Everything about Clarence Barron totally explained
Clarence W. Barron (born
July 2 1855, in
Boston,
Massachusetts; died
October 2 1928) is one of the most influential figures in the history of
Dow Jones & Company. As a career newsman described as a "short, rotund powerhouse," he died holding the posts of president of Dow Jones and de facto manager of
The Wall Street Journal. He is considered the founder of modern financial journalism.
Early life
Barron graduated from Boston's Graduate English High School in
1873. He married Jessie M. Waldron in
1900 and adopted her daughters, Jane and Martha. Mrs. Barron died in
1918. After Jane married Hugh Bancroft in
1907, Barron became a prominent member of the
Boston Brahmin Bancroft family.
Martha Barron married
H. Wendell Endicott, heir apparent to the
Endicott Shoe Company. Mr. & Mrs. Barron and the Endicotts are buried in a joint family plot at the historic
Forest Hills Cemetery in
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
Barron worked at a number of newspapers throughout his life, including the
Boston Daily News and the
Boston Evening Transcript, the latter from
1875 to
1887. He founded the Boston News Bureau in
1887 and the Philadelphia News Bureau in
1897, supplying financial news to brokers.
Dow Jones & Company
In March
1903, he purchased Dow Jones & Company for $130,000, following the death of co-founder
Charles Dow. In
1912, he appointed himself president, a title he held until his death and one which allowed him control of
The Wall Street Journal; while the Woodworths published the paper.
He expanded the reach of his publishing empire by merging his two
news bureaus into Dow Jones. By
1920, he'd expanded the daily circulation of
The Wall Street Journal from 7,000 to 18,750, and over 50,000 by
1930. He also worked hard to modernize operations by introducing modern
printing presses and expanding the reporting corps.
In
1921, he founded the Dow Jones financial journal,
Barron's National Financial Weekly, later renamed
Barron's Magazine, and served as its first editor. He priced the magazine at 10 cents an issue and saw circulation explode to 30,000 by
1926, with high popularity among investors and financiers.
Legacy
After his death, his responsibilities were split between his son-in-law Hugh Bancroft, who became president of Dow Jones, and his friend Kenneth C. Hogate, who became the managing editor of the Journal.
They Told Barron (
1930) and
More They Told Barron (
1931), two books edited by Arthur Pound and S.T. Moore, were published that showed his close connections and his role as a confidant to top financiers from
New York City society, such as
Charles M. Schwab. As a result, he's been called "the diarist of the American Dream." (Reutter 148) This has led to allegations that he was too close to those he covered.
However, Barron was renowned for pushing for deep scrutiny of corporate financial records, and is thus considered the founder of modern financial
journalism. Barron's personal credo, which he supposedly urged the Journal to print and follow, was "The Wall Street Journal must stand for what is best in
Wall Street." For example, in
1913, he gave testimony to the
Massachusetts Public Service Commission regarding a
slush fund held by the
New Haven Railroad. In
1920 he investigated
Charles Ponzi, inventor of the
Ponzi scheme, for the
Boston Post. His aggressive questioning and common-sense reasoning helped lead to Ponzi's arrest and conviction.
(External Link
)
The Bancroft family remained the majority
shareholder of Dow Jones until July 31, 2007 when
Rupert Murdoch's
News Corp. won the support of 32 percent of the Dow Jones voting shares controlled by the Bancroft family, enough to ensure a comfortable margin of victory.
Trivia
- He published a racist tract, The Mexican Problem in 1917, juxtaposing the economic potential of Mexico's resources against his belief in the racial inferiority of the Mexican people.
He helped endow the Clarke School for the Deaf with two million dollars, and proposed naming it the Coolidge Trust after President Calvin Coolidge and his wife Grace. (Roberts 225)
He was sued for defamation for $100,000 by Princess Margaret Nchika of Romania in April 1927, who said he called her a spy at a dinner. The suit was dismissed.
Clarence W. Barron's former Boston mansion is located at 334 Beacon Street, on the banks of the Charles River. The property was converted into condominums in the 1980s, but to this day the mansion is well-maintained.
On March 31, 2007 a portrait of Clarence W. Barron was donated to the Beacon on the Charles Condominium Trust, and is now prominently displayed on the parlor level of his former Beacon Street home.
Books
The Boston Stock Exchange (1893)
Federal Reserve Act (1914)
The Audacious War (1915)
The Mexican Problem (1917)
War Finance, As Viewed From the Roof of the World in Switzerland (1919)
World Remaking; or, Peace Finance (1920)
Lord's Money(1922)
Twenty-Eight Essays on the Federal Reserve Act (unk.)
My Creed (unk.)
They Told Barron (1930)
More They Told Barron (1931)
Quotations
About financial journalism
About himself From others Further Information
Get more info on 'Clarence Barron'.
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