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Show THE AMERICAN WAY, wi THE THREE LEGS Rfe By Geors L fft A most interesting and informative inform-ative document has just come to my desk. It's a beautifully illustrated il-lustrated booklet entitled "Pete Is a Prime Mover" put out by the Shell Oil Company, Inc. for distribution to its employees and dealers. In it "Pete" (short for petroleum) asks himself what makes America tick and comes up with the answers. You see, "Pete" has traveled all over the world and has had an opportunity opportun-ity to see how people live in other countries. "Pete" wished to find out what is responsible for all the advantages we seem to have, in America; why does our way of life get better all the time; and what are the things that have made all this possible? And here's what "Pete" found out. It could happen only in a country like America where men are free and equal; where any person is free to own land and equipment or other goods and use them as he best sees fit; where any man can work where he wants to, buy what he wants to, and use his money any way he wishes; where Government is the servant, not the master. "Pete" further discovered that I it can only happen where a man j has an opportunity to get ahead; j . where he knows he stands to profit pro-fit from the use of any invention inven-tion or improvement or idea he lean devise; where hard work pays off in cold cash; where there's a standing reward for anyone with imagination, ingenuity, ingen-uity, or enterprise beyond the average; that forward progress would be difficult to stop in I any group of people among whom these things are true. But most of all "Pete" learned that it could only happen under our economic system of individual indivi-dual enterprise and competition, which he says, "You don't have to be a Harvard professor to understand. It's built on three legs." LEG 1 MASS PRODUCTION In grandfather's day people did not have much because they did not produce much. By means of automatic tools they began turning out parts that were so exactly alike they were inter-changable. inter-changable. This made assembly lines posible, which increased each workman's productive power, pow-er, so that goods became plentiful plenti-ful and competition forced prices down, down, down; within the reach of almost everybody. LEG 2 MASS SALES It does no good to produce a lot if you do not sell a lot. There must be customers. So industry tries to sell its products to as many people as possible. It advertises them, makes them good in quality and reasonable in price. Whatever firm sells the most products makes the 1 most profits. So all firms try to outdo each other in attracting and retaining customers. This is competition, which is what keeps industry moving ahead all the time, turning out better products pro-ducts at lower prices. LEG 3 MULTIPLE OWNERSHIP It takes people at work, it takes small businesses, it takes machines, and a lot, of other things to make our economic system work. All these things cost money. To finance the larger lar-ger organizations, a lot of people peo-ple had to pool their savings, to make available the large amount of capital necessary to run the business. In return, every person who has invested his money owns a part of the business, busi-ness, and earns affair share of whatever profits are made. There you have it. "Pete" explains ex-plains it so simply that even a Communist ought to understand and appreciate our Capitalistic System. |