HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



'Builders of Lumber History. 



irUUBEB XXVII 



James D. Lacey. 

 (See Portrait Supplement.) 

 What is the secret of commercial suc- 

 cess? 



This question is perhaps the most impor- 

 tant asked by the young man just starting 

 out in life with hopes of wealth and honor 

 to lure, and the examples of "captains of 

 industry" to simulate. 



The analytical biographer and writer of 

 business history often thinks he has solved 

 the problem when he comes upon certain 

 facts and formulae in the life of a success- 

 ful business man, but his theories are often 

 overturned by the discovery that some other 

 man has reached the goal by an entirely 

 different route. There are, of course, cer- 

 tain attributes which must always be em- 

 phasized. It goes without saying that hon- 

 esty, energy and good judgment must be 

 present in the make-up of the commercially 

 successful. 



One will be said to succeed because bis 

 exquisite tact has enabled him to bring the 

 best of talent to his aid; another will, in 

 the language of the street, '"get there" be- 

 cause he smashes through all diplomatic 

 hypocrisy with sledge hammer blows. Each 

 man does his work in his own way, but there 

 must be brains to direct not only his own 

 individual effort but that of others, if he 

 would succeed in the great affairs of busi- 

 ness. 



The man who can run the machine, wheth- 

 er it is of men or metal, is the man 

 whose day's work counts most in the long 

 run. Such a man is James D. Lacey, of 

 Chicago, the foremost timberman of this 

 country. 



Born on a northern Pennsylvania farm 

 some fifty odd years ago, Mr. Lacey re- 

 ceived some ideas of lumber and timber 

 business when, as a growing lad, he worked 

 about the old-fashioned sash sawmill and 

 handle factory which his father ran as a 

 side issue to farming. His independence 

 and self-confidence were clearly shown when 

 at twelve years of age he secured employ- 

 ment in a drug store in a nearby town and 

 learned the profession of pharmacy. Mr. 

 Lacey was only seventeen when he went to 

 Grand Rapids, Mich., where for three years 

 he worked in a drug store. In 1871 he 

 went into business for himself, and in 1879 

 went south to introduce some chemical 

 preparations manufactured by his firm of 

 Mills & Lacey. Almost immediately the 

 vast regions covered with virgin yellow pine 

 forests attracted his attention. At that 

 time southern timber lands had been prac- 

 tically untouched by the woodsman. Mr. 

 Lacey 's mind quickly compassed their possi- 

 bilities, and he determined to put his judg- 

 ment to the test and immediately com- 

 menced their acquisition and handling. At 

 first he was associated with William M. Rob- 



inson; later he carried on the business alone 

 for a time; but in 1898 he organized the 

 firm of James D. Lacey & Co., with Wood 

 Beal, who had been for years in his employ, 

 and Victor Thrane, his son-in-law, as part- 

 ners. These young men have aided Mr. 

 Lacey materially. Both are energetic and 

 perspicacious business men of clean methods 

 and up-to-date ideas. Mr. Lacey first con- 

 fined his operations to southern Missouri, 

 but later he branched out to all parts of the 

 South. Since his entrance into the timber 

 business he has cruised, grouped, and resold 

 in blocks to investors and operators ap- 

 proximately 6,000,000 acres, and has esti- 

 mated fully double that amount of timber 

 lands in the various southern states alone, 

 besides vast areas in other parts of the 



PRINT OF LEAF OF BLACK OR YELLOW- 

 BARK OAK, ONE-FOURTH SIZE. 



country. The history of his enterprise is 

 phenomenal from the fact that with such 

 diligent care and integrity has his business 

 been handled that not a single transaction 

 can be cited in which the purchaser has not 

 had handsome returns from his investment, 

 sometimes reaching into millions of dollars. 

 While Mr. Lacey has made a large fortune 

 for himself, he has made many more for his 

 clients. 



Certain it is that the reputation achieved 

 by this firm as purveyors of timber proper- 

 ties is such that its estimates go on record 

 before the large financial institutions of the 

 country as prima facie evidence of the quan- 

 tity and quality of the timber in question, 

 and as such become negotiable securities al- 

 most to the full value placed upon them. 



Such is the worthy record of a man who 

 has always played fair and intelligently. 

 During the last year James D. Lacey & Co. 

 have extended their operations beyond yel- 

 low pine and cypress properties, to the 

 Pacific coast on the one hand, and to the 

 rich hardwood area of eastern Tennessee and 

 western North Carolina on the other, with 

 every prospect of duplicating in these far- 

 separated sections the history the house has 

 made in yellow pine and cypress. 



The personal interests of J. D. Lacey, out- 

 side of land and timber properties, have be- 

 come too well known and numerous to re- 

 quire specific recounting in this brief 

 article; suffice it to say that he is largely 

 interested in lumber operations in yellow 

 pine, cypress and hardwoods; is an impor- 

 tant factor in iron and coal production in 

 the South; and has various other interests 

 in manufacturing enterprises. 



In epitome, Mr. Lacey 's life work may be 

 characterized as the consistent, indefatig- 

 able, honest evolution of an idea. He was 

 one of the very first to recognize the im- 

 mense forthcoming values of yellow pine 

 and cypress timber growth. He practically 

 mapped every section of the United States 

 in which these woods grew in commercial 

 quantities and, by dint of his careful and 

 painstaking effort, through his hands have 

 passed from the original holders to the 

 greatest operators in the country the largest 

 portion of these great properties. 



In the south country, they write the 

 name James D. Lacey first among builders 

 of lumber history. 



Atkins Employees' Banoiuet. 



Three months ago the men who have been 

 employed at the great Indianapolis saw manu- 

 facturing plant of E. C. Atkins & Co., Inc., 

 for twenty or more years, perfected an or- 

 ganization called the "Atkins Pioneers." On 

 the evening of May 26 the new fraternity was 

 given a banquet by the company, at which 

 John H. Wilde, president of the pioneers, was 

 toastmaster. Many anecdotes and reminis- 

 cences of lives spent in the service of the con- 

 cern were exchanged, and tributes paid to the 

 founder of the great saw works, E. C. Atkins, 

 deceased. 



Not the least interesting among the faith- 

 ful is William Miller, who, though seventy 

 years old, still has muscles as strong as many 

 a man half his age. Mr. Miller is proud 

 of the fact that he has served the Atkins in- 

 terests for forty-one years, and that it was he 

 who originated the polishing system used by 

 the company today. 



H. C. Atkins, son of the founder and now 

 president of the company, made the interest- 

 ing statement that twenty years ago the pay- 

 roll showed seventy-five men. and that pres- 

 ent at the banquet were sixty-two of them. 

 He said that in addition to this large per- 

 centage of twenty-year men, the books con- 

 tain the names of many in active service, 

 who have been employed by the concern for 

 seventeen, eighteen and nineteen years. Mr. 

 Atkins gives it as his opinion that this record 

 Is an evidence of the fair, square manner in 

 which employees of the institution have always 

 been treated, as well as one of the reasons 

 for the unusual success attained by his house. 

 The spirit of good will which prevails cannot 

 but produce unity of action on the part of 

 workers, which assists greatly in the produc- 

 tion of a line of goods of uniformly high 

 standard. 



