evading the rocks in the channel that often was shal- low, narrow and treacherous.
Even residents of Pittsburgh, that city of steel, are, many of them, un- familiar with the early struggles of the company, and its strange history. That as a four-partner concern Carnegie and his allies for three years made scarcely enough to keep the sheriff inactive
seems implausible now, when one looks over the figures of the Carnegie Com- pany, chief unit in the United States Steel Corporation.
Carnegie took his first "flyer" in iron on May 2, 1864, when he purchased a one-sixth interest in the Iron City Forge Company, from Thomas N. Mil- ler, for $8,925. The other shareholders. besides Miller, were Andrew Kloman and Henry Phipps. At the same time Carnegie organized the Keystone Bridge Company, floated its stock among his railroad magnate friends, and in four years paid for his stock out of the new company's profits. Later the Keystone Company, through Carnegie's diplomacy and railroad affiliation, became one of the most prosperous bridge builders in the country.
However, the forge company suf- fered from the reduced prices caused by the ending of the Civil War, and in the three years when expenses barely were made, Carnegie regretted entering upon such a "hazardous enterprise." Miller, the wealthiest partner, often had to ad-
HENRY CLAY FRICK.
106
CARNEGIE COMPANY.
vance money to pay the workmen, who sometimes were paid in grocery orders on a local store. Sometimes they pawned the pig iron to get ready money.
The enterprise did not look like a good prospect to Miller, and when he de- cided to drop out, in the midst of in- ternal wrangling and labor troubles Carnegie purchased his stock for $73, 600. Thirty-four years later he sold it to the Steel Corporation for millions.
Between 1866 and 1872 the United States' total railroad mileage doubled and the iron men profited. Carnegie's chief asset, the friendship of railroad men, obtained for him many big con- tracts at profitable prices, and it was his selling abilities that put the company's balance on the right side of the ledger.
Henry Phipps' contribution to the partnership consisted of a master capac- ity for detail and the best efforts of an engineer of economies. He noticed the smallest waste or extravagance; he was plodding; he was energetic. The com- pany at first was too poor to hire a book-
WILLIAM ELLIS COREY.
CHARLES SCHWAB.
keeper, so he kept the books himself. He did more to force the cost of produc- tion down than probably any other man. Also he could hold off an insistent bank- er better than any of his partners.
Andrew Kloman was the mechan- ical genius of the concern, and as such had no superior in his day, and his in- ventive turn of mind also was a big asset to the company. Tom Carnegie, the youngest of the partners, was popular and could convert friendship into cash.
Then Andrew Carnegie saw steel made by the Bessemer process, and a test of its serviceability. He withdrew his objections to the plans of his part- ners to branch into steel, and in the late sixties formed the firm of Carnegie, Mc- Candless & Company, with David Mc- Candless, wealthy Pittsburgh merchant, the chief partner to Carnegie. Other members were William Coleman, a for- mer iron-rail manufacturer; Kloman, Phipps, William P. Shinn, Colonel Thomas A. Scott, David A. Stewart and Thomas Carnegie. Then the Edgar Thomson works were built and launched on its successful career, at Braddock, the scene of General Braddock's defeat by the French and Indians in 1755.
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The efficiency of the organization once was pointed out by a friend in this fashion : "Shinn bossed the show; McCandless lent it dignity and standing; Phipps took in the pennies at the gate and kept the payroll down; Tom Carnegie kept everybody in a good humor, and Andy looked after the advertising and drove the bandwagon." It might be added that Andrew Carnegie organized the company, furnished more than one-third of the capital, buttressed it with wealthy friends and gained the largest and most profitable orders.
In 1881 the company was organized under the name of Carnegie Brothers & Co., with a capital of $5,000,000, distributed among seven partners, the others having died or sold out their holdings. Andrew Carnegie led the list of stockholders with $2,737,977.95. From that time on the company never failed to clear at least $1,000,000 a year. In 1887, when the profit amounted to 69 per cent., the total gain was $3,441,887.29. Most of this went to Andrew Carnegie, who had increased his holdings with the dwindling of the number of partners from seven to four.
In 1882 the Carnegie Company bought control of the Frick Company, and in 1889 H. C. Frick was made Carnegie's commander-in-chief. The Homestead plant was taken over and improved; the Duquesne works built by competitors and taken over. The name of the concern was changed to the Carnegie Steel Company, Ltd., and was a $25,000,000 company in 1892. The Union railroad was built to connect the company plants. It paid for itself in a few months. Then ore mines in the Lake Superior region were acquired. The company then reorganized and rebuilt the Bessemer & Lake Erie railroad, built a fleet of ore ships, and the organization was complete. Both transactions were done by bond issue, without cash.
In 1899 there was the split between Carnegie and Frick, which finally was readjusted with the reorganization of the company with a capitalization of $320,000,000, Frick re- tiring from the directorate, but continuing as a shareholder, with big holdings.
The climax in the company's history was in 1901, when it was absorbed by the United States Steel Corporation, at a price estimated at almost half a billion dollars. Owing to its size, however, the Carnegie Company retained its identity, and has a separate board of directors. The present officers of the Carnegie Steel Company are: Alva C. Dinkey, Presi- dent; James H. Reed, Chairman Board of Directors; Wm. Whigham, John McLeod, W. R. Balsinger and L. H. Burnett, Assistants to the President; H. P. Bope, First Vice-Presi- dent and General Manager of Sales; W. W. Blackburn, Second Vice-President and Secretary; James J. Campbell, Auditor and Assistant Secretary; W. C. McCausland, Treasurer; Wm. R. Conrad, Assistant Treasurer; MacGilvray Shiras, Ore Agent; L. C. Bihler, Traffic Manager.
Webster R. Balsinger was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., February 8, 1866. He is a son of D. S. and Lavenia (Ri-
WEBSTER R. ley) Balsinger. Mr. Balsinger was edu- BALSINGER. cated in the public schools of this city, and at the age of 13 went to work with the Carnegie Steel Company, first as an office boy at the Edgar Thomson plant at Braddock and afterwards in a clerical capacity. Mr. Balsinger served in that mill and at the Homestead Works in several clerical capacities un- til he was promoted to the city office as Engineer of Ord- nance in 1897. He was made Assistant to the President of the company in 1905. Under his direction are the Armor Plate and Special Steel departments. Mr. Balsinger is a member of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, the Du- quesne Club, the Country Club, the Oakmont Country Club, the Americus Club; the Chevy Chase and Metropol- itan Clubs of Washington, D. C .; the Pilgrims Society and the Naval Athletic Association. He is also a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute.
108
ALVA CLUMER DINKEY.
The history of steel, the industrial king, holds many romances. It is a romance itself, and there are stories almost unbelievable linked in the development of the great- est of industries.
Perhaps no more romantic a life story can be found in the annals of steel than that of Alva Clumer Dinkey, president of the Carnegie Steel Company.
Were a story to be written, incog., of his life, under the title, "From Water Boy to Steel Magnate in Twenty-Four Years," the readers would be unanimous in their verdict that it was fiction.
Yet A. C. Dinkey has done that very thing; he was elected president of the Carnegie Steel Company 24 years after entering the Carnegie service as a water boy. It is almost unbelievable, yet it is true. And that brief summary of what he has done reveals the real man, telling the story of ability, persistent application, brains, energy and ambition.
Alva Clumer Dinkey was born in Weatherly, Pa., on February 20, 1866, a son of Reuben and Mary Elizabeth Hamm Dinkey. His early education was gained in the Weatherly and Braddock public schools.
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