Document MMGKNjGMnDqoDx9XQOdLzNMJM

Ne w e l l -Emme t t Co mp a n y 40 Ea s t 84t h Sis s s t Ne w Yo h j i ie,N.T?: AtHLAND 4.4900 November 8, 1944 A fabulous figure in the business world died the other day. You might say he belonged to a dying generation . . . the generation of dynamic builders of America whose business philosophy was flavored with a strong sense of public service. .1 George A. Martin's life and business record were a tribute to the concept of private initiative. His rise from obscurity, his full and busy life and his absorbing interest in his fellow men were nothing short of inspirational. We are enclosing background data on the late Ur. Martin in the belief that an editorial .baaed on his biography might help re-establish the philosophy of living, which made our country great. franklin 2. Brill 0007-SWP-000005189 / GEOBGS A. MARTIN AMEBICA'S LEAST PUBLICIZED IHDUSTHIALIST Last month, a hustling 60-pear old industrialist returned from a 10,000 mile trip througi South America, full of enthusiasm for the industrial future of the Americas. Last year, he traveled 16,500 miles ov^r the same territory, personally supervising the operations of his company's foreign properties. Yet, this youthful octogenarian still finds time to he chairman of the .hoard of directors of the world's largest paint company, president of six other corporations and vice-president of two more, a director of a rubber company, a railroad, a meatpacking house, the Cleveland baseball club and the Metropolitan Opera Association. Several weeks of each year, he spends on horseback and in sleeping hag on his 6,000 acre Hew Mexican ranch. No art appreciation, youth guidance or civic improvement activity in his home town escapes his attention. With all this, George Martin is probably the least publicised industrial ist in America. Last year, when the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce wished to bestow on him their coveted Award for Public Service, he was not to be found in the country, having "escaped* on a South American business trip. Ha never writes a personal latter if he can avoid it, refuses to attend business lun- 4 cheons or asks speeches and spends more time in Pullman-berths on air planes than ha does at his dssk. Hors is his story in his own words: "I was born George Abraham Martin, Novembor 7, 1865, Montello, Wisconsin; taken to Chicago as a baby and educated in public grammar school and night school. I left grammar school in the seventh grade at age of twelve and got & job in the Union Stock Yards with The Chicago Packing Provision Company which was 0007-SWP-000005190 -2- then one of the largest, if not the largest, under the control of one 3, ?. Hutchinson, who seemed to get great enjoyment out of hunting me up every tino he camo to the Stock Yards, which was weekly or semi-monthly, and discharging me. He was successful in doing it three times during one winter. "1 was successful in getting away from The Chicago Packing Provision Company of my own free will and accord and went with the General Superinten dent of that company who had organised a now enterprise in the meat industry. I remained with him all of *78 and *79, "In 1880, I made a partnership with another fellow in which 1 bought and shipped some meat specialties (which at that time were wastes of the stock yards) to a partner in Hew York City, who sold them to hotels. This was one of the toughest and most successful Jobs 1 think 1 ever had. This was dis continued because the packers discovered the market we had made and the prosI pacts for its development, and finally put us out of buainosa, "Prom 1880 to 1887 I was with The Union Brass Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of railway car trimmings - I served in many departments in clerkships, as journeyman, etc., finishing up as shipping and billing clerk. "1887 to_1891 Z spent in the manufacture of paint specialties .in Chicago, selling to railway and industrial trade only. Due to a failure to sell one of the railroads, who continued to prefer The Shorwin-Vllliams Company, Z decided to try and sell them and was successful in doing so. "During this period, I had met Mr. Sherwin and Hr. Williams. The for mer invited me to join the organization and take charge and control of the Calumet Paint Company at Pullman, the ownership of which at that time was held rather confidential. "Prom 1891 to 1897 Z managed the Calumet Paint Company as Manager, Salesman, Bookkeeper and Faint Grinder. 0007-SWP-000005191 - o- "In >98 I was mada Manager of the Western Division of the Company at Chicago, which at that.time was one of the three divisions of the Company, namely; Cleveland, Hew York and Chicago, while eleven traveling representa tives made up the complete traveling sales organization. "At that time the condition of the country and the strength, character i and quality of the men who represented the house caused the business to pro gress in..leaps and bounds. In three years the traveling salos organization of the Division had gone from eloven men to forty-seven, and the business from a few hundred thousand dollars up into the millions. 'Expansion' was our motto at that time." Mr. Martin managed the Western District of The Sherwin-Williams Company until 1905 when he was,transferred to Cleveland in charge of the Auxiliaries Department, which under his management expanded to include lead, zinc and I copper mines, smelters, linseed oil plants, power plants and tin can plants. In 1916 he was appointed by President Walter H. Cottingham to the position of Vice President and General Manager of Manufacturing and five years later he was made Vice President and General Hanagor of the entire business. In Novem ber, 1922, he was elected Presldont of The Sherwin-Williams Company and in 1940, Chairman of the Doard. EABLY DAYS IN TES PAINT INDOSISY During the early days in Chicago, Mr. Martin originated the plan for standardizing the colors of paint on all of the equipment of the railroad, a practice vhlch later came into common use and was copied by many industrial concerns. At that time the only paints generally Imovn and used were paste paints, chiefly lead and oil mixed with dry colors and earth colors. These paints had to bs mixed by hand by an expert. 0007-SWP-000005192 - 4- Mr. Martin recognised the need for some manufacturer to formulate readily mixed paints, varnishes and enamels for the home owner, these paints to carry the name and trade-mark of the maker as a guarantee of quality and satisfaction. Mr. Henry A. Sherwin, founder of The Sherwin-Williams Company, was al ready working on the some theory which intrigued Mr. Martin. As a result of his efforts, a special paint was developed for each purpose. Mr. Martin recognized that this was not enough. You had to let the trade know who made it, that they could depend on the goods, that the goods were nado right, that the Company stood hack of then. He recognized further that you had to let the public know about your paints or they would just warn the dealers' shelves. With this in mind Mr. Martin became a pioneer in con sumer advertising. He not only worked up merchandising plans for the dealer but prepared color cards, color chips, mailers and other direct mall,matter which increased the demand for these Sherwin-Williams paints and became an important factor in the expansion of the business. At the same time he applied these same principles to the painter mater ials market so that ho not only devolopcd household consumer demand but also built the wholesaler demand. Henry A. Sharvin, the founder, had worked on the principle, "Put all your eggs in on* basket and watch that basket." Mr. Martin went a step fur ther and while he agreed that you could not be famous for everything and should strive to be the biggest in the paint industry, the company should, nevertheless, diversify within the industry and above all, be basic. This meant getting as close to the sourcea of raw materials as possible, own or control such supplies solely with a view toward safeguarding the quality of the product from the ground up. 0007-SWP-000005193 t / 5 He has always believed that the entire paint industry should keep as self-contained as possible tni free froa foreign dependency. This has stood the industry In good stead in the matters of dyes, chemicals, oils, pigments and other important ingredients used in paint manufacture. World War I taught the paint industry a great lesson when German dyes and colors were cut off. Mr. Martin pioneered in putting his industry into the dye and color business. He was also one of the pioneers in the post-war development of nitro-cellulose lacquers. He has been in the forefront in synthetic resin developments and in keeping his company strongly entrenched in many branches of chemical in dustries which have a bearing on paint, varnish, lacquer and enamel manufac ture. After this war Mr. Martin fools that, due to the advances of chemical science, there is no limit to whore the paint Industry can go. for these reasons, Mr. Martin is keenly interested in maintaining a high degree of ef ficiency in his research and technical organizations and laboratories. He visualizes a post-war market of prodigious size to satisfy the huge backlog of the painting of homes, buildings, automobiles, trucks, and of man ufactured. Articles and appliances which will again be produced by the millions for civilian use. Be sees a tremendous development and opportunity in the Western Hemis phere and is a strong believer in the idea that the Borth, Central and South American countries will offer his industry all of the great opportunities that it will need to toko its vast production output for many years to coma. In addition to the many large Sherwln-Villiama plants in the United States at Chicago, Hewark, Detroit, Oakland, Cleveland, Dallas, etc., the company owns and operates large plants in Canada, Cuba and the Argentine and plans to open plants in Mexico and Brazil at an earl" ***' 0007-SWP-000005194 SBESVIB-VXLLZAIS ADVERTISING In connection with Martin* belief in reaching the consumer through ad vertising, hia company is closely identified with newspaper and outdoor adver tising and perhaps more particularly radio advertising. Martin is very en thusiastic about his colony's sponsorship of the "Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air" radio program which is in its ninth year. As a result of this program, 34 young American singers have been awarded contracts and have mads good with the Metropolitan' Opera Company. Martin is also a Dunninger fan as a result of his company*s sponsoring of Dunninger*s mental feats on the Blue Network Wednesday evenings for KeaTone, the miracle wall finish which the company markets through all of its subsidiaries and sells at the rate of over $25,000,000 worth per year. The latest radio adventure of his company is sponsorship of the Cleveland Indians*s baseball games. SH22WIU-VIILZAMS 127 THE Will STFOBT Perhaps the most direct Sherwin-Williams contribution to the war effort is its operation for the Government of the huge Illinois Ordnance Works in Southern Illinois. It is engaged in the loading of shells and bombs. Sherwia-Willlams plants throughout the country are engaged in making paints and protective coatings of all kinds for war purposes including the painting of shipa, airplanes, tanks and military equipment. Some of the plants, are now operating as much as 80 on war work although the cccpaay aver age is well below that figure because of the large demands for protective paints- for other property uses and industrial and product finishing coatings which have priority ratings but which are not*classed as directly war busi ness. 0007-SWP - 000005195 -7- The company produces zinc chromate prinsr which has bacoms indispen sable for use on ships and airplanes. More airplanes have boon primed with Shen/in-Williame zinc chrooats primer than any other. Experiments with this material were started ten years ago at the Haval Aircraft factory in Phila delphia. Phis primer is expected to open a vast field aftor the war for the protection of all types of metal surfaces. The company has svppliod sufficient shrimp net coating to treat 20,000,000 nets, each large enough to camouflage a tank or truck. Since June, 1943, over 2,500,000 pounds have been produced. One post-war possi bility for this development is for awning finishes. Strong tri-sodium phosphate cleaners are used in Army barracks. Con sequently the company haa developed a bunk bed enamel, which will withstand these strong cleansrs. Post-war use - an enamel that will withstand commer cial aa well aa household cleaners. Military pipelines, laid directly over the ground after having been shipped on an open deck, take terrific punishment from the weather. SherwinVillians supplies the finish which must stand up. The post-war possibility metal protective paints for exterior use. Kem-Fol, the vegetable co-polymer synthetic rubber produced by the company, le being produced in ever increasing amounts. It is used in adhesives and calking compounds. Other products manufactured by the coupany for war use include chromate gaskets which replace rubber gaskets for ventilator* and blowers aboard ships because they are fire and flame resistant, non-waxping, rust inhibiting, and last longer; pro-doped airplane fabric and elevated temperature dope finishes; a plastic protective coating for ports which is quickly stripped off; acotanilid from which the sulfa drugs are derived; dlbutyl pthalate, basic ingredient in smokeless powder; beta napthol, a rubber anti-oxidant; 0007-SWP-000005196 -8- napthalene acetic acid, vised to keep fruit from falling until ready to toe picked; and insecticides, chief among which is paris green, well taown for its ability to destroy larvae of the malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito. 0007-SWP-000005197