Among the list of my machinery I would mention the American Diesel Engine, which was just being introduced in the United States and was largely owned by Mr. Adolphus Busch.
I was persuaded to take hold of the introduction of this engine through a promise of Colonel Meyer, who undertook its introduction in this country, with his headquarters in New York, and who had known me for fifteen or twenty years, in connection with his Heine boiler business, which I had been handling and continued to handle.
Relying on his promise that if I would undertake the introduction of the engine, that I should continue to handle it exclusively in the Southwestern territory, and believing that on account of its enormous economy it would ultimately supplant all steam machinery, I did not hesitate to put my whole efforts and influence into the work of its introduction.
After putting about five years of the best labor of my latter years into its establishment, and just at a time when I felt I was going to realize something handsome out of the business, my health gave way to an extent that forced me to quit business altogether, never having had a real vacation and rest in forty-three years.
In winding up the history of my business career I regret to have to record that throughout the whole of it I was always the victim of misplaced confidence, never realizing any of the men I had associated with me would ever do me a wrong, in which I was nearly always mistaken.
I am able to say that I had associated with me men whom I trained in several lines of business, in fact, assisted in starting them, and some of them have attained great success, a number of them now occupying high positions. One of the wealthiest manufacturers in Dallas is a man whom I took up on the street, hunting work. It was largely through a kind, friendly feeling, I took hold of him and taught him the cotton gin machinery business. He proved one of the best salesmen I had and, as stated, is now the president of the largest manufacturing cotton gin machinery in the South. Another one of my old clerks in the mercantile business, is today the president of a big trust company, commanding a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year. While I refer to this case with a good deal of pride, I am frank to say that he is in no way indebted to me especially for his rise in the world, but only to his natural ability as a business man and his own personal efforts and energy.
Among the many young men that I took into my business, first and last, and taught and trained them in business, I recall one case, especially, that of James Summers, who came to me, among a number of young men, then going to school at the Rusk Masonic Institute, and begged me to teach him business. Most of the young men, immediately after the close of the war, thought that the mercantile business would be about the easiest and most pleasant to engage in, hence these many applications, among whom I would mention ex-Governor James Hogg, who was then a boy of about eighteen or twenty, going to school. I recall my answer to him: “Now, Jim, if you want to be a slave all your life, get behind this counter and go to work, but if you will take my advice, go out on a farm, develop your muscles and make a man of yourself.” He answered, “I expect to do that, Mr. Graber. I am going to make a man of myself,” which he certainly did, but not in mercantile pursuits.
To give the reader a better appreciation of the character of James E. Summers: When he came and asked me to teach him business his father was the keeper of a saloon and a horse racer, and I had understood, had whipped Jim at one time to make him ride a horse race for him; besides the old man was very profane and his conduct as stated. Jim’s nature and disposition revolted at it, though Jim had a noble Christian mother, whose disposition he, no doubt, inherited by nature, which, in connection with her teachings, made him the grand character that he proved to be.
Although I did not need any assistance at the time he asked for a position, which was about 1870, I decided to take hold of him and teach him all I knew about business, which proved a great pleasure to me, because he was always ready to receive instruction and profit by my advice. I soon made a bookkeeper out of him and I am prepared to say that I was rewarded for any salary I paid him and any time devoted to his instruction through his great success as a business man and his full appreciation of my efforts in his behalf, the knowledge of which I gained through several mutual friends, whom he told that he was indebted to Mr. Graber for what he was and everything he had.
After removing to Waxahachie, Jim married a daughter of a Doctor Francis, who could not bear the separation from her mother and family and, therefore, I advised him to go back to Rusk and get some of his farmer friends, of whom he had many, to advance him means to go into business for himself. This he did, and as soon as started, having the confidence and good will of all the people in Cherokee County, he soon did the leading business in the place and died about ten years ago, mourned by all that knew him, leaving an estate worth over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which was most extraordinary, considering the character of the town of Rusk and country surrounding it.