“It means harder work than ever on our part,” he said. “The company will prosper or fail by our own efforts. Don’t forget that before we can sell anything we must have something to sell. It may be different in Wall Street, but that’s a cold fact in our business. We must have more produce and better produce. Understand, it must be better. Now that we have given ourselves a name, that name must be made to stand for something. Up to now we have been anonymous, but from this point on we can’t be. I want our name to be not only for our own protection, but for the protection of our customers. I want the Pioneer Products Company to stand for the best and freshest and cheapest vegetables to be purchased. That’s the boast I’m making; that’s the boast I’m going right on making and you must back me up in it. You must turn more soil this year than last and you must give more care to your stuff. You must work harder. Don’t forget that this isn’t any easy way. For twenty years you’ve fooled around with the easy way--raising as little as you could with as little work as possible. This is the hard way--raising all you can and putting into the effort every ounce in you. But it’s the only way, and if you’ll stand back of me we’ll make this the biggest year our village ever had. Are you back of me?” “You bet we are,” came a chorus. They proved it, too, by the preparations they made. We announced the same prize awards that we made last year. With the money which had been turned back and with the surplus we had made on our moving picture show we were able to do this without going to the local merchants. I’m confident, however, we could have raised from the latter twice as much as we needed if we had tried. For the first time in a generation they had found their credits decreasing to an amount that more than paid for their investment in the Pioneer Club. At the same time their business had increased. However, we didn’t want our prizes to be so large as to make them an end in themselves, and we didn’t wish to increase their number to a point that would destroy competition. Furthermore we didn’t have half the need of stimulation that we had last year. Our people were now stockholders in a company and had the company to work for. Furthermore they had the inspiration of last season’s success to urge them on. I tell you that just the decreased household expenses of last winter made them realize what it meant to keep their land busy. I figured that at least thirty per cent. more land was turned this spring. If our town had looked busy last year it was a regular bee-hive this year. We were also better prepared to do our own work. Several horses had been bought during the winter and many men had invested in plows and harrows so that they were able not only to do their own work but that of their neighbors too. We called in some outside help, but not much, which was a big satisfaction.