Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-11-02
MILLIONAIRE TiLT'S
TOWN IS A UTOPIA
Everyone Has a Pretty Little Cottage
and There Are No Social
Distinctions.
HR LIVES AMONG HIS EMPLOYEES
Abandons His splendid Maasisn In Chi
cago to Live with His workmen-
Says It's Not Philanthropy. But
Plain Cenmon Sense.

B~inghamton, N. Y, special: Joseph
+. Tilt, Chicago's millionaire shoe manu-
facturer, has left a princely mansion on
the lake front to dwell with his wife and
daughter In a modest little cottage at
Endicott, nine miles from here.
Far removed from the social ~splendors
amid which he and his family nave moved
and lived, Mr.. Tilt seeks to place himself
on a level with his cwn workingmen.
They are his next-door ~neighbors.
Some of them reside in better houses
than does their millionaire employer and
his family.
Many of them will be able to live mora
| comfortably on their wages than Mr.. ana
Mrs. Tilt and their daughter possibly can
on the appropriation he has set aside for
maintaining his household.
AS everybody in Endicott is to consider
himself on a plane neither higher nor
lower than that OF his neighbors, Million
aire Tilt proposes to cultivate the ac-
| quaintance of his fellow-townsmen, no
! matter how humble. In this way he ex-
poets to bring about a condition or ar
fairs which will make Endlcott a model
town and a twentieth century Utopia.
Town Hut Six Months Via.
Less than six months ago Endicott did
not exist. The site was a rolling table
land. with q farmhouse, a barn, or a fence
here and there. Mr.. Tilt saw the place
while looking around for an available To-
| cation for his new shoe factory and tam
merry. He liked II. enlisted the services OF
George F., Johnson of Binghamton, N.
Y, and II. b. Endicott Of Boston, and the
deal for the land was closed very
promptly.
Then Mr.. Tilt realized that the oppor-
tunity had arrived for carrying into effect
a plan tending towards utilitarianism on a
large scale.
He would make Endicott an ideal
Utopia.
Liberty OF thought and action would be
the foundation Of the project.
Pleasant homes. beautiful parks, broad.
paved streets, handsome theaters, con-
slant employment and all the advantages
of the big city, coupled with the priNil-
eyes of the country We're TO be found at
Endicott.
Varying social elevations were to be en-
tirely eliminated, The millionaire shoe
manufacturer was to consider himself not
one whit better than his next door neigh
Dor who feeds the boilers in the power
house.
Has spent ss,ooo,oOo.
All this has been done. Over 100000
mas been spent on the new town already
I'm building a shoe factory and tannery
employing $500 hands, laying out streets
and sewers, parks and boulevards and
erecting an electric light and sanitary
plant.
Pretty little cottages have been erected
by hundreds along the broad thorough
fares, and they are being occupied as fast
as they can be completed. Each cottage
| l. a,,rra.,ndAa hxy a rian n1nt nf ground
presenting a striking contrast 10 the over
crowded tenement quarters In Chicago or
New York, where rents are just as hign
as at Endicott.
The shoe factory wheels began turning
fer the first time on October ], and the big
works are already running very smoothly.
Hither Millionaire Tilt has come, tenn
pcrarily abandoning his splendid home at
| No. 543 Evanston avenue, Chicago, 10 I'VE
among his ~workingmen as one of them.
He will act here as superintendent OF the
shoe factory.
The cottage occupied by Mr.. Tilt, with
his wife and daughter, is a pretty little
frame building, with green blinds. There
are two hemlock shade trees In the front
garden, one on either side of the path
leading from the sidewalk to the front
porch. This modest abode Of the million
alre is no finer looking than n other
In the town. In fact, some of the work
men have larger and more p~retentious
looking homes than the superintendent
occupies.
During working hours Mr.. Tilt Is all
business. But after Tire whistles blow In
the evening and the men return home, he
and his wife are TO be seen making social
calls among their neighbors. And while
Mrs. Tilt admires the babies and talks
to the mothers, the millionaire shoe mar
ufacturer talks to his men about their
town, its municipal program and Its fu-
Cre.
Not . Philanthropist.
He wishes II distinctively understood
that no philanthropic motives prompted
him to take this unusual course. He be-
lieves that in helping his employees to
build up a town agreeable to live and
work In he is putting so much In his own
pocket.
II am not a philanthropist.' he has
stated very emphatically. Just put me
down as a plain, common-sense business
man"
Endicott's rapid progress seems to point
conclusively to the correctness OF Mil
ionaire Tits ideas. The town looks new
and smells Of pine boards and fresh paint,
1t Is true, but that is q mere incidental.
The people appear congenial and exces-
slvely proud Of their homes, where lace
curtains at the windows and potted plants
IN window lodges impress the visitor with
the thought hat 1t doesn't cost much or
take very long to make a home bright and
cheerful after all.
No Blue Laws.
lie expects the citizens to make their
own laws and abide by them. He does
not want blue laws or any restrictions on
the sale Of tobacco and alcohol. To use
his W words, Sunday will not be made
A day of long-faced hypocrisy"
How long Mr.. Tilt proposes to continue
living like this is a question which even
he himself does not seem prepared ia
answer. He may deci1e to remain here
altogether.
MIR. Tilt began life as a shoemaker In
Canada, where he was born. He was
thrifty and persevering, and by working
steadily at his trade and saving as much
as possible he was able at the age OF
twenty-five years to move to Chicago
where he opened a small shop. Year by
year his plant grew, until he became
prominently Identified with the shoe In
dustry Of this country. !
The man who has substituted a cottage
for his palace In order TO benefit hi:
workmen and also his business is affablt
and democratic. Slight in build, of me,
dunn height, with kindly blue eyes ant
iron gray hair and mustache, he Is typi
caly the successful American merchant
and manufacturer.
His Chicago shoe factory at No. 3 HUI
ron street employees 200 men, and it's an
nual total output is wursh sl,25O.O 900. HI.
son, c.. A. Tilt, will remain in Chicago e
conduct the Huron street factory Will,
millionaire Tilt is watching the develop
wont Of his UtOpian theories at Endi