AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF

ROGER w. BABSON

SECOND REVISED EDITION

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK

ACTIONS AND REACTIONS-SECOND REVISED EDITION

Copyright, 1935, 1949, 1950, by Harper & BrothersPrinted in the United States of America

All rights in this book are reser/Jed.No part of the book may be reproduced in anymanner whatsoe/Jer without written permissionexcept in the case of brief quotations embodiedin critical articles and re/Jiews. For information

address Harper & Brothers

G-A

DEDICATED

TO MY GRANDSON

ROGER BABSON WEBBER

c ontents

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Pre£aceI. Does Ancestry Count ?

II. Tragedies 0£ Childhood

III. Schooling in the Eighties

IV. Churches 0£ My Boyhood

V. What About Colleges?

VI. Importance 0£ Summer WorkVII. Having Your Own Business

VIII. Public Utility Experiences

IX. Getting Married-Why?X. Sickness and Tragedy

XI. My Banking Bug

XII. Developing a Use£ul Business

XIII. Romance 0£ Babson's Reports

Protecting Capital and IncomeXIV. A Second Venture

Protecting Health and EfficiencyXV. Red Fire-Alarm Boxes

Protecting Li£e and PropertyXVI. Selling Abroad and World Peace

XVII. Experience with Industrial Democracy

XVIII. Becoming a Writer and SpeakerXIX. Acquaintance with Presidents

XX. Li£e in WashingtonXXI. My Labor Experiences

XXII. Training Men £or BusinessXXIII. Training Women £or Business

XXIV. Our Insurance Company

XXV. Finding Florida and SunshineXXVI. The Florida Boom

XXVII. Hobbies and RecreationsXXVIII. My Religious Creed

XXIX. Religious, Social, and Political Forecasting

XXX. My Failure as National Church Moderator

vii

290

299

317

32434°345

355

viii CONTENTS

XXXI. Fighting for an Open Church

XXXII. Campaign for the Presidency

XXXIII. U topia College

XXXIV. Conclusions of a Busy Life

XXXV. Playing with Gravity!

Addenda. How $2000 Can Become $831,454

Index

The illustrations, grouped in one section, will be found

following page 182.

Preface

F OR some time I have been revising this book. T oday-on one 0£ my birth.

days-I am writing this pre£ace. As I do so, it appears that my generationhas seen greater changes than any generation which has ever lived. These

changes not only apply to transportation, communication, and production, butalso to social and political relations. We may not like all these changes, but

history shows clearly that the world has constantly been getting better notwith-

standing our prejudices.To give younger readers a realization 0£ what these changes have been is

one reason why I am writing the book. Is it not as £oolish to think now that

development has reached "the end 0£ the road" as it would have been to thinkso in 1875 when I was born? Yet in that very year the great Centennial Ex-

position was about to open in Philadelphia as a "climax" to the one hundredyears 0£ progress just preceding! Certainly, i£ history is to repeat itse1£-and

every indication is that it will-our children will live to see £ar greater changes.This book teaches that the Law 0£ Action and Reaction is still working and

always will work. This means that as a great expansion in democracy has beenseen during my li£etime, so a great contraction is probable during the years

ahead. A generation 0£ dictatorships, however, would be 0£ little consequencein a hundred years 0£ history. Democracy is the ultimate £orm 0£ govern-

ment and will finally win out; but it will have many "ups and downs" be£ore

that time comes. Certainly there must be developed some stringent tests £or

voting other than "place 0£ birth and age."I also am trying to show that rewards £or honesty, industry, thri£t, and a

willingness to take risks are essential; while punishments £or indolence, waste,and cowardice are £undamental. The growth 0£ the United States during its

most prosperous years has been due to allowing such rewards and punishmentsto work naturally. I£ our children attempt to banish rewards and punishments,

they will so so£ten our race that some £oreign nation will conquer and enslavethem. Security can neither be bought with money nor obtained by legislation.

Active years have taught me conclusively that the only real security requires

integrity, hard work, se1£-denial, and courage.One thing more-a£ter reading the story 0£ these many years, I ask you to

consider whether such old-£ashioned "New England" qualities are cultural or

spiritual ? Can they be revived through schools or through churches ? Does the

x PREFACE

future of America depend upon education or religion or both? When I was a

boy, my parents and townspeople believed religion to be the fundamentalfactor in determining the desires, growth, and stability of a nation. Today this

appears to be a discarded theory. What are the facts?But I must stop or I shall duplicate my story. Let me, however, take space

to acknowledge my indebtedness to those relatives, friends, and associates whohave helped me collect and verify material-especially Clarence N. Stone. I

also must mention Mr. Herbert D. Downward to whom most of this book

was dictated, and Mrs. Alice Curtis who helped me with the illustrations; the

well-known author, Mr. H. I. Shumway, who wrote Good Man Gone Wrong

from which I have used certain material; also Mrs. Florence McConnachie.Permit me also to acknowledge my great indebtedness to all who have had anypart in my life-relatives, teachers, preachers, employees, clients, friends, and

enemies. I owe something to them all. I wish that space permitted mentioning

all of them in the pages which follow.

Babson Park, Mass.January 3°, 1949 ROGER W. BABSON

]ndex

Chain Banking, 90Character above all, 115Character Training, Department 0£, 31 t

Character-training policy, 336Childhood, 8

Children, 254Christian Endeavor, 32, 277Church Attendance, Commission on, 34, 27.

Churches, 29, 283Church, £Unction 0£, 311Church Moderator, 274Church schools, 264Citrus groves, 231Clark, Edward T., 187Cleanliness, 120Clients' Conferences, 161Climatic conditions 0£ United States, 227

Colds, 118, 131Colleges, 36Collins School, 19Committee 0£ ThirtY, 291, 296Committee on Public In£ormation, ) 78Commodity £orecasts, 268Composite Circular, 102

Compton, Carl, 43Continental bankers, 137

Conventions, 287Coolidge, Calvin, 173, 184Cooperation, 195Co-operator's Meeting, 148Counselling, 291, 296Cox, James M., 173Creel, George, 178Crime, Cost 0£, 314Cultural life, 336Cummings, Charles S., 5h 61

quoted, 68n

Davis, James J., 191Declaration 0£ Independence Hall, 14JDcdham episode, 285Democracy vs. Aristocracy, 327Department 0£ Labor, 178, 189Depression, Business, 268Diversification, 112Doak, William N., 192

Dogtown, 247, 255Dougherty, Nona M., 204

Accountants, 95Adirondack Light & Power Company, 69Advance, 281Airfield, 221Allison, Samuel Parker, 223American Magazine, quoted, 81American Public Welfare Trust, 117Ancestry, IArea theory, 109

Aristocracy, 327Autograph letters, 249Automobile accidents, 132

Babson Card System, 102Babsonchart, 108Babson, Edith Low, I.;Babson Genealogy, 5

Babson, Gustavus, 85Babson Institute, 205Babson, Isabel, 3Babson, John James, 4Babson, Nathaniel, IIBabson Park, Florida, 233Babson Park, Wellesley, 219Babson's Reports, 58, footnote, 105, J08, 2!8Babson's Statis!ics Organization, 98, 119,218Bacheler, Albert W" 25Back-to-Normal Business Conference, 183

Back-yard gardens, 88,245Bankers

English, 135, 342French, 137German, 137

Banking,90Bible literaTUre, 259

Bill-collecting, 50Bond market forecasts, 268Bonus system, 152

Bookkeeping, 50Borrowing, 97Bristol County Street Railway, 64Bryan vs. McKinley, 169Budget, Preparation of, 334Business administration, 41Business Administration, Schools of, 203Business Service, 116Business Statistics Organization, Inc., 2!8

Censorship, 326Central America, 138

355

356 INDEX

History of Gloucester , 4Eagle Signal Corporation, 132 Hobbies, 245, 335Economic cycles, 267 Holtzer-Cabot Electric Company, 130Economic Division of Department of Labor, 181 Home training, 327Economic laws, 310 Hoover, Herbert, 174Economy, importance of, 101 Horseback-riding, 246Edison, Thomas Ao, 41, 165, 218 Hudson River Water Power, 68Education Division of Department of Labor,

179Efficiency, 116, 122Electrical contracting, 49Eliot, Charles Wo, letter to, 201

Emotions, 324Employment Service, United States, 178English bankers, 135, 342Environment, 2Essentials of success, 334Examination for employes, 149

Independent voters, 176Industrial democracy, 147Industrial Plants Division of Department of

Labor, 180

Infection, 117Information Division of Department of Labor,

179Internationalism, 144Invention, Inc., 319Investing, 336Investment advisors, 344Investment banking, 56

Jesus, 261Jones, Charles W., 104

Journeys abroad, 134Justice, 263

Fathers vs. Mothers, 22Field Conferences, 161

Fires, 125Five problems of labor, 194

Fleming, Robert, 136Florida, 227, 237Ford, Henry, 197Forecasting business, III , 267

Foreign business, 134Freezes in Florida, 229

Friendship, 335Fundamental truths, 264

Knight, Grace Margaret, 73

Labor, Department of, 178, 189Labor history, 189Labor leadership, 195Labor problems, 194Labor unions, 189Lake Caloosa, 235Latin-American securities, 138

Lawyers, 95League of Nations, 139, 173Letter to Boston pastors, 35

Linnekin, Sidney A., 203Lorimer; George Horace, 141, 157Low, Gorham P., 6

Gamewell Company, 119, 127Gay, E. Ho, & Company, 57

Geneology, 251Gloucester, 7Gloucester Safe Deposit & Trust Company, 90Golden Rule, 262

Gompers, Samuel, 196letter to, 200

"Good Cheer Library," 252Government ownership, 185Graduation exercises, 152

Grandchildren, 254Grandfather's farm, 12Gravity Research Foundation, 340Gundlach, Ernest T., quoted, 181

McKinley, William, 169"Magic Circle", 320Management, 113Manchester Trust Company, 90Manufacturer, Letter to a, 198

Marketability, 113Marriage, 74Married women, 151Massachusetts Electric Companies, 67Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 36Master keys, 222Mental health, 292

Mercy, 263Milk Island, 33Ministers, 280Missions, 261Moderator, 274

Harding, Warren, G., 173Harrington-Seaburg, Corporation, 132Health and efficiency, 122Health protection, 121nHealth rules, 88, 119Health stUdies, 241Heaven and Hell, 262Heredity, IHigh School morals, 25Hint to parents, 215

Moody, Dwight L" 93Moody Manual Company, 104Moody's Analysis of Investments, 104Moody's Bond Ratings, 104

Morss, Everett, 43Mountain Lake, 229Moving pictures, 219Municipal bonds, 243

National Mental Health Foundation, 292National Open Church Association, 295National Prohibition Party, 299National Quotation Bureau, 101National Shawmut Bank, 90

Newhall, George H., 49Newspapers, 271Newtoniana, 250Newton's Law of Action and Reaction, 109New York Times, 159Normal line, 110

Old Colony Associates, 91Open Church Movement, 291

INDEX 357

Real estate forecasts, 272Recreation in the 'Nineties, 72Reich, W. C., 159

Religious conversion, 31Religious creed, 257Remick, Frank W., 105

Reporters, 165Report on the Cost of Crime, 316

Revivals, 31Rockport National Bank, 90Rockwood Sprinkler Company, 129

Rogers, Daniel, 7Roosevelt, Franklin D., 175

Roosevelt, Theodore, 170letter of, 140

Rugged Individualism, 39Rules for health, 88, 119Rules in selecting securities, 114

Ruth, Frederick, 229

Sacrifice, 329Sailing ships, 248Saturday Evening Post, 157School for Positions, 222

Page, Walter H., quoted, 172n Schooling, 18Panic of 1907, 107 School training, 327Parents or Teachers, 21 Scripps Syndicate, 158Peace societies, 139 Selling, 99Peavey, Leroy D., 52 Selling abroad, 134Perkins, Frances, 193 Selling experiences, 48Personal counselling, 291, 296 Setting-up exercises, 335Personal hygiene, 335 Sex instruction, 71Phonographs, 5° Sick Bay Committee, 148Physical examinations, 335 Sickness, 116

Planning progress, 334 Signal equipment, 132Pleasure, definition of, 245 Socialism, 185Political forecasts, 271 Society to Eliminate Economic Causes of War,

Politicians, 176 139Politics, Lessons of, 184 South America, 138Poor's Manual of Railroads, 103 South End House, 33Portuguese Hill, 48 Speaking, 160

Postage stamps, 249 Specialized reading, 335Poster Division of Department of Labor, 181 "Special Letters", 226Power securities, 68 Speculating by employes, 151Prayer, 260 Spofford, Charles M., 40Predicting the League of Nations, 139 Sprague, Isaac, 139, 145Preparing a budget, 334 Sprinklers, 129Presidential campaigns, 168, 299 Standard Statistics Company, 103Prohibition Party, 299 Start of successful business, 100Public health, 116 State highways, 51Public utilities, 63 Statement of Principles, 139Publishers Financial Bureau, 160 State universities, 38Pulman, Oscar S., 148 Station WBSO, 220

Statler, E. M., 80Steinmetz, Charles P., 331Stock market, 269

Success, 334Summer work, 44

Sunshine, 242

Question boX, 150

Radio station, 220Ranching in Florida, 232

Reading, 164, 335

INDEX

Voting, requirements for, 313

358

Supervised Lists, 108, 135Supervision, 113Swain, George F., 40, 108 Wage £orecasts, 27°

Walker, Francis Ao, 42

Walking,246War, causes 0£, 139Washington, Booker T., 98

Washington £riends, 187Waste, 332Webber College, 211Webber, Winslow Lo, 78Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, 34, 291What to buy, 112Why Are We Fighting? , 144

Wilson, Effingham, 341Wilson, William Bo, 190

Wilson, Woodrow, 172Women in business, 211Work, definition 0£, 245World Peace, 134, 139World's Fair, 16, 50World War I, 172, 178World War I £orecasted, 159

Worship,336Writing, 157

Taft, William Howard, 17°Teachers, 21

Teetotalers, 309Ten Commandments, 261

Theaters, 254Time Magazine, quoted, 279Tips to authors, 166

Towels, 117Trade-marks, 120

Traffic-Iight systems, 132Travel, 335Trends, 325Trust funds, 96Tuberculosis, 80

Unemployment, 306United Business Service, 187United States Bulletin, 187

Utopia College, 318

Vacations, 45Ventilation, 131Vocational guidance, 47 Young Men's Christian Union, 33