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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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.

What this cost the company's president during the following months of enormous expenditure, when construction bills for material and labor had to be met if the work was to go on, can hardly be estimated. The year from August, 1892, to August, 1893, was a time of incredible strain for the man at the helm. The writer vividly remembers a chance meeting with Mr. Higinbotham in July, 1893. Although she had felt that the attendance thus far was slight, she had not realized the financial issue involved. One glance at the familiar face, however, informed her of the danger; gave her an emotion of anxiety which she will never forget. The face, usually smiling and even tender with friends, was white and stern and drawn; incredibly strong and firm, but cold and hard; the face of a ship captain through a tornado, of a general when the battle seems going wrong; recording a moment when individual emotion was swallowed up in the tragic passion of leadership through imminent disaster.

Fortunately this long and ever increasing strain began to diminish soon after. In August the gate receipts began to creep up, so that the bondholders became less clamorous and the Board of Directors less apprehensive; and the phenomenal "Chicago Day" attendance of October ninth--the twenty-second anniversary of the Fire which a young employe had fought for Field, Leiter & Co.--a day when 761,942 persons went through the turn-stiles, enabled the Treasurer of the Exposition to pay the bondholders in full.

But finances were only one detail, though of course the most important, the most fundamental, to the responsible Company and its president. Other issues involved brought less anxiety and more joy, introducing an infinite variety of experience and motive into the life of a middle-western American merchant. Of these were the president's relations with the board of architects, those distinguished artists from far and near who designed and built the Fair. In this connection may be mentioned his life-long loyalty to the memory of John Wellborn Root, the first consulting architect, who made the ground plan of the Fair, admittedly a master-piece of great-festival design, but suddenly died--in January, 1891--before he could lead in carrying it out. Mr. Higinbotham, to the end of his life, loyally insisted on ascribing the beauty of the Fair chiefly to the genius of this man, contending always against rival claims and the forgetfulness of time.

The aesthetic and picturesque aspects of the Fair building included also personal relations--which often, to a warm-hearted man like Mr. Higinbotham, became friendships--with painters, sculptors, musicians, even poets; with foreign Commissioners, government and state officials; with eager concessionaires from far and near; indeed with all the various types of human self-interest and idealistic enthusiasm which a vast festival gathers together. In each case the president, in his council of four, must hold the even scales of justice, settling all disputes aesthetic or temporal, and getting or giving a reasonable price for what was granted or secured.

Many of these disputes were little less than agonies to the persons involved, and in these cases Mr. Higinbotham's quick sympathies became deeply engaged, and he spent over them many hours which should have been given to sleep. One such incident may be briefly dwelt upon, not because it was more important than others, but because it was typical of countless minor disputes which went for final settlement to the Council of Administration, and because the writer, as the author of the poem involved, happens to know about it.

This was the "Columbian Ode" episode--a story which Mr. Higinbotham delighted to tell to the end of his life. This poem had been unanimously requested of the author by the Committee on Ceremonies and definitely accepted by that body for the great day of the Dedication of Buildings--the four-hundredth anniversary of the Discovery of America. But a small group in the committee suddenly ceased to favor the poem, and set up a violent opposition in the effort to have it annulled as a feature of the Dedication Day program. The dispute became so bitter that a peaceful decision in the Committee became impossible, and the matter was referred to the Council of Administration for settlement.

This was in mid-September, 1892--the Dedication of Buildings was only a month away. The writer, who had just returned from a summer outing, was summoned to present her side of the question at an evening session of the Council of Administration. At this time she had never met Mr. Higinbotham, who took the chair soon after her arrival--a simple, quiet man in the prime of life, of slight figure, fine shapely head, regular features rather delicate in contour, and dark wavy hair and beard streaked with a few threads of gray. Near him were two other members of the Council of Administration.

It was strictly a business session, and the writer was interested to observe how simply and easily various widely differing details were disposed of, either directly or by reference to individuals or committees; details of the roofing contract, the power plants, the sewerage system; applications from would-be concessionaires; and Dedication Day arrangements--program-printing, livery charges, the military procession, plans for transporting and seating the vast throng of over an hundred thousand persons who were being invited to assemble under the lofty glazed and vaulted roof of the Manufacturers' Building, to celebrate the quadri-centennial anniversary of one of the supreme events in the history of the world. And one of these details was the dispute, inherited from the Committee on Ceremonies, about the "Columbian Ode"--whether or not a portion of it should be read and sung before the great audience on the great day.

The opponents presented their case; they were not satisfied with either the author, who should have been a poet of distinction like the aged Whittier, or the ode itself, which was too long for the occasion, and which contained, moreover, a sixty-line tribute to a deceased relative of the author--a tribute which she had declined to omit.

The writer met these objections as well as she could, pointing out especially that the tribute in question--to the Fair's first architect-in-chief--was due to his memory on this great day, especially as it was only three lines and a half long instead of the sixty-four complained of.

Mr. Higinbotham asked the writer to read the questioned tribute, and then remarked: "It's hardly enough to say of the great architect who planned the Fair, whose death at his post during that first year was the heaviest blow it could possibly have received. A poem for this dedication which did not refer to him would be gravely defective, in my opinion."

Mr. Higinbotham used to say afterwards: "Her poem had been asked for, approved by experts and accepted by the Committee on Ceremonies, and I made up my mind that as much of it should be read as we had time for in the program, including the tribute to John Root." And it was so ordered.

At last the long anticipated anniversary arrived. It is impossible to exaggerate the beauty of the late October day, the dramatic splendor of the festival, or the ardent spirit of that vivid audience, whose gay colors fluttered into rainbow brilliancy as the sun struck down through the glass roof. Mr. Higinbotham wrote in his report:

"The scene in the Manufacturers' Building will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. The grand platform was occupied by officers of the national government, members of the diplomatic corps, officers of the various States, senators and representatives, directors and commissioners. The eye and brain could scarcely comprehend the vastness of the audience stretching out before this platform. There was little motion, but the air was resonant with an indescribable hum of voices. At the south end of the building the chorus of five thousand persons seemed but a mere island in an ocean of humanity."

Mr. Higinbotham's share of the program was a quiet speech in which he accepted the completed grounds and buildings from Daniel H. Burnham, Director of Works, saluted "the master artists of construction" whom the Director had presented, and offered to him for distribution the medals which had been struck off by the Directory for presentation to the artists of the Fair. Everyone noted the simple dignity of his bearing and speech on this conspicuous occasion.

I have already referred to the anxieties of the Fair's president during the nine months which followed the Dedication. The reward for his long labor came during the last three months of the gorgeous festival, when he could enjoy the beauty and share the gay spirit of that ephemeral White City which he had done so much to create. For, though there have been world's fairs before and since the Columbian, no other has rivalled it in delicate Venetian magic. No other has attempted its inter-weaving of water-ways among buildings and colonnades, whose shining day-time beauty turned to glory at night, when the long rows of lights trailed their golden fringes in the wide lagoons. Mr. Higinbotham delighted in the joy of the people as the festive spirit of the crowd rose and gathered force during those last months of the gala season.

The most important social event of the Exposition season was the banquet given by the Board of Directors on October eleventh to the Commissioners of foreign nations. The great Music Hall on the grounds was transformed into a brilliantly lit bower of ferns, palms and flowers for this occasion, fitly adorned with the flags of the forty-eight nations and the yellow and white banners of the Exposition. Mr. Higinbotham, as presiding officer, opened the exchange of compliments with a brief salutation, and the program closed with his address on "The Future Influence of the Exposition," of which a few sentences may be quoted:

"The impress of our work will be so delicately and imperceptibly woven into the fabric of the future that it will have a finer and more beautiful texture. It will sink deep into the minds of the learned and unlearned alike. It will stimulate the youth of this and later generations to greater and more heroic effort. It will give to the wheels of commerce a new impetus; thereby bring the people of the earth into more intimate and, I trust, happier relations.

"Let us hope that future generations will look back to this place with reverence, satisfaction and pride, as the spot where was laid the deep foundation of a monument that should mark the dawn of a new era, emphasizing the benign influence of the gospel of peace, the fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man. Let us indulge the fond hope that its influence will increase until it encircles the globe and encompasses the race.

"I have long sought for some consolation to justify the imminent destruction of our beautiful city, and I can find only this thought as comforting:

"Whenever a people have gained distinction by the creation of some specially meritorious work, have declared it finished, and then rested to contemplate its grandeur and magnificence, feeling that there was nothing greater for them to do, they have fallen into a condition of decay, and from that time become effeminate. It is better, therefore, for us to efface our work, and cease to delude ourselves with the thought that there is nothing for us, and those that come after us, to do. Let us rather hope that what we have done will live, as a stepping-stone to grander and more heroic efforts, compensated with richer and rarer fruits. Let us not take to ourselves the credit, and seek to magnify unduly our creation; if it has merit and excellence it will speak for and defend itself. Let us rather rejoice in the thought that what has been done is the culmination of a period in the progress of the world; that especially it declares and emphasizes the wisdom of our fathers in the creation of a government founded on the broad and enduring principles of human liberty.

"These buildings will disappear and mingle with our dust, but their glory will ever live, and continue to mark an era in the progress of civilization long after their creators have been forgotten.

"There is a sense in which the material side of our work seems insignificant; compared to the kindly feeling that has been augmented by the gathering of representatives of the nations of the earth it is of slight importance. The culmination of these close relations of the heart will have more lasting benefit, will permeate more peoples, enduring through all time, and growing brighter and brighter unto the perfect day."

In every detail of his connection with the national festival, Mr. Higinbotham was an effective presiding officer. While making no pretense of oratory in addressing an audience, his personal distinction of manner and the quiet earnestness of his voice added to the force and beauty of a diction concise and vivid. In closer contacts he never lost his patience, yet never retreated from a just decision. In the personal intimacies which developed with all kinds of people, he was unfailingly sympathetic and generous; and when these ripened into friendship, his warm-hearted loyalty became a precious possession in his own spirit and in those it honored.

On May first, 1895, the Board of Directors presented a silver vase as a testimonial to their president, his work now almost over. Their spokesman, Edwin Walker, in the course of his address, said:

"I am commissioned by all who are or have been Directors to make, in their name, public recognition of the invaluable services of our President, Harlow N. Higinbotham. We all recognize his incessant labor, his zeal and loyalty, from the first organization of the Board, but more especially from the date of his official relations until the present time. He is still our President.

"Possibly in some respects I have more intimate knowledge of the magnitude of his labors than other members of the Board, on account of the close relations of our official positions; but we all know that during the lifetime of the Exposition proper the cares and responsibilities of his office were almost beyond human endurance. He brought to the work all his mental and physical strength, his integrity of character, and all the elements of a generous manhood. His work did not close with the Exposition. He was charged with the settlement and adjustment of a large proportion of the varied claims made against the Exposition. These labors have been especially annoying and perplexing.

"But the end of all his and our special work is rapidly approaching. Within a reasonable time we shall be able, as a corporation, to surrender back to the people the trust confided to us, with the hope that all the people will give us the credit of having assumed and honestly discharged a public duty and great public trust.

"And now, President Higinbotham, in behalf of your friends of the Directory, I present this testimonial. I repeat the inscription engraved thereon as the better expression of the earnest appreciation by your friends, of your unswerving fidelity to official duty:

In closing this chapter of his life we must, for the moment, pass over a quarter-century to that May-day of 1918 when Daniel Chester French's statue of the Republic was dedicated in Jackson Park as a memorial of the Exposition. To reproduce in bronze of heroic size this figure, which had dominated the Court of Honor in 1893, the last residue of Exposition funds was used, Mr. Higinbotham having successfully resisted numerous efforts to spend the money less fitly. All the members of the old Board of Directors who were alive and in Chicago surrounded its president as his little grand-daughters, Florence Crane and Priscilla Higinbotham, unveiled the monument, and portions of the "Columbian Ode" were read by its author.

Mr. Higinbotham made the following address, which happened to be his last public utterance:

"It is my pleasure to deliver into the care and keeping of the South Park Commissioners this statue. It has been created as a memorial of the Exposition held here a quarter of a century ago to celebrate the Four-hundredth Anniversary of the Discovery of America by Columbus. The Discovery and the celebration four hundred years later, in which the peoples of the earth so generously united, are landmarks, milestones, on the highway of civilization.

"This statue is intended to commemorate both events, and is in such form as to do them the highest honor. It is made of purest metal. It is of heroic size, thus indicating that the events it commemorates were notable. It is in the image of a woman, typifying purity, strength, motherhood. Thus it suggests those qualities that in all the ages have commanded love and respect.

"I cannot allow this last opportunity to speak of the World's Columbian Exposition to pass without paying tribute to its high purpose, its beauty and beneficent influence. It sprang into being under circumstances and conditions that made it akin to a miracle. A new city in a far country was responsible for its conception, creation, and administration. Its magnificence caused the world to wonder and almost worship. Its Court of Honor will be remembered as worthy of a place beside the most beautiful creations of man. It won the smile of the world and had the blessing and benediction of the Divine. Its author did not live to witness its grandeur. The 'Columbian Ode' said of him:

'Beauty opened wide her starry way, And he passed on.'

"The unanimity with which the Nations of the Earth united in the celebration is an indication of the value that the Discovery of the New World was to mankind in its onward march."

Soon after the close of the Exposition Mr. Higinbotham returned to active business. Unfortunately that part of his life is less a matter of public record, and in its history the present writer is wholly uninformed and incompetent. She once read an article by Mr. Higinbotham, intended for young would-be merchants, which set forth so clearly the qualities of mind and temperament required for such a career, and described many typical incidents so picturesquely, as to convince her that its author should use his literary gift to tell the whole dramatic story of the growth of the great business which engaged him for nearly forty years--from its small local beginning with Field, Palmer & Leiter in 1865, to the enormous world-wide commerce of Marshall Field & Co. from which he retired in 1902. Such a story would be, in effect, a commercial history of the great formative period of the nation, and its value can hardly be estimated.

Mr. Higinbotham's public activities did not cease with the World's Fair. After its close, the Field Columbian Museum of Natural History was organized, and he served for seventeen years as its president. For its occupancy the authorities reserved, during a quarter-century, the beautiful Fine Arts Building of the Exposition, from which it removed, in 1920, to the permanent structure south of Grant Park. To this museum its president contributed not only seventeen years of devoted service, but also the collection of precious stones made by Tiffany & Co. for the Exposition, which was installed as the Gem Collection in Higinbotham Hall.

Indeed, during the last twenty-five years of Mr. Higinbotham's life, most of his leisure was devoted to the people of Chicago, especially the poor and suffering. In 1897 President McKinley offered to appoint him Ambassador to France, but excessive modesty, and love of his own place, caused him to decline. When the city proposed to spend thirty-five million dollars for a new drainage district, and the project was in danger of capture by incompetent politicians, he was active in organizing a non-partisan opposition, and accepted membership in a nominating committee which presented to the voters an able and incorruptible group of six candidates. Then, as chairman of the Finance Committee, he personally collected thirty thousand dollars for campaign expenses, and conducted a whirlwind campaign of only thirty days which resulted in the election of the entire independent ticket. Thus the city was assured not only proper economy, but such professional competence in the construction of the Drainage Canal as should insure the future health of its citizens. This was but one instance of his many inconspicuous but valuable public services.

Besides countless private philanthropies, certain charitable institutions deeply engaged his interest. For many years he was president of Hahnemann Hospital and of the Newsboys' and Bootblacks' Association; and he organized, and was the first president of the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium, located on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres in the northwestern part of the city.

But the Home for Incurables was his best beloved philanthropy--if one can call by that name a veritable child of his spirit which engaged his love and devotion for nearly forty years. When he was first importuned, in 1880, to become a member of the board of such an institution, which had then gone no further than to take out incorporation papers, he felt that he could not consent, in justice to other charitable institutions with which he was connected, not to speak of the arduous and exacting duties of his private business.

However, he was persuaded, and duly elected, made chairman of a finance committee, and soon succeeded to the presidency, which he held until his death. Within a few days he had raised thirteen thousand dollars and rented a vacant house at Fullerton and Racine Avenues. This first Home ran along with some difficulty until 1887, when under the will of Mrs. Clarissa C. Peck, an eastern woman, it fell heir to over six hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Higinbotham became president of the nine trustees under this will, and at once property was purchased and buildings erected at Ellis Avenue and Fifty-sixth Street, the present location. The property has been increased by numerous bequests--notably six hundred thousand dollars from Otto Young and a quarter of a million each from Albert Keep and Daniel B. Shipman--until its value is now nearly two million dollars.

Miss Eleanor Quin, secretary to Mr. Higinbotham for the past ten years, is still assisting; without these people, whose love and devotion has been unfailing, the work could not have been carried on successfully.

It is difficult to follow without emotion the story of Mr. Higinbotham's devotion to the Home. From the time of his retirement from business in 1902, it became, after his family, the chief interest of his mind and heart, with which nothing was allowed to interfere. When in town he made daily visits, always becoming personally acquainted with--indeed, the friend of--each inmate, and cheering them all on with unfailing sympathy and humor. The coldness of many institutional "charities" was never allowed to enter here, and the love which rewarded him in life, and mourned his death, was pathetic in its fervor.

When the death of other early benefactors had made him the sole survivor, he presented to the Home, as a memorial to those who had been associated with him in its establishment, a bronze tablet bearing the following inscription:

A. D. 1909

"This tablet is placed in loving memory of those good and faithful women and men who gave unselfishly of themselves, and generously of their means, for the establishment of this Home. Their names are not recorded here. Yonder in the Infinite they are written on pages more glorious and far more enduring. This tablet is the gift and the tribute of one who knew them well and loved them fondly.

"May patience and peace and plenty ever abide within its walls.

"May those who suffer and those who serve, those who sing and those who pray, as well as those who, unable to do more, stand by and cheer, be equally blessed.

"May this great city, and all the agencies here employed to heal the sick, alleviate suffering and advance the interest of humanity, be prospered always."

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