St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-03-11
WILLIAM IIINDEKE.


are usually called advantages. He was
already a man when he came to Amer
lea, and during his first years in st.
Paul he did manual labor in saw mill.
and afterwards in flour mill. AT this
time he probably was very much like
other immigrants in carriage, intelli-
gence, aspirations and methods OF
thought He must have spoken English
imperfectly, because even to the day OF
his death his speech gave evidences OF
his foreign origin. Less than decade
after this beginning he owned his own
establishment. A quarter of century
after it he became the head of one of
the largest wholesale houses in the
Northwest, and when the destroyer
overlook him at an age at which many
of the great are just emerging from the
obscurity of their early struggles, he
was rightly numbered among the fore
most citizens of this section in wealth,
in influence, in public spirit, in breadth
of view, in ability and in good works.
A record of this sort is sug-
gestive in many directions. 1t shows,
rewards of earnestness and concentra-
ton in promising environment. Had
Mr.. LINDEKE never left his birthplace
it is possible that he would none the
less have risen to prominence. but it is
much more likely that the weight of
settled order of affairs would have
availed to hamper his material progress.
He would undoubtedly have been a
strong man under any circumstances,
but the field of his activity might have
been narrowly circumscribed one.
There are thousands of heroic personal
tiles all the world over, doing duty
bravely in small way, whose achieve
mentS are felt only in limited circle in
which they move. But in land of
freedom, where opportunity is open to
whoever has the courage to pluck 1t,
such individuals both broaden them
selves and rear monuments infinitely
grander than the humble cottage of the
faithful peasant. Even the an who
works in saw mill regularly and skill
fully is public benefactor, but the
man who builds great city, who Or
3
others can find employment and scope
for their diverse abilities, who accumu-
lates riches and uses them wisely and
benevOlently, is public benefactor Oh
a much larger scale. And it is the glory
of new country that it affords men
who are equal to such achievements
field in which they can make them.
Of I
plished is due to the conditions of So
ciety in America, and in the contempla-
ton of it we have reason to renew our
pledges of patriotism and devotion to
our national institutions. But others
have toiled amid the same surroundings
for lifetime to be nothing better than
hewerS of wood and drawers of water
at the end. To be anchored in a wilder
ness, no matter what its resources, in
SureS no conaueStS to the incompetent.
His personal history shows that he must
have had ability of very high order.
He did not make his acquisition
through cleaning after his fellows labor,
as is the fashion of spectators. He
himself soWed the seed from which he
in turn reaped the harvest. He amassed
fortune by creating the agencies for
the production of wealth. He con-
structed the machinery by which the
bountifulneSs of nature was turned into
the service of mankind, and by the
same effort elevated himself and in
creased the possibilities of existence,
not only for this generation, but for all
which will follow.
1t is impossible to overstate the sig
ni6cance of such work. When man
writes an immortal book his name is in
everybody's mouth. and children are
taught the story of his life. When an
adventurous explorer discovers new
continent capable of becoming the seat
of a human population monuments are
erected to his memory. When states
man deviSes model plan of govern
mental administration successive ages
sing his praises. But no Que of these
has stronger claim on the general af-
lection or gratitude than the architect
of modern business concern, or the
successful protector OF an Industrial en-
terprise like a railroad or telegraph
system. Not farmer, for example, on
the Dakota prairies would be as prosper
Gus or happy as he is today had WILL
lam LINDEKE never lived. Every
young man in st. Paul who is
glad that, leaving his old home,
he settled in this city where his effort
meets with commensurate return, is
under obligation to WILLIAM LINDEKE.
He and others like him made it pos
sble for men to live in this new coun-
try. They provided the means by
which cheap commodities could be OBJ
tanned for the satisfaction of human
needs. They got out of the bosom of
mother earth the treasures which were
hid there and spread them as a GLAD
feast which their fellows might enjoy.
Without such leaders the Northwest
would still be trackless prairie, or
men and women would be huddled to-
gether over its face looking at each
other in pallor and despair and starving
in the midst of plenty, which they had
not the power to subdue and adopt to
their own uses.
The GLOBE ventures these thoughts
as due our dead fellow citizen with an
overwhelming consciousness of their
incompleteness. 1t does not attempt to
tell in detail the story of his private life.
He did great deal OF good to his fell
lows through thoughtfulneSs, in lit
tie acts of kindness, by generous co op-
Grafton in Enterprises which commend
ed themselves to him as useful and eff
fective. The record of his contributions
to public and private charities would be
a long one, but he did such things un-
ostentatiously and often secretly. and it
is not proper that the voice of another
should noise abroad what he himself,
when he could speak. never mentioned.
All about US are monuments to his
achievements and they will recount his
good deeds and keep alive his memory
as no perishable written words could
ever be made to do.