Joseph Wharton
Joseph Wharton (1826-1909) was born on March 3, 1826, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was of Quaker ancestry and descended from the first settlers that arrived in Pennsylvania with William Penn. His parents were both Quaker ministers in the Society of Friends. The young Joseph Wharton was educated in a few different schools until the age of fourteen, including both private and one ran by the Society of Friends. He then received private tutoring from a Harvard graduate until the age of sixteen. After his schooling, Wharton decided to pursue his interest in farming. He thus went to live on a farm owned by a fellow quaker by the name of Joseph S. Walton in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Wharton remained there for three years, but then decided to pursue other interests. At the age of nineteen, Wharton return to Philadelphia and entered the Waln and Learning accounting house, where he learnt the art of bookkeeping. He would remain there for two years and would then establish a lead manufacturing plant with his eldest brother, Rodman, in 1847. Between 1853 and 1863, Wharton would also manage the Lehigh Zinc Company, of which he was a part owner.
In 1863, Wharton would then undertake the manufacture of nickel and cobalt in Camden, New Jersey. He was also a founder and principal shareholder of the Bethlehem Iron Company, which was established in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1861, and was the first company to manufacture steel plate armor for the United States Navy. Later, between 1900 and 1905, Wharton would also be the sole owner of the Andover Iron Company, at Phillipsburg, New Jersey, which was the largest manufacturer of pig iron in the world at the time.
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Wharton wrote three main works on political economy, in addition to various smaller tracts and pamphlets. The first of these was a paper entitled International Industrial Competition which was first read before the American Social Science Association in October of 1870. It was subsequently published as a book in 1872. His next work entitled National Self-Protection would first appear in the Atlantic Monthly in 1875, but would then be expanded upon, and published separately by the American Iron and Steel Association later that year. His last work was entitled “The American Ironmaster” which appeared in the Proceedings of the Convention of the Iron and Steel Manufacturers and Iron Ore Producers, which met at Pittsburgh on May 6, 1879. Wharton’s efforts to the Protectionist cause also extend well beyond his written works. In 1868, Wharton assisted in the establishment of the staunchly protectionist American Industrial League, and would then serve as its first president. Wharton would also serve as Vice President of the American Iron and Steel Association from 1875, and then as President of the Association from 1904 until his death. In addition, Wharton would also endow the University of Pennsylvania with $530,000 to establish the Wharton School of Finance and Political Economy in 1883, with the explicit intention of teaching the American Protectionist doctrine. After a suffering a prolonged illness resulting from a stroke, Joseph Wharton would pass away in his home in Philadelphia on January 11, 1909.