Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 3205as graceful and agreeable hostesses. In so busy a life as that of Senator Smith,there has been not much time for recreation, but, in spite of constant association with world-wide opportunities his tastes have remained singularly simplealthough" his genial personality makes him welcome everywhere.FRANK M. ROBINSON. A product of superior quality, a name, and a persistent and perhaps unexampled campaign of advertising publicity thesehave been the three factors in the growth of the Coca Cola Company, a business in many ways without a parallel. To take an article that retails at aprice represented by almost the smallest coin in common circulation and buildup a business worth millions of dollars is an achievement that must rankabove commercial performances in which the individual article representsvalue in dollars rather than in cents. Yet in the aggregate of its capital,investment and volume of sales the Coca Cola Company bears favorable comparison with some of the largest of American industries. Frank M. Robinsonoriginated the name Coca Cola and was primarily responsible for the manufacturing and advertising of the product for many years. . He was one ofthe organizers of the company, was its secretary and treasurer from the organization in 1892 until January, 1914, and is still one of the stockholders anddirectors. "While Mr. Robinson's modesty would not permit him to make anysuch claim, many knowing friends do not hesitate to say that it was FrankM. Robinson who made Coca Cola and gave it its- worldwide reputation.Having reached a point in life where he desired freedom from the activeresponsibilities of business, he retired from his post as secretary and treasurer,but still retains a position on the company's board of directors.It will be appropriate to give some of the historical facts connected withthe origin of this business. In May, 1886, Coca Cola was originated, afternumerous experiments, tests, and changes, and was given its name by F. M.Robinson, who was at that time serving as secretary of the Pemberton Chemical Company of Atlanta. The product was first sold at a soda fountain inJacob's drug store on Marietta Street in Atlanta. During the following summer Coca Cola was sold to local dealers at $2.00 a gallon, put up in jugs andtin cans, and the total sales for that years amounted to hardly more thantwenty-five gallons. About $25.00 was spent for advertising purposes. Forseveral months in 1887 a traveling salesman was employed, and nearly 1,000gallons were sold, mostly in cities tributary to Atlanta. The total sales forthe year were 1,049 gallons. During this year a small advertisement appearedin papers at Atlanta and in several other southern cities.In January, 1892, The Coca Cola Company was granted a charter andthe company organization was completed on February 22d. Asa G. Chandler was chosen first president; F. M. Robinson, secretary. Thus for morethan a quarter of a century this staple drink has been before the Americanpublic, and for at least fifteen years it has been dispensed at almost everysoda fountain and drug store in the country, and is today undoubtedly thebest known proprietary preparation of all so-called "soft drinks."F. M. Robinson, though a resident of Georgia nearly thirty years, is aNew Englander by birth and ancestry and possesses some of the shrewdbusiness genius so freely associated with the people of the northeastern states.He was born in Corinth, Maine, September 14, 1845. His father, John LangdonRobinson, was born at Greenland, New Hampshire, and subsequentlybecame a citizen of Maine. He was a soldier in the Union army and wasseriously wounded in the battle of Cold Harbor. John L. Robinson marriedSarah Fischer Palmer, a native of Corinth, Maine. In both of these familiesthe ancestry goes back to the early colonial days in New England.Frank M. Robinson acquired his early education in the public schools ofhis native state, and in young manhood went West to Iowa. He soon acquiredposition and influence, and in 1872 was elected county auditor of Osceola