Charles Michael Schwab
Charles Michael Schwab (1862-1939)
Obituary.[1]
CHARLES MICHAEL SCHWAB died in New York on September 18, 1939, at the age of seventy-seven. Born on February 18, 1862, at Williamsburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania, he received his early education at the local school at Loretto, whither his family had moved, and at St. Francis College. His first post was that of assistant in a grocer’s shop at Braddock, Pa., which was frequented by work-people from the Edgar Thomson Steelworks of Messrs. Carnegie Brothers & Co.; here he came under the notice of Captain W. ft. Jones, superintendent of the works, who, being impressed by the young man’s energy and intelligence, gave him a job in the works of driving stakes at a dollar a day. Mr. Schwab’s mechanical and organising abilities and his capacity for managing men soon asserted themselves, and on the death of Captain Jones he succeeded to the superintendency. In 1892 he was also given the similar position in the Homestead Works of the Carnegie Steel Company; four years later he became a member of the board of managers of the concern, and in the following year was elected President in succession to Carnegie.
About this time it became realised that for further economic development a fusion of interests among the larger steel companies was necessary. Largely through Mr. Schwab’s ability and energy an amalgamation was effected, and in 1901 the United States Steel Corporation came into being, with Mr. Schwab as President. In 1903 he resigned from this position, and, while retaining large personal interests in the Corporation and its subsidiaries, he bought a steel-works in Bethlehem, Pa., into the development of which he threw all his energies. This concern later was included in the ill-fated United States Shipbuilding Company; the successor to this shipbuilding combination was called the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and Mr. Schwab was made its President.
During the Great War of 1914-1918, Mr. Schwab was of incalculable help to Great Britain and her allies. After the outbreak of the war he offered to place the whole resources of his works at the British Government’s disposal. He built submarines in record time and supplied vast quantities of munitions. When the United States entered the war the submarine campaign was at its height and the need for more and more ships was urgent. At President Wilson’s pressing invitation he became Director-General of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, so becoming responsible for the execution of the programme of construction adopted by the Shipping Board; he resigned this position in December, 1918, when hostilities had ceased.
Mr. Schwab received many honours during the course of his career. He was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour by the French Government for his services during the war. In 1928 the Council of the Iron and Steel Institute awarded him the Bessemer Gold Medal, and in 1932 he received the Melchett Gold Medal from the Institute of Fuel.
Mr. Schwab had for long been a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute. In 1927 he was elected President in succession to the late Mr. E. H. Gary; he occupied this position for five years and then became Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute, which position he resigned in 1934. His association with the (British) Iron and Steel Institute had also been long, for he became a Member as long ago as 1895; in 1926 he was elected an Honorary Vice-President.
With Mr. Schwab’s death the iron and steel industry of the United States of America loses one of its most outstanding personalities.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1939 Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute