January 19 Saturday – The Hope-Jones Organ Co. was incorporated in Elmira, New York, with capital stock of $250,000 in 750 shares of 7% cumulative preferred shares and 1500 shares of common stock, all in $100 shares. The three directors: John Brand, J. Sloat Fassett, and Robert Hope-Jones. Jervis Langdon II was president and treasurer, and Hope-Jones vice- president. Jervis’ Uncle Sam Clemens subscribed to $5,000 worth, payable over time on “calls,” as did Edward E. Loomis, vice-president of the Lackawanna Railroad (and husband of Sam’s niece, Julia Langdon Loomis); and Theodore Vail, president of AT&T, and numerous other investors. The factory was in Elmira, a 30,000 square foot building on the corner of Madison and Fifth; an office was also opened in N.Y.C. For Sam this was an investment he made for Clara and Jean [Ensor, MT & Hope-Jones 5-6]. Note: see Mar. 12 from Jervis, also Apr. 3 entry.
Isabel Lyon’s journal: A flutter—no, a serious upheaving of the King’s anxieties over the fact that the N.A. Review is cutting & cutting down the instalments of the Autobiography. He feels that the Harpers must be near collapsing again or they would not cut out 16 pages of reading matter of a magazine that is only 5 months old.
Mother & I went to hear Gabrilowitsch play this afternoon. It was a performance to charm one. It charmed me, all but the Arensky number—but I think I didn’t understand it, & I was exhausted by then, for the Chopin Sonata was wonderfully played and didn’t leave much of me. Gabrilowitsch came in this evening to see C.C. & we had a pleasant chat. He quite agreed with the King that the driving around the “Spoon” to reach the front door of the Hartford house was an impossibility, until C.C. proved that it wasn’t an impossibility, by walking with Gab. around the scrap basket which was the “Spoon” to the Barberini chair which was the house.
The Republican party is on a stump & the Democrat dogs are barking all around it & having such a good time. Foraker speech, Tellman speech, Blockburn endorsement of the President’s position [MTP: IVL TS 15-16].
Mrs. A. Wilkinson Besley wrote from Chattanooga, Tenn. to Sam, enclosing her poem she felt was “suggested by reading ‘King Leopold’s Soliloquy” [MTP].
Rule Letcher wrote from Bremerton, Wash. to Sam. Being a fellow Missourian, Letcher asked “how the natives of that state came to be called, Pukes?” [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter: “Should be glad to furnish the information but do not possess it.”
Anna L. Pederson for the N.Y. Wellesley Club wrote to invite Sam to their annual luncheon on Jan. 19 at the Manhattan Hotel to “tell us in a few words your experience as a lobbyist” [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter: “decline”.
F.W. Shumaker for Sterling Debenture Corp., NYC. wrote to solicit Sam to purchase shares in the American Telegraphone Company, which combined features of the telephone and the phonograph, recording speech [MTP].