I have long been i ni”erested in the little acorns from wh i ch grow the great\u00a0oaks of modern industry, and that interest is not confined to the industries of\u00a0Centra I Mai ne. It is good for us to know that a II over the country today there\u00a0are great corporations which had very sma I I beginnings indeed.<\/p>\n
Everybody who has been to school during this past half century has heard\u00a0of Rand and McNa II y, because that company’s name stared at us from the maps on\u00a0the walls of almost every American school room. Mapmakers, printers and publishers,\u00a0Rand & McNally are known around the world. But that great business had\u00a0a very humble start.<\/p>\n
In 1856, just ove r a hundred years ago, Wi I Ii am Rand went we st from Boston\u00a0and set up a sma I I print shop in Chicago. Two years later he took into partnership\u00a0a young Irish printer, who had learned the trade in Dublin, Andrew McNally.<\/p>\n
Now there were many printers, even in the sma I I city of Chicago in 1856. What a\u00a0printing firm needed to assure prosperity and expansion was to gain a reputation\u00a0for some specialty. So these young printers, Rand and McNally, decided they\u00a0would put all their eggs in one basket — they would become specialized printers\u00a0for America’s growing rai I roads. The rai I roads went to some places before peop\u00a0Ie got there. There were rai I s before there were cities in many parts of the\u00a0land. Because one had to buy a ticket to ride the trains, Rand and McNally\u00a0started to print rai I road tickets.<\/p>\n
In 1871 they produced the first edition of the Western Rai Iway Guide~ and\u00a0continued to publish it monthly, giving the latest timetables of railroads and\u00a0steamboat lines throughout the “lest. In 1872 they put a sma” noti ce in the\u00a0Rai Iway Guide, saying that they would now make map engraving a specialty.<\/p>\n
Andrew McNa II y III, the p resent head of the cOtll’any, ins i sts that, wi thout\u00a0the rai I roads, Rand & McNally would never have made maps. Ha says that in the\u00a0early 1870’s the huge growth of rai I road travel had created an unusual demand\u00a0for maps. There were plenty of map makers scattered over the country, but on Iy\u00a0Rand & McNally used the method of making the engravings in wax, to faci Ii tate\u00a0correcti ons. That process made it poss; b Ie for the company to produce correct\u00a0maps faster and cheaper than any competitor.<\/p>\n
That, in substance, is the story of how, by quick foresight, venturous daring,\u00a0and ready ingenuity, the young Yankee, Wi I liam Rand, and the young Irish~\u00a0man, Andrew McNally, started on the road to predominance in the world of maps.<\/p>\n
Last week I said I would tonight tel I you how I deduce that the fictitious\u00a0hand-written paper cal led the Chatham Bee, back in 1848, was the work of some\u00a0young men of Ha I lowe II. I n one of the issues now p reserved at Co I by Co liege i s\u00a0an article called the “Water Excursion n \u2022 Here is the way it reads:<\/p>\n
uThe 0 I d south clock had just struck six when some dozen youths mi ght be\u00a0seen wending their way from various quarters of the town to the long wharf. The\u00a0passing breeze was so slight as scarce to raise a ripple upon the surface of\u00a0the bo I d Kennebec, as its rap i d current swept onward in the fu I I strength of ebb\u00a0tide. The sun was just peering above the lofty oaks which stretch back from the\u00a0opposite shore. No damp, misty fogs, such as are so common upon the Penobscot,\u00a0shrouded the glory of the morning.<\/p>\n
“Under the di recti on of Father Thomas, our pilot, we soon had our baggage\u00a0stowed away and cast off. Where towns are situated on the Kennebec, sai I ing is\u00a0a very pleasant recreati on. Often on a summer afternoon you wi II see the ri ver\u00a0opposite Bath literally fi lied with sai Iboats.<\/p>\n
HLeaving behind Potters Mi lis, Parkers Island, Phippsburg Vi I Jage, we\u00a0reached the Fort, so ca lied, at the mouth of the ri ver in less than th ree hours\u00a0from the Time we started from the wharf. This is the ruin of some fortifications\u00a0bui It to defend the passage of the river, bUT they are poorly situated and could\u00a0be of Ii tT Ie use incase of war. From the Fort there is a prospect seaward. Just\u00a0before you, but a few mi les distant, are The islands of Seguin and Quebincook,\u00a0on both of which are lighthouses, whi Ie farTher on may be seen vessels from the\u00a0Penob sCOT and the Kennebec p utti ng oUT to sea. 83low the Fort a sma I I sandy\u00a0beach extends about a mi Ie to the souTh.”<\/p>\n
The writer of that article indicated That he would continue it in the next\u00a0issue of The Bee, but if he did, thaT parTicular issue has disappeared. So all\u00a0we have to guide us to the long wharf from which the excursion departed is the\u00a0account I have just read to you. Now leT us see what it does tell us.<\/p>\n
iT I n The fu I I sTrength of the ebb ti de n \u2022 The p I ace cou I dn ‘t have been above\u00a0Augusta, because by 1848 the dam had been bui It There and the tide went no farther\u00a0up The ri ver. We have reason to be I i eve that the ti de ran higher aT Ha 11-\u00a0owe J I a cenTury ago than it does today, but even in our own time there i s a visible\u00a0tide at that ciTY. HThe lofty oaks on the opposite shore”. On the Randolph\u00a0and Chelsea shores, opposite Hallowell, there are sti II a few remains of\u00a0the oak foreST That once spread along ThaT side of the river. Finally “we\u00a0reached The Fort in less than Three hours from the ti me we started”. Three hours\u00a0would have been much too long for the sai I on an ebb tide from Bath to ForT Popham.<\/p>\n
I Twas just about right from Ha II owe I I to the Fort. Of course I may be\u00a0completely wrong in this deduction, but my best guess is that this curious newspaper,\u00a0The Chatham Bee, was produced at Ha I lowe I I. The deducTi on is furthe r\u00a0strengthened by re fe rence to the 0 I d south clock, though both Ha I lowe I I an d Gardiner\u00a0had an Old South Church; and the references to the Academy in other articles\u00a0of The paper may well refer to the famous Hallowell Academy.<\/p>\n
A hundred and twenty years ago people had good reason to be wary of banks.\u00a0They were frequen~ly closing and wiping out their depositors. Every bank issued\u00a0paper currency, which is the reason why paper money is sti I I sometimes referred\u00a0to as bank notes.<\/p>\n
In 1838 many Maine banks were in trouble. In February of that year the\u00a0Waldo Patriot publ ished what it cal led a HBank Note Table!~, which it divided under\u00a0three heads. The first was rYBroken BanksH, and inc I uded the Kennebec Bank\u00a0at Augusta, the Passamaquoddy at Eastport, and the banks at Castine and Wiscasset.\u00a0The second head i ng was HCharters Exp ired);, and that app lied to the 01 d\u00a0Cumberland Bank aT Portland, and the banks at Bath, Bangor, Kennebunk, Saco,\u00a0Winthrop and ~Iaterville. The third list was of banks whose bills were not received\u00a0at par. They were the Oxford Bank at Fryeburg, and banks at Norway and\u00a0Brunswick.<\/p>\n
Later in thaT same month of February, 1838 the Waldo Patriot commented on\u00a0the banking situa~jon as of the close of the year 1837. After showing that the\u00a0immediate liabi liTies of ten of Maine’s principal banks exceeded their immediate\u00a0assets by substanT i a I amounts, the newspaper sa i d: HOur banks differ wi de I yin\u00a0the relation of their immediate means to immediate liabi lities. Not one of them\u00a0has dollar for dollar, but some are in much better condition than others. The\u00a0T,i con i c at Watery i I I e has a do I I ar of ready means for every four do I I ars of I i abi\u00a0lities, whi Ie the Bank of Bangor has only one in Ten. The Canal Bank in Portland\u00a0has one in three, whi Ie its neighbor, the Casco Bank, has only one in six.\u00a0The lowest is the Neguemkeag Bank with only one dollar of ready means for every\u00a033 do I I ars of I i ab iii ty .<\/p>\n
The paper does not say where the Neguemkeag Bank was located. nor have I\u00a0been able to locaTe it in early editions of the Maine Register. Does any listener\u00a0know its location? Where was the Neguemkeag Bank?\u00a0Before the Civi I War the present nickels were unknown. Five cent pieces\u00a0were then half-dimes, made of si Iver with half the weight content of the dime.<\/p>\n
I remember that in my own boyhood, in the first decade of this century, some of\u00a0those half-dimes were sti I I in circulation. Time and again, in the years between\u00a01800 and the Civi I War, there was a scarcity of currency. Complaint wasmade in 1840, the year of the famous log cabin presidential campaign of iiTippecanoe \u00a0and Tyler too”, that although 14 million half-dimes had been minted between\u00a01829 and 1839, very few seemed to be in circulation. In fact there was a\u00a0scarcity of al I si Iver money. Of quarters, dimes and half-dimes the production\u00a0had exceeded 25 mi I I ion. tlWhere H, asked one Ma i ne newspaper, “are those 25\u00a0mi I lion coins? They are suppressed by a combination of politicians and bankers,\u00a0for the purpose of f~rcing their slim-plasters upon the people, thus afflicting\u00a0the people unti I they subscribe to a new National Bank owned by Van Buren politicians\u00a0and political British capitalists, to rule and plunder the country.f!<\/p>\n
You wi I I recognize quite a difference today in the stabi lity of our Maine\u00a0banks. Most of them weathered the crisis of 1933 without serious loss to depositors,\u00a0and today in al I of the leading banks the deposits are protected by\u00a0federal insurance. But one thing you have observed is just the same as it was\u00a0120 years ago. We are sti I I inclined to blame al lour financial troubles on the \u00a0political party we happen not to favor. People did it in 1840, and they’ve done\u00a0i t eve r since.<\/p>\n
As I have often p~inted out, the ads in our old Maine newspapers are often\u00a0more revealing of the life and ways of the people than are the news articles.\u00a0A few ads gleaned from that old Belfast paper of 1838 are real curiosities:<\/p>\n
“Wanted, to serve at the bank i ng bus i ness, a boy 14 to 16, to be app renticed\u00a0to me unti I he is of age. None wi I I be received unless he can be wei I\u00a0recommended. H. R. Sargent.”<\/p>\n
“A handsome assortment of I arge and sma II looki nq-g I asses for sa Ie very\u00a0cheap for cash at the Be I fast Bookstore. n<\/p>\n
IlReceived this week at Johnson & Sleeper’s, a variety of straw bonnets,\u00a0consisting of Florence, Dunstable, Open-Work, Fancy, and Eleven Braids. Some\u00a0are very superior; others can be sold at very low prices.”<\/p>\n
“Just received at Johnson & Sleeper’s, black, blue-black, brown & green\u00a0si Ik fringe, which wi I I be sold low.”<\/p>\n
‘Three hundred pounds of Live Geese Feathers wi II be sold lower than ever\u00a0at Johnson & Sleeper’s.”<\/p>\n
“Johnson & Sleeper have just received a prime lot of palm leaf. Come\u00a0qu i ck I Y to get it wh i lei t lasts.\u00a0Mai Is were slow and uncertain in the old days, and not always because of\u00a0slow transportation. Human interference sometimes occurred. So we should not\u00a0be surprised at the fol lowing items which appeared in the Waldo Patriot in\u00a01838.<\/p>\n
The editor wrote: “We have received comp laints from Lincolnvi lie that some\u00a0of our subscribers who should receive their papers through the post office at\u00a0Lincolnvi I Ie Corner do not get them, owing to the unwarrantable interference of\u00a0the postmaster, who persuades some from taking them and gives away those belonging\u00a0to others. We respectfully inform the postmaster that, if such a course\u00a0is persisted in, we shal I report his conduct to the department at Washington.\u00a0If a paper comes to his office and the person to whom it is adrressed cal Is or\u00a0sends for it and pays the postage, it is his duty promptly to deliver it and not\u00a0obtrude hi s advi ce or make ins i di ous remarks upon the character of the paper. n<\/p>\n
The fol lowing week saw another editorial statement on the same subject:<\/p>\n
HThe paragraph in our last issue relative to the post office at Lincolnvi lie\u00a0Corner has brought us the solemn assurance of the Postmaster, Mr. Clark, that\u00a0our report was founded on error. Mr. Clark appears very candid and honest about\u00a0it, and we therefore must acquit him of any unjustifiable conduct unti I further\u00a0proof is added to aff i rm it. n<\/p>\n
On another occas i on the ed i tor issued a mi I d rep roof to a postmaster: nWe\u00a0would ask Henry Jones, Postmaster at Southwest Harbor, whether he has not neglected\u00a0his duty in al lowing Thomas Ring’s paper to be dead in his office upwards\u00a0of three months !:sfore noti fyi ng the printer.”<\/p>\n
A hundred years ago a Jot of wheat was raised in Maine, and much of it was\u00a0mi lied into f lour right ins i de the state. In 1837, for instance, over 100,000\u00a0bushels were reaped in Waldo County alone, 11,000 of them in the single town of\u00a0Unity. And with that cereal reference we say good night for old times’ sake.<\/p>\n
Year: 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #346, Broadcast September 15, 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}