Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-12

| little group OF American business men
who sat down to lunch together seemed
TO be terribly exercised over the precise
manner in which we were all going TO
| resume business Some OF us grew
very heated, end predicted dire calamity
unless tho war industries board agreed
TO act as nurse TO American business
for at least "a year TO come Others
took the opposite side--and painted a
picture just as black, and just as
gloomy. /.
"The truth Of the matter was that all
OF US were 'resuming' Just as hard and
fast as wo knew how, while We were
still talking about Il In our spare mo-
ments. Tho only spare moments an
American business man has. by the way,
arc during the lunch hour, and tho talk
he INDUCES in at that time about crises
and calainities is often just his way OF
enjoying himself.
Never Sell short on q. ;.
seriously, isn't Il fact that most
Of our national problems are solved be-
fore lhe editors Of the monthly maga-
zines ever get a chance to talk about
them? It's all right to discuss the con-
ditions Of today--they should be dis
cussed. But 1 have learned as man
ufacturer. that It pays also TO try to
dig a little deeper. If I ind myself in
clinod 70 bo 7urricd by something some
body did yesterday, or threatens TO do
tomorrow, | try to take "a long, deep
breath, count ten, and repeat to my =
self: Never sell short on the United
States.
"lIow are fundamental conditions IN
America? Aro they wholesome ana
sound. and do they look as though they
fNUytnnAtinn
future? That's the main question-ln
fact the only one. For instance,
seem 10 discern, just now, certain lear
of too much radical thought in Amer a.
Now. I've got stubborn idea that as q
matter Of fact, We are one OF the most
progressive conservative peoples on tne
face of the earth today. it wouldh
sururisc mo if we were actually more
conservative in the long run tAd, pmuI m
good friends in Great Britain. H,"
I saw that, l am thinking OF the rue,
and not the exceptions. l am thlilN!i's
Of the homes. and Of the bulk OF tIe
,aonIs and not the groups. I am think
| ing also OF uselul HIs''
as the constitution. ~.
/ "But | am thinking above all th''
/ taking by-and-large, We are "ell-lIi,
/ tentioned people. and Il good- go
| neol,le. We don't always DO the rlsi
| thing by each other, but we've got 'i'
/ disposition to do it--and that's lont
stem toward the solution. over II
/ Furope. some classes Of people wan
peasants. over here, nobody wants
! them.
No Disposition 10 Shirk
"It seems to me. too. that the Amer
| lean business man-the manufacturer
| has come out of the war with broader
conception of his responsibilities. l don
think he has the slightest disposition t'
shirl< these responsibilities. II seems tc
me that he has awakened to the dis
covery that in the operation of his busi
ness there are two groups of people be-
sides himself that must be given ful
Consideration.
II believe, further. that the more ht
/ has thought and will continue to thinl
Of this double responsibility. the mor'
I clearly it will dawn on him ehat it i!
| good for him, and good for his business
'In one of these two groups is th'
man who buys his product his motor
car, as it happens to be in our case. II
| the other is the man who helps hin
build that motorcar. The manufactured
stands in the middle, owing a response
bility TO each of the others The trutf
" ~" i''''''' q" ''i''' 'iS - " SN'' VI q
trustee, bound in his own interest tC
protect the interests of both. If hC
protects thei- interests, of course lie viii
be serving his own. If he tries to shirl
OH either side, or play of one against
the other, trouble is waiting for hin
just around the corner
Fairness Spells Success
''rhe man who is overcoming his com.
petition by pr ces made at the expense
of labor, or the expense OF the product
itself. is not building either a sound OF
n healthy business. Sooner or later he
will have his day of reckoning-and il
doesn't make much difference whether
he Is punished from the one side or the
other 1t sounds almost like q platitude
to say it, but it is fact, nevertheless