st railroad gross earnings, the highest commodity
prices.

We then constructed a ten-story building on a foundation meant for only
a two or three story building. Hence the problem confronting us business
men is to strengthen the foundation or else see the structure fall. I am
especially glad of the opportunity to write for business men. There are
two reasons:--first, because I feel that the business men are largely
responsible for having this ten-story structure on a foundation made for
one of only two or three stories; secondly, because I believe such men
alone have the vision, the imagination and the ability to strengthen the
foundation and prevent the structure from falling.

The fact is, we have become crazy over material things. We are looking
only at the structure above ground. We are trying to get more smoke from
the chimney. We are looking at space instead of service, at profits
instead of volume. With our eyes focused on the structure above ground,
we have lost sight of those human resources, thrift, imagination,
integrity, vision and faith which make the structure possible. I feel
that only by the business men can this foundation be strengthened before
the inevitable fall comes.

When steel rails were selling at $55 a ton, compared with only $25 a ton
a few years previous, our steel plants increased their capacity
twenty-five per cent. Increased demand, you say? No, the figures don't
show it. Only thirty-one million tons were produced in 1919, compared
with thirty-nine million tons in 1916. People have forgotten the gospel
of service. The producing power per man has fallen off from fifteen to
twenty per cent. We have all been keen on developing consumption. We
have devoted nine-tenths of our thought, energy and effort to developing
consumption. This message is to beg of every reader to give more thought
to developing production, to the reviving of a desire to produce and the
realization of joy in production.

We are spending millions and millions in every city to develop the
good-will of customers, to develop in customers a desire to buy. This is
all well and good, but we can't continue to go in one direction
indefinitely. We cannot always get steam out of the boiler without
feeding the furnace. The time has come when in our own interests, in the
interests of our communities, our industry, and of the nation itself,
for a while we must stop adding more stories to this structure. Instead,
we must strengthen