Take prosperity. A truly
prosperous time is when the largest number of people are getting all
they can legitimately eat and wear, and are in every sense of the word
comfortable. It is the degree of the comfort of the people at large--not
the size of the manufacturer's bank balance--that evidences prosperity.
The function of the manufacturer is to contribute to this comfort. He is
an instrument of society and he can serve society only as he manages his
enterprises so as to turn over to the public an increasingly better
product at an ever-decreasing price, and at the same time to pay to all
those who have a hand in his business an ever-increasing wage, based
upon the work they do. In this way and in this way alone can a
manufacturer or any one in business justify his existence.
We are not much concerned with the statistics and the theories of the
economists on the recurring cycles of prosperity and depression. They
call the periods when prices are high "prosperous." A really prosperous
period is not to be judged on the prices that manufacturers are quoting
for articles.
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