obtained in a day before it became the practice to ship vegetables from
the South. By starting his plants early in hot beds, and transplanting
them into the garden at about the time gardeners were just beginning_to
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA 35
plant the seed, the young gardener not only came into the market first with
his vegetables, receiving a high price, but was able to obtain two or three
crops a year, instead of one. The book in which the record of this profitable
gardening appears, the entries being in Mr. ileinz's handwriting, is now
in the cherished possession of his sons.
When he reached his majority in 1865, his father took him into part-
nership, and he speedily gave evidence of his ability to initiate by intro-
ducing methods whereby brickyards could be successfully operated in
winter as well as summer. It was the practice in large city brickyards to
operate all year. The young partner visited a city brickyard, observed the
methods followed and adapted the idea to the little yard at home. As a
result the business was increased threefold in two years.
Sharpsburg, in 1869, was a town of but 3,000 population, and the
demand for the output of the brickyard was restricted. For this reason
Mr. Heinz's parents encouraged him in his ambition to engage in a busi-
ness of his own. He formed a partnership to manufacture brick at Beaver
Falls, Pennsylvania, but soon withdrew from this venture, and in the same
year, 1869, returned to Sharpsburg and commenced to pack food products,
beginning with the bottling of horseradish. His father's family had moved
into a new residence, and a portion of the former family home was utilized
as the factory for the new business. The basement and one room on the
first floor constituted the factory ; another room served as shipping de-
partment and ofifice.
In 1872 the business was removed to Pittsburgh, where it was first
conducted under the firm name of Heinz, Noble & Company, the style
becoming later F. & J. Heinz, and in 1888 it assumed its present name
of H. J. Heinz Company. The legal status of this business was that of
a partnership until 1905, when it was converted into a corporation.
Through all changes of name and form, Mr. Heinz has remained the
head of the house, and to his management and enterprise is to be largely
attributed its phenomenal success. He has worked, not for money, but
for success, realizing that success would mean not less money, and this
love for success has been communicated to his responsible associates, arous-
ing unconsciously an energy and enthusiasm that permeates the entire es-
tablishment, creating a "spirit" of mutual co-operation and confidence that
may not improperly be termed the "Heinz Spirit." Never has he regarded
his employes as parts of a great machine, but has recognized their indi-
viduality and has made it a rule that faithful and efficient service should
be promptly rewarded. Convincing proof of his attitude as an employer
is to be found in the fact that never, in his establishment in its more than
forty-five years history, has the course of business been interrupted by
dissensions or strikes. His employes know that he has always sought in all
ways to show his interest in them and they have responded to this treatment
by trusting him to see to it that any grievances they may have are promptly
and satisfactorily adjusted. They have learned to know, too, that the mem-
bers of his family interested in the business are actuated by the same
36 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
feeling, so if the father is absent, they go just as readily and confidently to
the sons and partners.
Mr. Heinz's regard for the comfort of his employes and his friendly
attitute toward them have had their influence, among other factors, in
making the business the greatest of its kind in the world. Besides the
main plant in Pittsburgh, the company has sixteen branch factories, three
of these being in England, Canada and Spain, seventy-eight salting houses,
twenty branch houses, including one in London, and agencies in the com-
mercial centers of the world. The home factory in Pittsburgh occupies a
floor space of over thirty acres, which is increased to over eighty acres
when all branch houses are counted in. The company uses the annual
product of more than 100,000 acres of vegetables and fruit lands, employs
continually six thousand persons, including over seven hundred traveling
salesmen, and has received medals and highest awards from the greatest
expositions of the world.
Mr. Heinz is one who builds on firm foundations. He is, moreover,
one who believes in judicious advertising and, by the extensive and m-
telligent use of appropriate media of publicity, the name of Heinz has
become widely known. His company has rendered valuable assistance
in the passage of pure food laws, and every department of the business
has striven to keep the products of the house in purity and wholesomeness
in advance of all legal requirements.
Among the business organizations which Mr. Heinz serves as director
may be mentioned the Union National Bank and Western Insurance Com-
pany, both of Pittsburgh. He belongs to that class of distinctively repre-
sentative American men who promote public progress in advancing indi-
vidual prosperity, and whose private interests never preclude active par-
ticipation in movements and measures which concern the public good. He
is an enthusiastic worker for civil reform, and no project for furthering
the welfare or adding to the beauty of his home city ever lacks his hearty
co-operation and support. When the Flood Commission of Pittsburgh, made
up of prominent business and professional men and eminent engineers,
was appointed to devise means of protecting Pittsburgh from floods, a local
question of paramount importance, Mr. Heinz was chosen president of the
organization. Among other civic organizations with which he is identified
are the following: The Pittsburgh Civic Commission, of which he is vice-
president; the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, of which he is a director.
He is also vice-president of the Western Pennsylvania Exposition Society,
having been one of its promoters, and is a director in the Tuberculosis
Sanitarium and the Western Pennsylvania Hospital. He is widely but
unostentatiously charitable and is in sympathy with the work of higher edu-
cation and has contributed to its support in various ways. His most direct
connection with educational work found expression in the aid he rendered
in the establishment of the Kansas City University, and for a number of
years he was president of its board of trustees. His interest in the welfare
of the community in which he lives led him, in 1914, to make a gift to
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA 37
the University of Pittsburgh. In his letter announcing the gift, he wrote:
"This sum is to be used in the erection of a suitable building on the Uni-
versity campus as a memorial to my mother, Anna Margarethe Heinz.
This gift is made with the understanding that the building shall be ex-
clusively used for the religious and social activities of the student body of
the University."
In national politics Mr. Heinz has been an advocate of the principles
of the Republican party. In municipal affairs, however, he has given his
support to any man, who by reason of character and experience seemed to
him best qualified to serve the public welfare. His interest in education
led to his election for two terms to the Board of Public Education. He is
recognized as a vigilant and attentive observer of men and measures.
There are few sections of the world which he has not visited in quest
of information and recreation and he has found much pleasure in the so-
called fad of "collecting." He has gathered a large and interesting collec-
tion of antique and modern ivory carvings, watches, miniatures, fans, fire-
arms, and historic canes, books on costumes and old Bibles. It is one of
the largest private collections in the United States. Every age of the world
and every habitable portion of the globe are represented. His pursuit of
collecting is not solely a response to a love of rare and unique things, but
it springs in part from a desire to provide something for the enjoyment of
the public, as many of his artistic antiques have been placed on public ex-
hibition. He also takes a delight in surprising his friends with the gift of
some unusual antique from some faraway corner of the world.
It is not an overstatement to say that Mr. Heinz has reserved for re-
ligion the largest place in his program of life. He is a member of the
Presbyterian church and for over twenty of the busiest years of his life,
he was a Sunday school superintendent, with which work he has been
intimately connected since his twenty-sixth year. He has been president
of the Pennsylvania State Sabbath School Association for the past seven
years, and served as president of the Allegheny County Association for
four years preceding his promotion to the head of the State work. For
several years he has been a member of the executive committees of the
International and World's Associations, and in 1913 was chairman of a
party of twenty-nine business men of large affairs, and Sunday school
specialists, that made a four months' tour of the Orient, including China,
Japan and Korea, in the interest of the Sunday school. At the convention
of the World's Sunday School Association in Zurich in July, 19 13, to which
convention the Oriental Commission reported. Mr. Heinz was chosen chair-
man of the executive committee, thus placing upon him the responsibility
of directing the Sunday school work of the world for a term of three
years.
The Young Men's Christian Association has naturally appealed to Mr.
Heinz and he has been active in promoting its interests.
Mr. Heinz married, September 23, 1869. Sarah Sloan, daughter of
Robert and Mary (Sloan) Young, of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. The
38 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Youngs were a highly esteemed family of county Down, Ireland, and were
of the Presbyterian faith. Mr. and Mrs. Heinz were the parents of the
following children : Irene Edwilda, married to John L. Given, of New
York City ; Clarence Noble, connected with the advertising department of
the H. J. Heinz Company; Howard, vice-president of the Company, mar-
ried, October, 1906, Elizabeth Rust, of Saginaw, Michigan ; Robert Eugene,
died in infancy; and Clififord Stanton, who is identified with the manufac-
turing department of the company. The beloved mother of these children
died November 29, 1894.
Henry J. Heinz is a man who conducts his business on terms alike to
employer and employed. He finds his remuneration, not in the acquisition
of dollars and cents, but in the satisfaction of seeing those who co-operate
loyally and enthusiastically in producing a business success enjoying the
fruits of that success. Mr. Heinz has never taken unto himself the credit
for the accomplishments of his business. He has always given large credit
to his associates, training them to believe in and rely upon two principles
of business, which he has expressed in these words : "To do a common
thing uncommonly well brings success" and "It is neither capital nor labor
but management that brings success, since management will attract capital,
and capital can employ labor."
The business which Mr. Heinz founded, and of which he has always
been the head, has brought to its founder wealth and influence, and it has
brought also much of far greater value — gratitude and heartfelt affection,
for in advancing to the position which has been his for more than a
quarter of a century, never has he neglected an opportunity to extent a
helping hand to those less fortunate than himself nor to make his pros-
perity a blessing to his fellow-men.
The supremacy of Pittsburgh among the industrial cities of
RITER the world is the supremacy of superior brain-power, and de-
scribing a man as a leading Pittsburgh manufacturer is equi-
valent to saying that he possesses intelligence of a high order and touches
life at many points. A man of this type was the late Thomas B. Riter,
for many years head of the widely known Riter-Conley Manufacturing
Company, and identified for nearly half a century with the most vital in-
terests of the Iron City.
Thomas B. Riter was born in Blair county, Pennsylvania, in 1840, son
of Joseph and Elizabeth ( Wagonseller ) Riter. Pie was a descendant of
Michael Riter, who, with his brother, George Riter, emigrated from Saxony
to Pennsylvania in 1752, settling in Germantown. Michael, the colonist,
served in the Revolutionary War under Colonel Evans and Captain Brock,
and while on a scouting expedition in 1777 was captured by the British and
thrown into prison in Philadelphia, where he died in 1778. Joseph Riter
was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1788, and removed to Pitts-
burgh in 1845.
Thomas B. Riter attended the public schools of Pittsburgh, and at
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA 39
seventeen began liis business career as a clerk in the liat store of Samuel
McMasters. Two years later he entered the employ of Lippincott & Com-
pany, manufacturers of shovels and axes, and remained with that firm till
i860, when he entered the employ of his brother, James Ritcr, who was
engaged in the sheet iron business. During the Civil War their work
consisted chiefly in repairing river boats, and this led to the establishment
of a general boiler shop and tank manufacturing business, large orders
being received from the ore companies in Pennsylvania. In 1873, James M.
Riter died, and Thomas B. then formed a partnership with William H.
Conley, bookkeeper of the old firm, under the firm name of Riter & Conley.
In 1897 Mr. Conley died, and Mr. Riter became the sole owner of the
works, which had been greatly enlarged, an engineering department form-
ing an important part of the plant. In no small measure was the rapid
growth of this firm due to Mr. Riter's tireless industry and inexhaustible
energy. Born to command, wise to plan, he was quick in action, and
capable of prolonged labor, with the power of close concentration, and
the elevation of his character was equal to his executive ability. Legiti-
mately ambitious, he scorned all success which had not for its basis truth
and honor, and no amount of gain could lure him from the undeviating line
of rectitude. While he would not tolerate false representations either among
his associates and subordinates or in his customers, the justice and kind-
liness with which he treated his employes were beyond all praise, and he
received from them in return a service and co-operation which enabled him
to advance his firm to the position of the largest and best known concern
of its kind in the world. A new corporation, the Riter-Conley Manufac-
turing Company, was formed in 1898, with a capital of one million dollars.
Mr. Riter became president, and the plant was enlarged until it was the
largest of the kind in the world devoted to the manufacture of structural
and plate steel, with both domestic and foreign clientele.
One of Mr. Riter's most marked characteristics was the ability to acquire
complete mastery of any subject to which he directed his attention. He
possessed no inconsiderable amount of mechanical genius, and in his habits
was very methodical, this being no doubt one of the principal reasons of his
ability to despatch a phenomenal amount of business within a short time.
He was president of the Ohio Valley Bank of Allegheny, which he helped
organize in 1890; member of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsyl-
vania ; the Pittsburgh, Duquesne, Union and University clubs, the Pittsburgh
Country Club, the Engineers' Club of New York City, and was a member
of Dallas Lodge No. 508, F. and A. M. In politics Mr. Riter was a Repub-
lican, and, while taking no active part in public afifairs, was known as a
citizen with exalted ideas of good government and civic virtue. Every
project for the betterment of the community received his hearty co-opera-
tion, his faith in the city's future greatness was deep and abiding, and to
the accomplishment of that end his time, money and influence were un-
stintedly devoted. He was widely but unostentatiously charitable, actively
aiding a number of philanthropic associations, and never neglecting an op-
40 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
portunity to assist those less fortunate than himself. To his associates he
showed a genial, kindly, humorous side of his nature which made their
business relations most enjoyable, and he had the faculty of inspiring in all
who were brought into contact with him, feelings of sincere and lasting
friendship. A man of fine appearance, his countenance and bearing were
an index to his character.
Mr. Riter married, April 14, 1875, in Pittsburgh, Sophie A., daughter
of James and Sophie McCallin. By this marriage Mr. Riter gained the
life companionship of a charming and congenial woman, fitted in all ways
to be this helpmate. One son survives Mr. Riter: Joseph Riter, now
head of the great business founded by his father.
The death of Mr. Riter, which occurred April 23, 1907, was deeply
and sincerely mourned by all classes of the community. As a business
man he might truly be called a model and in all the relations of life he
was thoroughly admirable. His record, both as a manufacturer and a
citizen, is without a blemish. Throughout his career, he was conspicuously
and inseparably identified with Pittsburgh. The promotion of her pros-
perity and power was his ultimate object in all his enterprises, and with
prophetic instinct he realized her pre-eminence in the years to come. Pitts-
burgh, sitting to-day most royally on her seventeen hills, has more than
justified his belief, and amqng the names which she holds in grateful re-
membrance is that of Thomas B. Riter.
The cornerstone of Pittsburgh's prestige was laid in the char-
SLEETH acter of its first workers, many of whom were of that in-
domitable, progressive race — the Scotch-Irish — which infused
its thrift, acumen and tireless energy into the very fiber of the place. Among
these masterful and impressive figures of the old time none looms larger
or more commandingly through the gathering mists of the fast receding
years than does that of the late Robert Sleeth, vice-president of the Sea-
man-Sleeth Company, and one of the pioneer founders of the Iron City.
Robert Sleeth was born June 15, 1827, in Ireland, and when a child
was brought to the United States by his parents, who settled in Pittsburgh.
The boy learned his trade as a moulder in Mitchell's Foundry, then situated
in Pike street, near Eleventh, and was employed for many years in the Fort
Pitt Foundry. He showed marked ability in the execution of every detail,
and his aggressive industry, together with his quiet and decisive judgment,
gained for him an unusual measure of success. During his service at the
Fort Pitt Foundry, Mr. Sleeth enjoyed the distinction of moulding the
first cannon used in the Civil War. Among the other works which he ex-
ecuted at this time — of local celebrity though of less historical importance —
were the ornamental iron work on the steeple of St. Philomena's Roman
Catholic Church at Fourteenth and Liberty streets, and the ornamental
plates over the footpaths of the first Sixth street suspension bridge, which
was torn down to be replaced by the present structure.
Mr. Sleeth was for a time superintendent at the old Smith Foundry
at Twenty-third and Smallman streets, resigning this position in order to
WESTI'.RN PENNSYI.VANIA 41
accept that of foreman of the foundry of Holhnan, Jioyd & Baggaley, at
Twenty-fifth and Liberty streets, remaining there until about 1870. At
that period the firm of James B. Young & Company, as the Phoenix Roll
Works, was organized, with Mr. Sleeth as one of the partners. The works
of the company were removed to their present site at Forty-first street and
the Allegheny Valley railroad, their former situation having been purchased
by the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. After a number of changes in
the personnel of the firm, it was in 1896 incorporated as the Seaman-.Sleeth
Company, Mr. Sleeth becoming vice-president. Always possessed of a sing-
ularly strong personality, he exerted a wonderful influence on his business
associates and subordinates, setting them an example of fidelity to every
trust, and at the same time endearing himself to them by his splendid per-
sonal qualities. He was one of those men who seem to find the happiness
of life in the success of their work, and in the great business which for
many years he conducted with such consummate ability he reared to himself
a magnificent testimonial — an unanswerable proof of his indomitable enter-
prise and unfaltering determination. Mr. Sleeth's work and success lay
in his genius and skill in mixing metals. While not a metallurgist in the
modern sense of the word, he succeeded in getting results equal to the
results of to-day with all the modern laboratory equipment. He had the
reputation of being the best man in Pittsburgh in the mixing of metals.
During his lifetime he was the inventor of the mixture which revolutionized
the iron business in certain lines. He was the first to produce the metal
known as semi-steel in the early 70's, produced from mixing iron and steel.
Mr. Sleeth had a wonderfully keen sense of humor which was so natural
it was a part of his personality, which tempered the difficulties that he met
with in his business dealings with others and enabled him to accomplish
his end without friction. As a true citizen, Mr. Sleeth was interested in
every project having for its end the moral improvement and social culture
of the community, and actively aided a number of institutions by his in-
fluence and means. A vigilant and attentive observer of men and measures,
his opinions were recognized as sound and his views broad, and his ideas
therefore carried weight among those with whom he discussed public prob-
lems. He was a member of the United Presbyterian Church, and for years
a trustee of the Sixth Church of Pittsburgh. Those who were familiar
with the personal appearance of Mr. Sleeth, his erect bearing, commanding
air, and open manly face, clear-cut and resolute, yet gentle and genial in
expression, cannot fail to recall how well his character was illustrated by
his exterior. No man in this world was kinder -hearted, more aflfable in
manners, quicker in financial sagacity or more conservative of all good
influences. Full of sympathy for the unfortunate, of unfailing fidelity in
friendship, always looking to the interest of others rather than to his own,
he was admired and respected by the entire community and warmly loved
by an unusually large circle of friends.
Mr. Sleeth married (first) Agnes Boyd, of Pittsburgh, and they be-
came the parents of the following children: William J. and Robert L.,
both of Pittsburgh ; and George C, of Belleville, New Tersev. Mrs. Sleeth
42 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
died, and Mr. Sleeth married (second) Margaret A., daughter of William
Stratton, of Pittsburgh. Child by this marriage: Margaret A. Sleeth.
Mr. Sleeth was a man to whom the ties of home and friendship were
sacred and he took genuine delight in rendering service to those who were
near and dear to him. During the latter years of his life, failing health
prevented Mr. Sleeth from taking an active part in the affairs of his com-
pany, and he spent his winters in San Diego, California. It was there
that he expired January 24, 1913, "full of years and of honors." The news
was received in Pittsburgh with demonstrations of sorrow by all classes
of citizens. Honorable in purpose, fearless in conduct, he stood for many
years as one of the most eminent and valued citizens of Pittsburgh, and
the memory of his life remains as an inspiration to those who come after
him. For three-quarters of a century Mr. Sleeth was a resident of the
Iron City, and during that period he witnessed each successive step of her
advancement to her present proud position as the Capital of the Industrial
World. His fortunes were inseparably identified with hers, and never had
Pittsburgh a more loyal son. Honored in life, he is revered in death. No
name in the annals of Old Pittsburgh is more venerated than that of Robert
Sleeth.
Mellon is the greatest name in the financial annals of Pitts-
MELLON burgh. To the late Thomas Mellon, Judge of the Court of
Common Pleas, and founder of the world-famous private
banking house of T. Mellon & Sons, the Iron City owes her position of
proud pre-eminence in the monetary world. The descendants of Judge