Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 35, number 1, autumn, 1951

              few men have been more significant in the annals of wisconsin industry and agriculture than j i case here are some of the fascinating details of his rise to business success the cost of that rise in energy and thought are made clear by the author who also offers some interesting estimates of the man j i case some experiences of an early wisconsin industrialist by reynold m wik dr joseph schafer former superintendent of the wisconsin historical society in 1937 selected the names of several men who in his opinion had made the most outstanding con tributions to the state in their respective fields of work the list included such well known persons as frederick jackson turner the historian robert m la follette pro gressive political leader and hamlin garland of literary renown the name of jerome i case of racine was placed in this wisconsin hall of fame to represent manufacturing and industry.1 although the choice of such a panel of great leaders appears strictly arbi trary and is probably subject to argument yet such a selection creates interest in these the author is indebted to roy i case a grandson of jerome case living at racine wisconsin for the privilege of reading the personal letters of j i case and for permission to use them in publications similar gratitude is expressed to officials of the j i case company racine for access to the early business correspondence of the company the milwaukee journal july 29 1937 dr scha fer's list of famous men also included chief justice edward g ryan stephen m babcock agricultural chemist governor william dempster hoard pro moter of dairy farming alexander mitchell banker and promoter of the milwaukee and st paul rail road in the field of religion are listed john martin henni catholic bishop jackson kemper episcopal bishop and stephen peet presbyterian-congrega tion alist leader men and encourages a more careful evalu ation of their achievements the life of j i case rich with his experi ences as a builder of farm machinery contains little that may be considered unique or spec tacular his work reveals limited originality as an inventor his technical designing reflects conservative tendencies and as a manufac turer he chose to build machines of proved performance rather than to initiate radical in novations however he possessed an extraor dinary amount of business sagacity and com mon sense his practical knowledge of the operation of farm machines gave him a back ground of experience which enabled him to act with foresight and sound judgment per haps one of his strongest claims to special recognition lies in the fact that he was a success and to be successful is an admirable quality the early life of case is interesting because it reiterates the meritorious rags to riches theme ambition and hard work ulti mately brings reward local farm boy makes good — in all a sequence of events befitting the best in horatio alger in 1800 caleb and deborah case lived on a farm in rensselaer county new york apparently impressed with new opportunities which lay to the west they like thousands of others migrated up the hudson and mohawk