San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18

out of the time. This has taken us
apparently far afield, as for instance
into railroading, mining, numbering,
and shipping.
We have spent many millions OF
dollars just to save a few hours time
here and there. Actually, however, We
do nothing whatsoever which is not
directly connected with our business,
which is the making Of motors.
The power which we use in man
ufacturing produces another power
the power of the motor that goes into
the automobile. About $50 worth Of
raw material is transformed into 20
horsepower mounted on wheels. UP
to December /, 1925, we had, through
cars and tractors, added TO the world
nearly 30O,0O0,OO0 mobile horsepower,
or about 81 times the potential horse
power of Niagara Falls. The whole
world uses only 100000 stationary
horsepower, of which the United
States uses over 100000.
MAKING POWER.
The effect of putting all this addi-
tional artificial power into the coun-
try is something we do not yet know
how to reckon with, but / am con-
WINGED that the remarkable prosperity
of the United States is in a large part
by freeing the movements of men, also
due to this added horsepower, which,
frees and awakens their thoughts.
The progress of the world has been
in direct ratio to the convenience Of
communication. We have remade this
country with automobiles. But we do
not have these automobiles because we
are prosperous. We are prosperous
because we have them.
You will remember that everyone
did not buy them all at once. The
buying has been gradual, in fact we
have never been able to keep up with
orders, and with our present capacity
of two million a year we are able
to meet the needs only of our present
owners if they should each buy a
new car every six years.
AUTOS SHOW WEALTH.
That is an aside. The general pros
perity Of the country, in spite of bad
farm years, is in direct proportion to
the number Of automobiles. That is
inevitable, for you cannot introduce
such a vast amount of artificial pow
er into a country without the effects
being felt in every direction. What
the motor car does among other things,
quite apart from its own usefulness,
is to familiarize people generally with
the use of artificial power, to teach
what power is and to get them about
and out of the shells in which they
have been living.
Before the motor car many man
lived and died without ever having
been more than fifty miles from home,
That is Of the past in this country.
1t is still true of much Of the world.
When the representatives of Russia
came to buy tractors for their state
farms, we told them:
"No, you first ought to buy auto
mobiles and get your people used to
machinery and power and to moving
about with some freedom. The motor
cars will bring roads, and then it will
be possible to get the products of your
farms to the cities"
They followed the advice and
bought some thousands Of automobiles.
Now, after several years, they have
bought some thousands of tractors.
THE NEW ORDER.
The great point in all this, however,
is not that automobile or anything
else may be well and cheaply made
through planning and the use of pow
or. We have known that for long
time.
The automobile is particularly i'm
portant for the reasons that have
been given, but what overshadows all
else in Importance is that we have
discovered a new motive for industry
and abolished the meaningless terms:
"Capital," Labor" and Public"
For many years we have heard the
phrase profit motive" which meant
that someone called a capitalist pro-
vided tools and machinery, employed
men-that is, labor-at the least pos
siblc wage, and then manufactured
goods and sold them to some strange
collection of people known as the
public" The capitalist sold to this
public, at the highest price he could
get and pocketed bis profits. Appar-
emily the public came out Of the air
and also got its money out of the air
and it had to be protected, and some
one invented the Living wage" notion.
All Of which grows out of complete
misconception of the entire industrial
process.
OWN EMPLOYEES BUY.
II is true that petty business can
work on the capital-labOr public mis-
take. but big business cunnot, nor can