San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-20
TEST OF SERVICE.

TEST OF SERVICE.
If he decides, as we decided. that
the quantity and quality of our ser
| vice should be within our control.
then gradually he will be drawn at
least to a protective degree, into the
! manufacturing of raw materials and
into many qualifications such as later
will be described in our own progress.
And with the taking over of the very
first source of raw materials comes
| the test of service.
In every one of the raw materials
used, there was a profit. A coal profit.
limestone profit. an ore and blast
furnace profit. a lumber profit, a
| transportation profit, and so on. Is
the manufacturer to collect for him
self each Of these profits. and add it
| to the profit he receives for turning
these raw materials into an article of
| use: Not if he is true business man
operating on the principle of service
and taking only legitimate replace
ment and expansion surplus. He abol-
| lShes all subsidiary profits and gives
the consumer the benefit Of them.
The former profit which the public
gave him to enable him TO expand now
comes back to the public in the form
OF stabilized supply, a stabilized cost
price and a lower sales price. Tho
number of the profits saddled on one
commodity has been reduced. d.
The test of the service of corpora
tion is in how far its benefits are
passed on TO the consumer. The re-
duction of profits. in number and
amount. on any commodity is an in
slant and general community benefit.
USELESS TRANSPORTATION.
Is such a business a menace or
benefit to the public? 1t must be a
benefit 10 the public, else it will not
grow. 1t has grown through serving
the public and limit of its size is its
ability to serve the public. That abil-
ity to serve may he limited by man.
agement or il may be limited BY trans
pOrtatiOn.
We have not found any difficulty
in management largely because las
has been explained in a former book
We have no rigid management. We
have just grown and as each unit has
been added someone from the ranks
has appeared to undertake the man
agemcnt.
The real limit to the size Of cor
pOratiOn is transportation. If it has
to transport its commodity too far.
then il cannot give seryice-and it
limits its own size.
There is far too much transportation
much useless carting OF |
goods TO central points from there to |
be distributed 10 points Of consump- !
ton.
If low prices and high wages are n
menace, then the great industry is a /
menace. The corporation formed not |
to give service, Int only to sell its
stock, is another --lrr-S which will be /
taken up subsequently.
TIMES CHANGE.
There are people who think of big |
business as dangerous because il is
big. They believe that the old and in !
efficient way Of each business being |
in its own town is the |
right idea. And one hundred years
lgo il was the right idea. Each cob
bier in his little town made the shoes
and they were good shoes. The To-
'al wagon maker made his wagons for
he tOwnsfolk.
The point to be remembered about
he establishment Of industry is that |
while all these various new ideas
we're being developed the people who
laid for them were the people who
bought. No tractor. no thresher. no
motor car. no locomotive. no new in
iustrial device has ever been devel-
ped unless the people have paid the
expenses.
The Old idea Of business. that j. /.
'0nsists 0f one man getting the bet !
or Of another man. is no longer ac- II
,nOwladged as business-likc, even bv u
hose who practice il. The American
dpa Of business is based on economic II
cience and social morality-that Is,
{ recognizes that all economic activ-
~ is under the check Of natural law. II
md that no activity Of man 50 con
affects the well-being Of \
'thers As does the daily activity Of
business. We do not have to ask for
he public regulation Of business. The
public has always regulated business. II
BUSINESS AND SERVICE.
Monopoly or the super-controI Of II
commodities seems an impOSsibiilty II
among on enlightened and resOurceful II
people. A people that would not
stand a tax on tea-wOuId they stand
absolute. desPOtic control Of the things
they need for life: A people that
freed their slaves-wOuld they turn
slaves themselves: The pin-maker is
permitted 10 make pins as long a.
they are good pins. II not. someone
else will make them. The real con
trOller is always the public.
CONTINUED Tomorrow.