TWO—E THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN Paper Needs of Mi Oklahoma City Personnel Exceeds 70, With Experts in the Trade Directing Company's Widespread Local Activity No business grows and prospers without efficient management. That, obviously, is one explanation of the Carpenter Paper Co., success, for from ‘its inception in Omaha in 1886 it has had efficiency, business foresight and a high concept of business ethics and fair dealing. Starting at the top, these principles and policies have filtered down through all the various subdivisions. The company’s Oklahoma branch has just moved into a mod- ern new home which the executives like to regard as a monu- ment to square dealing and efficient merchandising. The firm’s line of goods has been and is important, but its officers agree that employe personnel cannot be rated toa highly. New Plant Design Adds Speed To Company Service Building Provides Ample Space For Paper Storage Functionalism is the architectural keynote of the Carpenter Paper Co., new home at 860 Northwest Second atreet. It was designed and built to serve the peculiar needs of a business which deals in vast quantities of bulky and weighty merchandise. And _ paper, however feathery a sheet or two may be, takes on weight rapidly when you deal in reams and truck loads and carloads and train loads. The Carpenter plant was designed by Sorey, Hill and Sorey, local archi- tects, after a long study of the com- pany’s needs. The latest paper plants elsewhere were inspected; and with this data and from Carpenter’s nota- tions on what it wanted the designers went to work. Storage space was the main requis- ite. The company does no processing or manufacturing here, but it keeps great quantities of paper in all shapes and sizes on hand. To accommodate this, the building was designed with a total floor area of 72,000 square feet. Except for 5,500 square feet de- voted to office space, all this is for storage. Floors Are Heavy The building is two full floors with over-all dimensions of 255 by 140 feet. It has a buff brick exterior and has unusually heavy interior reinforcing to carry the heavy loads required. The warehouse floors are built to carry 350 pounds to the square foot. i The functional design results. in some peculiar exterior lines, most no- ticeable of which is a wide, curving bulge that gives it a super-modernis- tic appearance. Modernism, though, had no place in the architects’ plans. They simply built a building around the needs of the company, and that’s the way it came out. 5 Office space is confined in what is, im effect, a wide corridor along the north or Second street side. Extend- ing from the main entrance on the north, the sales organization wing ex- tends eastward. The private office of Ralph R. Moser, vice-president and general manager, is at the left end of the main wing. On the west side of the main entrance is the business wing, for the bookkeeping and ac- counting departments. Many Display Rooms A number of smaller show rooms flank the main office on the south. Here are display cabinets and tables for all the myriad lines Carpenter handles. There is a paper library, a division which handles thou- sands of printed forms on every con- ceivable subject in which printers or advertising experts can get ideas for anything from a calling card to roadside billboards. All the offices are finished in birch wood, natural finish, with modern flourescent lighting. New steel furni~ ture has been installed throughout. The main warehouse has numerous features planned especially to simpli- fy work. Practically all stock comes in by rail and is unloaded by gravity from freight cars set on the com- pany’s own siding. Steel chutes carry bundles down to the main warehouse floor where they are stored until time for shipment to customers. ‘ Natural Lighting Available This eliminates a lot of elevator and trucking handling. The ware- house has natural lighting, a sawtooth skylight arrangement letting in plenty of north light without the glare and heat of direct sunlight. The truck loading docks are on a level with truck beds to facilitate this phase of the handling, and an in- tercommunicating system links all parts of the warehouse with the front office. The whole plant has an auto- matic fire sprinkler system. Construction contract on the plant was signed last November 4, and the company moved in from its old Grand avenue headquarters the second week in May. Ellis, Nicholson and Cra- mer were the general contractors. Rare Early Papers Made Valuable Gifts In its infancy, paper was such a rarity it was deemed a valuable gift. There is a legend that Henry Wet- more, who built the first paper mill west of the Allegheny mountains in 1830, celebrated the completion of his task by getting married. For a wed- ding present he gave his wife a bun- dle of newly made paper, and she was the envy of all the women in the neighborhood. ‘Raggs and Ropers’ In 1763 the owners of a mill in, Massachusetts petitioned the court and described their work in making paper and employing people “in pick- ing up raggs and ropes of which pa- per is made” and asking a bounty for their “encouragement of this mys- tery.” Few large businesses operat- ing over a wide territroy localize themselves as completely as does Carpenter. It makes a fetish of this influence. It employes local workmen; the local management is empowered to make decisions in virtually all business prob- lems; purchases of materials and supplies are made locally in so far as possible—in short, each branch is encouraged to func- tion as a local organization. The company has 74 employes on its payroll in Oklahoma City now, and of these, 20 wear service pins of 10 years or longer. Many of them own their own homes and carry their full share of civic responsibility. They are urged to take part in community campaigns and to serve wherever possible in church, school and all civic circles. The Oklahoma City branch is headed by men who know the paper business. Most of them have grown up with it. They came up the hard way, starting in humble capacities where the work was tough. But the expanding organization offered op- portunity for advancement about as rapidly as ability was demonstrated. Ralph Moser at Head Head of the Oklahoma organization is Ralph R. Moser, vice-president and general manager. He has been in some phase of the paper or printing business since he was an elementary school student, and his record with Carpenter dates back to 1920. A native of St. Louis, he came to Oklahoma City in 1904, returned to the Missouri metropolis a year later and then came back to Oklahoma Reman DUy) in 1909. During his grade and™highschool years here he worked in various capacities for the Warden Printing Co., and returned to that organization for a brief stay after a term of military service in World war I. Covers Much of State That same, year, 1920, he joined the Kansas City Paper House, a forerynner of the Carpenter branch here, fas a warehouse laborer. This job led a few months later to a trav- eling salesman’s post. From this point on he was building up an acquaint- ance throughout the state which now is probably as extensive as that of any individual. At one time or an- other he has covered practically all of Oklahoma. In 1928 Moser was made sales man- ager, and in- 1931 he stepped into the general manager’s chair when death removed L. F. Leach, Carpen- ter’s first big time executive in Ok- lahoma. Keeping a finger on the ramified operations of the local house now apparently isn’t enough, for Moser lately has taken charge of sales and merchandising in the Dal- las, Fort Worth and Lubbock terri- tories. These latter function under Oklahoma City division headquarters. Busy Outside, Too Restless and energetic, Moser has been about as busy outside his of- fice as in. He has carried the ball in all civic drives for 15 years or more and has been high in the coun- cils of the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and various trade organiza- tions. He now is a director of the chamber of commerce; he is a past president of the Oklahoma City Rot- ary club, past president of the Wholesalers and Manufacturers as- sociation, and a tireless committee worker on all the community events that come along. One of his two sons graduated this spring from Classen and has now gone to work in the company’s Dal- las house. The family home is at 1906 Northwest Seventeenth street. Credit’ manager of the company here is H. G. Bauers, who started as (Continued on Page 8, Column 4) dwest Served b A great amount of trimming and cutting of paper is done in the Carpenter plant. Paper comes in from the mill in great sheets and rolls. Carpenter tailors it to fit the various big package of paper. sizes its customers require. Here, a powerful cutting machine is at work, while on a nearby bench a workman opens another Ey sz: 2 Sees e SASSER Se BS: Company Starts In Oklahoma in 1908. First Warehouse Is Opened at Guthrie The Carpenter Paper Co. has been serving Oklahoma virtually from the time of the run. The parent organization was founded in Omaha only three years before that historic cannon shot on the Kansas border in April, 1889. Car- penter salesmen began poking into the territory as rapidly as settlements and »prospective customers appeared. At the turn of the century Car- penter was doing a moderate business hereabouts and supplying the trade from its Kansas City branch. All stock, of course, came down by rail. A star salesman about that time was the late L. F, Leach who worked out of Kansas City and took over the ‘expanding Oklahoma territory. By 1908 his sales were running so high it was decided to stock a permanent warehouse from which deliveries could be made more rapidly. Leach acquired some storage space in Guthrie, put in a stock and began pushing sales all the harder. From 1908 to 1916 Guthrie served as head- quarters for the company operations. It was still just a branch of the Kan- sas City Paper House, with Leach as manager. Business expanded into newer and more remote corners of the state, and Carpenter salesmen by fail and on horseback, by stage and behind their own teams followed-the trail of new business throughout Oklahoma. Com- pany personnel expanded here as business warranted. Oklahoma City’s increasing com- mercial importance, plus the likeli- hood that it would continue to grow, promoted another move in 1908. The company rented a three-story brick building at the corner of First street and Robinson—the Ramsey Tower stands .on the site now—and moved its Guthrie stock down in the early summer of 1908. Leach came along as manager. The first headquarters had (Continued on Page 4, Column 7) G. E. Carpenter Vice-President Headquarters of the Carpenter Paper Co. are at Omaha, where these officers direct the activity of the far-flung paper H, F, Field ¥.-Pres, and Treasurer The Present Chief—and the First Ralph R. Moser (left) is vice-president and general man- ager of the Carpenter Paper Co., of Oklahoma. He is a vet- eran of 21 years with the organization. First head of the Car- penter business in the state was the late L. F, Leach (right), who founded the branch in Guthrie in 1908. (See story in column 3. Other personnel pictures, Page 10.) New Plant Open This Week The new Carpenter Paper Co. home will be open for inspection by customers and the general public at specified times this week. The open house schedule: Wednesday, June 11, 7 p. m. to 10 p. m. Retailers and their affiliates (by invitation). Thursday, June 12, 7 p. m. to 10 p. m. The public is cordially invited to see the entire plant. No invitations necessary. Friday, June 13, 6 - m to 10 p. m. Publishers, stationers and printers (by invitation.) I. W. Carpenter jr. President empire. However, all the various branches, of which the Okla- homa branch is one, have wide managerial powers, and man- Paper Has Endless Variety of Uses Vast Stock Is Kept In City Warehouse Paper has an endless | uses in modern life. | In the home, in the office, in the! | factory, in the store, in the school— everywhere. It is a relatively bulky commodity | that requires considerable processing. That is, from the time it comes from a mill as a continuous sheet of paper it must undergo cutting, trimming, printing, shaping, pasting and various other manufacturing steps before it is ready for the consumer. The retail grocer on the corner near your home doesn’t want to buy plain brown paper from a mill, cut it to the required size and paste it into the sacks in which you carry your sugar and potatoes. The bakery that bakes your bread doesn’t want to coat paper with wax, print fancy trade’ names in various colors and otherwise fix it up before he can wrap his product in it. The corner drug store can’t manufacture the paper picnic plates, the boxes of letter paper, the rolls of cleansing tissue it sells. All of .these processing jobs are done in factories that buy plain paper from the mill and fabricate them into the millions of commercial paper products now on the market. Neither does your grocer or baker or druggist want to go to the trouble of buying his sacks from one factory, his paper plates from another, his let- ter paper from still another. It is much easier, much cheaper and much better all around to order all his products from one merchant which makes paper his business and has a complete line of goods made of paper or allied products, To fulfill this need, the modern paper house or..paper company has been developed. The Carpenter Paper variety of Co. is the largest of its kind in the southwest and has been supplying | (Continued on Page 4, Column 1) SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 1941. y Carpenter Since 1886 Started in Omaha, Business Has Grown To An Empire Now Busy in 17 States; Sons of Founder Continue in Control Most successful businesses are the lengthened shadow of one man—a fact which has been recognized and commemorated by epigram and story for a long, long time. Other men have an important part, to be sure; but some- where along the way—often in the beginning, sometimes later— is one man whose vision, ability and energy lay the foundations of a great institution. In the case of Carpenter Paper Co., the man was the late Isaac W. Carpenter. The senior Carpenter founded the business and was its guid- ing light for almost 50 years. Ill health forced him into semi- retirement a few years before his death in 1925, but he took a keen and active interest in business affairs to the last. One of the hallowed rituals in * the Carpenter organization for years was the founder’s annual letters to all his subordinates, sent out on each anniversary of his entry into the paper busi- ness. The last one was written July 14, 1925. In the previous 49 years he saw the small paper sales company he started grow to a dominant position in the middle and far west. And his policies and managerial talent were largely responsible. Carpenter was born on a farm near Marengo, Ill., in 1856. The family was large—six sons, two step-sons and a daughter in addition to the two hard- working farm parents. His early days were typical of any farm boy’s life. He carried his share of the farm load, and in later years attributed much of his success to the rigorous environment which taught him to work hard—and enjoy it. Off to Chicago He acquired an elementary school education in those days, and when he was 20 years old decided to leave the farm and go to work. The panic of 1873 had jolted the business world as well as the farmer, and there had been some tough times on the Marengo acres, Nearby Chicago was the commercial magnate of the surrounding territory, and in 1876 young Carpenter struck out for the growing city. It happened that a cousin of his was manager of a small paper company in Chicago, and Carpenter sought work from him. He got a job as shipping clerk at $8 a week, and thus was the life work of the future founder and president | of the Carpenter Paper Co., deter- mined. No Soft Snap Then The work was hard and the hours were long. Few of the power machines which now cut, trim, stamp, pack, wrap and carry paper were in use; and a prime requisite anywhere around the plant was a strong back and tough hands. Carpenter recalHed, too, working conditions were not ideal. “My employer was a hard taskmas- ter,” he wrote, “and many times I had plenty of excuse to resign on ac- count of harsh language used relative to myself and my work. But I stuck for 11 years with that house until I acquired a fair knowledge of the ‘pa- per business. Encouraged by Isaac’s progress, younger Carpenter brothers left the farm and migrated to Chicago. George obtained work with W. D. Messinger, whose name still survives in the paper trade; and Frank came along in 1880 and went to work in the coarse paper department of the F. P. Elliott com- pany. With New Organization Elliott some time before had ob- sorbed the Ypsilanti Paper Co., which was the original company with which Isaac Carpenter had gone to work. He had gone in with the new organization. A few years after Frank joined the Elliott forces, brother James came on to Chicago and asked for a job. El- liott, however, thought he had enough Carpenters on the payroll and turned him down. So with Isaac’s help Jim established a line of credit to buy wrapping paper and this he sold from a wagon he drove about the city. The brothers by this time were ex- perienced in the paper business; and the field was developing by leaps and bounds as the country’s increasing commercial life turned to paper for more and more uses. They had saved a little money and began looking around for a way to get into business on their own. They thought of starting in Chi- cago, but a paper manufacturer dis- suaded them, They approached this man with a request for supplies on ' credit. He told them his arrangements Company Executives in Omaha Headquarters Have Had Long Experience in All Branches of the Paper Industry J. A. Carpenter Chairman of the Board William F, Madden Vice-President agement is vested to an unusual degree in the local officials. Three of these men are sons of the founder. that | The Company Seal with the Elliott company prevented him from extending it, and that Chi- cago was well supplied with paper houses anyhow. There was no deal so far as Chicago was concerned. But he also told them about a small town out in Nebraska. It showed signs of becoming quite a city; it had no paper business, and he said if the brothers would undertake to get start~ ed out there he would provide the necessary credit. Frank was delegated to investigate. He looked around Omaha and some other new towns in the middle and northwest, and from his report the decision was made to settle in the Ne- braska metropolis. It was a wise move. $11,000 to Begin The brothers had some savings of their own and they got some addi- tional backing from their father, who had sold part of his Illinois farm and was willing to Joan them the pro- ceeds. They had in ali about $11,000 when they moved into the straggling frontier town of Omaha in 1886 and rented an empty livery stable for $55 ; &@ month. Omaha developed rapidly as a rail- road center and as the jobbing head- quarters for a large new territory. Foundations even then were being laid for some important businesses, and the Carpenter paper business grew from the start. Merchants in Omaha and adjacent territory were glad to have a paper supply house in their midst instead of having to depend on shipments from Chicago or St. Louis. They patronized the pioneer paper men from the first, and Carpenter, incidentally, takes pride to this day in the fact that many of these original customer-firms: are still on its books. Incorporated in 1889 It was not until March, 1889, that the brothers incorporated as the Car- penter Paper Co. The first officers were Isaac W., president; James A., vice-president; C.-L., treasurer; J. F., secretary. These men, with their brother, George, comprised the board of directors. The company’s first printed price list, published the year of incorpora- tion, recorded many brands of paper that. are still tops in the trade. The Kimberly Clark Co., of Neenah, Wis., sold them their first carload of mer- chandise. Frank and Isaac alternated as road salesmen and. city salesmen. They quickly sewed up the Omaha trade and branched out for that of the new, raw west. New Locations Needed George eventually was assigned as a@ permanent road salesman and he pushed the Carpenter line into all the towns along the Union Pacific railroad. Fremont, Cheyenne, Denver, Ogden, Salt -Lake City, Pocatello, Butte and Anaconda became import- ant commercial centers in which the Carpenters drummed up business. The original Omaha location was quickly outgrown and in 1889 the Carpenters moved into a five-story building equipped with a power ele- vator—which in those days was a hall- mark of progress and prosperity. This second location served until 1906, when the company built a modern eight story building in downtown Omaha from which it has operated ever since. Meanwhile, the firm had been branching out in other directions. Paper is a bulky commodity that requires storage space pending its processing into the myriad shapes and sizes demanded. by the consumer. The Carpenters early saw the advantage of warehouses at strategic points in their territory, and in the natural course of events began acquiring them. House was started in 1902 with Brother Jim in the driver’s seat. A branch was opened in Lincoln, Neb., in November, 1906, and the company got started in Oklahoma in 1908 when a salesman opened a small warehouse in Guthrie. Oklahoma headquarters was transferred to Oklahoma City in 1916, and the Carpenter Paper Co., of Ok- Mergers and Expansion Thus it went. The San Paper Co,, was organized in July, 1913, to serve south Texas. A merger with Carter, Rice and Co., of Denver in’ Paper Co., of Utah was formed in January, 1910, with headquarters at Salt Lake City, although Carpenter Salt Lake City as early as 1903. Sales were made on the Pacific coast (Continued on Pase 8 Column A Des Moines branch was opened in 1896 with George Carpenter as manager, and the Kansas City Paper lahoma. was incorporated in July, 1931. _ Antonio — 1905 established them firmly in the - Rocky mountain area. The Carpenter had operated a distributing point in~ % i Be