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Sears' rapid rise brought down the wrath of local merchants. They offered prizes to those who collected the most Sears catalogues, and then made public bonfires of them in village squares. They spread rumors that Sears' watches were not only half price, but would also run twice as fast as a good watch.
The Swagger Suit. Richard Sears got into other troubles. Because he neglected his supply department, he was often unable to fill orders for merchandise he had advertised. Once, he angrily dumped a bundle of unfilled orders into the stove. Another time he impulsively advertised a "swagger suit" which he had admired in a Chicago department-store ad. When 5,000 orders poured in, he frantically looked for someone to make it. The man who helped Sears fill the orders was Julius Rosenwald, a small clothing manufacturer, who soon became one of the company's big suppliers.
Rosenwald came to the rescue again in 1895. The company was floundering and Alvah Roebuck, tired of the whirlwind, sold out to Sears for $25,000.* Rosenwald canceled some of Sears' debts to him and became a partner. He used his financial and merchandising talents to start putting Sears on its feet, and raised $40 million for expansion in a public stock issue. Then Rosenwald and Sears quarreled over Sears' selling methods. Rosenwald won out, and in 1908. Sears sold out his interest for $10 million to Goldman, Sachs, investment bankers. Sears retired and died six years later.
Under Rosenwald's guidance, Sears, Roebuck became a less flamboyant but far more prosperous company. Rosenwald made it a rule that the advertising copy should accurately describe the merchandise, laid down rigid standards for suppliers, set up his own testing bureau and started factories to make goods he couldn't buy. By 1919 sales were up to $258 million.
In 1921, during the disastrous postwar farm price break, Rosenwald saved Sears by lending it $21 million in cash & pledges to tide it over. He made another big contribution to the company's future three years later. That was when he hired General Robert Wood, who had started on a merchandising career at Montgomery Ward.
Old-Fashioned Pioneer. Bob Wood runs his far-flung empire and 199,700 employees with furious energy. He stores away facts like an electronic thinker and concentrates on problems with the intensity of a stargazer. When concentrating, he often pops caramels into his mouth without thinking to take off the wrappers, has been known to eat the paper frills off lamb chops. Once, in a comparatively relaxed mood, Wood was playing cards with his son when the carpet caught fire from a live coal. Wood never noticed the flames, though they were right before his eyes.