Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

3044 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSfession with success, although, not devoting his activities exclusively thereto.On his return to his native land, Mr. Kriegshaber immediately sought an outlet for his energies and talents, securing a position with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in the capacity of assistant engineer and draughtsman, positionswhich he retained during the building of the line to Jellico, Tennessee.Capable and faithful service in his first venture led to his employment by theCentral of Georgia Railroad, where he first served as engineer in charge ofmaintenance of way and later became assistant to the general manager, MorrisBelknap. After ten years devoted to his profession, he became identified withbusiness at Atlanta, first as a dealer in and then as both dealer in and manufacturer of building supplies. His career as a business man has now beenfor twenty-five years attended with signal successes. He has, also, duringthis time, identified himself with the growth and prosperity of Atlanta, andmany public-spirited enterprises have benefitted by his support and co-operation.In business circles he is known for his connection with the Atlanta TerraCotta Company, of which he was formerly president; Atlanta Chamber ofCommerce, of which he is president; Associated Charities, of which he is adirector. He is ex-president of the Jewish-Charities; president of tht HebrewOrphans Home; trustee of the Jewish Temple of Atlanta, and director of theGeorgia Children's Home Finding Society, each of which positions carrieswith it dignity and importance, and each of which Mr. Kriegshaber has filledwith credit to himself and benefit to the office. He belongs to the democraticparty, and while he does not actively engage in political affairs, he carriesmuch influence to that organization during elections.Born and reared in the Jewish faith, that of his forefathers, Mr. Kriegshaber has done much to make that religion an established power for progressand usefulness in his community. He has been led through his fine perceptions of life and its higher meaning to give much thought to the betterment ofthe human race. It is his belief that the best interests of the nation are to beprompted through compulsory education of all children up to sixteen yearsof age, and that trade schools should follow grammar schools. He also believesstrongly in the benefits to be derived from public playgrounds in the city,as a means towards the finest development of the children physically. Heis an earnest advocate of the child labor laws, and believes in their full enforcement. That he has an earnest belief also in the future of his own andother states, is shown in one of his own expressions along that line of thought:"Educational and moral development will always produce the higheststandard and type of citizenship. Our welfare lies along these fundamentalprinciples; all else will naturally follow.''Mr. Kriegshaber was married to Miss Blanche Lieberman, a member ofone of the most widely-known families in the South, who died in 1902. Twochildren were born to this union: William Victor and Marion C. Mr. Kriegshaber contracted a second marriage, with Miss Adaline Mayer.It has been Mr. Kriegshaber's fortune to illustrate forcefully what maybe accomplished by a man of brains, energy and good training. Duringthe twenty-five years that he has been engaged in the building supplybusiness and the manufacturing of building specialties, he has contributed tothe upbuilding of the city by bringing into it only the best of materials of thekind which he represents. Personally, he is popular in business and socialcircles, and thus wields a wide influence. Mr. Kreigshaber has been a constantand profound reader and student of good literature of all kinds, although hehas found special pleasure and mental profit in work bearing upon civic development, sociology and philanthropy. It has, perhaps, been the study of suchliterature that has placed him so actively as a leader in philanthropic andcharitable work in the city of his adoption, a work to which he has always beenready to give freely of his abilities, his time and his means.