Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1925-10-15
JAS. B. DUKE DIES
.ATNEW YORK HOME
North Carolina Power and Tobacco
Magnate Succumbs to Physical
Breakdown Following Long Illness

New York, Oct. 1O.-Funeral SER
vices for James B. Duke will be held
tthe New York home Monday after
noon at o'clock. The body will be
taken by special train to Durham,
N. c. where interment will take place
Tuesday afternoon in the family mau-
soleum.
New York, Oct. 1O.-James B.
Duke, tobacco manufacturer, died
tonight at 6 o'clock at his home af-
ter an illness of several weeks follow,
ing a nearvous breakdown, ,.'
In one Of his last statements be-
fore his death, Mr.. Duke said his
passing would have no effect on the
future of his varied interests, as all
were in good hands. !'' :t
For several years Mr.. Duke had
not taken an active part in the con-
duct of the many enterprises in which
he was interested. Actual manage
ment was entrusted to men he had
trained, although he frequently went
to his New York offices and kept in
close touch with business matters.
Mr.. Duke always maintained close
relations with the farmers whose pro-
ducts he purchased. In his early years
as tobacco manufacturer he instruc
ted his buyers to pay the farmers
enough for their crops to assure a
living for them notwithstanding the
market conditions. -, r--,
He became extensively Interested
in the deyelopmnt of hydro-electric
power and established large plants in
sectibhs of his native state of North
Carolina. Recently he spent large
sums in an effort to discover meth
cd of producing cheap fertilizer for
the benefit of theH farmer.
Laast year he established the Duke
foundation, setting sside $4,000, goo
Under its terms Trinity College at
Durahm, N. C. changed it's name to
Duke University, and an detive pro-
gram of expansion was begun.
James Buchanan Duke was born in
1856 near Durham, N. C. and recaiv-
ed his education in the country
schools. His first connection with the
tobacco industry began few years
after the civil war when his father.
Washington Duke, established the
plant which proved to be the nucleus
of the huge tobacco firm in later
years.
The Duke firm later became an in
stitution known around the world.
The father took his two sons, Benja-
min N. and James B. Duke into the
business with him, When James, the
younger son was 18 years Of age,
his father turned the active manage
ment of the business over to him. The
business grew rapidly and in 1890
Mr.. Duke formed the American To-
bacco Co., taking in numerous other
concerns. Some years later the COM
pany was attacked at a monopoly
and in 1911 following suit by the
government under the Sherman anti
trust aw, was dissolved. Mr.. Duke,
who had been president of the Am
erican Tobacco Company, became
chairman of the board Of the British
American Tobacco Company, one of
the subsidiaries continuing in this Of
flee for number of years.
Meanwhile he had become more and
more interested in the development
of water power and gradually served
his activ connection with the tobacco
business. His efforts resulted in the
organization of what is now the Sou
thern Power System in North Caro-
lima and South Carolina and the har-
Messing of the Saguenay river in
Canad He was a heavy investor in