1939 Louis ADAMIC from many lands

8/7/2019 1939 Louis ADAMIC from many lands

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one of the greatest storiesunder the sun, the story of tl e

and the meeting of scores of diFferentpeopies, in sc

period, on the vast and beautiful American conrinent.



FR@AAAAANYLAND$

ByLOUIS ADAMIC

HARPER €4 BROTHERS PaltislerNeu York and London



This publication was made posible by tund,

granted by Carnegie Corporation of New

York. That corporation is rct, however, the

ruthor, owner, publisher, or proprieroi of this

approving by vinue

Coplriab' to1e, teao bi Loui; Adtut.

PlilrEd in the United statet of Awtbd

A tiebtt il thi! boak Ne aetve.l

No pot of the book nry be reprahced ik M! naknd

uhatsoeter ohhout urnten pemittion ercettt i tbe

ca'e of btlef ryotntio$ embodied i, cri'cal

d*let dn d rcrkut. far infotudian tddtet.

HNtq Ct Bratbet



'ontentJ

Eliot Steinberger

:IfreFanil! an.l the AmPan!bt's Eafly Teart

Test dnd a BoalrFhat to Do /{/ith Hinse(?Du tor S teizberger- Conti nued

M A N ] N A Q U A N D A RY

3

6

943 8

4tb

T G U R E S I N T H E A M E R I C A N M A Z EManda Eunich Jram Croatia

From Bohemia: Md dnd Pa KarasThe Finnish Amzricans

Thz Mebslis: From Ponera ia to ParadiseGr€e*sCanz to Tar?on Sprirys

The Tas$ians: A Family.fn:n ArneniaTlu Old Alien fu the Kitchen ll.indow

Thz Hollanders: Thq Made Their Pella

Y O U N G A M E R I C A N W I T H A J A PA N E S EFA C E

IIe Beg; s His Stor!

Father and So

A Job and College

"What a Countryl l/hat a C.,untr!!'

U P E VA L D E Z M E T H E L E N S M T T HA Tomg Man

JromMeico

A Toutg ll/onan ia th, U ited State!

68

8099

l t 6

t32

t47

165

1 8 5

I90

203

296

237244

263I tennaffiage



v i L U | I L ' ' ' '

l N C O N C L U S I O N : A L E T T E R

" AtloJ Us Cane

fronSomewhere"

T H E P R O J E C T

P!2mouth Bockand Ellis Island'

Thz Broadside

S?ecinl Wstionnaire on the Negro

I Rei,l! k the Broadside

Con tn Council -for Antrican Unitf

Nohs and Ac\ttolabdgnents

945

309

509

341

350



Ftuit th cort;nanb, tct.n r.6, ,"d sctdat 6.t ipctagosFto,n ?oiats 6l tand ?r,wcd ,o e;nd anit uo,.rOtrt of ahde tte, urd to be to uh.,e ,le1t ar..

zhc peopte ol ttc cant 'nar.red and ,welt aTo garhet ox a gea, pta;a.

-_"c,e sslBq iD ?r, pert y.r



l.

To

DrlVIl T ("PASIIA") and ALICE S TT'TTEN

V

Deat Alice t Pdrhi:

T'vice ryirhin the memory of men rorv liv;ng dreamshxrc hrd tr forc. -slr.,ng clough

Lo reshape tlic rvortd. At this momcni it is thedream oilersonal t]r,'ad on thc prn oI ,.men oi dcsrirly,, thft is dominrDt, rhattLmbles tlie Old $rorld an(l irs cutrure iDto .ujll rnd sends men s.u.ry;"g i"fear bcfore iL. Thn drcrm js e .i.qtrinr,rrc.

Onll, l,esrtr.lay it ivas xnother drcrm, e dream rvhich set in motion the grcet,r t r i : . i h o , . r ' n r r i n r . r r h , r r r e r e t c o t , .'

I . c . T, . L ' . d \ t c L . , i . , i . o , - t t o f t , , , . . . .$,hefe leopLe wcre n.edrd .rnd $anted. And rhe,v cxme ff.,n menv Lncls. rl i l , l . r . , , 1 g , - d . L , , s . \ . d . r . . . " . t . t L i . \ , . . " , . l1 r p . , D ' r . , , . . , 1 . o f ; r " . r t . . f

llut s.m.\rhere in the roxr of our inlusrrialisrn. somc\rherc in thc rensior ofour connercirlirn. that dream ivrs rll buL tost, or colfused we| nish bcl,oDdrecognirion.While a! first Ae ricli soil of Lhencrv conrirenr ancl rhe rvcr]th benerrh rt $fre mxgic and ytelclcd us a flashy surlace gi(nvrL and an oversupptv.t mrt.riet polvcrJ r,v. have ncver ycr nowcrcd all_tnclustrely rs a countLy rncl lculrurc. To a hfge dcsrce s,c lrc a roottesr, bcriitnerr:rl. urcenrin peopic Lifcm a mcrc ccooonjc p1aoe, ivc h.rve come ro rcalize. t

"sp-"ed * ;np*,,l3,

rcnt, shellorv, and sterilc as drc l.rnds .,I thc Dust Bo,,l, on;"=

ft,." -,; bto,ufruiil.ssly in the $inds of UcpLesion. Wc hrrc no decp tap rooh ir a cutruralllst to gl\.e us continuily. strbility.

\ ' . r, .

r . e . r - . ' . . l ) " " f, o o . r p f s p c o o t . . - 1 . ,t " I

b ) r \ ' L r ' ( ' \ O , , r \ r . , I t . . , r | . . i , r . r . . . i . r . . u . Iby hystcla; tlLe stranrls oI our conplicrtcd ethnic prsr not yeL intcrl,rccil into. r \ r \ : n j r . ' r \ o , . , 1 , " . , . . . u r L , , , , " , , . t , 1 . . r . . o . .H , . . d - , " , 1 , . . , , l J . l . l \ , 1 . t , i ,r t " t . . . m . , - . 1 J - . \ c c 1 , o n ". f o l u ' - . r r . \ \ . . - , , , - - . ' . _ . , , r . , . . H " - , . d . I p e r o l

our owr perhaps unavoid3ble lniking.In the lands whence

rve come n*tl"m .tutt;zat;on crashes hro ruin, and,w . l , : r . ,n . o-

. ' ! l " l - d .D . , o - / p . t r. . ti . ,' I v , - r . . r " . ' r r . \ \ r , c o J \ r , r ; , , . l o r J " h - - I , . i o r , . . .leofle \iho crrry $irhiD rhem, vhethcr they kno{, it or nor, mrny of rhe Lhings



we benoan tosing many of the things that wcre lost in Europe long beforc thcSecond World War began-bcg:n, il part, because thcy were los! io Eurotc.

Wc need nor losc tlien. Thcy u,cre broughr hcre by rhc {,aves of our;mmj,

gration.'Iheyafc still

hcre. We nee.l to c$se eyeirrg one anoLher uneasilv andtale a positlvc rpprorch to mceting on comnlotr grouncl. \Ve need to uhe stochof our rcloufces. embrLh upon sell discovery, scll rppraML td sell ciicnnt,' r d , o m -

" u , 1 . J r . . r i c l , u ' l h " n" ,

f d . m r ) d r L e . ' . .of coungeous rnd co-opctrtive llvirg-

Awrrcness is th . Ilnr srcf in naking these 6rnly oLrr orvn. lve shall needth.n. Bclore Lrs js the neccssity ot.r Lrcmendous cllort. II we,lo not exert our-sclvcs norv, the olcl drern d,,rt brought us here is apt to be svelLorved by thefurious nightmare of the O1d trVorld.

r , i , o u l - d . , v . r 1 t . . t - o r . ' . esecord rnd thnd and hter genendons, to s'hom lmcrjca is x plxtitu.le, hxvcnever glimpscd its po$'cr- Tlr.v u.c thc nxiority ol the youLh ot todry. Whrt ifwe could revirc iL, l i tu Lo bel iklered.nd c)nlcr l eyes the r is ion of nervfronticn, rich h culture rncl spirit, rvirle end decp as thc bcst ir mrn*anAnerica rvitli a srveep to rvhich x contircnls brcadih is nxtrow-r dcmocr.icynot only of poliricrl irhcritance buL of dre heert and dre herdchsp?

You rncl I rnd some c,f our lriends h.rve ull<ed of tlis Ior a number oI years,cspecirlly since re38, ivhen I 6rst began the tash of rrhjch thjs book is one of thecrrly tangible results. We thought t|eD, in'lS aDd'39, it rvas not too late. You

*'crc rhvrys irteresterl in thn iob of nine, and more helpful vith lriendlinessand encouregement thrn you afe rrvue. So I rvrnt Froar Llany Ia s to bc

My purpose, as you Lnorv, is to begin explorirg our Amcricar cultural prstrncl to urgc rhe cultivetion of irs mxnv common fic1cls,not nostalgicrily, c,rhktorically or rcrilcmic.rLly, bur jmrgirrriveh rncl crertjvelv, witir eycs to.$cfuturc, until es a pcopie q'e lind and dare to sjnk olrr roots iniol\meric.rn subsoil, ricli, suorvarmcd and well rvaLcrcd,from uhich rve stilL nrl

sroiv and l1orrer. The hilure oI Ame,icr to hrrness the drernis rnd rnor;lcs ot

its pasr to the proceses ofjts

lite is one of dre rrernest rvrstes oF humn resources$is rllc h$ Lnorvn. For there ilrs poivcr rhere, porver to make mimcles connonphcc. Into no other country, cver, lvas so rnuch of the bcsr of humrn ye.rn'

It js st;1l Dor too htc. On the contrery, dris is our momenL. Now rve crn dorhhgs. This period is in.r wry a lesting dmc lor us. An op1).,rtunity. N.iw, jr

crisis xrd tension, ihe situition 3nd its problems in rvhich rve ere interested lvillbe cleaLer thlrl cvcr bcforc. Our nrtioml rveakneses rvill bccome obvorrs ardrve will rvrnt to remove them. Our arvarencss rvill be i|Lensified, our emotic'n.rlqualiLy hcightened. r\s a people, rve rvill be cager Ior orientation-for iltegra-rion rnd unirl uncler the srvry of rn adirmatlve conccpr of llbcny.

We ivill rcrlizc thet dcmocracy cvcn as rvc havc it in rhc Un;rcd Srrtes is fir.



I e,'hat it should and could be; that the evil that seems to havc enEulfedis nor so much rhe creadon of rhore vho beuc,e in lies and shv;ry ar

hose.wbobelievingin trurh and liberty do not practice rieir betiefs,eiuherat ar.ror wrtJ}insufhcienl(onsrrency.

inrelligeocr,passionand energy. We_of us-will want to correct this fault in ourselves and others. anJ becometo the real morives and propuhions ot our counuy -rhe same molives

in America, if anywhere, man can achieve an all-dimensional oualitv:rich and secur in his :pprecialions. sane in hir values. ;nre iseni in hjs

:, firm in his morrlity, just and generous in his freedom, cool andin combat with rle enemia of his idealsand principles,and grear in

enduring hunger and the epic reach of his soirit.Deseare nor lne exacr words ot our rslks duJinS rhe pa.t few years.bur rheltheirsubstance,whichI wantedto put into thii bo"i. ft *"

"i",gl, "nai€vewe are, America is just beginniDg.

propulsions, essentialln that were behind the successive waves of our immi-

Yourq

LOUIS

r, r94o



MAN

QUANDARYV



r-I1I:

It slould be our lrlde to erhibir rn cxrnlle ol one n ion, at lc.sr, dc{,iuie ornational .ntipadrics, xnd elercising, nor n.rcly rlt olert acrs oi hospn.liry, bur thoscDore lare aod nolJle courtesieswhich slrnrs fronr liber,liry ol ophion.

What hale we to do wirh !a!ioD.L !.ejudices? Thcy arc thc nLveterate diseasesolold couDtries, contracted in rudc and isno.a.t ages, whcn mtions knew bur tirrlcof €ach other, aDd loolcd beyond their own bourdrrics wirh discrsr anrl hostilitv.\ \ ' . . 1 , h c . o n r ' , v . \ ' e . n r . r r A i r ' o ' ; o r J . \ | i . " , r l - l - , - o J a lphilosophicalage, *hcn the diderenr Frrs of rhc h.biiable rvorLd,and thc lariousbraDchcsof drc human far ly, have been irrdefadFbly siudied and mrde koown tocach orheri.nd rve forego thc edvantagcs of our bi.th iI Fe do not shake of the

DatioDalplcjudiccs as we lrould rhe lcxl sup€rstitions of thc ol.l 1'orld.WASHING'ION IRYING, jn S4cr., 3oo4

Our debr to d,e loreign bor! lnd lh sons and grandsons rviLlnever be prid byary pairoDizing kind of m€.e sufle.dDcc. Whr should a h.n pat himsell oD rheback snnply bccausc hc savs, "I larc norhnis 3#insr rhc c€.m!rs, or the Irjsh,o. the Italians i Why should he have rnythins againsr lny of rhon? What h.'efi€y dooc to h;nl The loinr is, "Wh has he gor lor dreni"

If sc lvouLdtake ihc timc to undersrand thc rarious peopLes of the rvorld we wouldcome to reaL;zethr clery narion has msde grc.r conrributions to rhe sun of trurhan.l beauty and hxppincss. Th€ ,\merica which we know .nd {oi which wc arcpreFred to live and die sinply rvould nor e*r if it were not lor the immjgraDt.Thc roads bencath our feet, the tower over head are part of thelr handirvork. Youc.lnot build x city of brick and mortar and limc. It requires the sweat and tbe soulrnd the drean ol a nuliirude.

lne asrifarions oI rhe men .nd women lrom rhc far coders of rhe earlh halesireD thc brc.th oI life to Ame.;ca. Of coune, r! should hale nothiDg asairst then.Bui lct us so nuch fu.rher. L.r us be ale.r to rexlize that whocrcr raises the Lnifeof prcjudice aglinst iny

sroupwhatsoeve. stabs lvith

his dagger dre n$h and ho,ordnd, indeed, thc herrt of Ancric..

I-IEYWOOD BROUN, in'tAe Netu Yatl' W6td Tet.srafl



octorEliot Steinberger

THE spring oI 1938 a bad case oI poion ivy---<ontracted in the courseof an overambitious campaign ro liquidare the objecrionable shrub alongroadside and 6elds' edges of the litde farm I had acquned in dre Delawari

alley---compelled me to seek the services of a dermatologist. Desperate forlie! I asked my friend Dr. DeWift Srece& in New York, to ,.oJ -" to

"one who could see me imrnediately. . . and so I found myself in theof Dr. Eliot Steinberger, who regarded my aflliction as the least alarming

all matters. Not appearing to hurry, he disposed of me in frve or six minutes,I return in a week, when I saw him as briefly as oa the firsc occasion.

Doctor Steinberger was then forty,three, but seemed younger in .spite of his:ss; a lean man of mediurn height, with good posture and easy move-. Although far from handsome in the more convenrional sense, he im-

one as being very attractive. His white smock and calm, mauer-of,

not only in his professionbur in nearly anything he might essay. HisLlity, though 6nely restrained, was independent, vivid, open, capabte

raried expression. But there was a subdety in its irdependence and openaess,there is in strong, clear colors. Between the rather prominent ears. his

rven. small tuce. with irs Iirely brown eyer, held 6rmly a deUcarebetween $rdoDic amusemenr aod aD unceruin. palpitaring sadness,

)t to merge at any moment with amusement or turn imo near-despair.Th€ Stett€ns were dose personal {riends o{ Eliot Steinberger and his wife,

, but their replies to my queldons about him were only meagerly in-

rmative. He was "very interestitrg . . . on€ of $e Steinbergers" implyingought to know who rhe Steinberg€'s were; I did not, although I had heardseen the name here and there. In a rernarkably shoft tim€, I was totd,

had developed into a leader in his 6e1d of medicine. Two or rhree of hisand many of his papers on skin diseases in the American and Europeand journals were distinct conrributions,and had helped ro win him i|I.

r€cognition. The infuence of Hitlert race iocas otr coruemporary

manner had an immediate cooling effect upon the inflamed surface ofbody, and something about his mien suggested he was immensely com-

caused my informart! to add tiat Mrs. Steinberger was Gentile; andStetten said both Peggy and Eliot were 'timply tops."

During the next two and a half years I met the Steinbergers socialll mostlythe Stettens'. Tall, slim, goodJooking, some years younger than her hus-Pegg Steinberger was, like her husband, direct, unpret€ntious, a good



FROM MANY LANDS

talker, ahvays pleasant comp.ny; but also very diderent from him. His easynanner, quick intelligence and humor, great fund of information, objec-tivity, deep and cortinual concern over developmenrs ifl America and Europe,and farmnging sensitiveness appeared to 6nd full releare and scope amongcongenial friends in the siuing-room and at tle dinner table.

Eliot Steinberger continued to interest me, as a man and succesful physician,and as a 6gure in the Anerican maze; but also because I was rrying ro disinto dre Jewish Question, so called, which, largely as a br&wash of events inEurope, had iifted sharply ro the surface in rhe Udted Srares during the later93o's.Like many tews, he did not "look Jewish"; indeed, his physiognomycould have been attribuied to any of a dozen or more elements included inthe American populatjon. He was not Jewish in religion; and I discoveredthatI was familia! with items of lewish history and lore he did not know, and

that hc was a Jew intensely, self-consciously,with a peculiar interlacementof pride and discomfort for the most other fews I knew rvereIews.

One evening, curiouswhat he would say, I asked hirn, "Why are you a Jewt"He looked ar me quizzically {or a momenr withour replying."l mean: what makes vou a Iewl""Well," he smiled, "I know I am a Jew, I jusr am; and-to put it awk-

wardly-I know that, because I just am and because, therefore, in one lvay oranother, ncarly every non-Jew draws a superficiallyor dceply cur line betrveenhimself and me, which underscores the facr that I am a

Jerv."He told me that

when he entered a room in which there were Gentiles he knew with a basic.inevitableawareness that everybody there thought or soon would think of hirnas a lew, and that-somehow-was importart.

He and I had occasional discusions about this. and related ouestions.Ar ruch times,I; ienjng. lc seemedto be .ran,l ingon h. roes even when hesat in a comfortable divan. I told him that, although by origin I was a Slovenianand my pareuts had made anempts to raise me as a Catholic, when I entcreda room I did not care if aayone present thought of nre as a man whose originalnationality was Sloveniao or as a Catholic; or, rather, that I did not thinL ofmyselfas this or that, or of what the other fellow was thinking of me in termsof national orisin or religion.

"You're not a Jew!" said Eliot Steinberger with an uncenain smile.

Ther! after dinner at the Stettens' one evening, the whole company (thercwere about a halfdozen of us) suddenly rurned attertive to Eliot Steinberger,who {n an impulse he could not explain later-began to talk abour his father,the rest of his family, and himself. Perhaps the impulse had something to do

with his being a Jew in the late r93o's,and was linked to thc widespread con-temporary tcndency of many Americans, especiallythose of recent-;mmisr.ntltrains, to examine thei. backgrounds. Puzzled at himself for havinq started



DOCTOR ELIOT STEINBERGER

mration, and a litde s€lf-€onsciou!, he tried to stop oi cut it ihort at several

him to the story for several hours.6rst th€ frankness with which he spoke about his famny and himself wasstartling; by-and-by, however, as I listened to him, it began to appear

but our urging-almost to the'point o{ insistence-that he continue

natural. The calm, objective recounting simply documented his

me. It was like a sersitive instrument tlrobbing to a deep urgency

but also more $an Jewi'h-underlay his Lfc.

sculpture. 7ie Conalerent Gitt. placcd o" r pedesal in a carelully

th€ sofr of individual he $a!.r evening I came to lile hirn very much. The expression of his face

and above the humor, grace, and factual totaliry oI his words. It summedup. Also, to slip into a seeming contradiction of terms, it was a neat dia-r of a deep incongruity in the man, of which I became more and morely aware; of a quandarn which personal, but also more than personal;

I went a few times to the Steinbergers' apdtment, th€ living+oom oIstruck me as a setting peculiarly fitting {or the lovely white-marble piece

corner , . . and I gradualiy learned the whol€ Steinberg€r* saga,Eiiot had barely sketched at th€ Stettens'.

N.,ily all rh. rcFooal J1d $m. ot th^ plac. Dam.. a( wcll J5 a numbd ol tu.ts, iD.idmoin tlis e$entially and orheryis lactuauy @c narratirc arc disguiscd in o.d.. td pie-

sidc.piead or poriularidentificationof Doctor stci.berg.r, ' and at nis rcquc*, Thc.thicn.dical prof.$ion frowns on publicizing ib henbeft

nfr* in a fcw other narativcs in this book r. dnsxned, Ioi oth.r r.Mns. ,Al1 e &u.,



The Familyand the Company

fHE Steinb"rgeh an'l inprrsi \c t :nily in r \e UnitedI 5 r " r - ( . - l - l - n -i - r n p c n b . c ( 5 . o u n J , - r n ^ L r. c e dr o r h " , - , t . " r c r , r t - n r h

century in the Bavarian lahtuare. The name dcrircs Irom the town ol Sten,berg rvhere the clan apparently gained its initial foorhold in Germany. In thccighteenth century dre Stenbctgers were prominent in many torvnsiu Baden;jn the middlc ninetcenth ccntury they srrrtcd ro enigrarc to tnerica, andln the )ast eighty or nincty years produced inreresring ald outstanding indi-liduals in New York, Irhiladelphja,Cincinnari,Chicago, rnd elsewhcre. Evena prrtial list of thern rvould .equire pages; thcy range Irom a scholarly andlious charrcrer in Philad.lpbia in the r8io's to one oI the most impo(anrcontemporarypublishers.The family is divided into a half-dozen or so brancheswhich had their origir with the early emiglants.

Of thc latter probably thc most notewonhy was Elior Stcinbergers father,Heinr;ch (or Henry) Steinberger. A son of a smrll merchant in a Little townnerr Krrlsruhe, he was born in 1343.His educarion jn rbe old country was

the e<luivalent of rwo years in high school. While not lacking in charm andother compcnsrtions, li{e irt Badefl was even thcn set ancl channclized andnarLed by spccial restrictiorsfor dre lelvs; so ar trventy, in 1863,Henry-who,as he soon amply demonstrarcd, h.rd rvithin him the mrkings of rn empirebuildcr lelt ior America.

He imncdiarely Iound cnploymenr in a korher butcher shop located nearthe present site oI thc Woollorth Jlu;lding in New York, owned by IsaacSilbermrnn, rlso ar enisfunr lrom cermrny ud then the leading Jewishbutcher in Manhanan. AmLrn;ous,crp.ble, and very energetic, the young mrn

fcfform.dthrce jobs: slaughtering, selling, and delivcring. Hc

worked six-Lcenhc,ursa day, rccciving ar lirst t$'o dolla.s.r wecL, our oI l(hich he savedselenry 6ve ccnts. Lvery thnd dry he bought r ioot-aDd-alralt lons loaf o{breed xnd narked it od inro three pirts. Posscssinga pcu,erlul rvill rvhichhe erioycd resting he rcvcr ate more rhrn th. day's portion oI the lorf. Hcbotght no other food, but srvallorvcd an occasioml scrap of cured beel orsrusase in thc shop lvhich rvould othcrwiseh.rvebeen thrown arvry. trvenruallylris pay ,dvarced to Iour dollars, and he put trvo dollars d.l a quarter nr

Torvrrd dre cnd oi the sixties, imprcssedby the young man's ability,stamina,and busincss jmasinrtion, Isarc Silbermann made him a prttner and called thcfirrn Silbcrmann .nd Srcinb.rger Comp{ny; whcrcupon, as sencr.l mxnaser,

(r



THE FAMILY AND THE COMPANYso developed the business thar in a few years they were slaughtering

Iorty,fiftyhead of catde a day-practically big business in the early andseventies. The S. & S. meatsJ now no longer solely kosher, becamey known not only in Manhattan

but beyond both th€ rivers flowingand belore long in Philadelphia and even in Waihington, Baltnnore

tter in the strongest, most exciting American seffe oI that period, andstrictly to good business principles and practices, with emphasis on

and qu:lity, Henry Steinberger-now in his early thirties-began toke vast potentialiti€s in the butcher busin€ss. His Bavarian background

deyonou @ Gruendlicll4e;t, or thoroughness, helped him to see tlating as practiced in the United Srates was an enormously wasteful

aod that i ts furure wrs in rhe Jdvanragroushandllngand uLiliziogofoducts, particularly the fats, which had been almost ignored even byshewd old-timers in the business as Isaac Silbermann, With this realiza-Henry Steinberger set about making his ideas tangrble, ard took dre lead

ing aDd instJlling tlre new mrchinery and methods $h:ch led toworld'famous pacLed products, including oleemargarine. Many

were quickly and proEtably copied by other packers, and the butcherbecame the packing industry. Five years after he became a partner, the

S. was doirg an international business. Its new stockyard and slaughter-was near tle junction of First Avenue and Forty-fiIfi Stre€t.

mid+eventies refrigeration was in its infancy, but Henry Steinbergerse€m€d to €nvision the time when the cheap Western beef would be

ved shipping valueless pounds (viscra, etc.), loss of weight while thcrls were enroute, feeding them, and the stockman's wages.ly in his career he made his

contacts in Chicago and Kansas City. Bywhen he was forty-seven, with business continually expanding, he foresawthe S. & S. must extend its organization or risk going under, either zra

to Eastern marLets in pieces neady stacked or hung in sanitary ice-on wheels and rails rather than in livestock cars. The latter medrod

ion was expensive, the low fr€ighl rares norwithstanding, becaule

banlruptcy or slow degeneration. There war no standing still. Peuyenterprises oI any kind had no strong tuture in this country. In back

is nind was the epic thought of becoming the grearcst butcher in rle

he acquired the Mid-Western PacLing Company, which had a small plantrasas City, a lew distributing branches in the East, and an inadequate

ld, supplying meats and fas to great sectioff <jf the human race. So, in

-car line called the Arctic Trrnspoaation Company. He quicLlyand thoroughly.modernized the slaughtering faciliti€s, and rook ov€r

ion of improving r€frigerarion, both at ttre plants and especially in freight, Th€ S. & S. continued in the kosher business, which increased bv leaps



T

8 FROM MINY LANDS

and bou.ds $ith the hrse influx ot te$,ish inmigratjon bcginning in rhcnincties; howerer, the non-koshcr buslncss grerv so rapidLy rhrt the kostrcrrvas soon a trifle alongs c the iorrl. Branch houses rvcre cstrblished rhc counrry

orer, erd thc c\porr busincss rool< a sharp ufswing. The S. & S. buitt rrinmense plxnt io Chicago, rvhich causcd intern.rl upsers in S'vifr ard,{rmour;and the Steinbcrger 6rn-a veritable empirc by rgoo becanie one of rhe thLeemost nnf.,rtint pacl<iog ortnis in rhe rvorld. N$v plants rsere srarrecl also inNew Yo*, Ol,hhoma Ciry, Los AtrSelcs,.rnd Sioux Falls, rnd distrjbutingagencies xl l olcr the Llst eDd jr lurope.

llcnry SrclnLrerger rvas presirlent ard actual directilg hcad of drc S. & S.ltseli, rnd also presidcnt.,f rhe Arctic Trensportrtiol Conpany, the \\iest-E]stLive Stocl 'lranspon Comprny, rnd .r hrlfdozen odrcr hrse crterp.iscs. Hcvas finmchlLy inLerested iD scvcral stermship companjes lvliich hrd jnsLrlleilrclrigcfarlon svstens ni tLrcir lcssels ol his urging. In thc laic rgoos xnd erflyrgro's, soon aiter it bcceme hnoirn rs Srcinberger rnd Sons, rire compenygLossed more than groo,ooo,ooo rnnually.

At the aper oi his amrzing cueer <,r, say. beftvecn r89j (rhe ycrr F,liot \i,asborn) rnd r9r,, \'hcn he ives in his fifties and si{ies Henry Srejnberger lvrsa hcav)+cr n.n oI nedrn1 |.ight. He hrd x pordefous hcad and a Lound.ncsh) rrce, rrther dull-sccnirg rr tinies, bur calable of a divcsiiy of expression,Irorn decp urhrppincss to high jo1lity. I-Ic became bakl in his nventies andr " . i c ' - r h \ . . ' . . r ' \ c ! o L r ' , u . \ J , \ : E .

He \rrs r mln .,t simplc tasics, tith no crcn frintly extrevagant persolrlrcquirements. Thc stench oI dre stoclyarcls rvrs his {avorite urmosphefe. HsgcnerxLofircesin Nc$, YorL rvcre pracrically in the sleughterhouse, rvitliin sourdof dying cattle atcl hogs.

Ilcnr), Steinbcfser lud no social ambjtions, and rcgr<1ed rvith d;favorthose immigrrDt encl secord generetion Ielvs who, po acquiring rvcrlth,turmcl into \lh he crllcd "climbers." He h.d Do use lor people of prctcnsiors

of rn,v sort, telish of Ccntilc.lle spohe snnplc Urglish wirh en acccnr, rncl copies of hts clictrted corrc-spndcnce testift, r., his impcrfcct commrnd oI tlLeLrnSuage. Hc wls 3 ciiizcnoI tlic Unned StrLes, i,jth a passlonate rcgrrd for tlie counrry of his acloption.Spcaking lron inncr conrictior, hc often relerrecl to ir rs "the bcst placc underrhc sun , 'bu t rvxs r lo t re t j ccnr nbour voicin3 l is disapproval of those phrsesof American life $hlch wcnr aseinst his gr:rin Dot:,bly Nasrefutness. HefrcqucnLly declrred there q'rs litle brsis for the Americrn boist oI etliciency.It rvas mostlv en ill$ion, r mrtrcr of thc flcr rhrt Imcri$ns hdd, or thoughrrhcv had, ncxrly limitles resources Lo "phy i,ith." poljricrtly, he a,.rs rnindiEerenL Rcpublicen, \|ith . blunr contcm,lrl for poljiici3ns .s a ch$.

His original natlonality, hc held, ivas Gcrm:rn; eDd hjs pjctufe and biosruphyrppear in rn rvrrva (nov rut volune printed in Nell, york in iros and



Of course he was also a lew; not a very religious bur a very conscious onespe€ch, especialy to quote lines of wisdom from his favorite authors.

made liberaldonations to Jewishcharities.He was the financialmainsrayof

The acqui ' i ' 'onand a,cumuh'on ot money, apparently.w:s nor LhechieF

he liked to read Goethe and Schiller in the orisinal. and olten broLe into

iviring for.e ;n Hen,) SLeinberser\ tife. He derived h s kerne.t Lhrill ourcreating and running a vast concern. It satisfred his ambition, and serveda releaseof the powerful force that churned within him. It was 'tomethinq,"

thouSht,io "uppl) meaLro r good p;rr of rhc world.A respons:b.l ,ry.Moneyimportaflt,to be sure, but mostly as an element, a necessarymeans, in his

tunction. In the late rgoo'sand early rgro's, he was worth tens ofof dollars, perhaps close to a hundred million, bur he nev€r knew, no'

THE FAMILY AND THE COMPANYA History al Gernan Innigrat;an in tAe United State' and Srcce'lf tAhcncant and Thc Dclcefldan!. Ar infreouenr moments of rdara-

t just how much. He never thought of his money as intimately his own.of it was always tied up wil\ the coAc€rn, a stormy, ultra-dynamic or,

iaded a taskmaster, a "slave driver," who sometimes gave rhe impr€ssionmanipulating his erecutive and minor chie{s as though they were push

large hosp;rJ in New York and oI I number of orier irrituttons. Twice, he maried three rimes, each time a girl oI Gerrnan-Jewish stock.

eveningscandles were lit in his home. On Saturdays he refrained from; this, not ody because he *as a Jew who wanted to observe thebut to tesc and exercise his will.

uncertainly geared to the wild process of the countryt economic and

life, the soul of which was cutthroat €omperition. Business was wff.Scorning the clock, he worked fourteen to eighteen hours a day, and harder

anyone in his employ. Bur of his immediate assistantshe demanded dreyhard and long. too. and give rhem,elves rorally rc their iobs. He was

At the peak of his career he employed between ten and fifteen thousand men.ionallyhe b-ooded over rie labor question; and on the whole he treated

provoked Upton Sinclair to wite Tne bngle. By and large, labor, too,only an element, a nec€ssary means, in his enterprise. He was too far

ir workers a tdfle, but $ot much, better than did the or\er big packers,

on the control board of his great machine, the S. & S.

the worl<ers i$ th€ yards ard slaughterhouse, and tlere w€re too manythem, to fed about them continually as people. He tended to lump them in

nass when away from them, although when he wenr on his tours throushI plana he knew and recognized them as individuals. But he felt a deeppondbility toward the employees who performed their tasks closer to him.

saw himsell as their commander-in.chief and protector, and thought-like

general of an army corps in relation to his oficels-tlar their welfare andines dcpended upon b:s abir i tyand 'iuccess. '

Financially, he strove alw.ays to be an independent, having noding to do



IO FROM MANY LANDS

with Wall Stree! and stock speculation. Therein was at once his great strerythand weakness as an industrialist, on€ continually working against the other.

He knew some of the people in the other big packing concerns were referring

to him as'lhat

]ew," "tlat Dutchman" and "t!at foreigner." These derogationsinfiuenced his busines mentality, temperament and procedure. A few tintes,irritated he privately exclaimed in German or English, "They think they're somuch better, those golrl" This resentment was part of the lorce driving himto further conquests, expansions, and successes.

Buc underneath and above :11 were Henry Steinberger's creative-progressivebusinessimpulses and instincts, his European passion against waste, his attach-ment to systematic €fliciency, and his American boldnes. Even ir his sixties,his primaJy interest was continually to b€tter the mathematical business Iormulasto rvhich he had reduced tl.re hog the steer, ard the sheep; ard to so improvethe packing methods thar eventually everythingin the slaughtered animal mightbe utilized. In his rare joking moods he conlessed to having designs on thehogs la* squeal.rhe cow\ 6ml low. the shecpt ulLirutebleaL.

Henry SteinberSer was a schemer; he had to be in his business, and was thatnaturally. His was a suspiciou, nature. There were Iew pmple outside hisimmediate family whom he consistendy trusted. At times he mistrusted evenmembers oI his own family, at Ieast in the mauer of their ability to stand ontheir owtr fe€t, both as persons and in reference to his company. With all thepow€r and money at his comnand his life was shot through with a feeling of

insecurity. The lew in himl Perhaps. Most of the time he seemed to feelthrearened. He indined to expect the worsr, aad much oI his thought andgeneral energy went toward establishing a continuous series of systematicpfecautions. He traveled

"Iot, and would frequently call his home long

distance from Chicago or Kansas City in tle middle of the nighc to inquireif everything was all right, or to ask his wile to hasten to the basement andmake sure nothing had caught 6re there. A foreboding of doom gripped himeverv once in a while.

He was reaily imerested only in his family and his business-which of the

two came tust would be diGcult ro say. His entire life revolved around them,He could not endure the idea of being "honored" by anybody. Deep in him hewas a humble man, an immigrant; a self'made giant a little scared of himseltof what he had becorne and of the cnormous outFt he had created.

Itr a way, Henry Steinberger's family was as large and @mplicated as hisbusiness. He was tle father of three series of children whic\ ir relation tootre another and to tle entire farnily, had some of the aspects of three competingcorporations within a holding company whose head is equally intefesred inthem all.

He 6rst married in the late 186o\, immediately on becoming a parmer inhis former boss' 6rm. A native of New York, his wiJe was the dauehcer oI an



shegave bnth to as many children, a boy and a pair of {emaletwins. Thedied in early infancy, and their mother soon a{rerthem, of sudden illness.

bon Adolpl; was €xceptionably endowed and, in part because of tlnt,not get along with his halt brothers and sisters oI the subsequem marriagesoI whom also were exceptionally endowed individuals), and in conse-tuned into a black sheep o{ t}re family. Reaching adulthood, he com-to roam the world, mostly the Orient, His father supplied hirn with

THE FAMILY AND THE COMPANY

t Iamily who were close friends of the Isaac Silbermanns. In three

. He has never met his second stepmother, six years his junior; nor mosl

St€inberger remarried a year after the death of his tust wife, and

les, Max, Ferdinand, Louis, Sylvia, Esther, and lulie. Beginning in the

is half brothers and sisters of the second and third series. Now in his seven-Adolph Stejnberger live, in Hawaii.

second Mrl Steinberger had five sons and three daughters: Henry,lr.,

ninetier, four sons of the second series went hto their father's business,three stayed in it til1 its €nd. Two of the eight chil&en are dead; the

yarious parts of the world. All were educated in private schools and fore-univeruities in America and Europe: Yale, Harvard, Vassar, Heidelberg,

ile he was a student in Germany, Ferdinand Steinberger decided to stayand eventually becane a successful German dramatist, wririns urder ade plume a score of "hits," two of which were translated into Englishpresented on Sroadway in rgrr and in th€ late r92o's. He married a

Gertile worllan. In 1936 he and his family fl€d b Vienna, in 1937 to; as I write this, in June, r94o, tley are in a little town in Switzerland-

in their late middle age-are leading unique liva in the Unired States

most ifltdesting p€rson in this goup is Louis, 3l1 ecletrtuic |Iow ifl his

dollars in twenty-Fve years. One day he asked himsell: what dodo mostl He supplied the aaswer: chew gum ard take laxatives;

invented a combination of chewing gum and laxative which is now solddrugstore in the United States and in many other €ounlries. But on

6fties. He is a graduace of Yale and the inventor of a mrmber oI gadgets,pills, etceteras, tbe patents on which have brought him abouc ten

him in the streets of New Yor( where he "batches" in a forty-dollar-a-two-room nrt in an old brownstone house, the generous perso$ might

dificulty in suppressing aa impulse to stop him and profrer him a dime.his food in the cheapest stores and from pushcart peddlers, buying

decayed fiIteen-cent melons for a nickel. His fortune, however, is sensibly; and if one tales a close look at him, one can$ot h€lp recognizingior person who has somehow become overi-ndividualized. Often heFifth Avenue holding aloft a white handkerchief, his fierce glare com-

fia6c to stop or slow down till he reaches the sidewalk. He is his



FROM MANY LANDShalf brother ElioCs favorite character. They meer several times a year, andEliot relishes telling anecdotes abour Louis.

The other chjldren of the second marriage, thougtr not rich, are rvell-todo.Some live

in considerable style, tastefully and lvirh srace. Two or three arevery civic-mindcd, responslble and positive citizens. But nearly a[ :re out,of-the,ordinary, either in talents or in the nans their lives have hken. ODcpaints, arcther is an uDusuallygifted musician. One has become a devoutCatholic and almost enrered the orders; his closest friend noiv is the priesr in alittle town in eastern Connecticut.Another is a Christian Scientist.. . . Exceptfor Louis, they are all married; some to Jews, others to cenriles. For yearsone of the daughters has becn on the verge of Anglicizing her name; she isirtensely and miserably anri-Semiric.. , .

Their mother died in the early rBgo\. One day abour a year later HenrySteinberger, Sr., just 6fty and rapidly looming up as one of the bcst*nownlewish Amcricans and big industrialistsin the courtry, happened to be inNorfolk, Virginia, and mct a loung lady, Bella Friedmxn, who rvas not yettwenty, the daughrer of a local cerm.n-tcr,r,ish American merchant. Thepacker had seen her years before as a little girl; norv, fully developed, shepleased him, and he asked Ior her hand. She was not only younger ttan hisson by hh 6rst rvife but youngcr rhan lvere rwo chjlclrenof dre second series.

They were married, and he brought her to his large but unprereutjous newresidencein the Sixties near Fifrh Alenue. Then trouble beg.rn.Loyal to theirlatc modrer, severalof drc oider childrcn objected to e bride and consideredridiculousthc suggestion that they acccpt her as their new mother. There were

Practic.J man thar he was, Hcnry Steinbefgef reorganized the householdinto trvo sections.The tri,oupper storeys,fully stafiedx-irh serlanls, were girento the eight children by h;s second wife, lvhi1e the rlyo lower fioors, withanother ser of servants, became the home oI thc nerv ftmily. For yeare the

only contact berwcen the two households was the old mar, who often vjsjtedhis older childrer upstairs, but spent most of his non-bLrsinessmoments dorvn,

In six years Bella gave birth to Iour children: Eliot, Manhall, Ann, andHarold. Marshall fcll ofi a horse at the age of twenty-Eve and was killed; theother three ar€ as unique and remarLable jn their dilTercnt ways as are rhesons and daughters of the second marriage.

The reaction of the older children to his third marriage saddened the bigindustrialist considerably. As hard as he lvas on himself and his ;mportanremployees, he inclined to be all tendernes tolvffd his children and to givedrem almost anythiog rhey desired. He had high ambirions for them, whichran generally toward maLing rhem compercnr, useful, and cultured men andrvomen.He held to the idea that the fL:ture rvouldbelong ro the highly educated



! in it, ard the most highly regarded ifftiturions were not too good forboysaod girls. Bur. al$ough he rried nor Lo show it. rhe sons disappoinLed

one by one. When he began to draw those byhis second wife into ttreing busines, he discovered to his growing disman that sending Sem to

: and Harvard and Europe had been a mistake. They were all right forine administrative worl but seemed unable to develop a passion, a .,fee!"

m€at industry; the passion thar, in spite of occasionaldoubts and fears6ut himsell and his function in life, gave a posirive, single-minded qualityeverything he limself did in a business way. He found out they-particularly

namesake, Henry, Judor-were interested in S. & S. not so much as arcking industry wit! world,wide markets, an instrument on which theyprJcticerheir Lalentsand Jb,l iLies.rod an opporrudry to deveJopas

but as a basis and source of their prestige, and as a tremendous, though:rsome, money,making machine designed to serve them specially in ordir

' miCht Iollow their own personal propensities,which were sports, travd,arts. He {elt that eventually, alter he died, they might be overdisposed to. the business in the hands of others; this he knew would be daneerous.his compeLiLorswere obviously doiog Lheir urmost ro rub rhe S: & S.

THE FAMILY AND THE COMPANY 13is ev€rythiry"), to those acutely awarc of the world and their

ified abruptly brought on a near-cotlapse. There was more than a touch

ing him lvith his interests in Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Siouxi. and Bosron. and he received daily repons. S. & S. wl< rr jrs hejghq

an annual gross business of more thall a hundred million. The factthe rnatter was that his '?r1," comp€tirors maneuvered endlesslv to embroiln in d;frculdes.They conducredinrer<ivesalescamprignsin his terrirorie, .

called them "invasions." Some were raling advantage of latent anti-here and there to rake cusromefs away from S. & S.

The size and rLe far-flung markets of rhe companyinvolved enormousial problems, which the least distocation in production or sales aggra-

ursently. This oblised him to keep his perso;al fortune, o. la'l"t i-utabeen his personal fortune, constandy tied up; and every now and then,ir consequence of some unfriendly maneuver, he found himself in suddenof a halfmillion or a million dollars in cash for a few weeks or months.he had to borrow frorn rhe ban[', some of whose omceru he more (han

the signs about him should have contributed to his asurance: on his deskNew YorL were 6v€ telephones at the end of as many direct wires cor-

were '1n" with his competirors.rly in r9r3, when he was seventy, rhe S. & S. had to borrow two million.old man worried day and night. He had been in ill-healtlr for months

Les€thoughts depressed Henry Steinberger, Sr., increasingly as he grew. They brought on insomnia. He woried, even during rhe period when

Now the strain o{ his years and the tuancial situatior! which hc

heart trouble.



T-

. Bcila Steinbergcr had nor lovcd Henry Sreinbergcr when she maried himrrn the tlvcnty ycars since rhen, howcver, she had perceived his staturc andquality, rnd developed a prolound allecrionior rhc mm. Now, on thc adviccoI the family doctor, she rooL hin od to Europe and pur hinr ln r {amoussannarium in Switzerland.He did not improve. He fretted about his business,then about the war, and went sloivly Irom bad to rvorec . . . ancl died in thesummer oI r9r5, wnh lhe kno$,tedge that rhe S. & S., in chargc c,I his sons,was in . bad wry, heavily indebted to brnks, rnd doomed.

FROM tr{,{NYLANDS

't'ltc Natia"al I'rcris;one' wrote, ". . . The ncrvs of his dcmisc brought sororvro rhe entire mcar-prckins trtrdej {or his abiky and peruolality haci unncd roidn hin ihc respcct aDd x.lmjltjort of rll ivho rvere connected w;rh ttrc 1f3de

to $h;ch hN lifc was dcvored. His derth rcrnovcs thc hst of thar lvooderfulSroup of bus|rcss nicn ivho built up the mcl-prctring rrudc rnd nnde Americat}r lmd.r ;n mcr( rrd mcft producs. A1l rrc gone, bur thc jD.lustfy lheyIounded rnd buift still pro6a by $eir orgrnizins ab;tny, anct ever will..i

These scnriments, while sincerely hekl by nllny jn the prcking fictd, did not. . ' r ' , 1 - . l ' . \ . " r l ' " e , r l , o n , . . . , , i l c r . r . . , . r , 1 , . . " s

. r l ' . r ' r ' r r i r l " , r n o n 1 , t r , , . . l . r i . i . r n r e r ' r h r \ \ n j t W- - ,when jts bus;ness Derrcd an annu.l sross oI nvo hundred m;llion ctollan. Im,mcdirtel,v, in t9r4, rlong wnh die odrcr big packer!, rhe S. & S. began to shipinmerse cargoes of mcet end

other froducis nor only to tbe Allics, bur rlsoto ncutrrl Dutch and ScaDdinxvian ports, rvhcnce the 3rcrter porl;on of them. l : ' , . ' h " . ' , l r r ' , , . i l - d , , r . , . r r r r . r r r. . . | . . . b , , . . , r , ( c r r p . o' r , r \ r | d l . . n . l I . k u . r . - i r , g A n . - r . . r . n J . . " n . . r , , I . c r r t i n gsuch supplies. rnd confiscating them as prize clrgocs rvhcn thc crptains couldnot frore the ncrt rnd flis and casings (whlch could be used nor onty insaustrseilrhi,rs trur also in Z.fpclins) woul.l lot eventurlty reach rheir

In r9r5, this caus..l scriou! diplom3tic complications betrveen the UrireilStatcs rd ilritrin, wirh Bruin gcring the bener end oI the situation. TheAnericrn packerr losr tcns ot millions of dollaN, atrh.,ugh rhe busnress irwhich they hrd enjlagcd ivas tcchnicrlty rvithin tLc frovisions !f irtcrnitjomlhw. The con6scations, h hrr,lest on rlie Sr.inbergers, amounti,rgto somcthj g likc trventy rnillions. The S. & S. ji,ined rtre other p3cke6 in iiconc.ne.l attemft to nghr rhc Bfir;sh govcmmenr in ihe British courts, bur {4renthe other f3ckers.lisc.,vere.l lhir the Brirjsh tliolrght of rhe Steinltrgers not asAn.r;crns-bxt xs Geinlans rnd, .ls such, sfecjlt cuhrits jn rhis tradc, rtreygol clerr of rhen xnd lelt rhcm Lo cenxin rnd complete dcfeat. Thcy hnerv thisroul.l furrlrer [,crken rhe Enrncirl sL.u.r,.e uI thc cc,mprny, rtrirdy shrky,and fur i t iDto Lhehanrls of the banls , giving rhen x chrnce to se ize i t s vas trcsourccs, planLs and m.rrlicts. rnd cjrher to dcrrol.or re rofm rr as .n ofgrn!zation. Th.y Ie[ rhc young Steinbcrgers did not hale it ir them to 6ght and



THE FAMILY AND THE COMPANY 15

a few years after th€ Armisticc.

th€ S. & S. They were correct. And io shorten a long and nasty tale,companywtuch Henry Steinb€rger had crcrred ceased ro e\i.t under irs old

Out of the wreckagc, the Steinbergers salvaged about three millions. A half-ion went to the widow; the rest was divided in quarter million lots amongchil&en.

1939 Louis ADAMIC from many lands

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Transcript of 1939 Louis ADAMIC from many lands