Read Ebook: Harlow Niles Higinbotham A memoir with brief autobiography and extracts from speeches and letters by Monroe Harriet Field Eugene Contributor

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Ebook has 166 lines and 16727 words, and 4 pages

Page Biography 9

Appendix A

Lincoln in 1864 49

Appendix B

The power of personality 53

Appendix C

The man who did me a good turn 57

Appendix D

An inscription in a copy of "Echoes from the Sabine Farm" 61

HARLOW NILES HIGINBOTHAM

Harlow Niles Higinbotham, represented, to a singular degree, the best citizenship of the second and third half-centuries of the Republic. Born on an Illinois farm October tenth, 1838; educated in his native state; serving as a volunteer soldier through the Civil War; employed by a small dry-goods house and working for it loyally and with perfect integrity until it had become one of the greatest merchandising firms in the world, and he one of its most active partners; responding with ardor to every public call, whether it came from a newsboys' and bootblacks' club or from the World's Columbian Exposition; retiring from business at sixty or more, and giving his later years, with beautiful devotion, to his family and his favorite charities and public works; and dying at eighty in full career and with faculties unimpaired; such a life epitomizes the strength and character of the nation during its robust and adventurous formative period.

The story of his earlier years may be outlined in Mr. Higinbotham's own words; for a rough manuscript, autobiographical but written in the third person, was found among his papers after his sudden death. It begins as follows:

"Harlow Niles Higinbotham was born on a farm near Joliet, Illinois, October tenth, 1838. His father was Henry Dumont Higinbotham, who was born on January tenth, 1806, and died in 1865. His mother was Rebecca Wheeler Higinbotham. Both were born in Oneida County, New York. They moved to a farm in the Township of Joliet, Illinois, in 1834. The Higinbotham family came originally from Holland, removing thence to England, thence to the Barbados Islands and from there to the United States.

"The farm, upon which Henry Dumont Higinbotham settled, was made up of lands purchased from the Government by him and not previously under cultivation. It is still in possession of the family, enlarged by purchases and inheritance from the late Mrs. Harlow N. Higinbotham's estate; her son, Harlow Davison Higinbotham, being the present owner and resident. For years a beautiful feature of it has been the carnation greenhouses--for the subject of this memoir made that flower his special hobby, and propagated many new varieties.

"Henry Dumont Higinbotham built and operated saw-mills with water-power furnished by Hickory Creek, a stream that runs through the farm. In the early days farmers for many miles brought their wheat and corn there to be ground, and his compensation was a percentage of the grain brought, called toll. This he ground, and sold as flour and meal. He also kept cattle and hogs that were fattened by feeding at or near the mill, the tailings being used in part for that purpose. Being one of the early settlers in that section, he was looked upon with reverence by his neighbors, and was always called 'Uncle Henry' and his wife 'Aunt Rebecca.'

"When Harlow N. Higinbotham was a small boy the farther fence of his father's farm was the last evidence of civilization in that direction. In later years he used to say: 'I remember going with my father when he went out to erect a flag-pole in the middle of the prairie as a preliminary for a wolf-hunt that was held at least once each year. On a given morning all the settlers would start on horseback, with dogs and guns and horns, from the outer edge of a circle having a radius of ten or more miles, and work towards the center, where the flag-pole had been erected. In this way wild animals would be driven into a pocket, surrounded and killed. This was made necessary to protect the sheep, swine and poultry of the settlers. I have seen wolves kill our sheep in our own fields.'"

In one of his addresses is another reference to his early life:

"Our fathers were pioneers on the prairies of Illinois. There we early learned the lessons of Nature, and recognized and loved the message that the recurring seasons had for us. The flowers of the field and the forest were our companions, and we knew when and where to look for them; we knew the habit and habitat of each, and they were an open book to us. We knew the birds, and were not long in discovering that by their flight and their notes we could tell the season, and almost the hour of the day. When we heard in the field the love-note of the pinnated grouse, or in the woods heard the drumming of his ruffed cousin on the logs, we knew it was time to plough and plant. An approaching storm was announced with certainty by the coming of the quail from his seclusion in the thicket to a position where he could make his message heard. The crooning of the cricket, and the call of the katydid, each had a meaning and message that we understood. These constituted the catechism from which we learned to believe in Deity, and the larger and diviner life for man."

To return to the autobiography:

"The farm was about three miles east of the village of Joliet, and the early schools were the ordinary district schools with one teacher for a few months in each year. In winter they used to have spelling contests every week in one of the three schools located at three points of a triangle named Jericho, Babylon, and Bagdad. Harlow had the distinction of being the champion speller when he was so small that he had to stand on a box to be as high as the others in the class.

"In order to give his children a better school, Henry Dumont Higinbotham built a house in the village of Joliet about 1855 and moved there. This was his home until his death in 1865.

"In 1857 the nineteen-year-old youth accepted a position as bookkeeper and teller in a bank in Joliet, after which he was cashier of the Bank of Oconto, at Oconto, Wisconsin. In 1860 he became entry clerk, bookkeeper and cashier for Cooley, Farwell & Company, wholesale dry-goods dealers in Chicago, a city he had first discovered long before from the top of a load of hay which he had brought there to sell as a boy. In 1862 he left Chicago to go to the Civil War.

"He first enlisted in the Mercantile Battery, but was rejected on account of poor health. Then he obtained a position as clerk in the Quartermaster's Department, and went to Clarksburg, West Virginia. His service there being much in the open and on horseback, his health was restored. While there he organized a company of infantry, as a guard to protect Clarksburg as a base for supplies for the United States army, which was always in the mountains, frequently leaving its base unprotected. He was captain of this company, which was called the Kelley Guards, General Kelley then being in command of the department. While in Chicago Mr. Higinbotham had belonged to the old Zouaves, and had been drilled in the manual of arms and company formation and tactics. The Government supplied the Kelley Guards with arms and ammunition, and their presence perhaps prevented raids that might have been made. The company was made up of men employed in the Quartermaster's and Commissary departments.

"In 1863 and 1864 Higinbotham served in like capacity in Kentucky and Tennessee, and concluded his service at Hagerstown, Maryland, at the close of the war.

"Returning to Chicago in 1865, he engaged as bookkeeper with the new firm just commencing business as Field, Palmer & Leiter. This firm changed in 1867 to Field, Leiter & Co., and a few years later to the present firm of Marshall Field & Co. Mr. Higinbotham was a member of that firm and remained in that business until he retired in 1902. In his later years he was the only original member of that firm still living."

On December seventh, 1865, occurred his marriage to Miss Rachel Davison, of Joliet. Her mother was Priscilla Moore, whose ancestors were of Scotch descent, and came to this country in 1723, settling in Londonderry, N. H. The two had been acquainted since childhood, their fathers' farms being side by side. They attended the same school, and later, when Rachel Davison was the belle of Joliet, their friendship grew and culminated in their marriage. Six children--two sons and four daughters--were born of this union. Two of the daughters died in infancy. The four surviving are Harlow Davison Higinbotham, Henry Mortimer Higinbotham, Florence, wife of Richard T. Crane, Jr., and Alice, wife of Joseph Medill Patterson.

During the presidential campaign of 1864, when a large parade was to be held in Joliet in honor of McClellan and Pendleton, the democratic candidates, Rachel Davison had been selected to head it because of her great beauty and fine horsemanship; and this beauty remained with her until her death on June twenty-fifth, 1909.

Although modest and shy, Mrs. Higinbotham was a strong personality. She cared little for social life, never seeking conspicuous position, her home and children being always uppermost in her thoughts. Her sense of duty, and her thrift when a young matron, aided her husband to attain an influential position in the community. She exerted a strong influence, and during their life together was companion, adviser, and assistant in large business undertakings and in philanthropic work. Like him, she was always kind, and always mindful of those in need.

During the World's Fair, her gracious hospitality made their home the centre of Chicago's social life. Their house on Michigan Avenue, designed in early French renaissance by F. Meredith Whitehouse, was a charming setting for the many entertainments given for distinguished visitors.

We now return to Mr. Higinbotham's narrative:

"At the time of the Chicago fire on October ninth, 1871, Higinbotham was in charge of the Insurance and Accounting Department of the business of Field, Leiter & Co., and was only an employe of the firm. Without waiting for instructions, he went to their barns and called out all the drivers with their teams; and he and they went at once to the store and commenced carting away the most valuable goods to a point south of the fire limit or belt. They continued this all night, and at the same time, by changing blankets in the windows and keeping them wet, they kept off the fire until it had passed them on the opposite side of State Street, gone north a mile or more and burned the city waterworks. This occurred at about seven in the morning of October tenth, Higinbotham's thirty-third birthday.

"With their water supply thus cut off, they were helpless and had to abandon the store and its contents to the fire that slowly backed up from the north and drove them out. A later inventory showed that they had saved a little over six hundred thousand dollars' worth of goods, their proofs of loss showed that a little over two million and a half had been burned, and their insurance amounted to nineteen hundred thousand dollars. This would indicate a loss of six hundred thousand dollars. It was, however, much greater for the reason that many of the insurance companies were unable to pay their obligations, a number not more than ten cents on the dollar. A portion of the saved goods were in the car barns at Twentieth and State Streets, some in a wooden church at Thirty-second Street and South Park Avenue. Higinbotham's home was then on Prairie Avenue near Twenty-seventh Street.

"Higinbotham went from the fire directly to Mr. Leiter's home, and told him of a plan he had formed for the re-establishment of the business. Mr. Leiter threw up both hands and exclaimed, 'Oh, Higinbotham! It is too early to make plans--Chicago is gone!' Mr. Higinbotham replied, 'No, no--we have got to do these things anyway.' His plan was for Mr. Field to give his attention to finding a place wherein to re-establish the business; Mr. Leiter was to take charge of the saved goods, and have them inventoried so that the inventory would show the contents of each case. Higinbotham had in mind the adjusting of the loss, as that was one of the first essentials. Mr. Willing, a junior partner, was to go to Valparaiso, Indiana, stop all goods coming from the east, and warehouse and insure them until the Company was ready to have them sent in. Mr. Higinbotham was to take his family and Mr. Leiter's, and all the bookkeepers and books of account, cash and valuable papers, and go at once to Joliet and there remain until a place had been arranged for at least an office in the city. This plan, which was formulated while he was saving the goods, was carried out in every particular. In Joliet the office of Field, Leiter & Co. was for two weeks in his mother's house, and she took care of a number of the bookkeepers during their stay. He then went with his wife and baby to Cincinnati, St. Louis and San Francisco to adjust and collect insurance. A number of the companies in these cities having no agencies in Chicago had failed. It was his business to ascertain how much their assets would pay, collect the money and return as quickly as possible.

"The business was soon re-established, and went through that year with a net profit of over three hundred thousand dollars, notwithstanding that two and a half millions had been burned up in a single night. It was then that Mr. Leiter said, 'Higinbotham, we are going to give you an interest in this business!' meaning, of course, a share in the profits. Later he was made a partner and remained in the firm until 1902."

Unfortunately, Mr. Higinbotham's sudden death prevented his completing this autobiographical sketch with any fulness of detail. We have merely a few rough notes--two or three typewritten pages--in regard to his public activities, of which his work for the World's Columbian Exposition was the most important.

From the first he was an enthusiast in this movement for a fit celebration of the great quadri-centennial anniversary, and for the location of the world festival in Chicago. As he said years after, at a banquet to a group of Japanese commissioners, who were promoting a proposed exposition in Tokio: "In the years preceding our Columbian festival, peace reigned throughout the world. It was an opportune time for the assembling of the animate and inanimate parliaments, a time for the world to pause, take account of stock, to note progress in all the things that make for peace and humanity's good; a time for the exchange of greetings between the peoples and the nations of the earth. You will all remember with what zeal Chicago entered into competition for the honor of being the host on that occasion. You will also remember the satisfaction and pride that filled our hearts when we had won the distinguished honor, and the heroic efforts we put forth to fulfil our pledge. To the older civilizations of the world it seemed presumptuous that a new city in a far country should appear in such a role. Our nearer neighbors predicted failure, and this stimulated us to greater effort; with a result that it is not even necessary to refer to, except in so far as to show its beneficent influence and substantial value to the world."

And this further extract from the address shows that his motive was not merely local, that his vision embraced a world-wide ideal of humane values involved in these great festivals of peace:

"The International Exposition, where the richest and rarest products meet in friendly competition, where the ripest wisdom of the ages is represented by the scholars and thinkers of all the world, cannot but result in great and lasting good and in promoting peace and good will.

"The Exposition stands at the meeting of the world's highways, where gather the nations of the earth, burdened each with the evidences of its newest and noblest achievements. It is an epitome of the world's progress, a history and a prophecy.

"The latest discoveries, the newest inventions, the triumphs in art, in science, in education, in the solution of social and even of religious problems, are here arrayed; whatever testifies to the industry, the skill, the creative and almost divine power of human thought when stimulated to its most earnest endeavors.

"The more we share with others the good we possess, the more shall they share with us the things and thoughts that make for peace with them. The more we all strive for the common good, the nearer we shall attain to universal brotherhood."

Thus inspired, he was deeply engaged in the enterprise from the first. In 1890 he had much to do with securing from Congress the honor of holding the Exposition in Chicago. After it was so decided, he was commissioned to go abroad to promote interest in the Fair--was a director and a member of important committees--Finance, Ways and Means, Foreign Exhibits; and later, in August, 1892, was made President of the Directory and Chairman of the Council of Administration, a body of four, chosen half from the Directory and half from the National Commission created by Congress. This Council was clothed with the full power of all other bodies and committees, and charged with the completion and administration of the Exposition at a time when the treasury was empty and the enterprise was thought to be a failure. During that summer Mr. Marshall Field, Mr. Higinbotham's partner and head of the firm, was absent in Germany; and he withheld his consent to Mr. Higinbotham's accepting the Presidency, because he felt that the probable failure of the enterprise would reflect on their business. To convince him, Mr. Higinbotham wrote him the exact status of the Fair, what he thought he could do with it if Mr. Field would consent, and his reluctance to refuse his services at a time of crisis.

In regard to this, Mr. Higinbotham has stated: "I remember saying that he would not be glad he lived in Chicago if the Fair was a failure, and his property would not be worth half as much. I also wrote him how many people would attend the Fair and how much we would receive from concessions, estimating about as follows:

Mr. Massey, the only surviving one of the four, corroborates this assertion of harmony, and adds the following appreciation of his dead colleague's services:

"As one of his associates in the Council, I was afforded exceptional opportunity to become acquainted with his wonderful capacity for effective work along the most judicious and practical lines; and the knowledge of his envied characteristics, thereby derived, warrants the statement that the successful results of the Exhibition were more largely attributable to his untiring and energetic efforts than to any other official related to the undertaking."

The year or two covered by those six thousand pages of minutes was a period of dramatic intensity for the man at the head of the vast enterprise. The local Board of Directors, composed of Chicago business men, was the great working body which organized, paid for, and ran the Fair, the National Commission being a more or less ornamental consort appointed by the Government to give the Exposition authority and dignity in the eyes of the invited nations. When Mr. Higinbotham, on August eighteenth, 1892, accepted the presidency of the Directory, after the successive resignations of Lyman J. Gage and William T. Baker, the early local enthusiasm had given way to despondency, for the impression had gathered force that soaring expenses could never be met even to the extent of repaying the bonded indebtedness, not to speak of the stockholders.

As president of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Council of Administration, and member of the Bureau of Admissions and Collections, Mr. Higinbotham held three offices, each involving "heavy responsibilities which could not be delegated, resting upon powers which were ill-defined, yet were co-extensive with the purposes of the company's incorporation." For over two years these duties required his entire time--often from twelve to sixteen hours out of the twenty-four--and more than a man's due share of physical and mental energy.

The story is told with outward completeness in the "Report of the President to the Board of Directors of the World's Columbian Exposition," a volume of 323 octavo pages written in that clear, concise and vivid narrative style which was always at Mr. Higinbotham's command. Outward completeness only, for one must read between the lines of any formal report to discover the heart-story involved; and in this case, as in all Mr. Higinbotham's activities, the heart-story was the central motive.

He undertook this public service from the purest instinct of civic pride and loyalty--love of his city and state, pride in the great festival and delight in the ideal involved--its consummation of democracy in beauty representing the union of many creative wills. The Exposition was the first effort of our American democracy to achieve, in any large sense, such a consummation. Thus, to any man of vision, it was prophetic of a new era, and worthy of all that the individual could give. Mr. Higinbotham's gift was an indomitable will and a mind trained to finance, knowledge of men, quick decision of difficult problems, and unfailing resource in initiative.

One cannot tell the whole long story here, but a few characteristic incidents may be referred to. The electric light contest, for example, illustrates Mr. Higinbotham's skill and patience in handling would-be profiteers--for public spirit among contractors was not the universal rule. At this time, the spring of 1892, he was vice-president of the Board of Directors, but acting as president in Mr. Baker's absence. Powerful companies in collusion presented bids averaging .00 per incandescent lamp for the six months the Fair was to endure; but by playing other companies against them, and refusing to be stampeded into immediate action, he gradually reduced this bid to .95 per lamp, and finally gave the contract to another company at a still lower figure. In the end the sum paid for the entire service was 9,000, as against the ,675,720, originally demanded.

Indeed the financial history of the Fair was one long series of contests and anxieties for its president. Again and again the enterprise would have failed for lack of funds if the situation had been less skilfully handled; and although failure would have meant national dishonor, the Congress at Washington did not show any proper sense of partnership in a great national festival which was to cost over twenty-eight millions. Instead of the five millions which had been listed for eight months in the appropriation bill and counted upon with reasonable assurance, the government at last, during the hot summer of 1892, compromised on two millions and a half in souvenir coins of uncertain sale; and afterwards, at a moment of imminent financial crisis, it withheld more than a fifth of that sum to pay the expenses of its own department of awards, a department over which the Directory had no jurisdiction whatever.

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