Arthur C. Stratford
The decline of wooden shipbuilding brought about such decrease in the oakum industry it was represented at the opening of the European War by just three American plants, of which that of the George Stratford Oakum Company was the largest and leading enterprise. The late George Stratford, who founded it, had teen identified with the oakum industry from his youth, and in business for himself from i860, mi in 1885 incorporated the George Stratford Oakum Company in Jersey City, remaining as 1 resident until his death n 1902. Herbert Ridley Stratford, one of his sons, who had been secretary, became president from 102 to 1907, when he also died, and Arthur Chazotte Stratford, another son of the founder, who had been secretary from 1902, succeeded as president.
Arthur C. Stratford was born in Jersey City n Tune 5, 1880, a son of George and Delphine A. Chazotte) Stratford. He was graduated from Hasbrouck Institute in 1902, and following his graduation was elected secretary and a director :f the George Stratford Company. Since he became president special methods of manufacturing, and well-tested and specialized formulae for treating oakum for marine use, have made the product of this company standard in the market, and the Stratford factory has grown to be the largest factory in the world, supplying its product in large quantities to shipbuilders, owners, and dealers, and includes among its customers many contractors under the Emergency Fleet Corporation, also the Navy and War Departments, the Bureau of Insular Affairs, and the Panama Canal. Mr. Stratford is also president of the Stratford Paper Company and of the Fairmount Terminal Association; has been executor of the estate of his father, George Stratford, since his death in 1902; is secretary and treasurer of the Bayside Realty Company; director of the Rock Plaster Manufacturing Company and the New Jersey Title Guaranty and Trust Company; and was from 1912 to 19x5 a director of the West New York Trust Company.
He served as a member of the Signal Corps of the National Guard of New Jersey from 1903 to 1906; is a member of the Jersey City Board of Trade, and was its vice- president, 19x0-1911, and its president, 1911- 1913; the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce, vice-president in 1916; the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, on which he served as trustee, 1912-1914; the Citizens' Federation of Hudson County (vice-president in 1914) the People's Institute of Jersey City (vice-president in 1912), and was a member of the Hudson County Elisor Grand Jury in 1911. He was Federal Food Administrator of Hudson County, New Jersey during the War period, filling those duties with a high degree of efficincey.
He is a trustee of Christ Hospital, the Children's Friendly Society, and the Legal Aid Society in Jersey City, and is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity in Ne# York, the Calumet and Columbia University Clubs in New York, the Essex County Country Club, and the Carteret and Down Town Clubs of Jersey City, and Baltusrol Golf Club.
