davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18

Naturally, some OF them were showed
off-therc were more men than oppor.
tunity.
That is why we had so much fierce
ness and cruelty of competition in
the old days. There were not enough
of the big opportunities to 90 around.
But, with the coming of industry, a
whole new world of opportunity open
cd up. Think how many doors of
creative activity every industrial ad,
vance has opened. 1t has turned out,
through all the fierce competitive
fights, that no man could succeed in
his own opportunity without Great
ing many times more opportunities
than he could begin to grasp.
1t is almost impossible to under
stand the rise of industry without
recognizing the former scarcity Of or
portunities. Some forms Of business
seem to have fought onward-but our
accounts Of them mostly come from
those who were beaten.
DIFFERENCE IN VISION.
But there is enough of fact to in.
dictate that when industry was being
evolved under the pressure of the
peoples needs (and that is the only
force that brought it into being) some
men had large vision while others had
limited vision. The men of larger
vision naturally bested the others.
Their methods were sometimes i'm
moral, but it was not their immoral
methods that accounted for their sue
cess; it was their larger vision Of
needs, and ways and means to fulfill
them.
There must be tremendous
mount of right vision in anything if
it is to survive dishonest or cruel
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18

KHUTTER-Well, well, Mr.. humble,
AVA what kept you out of the Easter
parade?
Mumble-My tailor.
Wouldn't he give you your
suit on time?
Mumble-Yes, but he wouldn't sell
it that way.
Mutter-You mean he demanded
cash?
Mumble-Not exactly, he wanted
something on account.
Muttcr-On account of what?
Mumblc-On account Of not trust
ing me.
Mutter-Havc you owed him for
other suits?
Mumble-Yes, I've often been be-
hind before.
Mutter-Why didn't you ask him
TO send it up to your house any
way?
Mumble-He did send it.
Mutter-Thcn what's the reason
you're not wearing it?
Mumble-A three letter word.
Mutter-A three letter word:
Mumble-Yes, c. o. D.
Mutter--Is he afraid of his money ?
Mumble-No, he's worried about
mine.
Mutter-Why didn't you give him
a check?
Mumble-I did. but he said it was
no good.
Muttcr-Then, why didn't you make
him prove it?
MumbIe-Because was afraid he
might.
Muttcr-Did he have any reason to
think the check was bum?
Mumble-No, be just took the
banks word for it.
Mutter-Couldn't you ct any mon
cy from your wife?
Mumble-I would have, but for one
thing.
MuttCr-W What's that?
Mumblc-She caught me while l
Veg getting it.
Muttcr--Docs she put her cash il
tho ..,,,,,tS
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18
Mutter and humble

Mumble-Well, that's better than
being a live pauper.
Mutter-Did you know what kind
of a girl she was before you proposed
to her?
Mumble-Certainly.
Mutter-Then why did you ask her
to be your wife?
Mumble-I was trying to be
economical.
Mutter-Wbat do you mean, econo-
mical?
Mumble-I had a marriage license
and l didn't want to waste it.
Mutter-Well, Mr.. humble, 1 have
to get home now. l hope you're for
tunate and that the Easter bunny is
good to you.
Mumble-Thank you Mr.. Mutter, !
ought to be lucky today, I've got a
rabbits foot in my pocket.
Mutter-Do you keep any chickens
Mumble-Sure.
Mutter-How many
Mumble-About half of them.
Mutter-You mean some Of them
die?
Misunderstanding.
Mutter-Do they die a natural
death?
Mumble-Sure, they usually get run
over.
Mutter-How often do they get kill
ed?
Mumble-only once.
Mutter-Do you sell many fresh
eggs?
Mumble-No, We keep those for
ourselves.
Mutter-Who buys the stale ones?
Mumble-The people we sell them
to.
Mutter-Do you grow your own
hens from little chickens?
Mumble-Ccrtainly. What do you
think we do, raise them from pups?
Mutter-Havc you any bnodiug
hens?
Mumble-Yes, three or four Of them
seem very despoEent.
Mutter-I mean are they sitting on
eggs?
Mumble-No, we have a setter doc
for that purpose.
Mutter-You say you have seven
teen acres Of chickens?
Mumble-About that.
Mutter-Well why don't you buy an
incubator?
Mumble-I don't need one, go
around in a horse and buggy.
Mutter-Doesn't your corn cost you
a lot of money?
Mumble-No, my wife and l don't
drink.
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18
-By T. p. Medburv

Mutter-I suppose she got up bright
and early this morning!
Mumble-She got up early, but she
wasn't go bright.
Mutter-Did you buy her a new
bonnet?
Mumble-Yes, and it cost fifty
bucks.
Mutter-Thst's a lot Of money for
a hat.
Mumble-Sure, her overhead is ter.
rible.
Butter-Did you buy it for her?
Mumblc-No, it was given to her
by one Of her former husbands.
Mutter-Then, you aren't the first
man she married?
Mumble-No, she bad a couple Of
rehearsals.
Mutter-How was it he came to
buy her a hat?
Mumble-He didn't come to buy
her a hat: he came to see the chill
dren.
Mutter-I only paid five dollars
for my wife's bonnet, don't you think
that's enoughi
Mumble-Well, you ought to know
what her heads worth.
Mutter-My wife told me the other
day that she worshipcd the ground /
stood on.
Mumble-You must have been
standing in Florida.
Mutter-Don't you ever humor
your wife?
Mumble-Surc, / bought her four
teen-piece Easter outfit.
Mutter-You did, what were they?
Mumble-Two handkerchiefs and a
dozen eggs.
Mutter-I suppose you went to
church this morning.
Mumble-No, the last time l went
to church l didn't get a square
deal.
Mutter-When was that?
Mumble-The day ! got married.
Mutter-What's the matter, aren't
you happy?
Mumble-I should say I'm not. ]
never told this to anybody before, but
/ married a wanton woman.
Mutter-You did?
Mumble-Yes, she's always wantin'
money.
Muttcr-Is she extravagant?
HUMMELSHINE,, she squanders every
cent l give her.
Mutter-In what way?
Mumble-She pays bills with it.
Mutter-You don't want to be a
dead beat, do you?
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18
OWN EMPLOYEES BUY.

It is true that petty business can
work on the capital-labOr public mis-
take, but big business cannot, nor can
little business grow big on the theory
that it can grind down its employees.
The plain fact is that the public
which buys from you docs not come
from nowhere. The owner, the EN-
ployes and the buying public are all
one and the same, and unless an in
dustry can so manage itself as to keep
wages high and prices low, it destroys
itself, for otherwise it limits the NUN.
Der of its customers.
Ones own employees ought 70 b.
ones own best customers.
The real progress Of our company
dates from 1914 when we raised tho
minimum wage from somewhat over
two dollars to a flat five dollars
day, for then we increased the buy.
ing power Of our own people and they
increased the buying power Of other
people, and so on and on. 1t is this
thought Of enlarging buying power cy
paying high wages and selling at low
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18

prices which is behind the prosperity
Of this country.
1t is the fundamental motive of our
company. We call it the wage mo-
tive"
NO STANDARD WAGES
But of course high wages cannot
he paid to any one just for the ask
ing. If wages are raised without low
eriug costs. then buying power is not
enlarged. There is no living wage. ="
for unless an equivalent in work is
returned, no wages can be high
enough for a man to live on them.
And, also, there can be no "stan-
dard" wage. No one on this earth
knows enough to fix a standard
wage. The very idea Of n standard
wage presupposes that invention and
management have reached their limit.
No greater injury can be done to 8
man than to pay him a high wage for
n suldi dhiOuhI u Nplh' iOA 'ANh NlS
high wage increases the prices Of COM
modities and puts them beyond his
reach. Also it is untrue to say that
profits or the benefit of inventions
which bring lower costs belong to the
worker. That grows out OF another
misconception Of the industrial pro.
cess.
Profits belong primarily TO the
business. and the workers are only
part OF the business. If all the profits
were given TO the workers, then i'm
provements, such as will hereafter be
described, would not be possible.
Prices would increase and consump-
tion would decline, and the business
would gradually go out of existence.
WHERE PROFITS GO.
The profits have TO go toward max
ing lower costs, and the advantages
of lower costs must in large meas
ure be given to the consumer. This,
in effect, is the same as raising wages.
This may seem complex but it has
worked out rather simply with US.
To effect the economies, to bring IN
the power, to cut out the waste, and
thus fully to realize the wage motive
we must have big business, which does
not. however, necessarily mean CEN
tralized business. We are decentfaliE-
ing.
Any business founded on the wage
motive and animated solely with the
thought of service must grow big. 1t
cannot grow to certain size and be
held there; it must go forward or 90
back. OF course, what seems to be
big business may be created over night
by buying up large number OF
small businesses. The result may be
big business, or again it may just be
a museum Of business, showing how
many curious things may be bought
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18
DISHONESTY SUCCESS.


Dishonest men do sometimes sue,
coed. But only when they give a ser,
vice which exceeds their dishonesty
Honest men sometimes fail because
they lack other essential qualities &c
go with their honesty. 1t is safe to
say that in the success of men who
are dishonest, all that is touched by
dishonesty sloughs off.
Those who do not believe in op'
portunity will still find places within
the opportunities that others have
created. Those who can not direct
their work successfully will always
find it possible to be directed by 9th,
ers.
But are We moving too fast, not
merely in the making of automobiles
but in life generally? One hears a
deal about the worker being ground
down by hard labor, of what is called
progress being made at the expense Of
something or other, and that eff
cheney is wrecking all the finer things
Of life.
THIS PACE WILL KILL"
1t is quite true that life is Out
of balance, and always has been
Until lately most people have had
no leisure to use and, Of course, they
do not now know how to use it. One
of our large problems is to find some
balance between work and play, be-
tween sleep and food, and eventually
to discover why men grow ill and die.
OF this more later.
Certainly we are moving faster than
before. Or, more correctly, we are be-
ing moved faster. But is twenty min
utes in motor car easier or harder
than four hours solid trudging down
a dirt road? Which mode Of travel
leaves the pilgrim fresher at the end?
Which leaves him more time and more
mental energy? And soon we shall be
making in an hour by air what were
days journeys by motor. Shall we all
then be nervous wrecks?
REAL EFFICIENCY.
But does this state or nervous wreck
age to which we are all said to be
coming exist in life, or in books? One
hears Of the workers nervous exhaus-
ton in books, but does one hear of
it from the workers? For long time
the philosophers and the social work
ers and the idealists we're able to wrap
the world up in convenient packages
Of dogma. Now the world is too big
for the small packages. They wiring
their hands and cry: "This pace will
kill u.s."
Go to the people who are working
with the actual things Of the world,
from the laborer travelling to his work
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18
"A Generation Ago There We're Thou,
sand Men to Every Opportunity.
Now It's Reversed" Says Pioneer.

Henry Ford, mntiniionare automobile manufacturer,
lose business begun bicycle shop feU years ago
rated perhaps the crteHsVe tit the oord has rer
remarkable series of articles (Which he has grouped under the gent
sra heading The Great Today, and the Greater TomOrroS
Mr. ForGS observations business industry and the human
side of manufacturing ao be printed seriay in the Sunday Light
mill
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18

made most Of the farming implements.
The weaver made most of the textiles
that the kitchen industries did not
cover. A town was pretty near being
a self-supporting community.
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18

on the street car to the young man
who hops across continent in a day
You will find quite a different atti,
tude. Instead of cringing away from
what has come, they are looking with
eager expectancy toward what is com,
ing. Always they are willing to scrap
today in favor of tomorrow. That is
the blessedness of the active man, the
man who is not sitting alone in a Ii,
brary trying to fit the new world
into the old moulds.
PRESSURE RELIEVED.
Go to the laborer in the street car.
He will tell you that just a few years
ago he came home so late and so tired
that he had no time to change his
clothes-just got his supper and went
to bed. Now he changes his clothes al
the shop, goes home by daylight, has
an early supper and takes the family
out for drive. He will tell you that
the killing pressure has let up. A man
may have to be little more business
like on the job than formerly, but the
old endless, exhausting drive has quit,
The men at the top, the men who
are changing all these things, will tell
you the same. They are not break.
ing down. They are marching the way
progress is going and find it easier
to go along with progress than to Try
to hold things back.
And just there is the secret; those
who get headaches are trying to hold
the world back, trying to wrap it up
again in their small definitions. 1t
cannot be done.
CAUSE OF PROSPERITY.
The very word efficiency is hated
because so much that is not efficiency
has masqueraded as such. Efficiency
is merely the doing Of work in the
best way you know rather than in
the worst way. 1t is the taking of a
trunk up a hill on a truck rather
than on ones back. 1t is the training
Of the worker and the giving to him
of power so that he may earn more
and have more and live more comfort
ably. The Chinese coollie working
through long hours for a few cents
a day is not happier than the Amer
lean workman with his own home and
automobile. The one is a slave, the
other is free man.
In the organization Of the Ford
work we are continually reaching out
for more and more artificial power.
We go to the coal fields, to the
streams, and to the rivers, always
seeking some cheap and convenient
source of power which we can trans
form into electricity, take to the ma
chine, increase the output Of the
workers, raise their wages, and low.
er the price to the public.
MANY FACTORS.
Into this train Of events enters q
great and ever increasing number OF
factors. You must get the most QUO
Of the power, out of the material, and
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18
By HENRY FORD
Chapter !.
In Collaboration With Samuel Crowther.

We Are Being Born Into Opportunity.
II OR hundreds of years have been talking about
II the lack of opportunity and the pressing need of
dividing up things already in existence. Yet each
year has idea brought forth and developed
and with whole series of opportunities until today
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18

year mas seen some new lQea
and with it a whole new serie
we already have enough
tested ideas which, put into
practice, would take the
world out of it's sloughs and
Danish poverty by providing
liyings for all who will work. Only
the old outworn notions stand in the
way of these new ideas. The world
shackles itself, blinds its eyes, and
then wonders why it cannot run!
Take just one idea--a little idea
in itself--an idea that anyone might
have had, but which fell to me to
develop-that Of making a small.
strong, simple automobile, to make it
cheaply, and pay high wages in its
making. On October 1, 1908, we had
the first of our present type Of small
ears. On June 4, 1924, we made the
ten millionth. Now in 1925 We are
in our thirteenth million.
INDUSTRY is IMPORTANT.
That is interesting, but perhaps,
not important. What is important is,
that from a mere handful Of men en-
ployed in a shop we have grown into
n large industry directly employing
more than two hundred thousand
men, not one of whom receives less
than six dollars a day.
Our dealers and service stations
employ another two hundred thousand
men. But we by no means manufac-
ture all that We use. Roughly, we
buy twice as much as we manufac-
ture, and il is safe to say that two
hundred thousand men are employed
on our work in outside factories.
This gives a rough total of six
hundred thousand employees, direct
and indirect, which means that about
three million men, woman and chill
dren get their livings out Of single
Idea put into effect only eighteen
years ago. And this does not take
Into account the great number of peo-
pie who in some way or other assist
In the distribution or the maintain
snce Of these cars. And this one idea
Is only in its infancy!
PIONEERS AND PLODDERS
These figures are given not with
any thought Of boastfulness. I am
not talking about a specific person
or business. am talking about
ideas.
And these figures do show some
thing Of what a single idea can &C.
complisb.
These people require food, clothing,
shoes, houses, and so on. II they
and their families were brought to-
gether in one place and those needed
10 supply their wants gathered around
them. we should have city larger
than New York.
All this has matured in less time
than a child natures. What nonsense
is II to think or speak Of lack of
opportunity! We do not know what
opportunity.
There are always two kinds Of poo
pie in the world-those who pioneer
and those who plOd. The plodders al
ways attack the pioneers. They say
that the pioneers have gobblcd up all
The opportunity, when, as n plain mat
ter OF fact, the ploddcrs would have
nowhere to plod had not the pioneers
'irst cleared the way.
MORE OPPORTUNITIES.
Think about your work in the
world. Did you make your place.
or did someone make it for you?
Did you start the work you are in,
or did someone else? Have you ever
found or made an opportunity Tor
yourself, or are you tho beneficiary
Of opportunity which others have made
or found?
We have seen the rise OF a temper
which does not -.ant opportunities
r wants the full fruits Of opportunity
IL A
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18

with money. Big business is not
money power. 1t is service power.
BIG BUSINESS.
Big business happens to signify the
means by which the people of the
United States make their living. All
our business, into however many
pieces it may be broken, is inevitably
big. This is a big country, with a
big population, having a big needs,
and calling for big production and big
supply.
Even the tooth-pick industry In this
country is a big one you cannot name
the most trivial commodity that is
not in this country an enormously big
industry. Even more bicycles arc
being made than at the height of the
bicycle craze. And business must
grow bigger and bigger, else we shall
have insufficient supplies and high
prices.
Take the case Of the farmers Of
Sudbury, Massachusetts, less than
two hundred years ago. There is rec
ord Of their meeting to approve the
measures taken by the merchants
and other inhabitants of the town Of
Boston in order to reduce the exorbi-
tant prices Of the necessaries Of life"
Coffee was then counted reasonably
priced at twenty dollars a pound /;
mems shoes at twenty dollars pair
(women's shoes are not mentioned, as
perhaps being Unnecessary; cotton
cloth came high, and a bushcl of salt
cost a small fortune.
ORGANIZATION WINS.
What accounts for the change in
the price Of those articles then and
now? Business, which is the organiza-
ton Of supply.
Business began small and grew
large. There is nothing mysterious
about that. When transportation was
difficult, and the community needed
sap buckets, or hoes, it was easier
to get them on the spot. They were
not always the best buckets but they
were the most easily procurable.
That represents one Of the big ele-
ments Of misunderstanding the COM
modify near the person who needs it.
In earlier times, the market spot
was necessarily the manufacturing
spot. Most Of the stuff was made in
the town. All the trades grew up
around the postofficc. The blacksmith
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18
Industry and Big Business Have,
Heightened and Sweetened Life
of Humanity, He Points Out.

made most Of the farming implements.
The weaver made most of the textiles
that the kitchen industries did not
cover. A town was pretty near being
a self-supporting community.
WHERE INDUSTRIES GREW.
1t did not follow, however, that a.
this service was the best or the cheap
est. Any grocer will tcll you that
farm butter" does not mean any
thing. 1t all depends on what kind of
a butter-maker the farmers wife is.
The best butter and the worst may
come from the homemade processes.
The modern dairy approximates a
higher average of quality, And so it
was natural that as the country ex.
banded, as means OF exchange be-
tween communities became more
workable, and especially as transport
tation developed, the better type OF
supplier obtained an increasingly wide
range OF territory.
In this way many Of the earliest
of the biggest businesses grew up
in the East, for there was the bulk
Of the increasing population. Whet
industry came into the field it grew
to its greatest proportions in those
parts of the country that supplied the
basic materials-ore and fuel. As the
great food supply concerns arose they
took their stand in part Of the coun.
try between the food-producing and
the food-consuming sections Of tho
population.
GOOD TINE COMING.
These big service organizations all
came into existence on a perfectly
natural and logical plan. The people
made them. One or more men may
have developed the idea, but it was
the support of the people that gave
the idea its big place in the life of
the world. ''
And now, as the country has grown
larger, so has business, and We have
learned a great deal. We now know
that business is a science and that an
other sciences are contributing to it.
We are in the great age of transition
from the drudgery of life to the en-
joyment of life.
And what we have learned about
the ways and means Of this transi.
ton will be told in the following
chapters in terms of hard experience.
Copyright 1895. Doubleday. Page & Co,
San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18

methods. To attribute success to els.
honesty is a common fallacy. We
hear of men "too honest to succeed. +"
That may be comforting reflection
to them, but it is never the reason for