Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1914-05-01
BAER PASSES AWAY
IN PHILADELPHIA
Noted Leader in Pennsylvania
Coal Industry Expires.
HAD A REMARKABLE CAREER
Was Printer, Editor, Soldier and Civil
Engineer Before Becoming Presi-
dent OF the Reading Railway
Factor In Coal Strike.

Philadelphia, April 2S.-George F..
& Reading railway, died at his home
here Sunday evening He was strick-
en- suddenly Saturday morning while
walking to his office.
Of the most striking figures in Ameri-
can life.
To the majority of his countrymen
1t was misfortune to appear only as
the typical ''soulless capitalist" and
the enemy of the worker. 1t was as
Divine Right Baer" that he was al
ways thought of by the every day cit
izen. This title he obtained during
the great anthracite coal strike of
1902, when he was the leader of the
coal mine operators and was oppos-
ing arbitration of the differences be-
| tween the miners and the operators.
AS the leader of the employers he
wrote letter to W. ]. Clark of Wilkes
barre, Pa, in which occurred the
phrase which gave him his title.
His career was a remarkable one.
In turn he was printers devil, report
er, editor, soldier, civil engineer and
railroad president.
Mr.. Baer was born September &c,
1912, in Somerset township, Somerset
county, Penn, of German ancestry.
He worked on his fathers farm and
attended the common schools and lat
er the high school in Somerset. He
was apprenticed to the printing trade
in the office of the Somerset Demo
per set type, ran errands, solicited
advertisements, collected bills and re-
ported news for the paper.
He saved enough money to allow
him to study at Franklin and Marshall
college for year and then with his
brothers aid he obtained control of
the newspaper for which he had
worked.
He was strongly Democratic in the
editorial policy of his paper at the
beginning Of the Civil war and he had
to defend it's plant from a mob that
threatened to destroy it. That he
was attached to the Union, however,
he demonstrated soon after, when he
captain and which became Company
e of the One Hundred and Thirty
third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infan-
try.
His first battle was the second Bull
Run and he served later with distinc-
ton at Fredericksburg, Antietam.
Charlottesville and other fights. At
ter Charlottesville he was made ad.
jutant general of the Second Brigade,
Humphreys division of the Second
Corps Of the Army of the Potomac.
becoming a major in his twentieth
year.
After the war he read law in the
Office of one Of his brothers, and was
admitted to the bar. He removed to
Reading in 1868. 1t was as a lawyer
that he became connected with the
railroad interests he afterward served.
An important legal victory over the
road of which he was later president
gave him his start. In 1870 he was
made counsel for the road and also
director.
His opportunity to become finan-
cier came with the panic of 1873. This
panic Frustrated many of the indus
tries of his home county, and Mr. Baer
played an important part in their re-
organization, and became known for
his business astuteness.
He had remained as a director of
the Philadelphia & Reading railroad,
and had become the confidential legal
adviser Of ]. P. Morgan in Pennsyl-
vsnia. In 1901 he was made president
of the Philadelphia & Reading railway
and Of the Philadelphia e Reading
Coal & Iron company. 1t was in the
latter capacity that he played an i'm
portant part In the anthracite coal
strike Of 1902.
In that strike he took an uncom-
promising attitude until public senti-
ment finally forced the operators to
consent to the arbitration proposed by
President Roosevelt
Later he took as uncompromising
an attitude when the retailers of the
country tried to raise the price of
coal. He announced at the time that
the Philadelphia & Reading would
cut off of its list of customers all re-
tailers who made the advance. The
ultimatunl had its effect and the price
WAS ROt advanced