INTRODUCTION We have only started on our development of our country—we have not asyet, with all our talk of wonderful progress, done more than scratch thesurface. The progress has been wonderful enough—but when we comparewhat we have done with what there is to do, then our pastaccomplishments are as nothing. When we consider that more power is usedmerely in ploughing the soil than is used in all the industrialestablishments of the country put together, an inkling comes of how muchopportunity there is ahead. And now, with so many countries of the worldin ferment and with so much unrest every where, is an excellent time tosuggest something of the things that may be done in the light of whathas been done.
When one speaks of increasing power, machinery, and industry there comesup a picture of a cold, metallic sort of world in which great factorieswill drive away the trees, the flowers, the birds, and the green fields.And that then we shall have a world composed of metal machines and humanmachines. With all of that I do not agree. I think that unless we knowmore about machines and their use, unless we better understand themechanical portion of life, we cannot have the time to enjoy the trees,and the birds, and the flowers, and the green fields.
I think that we have already done too much toward banishing the pleasantthings from life by thinking that there is some opposition betweenliving and providing the means of living. We waste so much time andenergy that we have little left over in which to enjoy ourselves.
Power and machinery, money and goods, are useful only as they set usfree to live. They are but means to an end. For instance, I do notconsider the machines which bear my name simply as machines. If that wasall there was to it I would do something else. I take them as concreteevidence of the working out of a theory of business, which I hope issomething more than a theory of business—a theory that looks towardmaking this world a better place in which to live. The fact that thecommercial success of the Ford Motor Company has been most unusual isimportant only because it serves to demonstrate, in a way which no onecan fail to understand, that the theory to date is right. Consideredsolely in this light I can criticize the prevailing system of industryand the organization of money and society from the standpoint of one whohas not been beaten by them. As things are now organized, I could, wereI thinking only selfishly, ask for no change. If I merely want money thepresent system is all right; it gives money in plenty to me. But I amthinking of service. The present system does not permit of the bestservice because it encourages every kind of waste—it keeps many menfrom getting the full return from service. And it is going nowhere. Itis all a matter of better planning and adjustment.
I have no quarrel with the general attitude of scoffing at new ideas. Itis better to be skeptical of all new ideas and to insist upon beingshown rather than to rush around in a continuous brainstorm after everynew idea. Skepticism, if by that we mean cautiousness, is the balancewheel of civilization. Most of the present acute troubles of the worldarise out of taking on new ideas without first carefully investigatingto discover if they are good ideas. An idea is not necessarily goodbecause it is old, or necessarily bad because it is new, but if an oldidea works, then the weight of the evidence is all in its favor. Ideasare of themselves extraordinarily valuable,
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