South Bend news-times., July 18, 1913, Afternoon Edition, South Bend in 1913 Edition, Image 25

About South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938

Image provided by: Indiana State Library

                
by continuing hlacksmithing
and horseshoeing. And to
them the eight-hour system
xis a thing unknown.
The Business Called Them
Together.
Slowly and steadily the
business grew. More men
f ? .. .. - " s T , . , )
were needed. The fame of the
S t u d e b a k e r wagons had
spread. The demand increas
ed. The future opened before
the brothers like a path of sun
shine through a morning fog.
But the lure of the farm was
stronger than the call of the
factory for the eider brother,
so we find Henry retiring from
-ie partnership to a farm
where he lived un'i! his death
in 1895. But to take his place
came the other brothers. Like
a magnet, the business called
to them and they came, each
one bringing that without
which the business might not
have succeeded.
Came from the gold-drench-cd,
wealth-maddened land of
California John Mohler Stu
debaker, who had heard the
call of the west in 1852,
laden with a few hundred dol
lars which he had acquired in
business deals of small mo
ment in the country of the
mines. With his far-seeing
executive mind he had seen
greater glories in the business
of his brothers than in the
frantic clawing of the yellow
llecked earth Like Collis P.
Huntington, and those other
financial masters who tlung
the steel ribbons over the
mountains and across the sun
parchced plains; John Mohler
Studebaker saw the need of
transportation. He knew that
before the railways came, wag
ons would carry the El Dorado
vovacrs and their household
goods from east to west.
What visions he may have con
jured up. before the minds of
his less adventurous brothers
even he himself does not
know. Like another Lochin
var he came out of the west,
and, with the intensity of an
enthusiasm that had been fired
by the activity of the hordes of
wealth-maddened wanderers,
he set himself at the task of
proving that Studebaker wag
ons were the best.
The business was newly or
ganized. Its swaddling clothes
were laid away without the
benediction of a mother's
tears. It, like the Phoenix,
seemed to spring into being
from the fires of John Mohler
Studebakefs e n t h u s iasm.
There came Peter E., a fourth
brother, who had been a mer
chant in Goshen, Indiana.
After him Jacob P. appeared.
Nature seemed to have pre
pared these men for their
tasks. Clement gravitated to
-his place as organizer and gen-
TIFCTISDAT, MAY 22, ID 13
eral executive. John Mohler
stepped forward as the manu
facturer, while Peter E. dis
played his masterful selling
ability and advanced to the fir
ing line at St. Joseph, Mo.
Here was outlined the wag
on trains that bore upon their
banners, "To California or
Bust." And the majority of
these trains were made up of
Studebaker wagons because
Peter E. had a way of convinc
ing folks that the chances for
"busting" were lessened when
his advice was taken in the
matter of wagons.
Fires Did Not Discourage
Them.
At home, Clement, like a
general, kept his eye upon the
whole country. It was due to
his keen vision, his watchful
ness, his alertness, that John
Mohler found himself master
of an ever-increasing force of
workers.
The rush to California stim
ulated trade throughout the
growing country. Of this Pe
ter E. took advantage. Stude
baker wagons were sent ev
erywhere. And everywhere
they gave satisfaction. In
spite of the growing trade,
John M. a workman wiio
found joy in making a wagon
as well as he knew how,
kept the standard high. Thus,
when the war broke out be
tween the north and south, a
salesman did not need the as
sistance of the Sheldon course
to convince the army quarter
masters that the Studebaker
wagons would give the great
est satisfaction.
T. -
Scarcely had the army con
tract been annexed when fire
came and swept away the
frame factory. One of brick
was immediately built. Soon
this was also destroyed. Again
the Studebaker courage rose
to the top and plans for better
and larger buildings were un
der wav. While the ruins of
the old were still smoking,
workmen were preparing to
build the new.
Today over one
hundred and ten
acres are covered
with buildings a- d
lumber yards, the
yards containing
at all times about
sixty million feet
of lumber.
Here we con
dense: The busi
ness began in
1852 with two
workmen. Today
more than four
thousand workmen are em
ployed. At the start one little
blacksmith shop served for a
manufactory. Today more
than one hundred acres of
yards and buildings are re
quired. A lake of paint is
used every year. The buttons
.- It
used in carriages come in car
load lots. Two wagons were
made the first year. The an
nual output now is in ex
cess of one hundred thou
sand vehicles. The factory
turns out more vehicles every
day thar was made during the
first ten years.
A train of freight cars is re
quired every working day to
transport the product to repos
itories in the large distributing
cities. Five, thousand enthu
siastic dealers handle the Stu
debaker products in the Unit
ed States alone, while thou
sands more are scattered wher-
ever the sun. shines. In the
plant thirteen boilers furnish
the necessary three thousand
horse power. More than sev
it oi'niv 1- i', ' j 'tiiiiv um r.ir'i.iii.riui urii Kit', ll imr. k'i'f k'M.iir .iv ii ir -.r ru."iiA vt v t it r ;iiwvrT. ...rn"mk
"1 11 1 a w 'v r.w.
www
enty-eight hundred feet of line siastic workman who has play
shafting is in use, holding ed the game of life according
twenty-five hundred pulleys.
Thirteen miles of belting as
sist in operating one thou
sand, three hundred and
eighty-two wood and iron
working machines, while thir
teen dynamos supply light
through four hundred and
WHAT
WAGONS Farm
Wagons, Farm Trucks,
Log Wagons, Lumber
and Teaming Gears,
Dump Carts, Hand
Carts, etc.
CAR R I A G E S
Driving Wagons, Road
Wagons, Buggies, Pha
etons, Stanhopes, Sur
ries, Spring Wagons,
Fine Carriages, Passen
ger Wagons, etc.
DELIVERY WAG
ONE Open and Top
Delivery Wagons, Mar
ket Wagons, Trucks,
Ice, Coal Wagons, Etc.
MUNICIPAL AND
CONT RACTO R S 9
WAGONS Street
THE SOUTH BEND NEWS-TIMES.
thirty arc and thirty-nine hun-
dred and fifty incandescent !
lamps. Truly this is a mon
ster monument to the business
building preachments of that
simple Gettysburg blacksmith.
Emerson tells us that an in
stitution is the lengthened
shadow of a man. But an in
stitution is more than that.
It is the visible manifestation
of the personalities of many
master men. John Mohle'r
Studebaker, the only living
representative of the' original
brothers (Clement died in
1901, Peter E. in 1897, Jacob
F. in 1887, Henry in 1905),
mirrors to the world what
manner of men they were.
Born in October, 1833, he
boasts over eighty years. But
no one meeting the man
would accuse him of hav
ing slipped by the three-score-and-ten
stopping point. He
feels young because he has al
ways filtered his pleasures
through honest work. He has
Fletcherized his joys. With
the acquisition of wealth came
Responsibilities to match, and
these responsibilities, backed
by the rigid training of his
blacksmith father, held him
well balanced on the swaying
tightwire of life.
You see, this man has char
acter. I do not mean that he
is one of those soft-handed,
soft-souled creatures of the
Tomlinson variety fit neith
er for hell or heaven. But I
do mean that he is an earnest,
sincere, hard-working, enthu-
to the dictates of that philoso
phy which a strenuous mod
ernist called the Square Deal.
It is true that he has acquired
much wealth, but with equal
truth it must be said- that this
wealth was acquired through
the rendering of service that
MAKES
Sprinklers, Sweepers
and Flushers, Dump
Wagons, Dump Boxes,
Garbage Wagons,
Road Oilers, Contract
ors' Wagons and Carts.
HARNESS Single
and Double, for Light
Driving, Farm Work,
Truckers, Carters,
Light and Heavy Car
riage Work, Light and
Heavy Delivery Work.
AUTOMOBILES
20 Horsepower, 25
Horsepower, 30 Horse
power, 35 Horsepower
and a six-cylinder.
SEPARATE CATA
LOGS of any of these
can be had upon request.
has made for greater civiliza-
tion.
The Sage of Concord tells
us that commerce consists in
taking things from where
they are plentiful to where
they are scarce. John M. Stu
debaker has been one of the
greatest commercial ministers.
His wagons have found their
way into every country on the
globe, even into that forbid
den land of Thibet, carrying
ministers and -Uneeda Bis
cuits, teachers and phono
graphs, bibles and babies,
The fi'rstSludehaker shop in
bridge builders and makers of
empires, soldiers that prepared
the way for statesmen, and
women that smoothed out the
rough men and made of them
fathers of children fit to
build and govern a nation of
freemen.
It matters little what the
U. r
r-r-, 71 i-i
7
SX;A
world thinks of a man. One
may "flaunt one's name before
the millions and achieve what
the world calls fame, but the
great test to apply to a man is
to discover what his neighbors
think of him. As Chesterton
points out, the greatest ad
ventures may be had in one's
own family circle. The man
who seeks adventure abroad
is one without courage to face
the adventures of his own
neighborhood.
John Mohler .Studebaker
stands out in South Bend as
one who has achieved success
as a neighbor. Visitors may
point to the twenty-five thou
sand dollar electric fountain
in one of the parks, or to the
park system he has helped so
much to promote, Others
may tell of the two hundred
thousand dollar Y. M. C. A.
building which he fathered, or
stories may be told of many
smaller gifts traceable to him.
But those who know the real
man find greater joy in his
achievement of holding to the
ideals of his father in building
a business that has ever been
a winner and holder of confi
dence, and to the further
achievement of managing his
thousands of workers in such
a way as to hold them work
ing together in obedience to
the Law of Harmony. Strikes
are unknown around the Stu
debaker works because the
If 1
hi '
SOUTH BEND-IN-1913 EDITION.
workers are given the same
sort of satisfaction that is giv
en to the buyers of the com
pany's product. John M. Stu
debaker, with the intuitional
wisdom of a good executive
and teacher, knows that dis
satisfied workmen will ex
press themselves in work that
will prove unsatisfactory. A
wise selfishness which is
only good business by another
name demands that both
workmen and public be given
satisfaction. John M. Stude
baker has done this work.
Just because there are num
bered among the readers of
this article business men
with big enterprises under
their direction, and also be
cause there are thousands of
85
11. 'Vi:-
young readers who are big
business men in embryo, I
shall here pass on the Stude
baker information showing
the value of the institutional
library as it is conducted for
the help of the workers at
South Bend. This library is
organized for the purpose of
co-ordinating information that
will increase the efficiency and
helpfulness of every person
connected with the Studebak
er company, thus developing
the individual and benefiting
the company. On its shelves
are found books, magazines,
pamphlets and reports that
bear on subjects pertaining to
all phases of the business. A
special corps or workers at-
tend to this department. A
telephone message will bring
any desired information. If
-
the library does not have the
information right at hand, it
will crpf it Qomrnviirp in tbr -
country.
The worth of this business
library', from a financial stand
point, is beyond calculation.
The library is best able to
serve because it has gathered
from all authoritative sources
m Li
valuable information, because
it is the central bureau where
employees take matter that
has helped them, and make
known their wants for further
help; because it keeps filed,
according to one system, a
-&F
wealth of data that would
otherwise be lost. In a word.
the Hitchcock political card
index system is less complete
than this offered at company
expense to the workers.
All this seems far nfiM.i
- w
from this man, J. M. Stude
baker, yet it is pertinent to a
biography of the man. One
cannot judge the man unless
one knows his institution.
And don't forget that the in
stitution does not lead the
man. Alwavs you will find
the man leading the growing
business. Onlv institutions
that are dying at the top are
greater than the executive.
Although this man is eighty
years old, he manages to spend
eight hours every day around
the plant. Of course, as he
said to me, he hasn't a desk
job that keeps his executive
nose on the grindstone; but he
does exercise a paternal super
vision. The wise teacher helps the
pupil to get along without
him. So has J. M. Studebak
er shifted his executive bur
dens onto others. He only is
a great executive who con
structs, a business machine
that will run without him. J.
M. Studebaker is a great ex
ecutive. Out at "Stinnyside" you
will find this kindly old man.
With his good wife with
whom he celebrated his gold
en wedding anniversary on
c
f 11
'TTf
Jan. 3, 1910, he is living the
rich retrospective life of the
old man who has lived a rich
life from "Then up to Now.
When he is gone his soul, like
that of John Brown, will go
marching on. If it be true
that a man lives after death
onlv in the influences he has
liberated during his life on
earth, John Mohler Studebak
er need have no fear of death.
! His body may go away, but
1 the influence of the man will
continue to be a civilizing in
fluence, an instrument making
for human betterment, just so
long as Studebaker vehicles
made with a Studebaker char
acter continue to carry bless-
ings to the ends of the earth
'in
i Tin