Read Online IBM and the Holocaust by Edwin Black - Free Book Online

whom Watson had befriended one day mentioned that he was calling on a prospect the next day. In the morning, the Hallwood salesman arrived at the merchant's location just as Watson's horse and buggy was riding off, the sale in hand. Watson had risen at dawn and driven twenty miles to steal the account. Watson enjoyed the triumph so thoroughly, he bragged about the incident for years to come. Within a few years, Watson had virtually driven Hallwood out of Rochester. Later, Watson bragged that he had made Rochester "one of the best organized and cleanest territories." 44
    Patterson liked Watson's style. The unscrupulous NCR president had learned to use frivolous libel and patent suits to drive his competition into submission. Watson could add a whole new dimension to the war against anyone other than Patterson who dared buy or sell cash registers—even second-hand NCR cash registers. John Patterson believed that cash registers were his God-granted domain and no one else's. Watson would be the instrument of his hegemony. 45
    In 1903, Watson was called to Patterson's office and instructed to destroy second-hand dealers across the country. Although he had become a star in the Rochester office, Watson was still relatively unknown elsewhere. Patterson planted him in New York City, handed him a million-dollar budget, and asked him to create a fake business called Watson's Cash Register and Second Hand Exchange. His mission was to join the community of second-hand dealers, learn their business, set up shop nearby, dramatically undersell, quietly steal their accounts, intimidate their customers, and otherwise disrupt their viability. Watson's fake company never needed to make a profit—only spend money to decimate unsuspecting dealers of used registers. Eventually, they would either be driven out of business or sell out to Watson with a draconian non-compete clause. Funneled money from NCR was used for operations since Watson had no capital of his own. 46
    The mission was so secretive even the NCR sales force in Manhattan believed that Watson had simply defected from the Rochester office to set up his own shop. He reported directly to Patterson and his staff. It took years, but the enemy—second-hand dealers—was ruthlessly conquered. 47
    The victim list was long. Fred Brainin's second-hand business was on 14th Street in Manhattan—Watson bought him out with a proviso that Brainin would stay out of cash registers. Silas Lacey of Philadelphia merged into Watson's new front. The East Coast was easy. So Watson moved on to a real challenge: Chicago. 48
    One of the biggest Chicago dealers was Amos Thomas, located on Ran-dolph Street in the Loop, just a few steps from the Elevated. Watson's fake company moved in across the street. Thomas remembered, "Watson . . . tried to get me to put a price on my business. He wanted to control the second-hand business. I told him I would not sell." But Watson and his cohorts, which now included his old supervisor John Range, would come by three or four times each day to press the man. 49
    Still, Thomas would not sell. So Watson opened a second competing store near Thomas. NCR had secretly acquired control of American Cash Register Company, the successor to Hallwood. Watson's second front, called American Second Hand Cash Register Company, only squeezed Thomas further. Weakened, Thomas finally offered a buy-out price of $20,000. But that was just too high for Watson. 50
    By now, it was clear to Thomas that Watson was fronting for Patterson's NCR. The Cash didn't care if Thomas knew or not. To prove it, they invited Thomas to NCR headquarters in Dayton, Ohio, where he was first treated to a splendid dinner and then "handled" by a Patterson executive. Unless Thomas sold out for a "reasonable price," Thomas was told, NCR would rent yet another store near his and continue to undersell until his trade was entirely wrecked. Buckling under, Thomas at last agreed to sell for $15,875 plus $500 in cash. A