Background
Stone, Samuel M. was born on February 19, 1869 in Urbana, Ohio, United States. Son of John H. P. and Sarah (Mac Donald) Stone.
Stone, Samuel M. was born on February 19, 1869 in Urbana, Ohio, United States. Son of John H. P. and Sarah (Mac Donald) Stone.
Educated grammar and high schools, Urbana.
In 1890 he left Ohio for Saint Louis to work as a buyer for Simmons Hardware Company. He worked at Simmons for 15 years, eventually leaving to accept a position at Colt Firearms. Stone started with Manufacturing Company in 1905 as a salesman.
He was elected to company vice-president in 1916, and eventually President of from 1921 to 1944.
In anticipation of the military draw-down following World War I, Stone and company president William C. Skinner implemented a diversification program at Manufacturing similar to that done at the close of the American Civil War. Skinner and Stone acquired contracts for business machines, calculators, dishwashers, motorcycles, and automobiles.
All marketed under a name other than Colt. Other measures included cutting the work week, reducing salaries, and keeping more employees on the payroll than they needed, all of which kept the company in business.
In 1935 striking workers from the plant firebombed Stone"s house in an act of terrorism.
Later that year Stone was summonned to testify before the Nye Committee against allegations that Colt was campaigning for America to enter World War I. Company records disclosed that this was false and that Stone had been concentrating on selling pistols to markets in Latin America instead. In 1944 Colt faced labor and money problems again as the wartime workforce surged from 1100 workers to over 13000. The Federal Government intervened and had Stone step down as president
Mason (32°).; Member The Newcomen Society. Clubs: Hartford, Get Together, Congregational, Twentieth Century.
Married Alice Bailey November 16, 1898. Children: Henry Taylor, John MacDonald.