Background
John Claflin was born on July 24, 1850 in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He was the third son and third of five children of Horace Brigham Claflin and Agnes (Sanger) Claflin.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ The Currency: Report New York Chamber of Commerce. Special Currency Committee, John Claflin s.n., 1906 Currency question; Paper money
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John Claflin was born on July 24, 1850 in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He was the third son and third of five children of Horace Brigham Claflin and Agnes (Sanger) Claflin.
He attended public school in New York, graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1869.
In 1870, after the early death of his two older brothers, he entered his father's wholesale dry goods house in New York City. Becoming head of the firm of H. B. Claflin & Co. on his father's death in 1885, he managed it until 1914. Greatly expanding the business he had inherited, Claflin established an integrated merchandising concern with many functions and wide geographic scope. The original partnership was replaced in 1890 by the H. B. Claflin Company, a corporation capitalized at $9, 000, 000. Later, to consolidate his interests in the dry goods business, Claflin organized a series of holding companies--the Associated Merchants Company in 1900, the United Mercantile Company in 1903, and the United Dry Goods Company in 1909. He expanded the wholesale business to include thirteen warehouses across the nation. Importation of goods and sales abroad added to the volume of business. More than two dozen retail stores in the United States, as well as a large manufactory of sheets and pillowcases, were included in the organization. Vigorous policies and practices characterized the wholesale operations. Claflin enlarged the variety of the goods sold, early adding notions, novelties, and ladies' ready-to-wear clothing to such staple articles as yard goods. A large departmentalized sales force solicited trade; the five divisions of the credit department each collected a variety of information on a designated geographic area; and the advertising department continuously carried on extensive informative campaigns. To facilitate national advertising the company adopted its own brand names; to stimulate wholesale sales it encouraged buying in advance of a season, made special offers based on large advantageous purchases, ran semi-annual clearance sales, and emphasized service to its customers. In spite of many successes, Claflin's organization experienced several storms during two generations of expansion, and on June 23, 1914, the H. B. Claflin Company went into receivership. Commentators attributed Claflin's difficulties to conditions both internal and external to the firm. Some of them pointed to certain weaknesses in its financial policies and administration, among them an overextension of credit incurred in financing its retail subsidiaries and the payment of dividends in excess of earnings to bolster the stock-market position of Claflin Company and United Dry Goods shares. At the same time general economic conditions were stringent, banks had tightened credit, and the wholesale trade was changing. The direct purchase from manufacturers of national brands by retailers and increased competition from specialty jobbers in regional areas narrowed the market. Claflin voluntarily turned over the major part of his private fortune to meet the claims of creditors and aided in corporate reorganization, thus preventing losses which would have accompanied forced liquidation of his companies. The business never recovered, however, and in 1926 Claflin's, Inc. (the successor to the bankrupt H. B. Claflin Company) was voluntarily liquidated. During his long life Claflin devoted himself to many interests. He served as director or trustee of some nine life and fire insurance companies and six large banks. Interested in currency reform, he headed special committees on the subject, including that of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, of which he was president in 1912-14. He also traveled widely in the United States and abroad, sometimes in little-explored places; in 1877 he made his way across the South American continent near the equator.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
Short, slender, gentle-mannered but energetic, Claflin possessed great organizing ability.
On June 27, 1890, at Monterey, California, he married Mrs. Elizabeth (Stewart) Dunn, by whom he had three daughters, Elizabeth Stewart, Agnes Sanger, and Mary Stewart.