COLON 'KL WILLIAM EDWARDS 69 



fourth half year he received his first money, $2.50 a 

 month, which was paid out of friendliness for the 

 Edwards family. 



Before he was twenty he set up in business for 

 himself. He had saved $100; his father, still poor, 

 gave him $300; he bought land for his plant for 

 $700 on long credit. After years of great struggle 

 he succeeded in business and developed the process 

 by which instead of employing one hand for every 

 one hundred sides he could tan 40,000 with twenty 

 lads and the cost was reduced from twelve cents a 

 pound to four cents. The quality was improved 

 even more than the cost was reduced. When the 

 war of 1812 broke out he had practically the only 

 important tannery in the United States, but the war 

 scare and attendant evils led to his failure in 1815. 

 He was now 45 years old with a wife and nine chil- 

 dren. He went to work in a factory for day wages 

 to keep his family supplied with the necessities of 

 life. By some misunderstanding and a combination 

 of law suits his patents were lost to him. 



When Colonel Edwards failed in 1815 he owed 

 considerable sums of money and nine years later the 

 courts released him from all obligations, yet between 

 the age of 69 and 75 he paid every cent of this in- 

 debtedness amounting to $25,924. 



The chief interest in Colonel Edwards centers in 

 his children. When his failure came there were nine 

 children, five boys and four girls. The youngest 

 was a few months old and the eldest 19. Seven of 

 them were under 12 years of age. In the first four 



