It used to be taken for granted that our theories and our methods were
fundamentally unsound. That is because they were not understood. Events
have killed that kind of comment, but there remains a wholly sincere
belief that what we have done could not be done by any other
company--that we have been touched by a wand, that neither we nor any
one else could make shoes, or hats, or sewing machines, or watches, or
typewriters, or any other necessity after the manner in which we make
automobiles and tractors. And that if only we ventured into other fields
we should right quickly discover our errors. I do not agree with any of
this. Nothing has come out of the air. The foregoing pages should prove
that. We have nothing that others might not have. We have had no good
fortune except that which always attends any one who puts his best into
his work. There was nothing that could be called "favorable" about our
beginning. We began with almost nothing. What we have, we earned, and we
earned it by unremitting labour and faith in a principle.
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