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Under Construction!
More to Come.
More of the Emerson McMillin Story
EMERSON McMILLIN
Remarkable Career of an Ironton Man
Ironton Register - April 8, 1897
Taken from The Emerson McMillin Story by Elaine Winkler
"If you have the footprints and the handprints
you can tell the whole man." A growing power in
the conservative financial circles of New
York and a brilliant light in the Ohio colony is Mr.
Emerson McMillin.
To the superficial observer his masterful rise,
in less than five years, in the vortex of Wall Street, may
seem, even for this country, accustomed to
the pyrotechnics and of self-made men, phenomenal. A
glimpse at the years that preface it, however,
will convince the sober-minded that it is the legitimate, the
logical sequence of tireless energy, indefatigable
industry and high purpose allied to great natural ability.
Unlike the proverbial prophet, Mr. McMillin
is happily not without honor in his native state. Much of his
achievement familiar to readers of scientific
and technical journals, however, is to the general public
"another story."
That the international repute that is now his
is but the crystallization of the forces he brought with him to
the metropolis, a resume of the "steps by
which he did ascend," not only substantiate, but lend new life
to a truism of the sage of Concord, "a man
takes no more out of a country than he brings into it."
Birth and Early Training
Emerson McMillin was born in the village of
Ewington, Gallia County, Ohio, in 1844. He is of Virginian
ancestry. One of a large family, he was nurtured
in poverty and toil. Twelve years of age found him in
charge of the engine of a blast furnace, where
for four years he did all sorts of menial labor incidental
to the making of iron.
In this rugged outdoor life, Nature's priceless
gift - a splendid physique - was early developed laying the
foundation for the Herculean tasks of subsequent
years. In physical strength, he outstripped as a lad the
strongest men employed at the charcoal kilns.
His scanty earnings went to the support of the family. He
never went to school until he was 15 years
old, and then only for three months. Two years later came
the Civil War - that great University Extension,
in which quickened to early maturity the youth of the
past generation. Twice rejected on account
of his age, the Sandow of the charcoal country finally
succeeded at the age of 17 in following his
father and five brothers into the army, where their bravery
won the sobriquet, "The Fighting McMillins."
At the end of four years, Emerson was a commissioned
officer, having participated in a number of
hard fought battles and received five wounds. "He has a
splendid war record," said a distinguished
and discriminating officer, in recounting to the writer his
impression of the man.
In camp, his natural mental bent manipulated
itself, as did his moral courage and physical endurance in
the field. While his comrades whiled the leisure
of winter quarters in drinking and card playing, young
McMillin devoured the few books he had gathered,
works pertaining largely to chemistry and the
natural sciences. While encamped in the mountains
of Virginia his attention was turned to geology. His
explorations there laid the nucleus of the
knowledge that later was of signal service to himself and to
Ohio. As a commissioned officer he had saved
a little money, and when the war closed he shifted about
for a business opening.
First Business Venture
Three times with varying fortune he embarked
as a country merchant in Gallia and Lawrence Counties.
In a desultory way he kept in touch with the
reading that had attracted him so strongly as a lad.
Discontented with the limitations of a country
store, he at length branched out with his brother in the
purchase and sale of coal, etc. This brought
him again in contact with blast furnaces, saw mills, and
similar industries. Finally he drifted to
Ironton, which, as the name implies, is an iron town. The Ironton
Gas Works were then in process of erection.
While seeking employment the ex-merchant attracted the
attention of the superintendent of gas construction,
and soon with pick and shovel he was in the army of
them employed. There was no part in the mechanical
construction of the works to which Mr. McMillin
did not lend a helping hand. His adaptability
and his skill developed rapidly and when the works were
completed he was offered similar labor in
the south at much larger wages. He was about to accept,
when the superintendent of the Ironton Works,
who had observed his studious habits and his mental
caliber, advised him to remain at Ironton.
"There is no one in this locality who understands the
chemistry of gas - the whole gas industry
is in an experimental stage," he assured the ambitious day
laborer. "You have a field and an opportunity
here that may never come again." The advice was
accepted.
It was the turning point in the career of the
man today universally acknowledged one of the foremost
authorities in the gas world.
Coming Unto His Own
As superintendent of the Ironton Gas Light
Company, Mr. McMillin became identified in 1867 with the
gas fraternity. The superintendent of a small
gas works in those days was not the technically trained
man of the present. No where, perhaps, is
his inherent force of character more decisively revealed than
in the precedent Mr. McMillin established
in that county plant.
Personally familiar with every detail in the
construction of the works, he now turned with characteristic
energy and thoroughness to a study of the
science involved in the generation of gas. To this end a
laboratory was fitted up in the Ironton Gas
Works. For several years his days and nights were largely
devoted to the study of chemistry and kindred
subjects. Men of similar tastes were welcome, and for
the first time in his life the layer of gas
pipes found congenial work in the probing of nature's secrets. In
his tireless mental activity he soon added
to his scientific investigations, metallurgy, which was pursued
with indefatigable industry until 1883.
First Fruits
Living in a region whose rich natural iron
resources were just beginning to be developed, his attainments
as a metallurgist were soon recognized. In
rapid succession he became general manager of the
Lawrence Iron Works, vice president and general
manager of the Crescent Iron Company, president of
the Iron and Steel Company and general manager
of the New York and Ohio Steel Company, which
operated rolling mills, blast furnaces and
coal and iron mines.
The success of these companies during a period
which witnessed the greatest depression in the iron
and steel industry of the United States was
general conceded to the scientific and technical knowledge
of the self-taught man at the helm. Here is
the cornerstone of Mr. McMillin's career as a financier.
While managing these great iron interests he
upset the original geological survey of the state. Having
occasion to build a line of railroads to reach
one of the mineral properties belonging to his company he
perceived in the geological formation of the
section marked variations, unlike what his study of the state
survey had led him to look for. Further investigations
convinced him of the inaccuracy of the accepted
survey. He brought the matter before the state
authorities. A resurvey was made. Mr. McMillin was a
member of the geological corps which carried
out the undertaking. Had his material interests been then
less securely established, he would in all
probability have become more thoroughly identified with this
branch of science and served the state in
an official capacity. Later he became president of the Ohio
Institute of Mining Engineers.
Midst these varied absorbing interests awoke
the instinct of the scholar, the specialist. Frequent
contributions from his pen found their way
into technical journals. Gas associations were frequently
regaled by addresses which revealed Mr. McMillin
an original thinker and close student of economic
problems. Since those tentative days, the
man who never had but three months' schooling has
addressed in the most acceptable manner various
scientific associations made up for the most part of
collegebred men. As befits the clear thinker
his style is simple and direct.
A Larger Field
Finding himself in 1883 owner of several small
gas plants in various localities, Mr. McMillin, desiring a
central point for further operations, left
Ironton and settled in Columbus. It was not long until a little bird
whispered in the ears of the stockholders
of the Columbus Gas Works that there was a grown "child
among them taking notes." "If you don't look
out," piped the augury, "that man McMillin will gobble you
up." Soon he tendered the management of the
Columbus Gas Company.
Columbus gas is made from coal. At this period
water gas and electricity were making such rapid
strides that many experts prophesied the Waterloo
of coal gas companies.
The midnight vigils of the laboratory at Ironton
now spoke out in meeting. Mr. McMillin maintained that
these competitors - water gas and electricity
- could be made valuable aids to increase coal gas
competition and swell profits. This truism
today universally accepted was then regarded by
conservatives rank heresy. As manager of the
Columbus Gas Company, Mr. McMillin was the first to
promulgate this idea - that the cheaper the
price of gas the greater the profit.
He thus practically revolutionized the gas
industry of the country and became known as the "cheap gas
man." His voice and pen have always been and
continue to be in the vanguard of progress.
An Economic Problem
To his broad and comprehensive study of social
economics, no less than to his generous heart and keen
sense of justice are due the profit sharing
system now in operation at the Columbus Gas Works.
Economic students throughout the country,
and educational institutions, notable the Chicago University,
are watching with lively interest the outcome.
Twelve years ago, the company began in an indirect way
to share profits with the employees. In 1895,
the present indirect method was adopted. When Mr.
McMillin assumed charge of the works intemperance
was a serious obstacle to good service. The man
who never tasted spirituous liquor until he
was past 30 threw a bombshell into this bacchanal community
in the shape of a placard stating that the
employee who indulged in liquor during working hours would
forfeit his position. The entrance gate to
the works was put under strict surveillance. No man was
allowed to pass out during working hours without
a special permit. Old employees were disposed to
treat the edict as a huge joke. But they were
not slow to discover that beneath the genial, sympathetic
personnel of the new manager was a will of
iron. Some of the oldest, most valued men were sacrificed
to the common good.
This drastic measure eventually revolutionized
the works and assured faithful, devoted services. A
second difficulty was to keep the men at work.
The intense heat, especially in summer, not only incited
great thirst, but invited truancy. Often half
the force would disappear for several hours or a whole day.
It was necessary to employ an official at
an annual salary of $1,200 to hunt up the men, keep them at
work or find a substitute. To obviate this,
Mr. McMillin conceived the idea of offering a premium or
bonus to each man in proportion to the amount
of service rendered. The working year is divided into
four quarters of 90 days each. To the man
who worked a full quarter was given a premium of $10. If
he put in four full quarters he was allowed
at the end of the year an additional $25, making a total
premium of $65 for 360 days' work. The effect
was instantaneous. When compelled to lay off each
man found his own substitute. The $1,200 official
was dispensed with.
Temperance established, the company decided
to divide equally the saving in cost of labor per unit of
product. For instance, if the cost of labor
pr unit of product was reduced 5 per cent, in any one year, as
compared with the preceding year, the men's
wages would be increased 2 1/2 per cent from that time
on. Eventually the company reached a point
where further reduction was not possible, and the system
became practically inoperative. In 1895, the
present system was introduced. It will continue indefinitely
and in all probability be established in the
various gas companies throughout the country under the
control of the originator. The Columbus Gas
Company now pays its men a dividend at the same time
and at the same rate paid to stockholders.
At present it pays 6 per cent per annum to stockholders,
payable semi-annually. The stockholder's dividend
is figured on the amount of his stock. The
employee's dividend is figured on his earnings.
If an employee earns $1,000 a year he receives a
dividend of $50. No distinction is made. Every
employee from the president down is entitled under
certain restrictions to participate in the
dividend. About 75, or nine-tenths of the regular employees of
the Columbus Gas Works participate. The conditions
are:
1. The employee must
have been in the service of the company for one year preceding the
beginning of the
six months for which a dividend is declared.
2. His services must
have been continuous and satisfactory. If compelled to be absent, a
satisfactory substitute
is accepted.
3. Until an employee
has become the actual owner of at least three shares of stock, either
through dividends
of by purchase, the company may pay the dividend in stock. Being a bona
fide
holder of three shares
of stock, an employee is entitled to cash dividends.
It is the desire of the company that all their
employees should become stockholders. In this they will
probably fail. More than half the employees
sold their first stock dividend. Several have been paid.
The effect of the system is most satisfactory,
since it reduces the cost of the manufactured product,
increases the remuneration of the men, while
strikes are unknown. Five years ago the company
provided its employees with a large hall,
lighted and heated. Billiards and pool tables, a card room and
reading room, with scientific books, magazines
and papers, lend new interest to the bond that has grown
up between employer and employee. During Mr.
McMillin's 13 years' management the harmony of the
Columbus Gas Works has never been marred.
The Master Stroke
His skill as an organizer was not fully demonstrated
to capitalists until 1889, when, by a masterly stroke,
he succeeded in amalgamating four warring
gas organizations of St. Louis into the Laciede Gas Light
Company. Not uninteresting is the story of
this deal, largely instrumental in establishing his present
status in New York. Mr. McMillin and the late
George Shepherd Page of New York were the
American agents of the American Industrial
Syndicate, Limited, of London. Sir Julian Goldsmith,
president of more than 100 gas companies and
one of the richest men in England, and the late Duke of
Sutherland, with five other English capitalists,
were directors of this organization. The syndicate was
seeking investments in American gas properties.
At first effort was made to secure only one of the
companies, and that by lease. The English
capitalists were not kindly disposed toward the enterprise
and New York and St. Louis capital was enlisted
chiefly through the banking house of H. B. Hollins &
Company, New York. The scope of the enterprise
grew until it finally resulted in the purchase of all the
companies in St. Louis. The value of this
property, estimating by the price at which its securities were
selling on the Stock Exchange, is about $13,500,000,
or two and a quarter times the market value of the
securities of the companies before the purchase.
Mr. McMillin was elected president June 1, 1889. He
accepted such against his will, and on the
condition that he would not be required to serve beyond the
following January. He is still president.
The success of this enterprise won for him
the confidence of the most conservative and influential
financiers. They recognized in him not only
accurate perception of the values attached to fixed
conditions, but clear, farseeing judgment
of men - in short, the qualities of a leader.
To Pastures New
When it became known in 1891 that there was
a doorplate in Wall Street bearing the name Emerson
McMillin & Company, Bankers, wiseacres
declared that the successful manager of gas companies
should stick to the gas business and fight
clear of the goldbugs' kingdom. Now they realize that the
"cheap gas man" knew what he was about and
builded better than he knew. The firm deals chiefly with
gas and railway companies - their financiering.
It is an independent organization for financing of large
investments. It is not subject to the banking
laws. When Mr. McMillin lef~ Columbus, June, 1891, with
his banking project on paper, he thought if
he could get a capitalization of $1,000,000 it would be a big
thing. To date the banking house of Emerson
McMillin & Company has financed properties
representing capitalization upwards of $40,000,000.
The highest testimony to the natural, conservative
and intelligent methods by which the business is
conducted is the fact that in no instance
has the corporations represented by this great sum of money
failed to realize in every particular the
expectations and representations of the firm and its patrons.
Scarcely a large investment now seeks Wall
Street without coming directly or indirectly to the McMillin
Banking House. The most profitable deal it
has made was that of the Welsbach Commercial Company,
by which was cleared more than $300,000. In
bringing this about Mr. McMillin worked 19 hours a day
for more than two months.
International Repute
The success of the banking house was augmented
greatly by the international renown its founder
achieved through the successful launching
of the East River Gas Company of Long Island City, which
supplies gas to New York City through a tunnel
under the East River. Mr. McMillin not only originated
the idea but enlisted, through the confidence
he had won from the most conservative financiers, the
co-operation that made this gigantic enterprise
practical. As an engineering feat, the tunnel, even up to
the day of its formal opening, was declared
by many able engineers an impossibility. Though the
troublous, seemingly insurmountable obstacles
arose, enough to intimidate the bravest stockholder, his
extraordinary force guided the scheme to successful
completion.
Despite, Mr. McMillin disclaims credit beyond
originating the plan and influencing capitalists to invest,
specialists employed in its erection generously
assert that the influence of his judgment, his experience,
predominates everywhere throughout this marvelous
enterprise, with which his name will always be
indissolubly connected.
The Business Family
No banking house in the country, perhaps occupies
more substantially luxuriant quarters. They were
designed especially for this firm and have
been frequently complimented by imitation. Eleven rooms
comprise the suite. Finished in oak, with
polished floors, marble tile corridors, Turkish rugs - they replete
in the paraphernalia that goes to make up
the business shrine of the modern millionaire. The spacious
tiled entrance is flanked on the left by a
finely equipped counting room, while to the right is the office,
rather the library, of Mr. McMillin's private
electrician or specialist. Adjoining is the sanctum of the
firm's specialist, beyond which is the imposing
council chamber, stolidly furnished, as befits the
capitalists of Midas' touch who congregate
there to concoct enterprises involving sums sufficient to
take away the breath even of a scribbler disciplined
to chronicle the goodies of the elect. Across the
hall and confronting these apartments and
the main entrance are the public and private offices of Mr.
McMillin, his partner, Colonel Henry B. Wilson,
his son, Emerson McMillin, Jr., bookkeeper, Mr. W. F.
Douthirt, solicitor and two room reserved
to Miss Jenkins, the private secretary and trusted confidant of
the firm. It is distinctly an Ohio settlement.
Any delinquencies in the master's knowledge
of the banker's art is more than compensated by the
courteous and accomplished Colonel Wilson,
whose business training was secured in the banks of his
native town, Ironton, where he was associated
in Mr. McMillin's early projects. Likewise an Ohioan is
Mr. Douthirt, a son of Delaware, whose social,
no less than his legal career at Ohio's capital culminated
so auspiciously in his marriage to the clever
Miss Gray, only daughter of the railroad magnate D. S.
Gray.
A Buckeye by adoption is Miss Jenkins, to whose
skill and faithful service, covering more than a dozen
years, her employers owe no small share of
their solidity.
Six thousand dollars per year is considered
modest rent for these spacious Wall Street quarters, to
which come, sooner or later, itinerate Buckeyes
on business or pleasure bent, always sure - it matters
not what great scheme may be brewing - of
cordial welcome and godspeed.
The Secret of Success
"Great physical strength due in a measure to
my boyhood training," says Mr. McMillin, "has made
enormous work and constant study possible.
I require less sleep than most people. Four hours suffice.
To my daily habits I attribute largely the
success that is credited to me. I always know what I am going
to do. I may be obliged to alter my plans,
nevertheless no time is wasted in considering what to do next.
I generally decide quickly and rarely change.
In talking up a business scheme I always consider first
what not to do. I have learned this valuable
lesson from the hundreds of people who have submitted
projects to me. Invariably they consider but
one side - what to do. Now if they had looked at it as
thoroughly from the other point of view, they
would often have saved themselves and me the waste of
valuable time, money and useless worry. I
never worry. When I go to bed, the cares of the day are lost
is sound sleep. A continuous study of theoretical
and applied science is what made my financial
experience possible."
Daily Routine
Unlike the majority of American business men,
absorbed in the money getting to the sacrifice of the
aesthetics, Mr. McMillin is to a surprising
degree a man of varied resources. Despite his enormous
interests, necessitating some 36,000 miles
of travel yearly, he is always in vital touch with current art,
music and letters. "How do you suppose he
finds the time," was asked an eminent scholar also a
prodigious worker? "Somebody reads for him,:
was the reply. "He couldn't do it himself. It's a physical,
if not mental, impossibility."
In the daily routine of well digested policy
his is the solution. He is at his desk every morning before the
office boy arrives. He adheres strictly to
the fist law of nature - order. His desk is as neat as that of the
daintiest woman. Night rarely finds a tasks
undone that the day ought to have dispatched. His home life
is as well ordered as his office hours.
The Home Circle
Essentially domestic, his fine social qualities
are best in his spacious and elegantly appointed home, at
the Navarro, in close proximity to Central
Park, where his hospitable wife, beautiful and accomplished
daughter, Mrs. S. H. G. Stuart, and her clever
husband, now a Wall Street broker, Miss Maude and two
sons, the youngest a freshman at Yale, dispense
royal good cheer.
The spacious home of 24 rooms reflects both
the habits and the tastes of the man. A lover of "art for
art's sake," wealth enables him to indulge
his taste to the extent of a private art gallery. Each picture is
to him a never-failing source of pleasure.
It is after midnight when all the household is asleep that he
communes with these pictorial friends and
accomplishes the reading variously attributed to an assistant.
He has the catalogues of every notable collection,
every art sale. He knows the biography and the
school of each painter, and the prices brought
at all important sales. A splendidly equipped library is
another fountain of inspiration from which
he drinks knowingly.
Wealth a Trust
While personally enjoying to the utmost the
fruits of his labor, there are perhaps few men who feel
more conscientiously the responsibility wealth
imposes.
"I have never had the ambition to be rich,"
he once said. "I can't say that I ever entered upon any
undertaking with the thought of how many dollars
it would bring me personally. I, of course, take up
only those things that I believe are worth
my time, and then have the ambition to make them a success
for the sake of success, rather than for the
money that is in it. I am not proud of the fact that I have
been able to make more money than the average
man of similar environment. But I am proud that I
have been industrious and that I had the energy
and the capacity to equip myself mentally in such a
way as to command positions of high remuneration."
To aid others less fortunate than himself is his
constant solicitude. He is never too busy
to lend a helping hand, a sympathetic ear to the cry of distress,
while in his quick discernment of merit he
is ever ready to advance the fortunes of the deserving.
"It is my purpose to make a disposition of
my surplus as I go through life, leaving whatever I may
possess at death entirely to my family. I
don't think," he said, "that there is anything very liberal in a man
hanging on to the last dollar until he dies,
with a provision in his will giving away that which he can no
longer use. Then I want the pleasure and happiness
that may be derived from disbursing the little
surplus for which I work."
The Ohio State University in its law library,
the Museum of Orton Hall and the Emerson McMillin
Observatory bear witness no less than the
Columbus Art School, the Y.M.C.A. library and numerous
educational and charitable institutions, to
his substantial appreciation of educational needs and
possibilities, and the "ineffable blessing"
this gifted and public-spirited Buckeye finds in showing the
rewards of his labor.