Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-07-19

only a short time ago was LAFAYETTE
whose name is mentioned
in the newspapers every time the wife
Of President William Mckinley comes
TO Chicago, as she always stops at the
McWilliams house. the gentleman
named being a relative of Mrs. Nc
hlnley. Other partners have walked
the plank. and all will eventually. ex-
cept Harlow n. Higinbotham, credit
man Of the firm. and sometime presi-
dent Of the local board of the worlds
Columbian exposition. He is about the
only partner who cannot be spared.
His wealth is estimated at $4,000. 900.
and he became known the world over
in 1898 by wearing a dress suit at a
luncheon given by the late Mayor Car
ter H. Harrison in honor of the Prin-
cess EuIalie of Spain. He was even
photographed as he sat at table with
her royal highness, and was not dis
pleased.
Books by the Yard.
It is related Of Mr.. Higinbotham that
he buys books by the yard, the only
stipulation being that the binding
shall be costly and of a color to har-
monte with the prevailing tints of the
apartments in which they are to be
located.
No clerk or head Of a department is
a harder worker than Mr.. Field, his
office being in the wholesale house, a
mammoth pile of stone covering a
block of ground, and it is related of
him that he knows every man in his
employ by name. He never forgets a
face, always rewards faithful and con-
scientious work, is the severest of
disciplinarians and will call down the
head Of department receiving 81, 900
per year as readily as a porter whose
wages is S. per week. Work is life to
him; he plans and others execute, for
his is the great directing brain.
Still, how is all this to aid in de-
Gliding who the heir to Marshall Fields
$75,O0O,OO0 shall be?
No one is in training to take the
place. When he dies a stock company
will probably be formed, just as has
been the case in the matter of the
vast interests of P. D. Armour, the
king Of pork and beef packers, being
incapacitated by illness from directing
affairs as in years past, but as long
as Marshall Field lives there will be
no stock company or corporation to do
his business for him.
If there is a timely man IN all Chi
cagO it is the master of all these mil
lions, for he is essentially a man OF
INSTRUMENTATION and does not care
to herd at clubs. He has few if any
intimates, and no one knows what he
proposes or intends to do until that
thing is done. He does not care for
confdants, mainly for the reason that
he values the opinions of others too
| lightly to ask for them.
Yet he is fond, Unfortunately fond, of
giving advice, and has often called at
| the editorial rooms OF various Chicago
| newspapers for the purpose of giving
! the editor-in-chief instructions as to
how daily paper should be conducted.
This idiosyncrasy has often involved
him in controversy.
The great merchants step is as light
and brisk as it was twenty years ago,
and although his hair is snow white,
his figure is as straight and supple as
a of cf NJ
years of age. He is so little known
| that he can pass along the streets for a
mile or more and not meet half a
dozen men with whom he is &C
quainted. 1t is the same with Potter
Palmer and Levi q. Letter, his old
business associates. However, when
they were his partners he was the
head of the house as he is today, and
| as he will be until the day of his death.
His family is scattered, his only
son being in the south Of France and
his only daughter in England, and he
never sees either unless he goes where
they are. He is not a particularly So
cial man, cares little for the theater
or opera, and is intent only upon bust
ness. If he tried he could not be
otherwise than he is, for his only hap
piness is the piling up of millions
upon millions. Being a supersensitive
man he never gets into print, save on
very rare occasions, and while what
he says is full of common sense, it Is
put so bluntly that acrimony is often
bred. For this he cares nothing.
So far as known Mr.. Field has
never intimated to any one, save, pos
sibly, Robert T. Lincoln, son of Alb
raham Lincoln, and president of the
Pullman Car company, his intentions
regarding his wealth. That is a secret
he guards well, and there is no way of
inducing him to become voluble upon
that most interesting point.
IA WT0N'S IDEA Of TT