| Chapter 1: | The Chain Store Historically Considered |
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Figure 1.5 State-Level Chain Store Tax Proposals
Lebhar, 1952, from Retailers Manual of Taxes and Regulations, 1951.
The chain stores resisted this wave of legislation in the courts and in the court of public opinion. The American Retail Federation (ARF)—a new industry group—hired as a representative a well-known executive, Clarence Sherrill, from Kroger Grocery and Baking Company. Sherrill was a retired army colonel and so well known for revolutionizing supply chains that his persona was fictionalized in the portrayal of a soldier between the world wars by novelist Anton Myrer.6 Famous before his military retirement, one adoring biographer in Time Magazine said of his time as an engineering officer that “efficiency has played a large part in Colonel Sherrill’s efficiency scheme; he has learned how to squeeze the eagle [which then adorned the dollar] until it can be heard squealing down at the treasury.”7 He became much better known after his work at the ARF in lobbying for an end to mitigate the effects of the anti-chain store movement. A speaker’s bureau, advertisements, and placards appeared supporting chain stores and answering their critics. In fact, the strategies used by Wal-Mart in response to their critics could have been taken right out of Colonel Sherrill’s playbook.