Background
He was born on October 26, 1854 at Springfield, Illinois, United States. His parents were Charles Rollin and Caroline (Lathrop) Post.
He was born on October 26, 1854 at Springfield, Illinois, United States. His parents were Charles Rollin and Caroline (Lathrop) Post.
His parents sent him to the common schools and for a time to the University of Illinois, although he did not graduate.
His first business connection was as traveling salesman in the West for an agricultural implement firm. At twenty-six he returned to Springfield and later became manager of a plow factory. In 1884 his health failed and for seven years he sought relief from his illness. He spent some time in Texas where he rode range and was interested in real estate and in a woolen factory at Fort Worth.
In 1891 he went to Battle Creek, Michigan, and established La Vita Inn, an institution for healing by the practice of mental suggestion. Three years later he began experimenting with prepared food products, beginning with the production of a coffee substitute, Postum. It is stated that his annual advertising appropriation reached a million dollars. Under this stimulus his business prospered.
In 1902 Post launched a plan for an organization known as the Citizens' Industrial Alliance, composed of the elements in the National Association of Manufacturers most opposed to union organizations and tactics. Of this body he served as president from 1905 to 1908. In 1910 it was succeeded by the National Trades' and Workers' Association, designed to become a substitute for trade unions. It is stated that Post offered Theodore Roosevelt $100, 000 to serve as its president for a year. To it Post gave a home for aged and dependent members. As a stockholder of the Buck's Stove and Range Company he was a persistent inciter of its officials in their famous case with the American Federation of Labor. By verdict of a jury in December 1910 Post was assessed $50, 000.
During the later years of his life he traveled extensively in Europe and acquired a considerable art collection. He carried on rain-making experiments on his ranch which he believed to be successful. At one time he attacked Senator T. C. Platt and attempted to have the Supreme Court restrain him from sitting in the United States Senate on the ground that "he does not fulfill his duties according to his oath of office. " For four years he served as president of the National Association of American Advertisers. As a director of the National Association of Manufacturers he was active and influential. His intense activities invited penalties.
In 1914 his health failed. He made a sensational trip by special train from California to Rochester, in March and was operated on for appendicitis. Seemingly he was on the road to recovery but under stress of a highly nervous condition he committed suicide at his Santa Barbara home.
Charles William Post founded Postum Cereal Co. , with his first product, Postum cereal beverage. Later he developed various breakfast foods which he advertised extensively. His factories were models of cleanliness and sanitation and the firm spent money freely to encourage home-owning by employees. Post invested some of his substantial earnings from his food products manufacturing into Texas real estate, purchasing a massive 91, 000 ha tract in Garza and Lynn Counties. He platted a new town, which he called Post City. At the time of his death his estate was estimated at twenty million dollars
Post early became a bitter opponent of trade unions and an advocate of open-shop conditions. Applying his advertising methods and spending money freely in the seven years preceding 1912, he attacked organized labor as the greatest, most tyrannical and dangerous trust this country has ever seen. His newspaper advertisements in this campaign abounded in charges of violence and gave lurid details of assaults and riots.
He was first married to Ella Merriwether from whom he separated. His second wife was Leila D. Young of Battle Creek, Michigan.
