The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-07-30
An AMERICAN woRKINGMAS.
How He Turned q Season OF Depression
to His Profit


to His Profit
A correspondent of the New York Sun
relates how one American working man
managed to occupy himself probably
during q period of "hard times The
story Is as follows:
sIn the fall of 1857, after the failure Of
the Ohio Life and Trust Company, bust
ness came to q standstill. In New Haven,
Conn. where | then lived, few carriage
shops kept part of their force busy. but
with these exceptions all the great indus
tries OF that county were practicaiiy
closed
Among the thousands thrown out of
employment was Hobart b. Bigesow,
journeyman machinist. who, sitter serving
an old-fsshioned apprenticeship. had been
for two years working at his trade in one
OF the large shops of the city. Some SIX
months before the panic began he had
married, and the couple were house
keeping in a three-roomed apartment
in a modest way. Bigelow had In
the savings bank a deposit OF somewhat
less tnsn 500. which he did not wish to
draw upon If he could avoid 1t. tie had
been engaged in building engine lathes of
kind for which there was steady de-
mand when business was normal. when
his employers dismissed all their men ex-
cept two or three, who were kept TO do any
odd jobs that might come IN and 10 keep
the machinery of the plant in good condl-
ton. he went to them and told them he
did not wish to be idle, that he understood
the situation and knew that months must
pass before = resumption of business &C
tIyity could be expected. lie asked them
to let him come and work daily the usual
number of hours and continue lathe build
ing, they TO charge up against the finished
goods the cost of castings. use OF machin-
az I'D H. hi tar
wages, the latter to be credited to him,
and then, when lathes were again in de-
mand, as fast as any were sold he should
be paid for his work upon them and a
specified percentage of the profit.
"The firm consented. He then went to
the tradesmen who supplied his family.
told them of his engagement, showed
them his bank book and arranged with
them that on the first of every month he
would pay for one-half of what he had
purchased during that time, and they
would trust him for the remainder until
the Iathes were sold. Six mornings every
week he went to the shop, carrying his
frugal lunch in his dinner pail, and worked
his ten hours ms briskly and blithely as
though times we're good. The following
spring there was a resumption of activity,
the lathes went off rapidly, and before
midsummer Bigelow owed no man penny
and had more than 81 600 to his credit in
the savings bank.
Nor was this oil. A shrewd business
man, one of those capitalists that labor
leaders denounce, had seen the young
man going daily 10 his work, and had his
curiosity aroused sufficient v to make some
inquiries about him. He was so fayorably
impressed that he sought an interview with
Bigelow and offered TO set him up in BUSH
ness. The offer was accepted, and the
young journeyman within eighteen
months from the time of the shutdown
was at the head CT a considerable estab-
iishment, and before many years had
passed he was himself capitalist and a
large employer OF labor. Nor was that all.
He was so highly appreciated by his
feliow-citlzens that. although a Repub-
lican, he was elected mayor of the Demo
cratic city of New Haven by a handsome
majority, and few years later, 1850, he
was elected governor of Connecticut. Ex-
Gov BigeIow died a few years since.
mourned by all his fellow-townsmen. and
those who knew him during his entire
career like to refer to 1t, as the writer has
done, as an example for other American
workmen to emulate when times are hard
and the outlook not encouraging. There
are always better times ahead for those
who have the courage and the faith of
this young journeyman mechanic"