Autobiography by Samuel A. Carlson - Part 1

Last week I was visiting a few local antique shops and came across a signed copy of the Autobiography of former Jamestown Mayor Samuel A. Carlson (1868–1961). Carlson was the longest-serving mayor in Jamestown's history and he compiled an impressive 50 years of public service to the city. As a result of his various municipal projects,including the effort to provide affordable electricity to the residents and businesses within the city, he's considered one of the most prominent and influential people in Chautauqua County's history and is one of the 200 people who will be featured in next year's Bicentennial Biographies project. 

To celebrate his milestone of 50 years in public service, and at the urging of various friends and colleagues, Carlson wrote and published his autobiography in 1943, printed by the Liberty Printing Company of Jamestown, N.Y.

Since several people have told me they'd be interested in reading the book, I thought it may be best to offer as much of the biography as time would allow on my blog. So from time to time I'll enter passages of the book. Also, anyone interested in borrowing the book and reading it can do so by contacting me. It's only 72 pages long, making for a fairly quick read.

Samuel A. Carlson, Circa 1900

Autobiography by Samuel A. Carlson - Mayor Emeritus
and Comments on His Fifty Years of Public Service

[Page 1 - 4]

 
 BEGINS CAREER

     Samuel Augustus Carlson was born in the city of Jamestown, October 26, 1868 on what is known as English Hill. His parents, John Frederick and Matilda Charlotta Carlson, immigrated from Askryd, Jönköpings Län, Sweden, to America in 1867. His mother died during his infancy, and three years later his father married Louise Hedstrom. Mr. Carlson was educated in the public schools of this city. At the age of 14 he became a member of the YMCA and its debating society and has continued his membership in the YMCA to this day. He is a 32nd Degree mason and a member of a number of other leading fraternities. He has two brothers, John E., and D. Lawrence, of Jamestown and one syster [sic], Mrs. Ruby Erickson of Los Angeles, Calif.

     In 1891 together with his father and brother, Charles, he purchased a furniture factory from his uncle, Samuel S. Carlson, which was then located at the foot of Willard Street.

     In 1893 he sold his interest in the business and assumed the management of the Swedish Weekly, Vart Land (Our Country), which was originally organized in 1872 and then called “Folkets Röst” (People’s Voice). This publication was in latter years published partly in Swedish and partly in the English language. Its publication was suspended about ten years ago [1933]. The files of this publication which virtually contains the history of the Scandinavian settlements in Western New York and Pennsylvania have been donated by Mr. Carlson to the Swedish Museum at Philadelphia.

     On June 21, 1893, shortly after his election as councilman, Mr. Carlson was married to Freda S. Hendrickson. They have a son Wendell LaVern, who is a Radio Engineer in the Field of Research and Defense.

Press Comments

The Post-Journal of May 1, 1943 said:

     As Mayor Emeritus Samuel A. Carlson sits back in his easy chair in his second floor den at his home, 37 Maple Street, this evening, he can scan the vista of 50 years since he first became a figure in the public life of Jamestown back in 1893 and see bound up in his career, much of the life of this native community. And Sam was born here, and strange to relate his birthplace on English Street, on English Hill, in the very heart of that section in which the English pioneers first mae their home in this community.

     Asked as to what he considered his most outstanding achievements during his entire public career, he replied that there were two:

     1. Promoting the movement for the municipal electric light plant until it became a reality. Also water and Hospital service.

     2. Appointment of men to the Board of Public Utilities who were sufficiently qualified to make the water and light plants the marked success which they have been.

     When he was first elected mayor he devoted a portion of his time to his private business, holding an interest in the Vart Land Publishing Company, publishing a weekly newspaper, and being engaged in the insurance business as well, later he relinquished these conceptions and devoted his entire time to the mayoralty of office.

Sums Up Work

     Looking back over the years, his thoughts may be framed in these words: “I have often been misunderstood; I have doubtless often misjudged my critics, but that is a part of the political game and in many of my actions I have made mistakes, although on the whole I have been vindicated in my main efforts and, after all, that is the real test.”

     Mr. Carlson was first elected Alderman on the issue that he would champion a proposal to inaugurate municipal commercial lighting. He was re-elected in 1895, having been endorsed by Republican, Democratic and People’s Party. A few months after his election hew was appointed by Mayor Eleazer Green as commissioner of public works, serving in that capacity for 10 years. In 1908 h was elected mayor on the pledge promising expansion of the city electric plant, which had been operated on a small-scale basis up to that time by the Council. He served one four-year term and 11 two-year terms as mayor. He served two terms as president of the New York State Conference of Mayors and is now [1943] serving his fourth year as a member of the Board of Public Utilities.

Speaker and Writer

     During the past 50 years Mr. Carlson has delivered speeches, and written articles totaling more than 5,000, mostly on public utility questions. The public record shows that it was Mr. Carlson who first introduced most of the initiatory measures in the early stages of the public utility movement in this city. He often fought alone against bitter opposition. It was Carlson who in a large measure molded public sentiment in support of this movement. It was Carlson who latter as mayor selected the business, professional and engineering personnel by whom the municipal utilities were developed to the present momentum of successful operation.

     The movement to build a plant to light some of our principal streets encountered much opposition back in the early days when the late M. George Martyn played a leading part in that role. But the real big municipal battle began after Mr. Carlson, then a youthful alderman, introduced in May, 1894 a resolution to sell bonds for the purpose of procuring machinery with which to produce current to be sold to the people of the city, the first experiment of its kind to be tried in America.

Face Opposition

     But even after the commercial equipment had been installed, it took many years before a majority of the Common Council, then in control of the plant, could be elected who could be counted on to wholeheartedly favor a continuous expansion to meet the increasing demands for municipal current. The result of this slow-moving policy was that up to the year 1908 the plant, then valued at $136,000 had only 150 consumers and a revenue of less than $44,000. It was in that year that Mr. Carlson was first elected mayor after having launched his candidacy on a platform declaring for the purchase of larger units of generating electricity so that greater and cheaper production of energy could be supplied to the citizen consumers. Soon after Carlsons’s election and the educational effect of his campaign, a bond issue was ratified by the taxpayers of a larger addition to the City Plant. Seeking increased revenue from industrial plants Mayor Carlson succeeded in enlisting the services of Frank O. Anderson, then a leading industrialist, as a chairman of the reorganized Board of Public Utilities which had assumed the functions previously performed with little progress by politically-minded alderman who had failed in making the plant a formidable competitor of the private company. It was the business ability and mechanical skill of Mr. Anderson and also that of the late Karl Peterson, assisted by Engineer Louis Klauder, that developed the municipal system up to the high efficiency momentum which it has attained in recent years and now continued under the capable chairmanship of Alfred C. Davis, engineer and financier. All of these men were non-political appointees of Mayor Carlson. None of them could have accomplished what they did unless they had been previously appointed by the mayor. Millions of dollars have been saved for the people as a result of Carlson’s early efforts and services in bringing about low rates and the present plant values for the city.

     The public records show that Mr. Carlson and the late M. George Martyn were the pioneers in the movement that led to the establishment of the municipal electric and water plants in this city.

Highlights of Career

     Some of the highlights in Mr. Carlson’s public career include his advocacy of street pavements at a time when there was nota single foot in the city; his paving plan was approved by a referendum after all other plans had been rejected. His proposals for a municipal hospital and public market, both now in successful operation; his introduction of the plan for paving and sewer construction by the city; the confiscation of coal from the Erie Railroad at the time when there was a serious shortage here; efforts to establish a municipal gas plant; movement to bring about the establishment of a municipal milk plant.

     During the first World War, he served as chairman of the local draft board, which embraced the entire city.

     A signal honor came to him in 1933, when the Carl Schurz Foundation of Philadelphia chose him as a member of a group of 17 Americans to conduct study and research in European cities to stimulate good will between the peoples of the two countries. He was the only mayor so chosen and was named chairman of the group. Upon his return from Europe he wrote a book, “The Sage of a City and a New Concept of Government.

GO TO PART 2