The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-02

COHSuIHDlIOns IN me 1d1 Oh looi- anu
was buried from the residence of Cen
eral Grant
Owing to Simpsons protracted i'll
health, the conduct of the business
very largely deyolved upon Orviile
and me, and Captain Grant was well
come addition to the store force The
business was conducted in one of the
most attractive and best constructed
buildings in town, and we had TO build
UP the largest leather and saddlery
business northwest of Chicago. j. r.
Grant was the sole owner OF the 6usi-
ness, and was worth at that time from
100000 to $75,000 We were all en-
ployed upon stipulated salaries, which
were about equal, and were entirely
sufficient to enable us to live comfort
ably in very good houses. We We're
not so much interested in the salaries,
however, as in the success of the bust
ness, which promised a partnership in
due time The partnership was realized
by Orville and me year later under
the firm name of Grant & Burke, and
had it not been for the intervention OF
the civil war Ulysses would have been
one of his fathers business partners
had he so desired.
1t has been frequently stated that
Grant occupied an inferior position in
the Galena store at a salary that did
not enable him to live comfortably and
pay his debts. Nothing could be far
Their from the truth. His relation TO
the business was precisely the same as
that Of his brothers, and, like them.
he lived well. and met his obligations
promptly. Old business men knew that
a medium low salary on the present
salary basis would have been cons1d-
cred good pay before the war. The
captains work a + the store was OF
general nature. He waited on custom
ers, filed orders, packed goods and
weighed in hides Gin which we dealt
largely, just as we all did. He also
occasionally drove out to visit country
customers. During the winter OF 1860
and 1861 the rate of New York ex-
change at Galena was sometimes as
high as Is per cent, on account of the
general distrust of western and south
ern banks To avoid such a charge
against our eastern remittanceS we
bought pork on the Galena market,
which we shipped to Cincinnati, where
New York exchange sold at l per cent
on account of the high standing of the
Ohio banks. To Captain Grant was
assigned the duty of buying most of
the pork, which work he greatly pre-
ferred to ordinary work in the store.
He was, in fact, the favored one about
the store being less acquainted with
the goods and customers than the
hand in. so to speak. when he was
called to higher service
During the time Grant was con-
nected with the leather store he ex-
hibited many excellent business quail
ifications. He was prompt and svs-
tematic, a close observer of business
conditions and a good Judge of their
probable results. Had he continued to
direct his great natural ability along
he IN
achieved success. Possessing a high
sense of honor himself. he was inclined
to trust others and often found It diff
cult to refuse credit to an unworthy
applicant, even when his judgment told |
him the case was dubious. A few ex- |
periences however, tended to remedy |
this virtuous fault / recall one little |
incident which illustrates one of his |
business characteristics A bill was
presented to his brother Orville, who |
examined it closely, questioned the cor |
rectnesS of an item or so. remarked |
a bout the prevailing hard times and |
finally drew a check for it. After the |
departure of the collector. ULYSSES
said: "Orville, didn't you intend to |
pay that bill when it was first pre-
sented?" 'Of course replied Orville.
why do you ask?' Because" said
Ulysses, IF you intended to pay the
bill in the first place it was better to
10 so promptly and cheerfuly as
-hough you had a full treasury. That
collector went away with a wrong i'm
preston of you" Orville laugaingly
'emarked to me afterward that "Ulys"
vas right about that bill matter
Grant has so often been described as
| tanner Dlodding at his trade in the
falena tan yard when Sumter was
ired on, that the truth regarding the
natter will appear like iconoclasm in
he minds of those historians who deem
[ necessary to sink a great man deep
L our Obscurity. even the obscuritv
If a tan vat, before thew lift him 70
he pinnacle of the temple of fame, in
,rder that his greatness may be en-
lanced by mere contrast with himself.
md the possibilities of American citi-
enship f1ttingly illustrated. At the
isk of being called an iconaclist l
must record the fact that Grant never
vas a tanner. and the Galena tan
ard is a myth. Beyond driving horse
round his fathers horsepower bark
mill when a young boy, Grant never
worked a day in a tannery in his life