Questions for Document 1 What did he mean when he wrote, "You are invited to become a member of our large Golden Rule family." He often visited his birthplace, Hamilton, Missouri, where he helped build the school and library. Penney, who had borrowed against his stock and sold some to younger partners, saw the price drop from over $100 to $13. 4. The manager wrote headquarters pleading for them to get the landlord to deny the lease to the competitor. Report of the Thirteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League, Chicago, IL, August 21-23, 1912, William H. Davis, Official Stenographer, Washington, D.C., 154-55. She had survived a failed marriage, but Jim married the divorcee he loved even knowing others might not approve. She saved her money and before long she was able to quit that job and, taking in laundry two days a week to pay her rent, spend the rest of her time mixing her products and selling them door to door. We have a good future for a man who is capable and not afraid of work.. The seventh principle was "To test our every policy, method, and act in this wise: 'Does it square with what is right and just?'" Employ, American Stores Company How did JC Penney achieve his goals? Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright 2023, Christianity.com. Portland, Oregon 97202 He was the seventh of twelve children, only six of whom lived to adulthood. He used his $500 savings and borrowed the rest of the $2000 necessary to become a one-third partner in the venture. Find the location of Madam Walker's original manufacturing building (built in 1910) on the east side of West Street between North and Walnut streets. . Other books about him includeJ.C. Penney: The Man with a Thousand Partners, by Penney as told to Robert Bruere;The Spiritual Journey of J.C. Penney, by Orlando Tibbetts, and the more recentJ.C. Penney: The Man, The Store, and American Agriculture, by David Kruger. He perpetually visited stores where he waited on customers and worked the shelvesand spoke at managers conventions to inspire and encourage his partners. Frequent national and regional conventions of managers were held, with Penney and other leaders speaking at every opportunity. Sometimes they may make you poor. With the experience of men of 20 years of successful merchandising to give us, all guess work is eliminated. New products were advertised each week. . Both Madam Walker and J.C. Penney established a base of operation in New York City and ultimately made it their permanent home. Study the advertisement and then refer to the partial transcript to answer the following questions. She recruited and trained a national sales force that included schoolteachers, housewives, cooks, and washerwomen. This large national retail business continues to reflect the hard work and vision of James Cash Penney. But they need to be lived out in every aspect of life. It was all my fault." 2801 West Tyvola Road In that light, some might question our decision to spotlight J. C. Penney. (National Council for the Social Studies). Born in Hamilton, Missouri, his father was an impoverished farmer and part-time Baptist preacher. Salt Lake City, Utah 84102-1205 The address is 6l7 Indiana Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202. Walker, offers a wealth of information on Madam Walker. In 1910, she headquartered her operation in Indianapolis, Indiana, a city with a thriving African-American community. "Penney, James Cash The business, called "The Golden Rule Store," gave him an exciting new commercial concept. At fifteen, he started working Saturdays in a local store and took a liking to storekeeping. After bringing back Myron Ullman, whom the board had fired when they brought in Johnson, the ship began to right itself. But things weren't working out so well for the elder Penney. By selling dry goods, notions, shoes, and clothing at fair prices, the Callahans Golden Rule Store in Longmont had prospered. Each preparation was beyond the point of experiment before it was followed by another. Penney also wrote his own story inFifty Years with the Golden Rule: A Spiritual AutobiographyandView from the Ninth Decade: Jottings from a Merchants Daybook. Less than 5% of applicants made the grade. Within five years, Penney opened two more stores, then three more. A Dramatic Turnaround: 1986-95 In 1986 JCPenney acquired Units, a chain of stores selling contemporary knitwear and by the next year the company was well on its way to achieving the goals it set forth in 1982. THESE ARE BUT FOUR OF EIGHTEEN MADAM C. J. WALKER BEAUTY PREPARATIONS--AS FINE AS MONEY CAN BUY. . Not far from the butcher shop was the busy Golden Rule Store, owned by fellow Missourians Tom and Alice Callahan. Surveys have found our nation's business schools at a loss to find an adequate philosophical basis on which to teach business ethics. In 1959 alone, at the age of eighty-four, he attended fifty-nine store openings, made a hundred speeches, spent two hundred days on the road travelling sixty thousand miles, and appeared on twenty-seven radio and television programs. "Suddenly needing to be heard, I cried inwardly, 'Lord, will you take care of me? Before profit sharing and employee ownership became heralded management techniques, James Cash Penney used them to build the first nationwide chain of department stores. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/penney-james-cash, "Penney, James Cash --James Cash Penney. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Offers information on this organization, which was founded by Booker T. Washington in 1900 "to promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro" and to bring African Americans into the middle-class mainstream. That's what his bosses had done for him, and now he returned the favor to others. Fax: (501) 376-591, Galeries Lafayette S.A. 6. Shortly after Jim graduated from high school, his father, dying of tuberculosis, asked a friend to give his boy a steady job. U.S.A. Questions for Reading 2 The 118-year-old store sells. In February 1910, Walker visited Indianapolis, Indiana, and was very impressed with what she saw. Penney's childhood and early adult life appeared quite ordinary. Why did Walker move to Denver? By 1941, J. C. Penney operated 1,600 stores in all of the lower 48 states. Although his first year's salary was only $25, by 1897, he was making $300 a year, and his future appeared bright. The store has been in operation at this location since 1929. 4. 1. Often managers said, God help this company if it ever falls into the hands of a mastermind.. He strongly urged his church to start a Sunday school, and that was an unpopular position there. There are reasons for everything. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Today, the restored six-room house is a museum operated by the J.C. Penney Foundation. He wrote in his autobiography that all of his business success was based "in adherence to the Golden Rule, faith in God and the country.". In his second job there, as a dry goods clerk, he discovered the merchant had a dual pricing system: high prices for those who could afford them, half price for those who could not. I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! The Madam C.J. Within a year, Penney was managing two more stores. If so, do they think it would be important to preserve the buildings as part of their community's history, like the Walker building in Indianapolis and the Penney buildings in Kemmerer? (Hearty applause.) But Sams decided to go with Jim Penney. Do the various places each person established businesses show any pattern? On the same property, he opened retirement apartments made available to retired preachers and missionaries free of charge. In fact, his first store was called The Golden Rule. Two American Entrepreneurs: Madam C.J. He spent long hours again doing whatever it took. He was endlessly curious and an outstanding salesman. Walker Building" (with photographs) and "J.C. Penney Historic District" (with photographs), as well as other sources related to Madam Walker and J.C. Penney. Standard 2B- The student understands "scientific racism", race relations, and the struggle for equal rights. In what ways did the Walker and Penney businesses benefit society? "It takes two flints to make a fire." Louisa . . Incorporated: 1905 as Socit, Fred Meyer, Inc. How did he assure the customer that there were no "cheap goods" at Penney stores? By 1906, C. J. Walker moved to Denver and the two soon married. - James Cash Penney. This was his parents' way of teaching him the value of money and self-reliance. She was mourned by many, including W. E. B. DuBois who wrote an obituary for The Crisis, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The company also opened its own catalog business. He had an estate in the Hudson Valley north of New York City. . Another aspect of J. C. Penney himself was his ability to trust men, and to delegate. By age eight James Penney was forced to earn money to buy his own clothes. His financial fortunes began to be restored in the mid-1930s. HCSC became the key letters: Honor, Confidence, Service, and Cooperation. Someone read a Scripture passage: "Come unto me all you that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Omissions? Complexion and Toilet Soap--A preservative of beauty--mild and safe for the most tender skin. All rights reserved. By 1904 the Golden Rule Store (no longer standing) had outgrown its one-room frame building off the main business district of the town. 2. Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. by Gary Hoover | Dec 7, 2017 | American Originals, From inauspicious beginnings rose one of the great entrepreneurs in American history, a man with unusual dedication and exceptionally high ideals. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I will walk in faithfulness to you" (Psalms 26:1-2). Even the Great Depression did little to halt the Penney expansion program. To that end, in 1952 he donated one of the world's most respected dairy herds to establish CAFNR's Foremost Dairy Research Center, west of Columbia. Compare the locations of the cities marked on the map. "Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.". Penney moved to Colorado for health reasons and his life changed. At age 8, young Jim was told he would have to start buying his own clothes and earning his own money. France He folded the inventory. TwHP is sponsored, in part, by the Cultural Resources Training Initiative and Parks as Classrooms programs of the National Park Service. Jim jumped at the chance, without even asking how much he would be paid. Built about 1897, the two-story stone building features a cast iron storefront decorated with rosettes and scrollwork and an elaborate metal cornice. Christian principles will not necessarily make you rich. He occupied a 25-by-140 foot section. 5. Kemmerer, Wyoming, United States. What did Penney mean by saying that "cheap goods" are expensive at any price? In a way, Penney was conducting a grand experiment, testing his hypothesis that the Christian commitment to love others could be played out in one's entire life, including one's daily work. I felt I was passing out of darkness into light." A comparison of values is all we ask. Water was drawn from a nearby well and hauled up to their rooms by bucket and rope. At the time, Penney's . Stories in old newspapers will probably describe when the business was opened and what changes have been made over the years. Walker, one of America's most successful African-American businesswoman of the early 20th century. Penney called his store the "Golden Rule," because his idea was "to make money and build business through serving the community with fair and honest value. Jim's "big chance" was a store 25-feet wide and 45-feet deep. At the age of eight, Penney's father told him he would be responsible for clothing himself, and soon he was earning more than enough for his sartorial needs selling junk, growing watermelons and raising pigs. When the senior clerk came back to work, Tom Callahan kept Jim on. Only in her thirties, she found her hair was falling out. 1. Who did Penney expect to read this ad? When Madam Walker and her associates started to develop her beauty preparations, which are now used all over the world, they perfected their toiletries step by step. Ask them to compare and contrast the recent advertisements with the Walker or Penney ads. He underwrote Christian causes like theChristian Heraldmagazine. I have been trying to get before you business people to tell you what I am doing. 4) five photographs and a drawing of Madam Walker, Walker Manufacturing buildings, and J.C. Penney's early stores. Walker Manufacturing Company. As an example of this philosophy, Penney initially called his stores the Golden Rule Stores, and made that rule part of company culture. The company was like the retail version of the Marines: tough to get in, brothers for life. 2. 2) three readings about the lives of Madam Walker and J.C. Penney; Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. . We have grownAre growing, like no other store in the country. Massive efforts were required to find the right men for the chain as it grew through one hundred stores. . Because St. Louis already had several cosmetic companies, Walker decided to move to another city to set up her own business. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. 1100 North Market Street Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Above and beyond his shrewd business sense, James Cash Penney had an enduring desire for fairness in his business dealings. Corrections? After clerking in one store, he helped a partner start a new store, and eventually, he bought a Golden Rule store of his own in Kemmerer, Wyoming, in 1902. Penney's store was successful because his customers liked the merchandise and good service. But he wrote a hometown Missouri bank and got the same loan at 6%. He felt he served the community better by keeping them from becoming indebted. 75009 Paris Her own daughter was by then at college in Tennessee. He cut back on financing theChristian Herald. But the store base was still largely in small towns in the West, often in cities of under 10,000 population (shades of Sam Walton!). Jim was relentless. Penney and his partners dreamed of a thousand stores (achieved in 1928). His first taste as part owner of a store came in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming, a mining town of 1,000 people. If we follow the admonition to love God, and our neighbors as ourselves, it will lead us to understand that, first of all, success is a matter of the spirit. After working briefly in Denver as a dry goods clerk, he moved to Longmont, Colorado, where he bought a butcher shop. (Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology). In both World Wars, employees who had gone to war continued to receive partial salaries from the company. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. I can do nothing for myself!' James Cash Penney (1875-1971) believed that working people in isolated regions in the West deserved to have dry goods stores nearby that would offer quality products at reasonable prices. He brought in good men willing to work from all over the United States, and funded everything. James Cash Penney was born September 16, 1875, to Mary Paxton and James Cash Penney, Sr., on a farm near Hamilton, Missouri. As a result, the church dismissed him. But things would turn out all right, he was told, if he just followed the Golden Rule, treating others with fairness and respect. (A'Lelia Bundles/Walker Family Collection). This lesson is one in a series that brings the important stories of historic places into the classrooms across the country. African-American doctors, lawyers, and other professionals who had difficulty finding office space in buildings owned by whites rented space in the building as well. You will get BIG VALUES for your money at this store. Activity 2: Changes in Advertising He and third wife Caroline became active in the New York Metropolitan Opera. 3) To consider the role advertising played in the business success of Walker and Penney. 2. April 14, 1902: James Cash Penney, along with two partners, opens the 25 . I think I need say no more, because in those few words, I have said much. He said he saved $30 and it only cost him a postage stamp. Madam Walker was so impressed during a visit to Indianapolis in 1910 that she decided to make it her national headquarters. Later that year she built her dream house, a mansion in Irvington-on-Hudson, a wealthy community north of New York City. With support from headquarters, each manager put together his own advertisingeventually in over two thousand newspapers across the West. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Penney.". JCPenney posted billion-dollar losses after the GFC and in response, appointed new CEO Ron Johnson. Have them consider the special needs of different groups of people, the types of products or services that would improve their lives, and the ways in which a new business might be developed in their own community. Penney's first job was clerking in a general store for a salary of $2.27 per month. A man of strong Christian beliefs and upright morals, Reverend Penney later repeatedly ran for office on Populist tickets: he never won. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As a teenager, J. C. Penney worked on surrounding farms growing watermelons and feeding pigs. We will sell for cash only, thereby avoiding losses through credit; we will have no delivery system, so we can pass this saving on to our customers. 3. "In the midst of failure to believe, I was being helped back to believing.". This faith and his financial arrangements with store managers worked profoundly well. I have found that unselfishness pays because it tends to engender unselfishness. When the day of modern shopping centers arrived in the late 1950s, Penney's chain was so strong financially that it succeeded in suburbia too. Yet the highly motivated Penney, still vigorous and determined, borrowed money and soon regained control of his retail empire. He did not pay for elaborate fixtures and displays. The banks called in his loans and his collateral including Florida real estate, the value of which was also devastated. After much debate, Jim convinced them to open the next store, his store, in Kemmerer, Wyoming, in the heart of a growing coal district. Each had well-defined philosophies about their goals in life. During the 1960s and 1970s, the J. C. Penney company went through massive changes. The next year, Jim earned $200, and $300 in his third yeara luxurious $25 per month. Both had to become self-reliant at very early ages and learned that hard work alone would not fulfill their aspirations. J. C. Penney owned over 50% of the total stock. Some of the remedy was grown in Africa, but I sent for it, mixed it, put it on my scalp, and in a few weeks my hair was coming in faster than it had ever fallen out. 2. Within two years, his pay increased twelve-fold. By 1932, the number of stores had increased to 1,473. What similarities and differences can you list about how they conducted their enterprises? The workplaces described in this lesson reveal a good deal about the philosophies and interests of two successful early 20th-century businesspeople who stuck by their principles as they pursued their dreams: Madam C.J. He cut off the whiskey, lost the customer, and the butcher shop failed, Jim losing all his savings in the process. Old friends and relatives loaned him money to get through this period, and the company briefly paid him a salary for the first time in many years. Today they are unsurpassed. One morning he awoke too early for breakfast and was wandering the corridors when he heard a hymn he remembered from childhood. Although the Walker Manufacturing Company is no longer located there, the building continues to house various commercial businesses, including a beauty salon. He left Florida and focused on New York, where he came into the Penney office every day. Standard F - The student explains and illustrates how values and beliefs influence different economic decisions. As that happened, he renewed his support of various charities, putting millions of dollars into the Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, Florida, Christian Herald magazine, and more than 100 other organizations ministering in the United States and around the world.