R.J. Reynolds
Richard Joshua Reynolds. The life story of every man is bound up with that of the community of which he forms a part. His relation to its growth and development constitutes a vital part of his own record. This is peculiarly true in the case of the subject of this sketch, Richard Joshua Reynolds, whose personal history and business achievements have been inseparably linked with the city that for forty-three years has been his home, the center of his activities and the headquarters of the great industry he has built up.
Some cities are made great by circumstance. Situated at the mouth of a large navigable stream, or on a natural harbor, or on some great trunk line railway, cities grow even in spite of themselves. Other cities not so situated are made great by the courage, faith, perseverance and industry of their people. Winston-Salem belongs to the latter class.
With a salubrious climate, located in the heart of the Piedmont section of North Carolina, in the center of a region famed for its tobacco, the Town of Winston forty years ago owed its claim to fame to the fact that it was the county seat of Forsyth County and to the circumstance that it was the twin of the old community of Salem, for a century the seat of the bishopric of the southern province of the Moravian Church and the site of the oldest school for girls in America.
It was then served by a small branch of the Southern Railway, later a part of the great Southern Railway System, far removed from any navigable waters or other seemingly natural advantages, and no man would then have been bold enough to prophesy that it was destined to become not only the largest, richest and most influential city in the state, but to become known throughout the world for its manufactured products.
The story of the rise of this little country town to international fame is of thrilling and compelling interest, yet a history of its development is out of place here. Suffice it to say that its blankets, knit goods, cotton goods, wagons and furniture, together with the products of its other varied industries, are favorably known throughout this country, but all these sink into comparative insignificance beside its world famous tobacco products.
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is not only the chief manufacturing establishment in this thriving City of Winston-Salem, but it is the largest of its kind in the world, and because of it the city is known in many lands. Mr. Reynolds individually began the business in the year 1875. It was a modest beginning, his first factory being a building 36 by 60 feet in size, his working capital $5,100, and his first year's output 150.000 pounds of manufactured tobacco. Today his company's plant is housed in forty-three great modern buildings (a building for each year of his residence in the city;, many of them concrete, covering hundreds of thousands of square feet of floor space, equipped with every modern facility, ventilated and sanitary, and the 15,000 employees, if gathered together, could form a little city of their own. The authorized capital stock is now $40,000,000, which is a very conservative capitalization. By comparison with other large companies in competition with it, it is very much under-capitalized. From his first year's output of 150,000 pounds his guiding genius brought his company's sales in 1917 to $95,382,000, representing over 100,000,000 pounds of manufactured goods.
Much of this marvelous growth has occurred in the last ten years. In 1908 the company began to manufacture its now famous brand of smoking tobacco — Prince Albert. Shipments of the brand for the first year amounted to only 233,862 pounds, but before the close of the year 1917 over 600,000 two ounce ''tidy red tins of P.A.,'' as it is popularly known, were being manufactured every day and the "Prince Albert Special," a train consisting of an average of thirty-five cars, was leaving Winston-Salem every night to begin distribution of the company products throughout the commercial world.
The brain that organized and developed this great enterprise is that of R. J. Reynolds, founder and president of the great company that bears his name.
Mr. Reynolds' father, Hardin W. Reynolds, was the son of Abram David Reynolds, of Scotch-Irish and English ancestry, who moved when quite a young man from Pennsylvania to Patrick County, Virginia, where his son and grandson were born.
Hardin W. Reynolds was a planter, cultivating tobacco on his large estate. He was also a manufacturer of chewing tobacco and accumulated a comfortable fortune.
On his mother's side Mr. Reynolds is of English stock. His maternal great-grandfather, Joshua Cox, immigrated to America from England in colonial days and saw service in the French and Indian wars. Later he became captain of a company that espoused the cause of the colonies against the mother country in the war of independence. Nancy Cox Reynolds, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in Stokes County, North Carolina, where her father was a large land owner, and where she spent her girlhood days, only about thirty miles from the site of the city later made famous by the achievements of her son.
Richard Joshua Reynolds was born in Patrick County, Virginia, July 20, 1850. As a boy he attended the neighborhood country schools, but early displayed a disposition to make his own way. His boyhood was similar to that of other boys reared on a farm in those days. He worked on the farm and then in his father's factory and began life in earnest as a salesman. With a two-horse wagon load of plug chewing tobacco and $2 in cash, he started out on his first trip. It was thrilling enough to satisfy the ambition of any young fellow because he was shut out from the main highways of trade by the tobacco blockaders, men who sought to avoid and did in fact avoid the payment of government taxes on their tobacco. He therefore left the beaten paths and went into the wilds of a section of country that marks the corners of the states of Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, a country too wild and remote for even the blockader. There in the wilderness, one might say, ninety miles from a railroad, he disposed of his first load of tobacco, and returned to his home, with a new view of life, a stronger grip upon himself, a determination to make good and with the beginnings of a knowledge of human nature that he has developed and capitalized throughout his career.
As a young man Mr. Reynolds attended Emory and Henry College for a short time. Later he took a special business course at the Bryant and Stratton Business College, Baltimore, but his real training, knowledge and information were acquired in the school of experience. His mind was too active, the spirit too restless, to be content with the student's life, the plodding, digging, confining study that makes what is known as a scholar. His very nature craved activity and, measured by his knowledge of men and the practical affairs of life, Mr. Reynolds is a past master because he learned his lessons from contact with his fellowman. Few men of his generation possess keener powers of analysis, superior insight into human nature, or equal powers of concentration.
Fortune did not smilingly knock at the door of this man. He literally stormed the citadel and the secret of his success is his ability to convert an apparent disadvantage into an advantage. He has the power, seemingly, to make capital out of what to a weaker man would be misfortune, and therein lies the thing that distinguishes him from, and gives him an advantage over, other men.
With characteristic foresight he saw the strategic advantages in locating his plant at Winston-Salem, in the heart of the territory that would produce the tobacco he needed for his factories. This advantage, however, was more than offset by the commercial isolation of the city. The story of how Mr. Reynolds and his associates overcame these difficulties and have made it a railroad center, a port of entry and export and the largest industrial center of the Carolinas reads like a romance. The way in which Mr. Reynolds meets a difficulty is strikingly illustrated in his handling of the problem of transportation in those early days when Winston had only the one branch line of railroad and when that company seemed to be discriminating against the growing town and in favor of the cities on the main line. At a meeting of the citizens called to act in this grave crisis of the city's life, Mr. Reynolds announced that he would establish a wagon train, a line of wagons, to haul all the freight of the city to the competitive connection, and do it at such rates that would put the branch line out of business. Having made up his mind what to do, he went quickly to work, but the railroad company, facing a situation that would spell ruin for its best branch line, as quickly changed its tariff from Winston. When asked, years after, if he really intended to carry out his threat, the flash of his bright eye and his brief characteristic "sure" left no room to doubt his sincerity.
It was in these days of struggle with adverse conditions that the real secret of Mr. Reynolds' success began to disclose itself. His ability to reach a decision promptly, to act quickly and to back his judgment with all his worth give him a reputation among many of having almost an uncanny business intuition. But, as a matter of fact, he brings to bear upon every problem the powers of a mind trained in his business and an indomitable will that enables him to concentrate every faculty upon the thing in hand. This was strikingly illustrated in the great crisis of his career when he was called upon to match his brain and skill against the best trained and most acute minds in the business. Things looked dark, but he believed there was a way out. For days and nights, almost without rest or food, he faced the task of thinking the thing out. When he and his business competitors met again he held the key to the situation.
He is an untiring worker. For many years after amassing a fortune he was at his desk when the factory whistle blew and he was the last to leave at night. With the richest man in town at his desk before seven-thirty in the morning, the boys forgot how to loaf. It was a fast gait but it made Winston-Salem the largest and most substantial city in the Old North State and the same pace is keeping her well out in front.
This man, who knows every detail of his vast business, also has a rare knowledge of men, and has surrounded himself with able lieutenants. The organization has grown up from within. From the hundreds of young men who have been drawn from all parts of the country into the employ of the company, those who have shown fidelity, efficiency and ability have been chosen for responsible positions. The man who hopes to be advanced by a pull soon falls by the wayside. Merit is the standard by which each employee is measured, and every man knows, whatever his position may be, that the way to preferment is open if he measures him to the degree of fitness required. Thus one after another of the heads of the great departments have risen from the ranks and they take a just pride in their success.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has succeeded under the banner that best describes its founder When asked what he attributed it to. he instantly replied: "Fair play." He then referred to an incident in his early life by quoting advice from his father when he started out for himself: "A man who would lie for a dollar would steal a dollar." He will not tolerate any sort of misrepresentation of goods and he never asks a price that will yield more than a fair profit. The simple rugged honesty of the man abhors deception. R. J. Reynolds is square. His motto, long before he grasped the higher ideals of a life of faith, was to so run his business as to demonstrate that no man can make money in these days of commercialism, and large sums of money, honestly and squarely.
As a sound business policy, no representative of the company is allowed to knock a competitor. It is not the right way to do business and it is not the right way to get business. As stated above, misrepresentation of goods is not permitted and this applies to over-selling and over-praising. A business that is to continue and to grow must not sell its customers more of its products than they need. Such over-selling makes a good month's showing but a poor record when measured by years. "Keep your customers satisfied and help them make money. That is the way to increase your business," is one of Mr. Reynolds' mottos. That it is true is best shown by the fact that his company's business grows and grows rapidly every year.
In politics Mr. Reynolds is a democrat. He has not forgotten his early life in Virginia after the Civil war when conditions were hard and trying, those reconstruction days when he entered into the battle of life.
He believes in education. He has done much for it, especially among the Negro race in his own state. But whatever school a boy attends he believes that the best knowledge is acquired in the school of experience. He is putting his creed into practice with his own boys as they grow up. They must forget that they are heirs to millions and do their bit along with those who are dependent upon their labor for their daily bread. "A rich man's boy," he once said, "has only half a chance to make good, and I do not want my boys hampered by the money I have made. It is not fair to them."
He carries this democratic spirit with him in his dealings with the thousands of men and women employed by his company. It is not saying too much to say that no man of Mr. Reynolds' wealth is more accessible. No man, whatever his position in life, if he has anything worth while to say, is denied access to his office, but woe to the man, be he rich or poor, who wants to kill time by palaver, or to obtain favor by toadying.
This man who has made so much money is himself unspoiled by it. Other men have made money and felt that it could only be enjoyed in some foreign country or great city. Not so with the head of the great Reynolds Company. He is essentially a home man. He knows all of his home people and they know him familiarly as "R.J." or "Dick Reynolds." He knows his employees, they know him. He lives among them, he is interested in them, hence there are no labor strikes in his factories. Long ago provision was made for employees to buy stock, they are encouraged to become identified with and share in the benefits of the great business they have helped to build. The laborer is given a bonus for continued and efficient service and also given the same chance to buy stock as any one else who helps in the common cause, so that today hundreds of men and women on the payrolls are interested in the company's success as representing a life's investment.
For some years this personal interest in the employee has been manifested in the lunch counters and rest rooms scattered throughout the various factories. Three thousand operatives eat their daily lunch at these lunch counters, the food being prepared under close inspection, and served at cost, the average price of a noon-day meal of wholesome food being about 10 cents.
Mr. Reynolds is one of the very few rich men in America who believes that the burdens of the Government should fall heaviest upon those who benefit or profit most by its protection. He has for years been an open advocate of an income tax. He did not oppose the so-called excess profits tax, but he felt aggrieved at its inequalities that resulted in the imposition of a very heavy burden upon his company, while his competitors escaped with a very small amount. This was contrary to his idea of fair play and he vigorously pointed out the law's inconsistency and was instrumental in securing regulations that help to equalize the burden. But through it all he steadfastly adhered to his fundamental principle that those who can should pay, only contending that those who are able be required to pay in the same proportion.
On February 27, 1905, Mr. Reynolds was married to Miss Mary Katharine Smith, of Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina. This union has been blessed with four children: Richard Joshua Reynolds, Jr., Mary Katharine, Nancy Susan, and Zachary Smith. This happy family reside at Reynolda, the Reynolds country estate. It is located 2½ miles west of the City of Winston-Salem, and embraces several hundred acres of valuable land, ideal in its natural beauty. In the foreground to the east lies the city, with its numerous factories, tall office buildings and church spires.
On the near horizon to the west is the dome of Pilot Mountain while the outlines of the Blue Ridge close the sky line.
Under the magic touch of Mrs. Reynolds, the estate has become the garden spot of North Carolina, fertile, productive, beautiful. The manor house, which reminds one of some old English country place, faces the golf links, dotted with sheep and encircled by the native forest, while on the farther side the grounds slope away to Lake Katharine, a magnificent body of water nestling in the hills and winding in and out through the valley. To the left as one approaches the residence is the Village of Reynolda, with its beautiful church in the center, and just beyond lie the sunken gardens and greenhouses. Beyond these are the stables, dairies, and the quaint old smithery, the latter fronting on the concrete highway that runs through the village and connects it with the city.
The transformation of these acres into a garden of perpetual beauty has been wrought under the personal supervision of the mistress of the manor, whose discriminating judgment and exquisite taste are manifest at every turn. To enter the home itself is to learn how modern science, architecture and art can be made to minister to comfort and beauty in the making of a home. For Reynolda, with all its vast proportions and lavish expenditures, is a home and not a palace — a home where love reigns, and children are being reared in the fear of God for His service and that of the world.
Source: History of North Carolina, Volume VI. ©1919 The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York
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