The Union Tobacco Company was incorporated in Albany, N.Y. (A New Tobacco Company. New York Times, Oct. 26, 1898.) The directors, Francis G. Ingersoll and Charles M. Billings of New York and William M. Coleman of Brooklyn, were dummies. "One is a clerk; the others have no place in any Directory of New York or Brooklyn. (Union Tobacco Company's Affairs. New York Times, Nov. 24, 1898.) Union Tobacco acquired the National Cigarette and Tobacco Company. (The Union Tobacco Company. New York Times, Nov. 26, 1898.) William H. Butler was elected permanent president of the Union Tobacco Company in 1898, when he resigned as a director of the American Tobacco Company. He had been an organizer of the American Tobacco Company in 1890. The board of directors of Union Tobacco was Thomas F. Ryan, Gen. Samuel Thomas, Frank Tilford, Frank McCoy, R.A.C. Smith, William H. Butler, P.A.B. Widener, George W. Bremer, and W.L. Elkins. It leased an office and factory building at 250 West Twenty-seventh Street, New York. (W.H. Butler is President. New York Times, Dec. 2, 1898.) Widener and Ryan purchased the entire capital stock of Blackwell's Durham Tobacco Company for the firm. (A Tobacco Competitor. New York Times, Dec. 9, 1898.) Thomas Dolan was also interested. (Big Tobacco Conern Sold. New York Times, Dec. 13, 1898.) A.N. Brady was elected a director in 1899. The other directors were William H. Butler, Thomas F. Ryan, Frank Tilford, Samuel Thomas, Franck McCoy, R.A.C. Smith, P.A.B. Widener, William L. Elkins, George E. Bremer, and Frederick P. Voorhees. (Union Tobacco Company Directors. New York Times, Feb. 1, 1899.) The Union Tobacco Company merged with the American Commercial Company, and William M. Coleman replaced Voorhees. (Tobacco Forces Consolidated. New York Times, Feb. 2, 1899.) The Union Tobacco Company was absorbed by the American Tobacco Company, and it was formally dissolved after little more than a year. (Union Tobacco Company. New York Times, Jul. 14, 1899.) "For every $100 in the Union Tobacco syndicate there will be given $165 par in the American Tobacco stock. As this will be a new stock, resulting from the doubling of the capital, the market value of this distribution will be about $175.) W. Bourke Cockran of New York was a stockholder in the Union Tobacco Company. (Federal Attack on United Cigar Stores. New York Times, Jan. 4, 1910.) Millions in Tobacco. From the Boston Herald. New York Times, Mar. 22, 1899.) Butler and his brother, George P. Butler, had also founded the Universal Tobacco Company, out of whose remains the Butler & Butler Tobacco Company was formed. In 1912, he and his brother, George P. Butler, bought the Surbrug Company, manufacturing smoking tobacco in Hoboken, N.J., and the Khedivial Company, manufacturing cigarettes. The Tobacco Products Corportion was founded on this, which later acquired the New York City branch of Philip Morris.
The Directorate of the Universal Tobacco Company, "it is understood, will include Gen. E.A. McAlpin, Ferdinand Hirsch, George R. Sheldon, W.D. Judkins, J.L. Richards, and Frank Tilford. The company is said to have the backing of a number of strong financial interests." (Universal Tobacco Company. New York Times, May 21, 1901.) They chose as president William H. Butler, who had been "one of the organizers of the American Tobacco Company, and afterward President of the Union Tobacco Company at the time it was bought by the American Company." (Tobacco Company's President. New York Times, May 24, 1901.) Universal bought out the McAlpin factory of New York and the Harry Weissinger tobacco factory of Louisville, Ky., and was negotiating for the Piper Company of St. Louis, Nall & Williams in Louisville, and the Pall Mall cigarette factory. (Tobacco Factory Sold. New York Times, Aug. 19, 1901.) Weissinger was elected to the Universal board. (Universal Tobacco Company. New York Times, Oct. 9, 1901.) D.H. McAlpin & Co. actually went to the Consolidated Tobacco Company. (Tobacco Trust Gets D.H. M'Alpin & Co. New York Times, Nov. 22, 1901.) The Universal Tobacco Company was incorporated in New Jersey by Samuel L. Pinkerton, Thomas L. Prior, and Wendell J. Wright. (The Tobacco Situation. New York Times, Nov. 23, 1901.)
George P. Butler supposedly purchased the Henry Clay-Boch [sic] Tobacco Company, Limited, and the Havana Commercial Company in London for the Universal Tobacco Company. (Rival for Tobacco Trust. Jan. 25, 1902.) E.K. Jones of the Universal Tobacco Company supposedly held a conference with A.F. Thomas of the Imperial Tobacco Company, aimed at working together against the American Tobacco Company. (Tobacco Companies' Fight. New York Times, Mar. 23, 1902.) The Harry Weissinger Company withdrew from the Universal Tobacco Company, and Henry R. Wilson resigned from the voting trust and the directorate, while William H. Butler did likewise at Weissinger. Frank Tilford resigned from both companies. (Tobacco Companies Separate. Oct. 8, 1902.) The Universal Tobacco Company blamed Frank Tilford and "a representative of H.B. Hollins & Co." for selling the Henry Clay and Bock Company to the Havana Commercial Company [which George P. Butler had supposedly acquired for Universal before it was actually bought by the Tobacco Trust]. (Weissinger Tobacco Sale. New York Times, Dec. 24, 1902.)
Universal director Edward A. McAlpin alleged that
William H. Butler had
mismanaged the company in the interests of himself and his brother,
George P. Butler, and applied for a receiver. "Besides Mr. Butler the
officers are: Vice President - J.L. Richards; Secretary and Treasurer -
F.W. Galbraith, Jr.; Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer - B.M.
Cole; Directors - Whilliam H. Butler, Edward A. McAlpin, George R.
Sheldon, W.D. Judkins, and Edward J. Patterson, New York, and J.L.
Richards of Boston." It still held some cigarette companies and dealt
in plug tobacco. (Universal Tobacco Row.
New York Times, Jul. 16, 1903.) Edwin A. McAlpin, Joseph Tiernan,
Jackson W. Rhoades, Edward C. Babcock, Charles M. Allaire, and William
D. Judkins applied for the receivership. W.H. Butler claimed that all
except McAlpin were dummies. (Denounces Stock Issue. New York Times,
Aug. 4, 1903; "Wind and Water Stock." New York Times, Aug. 12, 1903.)
Universal's voting trust was claimed to be illegal and merely "the
registering machine of the Butlers." Butler claimed that Tilford and
Wilson had actually formed the company. (Tobacco "Voting Trust." New
York Times, Aug. 13, 1903.) Tilford admitted that his syndicate
acquired Henry Clay-Bock after offering more more money, and then sold
it to the Tobacco Trust because they offered more money for it than
Universal. [He was still a director of Universal at the time.] (Tilford
Denies Treachery. New York Times, Aug. 18, 1903.) The Butler brothers,
director Daniel J. Campbell, Henry W. Wesselman, Richard W. Menzies,
and two employees of Universal Tobacco with threatened with contempt
for failing to obey subpoenas to appear. (Failed to Obey Subpoenas. New
York Times, Nov. 22, 1903.) Wheeler H. Peckham was the attorney for the
Universal Tobacco Company. (Peckham In a Tilt With Vice Chancellor. New
York Times, Aug. 16, 1903; Move in Tobacco Suit. New York Times, Oct.
27, 1903.)
All complainants except Weidenfeld and
Lawson were said to have settled with the company. (Tobacco Litigants
Settle. New York Times, Jan. 7, 1904.) The order restraining bond sales
was dismissed. (May End Tobacco Suit. New York Times,Apr. 15, 1904.)
Stockholders voted to dissolve the company and dispose of all the
brands it owned at public sale. (Universal Tobacco Company to Dissolve.
New York Times, Jun. 23, 1904.) The Universal Tobacco Company was
absorbed by the Commonwealth Company. The Vice Chancellor refused to
appoint a receiver, but set aside the scheduled public sale to an
unspecified date. (Universal Tobacco Suit. New York Times, Aug. 2,
1904; To Sell Universal Tobacco Assets. New York Times, Aug. 16, 1904.)
The Commonwealth Tobacco Company had a factory in Lynchburg, Va.,
and offices in New Jersey and New York. George P. Butler, a stockholder
and creditor for $50,371.02, had a receiver appointed for it. (Receiver
In Tobacco Case. New York Times, Oct. 13, 1904; 10 Per Cent. on
Commonwealth Tobacco. New York Times, Jun. 7, 1905.)
"George P. Butler,
formerly of the Butler & Butler Company, the next witness, said
that the Butler company had been purchased by the American company, and
he had signed an agreement not to go into the business in this country
again for fifteen years. Cross-examined by Lawyer Parker for the
defense, Mr. Butler said the Butler company lasted only a year and
three months before it was bought by the American Tobacco Company. It
had been profitable. Asked if an independent concern could succeed
today with the existing opposition, Mr. Butler replied that with proper
management and sufficient capital it might easily succeed. The failure
of the Universal Tobacco Company, Mr. Butler said, had been partly due
to an unauthorized purchase of $400,000 worth of tobacco. Incompetent
men in the sales and advertising department had helped in the failure."
(Big Tobacco Statistics. New York Times, Jan. 14, 1908.)
James Lorin Richards was born on a farm in Longmeadow, Mass. in
1858. His father was a prominent businessman in Springfield. He dropped
out of the Springfield high school to work in the First National Bank
of Springfield. After a year, he went to Boston and was employed by
A.R. Mitchell, a tobacco merchant, as a salesman. At 24 [ca. 1882], he
took up tobacco manufacturing and spent part of the year in New York.
When Mitchell retired in 1897, the firm was continued by Richards and a
partner, George W. Stinson, until 1903. In 1892, he began investing in
trolley systems, including the Wellesley & Boston, Newton &
Boston amd Newtonville & Watertown electric railways. In 1902, he
was elected a director of the Boston gas light company, and the gas
companies of South Boston, Roxbury and the Bay State corporation; then
the Brookline, Jamaica Plain and Dorchester gas companies, and the
Massachusetts pipeline. He married Cora E. Towne, daughter of E.E.
Towne, a Springfield tobacco merchant. (Boston's New Gas Man. Boston
Globe, Jun. 25, 1905.) He organized the Harry Weissinger Tobacco
Company of Louisville, Ky. with Harry Weissinger, John Middleton, J.W.
O'Bannon, F.B. Phillips and H.W. Keisker of Louisville, and George W.
Stinson of Boston (Boston Globe, Jan. 26, 1900), and again with Harry
Weissinger and John Middleton of Louisville, Edward J. Patterson, and
John F. Engle and George L. Wakefield of New York. (New Tobacco
Company. Richmond Dispatch, Mar. 25, 1902.) At one point he was a
director of 33 companies simultaneously. He was a director of the New
York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad for thirty-five years, until
1948. Until shortly before his death, he was chairman of the board of
the Boston Consolidated Gas Company, and a director and member of the
executive committee of the American Sugar Refining Company. (James
Richards, Financier, Was 96. New York Times, Jan. 4, 1955.) James L.
Richards was a director of the Commonwealth Trust Company of Boston
(Display Ad. Boston Globe, May 9, 1904, and Nov. 5, 1905.) Richards
supported Matthew C. Brush to
be president of the American Sugar Refining Company in 1924. Richards
was elected a director of the United Drug Company in 1933. (On United
Drug's Board. New York Times, Sep. 27, 1933), and was a member of the
advisory board of the Massachusetts Investors Trust from 1932 to 1947.
(Named to Advisory Board of Massachusetts Trust. New York Times, Dec.
23, 1947.)
He was a trustee of Northeastern University since 1936. The
University began as evening education for emplyed young men, conducted
by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association. When it was
incorporated in 1904, the legislative act provided that four of its
seven directors would be members of the Board of Directors of the
Boston YMCA. "The formal organization of the Northeastern University
Corporation, the most important single event in the evolution of
Northeastern's structure, took place on January 22, 1937, at a dinner
meeting at which James L. Richards was host and chairman." The by-laws
were amended to provide for a Corporation of 75 members, with a Board
of Trustees elected from among them. (Origin and development of
Northeastern University, 1898-1960. By Everett C. Marston, 1961.)
Edwin Augustus McAlpin was the son of David H. McAlpin. "David Hunter McAlpin was born Nov. 8, 1816, in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, N.Y. He was of Irish descent, his father having come from Ireland only a few years before the son's birth. When he was only ten years old he began to make his own living, coming to New York City when he was twenty years old and opening a cigar store in Catharine Street. This was the start of the present great business carried on in the tobacco factory at 150 Avenue D, of which he was the head. From the little cigar store there came several branches, and Mr. McAlpin finally became one of the partners of the firm of John Cornish & Co., tobacco manufacturers. A few years later he purchased the interests held by his partners and established the firm of D.H. McAlpin & Co., of which he was the head at the time of his death. This company was incorporated seven years ago, with $500,000 capital. Mr. McAlpin, at the time of his death, in addition to being President and Director of the tobacco manufacturing concern, was a Director of the Eleventh Ward Bank, German-American Real Estate Title and Guarantee Company, the Home Insurance Company, Manhattan Life Insurance Company, the National Bank of the Republic, the Standard Gas Light Company, the Union Trust Company, and was a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and American Museum of Natural History." (David H. M'Alpin Dead. New York Times, Feb. 9, 1901.) He left an income of $18,000 a year to his widow, $1,000 a year to his sister, Jane Benedict, and the residue was divided between six children. (McAlpin Estate $7,000,000. New York Times, Dec. 23, 1903.) D.H. McAlpin & Co. was sold to the American Tobacco Company later that year, reportedly for about $2.5 million. The Universal Tobacco Company, of which Edwin A. McAlpin was a director, was also seeking to buy the firm. (Tobacco Trust Gets D.H. M'Alpin & Co. New York Times, Nov. 22, 1901.)
Edwin A. McAlpin graduated from Philips Academy and joined D.H.
McAlpin & Co. He twice attempted to enlist in the Civil War as a
drummer boy, but his father thought he was too young. He later had a
career in the National Guard. McAlpin owned the land under the Hotel
McAlpin and had a large share in the hotel itself. (Edwin A. McAlpin.
The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. By James Terry White,
1910.) Gen. E.A. M'Alpin
Dies At Ossining. New York Times, Apr. 13, 1917.) In 1900, Edwin A.
McAlpin was a member of the syndicate of William
C. Whitney, Skull & Bones 1863, and R.A.C. Smith that took over the
State Trust
Company. (Loans of State Trust Company. New York Times, Jan. 14, 1900.)
The first anniversary
celebration of the Hotel McAlpin was a
veritable Taft family reunion. It was attended by ex-president William H. Taft
(S&B 1878) of New Haven; his brother, Charles P. Taft, came from
Cincinnati, and Henry W. Taft
(S&B 1880) and his son, Walbridge
S.
Taft;
Gen. T. Coleman Du Pont of Wilmington; William H. Fenn (S&B 1854),
Clarence H. Kelsey
(S&B 1878), Percy A.
Rockefeller (S&B 1900),
and Percival S. Hill of the American Tobacco Company
also attended.
(The McAlpin Celebrates. New York Times, Dec. 19, 1913.) Gen. McAlpin
was President of the National League of Republican Clubs, raising money
for Taft's presidential campaign at the beginning of 1908, before
surrendering the post to an even bigger supporter, Taft's boyhood
friend, John Hays Hammond.
(The Most Intimate Friends of President Taft. By E.J. Edwards. New York
Times, May 29, 1910.)
Edwin A. McAlpin's son, David H.
McAlpin 2d, married Madeline Evans,
daughter of Benjamin Franklin Evans. (Men Wear White at Wedding. New
York Times, Jun. 18, 1905.) Her sister, Elizabeth Bonbright Evans, had
married Oliver C. Billings [Book & Snake 1893, a brother of Charles
M. Billings]. (Weddings of A
Day. New York Times, Jun. 16, 1899.) He was a general partner and later
special partner of Taylor, Bates & Co. (Year-End Firm Changes. New
York Times, Dec. 24, 1927), of which Paul
Moore was also a member.
Edwin A. McAlpin's brother,
Charles Williston McAlpin, Princeton 1888, was the secretary of
Princeton University from 1901 to 1914. He was a member of the board of
managers of the Presbyterian Hospital of New York, and a friend of
President Woodrow Wilson. He was married to Sara Carter Pyle in 1892.
(Charles W. M'Alpin Dies At Home Here. New York Times, Feb. 3, 1942.)
Edwin A. McAlpin's sister married James Pyle. Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey
Depew (S&B 1856) were among those present. (A Wedding on Fifth
Avenue. New York Times, Feb. 13, 1884.)
Edwin A. McAlpin's brother, George, graduated from Yale in 1879, then joined the family firm. He was a director of the Bank of the Republic, the Union Trust Company, and the Home Insurance Company, and vice president of several other corporations. (Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Yale Graduates, 1922-1923. George Lodowick McAlpin, B.A. 1879, p 117; M'Alpin's $3,000,000 Goes to Family. New York Times, Dec. 12, 1922.)
Obituary Record of Yale Graduates, 1922-1923 / Yale University Library (pdf, 385 pp)Edwin A. McAlpin's brother, Dr.
D. Hunter McAlpin Jr. (1862-1934)
graduated from Phillips Academy and Princeton University in 1885. "In
1895 he was named Professor of Gross Pathology at Bellevue Medical
School. Some years later he gradually withdrew from active practice of
his profession to devote himself to the administration of the McAlpin
estate and to social and charitable work." He was a director of the
First National Bank of Morristown and the Home Insurance Company of New
York, and a trustee of the Brick Presbyterian Church and the Union
Theological Seminary. (Dr. D.H. McAlpin, Educator, Dead. New York
Times, Jan. 21, 1934.) He married Emma
Rockefeller, the oldest daughter of William Rockfeller and niece of
John D. Rockefeller Sr. Her sister, Ethel, was the maid of honor. His
ushers were Wlliam Sanderson Brown, Benjamin B. McAlpin [the groom's
nephew], P. Avery Rockefeller [the bride's brother], Alfred L. Dennis, Oliver G.
Jennings [S&B 1887], John D. Rockefeller Jr., Dr. William
Chittendon Lusk, and James G. Gardiner. His brother, Charles W.
McAlpin, was best man. There were about 400 guests, including Mr. and
Mrs. James Stillman, William C. Whitney, Dr.
William Lusk, Col. Henry B.
Payne, Mr. and Mrs John D. Rockefeller, and Mr. and Mrs. William G.
Rockefeller. (Dr. D.H. M'Alpin's Bride. New York Times, Dec. 13,
1895.)
Emma Rockefeller McAlpin divided her fortune equally among four
children. "Of her fortune, $1,215,968 was in cash and insurance and
$4,368,525 in securities," including about $1.7 million in Federal or
Federally-guaranteed bonds, $1.2 million bonds of the State of New
Jersey or its political subdivisions, and $1.1 million in bonds of
other states or their subdivisions. Miscellaneous assets included an
interest valued at $412,385 in her late husband's estate, and interests
valued at $194,768 in a series of trusts created by William
Rockefeller. (Mrs. M'Alpin Left $5,648,350 Estate. New York Times, Aug.
28, 1937.) Donald G. Geddes and
the United States Trust Company were trustees of the trusts for Mrs.
Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge and Mrs. Emma Rockefeller McAlpin. (Report
on Estate of William Rockefeller. Jan. 28, 1939.) Geddes had been a
director of the American Tobacco Company.
Dr. D. Hunter McAlpin Jr's son, David
H. McAlpin 3d (1897-1989)
served in both World Wars and was a Navy Commander from 1942-46. He
graduated from Princeton in 1921 and Harvard Law School in 1924. He was
a partner of Clark, Dodge & Co. from 1929-39, and of Fraser, Burr
& McAlpin, Dallas, 1937-48. He was a trustee of Princeton from 1945
to 1949. He was a director of the Tricontinental Corp. and
Tricontinental Financial Corp., Broad Street Investing, National
Investors Corp., the Whitehall Fund, Inc., and the United Service Corp.
(David Hunter McAlpin. Marquis Who's Who, 2006.) He was a former
trustee of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, which was
established by his aunt; and for eighteen
years, he was vice chairman of the board of the Union Theological
Seminary. (David McAlpin 3d, A Longtime Patron Of Photography, 92. By
Susan Heller Anderson. New York Times, Jun. 3, 1989.) Godfrey S. Rockefeller
was also a partner of Clark, Dodge & Co. during those years.
David H. McAlpin 3d's son, David H. McAlpin, graduated from
Princeton University in 1950, then Union Theological Seminary. He
married Joan Rockefeller, the daughter of Avery Rockefeller, and
granddaughter of Percy A. Rockefeller. (Joan Rockefeller Becomes
Engaged. New York Times, Nov. 17, 1952; Joan Rockefeller Wed in
Greenwich. New York Times, Jun. 14, 1953.)
David H. McAlpin Sr.'s sister, Jane Benedict, was Mrs. Charles
Williston
Benedict, and Williston
Hunter Benedict was their son. His father, Seth Williston Benedict, was
a crony of Rev. Joseph
Parrish Thompson, S&B 1838. (The Genealogy of the Benedicts in
America. By Henry Marvin Benedict and Elwyn Ellsworth Benedict - 1870,
p. 209.) Her grandaughter, Jeannette McAlpin Benedict, married Rev.
Clifford P. Case, pastor of the Franklin Park (N.J.) Reformed Church.
(Weddings of a Day. New York Times, Dec. 10, 1902.) He was the father
of Sen. Clifford P. Case (~1905-1982), R-NJ, who served five terms in
the House of Representatives (1945-1953) and four terms in the Senate
(1954-1978). (Clifford P. Case II. Rutgers University, accessed
5/22/08.) Sen. Clifford P. Case was
Vice Chairman of the Office of Technology Assessment Congressional
Board, which produced the report, A Review of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Environmental Research Outlook, FY 1976 through 1980,
its five-year research plan. It stated, among other things, that
"cigarette smoke contains particulates and carbon monoxide which are of
potentially toxic significance to exposed persons in confined areas."
The decree dissolving the Tobacco Trust contained a provision that nullified the non-compete contracts, and in 1912, George P. Butler and William H. Butler bought the Surbrug Company, manufacturing smoking tobacco in Hoboken, N.J., and the Khedivial Company, manufacturing cigarettes. (Organizing a Rival Cigarette Business. New York Times, Sep. 21, 1912.) The Tobacco Products Corporation was formed in Virginia in 1912, and bought out the interests of M. Melachrino & Co. and the Surbrug Company. It was backed by Henry C. Frick, Bankers Trust director Daniel G. Reid, and Guaranty Trust director John D. Ryan. New York directors were J. Horace Harding (representing Frick); Francis L. Hine, president of the First National Bank; Seward Prosser, president of the Liberty National Bank; Thomas Cochran Jr. [Skull & Bones 1894], Vice President of the Astor Trust Company; Joseph A. Bennett and J. DuPratt White of White & Case; Roberts Walker, also of White & Case and former chairman of the Rock Island Railway. George J. Whelan, head of the United Cigar Stores Company, had a stock interest and was to give the company "the benefit of his experience and advice." (Strong Men Backing New Tobacco Rival. New York Times, Oct. 17, 1912.) Officers were Joseph C. Taylor, president; Leonard B. McKittery [sic], Reuben M. Ellis, and Joseph A. Bennett, vice presidents; Harry B. Watt, treasurer; and Gray Miller, secretary, all of New York except Taylor, who was from Richmond, along with directors J. Randolph Tucker and John B. Lightfoot, Jr. (Frick A Tobacco Man. Washington Post, Oct. 18, 1912.) Reid was elected president. William H. Butler of the Surbrug Company and M. Melachrino of M. Melachrino & Co. were elected vice presidents, and Albert Wiggin a director. They replaced Cochran, Walker and Bennett on the board. (Reid Tobacco President. New York Times, Nov. 1, 1912.) White's law partner, George Bowen Case, was a Bones classmate of Cochran. Reid's business partner in the Rock Island Railroad, William H. Moore, the father of Paul Moore of the Bankers Trust Company, was a large investor. Big Tobacco Rival Gets More Options. New York Times, Sep. 28, 1912.)
Ryan, Reid, Frick and Hine attended a 1916 dinner by tobacco financier Thomas F. Ryan which was a veritable summmit meeting of American Tobacco and the Guaranty Trust: "His guests included United States Senator Oscar W. Underwood [D-Ala.], Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, Francis L. Stetson, Henry Clay Frick, Frank S. Witherbee, Charles Schwab, James B. Duke, Morgan J. O'Brien, Alexander J. Hemphill, C.C. Dula, John B. Dennis, Justice Francis K. Pendleton, John D. Archbold, Theodore P. Shonts, John D. Ryan, Daniel Guggenheim. J. Sargeant Cram, R.A.C. Smith, Francis L. Hine, Bernard M. Baruch, Charles B. Alexander, Henry Clews, Fairfax Landstreet, W.W. Fuller, Paul D. Cravath, Daniel G. Reid, James S. Alexander, Junius Parker, Percival S. Hill, De Lancey Nicoll, August D. Juilliard, William C. Potter, John D. Prince, Hugo Cunliffe-Owen, and Valentine P. Snyder." (Thomas F. Ryan Is Host. New York Times, Feb. 18, 1916.) Cravath was T.F. Ryan's attorney, Duke and Cunliffe-Owen were executives of British-American Tobacco, and Hill was president of the American Tobacco Company , for which Nicoll was an attorney and Parker was a large stockholder. Butler was the President of Columbia University, where Prince was a professor.
The Tobacco Products
Corporation purchased Schinasi Bros. in 1916 (Schinasi Bros.' New Head.
New York Times, Mar. 7, 1916), and Leon Schinasi joined the board of
directors. (Financial Notes. New York Times, Dec. 21, 1916.) Daniel G.
Reid was the President of Tobacco Products until 1917, when George L.
Storm, a former vice president and general manager of the General Cigar
Company was elected, and Reid became Chairman. George Harder, head of
the Essex Foundry, was elected a director. (G.L. Storm Heads Tobacco
Products. New York Times, Jun. 7, 1917.) It
acquired the Falk Tobacco Company in 1918. (Tobacco Products Grows. New
York Times, Jan. 27, 1918.) In 1919, it acquired Philip Morris &
Co. of New York, which owned the U.S. rights on cigarettes made by the
British company of that name. Philip Morris earned about $271,000
before taxes in 1918. (Buy Out British Interests. New York Times, Feb.
14, 1919.) The same year, the Tobacco Products Corporation formed the
Tobacco Products Export Corporation to take over its foreign property
and business in Britain, China and India. (Prepare For Foreign Trade.
New York Times, Feb. 20, 1919.) The Voting Trustees of the Tobacco
Products Export Corporation were George L. Storm, L.B. McKitterick and
Sidney Whelan. (Tobacco Products Stock. New York Times, June 6, 1919.)
Storm was the chairman of the American Safety Razor Co., formed from
the merger of the Gem, Ever-Ready, and Star companies. Leon Schinasi
was the former head of Schinasi Brothers. (Razor Merger Has $20,000,000
Stock. Sep. 17, 1919.) Milton Dammann was the Secretary of ASR.
(Display Ad. New York Times, Sep. 25, 1919.) George M. Whelan resigned
as President to head the United Retail Stores Corporation, and James M.
Dixon replaced him; and George L. Storm also resigned, J.L. Hoffman
replaced him as Vice President. (Dixon Succeeds Whelan. New York Times,
Oct. 22, 1919.) Elliott Averett, Vice President of the United Cigar
Stores Corporation succeeded R.M. Ellis on the board, and Elliott
Cowdin and John Tyssowski were added. (Increase Trade Corporation
Shares. New York Times, Jan. 22, 1920.)
James B. Duke was to oversee the merger of the Tobacco Products Corporation with the United Retail Stores Corporation, which had stock control of the United Cigar Stores Company. James M. Dixon, President of Tobacco Products, "was associated with Mr. Duke from boyhood" and Thomas B. Yuille, who joined the board as advisory head of the leaf buying department, had also been trained at the American Tobacco Company. (Big Tobacco Merger Headed By J.B. Duke. New York Times, May 31, 1922.) T.B. Yuille, L.B. McKitterick, and J.M. Dixon replaced Sydney Whelan, A.H. Sands, and S.B. Woods on the directorate of United Retail Stores. It was announced that Tobacco Products controlled United Retail Stores. (New Cigar Directors. New York Times, Sep. 19, 1922.) A merger with the British-American Tobacco Company was also rumored. Harold Stanley, Skull & Bones 1908, President of the Guaranty Company and Vice President of the Guaranty Trust Company, who was also a director of the Tobacco Products Corporation, admitted that he had seen George Whelan, James Dixon, Elliott Averett the vice president of finance, and E.R. Tinker, the President of Chase Securities and also a director of Tobacco Products. (Plan A $250,000,000 Tobacco Merger. New York Times, July 21, 1923.) It ended up as a 99-year lease of the manufacturing properties of the Tobacco Products Corporation by the American Tobacco Company, for $12 million cash and $2.5 million annually. Tobacco Products kept its interest in United Cigar Stores, the Tobacco Products Export Corporation, and Stephano Brothers. (American Tobacco to Acquire Plants. New York Times, Oct. 26, 1923.) The leased properties included M. Melachrino &. Co. Inc., Schinasi Bros. Inc., Falk Tobacco Co., The Surbrug Co., Nestor Gianaclis Co., The Khedivial Co., Prudential Tobacco Co. Inc., and John J. Bagley & Co. (Display Ad. New York Times, Oct. 31, 1923.) There were rumors in the New York City financial district that "certain large [preferred] stockholders in Milwaukee have sounded out their local representatives" regarding a legal action to set aside the contract. (Discord Is Denied in Tobacco Deal. New York Times, Jan. 5, 1924.) Another rumor had it that the Continental Tobacco Co., controlled by Schulte Retail Stores, would absorb the British Philip Morris & Co. Ltd., whose U.S. rights were owned by Philip Morris & Co. (A New Tobacco Merger. New York Times, Sep. 26, 1924.)
Philip Morris Consolidated Inc. was created and issued stock for exchange with the two companies. (Plan For Exchanging Philip Morris Stock. New York Times, Sep. 4, 1926.) Philip Morris Consolidated took control of the Continental Tobacco Company of Richmond, the United Cigar Stores and Schulte Retail Stores Corporation, and purchased land in Richmond for a new $250,000 factory. (Tobacco Companies Merge. New York Times, Oct. 22, 1926.) The new United States Trust Company of Newark, capitalized at $2 million, was opened, with Reuben M. Ellis, President of Philip Morris; William T. Posey, Vice President of United Cigar Stores; E.F. Whelan, director of United Cigar Stores; and Thomas B. Yuille, President of the Tobacco Products Company, also S.S. Kresge, President of Kresge Department Stores, and John Milton, prosecutor for Hudson County, as directors. (New Trust Company to Open Feb. 1. New York Times, Jan. 15, 1927.) "George J. Whelan, President of the Tobacco Products Corporation, announced yesterday the formation of a committee, with Thomas F. Ryan as Chairman, with full powers to work out a plan for the dissolution of the corporation, subject to the approval of the stockholders. Other members of the committee are Albert H. Wiggin, William C. Potter and C.A. Whelan." (Tobacco Products Committee. New York Times, Feb. 15, 1928.)
A holding company, the United Stores
Corporation, was created to merge the United Cigar Stores Company, the
Union Tobacco Company, and the Tobacco Products Corporation. The three
companies had interlocking directorates, and Tobacco Products owned 75
percent of United Cigar Stores. (Tobacco Merger Links $200,000,000. New
York Times, June 9, 1929.) Directors were W.A. Black, pres. Ogilvie
Flour Mills; Wilbur L. Cummings of Sullivan & Cromwell; Sir Herbert
Holt, pres. Royal Bank of Canada; R.W. Jameson, recently chairman of
Dominion Stores Ltd., Canada; H. Hobart Porter of Sanderson &
Porter; Thomas H. McInnerney, pres. National Dairy Products; George M.
Moffett, vice pres. and director, Corn Products Refining Co.; Frederick
K. Morrow, director, Gold Dust Corporation, Bank of Toronto, and other
firms; George K. Morrow, chairman, Gold Dust Corporation, pres.
Standard Milling Co. and Best Foods Inc. The Guaranty Trust Company was
the depository. (Terms Revealed in Tobacco Merger. New York Times, Jun.
10, 1929.) The Whelans sold their holdings in United Cigar Stores Co.
to the Morrow group, along with their block of Schulte Retail Stores
and other companies, including Philip Morris & Co. Ltd., Beech-Nut,
American Safety Razor, the Gillette Safety Razor Co., Life Savers Inc.,
and the United States Tobacco Company. The Morrows purchased majority
control of the Tobacco Products Corporation, which held about 80
percent of United Cigar common. The old directors of Tobacco Products
were R.M. Ellis (Vice Pres.), George Wattley (Treas.), O.H. Chalkley,
C.A. Whelan, W.T. Posey (Pres.), and Thomas Woods. William A. Ferguson
was Treasurer. Directors of United Cigar Stores were William Baeder,
Samuel Simons, A.C. Allen, Robert J. Whelan, Charles F. Noyes, A.C.
Johnson, George Wattley (Treas.), C.A. Whelan (Chairman and Pres.),
A.F. Dempsey, E. Francis Whelan, John F. Whelan, J.J. Switzer, W.T.
Posey, Dr. Mozart Monae-Lesser, George J. Wise and A. Granat. There
were 18 Vice Presidents. The new directors elected for both
United Cigar Stores and Tobacco Products Corporation were George K.
Morrow, chairman; Frederick K. Morrow, president; Eugene W. Stetson,
Wilbur L. Cummings, Sir Herbert Holt, Hobart Porter, John Foster Dulles, W.A.
Black, Thomas McInnerney, and George M. Moffett. C.A.
Whelan and W.T. Posey kept their places. (United Cigar Sold to Gold
Dust Group In $100,000,000 Deal. New York Times, Aug. 20, 1929.) Dulles
was the brother of Allen W.
Dulles, CIA director 1953-1961.
In 1932, the Tobacco Products Corporation of Virginia was dissolved. The company re-formed as the Tobacco Products Corporation of New Jersey, and in 1935 took back its leased brands from the American Tobacco Company. (Tobacco Products to Pay $35,577,200. New York Times, Feb. 1, 1935.) The Massachusetts Investors Trust increased its holdings in Philip Morris. (Investing Concern Lifts Net Assets. New York Times, Apr. 20, 1936.) In 1936, Otway H. Chalkley was elected President of Philip Morris. "Mr. Chalkley began his career in the tobacco industry with the old American Tobacco Company. At its dissolution in 1911 he became associated with the manufacturing department of P. Lorillard Company. Later he was engaged as a buyer of tobacco in Turkey and manager of the Tobacco Products Export Company's business in China. In 1924 he returned to this country as treasurer of Philip Morris & Co., Ltd. In addition to his post as president of the latter company he is President of Tobacco Products Export Corporation." (O.H. Chalkley Heads Philip Morris & Co. New York Times, Aug. 19, 1936.)
In 1943, the Securities and Exchange Commission criticized Tobacco
Products for giving its security holders "only the most cursory
information respecting its affairs. Annual reports of the applicant
have consisted of no more than a highly condensed balance sheet,
together with a forwarding letter habitually stating no more than net
profit and the amount of dividends per share paid during the year....
No income statements have been submitted and, for 1940 and 1941, not
even a bare statement of net income or profits was submitted to the
shareholders. It does not appear from the record that these annual
reports have been supplemented by any other information." The
commission found that all the company's officers were officers of
Philip Morris, and all but one director were directors or employees of
that company. (Tobacco Concern Criticized By SEC. New York
Times, Feb.
2, 1943.) George J. Henn, who had been with Philip Morris 19 years, was
elected a vice president. He was formerly with the Tobacco Products
Corporation. (Elected Vice President of Philip Morris & Co. New
York Times, Sep. 1, 1943.) In 1945, Alfred E. Lyon was elected
president of Philip Morris. (Succeeds to Presidency Of Philip Morris
& Co. New York Times, Mar 15, 1945.) Philip Morris purchased the
"only important available supply of ripened and matured tobacco" in the
U.S., about 17 million pounds for over $10 million, from the
Trans-America Corporation. (Big Tobacco Purchase. New York Times, Jul.
16, 1945.) The report by Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery said that
as of March 31, 1945, it was "Approximately 9,475,000 pounds of
leaf tobacco" plus all real estate and capital stock of The
Axton-Fisher Tobacco Company, for $8,925,000 in cash, later reduced to
$8,941,362. (Report upon Examination of Financial Statemente as of
March 31, 1945.) David J. Greene and John K. Starkweather were elected
directors of the Tobacco Products Export Corporation, replacing Joseph
F. Cullman Jr. and John F.
Wharton, who resigned a month before. (Join Export Concern's Board.
New York Times, Aug. 27, 1947.)
Reuben M. Ellis was chairman of the Continental Tobacco Co., Inc.; president and a director of Philip Morris & Co., Ltd., Inc., Philip Morris Consolidated Inc., and the Tobacco Products Export Corporation, and a director of the Tuckett Tobacco Company, Ltd. Before World War I, he established tobacco and cigarette factories in the British Isles, China and India. Philip Morris & Co. owned the U.S. rights of the brands of Philip Morris & Co., Ltd. "He formed Philip Morris Consolidated in 1926 after the merger of Philip Morris & Co., Ltd., Inc., with the Continental Tobacco Company, Inc., of which D.A. Schulte was president." (R.M. Ellis, 54, Dies Suddenly at Home. New York Times, May 13, 1933.) Ellis was from Birmingham, Alabama, where he was Passenger Agent of the Southern Railway. (R.M. Ellis. From the Bessemer Weekly. Birminham Labor Advocate, Jun. 11, 1898.) He married Florence Preston Houghton, the older daughter of Dr. [Hezekiah] Seymour Houghton, in a double ceremony in which her sister Helene Seymour Houghton married George M. Gales, of Raleigh, N.C. The two bridegrooms were "friends of long standing." (Sisters' Wedding Attended By 2,000. New York Times, Nov. 17, 1910.) His widow married Edwin Howard Baker Jr., Elihu 1913. Baker was with Hallgarten & Co. prior to World War I [Hallgarten held the largest number of shares of R.J. Reynolds in 1917]. (Edwin Howard Baker, Jr. In: A Modern History of New London County, Connecticut. By Benjamin Tinkham. Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1922; Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates Deceased during the Year Ending July 1, 1941, pp 133-134.) His son, Seymour Ellis, was advertising manager of Philip Morris [1948-1951] before entering the restaurant business in Manhattan. (Seymour Ellis, 71, a Retired Restaurateur. New York Times, Jun. 8, 1988.)
A Modern History of New London County, Connecticut / Google Books"He was born in London, the son of an antiquarian, most of
whose family was in show business. After a dash of formal education, at
21 he went to Montreal, where he took a job as a home furnishings
salesman. Then he became a clerk at the cigar counter of the Windsor
Hotel. In 1912 he came from Canada to New York and asked Tobacco
Products Corporation, the makers of Melachrinos, for a job... Early in
World War I, Mr. Lyon went to Montreal and enlisted in the Royal
Victoria Rifles. He saw service in India and was wounded during riots
in Amritsar." When Tobacco Products acquired the U.S. subsidiary of
Philip Morris & Co. Ltd., he became its international
representative. He became President in 1945 and Chairman in 1949.
(Alfred E. Lyon Is Dead at
81; Ex-Chairman of Philip Morris. New York Times, May 9, 1967.)
His son, David G. Lyon, was senior vice president in charge of the Philip Morris account at the Cecil & Presbrey advertising agency. "In the 1950's, Mr. Lyon directed the company's advertising campaign that introduced the rugged cowboy lighting up its Marlboro filter cigarette under wide, open skies. The campaign also helped popularize the flip-top box and became a big success for Marlboro and Philip Morris... In the 1980's, Mr. Lyon operated the Brown Bag Institute, a separate agency that had as its clients such major food-related companies as General Foods and Nabisco Brands." (David Lyon, Ad Executive, 83; Helped Create 'Marlboro Man'. By Wolfgang Saxon. New York Times, Aug. 17, 1994.) (Philip Morris Daytime Radio. By Mr. Dave Lyon, est. 1948; Address to Philip Morris salesmen by David G. Lyon, est. 1950; What's Not A Risk? By David G. Lyon. Printer's Ink, Jul. 19, 1963.)
David Lyon, Ad Executive, 1994 / tobacco document"In 1911 at the dissolution of the tobacco trust Mr. McKitterick was
already widely known in the cigarette manufacturing field. With Reuben
Morris Ellis as partner, he was enjoying considerable success with the
Melachrino cigarette. After the dissolution of the trust the Tobacco
Products Corporation acquired this trade-marked product and Mr.
McKitterick and his partner became vice presidents and stockholders in
Tobacco Products. In 1919 Mr. McKitterick's new company acquired the
English Philip Morris Company. A new company, Philip Morris & Co.,
Ltd., was formed as a non-British firm.... In 1923 Tobacco Products
passed most of its manufacturing units to the American Tobacco Company
on a $2,500,000 a year, ninety-nine-year lease. Mr. Ellis became
president of Philip Morris and Mr. McKitterick announced his retirement
and went to Europe to live. Seven years later he was recalled by his
former associates, who planned to establish a new cigarette on the
American market.... Mr. McKitterick is credited with discovering the
safe use of diethylene glycol instead of glycerine in the manufacture
of cigarettes. In 1933 at the death of Mr. Ellis, Mr. McKitterick
succeeded to the presidency of the Philip Morris Company.... In 1935 he
undertook the maintenance of a tobacco research fellowship at Mellon
Institute." (L.B. M'Kitterick, 65, Tobacco Head, Dies. New York Times,
Aug. 16, 1936.) He left an estate of $3,105,600 to his widow. (Pearl
White Left Fund for Actors. New York Times, Aug. 26, 1938.)
In 1929, Joseph F. Cullman Jr. and Howard S. Cullman, of Cullman Brothers Inc., and others, formed Tobacco and Allied Stocks, Inc., "to invest and trade in securities of companies engaged in the tobacco and allied industries. It [was] the first investment trust in this particular field." (To Hold Tobacco Shares. New York Times, Jan. 8, 1929.) As of Dec. 31, 1929 the company had $3,152,287 invested, with substantial investments in the American Tobacco Co. Inc., British-American Tobacco Co. Ltd., General Cigar Co. Inc., Imperial Tobacco Co. of Canada Ltd., Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co., Philip Morris & Co. Ltd. Inc., Porto Rican American Tobacco Co., Tobacco Products Corporation, United States Tobacco Co. Inc., Universal Leaf Tobacco Co. Inc., and Waitt & Bond Inc. (Investing Company Reports For Year. New York Times, Jan. 28, 1930.) In 1941, Joseph F. Cullman Jr. bought control of Benson & Hedges stock from Tobacco and Allied Stocks, and in 1942 was elected Chairman of the Board of Benson & Hedges. In 1954, stockholders of Tobacco and Allied Stocks and Benson & Hedges exchanged their stock for shares of Philip Morris. Besides the Cullmans, directors of Benson & Hedges and/or Tobacco and Allied Stocks included John E. Cookman, Joseph Taylor Foster (Skull & Bones 1908), Bayard F. Pope, Junius A. Richards, Godfrey S. Rockefeller, and John F. Wharton. Morgan Stanley & Co., whose co-founder, Harold Stanley (Skull & Bones 1908) was a director of the Tobacco Products Corporation in 1923, did the analysis for the merger between Benson & Hedges and Philip Morris.
Philip Morris's predecessor, Benson & Hedgescast 02-19-12