The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-10

the deck of his beautiful steam yacht
Erin today chances to feel through the
ventilators the hot breath of the fur
naces below, he will be reminded of the
days when he sweated out his own life
in a hotter hole than that below. and he
got for it only necessary food and a
passage to the port where his own mag
nificent cruiser now awaits his wishes.
Not one stoker in a million has ever
earned the right to such a contrast Of
feelings as that, but that the contrast
was possible has been amply demon
strated to the honor Of the man and the
nation that he represents in more ways
than one.
Reaching New York young Upton
sought employment, but now he had only
one object in view. He wanted to go
home. What he did while in New York
has not been told, but the chances are
that he worked in a market of some kind,
as will appear further on. At any rate,
he saved the money for steerage pas
sage, and home he went
Nearly three years had passed since he
sailed from Glasgow. He was eighteen
years old He had no money to show
for the work and time spent in the new
world, but he had what was to serve
him better He had learned something
my experience in America sharpened
me, and I always felt that | got good
commercial training here" said he in
after years.
So much impressed were his parents
with the effect Of this experience on their
son that when he returned they decided,
In spite of the financial failure of his
trip, to set him up in business-in what
they called a shop. They had saved by
such economies as only British workmen
can understand and practice S400-a great
sum in their eyes Lecause Of the years
that mad passed in accommodating ft-and
this was intrusted to the boy. Such
risk as that ought rarely to be taken.
Not more than one boy IN ten thousand
is worthy Of such confidence. But Thorn
as Upton was the one boy.
With this sum ne opened a provision
store. They tell good story Of his open
Ing day that, VIII ether true or not, is char
acteristic of the man. They say he bought
two of the largest hogs in the market.
cleaned and decorated them. and then
trict with a placard bearing the words
'Tipton's Orphans" That was about
thirty years ago.
We guess that Thomas Upton had
learned while in America that an original
idea in advertising is the best possible
capital in business. At any rate, the
shop drew an abundance of customers,
and the youth was steadily at his place to
wait on them with greater courtesy than
they We're accustomed to in other sho-s
of the kind
Along with his talent for attracting and
keeping trade young Upton had one other
of equal Importance in his career. He
knew how to choose capable assistants.
ID ~ ,o1ro
loyal to his interests. No sooner had his
first store proved prof abe than this abil-
ity became apparent. He Obtained cara-
BILE assistants and opened another store,
and then another and another He want
to London eventually and opened stores
there until he had sixty in London alone,
and, spreading over the Kingdom, he en-
tered every considerable town until at
last there were 420 Upton stores In Great
Britain.
But before all this expansion had come
young Upton for he was still a young
NAM had developed necessarily other
characteristics. He had learned, for in
stance, that one must deal generously
with his customers to succeed. How to
do this and yet make large profits was
a question that Upton solved. AS rapidly
as his capital permitted it he became a
producer Of the goods he sold.
The one man he would not serve was
the middleman, however necessary mid
dleman may seem to be in some kinds Of
business. So 1t came to pass that Upton
returned to America, went out to Chicago
and there established a provision factory,
which now kills as many as 5000 hogs in
one day. Another one now stands in
Omaha Further than that he built his
own cars to carry the factory's product
to market He was after all the profits
in the business that could be reached,
and he got them. So he was able to I'M
dersell the provision merchants Of Eng
land who were not so far-seeing.
This is not to say that pork was his
only product, but it is worth noting that
he dealt in pork and not In beef. There
is a drawback to selling American beef
In England not known to many. II cat
tie are shipped there alive they run con-
siderable risk OF loss and they arrive in
bad condition If the cattle are killed
here and the carcasSeS are shipped In re-
frigerators the meat turns black and is
unstable within a few hours after ex-
posture in the markets on the other side,
But hogs can be killed and the pork can
be cured and shipped with a certainty
that it will arrive in a tempting state.
that had least risk in it.
Upton chose the branch of the business
Some peculiarities of the Upton shops
are worth mention. They all fly the flag.
They are all lighted by electricity, so that
every interior is bright and attractive.
The employees wear a uniform that Is
attractive as we'll as distinctive.
Whenever a new shop is opened. there
Is a street parade with brass band to
call attention to it. Carlyle used to laugh
at a man who paraded the street with
a huge hat on a wagon to advertise the
hat business Carlyle thought the halter
ought to make good hats rather than
one large enough to require wagon to
draw it, Thomas Upton has shown that
1t pays to do both.
When his success in the professionalism
business became in a way the talk of
London financiers a number Of London
bankers who had loaned money to some
Ceylon tea planters and were afraid they
would never see their interest let alone
the principal invested. went to Upton and
invited him to go ITO tea planting"