The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-12-12
WANAMAKER DEAD
lcontinued from Page one.l

makers, and John WanaIndhI ; I-Tsl
work was turning bricks" He was
the Oldest of seven children and cary
in his boyhood he was obliged to give
up schooling and earn his own way.
His first wages were $l.2o a week as
an errand boy in a Philadelphia .5ok
store, and then as a young man he
was employed for a tine at rover
Hall, a famous old Philadelphia ciotn-
ing house. where his personality ana
business ability were developed 1or ms
venture in business for himself. The
Brown & WAnamaker store began
business with a first days sales ac-
count of S24. and ended its first year
with a record of $24.000-business- Mr.
Wanamaker and his brother-tn-law
were during their first few months of
business unable to afford horse ana
wagon for delivery, and Mr.. wanna
maker himself pushed a two-wheel
cart to deliver his goods. His part
,ner's health failing. most of the de-
tails of the business devolved upon Mr..
Wanamaker.
Trained His Employees
Aside from establishing his one
price policy and making a shorter
business day, Mr.. Wanamaker estab-
Lshed in the new store two systems,
one of sales and the other of organl-
zation He learned it was cheaper to,
manufacture some classes of goods
than to- buy from manufacturers and
he became one of the first retailers
to do this. He found it difficult to
get employees who were properly in
structed in their duties and he or
ganized training schools where his
workers were taught the "Wanamaker
system"
Mr. Wanamaker interested himself
in many civic activities. He was the
first salaried secretary in America OF
the Young Mems Christian Associa-
ton, in 1858; one of the founders of
the Christian Commission during the
Civil war, and one of the organizers
OF the Centennial exposition in 1876.
In the latter year he began the de-
velopment of his department. store, eS-
tabLshing the house of John Wanna
maker & Company on Chestnut street,
Philadelphia, and twenty years later
established a similar business in New
York as successor of A. 7. Stewart.
1t is estimated that during his entire
business career Mr.. Wanamaker had
distributed into American homes mer-
chandise reaching nearly a billion
dollars in value.
Believed In Advertising.
He was known as a great believer in
in newspaper advertising
above all other varieties He spent
millions of dollars in it. One of the
features of his advertising campaign
was his development of the store
News Page" which he led with an edi-
torial over his own signature, invari-
ably written by himself, to keep the
public in touch with the policies of his.
business His friends often saw him
writing such an editorial on his way
to the store in the morning, scribbling
it on the back of an envelope or any
odd scrap of paper he had in his
pocket.
He was always looking for better
and newer ways of doing business and
aside from providing conveniences for
buyers and securing able manage
ment, Mr. Wanamaker paid great at
tention to the welfare of hissemployes.
among them many inSt-
buttons for, cultivating a spirit of COM
educating them to improve
their earning capacity, providing re-
tirement of old employees on retired
pay, and creating a court of appeal
chosen by employees to which any
could be taken.
One Of the greatest tributes ever
paid to an American merchant was
that given to Mr. Wanamaker in the
fall of 1911 on the fiftieth anniver-
sary of his business career. Thirteen
thousand of his employees from both
the New York and Philadelphia stores
greeted him in his Philadelphia store
and presented him with the house in
which he was born, and a jubilee book
in which each of the thirteen thou
sand had written their names. A sim
liar tribute was paid at that time in
New York where a committee repre-
senting the merchants of the United
associates and competitors, met to do
him honor at a luncheon. He was
presented with a handsome silver low
ing cup and heard his rivals laud him
as merchant prince of the country.
Became Postmaster General
In political life Mr.. Wanamaker was
prominent as an independent Repub-
lean. In 1882 he was offered the Re
publican nomination as congressman
for the state of Pennsylvania,
but declined it, and in 1856 he de-
,lined to be an independent candidate
for mayor of Philadelphia He took
an active part in most of the presiden-
.ial campaigns and gave a great
amount of work to the Republican
national executive committee, OF
Harrison campaign. Upon the election
IF Harrison, Mr. Wanamaker was in
vited to enter the cabinet, and altho |
here was much criticism to the effect !
hat a merchant was unfit for cabi- I
net position, Mr.. Wanamaker became |
Postmaster General and was acknowI- |
edged later by his critics to have
worked many desirable reforms in the /
postal system.
ORGANIZATION, system, method and |
business mechanism so essential in the |
lostoffice department were all in Mr.. !
line He spread the fast |
nail service and opened sea postoffices |
n which foreign mails are distributed |
inQ IlduS up OlA the S6dB anu dInOnS
)ther things. advocated the parcels |
post and postal savings which were
ater realized, and also urged govern |
nent ownership of telegraph lines.
Prominent in Church.
The religious side of Mr.. Wanna
Makers life was one less known to /
he general public than any other, but /
me in which he was deeply interested. |
very early In life he became a menu
,er of the Rev John Cham bers' Pres
,yterian church in Philadelphia, and
is related that when DR.. Chambers
.ppealed to his congregation for a
hurch suitable to its needs, Mr..
Vanamaker. then a boy, shouted en-
iii give load of
tricks from my fathers brick yard
.ater he gathered together a handful
Z boys in a shoemaker's shop ana
ormed a Sunday school which was
he nucleus of what is TODAY the