J.C Penney’s Integrity

James Cash Penney’s first venture as a retail proprietor was a butcher-shop in Longmont, Colorado which opened in 1899 and failed almost immediately, after he refused to bribe an important local hotel chef with a weekly bottle of bourbon. “I lost everything I had,” said Penney, “but I learned never to compromise.” At his death in 1971 Penney, 95, left a 1,660-store empire that he built without compromising the stiff principles he had absorbed from three generations of Baptist-preacher ancestors."I believe in adherence to the Golden Rule, faith in God and the country,” he often said. “I would rather be known as a Christian than a merchant.” With annual sales of $4.1 billion, J. C. Penney today ranks as the nation’s fifth largest merchandising company. Penney’s personal holding of stock was $24 million. Until his final illness, he worked regularly at Penney’s mid-Manhattan headquarters, where he kept five secretaries busy with volumes of correspondence. (Time Magazine).