The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-02-09
FIELD GENIUS
FOR BUSINESS
TOLD IN SKETCH
pamance Of Success In Life OF Mer.
ehanf Prince Depicted In Chica-
20 University Publication.

chicago, Feb. 9.-The ro-
uance of success "of a BUSH
rssg genius who had toiled rs
,scessantly to win his way as
,hough toll alone would do it." is
,oId In a sketch of Marshall Field,
.ianeer Chicago merchant. by
Thomas w. Gcodspeed, in the cur
rent issue of the University of Chi
cago Record. \
Coming to Chicago when the city's
business district had not yet been
Hfted out Of the mud" from Mas
sachusetts where his early years
had been spent on his fathers farm
and as a clerk in small town store,
MARSHALL Field at 80 was at the
head of a great business which he
contiDued to expand and to domin-
ate for the rest of his life, a period
Of Il years.
Beginning IN Chicago at % as q
500 year clerk, in three years he
had made his way into partner
ship in large and prosperous dry
goods concern, and in five years
more was heading a large business.
Born in 1884 on his fathers farm
near Conway, Mass, Mr. Field soon
tired of farm life and in 1881 be-
came a clerk in the store of Dea-
con Davis of Pittsfield, Mass.
Marshall opened and closed the
store, put up the shutters at night
and prepared the store for bust
ness" writes Mr.. Goodspeed. He
did not at the outset show much
urcmise to Deacon Davis. He was
very quiet and unassuming, timid
and i'll at ease in his strange sur-
roundings, and the oft-repeated
story is true that his employer con-
cluded and did not hesitate to say
that he would never make a merch-
ant.
Fields Dream.
The growth of Chicago at the be-
ginning of the latter half of the
last century caused ambitious young
men TO dream OF it as the place
where their business talent might
find scope. The name of Chicago"
spelled opportunity to Marshall
Field, and at the end of five years
in Pittsfield he informed Deacon
Davis he was leaving for the west.
three Stories" writes Mr.. Good
speed, ARE told as to the capital
which Marshall Field took with him
to Chicago. The first is that he ar
rived with something approaching a
thousand dollars. The second says
that he borrowed 500 from his IA
Their, paying it in full before year
had passed. The third, and this
is the common tradition, relates
that when he obtained hts first po-
sition in Chicago he had less than
a dollar in his pocket The stories
all agree that he began his Chicago
career at, or. very near the bottom
Of the ladder"
Slept In Store.
From the time of his employment
with Cooley, Wadsworth and COM
pany. a wholesale drygoods house,
when che slept in the store, bought
no new clothes except pair of ov-
erals, and saved 5000 of his first
years salary of $400," Marshall
Fields rise was rapid.
Taking up the period OF the mid
die Sos when Mr.. Field with L. S.
Letter purchased the Potter Pal
mer business, the firm being known
as Field. Palmer and Letter, Mr..
Goodspeed says:
Some Of Mr.. Fields mAthods of
conducting business were, well
known. The store was one-price
store, the price being plainly
marked on the goods. Sales were
for cash, or in the case of well-ac-
credited customers, on 80 or 60