The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1908-01-22
LAURENS, S. c.; JANUARY u, 1908.
WILLIAM ERNEST LUCAS.

cas- was beyond compare the foremost
man who has lived since the war be.
tween the States.
After repeated failures to organize a
cotton mill here his courage, his bust
ness genius and his fidelity to trust in
spired a confidence in the people of
lIaurens in 1895, and under his essential
and indispensable leadership the finest
property in South Carolina was built
and placed upon a plane Of impregna-
BILE financial strength. Seven years
later he founded Watts Mill, an estab-
lishment now of equal size with the
other, and lived to see it develop and
flourish.
The direction and the ability of Mr..
Lucas brought to this town and its
suburbs an increase of useful white
population of $500. Including the
Watts Mill suburb, the work of Mr..
Lucas as an industrial leader built
about half the town, and changed it
from a village into a city. Of course,
without the help of numerous others
he, a poor mar as the world goes, could
not have done it, but his brain and
heart were the engine that moved Lau-
rens as a manufacturing town, and
others of us merely showed in coal.
The business men of Laurens, practi-
cally without exception, had unlimited
faith in Mr.. Lucas sterling honesty
and fidelity. The record of this is writ
ten in the fact that even his critics re-
manned shareholders in the mill of which
he had complete management at the
time of his death. So much for what
he did for Laurens.
A word personal. BY reason of the
character of my daily work / have been
brought into association, occasionally
close, with numbers Of the most promi-
nent men in this country and this State,
in all walks of life; and, writing with
deliberation, l say that in ell the ele-
ments contributing to a great person
atty he was worthy to rank with the
best of them. In our age and time, an
age and time of stress and conflict, the
great manis seldom easy-Roing, smooth,
perfectly trained, balanced and adjust
ed; and do not say that my friend was
OF that type, but he had the extraor-
binary force that would have made him
a great leader no less in New York or
Chicago than in Laurens. In behalf of
the people for whom he was trustee he
challenged the wealth of New York:
and l affirm, knowing whereof l speak,
that by merely following the wishes of
mlllionaires, which would have sub
Jected him to no criticism, he might
nave tattened his private purse and Sc
cured freedom from the fierce harass-
ment that aggravated the burden when
fatal sickness oppressed his last years.
There are many poor and humble
men and women in Laurens who loved
him for reasons that the public cannot
know. If ever a man was charitable,
and yet concealed his giving, it was
he. A marked characteristic of his ma
ture was adherence Of all that is
prurient and ribald in conversation. He
was as modest as a child. He was de-
voted to his family. He loved his
friends. He was abstemious in his hab-
Its. If he spoke hastily sometimes he
did not bear malice. His one personal
pleasure was in good horses-a sure
sign of a wholesome nature.
AS he grew older his character ri
pened in tenderness and sympathy.
Suffering all the time during the last
three years Of his life, his splendid in
tellect and energy never tagged and his
careful, vigorous attention to every de-
tail of his mill was continued without
remittance. Even last year he spent
hours every day out of his office and in
the mill itself. With a regretful tone,
ne told me less than a year ago that he
wac tempted to act as superintendent
Of Watts Mill; that, were he well, he
would not need a superintendent. Had
his health and life been spared. there
would have been no limit to his achieve
ments as a manufacturer, for every day
his comprehension Of the duties of his
calling grew stronger and better. He
was one of the first manufacturers in
the State to recognize the obligations
OF the company to the "help," in build
ing churches and schools. In the last
conversation that l had with him, l
think it was the last subject that he
talked to me about, he outlined a lit
tie plan for the improvement of his
mill village, something that would make
life better and brighter for the children
and men and women of it.
1t was a blessing and a source
of strength to me to know him init
mately, to have had the surety of his
friendship, to have caught some glimpse
of the light Of high ideals that shone
within him. He has passed away, hav-
ing accomplished a great work, and at
what seemed yet the threshold of his
career. Perhaps there are those who
will say that what / have written is
ex~travagant. His actual prominence
and fame were not so great as the
qualities that / have mentioned would
in time have brought to him, but at
least ] have written what l believe to
be true.
w. w. B.
See our line of Mantels, beautifully
o. - -