[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 38 (Wednesday, April 10, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2451-S2452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    J.C. PENNEY'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, since we are at a lull in the debate 
on this very important bill, I take this opportunity to congratulate a 
company headquartered in Texas that is celebrating its 100th 
anniversary: the J.C. Penney Company.
  I think it is incredible, when you think of a company that was 
started in 1902, that it is still going strong today. I think it is 
worthy of note.
  The founder of J.C. Penney, James Cash Penney, was fond of saying to 
his workers that they were not building a business but a community. 
This is the kind of business philosophy I hope more businesses in 
America will adopt because businesses supporting communities means 
people are supporting communities, and that is what makes our country 
so strong.
  J.C. Penney encourages its employees to volunteer in the community. 
They contribute to the local United Way across the country, which is so 
helpful in the quality of life for every community.
  They are especially doing something that I want to point out because 
I know so many working parents worry about what happens with their 
children from the time school is out until they can get home. J.C. 
Penney has made a tremendous effort to ease their employees' fears and 
anxieties by providing more places and more opportunities for children 
in afterschool programs across our country. This is the kind of thing 
that really makes a contribution to our way of life in America.
  So I thank the employees of J.C. Penney for their commitment to 
building America's communities and for making a place for Americans to 
work to be a good place to work. I wish them the best and not only 
congratulate them on the last 100 years but for another 100 years of 
making the quality of life better for families throughout America.

  Mr. President, I will yield to my friend, the Senator from Wyoming, 
where J.C. Penney actually started until they had the good sense to 
move to Texas to make their headquarters.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ENZI. I thank the Senator from Texas.
  Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I get to bring you the 
rest of the story.
  I have always said you can tell a lot about a country by learning 
about the leaders of that country. One of the areas of leadership on 
which this country can pride itself, worldwide, is its leadership in 
small business and in retailing. And we have a Wyoming boy who has done 
well. I want to share with you, for just a moment, his history and the 
history of the company he started.
  I also have to tell you about a young man of 83 who has just taken up 
a career in writing in Wyoming. Since his retirement, he has written a 
book called ``Pride, Power, Progress.'' His name is John ``Ace'' Bonar. 
He had a distinguished career and, as I say, has now taken up writing. 
He has written a very short history of an important man that I want to 
share with you.
  To quote him:

       The year was 1902. With the blessing of President Teddy 
     Roosevelt the Panama Canal was being built. Roosevelt, who 
     said, ``Speak softly and carry a big stick,'' was also 
     sending the United States Navy around the world to 
     demonstrate its effectiveness.
       And back in the states an unheralded project had started. 
     In the tiny mining town of Kemmerer, Wyoming (population 
     1,000), a 27-year-old man had opened a dry goods store. James 
     Cash Penney was his name. Son of an unordained Baptist 
     minister father in Missouri, Penny, like his father was a 
     strict disciplinarian. He adhered to honesty, thriftiness and 
     hard work. ``Jim,'' his father admonished, ``you have no 
     right to make money if you take advantage of people!''
       At the age of 8, the younger Penney ran errands for a 
     nickel. The $2.50 that he saved was invested in pigs. On 
     complaints of neighbors, he sold out. But he made $60. At 12 
     years old he was horse trading and raising

[[Page S2452]]

     watermelons on the family farm. He soon joined Hale Brothers 
     Dry Goods Store in Hamilton at a $2.27-a-month salary. His 
     income increased to $300 a year. But he left on doctor's 
     orders. He had to go to a higher and dryer climate for his 
     bronchial trouble. Arriving in Colorado he tried the butcher 
     business in the town of Longmont. He soon sold out.
       Against the advice of people Penney borrowed $1,500 from a 
     bank and used $500 of his own hard-earned money to start a 
     Golden Rule Store in Kemmerer. In Mr. Penney's words, ``It 
     was on April the 14th we opened our doors. I was assisted by 
     my wife, a local girl, and a Methodist minister. Our sales 
     that day were $466.59, of which $89.90 was shoes. I was 
     warned that a cash business such as our could not succeed. 
     The miners received pay once a month and most spent it before 
     the next day. And then business dropped as low as $25 a 
     day.''
       ``I got new fight in my blood.'' James Cash Penney catered 
     to the needs of a rural and ``blue collar'' clientele. Trade 
     revived. He opened another store 75 miles away in Rock 
     Springs, Wyoming. In 1913 the Golden Rule Stores became the 
     J.C. Penney Company. By 1917 there were 175 stores in the 
     United States. Penney operated on a cash basis. The coal 
     company stores had offered only credit. He studied the market 
     and concentrated only on necessary items for his customers.
       A plain and devout man, Mr. Penney, as the story goes, was 
     waiting on a man and his family in a Midwestern store. He 
     took great pains in getting the family a perfect fit. They 
     liked to buy at the friendly Penney stores. ``I'd sure like 
     to meet Mr. Penney someday!'' Whereupon the salesman smiled 
     and said quite simply while offering a handshake, ``I am Mr. 
     Penney!''
       Mr. Penney at times would literally ``pop up'' unexpected 
     at one of his growing chain of stores which was the nation's 
     first chain store. There is an account of his encounters in a 
     Milwaukee store where strolling down an aisle he noticed a 
     display of men's corduroy pants marked $3.98. He called the 
     store manager on the carpet.
       ``These pants,'' said Mr. Penney, ``sell at $2.98!.``
       But Mr. Penney,'' pleaded the manager, ``they are an 
     excellent buy at this price!''
       ``You violate company policy!'' the owner exploded. ``You 
     must give the customer the best value and make a reasonable 
     profit!''
       Penney's memory was remarkable, according to all accounts.
       At the opening of a new Penney store in Minneapolis in 
     1970, it is told that a man came up to Mr. Penney and asked, 
     ``Do you remember me?''
       Penney regarded the man for a moment, and smiled.
       ``Your name is Severt Tendall. I last saw you when you 
     worked in the Cumberland, Wyoming, store in 1902.''
       About the only thing James Cash Penney didn't accomplish 
     during his lifetime was to live to be 100 years old. He came 
     very close to his wish. He was still a board member of his 
     company until his death in 1971. He was 95 years old.
       Does the Golden Rule, ``Do unto others as you would have 
     other do unto you,'' work today? Ask any of the managers of 
     the 2,080 JCPenney outlets in Europe and across the nation.
       Today the little Golden Rule Store in Kemmerer, Wyoming, 
     stands as a National Historic Landmark. A tribute to James 
     Cash Penney and his faith in his fellow man.

  Back in Wyoming we have dedicated that historic location, the start 
of chain store retailing in the United States and the home of J.C. 
Penney.
  The principles on which he built that store are important principles 
for this country, ones that keep retailing going. I am pleased to say 
that my dad worked as a shoe salesman for a while in the Golden Rule 
store in Thermopolis, WY. My mom repeated some phrases to me that were 
a part of that culture and are a part of my mission statement in the 
Senate; that is, do what is right; do your best; and treat others as 
you want to be treated.
  I want to mention in more detail the Penney idea. Here are some of 
the statements that are made to all employees of the company, the 
challenge, the mission of Penney: To serve the public as nearly as we 
can to its complete satisfaction; to expect for the service we render a 
fair remuneration and not all the profit the traffic will bear; to do 
all in our power to pack the customer's dollar full of value, quality, 
and satisfaction; to continue to train ourselves and our associates so 
that the service we give will be more and more intelligently performed; 
to improve constantly the human factor in our business; to reward men 
and women in our organization through participation in what the 
business produces; to test our every policy, method, and act in this 
wise: ``Does it square with what is right and just?''
  J.C. Penney was the pioneer of retailing, the pioneer of chain 
stores, and one of the pioneers of catalogs. Catalogs were the way the 
West was served when distances were too great to get to stores. Some of 
it is still that way.
  His principles are just as true for business today as they are for 
life. Adhering to these great principles actually usually leads to 
great success. That is one of the lessons we learned from J.C. Penney 
on this 100th anniversary of the effort he started that set him apart 
from his competitors and made him one of America's most famous and 
successful businessmen, a person who gives us guidelines for ways we 
should operate today, ways that will keep the United States in the 
forefront of free enterprise.
  I yield the floor.

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