The Dickinson press., 1916-06-03

o~~~S ~AAU ~AoVA41lH 14OuSCS vi
the West which is beginning to at
tract the attention of thoughtful mer-
chants and manufacturers the country
over. 1t is owned by the ]. C. Penney
company and popularity known as the
Golden Rule stores. These stores
number 125. Practically all are doing
business in the small-town field,
which, as we know has been other
wise virtually immune from syndi-
cate attentions. There is suggestion
in the new development, but it is not
that alone which gives the stores
special Importance. Neither is it that
their number represents an increase
OF fifty per cent during the past
year. The gross sales show a sharp,
almost perpendicular up-curve from
$4,000 in 1902 to $6,000,0 900 thus far
in 1916, but the significance does not
lie in that. Nor even, lastly, in the
rapid expansion Of the system from
Utah to the Pacific Coast, as far as
Canada on the north, Mexico on the
south, and on the east Minnesota and
lowa-eighteen states in all.
These facts are all naturally i'm
pressive, since they make the Golden
Rule chain the largest of it's kind in
the world, but the vital point is
really this, that the chain represents
an original principle in syndicate fl
nancing, organization and manage
ment, namely, intensive cooperation
in an endless chain. It is this which
makes the rapid growth of the stores
Of consequence. With retailing con-
ditions in a ferment of readjustment,
business men must have an eye on
every development. What part is
this new factor playing in that read
justment, they ask: how will trade
marked and nationally advertised
goods eventually fare at it's hands?
And then, bound up in it is the al
ways absorbing question of the hand
ling of men: what light on the man.
ufacturer's own man-handling prob
lens does this Penney cooperation
throw?
Started in Wyoming in 1902.
It. is a remarkable story viewed
from any angle. Fourteen years ago
a young man of 26 years, who had
grown up in the clothing business
Of the west, was taken into a retail
partnership and put in charge Of a
store at Kemmerer, Wyoming. The
store was one of a small syndicate
of what were already called Golden
Rule stores. There were three or
four of them in small communities,
each carrying a stock of not more
than $4,000 or $4,000. The expert
ence of the owners and their COM
bined buying power had afforded
them an advantage over most indi-
vidual stores Of the same kind, but
they were not 20 very different at
that.
The young man was j. G. Penney.
Up to that time he had made no par
ticular mark in the world, had saved
no capital to speak of. But he had
the ability to work and keep his
eyes open. Within five years he had
bought his partner out and become
sole owner Of the store.
During those five years the young
manager had been thinking. He
reached some conclusions in respect
to syndicate practice that anticipated
much that has been since found out
by others. He perceived the great
gains secured by a consolidation of
ownership and Capitalization Of man.
dR0ueut, UuI 1O d1oO saw A1OAO
ly than most others have done, the
tremendous wastes and loss of power
that generally attend the operation OF
the human coefficient and nulllfy
much of those gains.
All the successful growing chains
in the cigar, grocery, drug, fve-an-
ten cent and other fields have needed
them above everything else. Under
ordinary conditions, however, the old
type Of chain can not pay enough to
hold the best men long. The men
use it as a training school of bust
ness, pick up all the experience and
ideas they can and then graduate at
the end Of that time into enterprises
of their own. The more efficient the
chain of the "absentee ownership"
class, the more efficiently it pro-
vides and assures competition for
itself. Even the five-and ten-cent
chains which have been shining ex-
ceptions to this generalization are
slowly extending their system and
more and more limiting the big OPP
portunities; the managers who once
made 5000 to $4,000 and ride in
their own motor cars down to work
are now replaced by $4,000 to $1,000
men.
The practice among the dry goods
and clothing chains is different in
many respects from that in other
kinds Of chains. You can't standar-
die a clothing store in. the same way
you "a a cigar store, or, perhaps, a
drug store. The clothing store has
too much of the style element in it.
Hence the special, responsibility, ef-
ficiency and loyalty needed in a cloth
ing store manager if unusual returns
are to be hoped for an generally be
purchased more cheaply through
partnership than through salary.
Penney had been taken into partner
shin himself. At any rate, the idea
of this kind Of cooperation naturally
doomed large in his calculations: II
was not new, but he added something
to it that was new and big.
Hired Only Prospective Partners.
He said: n will hire no one to
work in my store who has not the