MANUFACTURERS.
Hugh Chisholm.
The individual who begins life as a poor newsboy, and in the full flush of his manhood is found to be the head of an industry created by himself in which untold millions are invested, and which is of supreme importance to the community, serves his generation in more ways than one. If he has done nothing else he has acted as an exemplar for the faint-hearted, as a beacon for the persevering, and as a type of American manhood, and all that lies before it. Such an individual is Hugh Chisholm, who has brought into existence a corporation which is making paper for nearly all the newspapers of the United States. When it is said that one New York newspaper buys six thousand dollars worth of paper every day, some idea may be gained of the vast proportions of the industry. Mr. Chisholm was born at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada, May 2, 1847, and began life as a train newsboy on the Grand Trunk railroad, studying meanwhile in evening classes of business colleges in Toronto. When the Civil war broke out, the lad, who is of Scotch descent, with the shrewdness of his race, realized the possibilities of the situation and pushed his wares to the utmost, sometimes holding them at a premium. He at length was able to hire some other boys to sell newspapers for him. He next obtained from the railroad company the exclusive right to sell newspapers on the division east of Toronto. He extended his “combinations,” and when he was twenty-five years of age had the exclusive news routes over four thousand miles of railroad, and had two hundred and fifty men on his payroll. Selling out his interests to his brothers, who had similar interests in New England, he purchased the latter and located in Portland, Maine, where he added publishing to his business. Foreseeing a growth of the newspaper trade, and realizing that there would be a huge consequent demand for white paper, he organized the Somerset Fiber Company, the manufacturing of wood pulp at Fairfield. Later he established a number of pulp mills in Maine. Next he devised a plan of business consolidations and a few years ago the Chisholm properties and a score of other mills in New England, New York and Canada were merged into one company. The output of the mills is more than 1,500 tons per day and is increasing rapidly. In 1872 he married Henrietta Mason, of Portland.
Theodore Lowe De Vinne.
From a country printer boy to the head of one of the greatest printing establishments in the metropolis—this in brief is the story of the career of Theodore Lowe De Vinne. He was born in Stamford, Connecticut, December 25, 1828, being the second son of Daniel and Joanna Augusta De Vinne. His parents were of Holland extraction. His father was a Methodist minister, who was an uncompromising opponent of slavery. Theodore secured a common school education at Catskill, White Plains, and Amenia, New York, and at the age of fourteen entered the office of the Gazette, Newburgh, New York, to learn the printing trade. After he had gotten a general knowledge of the business he went to New York city in 1848. Two years later he obtained employment in the establishment of Francis Hart & Co. and rose to the position of foreman. In 1858 he became a junior partner in the firm and five years after the death of Mr. Hart, which took place in 1883, he changed the name of the firm to Theodore L. De Vinne & Co., making his only son, Theodore L. De Vinne, Jr., his partner. He now occupies one of the largest buildings in the United States, which is wholly devoted to the printing business. Mr. De Vinne has marked ability as an organizer, having, with the assistance of the late Peter C. Baker, formed the society now known as the Typothetæ. In 1850 he married Grace, daughter of Joseph Brockbant. He is the author of the Printers’ Price List, The Invention of Printing, Historic Types and Printing Types. Mr. De Vinne has done much to elevate the standard of typography. As early as 1863 the American institute awarded his firm a medal for the best book printing. The firm has published St. Nicholas and the Century since 1874.
William Louis Douglas.
William Louis Douglas, of Brockton, Massachusetts, who, through the medium of his widely advertised shoes, is probably one of the most easily recognized men in the United States, was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, August 22, 1845. The career of Mr. Douglas emphasizes the fact that the days of opportunity for young men without money or influence are by no means over. He was an orphan, handicapped by lack of schooling, a victim of injustice and apparently without any prospects in life whatever. Now he is the owner of a vast fortune, a great business, an honorable place among honored men, and has influence for good in laboring circles, and no small power politically. When Mr. Douglas was five years of age, his father was lost at sea. At the age of seven he was apprenticed to his uncle to learn the shoemaking trade. The uncle proved to be a hard taskmaster, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship William found himself the owner of just ten dollars and remembrances of many hard knocks. Subsequently he tried several ways of getting a livelihood, from driving ox teams in Nebraska to working at his trade. In conjunction with a Mr. Studley, he opened a boot store at Golden, Colorado. The venture did not pay, and returning to Massachusetts he took to shoemaking again until 1870, when he removed to Brockton to become superintendent of the shoe factory of Porter & Southworth. In 1876, with a borrowed capital of $375, he went into business for himself. Successful from the start, he, six years later, built a four-story factory, which had a capacity of 1,440 pairs of boots daily. In 1884 he placed on the market his well-known $3 shoe, with which his name and his face are so prominently identified. He has broken away from the old traditions of manufacturers by establishing retail stores, where he sells direct to the public. The Douglas factory of to-day was erected in 1892, and has a capacity of 10,240 pairs of boots daily. There are 2,724 employes. Mr. Douglas is Democratic in politics. He has been a member of the common council of Brockton several times and was its mayor in 1890. It was through his efforts that a bill was enacted in the state legislature of Massachusetts for the establishment of a board of arbitration and conciliation. Labor troubles are practically unknown in the Douglas factory. Mr. Douglas is also the author of the weekly payment law that observes in Massachusetts, is president of the people’s savings bank of Brockton, a director in the Home national bank and ex-president of the Brockton, Taunton & Bridgewater street railroad.
Charles Eastman.
Charles Eastman was born at Waterville, New York, July 12, 1854. Photographers, especially amateurs, need not be told who Mr. Eastman is, inasmuch as he has done much to popularize the camera and all that to it belongs. He was educated at Rochester, New York. Becoming interested in amateur photography, he began a source of exhausted experiments to the end of making dry plates and secured results which prompted him to make further investigations. These latter were successful also, and from this preliminary work rose the great business with which he is now identified. The kodak, which is probably the most popular of cameras in the world, is his invention also. He is manager of the Eastman Kodak Company, of Rochester, and of London, England; president of the General Aristo Company, of Rochester, and is the head of the so-called camera trust. Mr. Eastman is a member of many social and scientific organizations, and gives liberally to charitable institutions.