CHAPTER XIX.
J. H. LEWIS.
J. H. LEWIS.
In this and the next chapter I shall call attention to a few prominent business men. I begin here with Mr. J. H. Lewis, the second largest merchant tailor in the State of Massachusetts, and the fourth largest merchant tailor in the United States. He is a remarkable man to say the least. His birthplace was at Heathsville, N. C. The first eighteen years of his life were spent on a farm. He went to Concord, N. H., in 1875 or '76 to learn the tailoring business. After working three or four years at the business in Concord, he moved to Boston, Mass. He started in business on a capital of $100; by close attention, he soon began to make money, and now (1896) his business is estimated at $150,000 per year. Mr. Lewis devotes his personal attention to all of his customers, and to this fact, as much as any other, is his marvelous success due. His store is at 417 Washington street, Boston, Mass.
W. Q. ATWOOD.
Mr. W. Q. Atwood, of East Saginaw, Mich., is one of the largest lumber dealers in the United States.
Mr. Atwood was born a slave, but in spite of that fact he is a well-informed man in every way. He was born in Alabama, but left there for East Saginaw, Mich., in 1863. He has been a successful land, real estate and lumber dealer ever since he landed in the city.
In 1863, he located 1600 acres of land and sold the same during the same year, clearing $4,000. This was his first deal.
In 1868, with thirty men and eight teams, he cut and put in 3,000,000 feet of pine saw logs, and manufactured the same into lumber during the following year. He continued lumbering each year, cutting from one to five million feet, until 1877, and has made from ten to twenty-five dollars per thousand feet.
W. Q. ATWOOD.
Mr. Atwood has given employment to large bodies of men. In all his business transactions he has endeavored to use his own capital, and has invested it very carefully. He is worth about $100,000. He is a leader in political, social and commercial matters in his city. He is the only colored member of the Board of Trade.
I regard his career a worthy example of what can be accomplished by men of the race, possessing the requisite qualities of patience, enterprise and foresight.
SAMUEL HARRIS.
I present here a picture of Mr. Samuel Harris. The subject of this brief sketch lives at Williamsburg, Va. I had occasion to visit that town a few years ago, and when it became known to the white people that I was interested in colored people, the hotel proprietor where I stopped seemed very anxious to give me all the information he could regarding the condition of the race in that section of Virginia. After telling me all that he knew, and much that he did not know, he said he wanted to take me to see a store owned by a colored man by the name of Harris. I was only too glad to go. To see a large store owned by a colored man was to me a thing of wonderful interest. We went, and I am unable to put in words how much I was helped and inspired by what I saw in that store. I got while there these very interesting facts.
SAMUEL HARRIS.
Mr. Harris started in business about twenty-five years ago. His capital amounted to seventy dollars, He is now doing a business of $55,000 a year; owns ninety-six building lots in his town; four large farms in the State, and property in Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News. All of the goods sold in his store are shipped in his own vessel that is manned by his own crew.
WILLIAM H. DAVIS.
WILLIAM H. DAVIS.
William H. Davis, who has a well-equipped shoe store in Louisville, Ky., deserves special mention in our publication. Mr. Davis is a young man of about 26 years of age and owes his success entirely to his own efforts. He was at one time engaged as private secretary by the mayor of that city. He afterwards taught type-writing and short-hand in the schools there. It might be well to mention that he taught himself both type-writing and short-hand, as none of the schools there where those branches were taught would admit colored students. There are but very few colored men engaged in the shoe business, and I know of none who have as large a stock and are in every way as well prepared to suit all kinds of trade as Mr. Davis. He has in connection with his stock of boots and shoes a fine line of furnishing goods, also employs a first-class workman, so that he can take orders for fine hand-made shoes for men and women. I hope that this short sketch and picture of Mr. Davis may inspire other young men to start in some business enterprise. The sooner colored men begin to represent some of the business interests of this country the better for the race. There is not a city in the country where the colored population is large that several business enterprises could not be started by colored men with success. Every store owned and controlled by a colored man with success not only helps him, but it in a way lifts up the entire race, and shows that colored men can do other things besides clean houses and drive coal-carts. Mr. Davis finds to his surprise that he has a fair trade among the white people; that fact alone should encourage other young men to make an effort to go into some business. As long as colored men own no stores, they have no right to complain of their treatment in stores owned by white people. When colored men are felt as competitors in business, then, and not until then, will white men see the need of making any special effort to secure and hold colored people's trade. Then, too, when members of the race own large stores, they can give employment to young women as clerks, and by so doing take a large number of colored girls out of wash-tubs and cook kitchens. Mr. Davis says that he has not had the support he had hoped for from the better class of colored people, such as the teachers and other professional people. But he feels that that will come in time. In closing this sketch I regret to say that Louisville has for a city with such a large colored population a very small number of colored men engaged in any kind of business. In fact, the whole State of Kentucky is behind in that respect. I have found but very few towns in the State that had colored men doing any kind of business. Mr. Davis desires that any young men who want to go into business, and feel that they would like some advice and information as how to start, should write to him, and he will gladly help them in the way of giving them an account of how he started and his methods of carrying on his business. I have often thought that in towns where no one colored man felt able to start some business enterprise alone several men could put their means together and start a co-operative store, and in that way encourage a business effort among the people, and at the same time furnish employment for members of the race.
J. E. REED.
J. E. REED.
Mr. J. E. Reed was born of free parents in North Carolina, and knew nothing of slavery. He came to New Bedford, Mass., in 1878, where he attended school for two years; at the end of that time, in 1880, he secured employment as errand boy in Mr. G. F. Parlow's photograph galleries of that city. Mr. Parlow found that the young man possessed very excellent qualities of mind, and as an evidence of his appreciation, asked him if he would like to learn photography. I need not add that Mr. Reed was only too glad to accept the offer. After mastering the profession he worked as an assistant to Mr. Parlow until 1888, when he formed a partnership with Mr. P. C. Headly, a young white man. The two young men bought out the gallery where Mr. Reed had learned his profession. This firm of Headly & Reed continued in business until 1895, when Mr. Reed bought out the interest of Mr. Headly. These young men were regarded as by far the best workmen in their line the city afforded. Their patrons were numbered among the very best people in New Bedford. To me, the most interesting phase of Mr. Reed's work was his partnership with Mr. Headly, for I have always felt that one of the very best things that could be done, in solving what is called in this country the "Race question," would be to bring white and colored men together in a business way, where they will have an opportunity to study each other as only those whose financial interests are blended can. I have no doubt but many comments, and doubtless unpleasant ones too, were made about the co-partnership of a white and colored man. But the fact that they succeeded, and won the respect and confidence of the best people in New Bedford, makes me hope we may hear of more such firms, in other parts of the country, for I am sure that it will prove helpful to both races to be brought more together in a business way. I can speak for Mr. Reed's ability as an artist, having had work done in his gallery. I am also pleased to note that Mr. Reed is a very useful and energetic church and Sunday-school worker.
JOHN S. TROWER.
JOHN S. TROWER.
John S. Trower, as a successful business man, ranks among the leading men of this country. He was born in the State of Virginia. When a young man, in 1870, he moved to Philadelphia, Pa. He found employment in various lines of work, until ambition led him to commence an enterprise of his own. He started and conducted for fifteen years on Chelten avenue a catering business. By much economy and a strict adherence to his work, he soon found his project assuming much larger proportions than he had ever hoped for, and in 1887 he purchased the old Germantown Savings Bank for $25,000. This building has been put in good shape, with all the modern improvements, with telephone, and all that goes to make up a first-class business house. His business office is presided over by three competent clerks, all of whom are colored. On the second floor he has a magnificent parlor with every evidence of culture and comfort. Mr. Trower has won high distinction in his business.
C. H. SMILEY.
I know of but few others who are doing what might be regarded as a very large business in that line; one is Mr. C. H. Smiley, of Chicago. He went there some years ago from Philadelphia and started out in 1880 as a waiter. His first experience as a caterer was in a very small way. But his success has been something phenomenal. I had the pleasure, while in Chicago attending the World's Fair in 1893, of going through his establishment.
At that time he was giving employment to twenty people and owned the building in which he carried on his enterprise. In fact he was then getting ready to build a larger building more suited to his purpose. His patrons were only among the very best people, and he thought nothing of serving banquets or weddings, when his bill alone would run as high as one or more thousand dollars. I found him a most generous man. On one occasion I went to him, asking aid for a department of church and educational work I had been commissioned to raise funds for. I had hardly stated my case, when he handed me a $100 bill. I am told that he has given many such gifts to churches and other Christian societies. Many who have attended my illustrated lectures will remember a picture of Mr. Smiley. I regret that I am unable to produce it in this book.
E. I. MASTERSON.
E. I. MASTERSON.
Mr. E. I. Masterson is a successful merchant-tailor in Louisville, Ky. We present his cut and a few words about him, with a great deal of pleasure, because he is a graduate from the tailoring department of Booker T. Washington's great school at Tuskegee, Ala. It has been said by those who are not friendly to the Industrial Schools that we never "see any of the industrial graduates putting any of their industrial education into practice." Then, again, it has been said that the "industrial training given in these schools is never thorough enough to be of any practical benefit to the students." So as an offset to these objections, we are glad to introduce Mr. Masterson as a successful tailor. Not that he is the only one engaged in business as a result of an education received at a trade school. In fact, we know of some printers, blacksmiths, harness-makers, and others who learned their trades at the different Industrial Schools. Mr. Masterson is patronized by both white and colored people, and having had clothing made by him I can recommend his workmanship as first class.
CHARLES A. WEBB.
I shall give in this sketch what I consider a very interesting history. The latter months of 1876 saw the dawn of a business career which was destined to spread itself like the mighty Mississippi, though small in its incipiency; having been retarded by many obstructions, which were gradually removed, it worked its way through valleys and plains, finally broadening and deepening itself as it went; having gathered volume and velocity, it is no longer mindful of such small obstructions as hindered its course in the beginning.
Such has been the business career of C. A. Webb, whose cut adorns page 311, and who is the president of the Webb-Jameson Co.
Like many others, he saw the light of freedom without money, education or friends, but being possessed of courage and a determination that always succeeds, having worked a few years as a laborer and in a few other minor capacities, he decided to venture for himself.
CHARLES A. WEBB.
His first venture was teaming and making gravel streets and alleys. After a time, a new field was opened, and he began buying and selling wood in car lots to the large pork-packers for smoking purposes. Being successful thus far, he established a coal and wood yard to supply small consumers. Little by little the business grew, and in those days when the winters were more severe in Indianapolis than they are now, and natural gas was unknown, the coal and wood business was a busy one. So much so, that after the business was run a few years, and the borders of trade extended, it became necessary, in order to supply the demand promptly, to employ a steam-splitter and saw, instead of men who usually performed this work, and two to four teams, instead of one. The business up to this time had increased from $500 to $5,000 per year.
MOVING A HOUSE.
Still broadening itself, heavy draught and lumber-hauling were added, which required more teams and men to do the work, until now this branch of the business, which belongs to Mr. Webb individually, amounts to $10,000 per year.
All radical changes in the life of a city bring about changes in established business, and cause new ventures to spring up. In 1887, natural gas having been discovered near Indianapolis, all was excitement. The general topic in the papers and at the fireside was cheap fuel, which of course meant death or a meagre existence to the coal and wood dealers.
Whenever natural gas was mentioned the brow of the coal and wood dealers became clouded, but this could not remove the difficulty.
About this time J. W. Davis & Co., one of the oldest house and safe moving firms in the city, desired to retire from business, and here the light began to shine.
The opportunity was presented and accepted to purchase the outfit of tools and appliances commonly used in that branch of business.
The outfit as stated together with the good will and name of the firm were purchased for $1,000. The company at that time consisted of C. A. Webb, Walter Jameson and Samuel Smith. The firm as such did not have a dollar to start with. Mr. Webb, who had been long in business, and had broad acquaintance, assumed the debt and according to contract, within eighteen months after the firm began under the name of Webb, Jameson & Co., they were able to settle the debt besides living off the net earnings of the business at the same time.
Messrs. Jameson and Smith were practical movers, having worked at the business for the same firm whom they united in buying out. Mr. Jameson having been employed in the capacity of foreman.
In the organization of the firm, Mr. Webb had charge of all financial matters and the making of contracts; Mr. Jameson general superintendent of the work and Mr. Smith assistant.
The firm proceeded in this way, declaring weekly dividends from May 28, 1889, the time of its organization, until May 1, 1892.
The business increased so from the start that it was considered unnecessary to use the name of the old firm in operating the business.
By judicious advertising and skilful management, the firm under the name of Webb, Jameson & Co. became well known at home and throughout the State.
The reputation of the firm having been established for their reliability, honesty and responsibility, always fulfilling their contracts to the letter, was often able to secure better prices than other contractors.
The business having increased to such an extent during the first three years, it was decided to increase the capital stock and incorporate the company. Accordingly the corporation was formed May 1, 1892, under the name of The Webb-Jameson Co. The capital stock was $3,000, fully paid. The stockholders consisted of C. A. Webb, Walter Jameson, Samuel Smith and Mrs. Ida M. Bryant. At the first meeting of the stockholders, officers were elected as follows: C. A. Webb, President; Walter Jameson, Vice-President; Samuel Smith, Superintendent, and Mrs. I. M. Bryant, Secretary and Treasurer, with the same officers as directors. The business has gone on adjusting itself to the conditions of the times, but never losing ground, not even in the trying times of 1893-4, from which the country has not even yet fully recovered.
Notwithstanding the increased competition which each year brings forth, The Webb-Jameson Company maintains their position in the lead. The entire business operated under the management of C. A. Webb amounts to from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars per year. This volume of business necessitates the employing of twenty-five to thirty clerks and workmen, and six teams to prosecute the work, and during the busy season more are required.
The expenses of the company in wages, the purchase of new and improved tools, repairs, taxes, advertising and insurance, amount to several thousand dollars per year—all of which goes to show that they are doing business according to the methods approved by the best and most conservative business men of the opposite race. Much more might be said of the business of The Webb-Jameson Company, but be it said to their credit that many who seek business relations with them are surprised to meet colored men. So great is their surprise, they often make the ludicrous statement, "I thought Mr. Webb was a white man," and frequently add, "Well, who is Mr. Jameson?" thereby showing that the general idea, without positive knowledge, is that The Webb-Jameson Company is conducted by white instead of colored men.
Besides the business already mentioned, Mr. Webb is president of a building and loan association, conducted entirely by colored men and patronized entirely by the colored people. This enterprise thus far has been very successful.