Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1921-11-26
WHO OWNS THE FACTORY?

y
of medum-sized but well-established
candy factory, observing that there
was spirit of discomfort among his
employees. called group of them
into his Office and asked what the
trouble seemed to be.
After some hesitation, one of the
men at length came forward and
said:
I'VE are thinking about the unjust
division of profits. Here are you, re-
puted to be millianaire, and we
working from day to day and not
getting any richer. 1t seems to US
you have got rich off our labor, and
it does not seem just"
The owner set back in his chair
and smiled. He answered:
in the first place, anyone who
magincs that am a millionaire is
very much mistaken. should he
happy il some of YOU would come
out to my house and judge by the
style in which live whether ! am
very rich or not. have a com
Portable home in a suburb Of Brook
i lvn, which | bought many years ago
on the instalment plan. 1t Is fur
nishcd little if any better than your
own homes | have no car; | have
nine children. Ii is true that IN
some wears when business was good
have put away little money, but
il is true also that in some years
the profits from the business have
not been enough to pay your salaries
and have had to draw on my say
ings 10 keep on paying you. DO YOU
not know that no other candy factory
pays higher wages than do -?
The men confessed that this was
true. but suggested that il would be
fairer If they had an interest in the
business and paid him salary aS
manager. Some of them even went
so far rs to say that the business
ought really to be theirs. as they
made all the candy. And among
them none expressed disapproval OF
this idea.
$50 that is it," said the owner
"Now. let us see. | began this bus
mess forty years ago in small rent
ed loft. knew little about candy
making and had few hundred dol
lars. As time went on | discovered
new and better methods; made bet
ter candy and more of il. ! designed
machines and | added to my plant,
investing all my profits in the grow
ing business till built this factory.
established reputation for quality
of goods, for living up to contracts.
| became known at the banks and
the name of the firm became we'll
known in the trade. This business
is mine. because | made it. | hire
you because | know you are the best
candv-makerS in New York. But
even this you owe to me, for | taught
most of you all YOU know. Surely
il would not be just to take from me
what | have spent a lifetime in max
/ ing Am not entitled to profit on
the capital | have created and the
business have made? In business
reputation counts for a great deal
IF you men think that just because
YOU are exper, candy-makers you can
run a candy making business, try it.
There is a vacant building across the
street. Go and rent il and start in
! the business for yourselves. You
know how to make good candy, it Is
true but you don't know how to sell
candy. When you begin canvassing
the city you will find that no one
\ knows you make good candy or that
YOU will continue to keep up your
quality. You will have to make
reputation. When my statesmen go
out seeking orders everybody knows
the quality Of goods they are offering
and that this quality never varies.
II has taken me forty years TO gam
that regulations Perhaps forty years
from now you may have acquired
one As good.
again. Do you know how to buy
sugar and chocolate and flavorng eX-
tracts and nuts and all the other
ingredients that 20 into making
candy al YOU Eo liiNO Aiit ihH'HNN
and buy in competition with me, and
Loft and Huyler and all the others
How do the importers and refinerS
know who will pay your bills when
they come due? Go down to bank
and ask it to finance a big purchase,
and you will quickly find out that
there is more in the candy business
than in merely boiling and mixing
sugar and things.
Il wonder where you would have
been last spring when sugar was
selling at % cents pound and al
most impossible to get even at that
price. Has any one Of you any idea
we contrived to keep up quality at
only slightly increased prices and yet
lose very little money?
"And don't forget that even when
and my partner were digging into
hacatea nf the