situation or they are a haphazard jumble either meaningless or
conveying an unintended impression. They are generally in the
humorous line and frequently make an impression that was not
anticipated by the utterer.

The really useful talk and work is the result of wholesome habit
of thought and action.

Tying up Capital in Stock in Process of Construction.

The amount of capital tied up in raw material supplies, stock in
process and finished product should not be greater than that which
is necessary to get the greatest output per dollar of investment.

In the machinery-building world there is no such thing as a steady
long-lived demand for any machine. Hence the proposition to build
a locomotive or printing-press by methods employed in watch or
sewing-machine manufacture is entirely ill-timed at least.

For this reason the stock in process must not necessarily be
considered insufficient if it appears to be on the hand-to-mouth
plan. The dividing line between excessive and insufficient stock
must be drawn in each individual case.

Raw material should be purchased in reasonable quantities with due
regard to the price which varies with quantities but there should
always be a regard for the amount of capital used for this
purpose. Any excess represents just that much extra capital
unnecessarily risked in the business.

There should be a constant supply of material throughout the
entire work. The stock in process should flow through the plant in
a rapid but thin stream. The quantity should be no greater than
absolutely necessary to insure a steady supply for all of the
workers, including the assembling and selling workers.

An excessive stock of this or that piece, or of all pieces, means
that much capital idle, and it also tends to slackness of
management. Frequently it is the outcome of carelessness.

A slip-shod management that disregards this point will use no care
in purchase of material or in putting in the shop orders. All that
is needed is to just hurry forward the stock that "happens" to be
"out", and at the same time allow the accumulation of the unneeded
stock to go on unchecked.

Immense storerooms for keeping finished stock are shown with
pride, unmindful of the fact that every dollar's worth of
unnecessary stock on the shelves in the stockroom, every dollar's
worth of unnecessary work in the plant, represents idle money and
faulty management.

If this money is to be retained in the business, t