Last week I referred to the rise from small beginnings of an American pubIi\u00a0sh i ng fi rm, Rand & McNa Ily. Toni ght I want to te II you about another company,\u00a0Dun and Bradstreet.<\/p>\n
When the UniTed States first won its independence, the chief souroe of\u00a0credit for business men in the new nation were British merchants and bankers,\u00a0who were able to charge high interest rates and demand unusual security. Within\u00a0the United States, as population expanded, it became increasingly difficult to\u00a0do business safely with strangers. There was badly needed an impartial source\u00a0of i nformati on about prospecti ve credi t customers.<\/p>\n
In 1841 a man named Lewis Tappan, a New York si Ik merchant, set up a company\u00a0for the express purpose of making independenT and impartial credit investigati\u00a0ons so that busi ness men wou I d not have to re Iv upon letters of reference\u00a0and recommendation, which were too easi Iy faked.<\/p>\n
Tappan set up a kind of centralized store of trading experience accessible\u00a0to business men who pooled their information. He added the local opinions and\u00a0data of confidential agents. He enlisted large numbers of attorneys in different\u00a0cities to become his correspondents. In an amazingly short time less\u00a0than two years — Tappan had sufficient data regarding the standing of businesses\u00a0in other ciTies, towns and hamlets to enable New York wholesalers to determine\u00a0the amount of credit that could be granted with a reasonable area of\u00a0risk.<\/p>\n
Eight years after Tappan’s venture, a simi far organization was started in\u00a0Cincinnati by John M. Bradstreet. Later the Tappan firm became the R. G. Dun\u00a0and Company. For more than 80 years the two organizations were in active competi\u00a0ti on, but fi na I Iy in 1933 they were merged into Dun and Bradstreet.<\/p>\n
Today a business in New York, San Francisco, or any American community between\u00a0the two coasts, can obtain comprehensive credit information within a few\u00a0hours regarding any business in the United States, and on many thousands of\u00a0firms in foreign countries. Dun and Bradstreet’s traveling reporters cover\u00a0every one of the 3,068 counties in the nation and all the provinces in Canada.<\/p>\n
including the trading posts inside the Arctic Circle. The reporter interviews\u00a0sma I I mi ne owners in West Vi rg in i a, market gardeners in New Jersey, f i she rmen\u00a0off the Maine coast.<\/p>\n
Among Dun and Bradstreet’s important publications is its bi-monthly Reference\u00a0Book, the commercial Bible of American trade. Another is its monthly Review\u00a0and Modern Industry, which circulates 125,000 copies every month.<\/p>\n
Today modern industry is protected to a high de~ree by the organization of\u00a0Dun and Bradstreet, wh i ch a I I started 116 years ago because a dea ler ins ilks in\u00a0old, downtown New York got tired having himself and his fellow merchants persistently\u00a0defrauded by false letters of recommendation.<\/p>\n
There are persons sti r I I i vi ng who remember James l-bbbs Hanson, the famous\u00a0head of Coburn Classical Institute for many years during the nineteenth century.\u00a0want to tel I you tonight a bit about that famous Maine educator and his fami Iy.<\/p>\n
James H. Hanson came of early colonial stock. His first American ancestor\u00a0had been a relative of the wife of the Plymouth colonist, Wi Iliam Bradford, and\u00a0in 1693 that man, Thomas Hanson, had taken up a grant of 100 acres at what is\u00a0now Sa lmon Falls, New Hampshi reo By 1724’hl-s~-sonJ6hrF’Hanson :was. tne~-,owner of\u00a0the homestead. One day in that year, whi Ie John was away from home, Indians\u00a0surprised and attacked his wife and six chi Idren, ki Iling two of the latter;\u00a0and burning the house. The Indians took the wife and the four remaining chi 1-\u00a0dren to Canada as captives. John Hanson made two trips to Canada in attempts\u00a0to ransom his fami Iy. He finally succeeded in getting back all but one daugh-ter, whom he never saw again.<\/p>\n
About 1800 the fami Iy moved across the New Hampshi re line into the Distri\u00a0ct of r\u00b71ai ne at Berwi ck. There a’ great grandson of the John Hanson of the\u00a0Indian episode, a man named James Hanson, settled as a farmer and tai lor. He\u00a0served in the War of 1812 with the mi Ii tary force that went from Western Mai ne\u00a0to Casti ne. In 1816 the fami I y moved from B3rW i ck to the Centra I Ma i ne regi on,\u00a0into what is now the town of China. There on June 26, 1816 James I-bbbs Hanson\u00a0was born.<\/p>\n
No membe r of the Hanson fami I y had eve r shown scho I ar I yin te rests. They\u00a0had all been farmers or artisans. How did it happen that James became a scholarly\u00a0teacher and educational administrator? The answer lies, as it so often\u00a0does 1 in the i nsp irati on spa’l’Jked by another man.<\/p>\n
In the second class to graduate from Watervi lie College (now Colby), the\u00a0Class of 1823, was Henry Paine, who had come from his Connecticut home to Watervi\u00a0I Ie to study for the mi ni stry under Jeremi ah Chap I in. I nstead of entering\u00a0the ministry~ he became an inspiring teacher, first at Eastport Academy, then\u00a0at Windsor, Vermont, then back in <\/em>Maine at Monmouth Academy, and from 1831 to\u00a01835 principal of Watervi lie Academy, the very school over which James Hanson\u00a0wou I d afterward so long presi de. Then in 1835 Pai ne left Watervi lie to become\u00a0the head of Chi na Academy, where he rama ined for nine years. From 1844 to 1849\u00a0he taught at Rockland, then for seven years was principal of Thomaston Academy,\u00a0whe re he was sti I I a teacher when death c I aimed him in 1868 at the age of 75.<\/p>\n Whi Ie Paine was conducting China Academy, he discovered a bright and responsive\u00a0lad in the person of young James Hanson. Two years earlier the boy’s\u00a0father had died and James had been obliged to drop out of school. Though he\u00a0was now nearly 20 years old, Paine assured the youth it was not too late to comp\u00a0lete hi s educati on. So it was arranged that he cou I d enter Ch ina Academy}\u00a0where in three years he completed the requirements for admission into Water-\u00a0vi lie Co I lege , entering the co liege ha II sin 1838 and rece i ving his degree in\u00a01842. He was then 26 years old, but in those days many a fellow was even older\u00a0when he graduated.<\/p>\n Paine had convinced Hanson that the lad was cut out to be a teacher. So:\u00a0i mrredi ate I y after his co I lege graduat ion, Hanson taught th ree terms at Hampden\u00a0Academy. I t was a di sappoi nti ng experi ence and Hanson was led to -doubt the accuracy\u00a0of Paine’s diagnosis, and he returned to the home farm in China, half\u00a0convinced That the teacher’s life was not for him. But in the autumn came temptation\u00a0he could not resist. To the China farm went Samuel Plaisted, whom Henry\u00a0Paine had Told that James Hanson was the man Plaisted and his fellow trustees\u00a0shou I d secure to revi ve the near Iy defunct Watervi lie Academy.<\/p>\n That schoo I had been founded in 1829, and its first pri nci pa I had been the\u00a0very Henry Paine who had persuaded James Hanson to prepare for a teaching career.<\/p>\n In 1834 the schoo I had an enro II ment of 205 — 131 boys and 74 gi rl s. But such\u00a0prosperi ty did not conti nue long, and the reason lay i n two causes: first, frequent\u00a0change of principals, as many as three in one year; and second, the establi shmenT of a ri va I school.<\/p>\n During the first half of the nineteenth century the two leading religious\u00a0denomi nati ons in Watervi lie were the Bapti sts and the Un i versa lists, two groups\u00a0which in theology were far apart, the BaptisTs representing the conservative\u00a0hard-shells of the day, and the Universal ists the allegedly heathen liberals.<\/p>\n In its foundation and support, the Watervi I Ie Academy was avowedly a Baptist\u00a0schoo I. The Un i versa lists deci ded they must have a schoo I of the i r own, and in\u00a01838 they estab I i shed the Watervi lie Li bera I I nsti tute at what is now the corner\u00a0of Elm and School Streets. Under sound leadership it immediately flourished\u00a0and so thorough Iy attracted pupi Is away from the older Watervi lie Academy that\u00a0for two years from June 1839, to September, 1841 the latter was closed. Attempt\u00a0at revi va I was made that fa II, but the schoo I was sti I I strugg ling for survi va I,\u00a0with a handful of pupi Is when Samuel Plaisted visited the Hanson farm in China\u00a0in 1843.<\/p>\n When Hanson inquired what his salary would be, Plaisted told him the trustees\u00a0would follow their practice of many years. They would repair the school\u00a0bui Idi ng and provi de the fue I, but Hanson must pay a II other expenses out of the\u00a0receipts from tuiTion. What was left over after paying the expenses would be\u00a0Hanson’s sa I ary.<\/p>\n Recalling the success of the school under Henry Paine, Hanson accepted the\u00a0challenge. Perhaps here was the chance for him to prove that he could bui Id up\u00a0a decadent schoo I. I-bw he ever persuaded hi mse I f to stay on after one year at\u00a0Watervi I Ie Academy is a mystery, for he ended that year 1843-44 with no salary\u00a0at a II, and actua I I Y out of pocket $40 because expenses exceeded tu i ti on receipts\u00a0by that amount. But he had indeed improved The enrollment. When he\u00a0took over in September there had been only five pupi Is, with nearly 200 enrolled\u00a0at the rival Liberal Institute. At the end of the year in June the Academy\u00a0numbers had reached 30.<\/p>\n When finances proved to be little better in 1844-45, Hanson decided he had\u00a0had enough and was ready to take a subordinate posiTion under Henry Paine at\u00a0China Academy. WiTh a little action and a lot of promises, however, the Watervi\u00a0lie Trustees persuaded him to remain, and he di d so unti I 1854, gi vi ng the\u00a0school a wide favorable reputation and boosting the enrollment to more than 300.<\/p>\n Worn out by his hard labor, Hanson left Watervi lie in 1854 to teach at\u00a0Eastport, then to become principal of the Boys’ High School in Portland. Watervi\u00a0I Ie Academy was not the same place without James Hanson. It proceeded steadi\u00a0Iy to decl i ne. Presi dent Ctlamp lin of the college, whi ch had itse I f been gi ven\u00a0a new lease on life by Gardner Colby’s splendid gift in 1864, was determined\u00a0that the former chief source of students, Watervi I Ie Academy, should be thorough\u00a0Iy i nvi gorated. He ins j”sted that the man to do it was J ames Hanson. Dr.\u00a0Champlin was a very persuasive man, and in spite of qualms as to whether his\u00a0health would stand the strain, Hanson :accepted, and in 1865 began his second\u00a0stretch as principal, which continued unti I his death in 1894.<\/p>\n In 1883, because of generous gifts of a new bui Iding and substantial endowment\u00a0from Governor Abner Coburn, ,the name of Watervi lie Academy was changed\u00a0to Cob urn C I as sica I In sti tute \u2022 J ames Hanson made it the “besT ~knewn and the best\u00a0attended private academy in Maine. Its principal rivals were Gorham, Hebron and\u00a0Kents Hi II, but none of them at that time quite equalled in qual ity and enro 11-\u00a0ment, or financial prosperity, the Coburn of Hanson’s day.<\/p>\n James Hanson was an untiring worker. He devoted ten hours a day to continuous\u00a0~aching. He sometimes began a class at six o’clock in the morning and\u00a0often had another reci tati on we I I into the even i ng. In his first years at the\u00a0Academy in the 1840′ s, he was too poor to hire assi stants on the schoo I ‘s de f icit\u00a0financing; so he did everything himself.\u00a0Even during the more prosperous days in the 1870’s, the annual tuition receipts\u00a0seldom exceeded $3,000, and out of that Hanson had to pay his assistants.<\/p>\n Nelson Dingley, Maine’s distinguished Governor and Congressman, told a\u00a0story illustrative of Hanson’s versati lity and eagerness to teach. Dingley said\u00a0that as a boy he went to WaTervi lie to enter Hanson’s school, but by mi stake he\u00a0arri ved a who Ie week before the term was schedu led to begi n. Hanson assured the\u00a0youth that it made no difference, and since he was on the grounds, he might as\u00a0wei I begin his studies at once; and Hanson, who was busy enough preparing for\u00a0the school’s opening, heard Dingley recite every day during The interval.<\/p>\n Hanson was a noted classical scholar. How he ever got time to pursue such\u00a0studies beyond the demands of the classroom it is diffic~lt to explain. But\u00a0pursue them he did, probably with plentiful consumption of midnight oi I.\u00a0He published a collection of Latin prose and another of the Latin poets,\u00a0and he edited editions of Caesar, Cicero and Vi rgi I. His books were used in\u00a0Arne ri can schoo I s for many years.<\/p>\n There is a trite out-worn saying that an institution is but the lengthened\u00a0shadow of a man. Wei I, I can assure you that of one institution that is true.<\/p>\n Coburn Classical Institute, \\A\/atervi lie’s 128 year old private school.~ is the\u00a0lengthened shadow of a remarkab Ie man named J aires Hobbs Hanson.<\/p>\n Year: 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #347, Broadcast September 22, 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\/7763"}],"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=7763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}