Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-09-29

~ is East Aurora doing since Elbert Hub
49, bard and his wife went down on the
Lusitania? People come here wondering if
they will find slackness or decay in the home
| neatness about the plant, the same busy
craftsmen at work in the shops, the same I'M
usual atmosphere of tranquility which
somehow has always pervaded the place.
The Roycroft plant, you doubtless remem-
Der, is the project started by Ebert Hub
bard twenty-five years ago. Hubbard had
lived in the village of East Aurora for thirty
years without giving any s9gns of one day
making it famous. He was in the soap bust
ness then, and had he kept on mixing sap
would in time have been millionaire, as
his partner, Larkin, became.
But the life of soap merchant palled on
the artistically inclined Hubbard. At thirty
eight he took the first step toward retaining
his individuality. He sold out and went to
Harvard.
Then he started a little printing shop, in
East Aurora, and with his philosophy, his
writings and his personality, he gathered
about him the Roycroft community and grad
ually built what is now the Roycroft plant
with $50 workers.
East Aurora was on the map in a quiet
way as New York village before Hubbard's
personality began to flower Hubbard made
it popular, and gradually East Aurora be-
came synonymous with Roycroft and Elbert
Hubbard You cannot write or talk about one
without implying the others The homes Of
the village are mainly the craftsmen's
homes. The whole community seems to CEN
ter on the shady street where the low ivy
covered shops of the Hubbard plant stand.
Hubbard took it for granted that the world
would recognize that he and his Roycrofters
| made East Aurora what it has become. When
East Aurora got new railroad station Hub
bard wrote to the railroad company and
| asked permission to make the station sign
and put the cabalistic Roycroft trademark
on it beside the name East Aurora. The rail-
road company was astounded at the sugges-
ton. Never had any advertising marks been
allowed on station sign, and they promptly
informed Mr. Hubbard of the high and long
standing traditions OF the road. But Hub
bard was not vanquished. He persisted in his
arguments until he convinced the officials
that the booming business in railroad tickets
between East Aurora and points in all di-
| rections was due to the Roycrofters and that
they were East Aurora. Today the East Au-
rora station is probably the only one in the
country that has a sign decorated with a
trademark.
The story of the new railroad station is
another Hubbard story. The town had a
disreputable-looking shack in which to buy
its tickets and pass the time of day. But four
years ago Hubbard turned his attention to
the depot Every month his magazine car
ried an intense editorial about the awful
depot situation at East Aurora. One month
he printed a picture of the ramshackle sta
ton and beside it his new palatial concrete
hog pen. That was too much for the rail-
road. It surrendered and even sent the plans
| for the new station to Hubbard for his ap-
prevail
The Second Hubbard
Today, the, guiding spirit of the Roycroft-
ers is Ebert Hubbard, II. Externally, Hub
bards son is a sort of copy of him, but with
some variations. His hair is not long his
father, Fra Elbertus, wore his. And the
younger Hubbard bears less of resemblance
to William Jennings Bryan, than his father
did. But young Ebert Hubbard wears
homespun suit of brown, comfortable shoes,
and the flowing black tie that his father
| affected
This tie is a sort of Roycroft badge. The
young men who work in the shops at book
| binding, metal work, and illuminating, quite
generally wear these flowing black or blue
| ties, partly, we imagine, as a concession to
The artistic temperament but more as trib-
! ute to the departed leader.
| Ebert Hubbard Ii sits down to talk but he
is interrupted every fey minutes by messages
and consultations Obviously, he is no fig
urehead in the plant.
Gilbert Hubbard left the Roycroft plant
as monument" he explains, ''and I am pre-