The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1906-01-20
COLGATE & CO.'S
CENTENARY
The Big Soap Factory Cele-
brated the Anniversary
With a Family Dinner
DEMOCRATIC FESTIVAL
EMPLOYERS AND BIG AND LIT
TIE EMPLOYEES HAD A GREAT
TIME TO-DAY AT THE GRAND
CENTRAL PALACE, N. Y.

| CENTRAL PALACE, n. Y.
NEW YORK, JAN 20, 19O6.-A din
ner unique in American commerce took
place in this city today. One thousand
banquet hall of the Grand Central Pal
ace at 1so'clock. They did not leave un-
| til evening had come upon the city. an
entertainment following the banquet.
These people were the factory and office
staffs of Colgate & Co., of New York,
| together with a number of the foreign
representatives, the firm in this manner
celebrating the one hundredth anniYer-
sary of the founding of the concern.
| Three circumstances made this dinner
an event in American business life. 1t
eommemorated the centenary of a busi-
ness that for 100 years has been on the
same site, turned out the same product,
been uninterruptedly in the hands Of the
/ same family. Probably no other Ameri-
can firm has the same record.
The dinner was purely a family par
! ty." From the most minor factory boy
to senior member every one had been
hidden to it, Salesmen-''the boys that
get the business''-were present from all
parts of the country, even as far as Cali
fornia, coming especially for this gather
ing. A most pleasant feature was the
meeting of old friends, together when the
business was smaller, now widely scat
tered Complete democracy prevailed,
and from the sociological standpoint it
was an occasion of the greatest interest.
The firm were the hosts, but the banquet
and the entertainment afterward had in
every detail been planned by committees
Of the employees.
Meantime, every wheel of the factory
had been stopped, every department shut
down, factory and office both closed. In
| the gallery overlooking the banquet the
wives of the employees were gathered
and served with refreshments.
| Austen Colgate presided as. toastmas-
ter. The seat of honor was Aeld by
Richard NJ. Colgate, senior member of
the firm. Other members Of the firm
present were Gilbert Colgate, Sidney M.
Colgate, Russell Colgate. The foreign
FWeyand, representing the Argentine Re-
public; w. A. Chapman, representing
Australia; W. G. NJ. Shepherd, repre-
senting Canada; E. Bourdois, represent
ing France
Ira T. Fortmeyer, of New York, who
has been with the concern nearly fifty
years, having come with it as an errand
boy. was one of the speakers. Another
employee of like long service present was
Patrick Madden, of the factory staff.
There was, too. Charles Isdell, mail boy
! Of the ffties, who left as a youth to go
to the Civil War, but nearly forty years
ago came back to the business.
/ Men such as these hanked by sixty
more who had been with this firm for
| over twenty-five years nninterruptedly,
gave this banquet a touch of the unusual
in these days of mergers and business
combinations. The men that faced them
and were their hosts were the five grand
sons of the man who had founded the
concern just a century before, sons Of his
son.
The menu was the traditional New
York banquet. 1t comprised Olives,
Radishes, Celery; Green Turtle Angaise;
Kennebeck Salmon, Sauce Hollandaise,
Potatoes Parisienne; Mignon of Beef,
with Fresh Mushrooms, String Beans;
Pineapple Punch; Roast Jumbo Squalb,
Au Cresson; Lettuce and Tomato Salad;
Neapolitan Ice Cream; Petit Fours;
Coffee.
By each plate was small volume,
bound in stiff boards, the menu and the
committees of the day. together with
copies of an advertisement of 1917 taken
from a page of trade circular, a~page
of the old ledger Of 1906 and 1907, writ
! ten up il. pounds, shillings and pence. the
original paddock Of So John street, New
York, pictures Of William Colgate, the
founded, and restoration Of his old resi-
denee at 4 and s Dutch street, part of
GREAT WvEM TER REenRT pnure