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At his Otis & Co. office Mr. Eaton is taciturn, secretive. It is said only two other men know the complete ramifications of his power. Rash would he be who tried to estimate the total Eaton wealth, yet when one sums up his expenditures it is apparent that such a yield can come only from tremendous capital. Pugwash has benefited from many improvements paid for by Mr. Eaton. Although he seems uncomfortable in the presence of people other than his wife, Margaret, and their seven children, he claims that the Pugwash betterments have been made to lure people there and keep him from being lonely. In Northfield, Ohio, he has a large home, "Acadia Farms," and a large stable, riding being his chief hobby. At the Summit Hunt he stages an annual one-man horseshow, owning most of the entries, most of the club, and winning, between himself and his family, most of the prizes. When in Manhattan he always uses the Biltmore's presidential suite.
After his accomplishments in utilities, Mr. Eaton turned to another great basic industry, steel. This he did by purchasing virtual control of the tottering Trumbull Steel Co. Only last month the final details for rounding out his steel plans were announced. Yet since then there have been rumors that his Republic Steel Corp. will acquire a new unit, Gulf States Steel.
After such success in two great basic industries, it was natural that Organizer Eaton should turn to another, to one, indeed, which would welcome his genius for organization. Although, unlike electricity and steel, rubber is not an obviously basic commodity, it has thousands of essential uses. Some, like waterproof footwear, are only useful luxuries, but many of its products are vital—surgeon's gloves, insulation, tires, hosing. But instead of entering this industry with the purchase of a small company, Mr. Eaton went after a leader.
Goodyear. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. was formed in 1898. By 1915 it had become the largest manufacturer of tires in the world. In 1921 it was hard hit by the business depression and was taken over by a voting trust in which Dillon, Read & Co. were leaders. By 1926 Goodyear had become the foremost consumer of crude rubber and the largest producer of finished rubber articles in the world. Stockholders in the company are frequently reminded: "MORE PEOPLE RIDE ON GOODYEAR TIRES THAN ANY OTHER KIND"; "MORE PEOPLE WALK ON GOODYEAR HEELS THAN ANY OTHER KIND."
An important new development in Goodyear is its large scale entry into the aviation field with the formation of Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp., a subsidiary mentioned as about to form a trans-Pacific airline with Dr. Hugo Eckener.
Behind this aggressive aviation policy of Goodyear is Paul W. Litchfield, its president. Born in 1875, Mr. Litchfield went to M. I. T. and joined Goodyear in 1900 as a factory manager, becoming president in 1926. A prolific writer on business and economic conditions, he also has had much to say about aviation. A typical Litchfield pronouncement in 1927 was: "The important thing is that the work go on, that in laboratory and workshop, in the airdrome and flashing down the air lanes, the sons of Martha and the sons of Mary . . . drive ahead on their labors and their researches, testing and trying, discarding and rebuilding, building better ships and still better ones."