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Ford, Henry, 1863-1947

"My Life and Work"

It
cannot be the basis--it must be the result of service.
(4) Manufacturing is not buying low and selling high. It is the process
of buying materials fairly and, with the smallest possible addition of
cost, transforming those materials into a consumable product and
distributing it to the consumer. Gambling, speculating, and sharp
dealing tend only to clog this progression.
* * * * *
We must have production, but it is the spirit behind it that counts
most. That kind of production which is a service inevitably follows a
real desire to be of service. The various wholly artificial rules set up
for finance and industry and which pass as "laws" break down with such
frequency as to prove that they are not even good guesses. The basis of
all economic reasoning is the earth and its products. To make the yield
of the earth, in all its forms, large enough and dependable enough to
serve as the basis for real life--the life which is more than eating and
sleeping--is the highest service. That is the real foundation for an
economic system.


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