Grand Forks herald., 1919-12-18
DID BIG BUSINESS HELP?

A few years before the Civil war
there lived one Gordon Mckay who
had what was then the very eonsid-
cradle fortune of $4,000. How he
got it does not matter at this mo-
ment. Mr.. Mckay became interested
in a machine for stitching together
the solcs and uppers of shoes. work
which up to that time had had been
performed slowly and laboriously by
hand. The machine which had been
invented appealed to Mckay who
foresaw that if it proved successful
it would so lessen the cost of produc
ing shoes that there would inmedi-
ately arise a. great demand for it. He
undertook to. finance the perfecting
and marketing of the machine. When
the device was subjected to such tests
as it would meet in actual service 1t
was found defective, first in one part
and then in another, and these defects
had to be rcnedied. The work took
several years and before it was COM
pleted almost every dollar Of Nc
kays fortune had disappeared. Sue
cess was at last achieved, the machine
was placed on the market and proved
satisfactory, and from it's sale Mr..
Kay accumulated a fortune of sever
al millions.
Tho question arises what would
have become of this invention had
there been no Mckay to put money
into it? or the inventor we know
nothing. Evidently he was a man of
small means otherwise it would not
/ have been necessary for him to enlist
outside aid in financing his invention.
| Had there been no man with $4,000
it seems that there would have been
no machine.
f. The wealth that Mckay owned be-
fore he went into this enterprise was
very much more than would have
been sufficient for his own needs
There are those who insist that the
accumulation of wealth beyond per
sonal needs is wrong, and an injur,
to the community, but it seems tina
some accum ulation of wealth wa.
necessary before this invention coulC
be made available to the public. Again
there are those who insist that the re
turns from any public enterprise
ought to be limited by law, if re-
turns are permitted at all, to merel,
a reasonable interest on the invest
ment, and by this is usually mean
such interest as is usually paid OF
large loans, possibly S or s per cent
If that principle were applied no MAJ
would invest money as Mckay did
He was engaging in a hazardous ex
perime ent He believed that the de
wise in which he had interested him
self was planned along right lines. HI
he had to rely on his own judgmen
and that judgment might easily hav
been at fault He took the chanc
of losing all that he had. He almos
met that fate. The tide turned in tim
for him, but it has refused to tur7
have staked their fortunes on an un
certainty. To deny to those who's
Judgment proved sound in such case
more than ordinary rewards of SAT
and stable business operations woul
be 10 discourage everyone from step
ping outside Of the beaten track. an
to put a stop to progress
The socialists answer to all Of thi
would be that tho state itself shoult
render such assistance az might b.
60 ~F e.,
devices so that no individual nigh
derive benefit from that operation. I
that plan were adopted who woul,
decide what inventions were worth,
and what were not? The files in IL,
patent office in Washington contain
the records Of moro than a million o
inventions whose originators had en-
tire faith in them, and who expects
to find a ready market for their de
vices. Yet, Of all this vast numbe
not moro than 1 per cent have prove.
of any real value. II the state wer
to take up every invention submitte
to it, perfect 1t and bring it to tn
point where it could be used on
commercial scale, the country woul
be taxed to death financing useles
Inventions If on the other hand,
Z were left to some state official to de
eide what inventions were worthy o
support and what were not, ther
would be lacking the only test tina
has ever proven adequate, namely
that Of the popular demand for
thing after it has been perfected. L
place of that we should have the ar
u bitrary decision Of state Official VII
might know absolutely nothing abou
the subject. I'd s.ls3
a The history Of this one shoe ma
chine is typical. Similar process ha
marked the development Of thousand
J, Of Inventions which are now benefit
ing the world. But In the process
thsre have been cast BY The waysid
} the wrecks Of multitudes OF other
which have been proven unsound. an,
n viii them, the fortunes of many niel
i Of large Affairs who have taken tn
& chance IN the hope of producing SONS
thing wsrth while.