Denver County CO Archives Biographies.....Welborn, Jesse Floyd 1870 - 
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Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1918)

JESSE FLOYD WELBORN.

    Previous to the great war in which our nation is now engaged, there
prevailed in the country a feeling that so-called "big business" had fairly well
stifled the patriotic spirit upon which the freedom of our institutions rested.
To far-seeing generals of great industries, war meant, in the end, appalling
sacrifices. England was already an illustration, for it was, as it is now,
seizing the major portion of the profits that came from the unsual war
contracts. The war became a necessity. The peril was imminent. There was no
protest from men who knew what war meant in the way of taxation and
appropriation of industries. They not only jumped into the breach to help with
all the industrial power at their command, but the men at the head of these
industries tendered their personal services.

    Schwab is building the greatest merchant marine the world has ever known, at
a salary of one dollar a year.

    John D. Ryan is performing a similar service in the construction of our air
fleet.

    The patriotic spirit prevails today as it did in 1776. In this state, J. F.
Welborn, executive head of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company and one of the
foremost men in industrial circles in the west, tenders his services without
charge and is now working as manager of fuel production for Colorado, under the
National Fuel Administration. This labor, too, is gratuitous.

    He worked in the Red Cross. Later he was marshal of the war savings campaign
in Colorado and now he is on the executive committee of the Fourth Liberty Loan.
The success of the Rockefeller plan, devised when the coal-field troubles were
ended, was due in a great measure to the wise generalship of Mr. Welborn. Of the
stern and unyielding stuff that is in him, there was ample evidence during the
strike. Of the spirit of fairness that dominated him the state was certain.

    The entire country will not soon forget the classic in which he replied to
the criticism of President Roosevelt, laying bare the situation in clear and
forcible words and scoring, what men in a position to know termed, a great moral
victory. Later he was again at Washington among those who made clear the
situation to President Wilson.

    That Mr. Welborn was born to leadership was demonstrated during the strike.
That there is peace and harmony today in the Colorado industrial world; that
labor is satisfied; that conditions surrounding it are vastly improved, is due
to a great extent to the work of Mr. Welborn.

    J. F. Welborn was born in Ashland, Nebraska. March 9, 1870, and is a son of
John Wesley and Jennie (Roberts) Welborn. The father was a farmer by occupation
and his son was reared amidst the environments of farm life. In August of 1890
he removed westward to Colorado and entered the employ of the Colorado Fuel &
Iron Company. The growth of this business was rapid in the last decade of the
nineteenth century and as the organization developed its interests Mr. Welborn
grew and developed, advancing from the humble position of bookkeeper through
regular stages of promotion to his present position of president of the company.
In 1899 he became general sales agent. He worked directly under A. C. Cass, who
was connected with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company from 1882 until his death in
1903. Upon the death of Mr. Cass he succeeded to the position of vice president
and was given charge of sales and traffic. In 1907 he was elected to the
presidency to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Frank J. Hearne.

    His is the record of a strenuous life-the record of a strong individuality,
sure of itself, stable in purpose, quick in perception, swift in decision,
energetic and persistent in action. His views have ever found expression in
prompt action rather than in theory.

    Mr. Welborn was married in Milwaukee. Wisconsin, in June, 1903, and has one
son and one daughter. He is a member of the Denver Club and of the Denver
Country Club and is appreciative of the social amenities of life. Public
interests are to him a matter of concern and he has never allowed business to so
monopolize his time and attention as to exclude his active participation in
movements and projects which are looking to the upbuilding of the community and
the advancement of public welfare.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF COLORADO

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME III

CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1918



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