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| Affiliation | Single Tax |
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| Name | Richard C. Barnum |
| Address |
Cleveland, Ohio , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
September 06, 1879
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| Died | August 27, 1961
(81 years)
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | Chronicler
Aug 28, 2021 03:17pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | R.C. Barnum was a publisher who is most famous as the man who invented the "money back guarantee." He was also the vice presidential nominee of the Single Tax Party in 1920.
Barnum was born Richard Clarence Barnum on 9/6/1879 in Ennis TX, the son of Frank E. & Minnie (Church) Barnum. A family tradition stated that the Barnums were near relatives to P.T. Barnum. The family moved to Ohio in the 1880s, and Barnum graduated from the Garrettsville (Ohio) High School. He attended Hiram College for one year.
Barnum spent most of his professional life as a publisher. He entered the business as a book agent for F.B. Dickerson Co. (1901-1910). He began work as a travelling salesman, marketing books to farmers. Barnum compiled a book containing the types of information farm families were most interested in; this book, The People's Home Library, sold over one million copies. He was so successful that he hired 2,000 college students to assist him. In 1910, he founded R.C. Barnum Co., a publishing firm based in Cleveland. Early in the operation of his own business, he introduced the idea of the "money back guarantee." He was so successful that he was able to purchase the F.B. Dickerson Co. in 1915; he later purchased other publishers including the H.L. Baldwin Co. (1917) and the Pioneer Press (1918).
Barnum was associated with the Single Tax Party in the 1920s, and in the year 1920 he was the party's nominee for US Vice President. He had read some of Henry George's writings while in high school and preferred a single tax system.
Barnum died in Cleveland on 8/27/1961.
James T. Havel, U.S. Presidential Candidates and the Elections (New York City: Macmillan Library Reference, 1996), vol. 1, p. 32; Bridgeport [CT] Post, 8/30/1961. |
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