USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III > Part 70
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
Hubert J. Lear was educated in the public schools of Milwaukee, after which he began selling newspapers, thus contributing to his support at an early age. For a time he was employed by a dentist and later he secured a position with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, with which he was connected for a decade. On the expiration of that period he organized the Intersection Garage Company and subse- quently was instrumental in forming the Lear-Diel Droegkamp Company, of which he is the president. They are state distributors for the Hup automobiles, and their business has enjoyed a substantial growth. Mr. Lear is a member of the Milwaukee Automobile Dealers Association and is at all times in close connection with the trade, which he studies thoroughly, so that his knowledge of business conditions is of marked value in the successful conduct of the enterprise of which he is now the head.
Mr. Lear was married in Waukegan, Illinois, to Miss Margaret J. Droegkamp, daughter of E. C. Droegkamp, a representative of an old and prominent pioneer family of this state. Her father was engaged in the furnace business in Milwaukee. To Mr. and Mrs. Lear have been born two sons: James Washburn and Jack.
Fraternally Mr. Lear is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks,
622
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
and he belongs to the Milwaukee Association of Commerce, manifesting a keen interest in all the plans and purposes of that organization to upbuild the city, promote and extend its trade relations and uphold its civic standards. He is a young man giving close attention to his individual business and by reason of his thoroughness, capability and determination has gained a substantial measure of prosperity.
ALBERT F. GALLUN.
Albert F. Gallun, now president of A. F. Gallun & Sons Company, was born January 2, 1865. He was educated in Milwaukee at the German-English Academy and high school. Soon thereafter he entered the business of his father, August F. Gallun, who, owing to the dissolution of an earlier partnership placed heavy responsibility on the son at an early age, which he shouldered with much credit. For many years he con- ducted the manufacturing end of the business until the late '90s, when full control was placed in his hands, where it still rests at this writing.
On the 2d of January, 1896, Mr. Gallun was married to Hedwig Mann, a daughter of Henry Mann, woodenware manufacturer of Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Their children are four in number: Elinor, who is now the wife of John C. Pritzlaff and the mother of one daughter, Marjory; Edwin A .; Albert F., Jr., and Gladys.
In addition to his connection with the leather trade Albert F. Gallun is a director of the Marshall & Ilsley Bank. He is a member of the principal clubs of the city but has devoted most of his leisure hours to the enjoyment of the pleasures and interests of home. His steady advancement has brought him to a commanding position in the business world and he is fully sustaining the high reputation that has always been asso- ciated with the family name.
STEPHEN SALINKO, M. D.
Dr. Stephen Salinko, a distinguished Polish physician of Milwaukee, was born November 25, 1870, in that little country whose history has awakened the sympathy of everyone in whose breast burn the fires of loyalty, patriotism and justice. His parents, both now deceased, never came to the United States. The doctor was reared in Poland and educated in Warsaw, where he devoted five years to medical study before coming to the United States and had already won his medical degree from the Imperial Uni- versity in that city in 1893. He then practiced in Warsaw until 1896, when he crossed the Atlantic and entered the Maryland Medical College of Baltimore, from which he was graduated in 1901, serving in the meantime for a year-1898-in the Spanish- American war. He had been a private in the Medical Corps, on duty in various hospitals. After 1901 he practiced for a short time in New York and in 1902 made his way westward to Milwaukee, where he has continuously practiced through the inter- vening period, covering twenty years. All this time he has been on the south side of the city and for the past fifteen years at his present location. He engages in general practice and his business is all that he can attend to.
During the World war Dr. Salinko served for a year as a captain in the Medical Corps, U. S. A., being on duty at General Hospital No. 41 on Staten Island, New York, through practically the entire time of his connection with the army. He is still a reserve officer in the United States army with the rank of captain.
In religious faith Dr. Salinko is a Roman Catholic. He has had little time for sports or recreation of any kind owing to the constant demands made upon him for professional service. He belongs to the Spanish-American War Veterans Association. Liberal educational advantages in his native land and his adopted country have brought him to a position of distinction in his chosen calling.
HERMAN EGGERT.
The name of Eggert has long been associated with the furniture trade in Milwau- kee and Herman Eggert, founder of the business, was connected therewith until his retirement in 1912. He was born in Hanover, Germany, February 2, 1849, and bas therefore passed the seventy-third milestone, on life's journey. He is a son of Ernst and Marie (Mauntler) Eggert and spent his youthful days in his native country, where he acquired his education. while after coming to the new world he attended night school in Milwaukee. While still in Germany he learned the cabinetmaker's trade, thus fol- lowing in the business footsteps of his father and his brother Henry, and in 1868 the family left Europe to establish their home in the new world, arriving in New York
ALBERT F. GALLUN
-
625
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
city on the 4th of July after crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel which was six weeks in completing the trip. They made their way westward to this city and for six years thereafter Herman Eggert was employed by J. F. Birchard, a furniture dealer carrying on business on Wisconsin and Milwaukee streets.
In the year 1874 the father, Ernst Eggert, and his two sons, Henry and Herman, organized a furniture business under the name of E. Eggert & Sons and began trade in a frame building at No. 740 Winnebago street. As the years passed their business steadily grew and developed and in 1906 they erected a brick building of three stories at the corner of Eighth and Winnebago streets, so that their establishment now extends from 740 to 744. In the beginning the Eggerts, for all three were cabinetmakers, manufactured over one-half of the furniture which they sold and they have made ship- ments from their factory to all parts of this country and to foreign lands as well. The father passed away in the year 1909, when he was eighty-nine years of age, his birth having ocenrred in 1820. The death of Henry Eggert occurred in 1918. Six years before this time Herman Eggert had retired from the business. In 1900 the father had sold his interest to his sons, Herman and Henry, who in 1912 sold the business to Alfred and Richard Eggert, the sons of Henry Eggert, so that the enterprise has been continuously maintained by the family for a period of forty-eight years and throughout this entire time the family name has stood as a synonym of progressiveness and thorough reliability in business circles.
In 1876 Mr. Eggert was united in marriage to Miss Marie Vehring, a daughter of Ludwig Vehring. They have become the parents of four children, namely: Sophia, who is the wife of Emil Clanssen; Louise, at home; Ida; and Clara, who gave her hand in marriage to Otto Jaeckel.
Mr. Eggert is a republican in his political views but not bitterly partisan, con- sidering the capability of a candidate as of more importance than his party ties. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Trinity Lutheran church. Ile still resides on the old homestead property where he took up his abode more than a half century ago and has long been widely recognized as one of the most esteemed and substantial citizens of Milwaukee.
JAMES D. MADISON. M. D.
Dr. James D. Madison, a physician specializing in internal medicine, with offices in the Goldsmith building in Milwaukee, was born in the township of West Point, Columbia county, Wisconsin, December 26, 1869. He is a son of William Madison, a farmer who departed this life in 1892. The father was born in England and came to the United States prior to the Civil war in which he served for three years and ten months as a member of Company A, Eleventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, thus aiding in the preservation of the Union. In early manhood he wedded Sarah G. Ellis, also a native of England, but it was following their removal to Wisconsin that they became acquainted. their marriage being celebrated in 1865. They reared a family of four children, three sons and a daughter. The mother passed away in 1919, at the age of eighty-one years.
Dr. Madison lived at or near Worthington, Noble county, Minnesota, to the age of fourteen years, his parents removing to that state when he was quite young. Later his youth was spent on a farm in Dane county, Wisconsin, and in the acquirement of his education he was graduated from the Mazomanie high school with the class of 1890, winning valedictorian honors at that time. He further pursned his studies in the ITniversity of Wisconsin and won the Bachelor of Science degree in 1894, thus laying a broad foundation on which to build the superstructure of professional learning. He next entered the Johns Hopkins Medical College at Baltimore, Maryland, and com- pleted a four years' course in 1898, at which time the M. D. degree was granted him. He served as an interne in the Johns Hopkins Hospital for a year, after which he had charge of the female side of Danvers Hospital for the Insane at Danvers, Massachusetts, for a period of three years. Since 1902 he has steadily engaged in practice in Mil- waukee and during the intervening years has made constant progress in his profession. During the World war he served on the local draft board and in the fall of 1917 served as contract surgeon on the cardiovascular and tuberculosis boards for about three months. In September, 1918, he was commissioned captain of the Medical Corps and was stationed at Milwaukee as president of the examining board for the Medical Corps. He is now serving on the staff of the Columbia Hospital, the Milwaukee Hospital, also the Milwaukee County Hospital, the Milwankee Children's Hospital and the Emergency Hospital.
In 1903 Dr. Madison was united in marriage to Dr. Julia E. Porter, who was born in Illinois and is a graduate dentist. They have one child, Mary Elizabeth, now twelve years of age. The doctor is fond of hunting and fishing and indulges in those sports when opportunity permits. He has membership in the Milwaukee City Club and he also Vol. 111-40
626
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
belongs to the Congregational church-connections that indicate much of the nature of his interests and the rules that govern his conduct. Along professional lines he is identified with the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine, the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical 'Society and the American Medical Association. His college training was thorough and his efficiency has been based upon broad knowl- edge of the principles of medicine and surgery, with ability to accurately apply these principles to the needs of suffering humanity. With his scientific knowledge he com- bines a broad humanitarian spirit and is most earnest and conscientious in the per- formance of all of his professional duties, his ability bringing him prominently to the tront as a physician.
ARTHUR H. GALLUN.
The subject of this sketch was born in Milwaukee, November 23, 1875, a son of the late August F. and Julia (Kraus) Gallun. Extended mention of the father, who was a pioneer tanner of this city, is made on another page of this work. In the acquirement of his education Arthur H. Gallun attended the city schools, pursuing his studies in the German-English Academy and the old East Division high school. He was about twenty years of age when he entered his father's tannery, where he was assigned to duty in the various departments and thus gained comprehensive knowledge of all phases of the work. In 1912, together with his elder brother. Albert F. Gallun, he took over the tanning business established by August F. Gallun in 1858. At the incorporation of the A. F. Gallun & Sons Company in 1917 he became its vice president. His chief activity was the management of the company's tannery. About 1917 he was instrumental in establishing a research department for the leather industry at Columbia University of New York city, which is maintained at the joint expense of the company and the university.
On the 22d of June, 1916, Mr. Gallun was married to Miss Helen Case of Milwaukee. He passed away, a victim of pneumonia, on the 9th of November, 1921, and his memory, among his large circle of friends, will long be cherished. He was a philanthropist and a patron of art, and it was his assistance which at one time made it possible to keep alive the Wisconsin School of Art. He was a member of the Milwaukee Country Club, the Town Club, the Athletic Club, the Wisconsin Club and other organizations.
AMERICAN APPRAISAL COMPANY.
In ancient times appraisals, much as we now know them, were introduced. Mas- pero, greatest of Egyptologists, tells how appraisals were made by the "officer of the survey" about 2000 B. C. Archaeological excavations in Chaldea show that the Babylonians were familiar with appraisals. This was only natural for they were a people who lived largely by engaging in commercial pursuits. The most important medieval appraisal was compiled by the officers of William the Conqueror, and the result, known as the Doomsday Book, served as a basis for the adjustment of English taxation for the next four hundred and thirty-seven years.
Appraising, as a recognized profession apart from governmental control, did not become known in America until the year 1889. It was then carried on by a group of . individuals in St. Paul, Minnesota, among whom was Mr. J. L. Moon. From this start, the profession was organized into a corporation in 1896 by Mr. J. L. Moon and Mr. W. M. Young.
Mr. Moon, through his experience as a court reporter and lawyer, had become familiar with the difficulty of proving property values in connection with fire loss adjustments and he realized the advantages in legal proof of impartial, accurate, systematically recorded data on this subject. Mr. Young had been a contractor, who, through years of practical experience in building work, had acquired a very wide knowledge of building costs and values.
They surveyed the central western territory for a logical starting point. Because of its centralized location and industrial activity, Milwaukee was chosen.
The venture was most uncertain, and accordingly the start was very humble. A room was rented in the old St. Charles. Hotel, a typewriter was borrowed, and The American Appraisal Company was open for business.
Two years later, the rapidly expanding business needed larger quarters. Offices were then taken in the Matthews building. From there, the company moved to the Patton building, and then to the Public Service building, and in 1912 to the Stroh building, where it now occupies five floors.
The methods of making appraisals in early days contained largely the rudiments of the perfected service later developed. The early organization was similar to the
-
ARTHUR H. GALLUN
f
629
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
present one, in that both were composed of executives, office and field staffs. The executives consisted of three officers, who directed all steps of the work both in the field and in the office. The office staff comprised the checkers, draftsmen and typists, and the field staff was made up of the individual appraisers and company representatives.
It was theu the function of the appraiser to inspect, record and value the various units of construction and mechanical equipment, and to make building drawings of the properties appraised. These reports were then sent to the office for mathematical and occasionally price check, and then typed, summarized and bound.
The company as organized in 1903 was typical of these early years. It then con- sisted of three executives, two price checkers, one draftsman, twenty typists, and about fifteen men in the field staff. As the demand for appraisal service developed, and its uses expanded the organization broadened. It was soon found that the method of having the field appraisers establish values gave rise to "opinion values." Such values were in many cases very accurate, but in some others resulted in wide differences of opinion, depending upon the judgment of the individual appraisers.
To prevent this the duties of the field appraisers and office staff were altered. The appraisers, after the change, inspected, measured and recorded the property, but did not establish values. The placing of values was then an operation which was brought into the office and conducted by pricing departments, as they were called. One depart- ment established prices on construction work, and the other on machinery and general mechanical equipment. In this way values were determined according to known price statistics, cost analyses, and proven standards, and discrepancies arising from individual opinions were prevented. This change caused the company's reports from then on to he capable of complete substantiation and proof at any time a quality which has been the principal reason of the company's success.
Each year of business has heen one of steady growth and development. The organ- ization has increased in numbers constantly. Refiuements in the conduct of the business have been gradual but continuous. Experience and analysis of production have caused the organization to become completely departmentalized and standardized. In former years one group of individuals frequently performed a series of operations in the compilation of an appraisal, but this has been so completely changed that now each one of the many steps in the making of an appraisal is handled by a specialized group, trained in the performance of one function.
The present organization now comprises seven hundred employes. Of these over five hundred are engaged in the sixteen departments at the home office in Milwaukee, one hundred and thirty as engineers and appraisers and thirty-two in the branch offices.
The company has now grown to be a national institution, equipped to render com- plete valuation service in every state in the union, Mexico and the surrounding islands. Branch offices have been established in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Syracuse, San Francisco, Seattle, Tulsa and Washington.
This large development has been due to both the enthusiasm and progressiveness of the organization, and to the increase in the demand for the use and application of organized valuation services.
Originally appraisals were made in connection with the placing and collection of fire insurance and this usage still continues to cause a general demand for the service. The insurance regulations which made the use of disinterested valuations necessary were adopted just previous to the organization of this company and are still in force. One of the greatest stimulants given to the appraisal business from an insurance standpoint came in connection with the San Francisco fire and earthquake in 1906. This company had many clients whose property was completely destroyed and it was only through the use of their appraisals that immediate and satisfactory adjustment was secured. Another condition emphasizing the service occurred in connection with the unprecedented rise in valnes during the recent war with Germany.
Soon after the company started it was recognized that new corporations resulting from the combination of individual companies should merge on an equitable basis of fair values. This could only he secured hy an impartial valuation or appraisal. The formation of such corporations as the old American Bicycle Company, the International Harvester Company and the early properties of the General Motors Company are ex- amples of this company's early experience in this field.
As a result of the work for merger purposes, banking institutions throughout the country began to realize the importance of appraisal service in connection with the extension of credit. The demand for impartial valuations of the properties on which loans were made or financing conducted made of financial institutions a very prolific source of appraisal activity. This condition has developed to a point where now the large majority of financial loans issued to the public have the value of the security certified hy disinterested appraisers.
As appraisals came into more general use their value as a work of reference in
630
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
connection with the management of the properties became more appreciated. Appraisal reports, when used for this purpose, allow all details regarding the units of property to be readily accessible for use by the executives in determining the plan of manufac- ture, making purchases and the general operation of the property.
With the development of accounting and cost finding systems, appraisals were destined to be brought still more into the intimate daily use of a business. It became a recognized fact that book accounts frequently did not reflect the true property values, so that, in order to set up a cost system which gave the correct allocation of property values and the correct depreciation rates applicable, an appraisal was necessary. Re- cent developments in cost accounting have carried this work still further, so that, iu place of the departmental divisions, the property is now arranged into production units and the values and depreciation charges determined for them.
During the last few years Blue Sky laws protecting the investor have been passed by most states. Practically all of these laws require that speculative securities be issued only after the properties have been carefully inventoried and appraised. It is an increasingly common practice for issuers of bonds to publish in their prospectuses the entire certification of value of an appraisal company.
Appraisals are also necessary to determine values for purposes of liquidation. This involves special problems of valuation. Values are normally determined on the basis of the value of properties to a going concern-this is, to a business for whom proper- ties will be used and useful. Market value is defined by law as the price which a willing buyer would pay and the price which a willing seller would accept. But as soon as property ceased to be a part of a going concern, new factors come into consideration, and the property loses a large part of its value. If the property is dead the determina- tion of its value must take into consideration the purposes for which it may be used and the market for a property of that nature. The difference between the normal value of a property that has ceased to be a part of a going concern is frequently a cause of confusion and misunderstanding. At the present time brewery and distillery proper- ties are forcible illustrations of these conditions. The properties are difficult to con- vert economically for other uses. When the conversion is made, therefore, difficult problems of valuation arise.
With the beginning of public utility regulation by the various state commissions and the interstate commerce commission, a further use of valuation service developed. One of the principal uses for appraisal service in this connection has been in reference to litigation over rates. The courts ruled that utilities are allowed only a fair return on the capital invested and in order to obtain such a return an impartial valuation must be made. Work on public utilities has covered all types of property and this company's reports have figured in some of the largest rate cases in the country.
Public utility valuation work involved many principles and engineering problems not encountered in the valuation of industrial properties. To meet this condition the company has organized a public utility department, employing experts of wide and long experience in this field, who conduct the work as a unit in itself.
Another phase of appraisal work centers around the determination of values of condemned properties. These expropriations are usually settled upon the basis of dis- interested authorities. Such cases arise in connection with municipal, state and federal governments in connection with governmental improvements. During the late war with its consequential mobilization of industrial forces, the company prepared many reports for this purpose in connection with the activities of the war and navy depart- ments, shipping board, alien property custodian, internal revenue department, food and fuel administrations, capital issues committee, and other governmental departments.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.