The Story of the House of Cassell/Part 2, Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV
THE NEW ORDER
Cassell's was no more immune from the law of life than any other business. Progressive in youth, vigorous in maturity, it was the expression of its own epoch. That epoch was superseded by a new one with new aims, methods, needs. To survive, Cassell's had to adapt itself to changing environment, and failure to do so brought about first a check in its growth and then a decline. It attempted too long to live on its reputation. Age is respectable; reputation is valuable; but these alone are not enough for success. There was wit in the legend hung out in Cheapside by a new-comer in business: "Established Since the Flood."
When the Company was formed in 1883 the prospectus referred with becoming pride to thirty years of unexampled prosperity and to expansion of the business which made it imperative to transform it into a public company, with a capital of £500,000. The document set out that the profits for each of the previous five years would have been sufficient to pay more than 10 per cent, upon the share capital of the new Company. And the implied expectation was realized. The profit of the Company's first year was £38,415. The next year it increased to £40,852. In 1885 it was £39,651; in 1886, £40,381; in 1887, £41,154; in 1888, £39,110; and in 1889 the high-water mark of prosperity was reached with a profit of £44,616. The dividend until this year had been 10 per cent. There was now added a bonus of Is, 8d. per share, which was repeated in 1890, when the profit was slightly less at £42,911. In 1891 the profits fell to £40,048; in 1892 to £37,107. A period of depression set in, which with certain fluctuations continued till 1904, when 4 per cent, was paid with great difficulty.
For some time before this it had been only too plain that the business was not on the right lines. An important financial newspaper roundly declared that the House once renowned for bold and successful enterprises had "become more famous for the excellent works they reject—only to hand them on to more enterprising rivals, who seldom fail to turn them to profit—than for the works they issue. This," the critic continued, "is a regrettable policy, which only the presence of a strong man at the helm can stop."
The strong man was found in Mr. (now Sir) Arthur Spurgeon, who brought to his task wide experience, abundant tact and patience, a singular gift for organization and for gathering about him loyal and capable helpers. Though more favoured in birth and education than John Cassell, he had started life on leaving school at seventeen as an apprentice to journalism in the office of the Eastern Daily Press. Seven years later he was managing editor of the Lowestoft Weekly Press; in 1894 he became Literary Manager of the National Press Agency; and in 1905, on the death of Sir Wemyss Reid, he was appointed General Manager of the House of Cassell. The death of Sir Wemyss Reid rendered vacant not only the post of General Manager, but also a seat on the Board. This vacancy was filled by the appointment of Sir Malcolm Morris.
The first three years of the new management were crowded with difficulties. The House had been aptly described as a "house of problems." And so the new general manager found it. He was confronted by the need for a reorganization of the staff, a reform of administration in every department, and the launching, doubly difficult at such a crisis, of a more generous and popular and up-to-date programme. He set himself also to establish a closer relationship between the House on the one hand and its shareholders, and authors, and salesmen on the other hand—to cultivate that sense of combined effort and responsibility which had been one of John Cassell's ideals.
Some disappointment was expressed on the part of a few shareholders that the results for the first year under the new management were not more satisfactory financially, but to those who understood the enormous difficulties with which Mr. Spurgeon had to contend, the ground already gained was encouraging. "Some have thought," said he in reply to a resolution of thanks to himself and the staff, "that by waving a sort of magician's wand I could bring forth a harvest without any preliminary seed-time sowing, but I assure you I have complete faith in the future. My motto is 'Make haste slowly,' and I am sure in the end this will prove the wisest policy."
One of his first efforts was to improve the magazines, and two new periodicals were also launched. The year 1907 witnessed the birth of a series of threepenny novels, and the starting of the "People's Library." The demand for the latter exceeded all expectations, and the number sold ran into millions.
Even to outsiders it was clear that a new spirit of enterprise was animating the editorial and commercial departments like a freshening breeze from the sea. The serious problem created by copyrights standing at too high a figure in the balance-sheet was boldly tackled, and they were brought down to safe proportions. For several years the shareholders went without dividends while the business was being pulled together. The corner was turned at last. In 1910 not only was the output of the House greater than ever before, but substantial profits were made.
The General Manager had been confident that new and energetic methods would secure this result. He had great faith in the reputation of the House, and made the most of it as a foundation for enterprise on modern lines. "When John Cassell started providing cheap literature," he said, "he builded better than he knew; he struck deep down into the imagination of the English-speaking world. Wherever you go you find people speaking well of John Cassell and his House." And he quoted by way of proof high eulogies he had heard from statesmen and officials in Canada and the United States. His belief was abundantly justified.
Prosperity and profits continued to grow until the Great War came to check them. At the annual meeting in March, 1914, the directors had marked their gratitude to Mr. Spurgeon for the earnest and arduous work and the signal organizing skill which had so magnificently rehabilitated the Company by asking him to join the Board. The outlook was rosy; there would have been a record balance-sheet in 1915 but for the international upheaval, which threatened to shake down business of all kinds and was particularly trying for the publishing business. The feeling of loyalty and co-operation throughout the House was strikingly manifest shortly after the outbreak of war in August, 1914, when the entire staff of more than a thousand employees met on their own initiative in La Belle Sauvage Yard and resolved to work short time so that nobody should be discharged, and to stand loyally by the firm. The same spirit was shown in what the General Manager called "the outposts of the Cassell Empire"—the branches in Melbourne, Toronto, and New York. When the call for men for the Army came the staff was voluntarily and heavily depleted. It paid a high toll in life, as will presently be told.
Meanwhile the management struggled through the critical and difficult year of 1915, experienced a little revival of trade in 1916, and by 1917 had adjusted the business to the new conditions. In the next year, indeed, the profits reached with a bound the record figure of £50,000, and in 1919 were still higher. The wisdom of the conservative policy pursued in respect of the reserves and copyrights accounts was felt in those critical days of Treasury restrictions upon the raising of capital. Expansion continued rapidly. The printing department was unequal to the demands upon it. To meet this difficulty, in 1919 an interest was purchased in large works in the country, and in 1920 the mechanical resources of La Belle Sauvage were reinforced by the acquisition of a large printing business close by.
The New Year Honours List of 1918 announced that a knighthood had been conferred on the General Manager. Sir Arthur Spurgeon had found time, amid all his preoccupations, to do a good deal of public work, notably as a magistrate for the County of Surrey and a member of its County Council, and he had become a prominent figure in the worlds of business and of books. But it was understood that this honour was due especially to the delicate and important services he had given to the Government during the war in connexion with certain matters concerning which he had expert knowledge and experience. His staff and colleagues welcomed the recognition of his qualities and his record with more than their customary warmth. He had already received many evidences of his popularity—a gold cigarette case representing the penny subscription of every one of the 1,676 employees of the firm at home and abroad, presented to him on his fiftieth birthday; a complimentary luncheon from the managers and editors when he was made a Justice of the Peace; and so on. But on this occasion the directors combined with the managers and editors in their congratulations, which were conveyed at a complimentary luncheon to himself and Lady Spurgeon at the Trocadero. Sir Clarence Smith, as chairman of the Board, presented him with a silver inkstand, while Mr. Bernard Jones, for the managers and editors, handed to him an album containing an address and their signatures.
The tributes to Sir Arthur Spurgeon culminated in 1919 with a remarkable expression of the gratitude of the shareholders for the work he had done in reviving the fortunes of Cassell's. There had been a movement towards this purpose in 1914, but the War suspended it. Now, in the presence of a distinguished company, with the Lord Mayor, Sir Horace Marshall, in the chair, at a dinner at the Holborn Restaurant, Sir Clarence Smith presented to the General Manager, on behalf of the shareholders, a canteen of silver, and to Lady Spurgeon some handsome jewels. Sir Arthur had, he said, saved the House of Cassell from possible disaster by his ability and energy and his power of prompt decision. That was felt by all who heard it to be not the language of exaggeration. The occasion was marked by some delicate compliments to Lady Spurgeon and congratulations on her happy recovery of health after a very trying illness. Sir Arthur referred to these with deep feeling; they had touched, he said, "the tenderest chords of his heart." The company of men of business and letters listened in sympathetic silence to his one allusion to a personal tragedy: "We have passed through anxious times together; the War has not left us unscathed, but, fortified by your kindness and inspired by your generous appreciation, we shall go forth hoping and believing that 'the best is yet to be.'"
Though for the first three years after his appointment as General Manager Sir Arthur Spurgeon was absorbed in the difficult business of reorganization in London, he did not lose sight of the "outposts of the Cassell Empire," and when the pressure was eased a little in 1908 he paid his third visit to America to investigate the position of the Company's affairs in New York and Toronto. He found not only that Cassell was a name to conjure with still, but, judging by the newspaper accounts of his visit, that his own personal fame had preceded him. The peculiarly catholic outlook of a man equally intimate and sympathetic with authors and journalists, publishers and newspaper proprietors, was realized not merely by the keen-eyed Pressmen of the Western continent, but by business people in general, and his counsel was frequently sought on the prospects of new ventures. He paid a further visit in 1910. Two noteworthy incidents marked his journey through Canada. In Toronto he was entertained by the Empire Club, spoke on the Canadian position in literature, and enunciated the theory that the character of a community could generally be judged by its newspapers. With the discriminating eye of an old newspaper man, he pointed out the high quality of the Press in Toronto, and, taking a larger view over the field, predicted a great literary future for the country. "You have the men, the material, the atmosphere for great history and great fiction." But he warned Canada against any narrow exclusiveness, pointed out the disadvantages of the taxes on imported books, and eloquently advocated "free trade in literature," not merely on economic but on educational grounds, and because the free circulation of books between the various parts of the Empire was the best way of fostering Imperial sentiment.
Shortly afterwards the news of King Edward's death was received, and by special request of the Canadian Club at Winnipeg, Sir Arthur Spurgeon, who had promised to be their guest, agreed to address them on "Edward the Peacemaker." This speech, with its graphic account of the King's Coronation, its appreciation of King Edward's restraining influence upon the would-be disturbers of the world, and its solemn warning against the dangers and consequences of warlike attitudes, national aggrandizements and international misunderstandings, made a deep impression. It was put into print and circulated all over Canada.
In October, 1913, while returning on the Carmania from another visit to America, he was momentarily plunged back into his old business of journalism, and that in a highly sensational fashion. In mid-Atlantic the Carmania received a wireless call for help from the steamer Volturno, which, with 657 people on board, was on fire seventy-eight miles away. Very heavy weather prevailed, and though ten ships, including the Carmania, steamed to the rescue, they could do little for many hours. Sir Arthur Spurgeon, who was editing the daily newspaper on the Carmania during his trip, sent by wireless to the Press Association a description of the tragedy and its sequel, and when the Carmania reached Fishguard he telegraphed a full story. The message from the ship was the first account of a great disaster to be sent by wireless from the scene. This feat of an old journalist, in whom the instinct for a "scoop" was still lively, aroused the admiration of London Pressmen, who appointed a committee to organize a presentation. It was made at a luncheon at the Trocadero on January 21, 1914. The Hon. Harry Lawson (now Lord Burnham) presided over a company of 120 newspaper proprietors, journalists, and others, among them Signor Marconi. Mr. Lawson proposed the health of the guest and presented him with a painting of the Volturno, by Thomas H. Hemy, a library desk, chair, and clock, with an address, while to Lady Spurgeon he handed a rose-ring of diamonds and emeralds. He spoke in admiring terms of Sir Arthur's achievement, and was supported by Signor Marconi, Sir Joseph Lawrence, and others. "When I left Carmelite Street for the classic shades of La Belle Sauvage and exchanged writing for newspapers for the making and selling of books and magazines," said Sir Arthur in the course of his reply, "I thought my journalistic career had been extinguished; but the events of October showed that the fires were only slumbering." It may be added that Sir Arthur had declined to take the fee of a hundred guineas offered him by the Press Association, but had suggested that the Association might, if it pleased, make a contribution to the Newspaper Press Fund or to the orphan fund of the Institute of Journalists. The suggestion was adopted, and each of the funds benefited to the extent of fifty guineas. Sir Arthur Spurgeon expanded his story into a little illustrated book published by the House; of this the entire profits were handed to the gallant Captain Inch, of the Volturno, for distribution among the survivors of the disaster.
Sir Arthur Spurgeon having, as a good citizen, taken his share in work for the welfare of the community, has still found time to cultivate the social qualities which help to smooth the path of business. In November, 1912, on the occasion of the publication of his biography, Mr. Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, was entertained by him at a dinner at the Devonshire Club, and, in responding to the toast of his health, spoke enthusiastically of the House of Cassell, and paid the tribute to the "Popular Educator" which has been quoted. A year later, as Prior of the Whitefriars Club, of which at one time he was for several years hon. secretary, Sir Arthur Spurgeon welcomed the late Dr. Page, then the newly appointed American Ambassador in London, as the guest of the evening. Another notable guest at this dinner was Captain Inch, of the Volturno.
In every public reference to the progress of the House of Cassell, Sir Arthur Spurgeon emphasized the part played in its development by the staff at La Belle Sauvage. "It is because I have secured the devotion and loyalty of able and brilliant men that we have been able to do what we have done," he said over and over again. The leaders of the campaign under the new order were Mr. Thomas Young, J. P., and Mr. Newman Flower.
Mr. Young had been appointed Advertisement Manager at the end of 1907, in the third year of Sir Arthur Spurgeon's management. He proved a most valuable acquisition to the staff, and speedily won great results from his work. In 1915 he joined the Board of the Company, and four years later was made Deputy General Manager. Mr. Young was an active member of the Board of Trade Committee on Paper Supplies during the war—a fact which testified that his fame as a clear-headed man of level judgment and unbending integrity had gone abroad.
The advent of Newman Flower to the Yard in 1906 was racily described by Sir Arthur some years after at a Cassell gathering. "One day a young man entered my room by appointment, and after a short conversation I learned he was anxious to join our Editorial Staff. I explained the position, and when I pointed out the difficulties he seemed to grow more keen. I at once decided he was just the man I wanted. I offered him the chance of solving one of the stiffest problems I had to deal with. He accepted without a moment's hesitancy, and that was how Newman Flower became a Cassellite. He soon demonstrated that he was a man after my own heart. Quietly but effectively he unravelled tangled skeins; he submitted new propositions; he turned failures into successes; and in due course Newman Flower became our Chief Editor, and later a valued member of the Board of Directors. There are two familiar lines written by a comparatively unknown poet named Chalmers:
"For up and down and round,' said he, 'go all appointedthings.
And losses on the roundabouts mean profits on the swings.'
"But Newman Flower has done better than that, for he has wiped out the losses on the roundabouts and added to the profits on the swings."
Mr. Flower's first charge was the Penny Magazine; later he took control of other periodicals. He went from strength to strength, and in 1919 he received the responsible appointment of Literary Director.
Other changes in the personnel may be briefly noted. Mr. E. J. Golding became secretary to the Company in 1906 in succession to Mr. Woods, and in the same year Mr. D. G. Milne became printing manager. In 1908 Mr. Cross was succeeded in the Publicity Department by Mr. Robb Lawson, who left ten years later to take up cinema publicity work. The office is now filled by Mr. Walter Haydon. It may be added that the Production Department, one of the vital organs of the business, has long been conducted by Mr. W. H. Mellor. It furnishes estimates of costs, is responsible for the quality of the work produced, and for carrying it out according to programme. Its head has been humorously described by Mr. Max Pemberton: "Armed," he says, "with a foot rule, a number of blue pencils, a Whitaker's almanack, and the 'Lives of the Popes,' to which was invariably added a most pleasant smile, Mr. Mellor demonstrated to a tick the impossibility of selling a penny for three farthings; in other words he was the Wizard of the Costs and Production Cave."
Just before the Great War Mr. Arthur E. Watson was appointed to take charge of the Book section of the Publishing Department, and almost simultaneously with the official ending of the war he was promoted to the headship of the department. In special recognition of his services he was subsequently elected a member of the Board of Directors.
In the autumn of 1920 another stage was reached in the Cassell history by the acquisition of the bulk of the shares by Sir William Berry, Bart., and his brother, Mr. J. Gomer Berry, who had already made their mark in the publishing world. The offer put forward was so attractive that the Directors had no hesitation in recommending its acceptance by the shareholders, who, with practical unanimity, acted on the advice given. One of the conditions of the arrangement was that the management should be continued on the lines which had proved so successful in recent years, and only one or two changes took place in the Directorate. Sir Clarence Smith retired from the Chairmanship, and his place was taken by Sir Arthur Spurgeon.
The linking up of Cassell's with the Berry group brought fresh power to the House, and one of the first results was an extension of its operations in the Dominions, particularly in Australasia. The Cassell outposts under the Southern Cross have from the first been most successful—due largely to the enterprise and ability displayed by Mr. Charles Gardner and by his son, who followed his father in control. Mr. Charles E. Gardner, the present Manager, entered upon his duties in 1915, and it is due chiefly to his initiative that recently new and more commodious premises have been erected as the Cassell headquarters both in Melbourne and in Sydney.