USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume V > Part 40
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"Judge George II. Noyes made the presentation speech, the bust remaining with the American flag. As Judge Noyes ceased speaking Clauder's Military Band struck up 'The Star Spangled Banner. while Cyril Gordon Weld, the grandson of Mr. Wahl, ent the cord that held the national colors about the bust, and the flag fell, dis- closing the features of Christian Wahl. Immediately there was a mighty cheer. The late President David Erdman of the park board received the bust in behalf of himself and his associates. On this occasion the widow of Mr. Wahl also presented to the park board. through its president, a collection of large palm trees which Mr. Wahl had assembled at great expense, and which had for a long period been in the conservatory at Mitehell Park. This ended the core- monies attending the unveiling of the bust of Christian Wahl. and the formal opening of the Pavilion." More than one hundred of Mil- wankee's representative people contributed to the fund by which this worthy memorial was procured for the park in which Mr. Wahl had taken so deep an interest. and the bust and its inscription constitute Vol. V-22
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an enduring tribute to an honored citizen. The street leading from the southeast into Lake Park, spanning the ravines with the beautiful "lion bridges" was named Wahl Avenue during his life time.
As a young man Mr. Wahl was united in marriage to Miss Antonie Guenther, daughter of Dr. Johann George Guenther, who was a mem- ber of the first German Reichstag after the Revolution of 1848, and became an exile. She was also a niece of the brilliant but ill-fated revolutionist of 1848, Robert Blum, who was one of the leaders that was shot. Mrs. Wahl survived her husband by about eight years. Three daughters blessed their union. The first, Agnes Elizabeth, is the wife of L. W. Nieman, editor of the Milwaukee Journal, and the subject of individual mention on other pages of this work. The others are Mrs. Hedwig Wahl Weld, and Miss Ilse Guenther Wahl. While they were born in this country, all three were educated abroad. As a fitting close to this memoir is entered the following appreciative tribute which appeared in a local paper at the time of the demise of Mrs. Wahl :
"Mrs. Antonie Wahl, widow of Christian Wahl, died at her home in this city December 3, 1909, and her death is mourned by a large circle of friends. It is given to few persons to have so sweet a char- acter as that of Mrs. Wahl. Gentle, considerate and patient under all circumstances, she won the affection of all who came within the compass of her gracious influence. Her charity was widespread, and she was tireless in her efforts to make life pleasant for others."
L. W. NIEMAN. To analyze another man's character and measure his success is as hopeless an undertaking as to attempt to describe his motives, and almost as likely to be unjust. No two human beings are exactly alike, or think by exactly the same rules, however close their communion or intimate their fellowship. No two men have just the same ideal of success, and no two men see identically the same phantoms, when they shrink at the thought of failure. In a biographi- cal sketch of a conspicuously successful man, there are, therefore, many limitations imposed upon the writer that it is well for the reader to bear in mind.
As the late Lute A. Taylor used to say, with his inimitable and gratuitous stammer .- "We're n-none of us per-perfect," and Lucius W. Nieman, the controlling spirit of the Milwaukee Journal, editorially and financially is one of the last men to enjoy "guff" much less to run after honors, whether deserved or not.
Mr. Nieman is one of the rare newspaper men who were born, not made. Beginning as a "devil" at thirteen, he was soon at the case, in the office of the Waukesha Freeman. Then "doing" Waukesha correspondence for the Milwaukee Sentinel, he at once attracted atten- tion and was sent to Madison by that paper to report a legislature,
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and at twenty-one, in but six years, he had risen from the most humble in a country printing office, to the position of managing editor of the leading Wisconsin newspaper of the time.
When the Sentinel, a little later, passed into the hands of the late Horace Rublee, Mr. Nieman had made so much of a reputation that several tempting offers came to him from other large cities, and for a short time he became connected with the St. Paul Dispatch. He was strongly urged, by Governor Marshall to remain, backed by an out- right offer of a one-third interest in the paper, a very tempting offer and an undoubted opportunity. But his ability chafed under limita- tions, so he came back to Milwaukee, and put all his small fortune into a little, hopeless looking daily paper, that Michael Kraus and some other Germans had attempted to launch in a newspaper field then dominated completely by the other two English dalies.
There was a season when he had to tighten his belt between scanty "eats" at the "Quiet House" Henry Wehr's, and other less known lunch counters of those days. His one editorial assistant was the late "Bob" Howard, and they often slept in the little office in the Herold Building, where they worked. Work was about all either knew, for a while, day or night. Things were moving rather slowly until the fate- ful Newhall House fire gave opportunity to show the town a real hus- tling newspaper. That event was so conspicuously well handled and treated with such independence editorially that The Journal at once stepped into a place of its own as a newspaper of enterprise and char- acter. But even then progress was slow, for the town was slow. No daily newspaper in the city had any circulation as we now know the word, and if one of The Journal's fast presses should be started up. today, it would run off more papers before it could be stopped than all the daily newspaper circulation of that day put together.
Barrie's play, "What Every Woman Knows," has a heroine of whom her bachelor brother says: "She has that damned thing. charm." What has been said indicates that we are trying to convey some adequately aceurate idea of a man who has a personality of con- trolling power. Such a personality as Mr. Nieman's is not dominated by a sordid success. It requires imagination to conceive of newspaper opportunities and possibilities that have no present. existing counter- part, and then too, it requires a capacity, and force, and an ability for persistent labor, that is a near neighbor of genius, to forge such dreams into realities.
This was the sort of a young man who dared to put aside tempting offers of large salaries, when he really needed the money, stake his last dollar on his own judgment, and venture not only that but the humiliation of what nine men ont of ten thought certain faihre. He knew, even with his short experience, that he conld do things that had never been done before, and that is the measure of his career. Opportu-
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nity seems graciously to open its door, as an onlooker watches such progress, but deep down inside, all know how laggard it is and how creakingly it will act before any but a dominating personality. "Luck" follows such a man because he is its master. Mr. Nieman's birthday is the thirteenth day of the month, which is another evidence that he is not subject to the every day rules of superstitious and vagrant chance.
The Journal began its career as an independent, politically, but lured by the sturdy low tariff policy of President Cleveland and at- tracted by the high character and political purposes of the young men, throughout the country, who flocked to Mr. Cleveland's support, The Journal became a staunch helpmate of the Democratic national admin- istration, and a leader in the political change which swept over Wis- consin in the early nineties, a change which was a more complete over- throw of the Republican party than occurred in any other state that had hitherto been Republican, and accomplished a practically clean sweep of state and federal officials.
It was the pride of the young men who were active in this achieve- ment that they did worthy things in a becoming way, and The Journal had full share in the character as well as the measure of this political transformation.
In dealing with the Bennett Law. where there was room for grave political as well as social errors, by making an appeal to religious and race prejudices, The Journal was most efficient in leading the fight for the Democrats upon the broadest grounds of political, religious and per- sonal freedom of thought and action. It was especially entitled to credit for creating an issue against a then moss-grown, but most debauching custom of allowing state treasurers to pocket the interest on state funds, with the result that the Democrats broke up the custom, and in the courts, secured judgments for the restitution of nearly three- quarters of a million of dollars to the state treasury.
Probably the most patriotic and useful effort of Mr. Nieman and his newspaper, was their course, in 1896, when they espoused the hope- less cause of the Gold Democrats and threw all the weight of The Journal's large influence, at home and outside the state, to defeat the free silver heresy, with a result, in the credit of which they justly shared, that Wisconsin's majority against Bryan was the largest in proportion to total vote in any state west of the Connecticut River. The Journal and the Louisville Courier-Journal both suffered, seri- ously financially, for their courageous adherence to principle.
But Mr. Nieman saw in a very discouraging situation, a new and broader opportunity for The Journal, which was immediately em- braced, and pinning faith to ideals rather than parties, to humanity rather than politics, The Journal took a new lease of life, and went forward with new energy, ever increasing influence and marvelous success.
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During the Spanish-American War came the psychological moment for The Journal to become a one cent paper. Its circulation at once began to mount, until, within the current year, it has touched 90,000.
Such an achievement within thirty years, needs no eulogist. It is neither a basis for false pride, nor a freak of momentary legerdemain. It is, at bottom, on sound bed-rock, the expression of an intensely earnest man, one who has, in a remarkable degree, that prescience and intuition as to public feeling, and the conscience of the masses, that some one has aptly ealled a "sixth sense."
In the merely mechanical field of his life work he has had a regard for details and a keen diserimination as to values, that have saved The Journal's force much that elsewhere is lost motion and waste, Mr. Nieman and The Journal are not susceptible of separate analysis. He is The Journal, and The Journal is the expression of his personality. It represents him in its every lineament.
Notwithstanding his unusual success in his unquestionable lead- ership, as the head of the greatest newspaper in Wisconsin, Mr. Nie- man is not only a modest but a retiring man. He has never sought, but has rather shrunk from the limelight, personally. He has no use for "fireworks," any more than he has for nseless or ineffective news- paper methods.
In his office, his employes know him. He takes advice with the shrewdness of a master, whenever it is good. He gives it with the per- sonal friendliness of a man who appreciates that a subordinate who says "We" do things on The Journal, is worth mueh for which money cannot pay. He encourages subordinates to improve their opportu- nities by letting them travel at the paper's expense whenever they think they can learn a better way to do anything. He is, as he al- ways puts it-"a believer in the kids," and he gives them every oppor- tunity to develop.
Mr. Nieman is a hard master only as he sets a stremnous example. At his desk, oftentimes as early as 7 A. M., things hum all around him. Capable of concentration and mental agility beyond most men, people who serve him must be clear headed, exact and efficient. After working at a four-cylindered engine's gait for five or six hours, he eats a bite at his desk, and by 2 o'clock is off for the golf links, where he plays just as hard until dinner time, as he worked in the morning. He has always been interested in outdoor sports, and beginning on the baseball field as a youngster, he has always been in the first-class, whether it was base ball, tennis or golf. The result is that today he is a hale, hearty middle aged man, with a elear eye and a brawny arm, and a color that would put a hand in the harvest field on his mettle.
His home life has large place in his existence. He married Novem- ber 28, 1900, Agnes Elizabeth Guenther Wahl, daughter of the late
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Christian Wahl, one of Milwaukee's most public spirited citizens, who as a result of his efforts to serve the public, personally as well as offi- cially, became known as the "father of Milwaukee's public park sys- tem." The married life of Mr. and Mrs. Nieman exemplifies the camaraderie and mutual interest that befits a genuine and happy household. Mrs. Nieman is his best friend and his almost constant companion, as well as his devoted wife.
Back of this career of serious life and large accomplishment is a beginning not all promising of future success. His father dying when he was but two years old, Mr. Nieman was reared at Muckwonago, Waukesha county, by his grandfather and grandmother Delamatter .. The grandfather, H. H. Delamatter, was of French descent, the name having been corrupted from De la Matyr. His grandmother, whose maiden name was Susan Cuppernall, was from New England stock, a native of Oneida county, New York, and both were pioneers in Muckwonago. Of this grandmother Mr. Nieman has often been heard by his friends to say : "If there is any good in me I owe it to her." Everybody who knew her speaks with kindness and great respect, both of her ability and fine character.
Mr. Nieman's father and an uncle on that side of the house were early farmers in Sauk county, and Mr. Nieman was born in Bear Creek, where the little stone farm house still stands.
Finally it may be said of Mr. Nieman that, although his early opportunities for education were limited, in that as in all things else, his unbounded energy and absorbing interest have led him to drill his mind as few men are taught in schools, and even the accom- plishments of linguistics have not been neglected. He is a well- rounded man, and although the picture here painted may seem to have a serious, if not somber tone, that is but one side of him. He is not only one of the most dependable friends, but he is a companion for fun and folly. Perfectly natural, he has all the freshness of un- constrained and exuberant spirits when among close companions.
This is, as was said at the outset, not an analysis of the man about whom it is written. There is nothing about it intended to suggest cold-blooded dissection, nor use of blue steel, nor any odor of anes- thetics. It is merely the impressions of Lucius W. Nieman's character and work, as one man, a friend, has known him and been impressed by them.
CLARENCE E. REMER. One of the oldest and largest establishments of Kenosha is the M. H. Pettit Malting Company, which began business in 1857 with a capacity of fifty thousand bushels per year. It is now the oldest malting plant in Wisconsin. In 1868 the old buildings were torn down and replaced by new, and the capacity increased to three hundred thousand bushels per year. The business was incorporated in
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1885, and its annual capacity at the present time is five hundred thou- sand bushels. Mr. C. E. Remer, president and treasurer of the company, is the general manager and has successfully directed the affairs of the company since its incorporation. He is a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce, and makes his selection of barley from these two points. The company use exclusively the choicest barley, and turn out malt that is unrivaled for uniform excellence. The malt houses of the most approved description, are pro- vided with the latest appliances and apparatus, machinery and kilns. There are two elevators, eighty-four by sixty-eight, and eighty by forty feet in dimensions, capable of storing five hundred thousand bushels of grain. Through long continued experience and constant vigilance in grading up the output, the reputation of this company is known among all users of malt throughout America, and the output is marketed all over the United States and also in old Mexico.
For more than thirty years identified with the M. H. Pettit Malt- ing Company, Clarence E. Remer has spent nearly all his life in Wis- consin, was formerly active in the grain business, and is one of the most successful and public-spirited citizens of Kenosha. Mr. Remer was born January 26, 1850, in Cayuga county, New York, a son of Stephen Henry and Adeline (Tibbles) Remer. His father, who was born in Connecticut in 1817, spent most of his life as a grocer. In 1854 he located in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, where he lived until his death on December 16, 1860. He was the father of two children, the older being Clarence E., and the younger Isabella, the deceased wife of John C. M. Kehlor. The mother of this family died in 1893, and she and other members of the family were communicants of the Episcopal faith.
Clarence E. Remer grew up in Elkhorn. That city was his home from 1854 until 1880. The public schools of the town supplied his early educational advantages, and when ready for independent enter- prise he found work with Mr. John C. M. Kehilor, in the grain business. In 1871, when he was twenty-one years old he bought out his employer. and conducted affairs independently until 1880. In that year, having leased his elevator, he went to Chicago with the intention of looking up a wholesale flour business. Just at that juncture a flattering offer was made by M. H. Pettit & Company, and thus his career was diverted into a new direction. Accepting the offer he moved to Kenosha, and thus became identified with the malting business. Five years later when the business was reorganized as a stock company, under the name of M. H. Pettit Malting Company, Mr. Remer was made secretary and treas- urer. His efficiency and importance in connection with the business steadily increased, and on September 15, 1902, he reached the position of president and treasurer, and is also active manager. The malting company employs about twenty-five persons in its local plant, and
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creates a large and profitable market for the producers of barley in this vicinity.
Mr. Remer was married in Kenosha to Miss Jessie E. Large. Their home is at 746 Durkee avenue. By virtue of his descent from Lieutenant Joseph Riggs of the Connecticut troops in the Revolutionary war, Mr. Remer has membership in the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is also a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and is a charter member of Kenosha Lodge No. 750, B. P. O. E. In politics he is an active Republican.
LOUIS LEIDIGER. A large share of the manufacturing and general commercial interests of the city of Merrill are comprehended under the name of the Leidiger family, and its members are associated with the management or financial control of several of the best known local enterprises, including the Merrill Veneer Company, of which Lonis Leidiger is president. Mr. Leidiger is also associated with the Leidiger Brewing Company at Merrill, of which institution his father, Ernst Leidiger, is president. Louis Leidiger is a brewer by profession, a young man of enterprise and ability, who has been instrumental in creating and carrying on much of the local enterprise in Merrill. Louis Leidiger has been a resident of Merrill since June, 1896, at which time the family was established here, having removed from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, where Louis Leidiger was born December 18, 1882. His parents are Ernst and Amelia (Hendrick) Leidiger, concerning whom a sketch appears on other pages of this work. Louis Leidiger received most of his education in Sturgeon Bay, where he grew up and was a student in the public schools there until the fifth grade. Then the family moved to Merrill where he continued his schooling until his junior year in the high school. On leaving high school he entered the business college at Appleton, Wisconsin, and in pursuance of his am- bition to enter the brewing profession he took a course in the Wahl- Heinious Institute of Fermentology at Chicago, from which institute he received a diploma as master brewer. Returning to Merrill he at once became associated with his father in the brewing industry which the latter had established and built up in that city.
In January, 1911, the Merrill Veneer Company was organized with a capital stock of seventy-five thousand dollars. This company took over the old Anson plant, located in the Sixth Ward, remodeled the machinery and equipment, and has since developed a very important industry, with a product which is distributed throughout Wisconsin and other states. Mr. Louis Leidiger has been president of the com- pany since its organization, and also gives considerable of his time to the operation of the brewery. Napoleon Des Rosier is vice president and William Rung is secretary and treasurer and manager of the veneer
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company. Their force of operatives comprises about seventy hands, and their payroll is a considerable item in the local industrial assets.
Mr. Louis Leidiger was married in 1908 to Miss Josephine Duquette of Wausau. They have one son, Ernst Gustav Leidiger, Jr. Mr. Leidiger is affiliated with the fraternal Order of Eagles, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Sons of Hermann.
EDWARD P. BACON was born in the town of Reading, Steuben (now Schuyler) county, New York, May 16, 1834, the eldest son of Joseph F. and Matilda (Cowles) Bacon, of New England ancestry extending back to the early colonization of that region. His paternal grand- father served as fife major in the Revolutionary war. His grand- parents removed to New York State in early life, settling in Steuben county, and engaged in farming. His parents removed to Geneva. in the same State, and the son at thirteen years of age commenced active life, obtaining employment as errand boy in a general store in that place, afterwards becoming clerk. Two years later, being desirous of acquiring an education, he entered an academy at Broekport, New York, but was compelled to give up his studies after a few months. and obtained employment in the principal store of the place. In May, 1851, he entered upon railroad service, having secured a position as freight and ticket clerk at Hornellsville, New York, on the New York & Erie Railroad, now known as the Erie Railway, it having just been completed to Dunkirk, then its western terminus. He remained in the employ of that company in the freight department four years. at different locations, the last year having been spent in New York City as chief clerk in the general freight office. When the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad (now part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern) was completed to Chicago, in 1855. he was offered the position as head of the freight office of that com- pany in Chicago, which he accepted, believing that the West offered greater opportunities for progress than his former field. The follow- . ing year the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad, now a division of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, was opened to Madison and Janesville, Wisconsin, and he was induced to take charge of the freight business of the Milwaukee station, at a material advance in salary. He remained in the service of that company and its sue- cessor for a period of nine years, having been placed successively in charge of the freight, passenger and accounting departments of the road, turning them over, one after another, after having organized them, to other hands. While in charge of the passenger department he devised a case or rack for the convenient arrangement of coupon tickets on sale, which has been in universal use in ticket offices of the country up to the present time.
In 1865 he determined to engage in business for himself and
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formed a partnership with Lyman Everingham, under the firm name of Bacon & Everingham, for carrying on a grain commission business, which was continued with success until 1874, when owing to impaired health Mr. Bacon found it necessary to give up business for a time and seek recuperation. After a year, spent mostly in travel, his health was fully restored and being precluded from resuming the grain business within three years from his retirement, he obtained an inter- est in an established wholesale grocery business in Milwaukee, which he carried on for two years under the firm name of Bacon, Goodrich & Co. Preferring the grain business he resumed it in 1878, under the firm name of E. P. Bacon & Co., which has been continued up to the present time, having been organized as a corporation in 1908, under the name of E. P. Bacon Company, now conducting business at Chicago and Minneapolis as well as at Milwaukee.
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