Fundamentals of Prosperity: What They Are and Whence They ComeBabson, Roger Ward
Philosophy
Fundamentals of Prosperity: What They Are and Whence They Come
Babson, Roger Ward
Business; Success
The fact is, we have become crazy over material things. We are looking
only at the structure above ground. We are trying to get more smoke from
the chimney. We are looking at space instead of service, at profits
instead of volume. With our eyes focused on the structure above ground,
we have lost sight of those human resources, thrift, imagination,
integrity, vision and faith which make the structure possible. I feel
that only by the business men can this foundation be strengthened before
the inevitable fall comes.
When steel rails were selling at $55 a ton, compared with only $25 a ton
a few years previous, our steel plants increased their capacity
twenty-five per cent. Increased demand, you say? No, the figures don't
show it. Only thirty-one million tons were produced in 1919, compared
with thirty-nine million tons in 1916. People have forgotten the gospel
of service. The producing power per man has fallen off from fifteen to
twenty per cent. We have all been keen on developing consumption. We
have devoted nine-tenths of our thought, energy and effort to developing
consumption. This message is to beg of every reader to give more thought
to developing production, to the reviving of a desire to produce and the
realization of joy in production.
We are spending millions and millions in every city to develop the
good-will of customers, to develop in customers a desire to buy. This is
all well and good, but we can't continue to go in one direction
indefinitely. We cannot always get steam out of the boiler without
feeding the furnace. The time has come when in our own interests, in the
interests of our communities, our industry, and of the nation itself,
for a while we must stop adding more stories to this structure. Instead,
we must strengthen the foundations upon which the entire structure
rests.
R. W. B.
I
HONESTY OR STEEL DOORS?
While fifty-one per cent of the people have their eyes on
the goal of integrity, our investments are secure; but
with fifty-one per cent of them headed in the wrong
direction, our investments are valueless. The first
fundamental of prosperity is Integrity.
While on a recent visit to Chicago, I was taken by the president of one
of the largest banks to see his new safety deposit vaults. He described
these--as bank presidents will--as the largest and most marvellous
vaults in the city. He expatiated on the heavy steel doors and the
various electrical and mechanical contrivances which protect the stocks
and bonds deposited in the institution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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