Hester, Henry Garretson

Submitted by Mike Miller

Hester, Henry Garretson, world-famous authority and cotton statistician, secretary and superintendent of the New Orleans cotton exchange, was born in the city of New Orleans, La., Nov. 18, 1846. His father, Charles Hester, was a British subject, and was very prominent in real estate circles of New Orleans and Louisiana years ago. Henry Garretson Hester, the son, was educated in the public schools of New Orleans and later studied law in the office of the late Judge H. B. Eggleston for a considerable time, but did not prosecute his legal studies to a conclusion, being attracted, it appears, by the lure of the reportorial field, which, as the years have gone by, has been the school from which so many men of brilliant achievements have graduated. He became a reporter for the Price Current, then a famous commercial and financial paper published at New Orleans, and in addition to his duties in connection with the Price Current soon also filled the position of financial editor of the Daily Picayune. Then, in this double capacity, seemingly content with the material at hand upon which to exercise his energies and apply his abilities, the young man settled down to the work of developing a career that has challenged the attention and compelled the admiration of the agricultural, commercial and financial world. His connection with a number of organizations of importance rapidly developed his abilities as a man of figures, and upon the organization of the New Orleans cotton exchange in 1871 young Hester was urged by its founders to accept the position of secretary of the exchange, though there were many applications for this place. He finally consented to take the secretaryship on condition that it was not to be allowed to interfere with his other work. It is said that never for a moment since his installation as secretary of the New Orleans cotton exchange, even during the years through which her served as associate editor of the Cotton Work, has he been out of touch with the workings of that institution, even though absent from the city for longer or shorter periods. He originated and perfected the system of statistics that is used, and has made it probably the most perfect system known. Throughout the world his statistics on the cotton crop have become famous and invaluable. Speaking of this early work some years ago, the famous secretary said: "I worked on the subject of telegraphic information and perfected the system to such an extent that men in the cotton trade found the advantages so great that they could not well do business outside the exchange. I organized a system of statistical information especially designed for the business of the South that was afterward copied by the exchanges of Savannah, Mobile, Charleston, Galveston, Houston and other places, where they were subsequently organized. At that time we furnished merely daily information, but after a few years I made up my mind that a statement of the entire cotton crop movement was needed. We called a convention of the all the cotton exchanges in the country to arrange a perfect news system and other matters of common interest to cotton centers. The result was an arrangement by which we took in hand and gave out figures monthly. This combination was kept up for quite a number of years. The first national secretary was John S. Toof, of Memphis, and subsequently S. H. Buck, of New Orleans, but the statistics of the National Cotton exchange were made up by myself. Finally Mr. Toof retired, and I was persuaded to take the national secretaryship, which I held for some time in conjunction with the secretaryship of the New Orleans Cotton exchange. After some years I, too, retired from the position, being succeeded for several years by C. Harrison Parker, and later the National exchange, having accomplished the work for which it was instituted, was abandoned." The secretary referred to the testimonial given him by the National exchange at the time of its meeting at Old Point Comfort, which he has framed and hung upon the wall in his office. This represented the sentiment of the cotton business of the United States. Secretary Hester was one of the representatives of New Orleans at all of the conventions of the National Cotton exchange during its existence. That organization, he says, did a great deal of good in the way of bringing about a cordial feeling among all branches of the trade throughout the country, and laid the groundwork for material improvements in the system of gathering information about the growing crop. This noted citizen of New Orleans has held a great many important commissions not directly connected with, but growing out of, his eminent standing in the cotton world. In the 70's he was expert for the Bureau of Internal Commerce, Treasury Department, getting up reports on the commerce of New Orleans and the industries and agriculture of Louisiana. He held this commission eleven years. He was a delegate to the convention of cotton trades of the United States, a delegate to the Southern Postal convention at Old Point Comfort, and has represented the New Orleans Cotton exchange at many important gatherings of those directly interested in the South's great staple since the New Orleans Cotton exchange was organized. Gov. M. J. Foster made Sec. Hester a member of his staff, with the rank of colonel, and he held the same position on the staffs of Gov. W. W. Heard and Gov. J. Y. Sanders. Gov. Foster also appointed Col. Hester a member of the state board of labor and arbitration. He was elected president of that board, and took an active part in efforts to settle labor troubles in the city of New Orleans, especially in the case of the differences between the street railway company and its employees. He was vice-chairman of the Merchants' Committee on Labor. He was a delegate-at-large to the State constitutional convention of 1898, and during the sessions of that assembly filled the position of chairman to the committees on Agriculture and Immigration, on Corporations and Corporate Rights, and on Affairs of the city of New Orleans. When the question of the selection of a member of the Panama Canal commission from the South was raised, Col. Hester was at once put forward by his friends. He was indorsed [sic] by the financial centers of the whole South, and his fitness recognized throughout the country, but it was decided that an engineer was required in this position, and therefore Maj. B. M. Harrod received the appointment. Col. Hester's candidacy at that time demonstrated in a remarkable manner the confidence and esteem in which he is held by the united commercial interests of the Nation. He has written a great deal for publication on financial and commercial subjects, at the same time never for a moment failing to keep thorough record up with the in intricate duties of his varied important commissions. Though a member of many clubs, Col. Hester is essentially a home-loving man, markedly fond of the society of his own fireside. He is a member of the Boston club, Choctaw club, the Democratic Central club of the city, a Mason and an Elk; was a member of the city sewerage and water board, when it handled the great problems involved in the proper sewerage and drainage of the city of New Orleans, and quite probably at least half a dozen other really important commissions that might be enumerated here. This will suffice, however, to convey something like an adequate idea as to what a busy man the secretary of the New Orleans Cotton exchange is. The exchange has had many succeeding presidents, but each of these, in turn, has had the benefit of the ability and conscientious faithfulness of the secretary without a peer, to guide the new executive in the administration of his office. One of the marked characteristics of Col. Hester has always been his unfailing good humor and his ready accessibility to newspaper representatives and others having legitimate claims to his attention. He has never forgotten, it appears, that reporters have a mission, and that it is for the public that they are working when they seek information about the exchange or about other matters with which he may be for the time connected. As pertinent to this characteristic, it is interesting to briefly note here some expressions from a newspaper-man in a city distant from New Orleans after having interviewed Col. Hester for his paper. Said this knight of the pencil: "The greatest of the world's cotton experts is a remarkable man. Personally, Sec. Hester is one of the frankest, happiest, and most engaging of men. He has the open smile of a manly boy, and possesses that greatest of all blessings to busy men, that of leaving his business in his place of business, barred in and locked, when he goes home or away for recreation. He is the easiest, most gracious, and most helpful man in giving an interview whom I have met during more than 20 years of newspaper work. What he has to say he says in a direct and logical way that makes it easy to follow him accurately, and all the time he is the cultured gentleman of sweet civility. How happy and charming is all this, and how strikingly in contrast with the bad manners and vulgar patronage of the horde of rude upstarts in politics and business who conceive it to be the part of their poor little greatness to be rude to reporters, and who will then sneak around and try to get themselves into the newspapers. * * * He is a small, thick-set agile man, with hair and mustache almost white, clear blue eyes, and a round and rosy face that does not indicate he was born in the year 1846. He received me as cordially as if I had been an old friend, and when I began the generally unpleasant task of interviewing him, I experienced the sensation of having known him long and well. Such ease and grace and abundant good nature I do not remember to have observed in a great man more than once before in my experience. He made my 'assignment' a delightful recreation. Not only was my old-time admiration of him, whom personally I had merely seen once before, heightened, but I left him with a feeling on my part of affectionate friendship.'' Newspaper men throughout the civilized world have written about Col. Hester, of the New Orleans Cotton exchange, and the above quotation from one of these writers affords an apt expression of the universal esteem in which he is held by the newspaper fraternity. Volumes could be made from articles published in newspapers and magazines throughout Europe and America reviewing the work of Col. Hester and commending the able secretary, but as space in this work is necessarily limited it is obligatory that only a few very brief extracts be made from the many available. From a lengthy article published in a distant city the following small portion is taken: Sec. Hester was chosen for the secretaryship of the New Orleans exchange, the most responsible and the most confidential business position in the entire South, when the exchange was first organized, and when he was then but 22 years old, early in the year 1871, and from the day he assumed that great trust down to this hour he has commanded, and, best of all, fully deserved, the entire confidence of all the cotton men of the South. At times when other experts were justly or unjustly brought under suspicion, and when disappointed speculators went so far as to reflect upon the integrity of even the Agricultural Department of the Government, Sec. Hester stood upon a proud plane above all clouds of doubt and mistrust, and only words of honor and confidence were spoken of him. He stood a 'still strong man in a blatant land,' one who was ealin in the confusion of tongues that made bedlam about the tower of Mammon." The following few words are taken from an extended article published in the Daily Picayune, of New Orleans: ''Henry Garretson Hester, who is so well- known to everybody in New Orleans, not only cotton exchange people, but citizens in every walk of life, has been so familiarly associated with the daily life of the city that most people have overlooked the fact that he is quite as well-known in commercial circles North, and in Europe as he is here. They think of him mainly as 'Col. Hester of the cotton exchange,' member of the clubs, member of the Sewerage and Water Board, and a good-humored and friendly neighbor. Of course, everybody knows about 'Hester's Report' on cotton, but that is as a matter-of-fact here, when throughout the cotton world it is a great business agency.''

Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 202-205. Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.