SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO., world's largest distributor of general merchandise, with executive offices in Chicago. It was founded by Richard W. Sears, railroad station agent in a Minne sota town, who began selling watches by mail in 1886. Subse quently he moved to Chicago and was joined by A. C. Roebuck. They formed a corporate partnership and in 1893 were adding lines toward the development of a general mail-order business.
The company grew to nation-wide eminence in distribution under the guidance of Julius Rosenwald, merchant and philan thropist, who bought a substantial stock interest in 1895 and be came president in 1908 upon Sears' retirement. General Robert E. Wood started a system of retail stores in 1925 and served as president of the company from 1928 to 1939 when he was suc ceeded by Thomas J. Carney. In 1939, Sears' mail-order catalogue of 1,372 pages offered merchandise of practically every description for wear, for use in and about the home, for the automobile and the farm; in all some 135,000 offerings of merchandise items, bought by 12,000,000 customers. The catalogue's file is recognized by scholars as an accurate source-book of American living condi tions, apparel, tastes, and buying habits over the period covered by its issues. In 1940, Sears, Roebuck and Co. was operating 1 o mail-order plants in the nation's key distributive centres, retail stores in every State in the Union save three, numerous corollary warehouses, and several factories which produce certain Sears merchandise lines. The firm's business for the fiscal year 1939 was $657,061,593, having almost tripled during the 15-year period of its retail expansion.
The company was one of the first large distributors to establish merchandise testing as a regular policy. It has also pioneered in a variety of activities based on a conception of a business con cern's social responsibilities. The firm maintains among other projects designed to benefit the farmer, a fur, wool, and poultry marketing service. It is committed to active participation in community building and charitable activities in all of the cities where it operates retail stores. (T. J. C.) Enormous serpents, both terrestrial and marine, are subjects around which have arisen such an array of legends and stories that it is almost impossible to disentangle fic tion from fact. So far as terrestrial snakes are concerned it seems fairly safe to assume that there are none in the few remaining unexplored parts of the world which greatly exceed in size those that are already known ; in the depths of the sea, however, there may still be gigantic creatures of which we have no knowledge; and with this possibility, remote though it may be, in the back ground it is unwise to deny the existence of the sea-serpent. Up to the present no animal has been captured which has not on examination by competent persons proved to belong to a previ ously well-known group, and a large number of the well-authenti cated stories of monstrous marine creatures seem to be explicable as incorrect observations, due to abnormal visual conditions or to ignorance, of animals already quite well-known. Some of the possible explanations which have been put forward may be men tioned:—( I) A number of porpoises swimming one behind the other and rising regularly to take breath might produce the ap pearance of a very large serpentiform creature progressing by a series of vertical undulations. (2) A flight of sea-fowl and a brood of ducks have been mistaken for a large snake swimming at the surface of the water. (3) Large masses of sea-weed half awash
have, on more than one occasion, been believed to be some gigantic animal. (4) Basking Sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) which have a habit of swimming in pairs one behind the other with the dorsal fin and the upper lobe of the tail just above the surface produce the effect of a body 6o or more feet long, and a partially decom posed specimen which was cast ashore was reported in all good faith as a sea-serpent. In the same category as Basking Sharks may be mentioned Tunnies (Thynnus thynnus), Porbeagles (Lamna cornubica) and Chimaeras (Chimaera monstrosa) which at various times have been incorrectly recorded by observers un familiar with them. (5) Ribbon or Oar Fishes (Regalecus) which attain a length of 20-30 feet and are snake-like in shape have been suggested as the possible explanation of some so-called sea serpents, particularly of those reported from the Mediterranean where these animals are most common. (6) Nemertines, which may reach a length of 30-45 feet, have also been suggested as a possible explanation of some records. (7) Sea-Lions when break ing surface for breath might, if seen from an unfamiliar view point or in a fading light be mistaken for much larger, snake-like animals. (8) Gigantic Squids (Architeuthis) are undoubtedly the foundation on which many accounts are based; these animals, which attain a total length of 5o feet, are sufficiently uncommon to be unfamiliar to the majority of people but do occasionally fre quent those regions from which many accounts of sea-serpents have come, viz., Scandinavia, Denmark, the British Isles and the eastern coasts of N. America. One of these animals swimming at the surface with the two enormously elongate arms trailing along through the water would produce almost exactly the picture which many of the strangely consistent independent accounts require; a general cylindrical shape with a flattened head ( =pos terior end of the squid's body), appendages on the head and neck ( = lateral fins and edge of mantle) , colour dark, lighter beneath, progression steady and uniform, body straight but capable of being bent and spouting water ( =water ejected from siphon). Further, Sperm Whales are known to kill and devour Architeuthis and similar cephalopods, and one of the most graphic accounts of the sea-serpent speaks of it as in conflict with a whale around which it had thrown two coils and which it ultimately dragged below the surface; actually it seems very probable that the whale was eating a giant squid whose tentacles, thrown round the whale in the struggle, were mistaken for the coils of a snake, and that the whale, so far from being dragged under, merely "sounded" with its prey in its mouth.
When, however, all thew and similar possibilities have been explored, there still remain a number of independent and appar ently credible stories which are not satisfactorily explained. To account for these, the continued existence of plesiosaurs or some other huge marine reptiles, usually believed to be extinct, has been advocated in the past. More recently Oudemansl, who gives a very full account of the whole subject, has pointed out that the known characters of plesiosaurus do not in the least agree with the features described in the unexplained accounts of sea-serpents 'Oudemans, The Great Sea Serpent (1892).
and has boldly suggested the existence of an undiscovered, long tailed mammal allied to the seals and walruses. (H. W. P.)