Julius Howland Barnes

Background

He was born in Little Rock on February 2, 1873, the son of Lucien Jerome Barnes, a banker, and Julia M. Hill.

Education

Midway through Barnes's freshman year in high school his father died, and he left school to work as an office boy in the wheat brokerage firm of Wardell Ames.

Career

He steadily advanced in the company, which was one of the nation's largest wheat exporters, and on Ames's death in 1910 assumed the presidency. In 1914 he attained control of the firm and renamed it the Barnes-Ames Company. Barnes specialized in export trade and developed a solid knowledge of transportation systems. The outbreak of World War I disrupted European trade routes and seriously threatened wheat trade. Large exporters on the Council of Grain Exchange accepted Barnes's plan to transact business collectively during the war, and Barnes was chairman of a council committee to handle exporting. Once the United States became involved in the conflict, Herbert Hoover, head of the newly formed Food Administration, impressed by Barnes's handling of the wheat problem, invited him to supervise the administration's Cereal Division through the Grain Corporation. Barnes accepted, and immediately divested himself of his grain interests. He did, however, retain presidency of the McDougall Shipbuilding Company of Duluth, which constructed vessels for Great Lakes traffic. The Food Administration helped stimulate the domestic production of foodstuffs and then distributed them overseas. Barnes believed this could best be accomplished through private management rather than government regulation.

The government initially capitalized the Grain Corporation at $50 million and owned all the stock. The Corporation then formed agreements with producers to buy wheat at an established price, thereby ensuring stability and eliminating speculation. In November 1918 the Food Administration became the American Relief Administration (ARA) - the American instrument for economic reconstruction and food distribution in Europe. The Grain Corporation became the United States Grain Corporation and acted as the ARA's purchasing agent.

Barnes resigned from the presidency in June 1920 to return to private business. He reacquired the Barnes-Ames Company and also became president of Intercontinental Development Corporation. Another company, Klearflax Linen Looms, which Barnes served as board chairman, began to profit from his earlier invention of a procedure for manufacturing linen rugs from formerly discarded flax straw. In 1920 Barnes took his first and only step into politics. He strongly admired Hoover and became one of a group of advisers who encouraged him to seek the Republican party presidential nomination. Barnes and other investors bought the Washington Herald to further Hoover's candidacy. Barnes also acted as Hoover's unofficial floor manager at the Republican National Convention. All these efforts proved futile, however, and Barnes developed little influence within the party power structure.

Throughout the 1920's Barnes devoted much attention to his business interests. In May 1922 he became president of the United States Chamber of Commerce. He served for two years, remaining on the board of directors until 1931. He was an ardent propagandist for the free enterprise system, extolling through speeches and articles the virtues of individualism and the business ethic. He shocked many in the corporate world by urging the hiring of "unemployables" - the chronically unemployed who many businessmen thought to be incapable of sustained employment - who demonstrated a willingness to work. Economic realities of the early Great Depression days, however, doomed Barnes's plans. He lost more than $2 million in the October 1929 stock market crash.

One month later President Hoover asked Barnes to head the newly created National Business Survey Conference, composed of key industrial leaders. The conference, which Hoover hoped would restore confidence in the business community, concluded that stimulation of the construction industry through increased private spending and voluntary agreements among trade associations would promote economic recovery. But it had no real authority, and could only attempt to reassure the public with periodic statistical reports purporting to show that prosperity was just around the corner. In his speeches and articles Barnes presented an optimistic view of the economy, but his viewpoint became untenable as the depression deepened. The conference was finally dissolved on May 6, 1931.

During the next decade Barnes increasingly turned his attention to his shipbuilding interests. As early as 1905 he had begun a crusade for a navigable water route connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic via the Saint Lawrence River. Such a waterway, he believed, would be an asset to the region and would help secure the nation's defenses. Barnes and a succession of lobbying groups emphasized these arguments, but encountered stiff opposition from railroad and Atlantic coast interests. From 1944 to 1948 he served as president of the National Saint Lawrence Association and testified numerous times before congressional committees. In May 1959, one month after Barnes's death, the Saint Lawrence Seaway was opened.

Barnes devoted much time to his family and philanthropic interests. He sponsored the Duluth Boat Club and donated a natatorium to the Duluth Y. M. C. A. These philanthropies and money spent on the Saint Lawrence campaign exhausted his fortune, and he left only a $52, 000 estate. He died in Duluth.

Achievements

• Julius Howland Barnes is remembered as the presedent of The Food Administration, businessman and philanthropist.

Connections

On June 30, 1896, Barnes married Harriet Carey; they had two children.

Father:

Lucien Jerome Barnes

Mother:

Julia M. Hill

Wife:

Harriet Carey