Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-12-03
M. a. HANNA & co.

Aioot ~ ti1!s DuiluiiG X q Sulte OF rooms.
On the door entering this suite is the
legend:
NJ. A. HANNA & co.
Coal. Iron Ore and Pig Iron.
The inner room of this suite is a large
room. On the walls of the room. which
is finished in mahonany. are a number
of photographs of Hanna's home under
the elm trees, surrounded by, grass and
fiowers; also photographs Of the mem
bers of the republican national commit
tee and pho tograph Of the Interior of
a power-house, where four huge en-
gines-all trim and solid and mechanic
ally eloquent of power-stand waiting
the touch of the master to release their
energy. The Photographic look own or
heavy mahogany directors table
with massive round legs. On the table
is litter of blue prints-eng and
architects designs--embryo boats and
power houses, and smokestacks and
many strange cross-sections anc
ground views and perspectives of in
dustrial edlfices Solid chairs of nom
sdescript design sit near the edge of a
crimson rug. In corner near the
broad. deep window stands a massive
desk AT the desk, leaning heavily on a
clutter of letters and documents is o
atocky, long bodied man, with his small
rect hooked desperately to the supports
of pivoting chair. He whirls about
nervously and his qlizzical, humorous
smile aniinates the place and human
ICES IT. Hanna's personality exudes
from everything The photographs oil
the great engines become vitality a part
of him. The blue prints seem 10 crys-
ttsllize themselves into him The poll
texans faces, he chairs the table with
the sl1apeless legs, all in an instant be-
come living, component parts of this
mans existence. The room, the build
Ing, the town on the inland sea-tiley
are parts Of him and products of him
and he is a part and product of them.
Hanna is an American type. Five
years ago he was engrossed in business
A crisis occurred in the country,s his
tory partly Of his own making. He
sloughed off business. He became At no.
litical leader and--as patriots goa ~, :
triot- by sheer mechanical force. using
money, the one lever which Cod gave
him mastery of, Hanna set millions of
rags TO waving, and manufactured and
distributed securely wrapped in pack
ages OF assorted sizes read for immeg-
late consumption. more lofty ideals of
civic integrity than the country had
consumed before in a score of years. A
weaker man than Hanna. with more
emotion in his makeup, might have
felt more deeply and perhaps more in
teligently, but only a man like Hanna
could have acted in the time of stress
so wisely. With the clod, practical en-
ergy of trip hammer, Hanna CON
Verified dollars into patriotism, and
saved the nation from calamity. While
he was at his work men reviled him.
bulliad him abused him-just as they
do today.
Which knowledge yexes him a space !;
But while reproof around him rings.
He turns keen. untroubled face
Home to the instant need Of things
The story of his life epitomixes the
biographies OF thousands of other sue
cessful Americans 1t is the dramatiz-
alton of energy--tfle roma nee of indus
trial achievement. In another 100 gears.
perhaps such romances will seem as
remote from the life then living as
stories of our western border bloody
with Indian wars, appear today. OPP
portunity may not always stand knock
ing on the gate for American youths.
But at any rate. the story of Hanna s
rise is a brave tale. and one well worth
the telling.
Hanna was born in Ohio sixty-three
years ago. OF his ancestry it is sutfi-
Gent to say that he is a member of the
Scotch-Irish society of Philadelphia. in
full communion and good standing. His
GRANDPA Their was bound out to Quaker
and for the 100 years last past the
Hannas have been Quakers. In 1852
Hanna's father moved to Cleveland and
brought his seven children along. The
elder Hanna Started a grocery store,
trading more or less, in wholesale
way, on the lakes, particularly in the
Lake Superior country. Young Mark
plodded thru the public schools and got
enough educa ton to admit him to the
Western Reserve University. But in
1857, after a year in college, he returned
to Cleveland to learn the grocery bust
ness. which was growing, and had be-
come exclusively wholesale concern,
with customers all over the lake re-
gion. A year or so later tho elder Hanna
sickened. and the management of the
store fell on tn boy Mark 1t was a
heavy load to carry for a young man,
barely past his majority. but the re-
sponsibility put iron into him, and gave
q him the luckstOne OF his lffe-the habit