Radio Script #593

Little Talks on Common Things

December 15, 1963

Through the year 1881 George Flood’s fuel business continued to prosper. Sometimes collections were hard: “May 7 – Have called on O.O. Seavey to collect fuel bill of Elmwood Hotel. He says he cannot pay now but will in ten days. I wonder.”

But new business kept coming in: “June 8 – Have been to West Waterville and got an order for 400 tons of coal from Dunn Edge Tool Co. June 18 – Have been measuring wood which Frenchmen cut for me on the Horace Getchell lot. Nov. 14 – Wood is very scarce and I am now getting $7 a cord. Dec. 15 – Very good business; all my teams are busy.”

But all was not rosy. In August Flood had a sharp difference with the contractor who was building the No.2 Lockwood Mill: “I have had a little trouble with Otis Wentworth, builder of the new Lockwood mill. He accused me of giving him short weight on coal. But when reweighed, my billed weight proved correct.”

Then too, there were occasional accidents: “Nov. 9 – This evening I went to my hay barn to show Levi Clukey a bale of hay to take out. There was a hole through the floor and I fell some eight feet, severing an artery and knocking me insensible. Dr. Boutelle was called and treated the wound. When I fell, I had a lighted lantern in my hand. It set the hay on fire, but Clukey quickly extinguished the flames. I am very weak from loss of blood.”

Flood did not fear competition in 1881 so much as he had a few years earlier: “June 6 – A.L. McFadden is putting up a small coal shed on leased Maine Central land at the depot, but it will hold only 50 tons. Oct. 25 – My competitor has no coal and seems to be doing nothing. ”

At the end of the year, on December 31, George Flood, instead of summing up the year’s accomplishments, was disturbed because the two brothers whom he expected to cooperate with him in the fuel business were not living up to his expectations. Of one brother he wrote: “He has made many mistakes on my books which have cost me several hundred dollars. I think he hates to review anything. When he makes a mistake, he never wants to go back and correct it.” Of the other brother George was no more complimentary: “He has not the snap to him that is necessary for a successful business man in these times of close competition, but I hope to educate him up to it.” George was equally critical of his chief employee in the business: “He is sloven about anything, does not have any idea how to keep the place clean, and cannot see a piece of coal or wood to pick up. He forgets to pick up the tools and hang up the chains.” George Flood ended the long record for that December 31, 1881 by writing: “I want to take two brothers as partners in the business, but they have a lot to learn before I venture to do it.”

The next year George Flood did take the brothers into partnership, the business continued to increase, and by 1884 he was leaving more and more to the brothers while he paid attention to his farms, his wood lots, and his wool trade. Yet he kept a close eye on that fuel business: “Feb. 2 – Went to Gardiner to arrange for a supply of coal if I should run short. Feb. 4 – Have been to Portland to see Payson Tucker about getting a reduction of freight rates on wood. Feb. 8 – George’ F. Terry has cut into our coal business considerably the past two weeks. Mar. 20 – I am now leaving much of the business to Charles and Alpheus. May 17 – Went to Gardiner to see about unloading coal from the Schooner Lynnburn. June 11 – Charles and Alpheus are keeping things along at the coal yard. June 17 – Went to Oakland and sold Agent Greeley a cargo of coal, 150 tons of egg and 225 tons of stove at $6.65 and $6.85 delivered at Oakland. Aug. 13 – Have our winter’s stock of coal nearly all in. Oct. 3 – Went to Watson Holway’s and bought all the dry wood he has — 97 cords at $2.75. Oct. 31 – Business good at the coal yard but prices very low. This will be a hard year on account of competition.”

Almost everybody who did business with the shirtmaker, Charles Hathaway, had trouble with him. I learned that, when I read the Hathaway diary about ten years ago. George Flood was no exception. On December 17, 1884 he wrote: “C.F. Hathaway sent for his bill and probably will change to Terry for his coal, as there was a difference of 40 pounds in one load between his scales and mine.”

George Flood was never an optimist, his health was often poor, and there seems to have been other reasons why his final entry for the year 1884 ended on the following sour note: “The past year I have been in the coal business with my brothers. We shall barely pay expenses and make a living. A man by the name of George F. Terry has gone into the same business and this town is not large enough for two coal yards. We have had more losses than in past. Times are hard and collections slow. Yet the price of all goods is very cheap. The best flour costs only $6.25 a barrel; sugar is 6 cents a pound; and a good pair of cow hide boots can be had for $2.50. Clothing is cheaper than ever before in the U.S. Common labor is a dollar a day and the man boards himself. Yet my business is certainly not good even considering the low cost of living. I was 47 years old last June, and I find my health poorer each year. I am still unmarried. It is now within an hour of the New Year 1885 as I write this in my room at Mr. Noyes.”

During January of that new year George Flood had differences with his brothers which caused him nearly to close the business. Three times in the diary during that month he wrote: “I think I shall have to close the coal business. My brothers and I cannot agree on many points.” On March 9 he wrote: “Things going bad at the office, notes falling due and collections poor.” George complained that he had to put in more time at the coal yard than he wished, otherwise he insisted the business would go to pot.

By this time I am sure our listeners are beginning to see that George Flood was a very critical man. Waterville people who knew those two brothers well will tell you that both were industrious, hard working fellows, who had no trouble keeping the business prosperous and growing after George Flood’s death ten years later. But to hear George tell it, he had to do all the work himself during that year of 1885. In justice to George, however, we must agree that he was certainly on the job, as attested by the following diary items: “Aug. 7 – Went to Gardiner to see about enlarging facilities for discharging coal. Aug. 8 – Saw Payson Tucker in Portland. He promised to pay demurrage on the Schooner Robinson whose cargo of 719 tons went to Madison Woolen Mills. Aug. 14 – Have built a new coal shed. Sept. 28 – I think I shall sell more coal than last year and make more on it.”

By the end of the year differences had been smoothed over among the three brothers, and George was more optimistic about the prospects for 1886. By March the firm was buying egg coal for $2.70 and stove coal for $3.25 a ton, F.O.B. New York. With more confidence in his brothers, George spent most of the summer with the Noyes family and attending to his increasing farm holdings. He was determined to get out of the fuel business, but could not reach an agreement with his brothers. It was at that stage that the wise old gentleman, Sumner Flood of Clinton, father of the three brothers, was called in as a kind of benevolent arbitrator. The father persuaded George not to give up the business, because withdrawal of George’s financial interest in it would almost surely cause it to close, and the old man begged George not to be so severely critical of his brothers. On December 16, 1887 the diary has this item: “Father went home after Charles, Alpheus and I agreed to let him decide all differences we have in our business, and we each signed a paper that his decision should be final.”

Early in 1888 George Flood proceeded finally to withdraw from the company: “Jan. 21 – Have been working on stock books of G.S. Flood and Co., the first full account since March 1, 1885. Jan 25 – Have worked all day on my personal account with G.S. Flood & Co., drawing it off for father. Feb. 2 – Father wants an itemized account of all I have paid out since March 1, 1882 for G.S. Flood & Co. I am now drawing it up.”

When the wise old arbitrator rendered his decision, George Flood was not only dissatisfied; he was downright sore. The diary entry for March 3 tells us the story: “Father has decided that Charles is to pay me $1,000. This will make $2,800 altogether that he has paid me for one-third of the coal business. Alpheus is to pay $2,000, making $3,000 in all for his one-third. This decision makes me lose a total of $6,250. That is very unjust. Father’s bad decision has put me in a hard place.”

On March 10, 1888 George Flood retired from the active business, but retained his one-third financial interest in it until his death.

George Flood had been born in Clinton in 1837, the son of Sumner Flood, who had a big farm on the town house road, about half a mile west of the Bellsqueeze Road. It was a large family. One of George’s brothers, named Sumner after the father, lived all his life in Clinton in a smaller farmhouse on the Bellsqueeze Road. George was much concerned about Brother Sumner’s financial affairs, which seem never to have been in very good shape. So George made Sumner a sort of agent to buy wool for which George’s business acumen found a profitable market. In the summer of 1879 Sumner bought 16,000 pounds of wool in upper Somerset County, and George sent two Frenchmen up to Clinton from Waterville to help Sumner sack the wool. By autumn of that year George was convinced that Sumner was not attending to business. He wrote in the diary: “October 1 – Went to Clinton to see Sumner who promised me, if I will let him have the money, he will attend strictly to business. I don’t see how he can do better for himself than he has done working for me, but I think I shall give him the chance.” Six years later the diary recorded: “December 22, 1885 – I am trying to help Sumner settle his affairs, which are in bad condition.”

George Flood continued to help brother Sumner for the rest of George’s life. The numerous diary entries referring to Sumner’s affairs through the year 1888 show that a crisis had been reached: “Jan 14 – I had to go to the Merchants Bank with Sumner to fix his notes. John Ware was very hard and I had to give him a statement of my assets before he would take my note. Jan. 16 – Had to go to the bank and take care of $800 for Sumner. It gave me a hard pull, as my credit is required. April 27 – Sumner wants me to take part of his sheep to pay his bill. May 29 ~ Trouble about Sumner’s note at the Merchants Bank. Ware wants another name on the note besides mine. June 25 -‘Father deeded me 53 acres of his old homestead farm on consideration that I should take up two notes of $500 each signed by him for Sumner. July 4 – Have now taken a deed to all of Sumner’s real estate and have taken up his notes at the banks.”

Being a bachelor, George Flood was often at the old home in Clinton, especially during his father’s lifetime. As a railroad employee he, of course, had a pass; so he made the trip frequently from Waterville to Clinton station, then walked the three miles to the old home on the townhouse road. On one occasion he made that walk in a temperature 20 below zero and froze his nose. All his life he felt concern for the welfare of his Clinton folk.

Next week we shall see what the Flood diaries can tell us about people in Waterville.

Year: 1963