Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-10-12
Wednesday, October ~.
Daniel Augustus Tompkins.

Daniel Augustus Tompklns.
No brief sketch can do even partial
Justice to the manifold activities OF
Daniel Augustus Tompkins and his
work as a builder of the New South.
Few men in the United States had a
more diversified career or better eX-
emplifed in their lives the construc-
tive spirit. Unlike most of the sue
cessful men of the South, Mr.. Temp
kins possessed little of the character
istics of the merchant. He was essen
tially a pioneer, a man of far-sighted
vision who fortunately possessed the
talents of an executive and an organ
izer which enabled him to practicallze
his ideas.
He was a successful business man
with perhaps just enough failures to
his credit to give him a SOLDERING sense
of caution and responsibility. He was
a man of wealth, but no n in speak
ing of him laid stress on his accumu-
slations, but rather upon his achieve
;ments. 1t was more in what he did
for others in the way of enabling
them to help themselves than in what
he did for himself that made the life
of D. A. Tompkins. an example to his
community.
A broad outline of his activities is
impressive even at a casual glance.
He was among the first to recognize
the possibilities o. the cotton oil in
dustry and make it one of the lead
ing enterprises of the South. He was
a builder of cotton mills. He design
ed and furnished machinery to all
manner of industrial plants in his
territory. lie was a publicist, a jour-
nalist, a writer, q promoter of edu-
cation and a pioneer in the establish
1eondSct OF The S0uth's textile indus
try.
BE did much tc, instil in the South
a spirit of thrift that had become al
most a lost virtue among the Ameri-
can people. He strove untiringly for
the establishment of building and
loan associations in Southern com
munities. His fine philosophy with re-
spect to the social qualities which
make men valuable citizens had much
of the flavor of Benjamin Franklin.
Never posing as a philanthropist, he
was at all times a friend of his fell
low men. He cid more than help
them. He helped them to help them
selves. A browning recognition of his
outstanding services was extended
through his appointment as a member
of the United States Industrial Com
mission by President Mckinley. This
body, as is probably well known, was
formed to consider the problems pre-
sented by the growing complexities
of our modern industrial life. The re-
port of this commission presented in
nineteen volumes covers a vast field
involving almost every phase of
Americas business activities-indus-
Try, agriculture, transportation, labor
and kindred questions.
Mr.. Tompkins was a product of the
old South. He was born on a planta-
ton in Edgefeld County, S. c., in
1851, and with the exception of a
few years spent as a student at the
Rensselaer, Polytechnic Institute at
Troy, N. Y, an apprenticeship served
under old John Fritz at the Bethle-
hem Iron Works. in Bethlehem, Pa,
and a year in Germany in the intro
duction of American machinery, his
life was passed chiefly in the South
until his death in 1917. 1t probably
is not going too far to say that he
was then the foremost citizen of
Charlotte, N. G..
1t was in 1882, after Mr.. Tompkins
had finished his studies, served his
apprenticeship and developed his tai
ents abroad that he settled in Char
lotte and hung out his sign as an en-
machinist and contractor. He
obtained the agency for the leading
machinery manufactures, and be-
came very active in the building and
installation of mills and power plants
of various sorts. !
The first shining example of the {
use of vision came in his activities in
the building of the South's infant cot l
ton oil industry. He saw its POSSIBLE !
ties, and he set to work to realize
them Ever cinca tho invention Of {