Mersman Scrapbook -

Walter F. Mersman, Head of the Manufacturing Plant in town "Walter" to the thousands who work for him- 1927 Success Magazine Article

They Call Him by His First Name

"All my life" says Walter J. Mersman. head of the Mersman Brothers- "I have sought to acquire friends I hesitate to say it but it has been a natural pride of mine to live so that I would be well thought of."

Five wood turners, toiling from early morning until far into the night, produced in the little Ohio village twenty-six years ago. Five tables a day -- crawled wearily into bed afterward, confident they had set a record in an industry then in its infancy. Last night, from a plant that spreads across twenty acres of land, 650 men streamed happily by; men through whose deft hands pass a thousand tables a day, tables that will carry around the world a name which those same workmen actually work with.

For curiously there exists between this employer and his employees a strong bond of fellowship - from each of the 650 men-to their wives and youngest children.

"Where Macgregor sits, there is the head of the table," runs an old Scotch saying. It might better be "Where Walter Mersman sits there is the head of the table industry." "Good morning Walter." The endless procession of men who come past his desk with tales of personal hardships, family cares, the most intimate woes of their lives, relate their stories to "Walt," never to "Mr. Mersman."