{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_21502/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_21502","id":"gutenberg_21502","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21502","summary":null,"tags":["Business","Category: Business/Management","Category: Economics","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Success"],"text":"Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n                       Fundamentals of Prosperity\n\n                           What They Are and\n                            Whence They Come\n\n                                   By\n\n                            ROGER W. BABSON\n\n              _President Babson Statistical Organization_\n\n\n\n                        NEW YORK         CHICAGO\n\n                       Fleming H. Revell Company\n\n                        LONDON   AND   EDINBURGH\n\n\n\n\n                          Copyright, 1920, by\n                       FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\n                      New York:  158 Fifth Avenue\n                      Chicago:    17 North Wabash Ave.\n                      London:     21 Paternoster Square\n                      Edinburgh:  75 Princes Street\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n          FOREWORD\n       I. HONESTY OR STEEL DOORS?\n      II. FAITH THE SEARCHLIGHT OF BUSINESS\n     III. INDUSTRY VS. OPPORTUNITY\n      IV. COOePERATION--SUCCESS BY HELPING THE OTHER FELLOW\n       V. OUR REAL RESOURCES\n      VI. STUDY THE HUMAN SOUL\n     VII. BOOST THE OTHER FELLOW\n    VIII. WHAT TRULY COUNTS\n      IX. WHAT FIGURES SHOW\n       X. WHERE THE CHURCH FALLS DOWN\n      XI. THE FUTURE CHURCH\n\n\n\nForeword\n\n\nSome two thousand years ago the greatest teacher who ever walked the\nearth advised the people of Judea not to build their houses on the sand.\nWhat he had in mind was that they were looking too much to the structure\nabove ground, and too little to the spiritual forces which must be the\nfoundation of any structure which is to stand. Following the war we\nenjoyed the greatest prosperity this country has ever witnessed;--the\ngreatest activity, the greatest bank clearings, the greatest foreign\ntrade, the greatest railroad gross earnings, the highest commodity\nprices.\n\nWe then constructed a ten-story building on a foundation meant for only\na two or three story building. Hence the problem confronting us business\nmen is to strengthen the foundation or else see the structure fall. I am\nespecially glad of the opportunity to write for business men. There are\ntwo reasons:--first, because I feel that the business men are largely\nresponsible for having this ten-story structure on a foundation made for\none of only two or three stories; secondly, because I believe such men\nalone have the vision, the imagination and the ability to strengthen the\nfoundation and prevent the structure from falling.\n\nThe fact is, we have become crazy over material things. We are looking\nonly at the structure above ground. We are trying to get more smoke from\nthe chimney. We are looking at space instead of service, at profits\ninstead of volume. With our eyes focused on the structure above ground,\nwe have lost sight of those human resources, thrift, imagination,\nintegrity, vision and faith which make the structure possible. I feel\nthat only by the business men can this foundation be strengthened before\nthe inevitable fall comes.\n\nWhen steel rails were selling at $55 a ton, compared with only $25 a ton\na few years previous, our steel plants increased their capacity\ntwenty-five per cent. Increased demand, you say? No, the figures don't\nshow it. Only thirty-one million tons were produced in 1919, compared\nwith thirty-nine million tons in 1916. People have forgotten the gospel\nof service. The producing power per man has fallen off from fifteen to\ntwenty per cent. We have all been keen on developing consumption. We\nhave devoted nine-tenths of our thought, energy and effort to developing\nconsumption. This message is to beg of every reader to give more thought\nto developing production, to the reviving of a desire to produce and the\nrealization of joy in production.\n\nWe are spending millions and millions in every city to develop the\ngood-will of customers, to develop in customers a desire to buy. This is\nall well and good, but we can't continue to go in one direction\nindefinitely. We cannot always get steam out of the boiler without\nfeeding the furnace. The time has come when in our own interests, in the\ninterests of our communities, our industry, and of the nation itself,\nfor a while we must stop adding more stories to this structure. Instead,\nwe must strengthen the foundations upon which the entire structure\nrests.\n\n                                                          R. W. B.\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nHONESTY OR STEEL DOORS?\n\n    While fifty-one per cent of the people have their eyes on\n    the goal of integrity, our investments are secure; but\n    with fifty-one per cent of them headed in the wrong\n    direction, our investments are valueless. The first\n    fundamental of prosperity is Integrity.\n\n\nWhile on a recent visit to Chicago, I was taken by the president of one\nof the largest banks to see his new safety deposit vaults. He described\nthese--as bank presidents will--as the largest and most marvellous\nvaults in the city. He expatiated on the heavy steel doors and the\nvarious electrical and mechanical contrivances which protect the stocks\nand bonds deposited in the institution.\n\nWhile at the bank a person came in to rent a box. He made the\narrangements for the box, and a box was handed to him. In it he\ndeposited some stocks and bonds which he took from his pocket. Then the\nclerk who had charge of the vaults went to a rack on the wall and took\nout a key and gave it to the man who had rented the box. The man then\nput the box into one of the little steel compartments, shut the door and\nturned the key. He then went away feeling perfectly secure on account of\nthose steel doors and various mechanical and electrical contrivances\nexisting to protect his wealth.\n\nI did not wish to give him a sleepless night so I said nothing; but I\ncouldn't help thinking how easy it would have been for that poorly-paid,\nhumpbacked clerk to make a duplicate of that key before he delivered it\nto the renter of that box. With such a duplicate, the clerk could have\nmade that man penniless within a few minutes after he had left the\nbuilding. The great steel door and the electrical and mechanical\ncontrivances would have been absolutely valueless.\n\nOf course the point I am making is that the real security which that\ngreat bank in Chicago had to offer its clientele lay not in the massive\nstone columns in front of its structure; nor in the heavy steel doors;\nnor the electrical and mechanical contrivances. The real strength of\nthat institution rested in the honesty,--the absolute integrity--of its\nclerks.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThat afternoon I was talking about the matter with a business man. We\nwere discussing securities, earnings and capitalization. He seemed\ngreatly troubled by the mass of figures before him. I said to him:\n\"Instead of pawing over these earnings and striving to select yourself\nthe safest bond, you will do better to go to a reliable banker or\nbond-house and leave the decision with him.\"\n\n\"Why,\" he said, \"I couldn't do that.\"\n\n\"Mr. Jones,\" I went on, \"tell me the truth! After you buy a bond or a\nstock certificate, do you ever take the trouble to see if it is signed\nand countersigned properly? Moreover, if you find it signed, is there\nany way by which you may know whether the signature is genuine or\nforged?\"\n\n\"No,\" he said, \"there isn't. I am absolutely dependent on the integrity\nof the bankers from whom I buy the securities.\"\n\nAnd when you think of it, there is really no value at all in the pieces\nof paper which one so carefully locks up in these safety deposit boxes.\nThere is no value at all in the bank-book which we so carefully cherish.\nThere is no value at all in those deeds and mortgages upon which we\ndepend so completely. The value rests _first_, in the integrity of the\nlawyers, clerks and stenographers who draw up the papers; _secondly_, in\nthe integrity of the officers who sign the documents; _thirdly_, in the\nintegrity of the courts and judges which would enable us to enforce our\nclaims; and _finally_, in the integrity of the community which would\ndetermine whether or not the orders of the court will be executed.\n\nThese things which we look upon as of great value:--the stocks, bonds,\nbank-books, deeds, mortgages, insurance policies, etc., are merely\nnothing. While fifty-one per cent. of the people have their eyes on the\ngoal of Integrity, our investments are secure; but with fifty-one per\ncent. of them headed in the wrong direction, our investments are\nvalueless. So the first fundamental of prosperity is integrity. Without\nit there is no civilization, there is no peace, there is no security,\nthere is no safety. Mind you also that this applies just as much to the\nman who is working for wages as to the capitalist and every owner of\nproperty.\n\nIntegrity, however, is very much broader than the above illustration\nwould indicate. Integrity applies to many more things than to money.\nIntegrity requires the seeking after, as well as the dispensing of,\ntruth. It was this desire for truth which founded our educational\ninstitutions, our sciences and our arts. All the great professions, from\nmedicine to engineering, rest upon this spirit of integrity. Only as\nthey so rest, can they prosper or even survive.\n\nIntegrity is the mother of knowledge. The desire for truth is the basis\nof all learning, the value of all experience and the reason for all\nstudy and investigation. Without integrity as a basis, our entire\neducational system would fall to the ground; all newspapers and\nmagazines would become sources of great danger and the publication of\nbooks would have to be suppressed. Our whole civilization rests upon the\nassumption that people are honest. With this confidence shaken, the\nstructure falls. And it should fall, for, unless the truth be taught,\nthe nation would be much better off without its schools, newspapers,\nbooks and professions. Better have no gun at all, than one aimed at\nyourself. The corner-stone of prosperity is the stone of Integrity.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nFAITH THE SEARCHLIGHT OF BUSINESS\n\n    This religion which we talk about for an hour a week, on\n    Sunday, is not only the vital force which protects our\n    community, but it is the vital force which makes our\n    communities. The power of our spiritual forces has not yet\n    been tapped.\n\n\nAbout three years ago I was travelling in South America. When going from\nSao Paulo up across the tablelands to Rio Janeiro, I passed through a\nlittle poverty-stricken Indian village. It was some 3,000 feet above sea\nlevel; but it was located at the foot of a great water-power. This\nwater-power, I was told, could easily develop from 10,000 to 15,000\nhorse-power for twelve months of the year. At the base of this waterfall\nlived these poverty-stricken Indians, plowing their ground with broken\nsticks, bringing their corn two hundred miles on their backs from the\nseacoast, and grinding it by hand between two stones. Yet,--with a\nlittle faith and vision, they could have developed that water-power,\neven though in a most primitive manner, and with irrigation, could have\nmade that poverty-stricken valley a veritable Garden of Eden. They\nsimply lacked _faith_. They lacked vision. They were unwilling, or\nunable, to look ahead to do something for the next generation and trust\nto the Lord for the results.\n\nI met the head man of the village and said to him: \"Why is it that you\ndon't do something to develop this power?\"\n\n\"Why, if we started to develop this thing,\" he answered, \"by the time we\ngot it done, we would be dead.\"\n\nIndians had lived there for the last two hundred years lacking the\nvision. No one in that community had the foresight or vision to think or\nsee beyond the end of his day. It was lack of faith which stood between\nthem and prosperity. Hence, the second great fundamental of prosperity\nis that intangible \"something,\"--known as faith, vision, hope, whatever\nyou may call it.\n\nThe writer of the Book of Proverbs says: \"Where there is no vision, the\npeople perish.\" Statistics teach that where there is no vision,\ncivilization never gets started! The tangible things which we prize so\nhighly,--buildings, railroads, steamships, factories, power plants,\ntelephones, aeroplanes, etc., are but the result of faith and vision.\nThese things are only symptoms of conditions, mere barometers which\nregister the faith and vision of mankind.\n\nThis religion which we talk about for an hour a week, on Sunday, is not\nonly the vital force which protects our community, but it is the vital\nforce which _makes_ our communities. _The power of our spiritual forces\nhas not yet been tapped!_ Our grandchildren will look back upon us and\nwonder why we neglected our trust and our opportunity, just as we look\nback on those poor Indians in Brazil who plowed with crooked sticks,\ngrinding their corn between stones and hauling it on their backs two\nhundred miles from the seaboard.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThese statements are not the result of any special interest as a\nchurchman. I am not a preacher. I am simply a business man, and my work\nis almost wholly for bankers, brokers, manufacturers, merchants and\ninvestors. The concern with which I am associated has one hundred and\neighty people in a suburb of Boston who are collecting, compiling and\ndistributing statistics on business conditions. We have only one source\nof income, and that is from the clients who pay us for an analysis of\nthe situation. Therefore you may rest assured that it is impossible for\nus to do any propaganda work in the interests of any one nation, sect,\nreligion or church. The only thing we can give clients is a conclusion\nbased on a diagnosis of a given situation. As probably few of you\nreaders are clients of ours, may I quote from a Bulletin which we\nrecently sent to these bankers and manufacturers?\n\n\"The need of the hour is not more legislation. The need of the hour is\nmore religion. More religion is needed everywhere, from the halls of\nCongress at Washington, to the factories, the mines, the fields and the\nforests. It is one thing to talk about plans or policies, but a plan or\npolicy without a religious motive is like a watch without a spring or a\nbody without the breath of life. The trouble, to-day, is that we are\ntrying to hatch chickens from sterile eggs. We may have the finest\nincubator in the world and operate it according to the most improved\nregulations--moreover, the eggs may appear perfect specimens--but unless\nthey have the germ of life in them all our efforts are of no avail.\"\n\nI have referred to the fact that the security of our investments is\nabsolutely dependent upon the faith, the righteousness and the religion\nof other people. I have stated that the real strength of our investments\nis due, not to the distinguished bankers of America, but rather to the\npoor preachers. I now go farther than that and say that the development\nof the country as a whole is due to this _something_, this indescribable\n_something_, this combination of faith, thrift, industry, initiative,\nintegrity and vision, which these preachers have developed in their\ncommunities.\n\nFaith and vision do not come from the wealth of a nation. It's the faith\nand vision which produce the wealth. The wealth of a country does not\ndepend on its raw materials. Raw materials are to a certain extent\nessential and to a great extent valuable; but the nations which to-day\nare richest in raw materials are the poorest in wealth. Even when\nconsidering one country--the United States--the principle holds true.\nThe coal and iron and copper have been here in this country for\nthousands of years, but only within the last fifty years have they been\nused. Water-powers exist even to-day absolutely unharnessed. Look the\nwhole world over and there has been no increase in raw materials. There\nexisted one thousand years ago more raw materials than we have to-day,\nbut we then lacked men with a vision and the faith to take that coal out\nof the ground, to harness the water-powers, to build the railroads and\nto do other things worth while. So I say, the second great fundamental\nof prosperity is Faith.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nINDUSTRY VS. OPPORTUNITY\n\n    Industry is the mother of invention. Struggle, sacrifice\n    and burning midnight oil have produced the cotton gin, the\n    sewing machine, the printing press, the steam engine, the\n    electric motor, the telephone, the incandescent lamp and\n    the other great inventions of civilization. Some religious\n    enthusiasts think only of the \"lilies of the fields\" and\n    forget the parable of the talents.\n\n\nA few years ago I was employed by one of the largest publishing houses\nin the country to make a study of America's captains of industry. The\nreal purpose of the study was to discover some industry or some man that\ncould be helped greatly through national advertising. In connection with\nthat study of those captains of industry, I tabulated their ancestry.\nThese were the seventy greatest manufacturers, merchants and railroad\nbuilders, the leading men who have made America by developing the\nfields, the forests, the mines and the industries. What did I find? I\nfound that only five per cent. of these captains of industry are the\nsons of bankers; only ten per cent. of them are the sons of\nmanufacturers; fifteen per cent. of them are the sons of merchants,\nwhile over thirty per cent. of them are the sons of poor preachers and\nfarmers.\n\nWhy is it that ministers' sons hold a much more important place in the\nindustrial development of America than the sons of bankers? The\nministers' sons inherit no wealth, they have no more than their share of\ncollege education; they are not especially religious as the world\nmeasures religion. In fact, there is an old saying about \"ministers'\nsons and deacons' daughters.\" I would be false to my reputation as a\nstatistician to hold up these captains of industry as saintly examples\nfor young men to follow. But the fact remains nevertheless that these\nmen are creating America to-day. Now, what's the reason?\n\nThe reason is that these men have a combination of the two traits\nalready mentioned and a third added thereto;--namely, the habit of work.\nThey have inherited a certain rugged integrity from their mothers and a\ngift of vision from their fathers which, when combined with the habit of\nwork--forced upon them by their family's meager income--means _power_.\nIntegrity is a dry seed until put in the ground of faith and allowed to\ngrow. But faith with works is prosperity.\n\nA man may be honest and wonder why he does not get ahead; a man may have\nvision and still remain only a dreamer; but when integrity and vision\nare combined with hard work, the man prospers. It is the same with\nclasses and nations.\n\nIt has been said that genius is the author of invention. Statistics do\nnot support this statement. The facts show that industry is the mother\nof invention. Struggle, sacrifice and burning midnight oil have produced\nthe cotton gin, the sewing machine, the printing press, the steam\nengine, the electric motor, the telephone, the incandescent lamp and the\nother great inventions of civilization.\n\nWhy is it that most of the able men in our great industries came from\nthe country districts? The reason is that the country boy is trained to\nwork. Statistics indicate that very seldom does a child, brought up in a\ncity apartment house, amount to much; while the children of well-to-do\ncity people are seriously handicapped. The great educator of the\nprevious generation was not the public school, but rather the _wood\nbox_. Those of us parents who have not a wood box for our children to\nkeep filled, or chores for them to do, are unfortunate.\n\nRun through the list of the greatest captains of industry, as they come\nto your mind. How many of the men who are really directing the country's\nbusiness gained their position through inherited wealth? You will find\nthem astonishingly few. There is no \"divine right of kings\" in business.\nIn fact, statistics show us that the very things which most people think\nof as advantages, namely, wealth and \"not having to work\" are really\nobstacles which are rarely surmounted.\n\nIndustry and thrift are closely allied. Economic studies show clearly\nthat ninety-five per cent. of the employers are employers because they\nsystematically saved money. Any man who systematically saves money from\nearly youth automatically becomes an employer. He may employ thousands\nor he may have only two or three clerks in a country store, but he\nnevertheless is an employer. These same studies show that ninety-five\nper cent. of the wage workers are wage workers because they have\nsystematically spent their money as fast as they have earned it. They of\nnecessity remain wage workers. These are facts which no labour leader\ncan disprove and which are exceedingly significant. This is especially\nstriking when one considers that the employer often started out at the\nsame wages and in the same community as his wage workers. The employer\nwas naturally industrious and thrifty; while those who remained wage\nworkers were not.\n\nThe development of this nation through the construction of the\ntranscontinental railways, the financing of the western farms, and the\nbuilding of our cities is largely due to the old New England doctrine\nthat laziness and extravagance are sins. In some western communities it\nis popular to laugh at these New England traits; but had it not been for\nthem, these western communities would never have existed. The industry\nand thrift developed by the old New England religion were the basis of\nour national growth.\n\nI especially desire to emphasize this point because of the position of\ncertain religious enthusiasts who think only of \"the lilies of the\nfield\" and forget the parable of the talents. It is a fact that the\nthird fundamental of prosperity is Industry.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nCOOePERATION--SUCCESS BY HELPING THE OTHER FELLOW\n\n    Our industrial system has resulted in making many men\n    economic eunuchs. The salvation of our cities, the\n    salvation of our industries and the salvation of our\n    nation depend on discovering something which will revive\n    in man that desire to produce and joy in production which\n    he had instinctively when he was a small boy.\n\n\nA few days ago I was present at a dinner of business men in Boston who\nwere called together in order to secure some preferential freight rates\nfor Massachusetts. The principal theme of that gathering was to boom\nMassachusetts at the expense of the rest of the country. At the close of\nthe dinner I was asked to give my opinion and said: \"Let us see how many\nthings there are in this room that we could have were we dependent\nsolely on Massachusetts. The chairs and furniture are from Michigan; the\ncotton is from Georgia; the linen from Ireland; the silver from Mexico;\nthe glassware from Pennsylvania; the paper from Maine; the paint from\nMissouri; the clock from Connecticut--and so on.\" Finally I got the\ncourage to ask if there was a single thing in the room that did not\noriginate from some state other than Massachusetts. Those men were\nabsolutely helpless in finding a single thing.\n\nThe same fact applies in a general way to every state and every home.\nLook about, where you are sitting now. How many things are there in the\nroom just where you are,--there is a table, a chair, a shoe, a coat, a\nnecktie, a cigar, a lampshade, a piano, a basket--for all of these you\nare dependent upon others.\n\nThe same fact is true when we analyze one staple like shoes which,\nprimarily, are made of leather. Where does the leather come from? Just\nfollow that leather from the back of the steer until you buy it in the\nform of shoes. Think where that steer was raised, and where the leather\nwas tanned. Think of all the men engaged in the industry from the\ncow-punchers to the salesmen in the stores. But there is more than\nleather involved in shoes. There is cotton in the shoe lacing and\nlining. There is metal in the nails and eyelets. Not only must different\nlocalities cooeperate to produce a shoe; but various industries must give\nand take likewise.\n\nCivilization is ultimately dependent on the ability of men to cooeperate.\nThe best barometer of civilization is the desire and ability of men to\ncooeperate. The willingness to share with others,--the desire to work\nwith others is the great contribution which Christianity has given to\nthe world. The effect of this new spirit is most thrilling when one\nconsiders the clothes which he has on his back, the food which he has on\nthe table, the things which he has in the house, and thinks of the\nthousands of people whose labour has directly contributed toward these\nthings. Now this clearly shows that the fourth great fundamental of\nprosperity is cooeperation, the willingness and ability of men to\ncooeperate, to serve one another, to help one another, to give and to\ntake.\n\nBut the teachings of Jesus along these lines have a very much broader\napplication than when applied merely to raw materials, or even\nmanufactured products. As we can begin to prosper only when we develop\ninto finished products the raw materials of the fields, mines and\nforests, so we can become truly prosperous only as we develop the\ngreatest of all resources,--the human resources. Not only does\nChristianity demand that we seek to help and build up others; but our\nown prosperity depends thereon as well.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen in Washington, during the war, I had a wonderful opportunity of\nmeeting the representatives of both labour and capital. I had some\npreconceived ideas on the labour question when I went to Washington; but\nnow they are all gone. I am perfectly willing, now, to agree with the\nwage worker, to agree with the employer, to agree with both or to agree\nwith neither. But this one thing I am sure of, and that is that the\npresent system doesn't work. The present system is failing in getting\nmen to produce.\n\nBy nature man likes to produce. Our boy, as soon as he can toddle\nout-of-doors, starts instinctively to make a mud pie. When he gets a\nlittle older he gets some boards, shingles and nails and builds a hut.\nJust as soon as he gets a knife, do you have to show him how to use it?\nHe instinctively begins to make a boat or an arrow or perhaps something\nhe has never seen. Why? Because in his soul is a natural desire to\nproduce and an inborn joy in production. But what happens to most of\nthese boys after they grow up?\n\nOur industrial system has resulted in almost stultifying men\neconomically and making most of them economically non-productive. Why? I\ndon't know. I simply say it happens and the salvation of our industries\ndepends on discovering something which will revive in man that desire to\nproduce and that joy in production which he had instinctively when he\nwas a small boy.\n\nIncreased wages will not do it. Shorter hours will not do it. The wage\nworker must feel right and the employer must feel right. It is all a\nquestion of feeling. Feelings rule this world,--not things. The reason\nthat some people are not successful with collective bargaining and\nprofit sharing and all these other plans is because they think that men\nact according to what they say, or according to what they learn, or\naccording to that in which they agree. Men act according to their\n_feelings_, and \"good feeling\" is synonymous with the spirit of\ncooeperation. One cannot exist without the other and prosperity cannot\ncontinue without both. Hence the fourth fundamental of prosperity is\nCooeperation.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nOUR REAL RESOURCES\n\n    We have gone daffy over things like steam, electricity,\n    water power, buildings, railroads, and ships and we have\n    forgotten the human soul upon which all of these things\n    depend and from which all of these things originate.\n\n\nTwo captains of industry were standing, one day, on the bridge at\nNiagara looking at the great falls. One man turned to the other and\nsaid: \"Behold the greatest source of undeveloped power in America.\"\n\n\"No. The greatest source of undeveloped power in America is the soul of\nman,\" the other replied.\n\nI was talking with a large manufacturer the other day, and he told me\nthat he was supporting scholarships in four universities to enable young\nmen to study the raw materials which he is using in his plant. I asked\nhim if he was supporting any scholarships to study the human element in\nhis plant, and he said \"No.\" Yet when asked for definite figures, it\nappeared that eighty per cent. of every dollar which he spends, goes for\nlabour, and only twenty per cent. goes for materials. He is endowing\nfour scholarships to study the twenty per cent. and is not doing a thing\nto study the eighty per cent.! Statistics show that the greatest\nundeveloped resources in America are not our mines or our forests or our\nstreams, but rather the human souls of the men and women who work for\nus.\n\nThis is most significant when one resorts to statistics and learns that\neverything that we have,--every improvement, every railroad, every ship,\nevery building costing in excess of $5,000, every manufacturing concern\nemploying over twenty men, yes, every newspaper and book worth while,\nhas originated and been developed in the minds of less than two per\ncent. of the people. The solution of our industrial problems and the\nreduction of the cost of living depend not on fighting over what is\nalready produced, but upon producing more. This means that this two per\ncent. must be increased to four per cent., and then to six per cent. If\nall the good things which we now have, come from the enterprise of only\ntwo per cent., it is evident that we would all have three times as much\nif the two per cent were increased to six per cent.\n\nJesus was absolutely right in His contention that if we would seek first\nthe Kingdom of God and His righteousness all these other things would\nnaturally come to us. This is what Jesus had in mind when He urged\npeople to give and serve, promising that such giving and serving should\nbe returned to them a hundred fold or more. Jesus never preached\nunselfishness or talked sacrifice as such, but only urged His hearers to\nlook through to the end, see what the final result would be and do what\nwould be best for them in the long run. Jesus urged His followers to\nconsider the spiritual things rather than the material, and the eternal\nthings rather than the temporal; but not in the spirit of sacrifice. The\nonly sacrifice which Jesus asked of His people was the same sacrifice\nwhich the farmer makes when he throws his seed into the soil.\n\nThe story of the loaves and fishes is still taught as a miracle, but the\nday will come when it will not be considered such. The same is true\nregarding the incident when Jesus found that His disciples had been\nfishing all night without results and He suggested that they cast the\nnet on the other side. They followed His advice and the net immediately\nfilled with so many fishes that they could hardly pull it up. If we\nto-day would give more thought to the spiritual and less to the\nmaterial, we would have more in health, happiness, and prosperity. The\nbusiness men to-day would be far better off if--like the fishermen of\nGalilee--we would take Jesus' advice and cast our net on \"the other\nside.\"\n\nWe are told that with sufficient faith we could remove mountains. Have\nmountains ever been removed or tunnelled without faith? The bridging of\nrivers, the building of railroads, the launching of steamships, and the\ncreation of all industries are dependent on the faith of somebody. Too\nmuch credit is given both to capital and labour in the current\ndiscussions of to-day. The real credit for most of the things which we\nhave is due to some human soul which supplied the faith that was the\nmainspring of every enterprise. Furthermore in most instances this human\nsoul owes this germ of faith to some little country church with a white\nsteeple and old-fashioned furnishings.\n\nThe reason I say \"old-fashioned\" church is because our fathers were more\nwilling to rely upon the power of faith than many of us to-day. What\nthey lacked in many other ways was more than compensated by their faith\nin God. They got, through faith, \"that something\" which men to-day are\ntrying to get through every other means. All the educators, all the\npsychologists, all the inspirational writers cannot put into a man the\nvision and the will to do things which are gained by a clear faith. Most\nof us to-day are frantically trying to invent a machine which will solve\nour problems, when all the while we have the machine within us, if we\nwill only set it going. That machine is the human soul.\n\nThe great problem to-day is to develop the human soul, to develop this\nwonderful machine which each one of us has between his ears. Only as\nthis is developed can we solve our other problems. When we give as much\nthought to the solution of the human problem as we give to the solution\nof the steam problem or the electrical problem, we will have no labour\nproblem. We have gone daffy over things like steam, electricity,\nwater-power, buildings, railroads and ships, and we have forgotten the\nhuman soul upon which all of these things depend and from which all of\nthese things originate.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nSTUDY THE HUMAN SOUL\n\n    The first step is to give more thought and attention to\n    people, to establish more points of contact. Let us do\n    humanly, individually, man to man, what we are trying to\n    do in a great big way.\n\n\nI was visiting the home of a famous manufacturer recently and he took me\nout to his farm. He showed me his cattle. Above the head of each heifer\nand each cow was the pedigree. The most careful record was kept of every\nanimal. He had a blue-print in his library at home of every one of those\nanimals. Yet when we began later to talk about the labour problem in his\nown plant and I asked him how many of his people he knew personally, he\ntold me,--I quote his words:\n\n\"Why, they are all alike to me, Mr. Babson. I don't know one from the\nother.\"\n\nLater in the evening--it was during the Christmas vacation--a young\nfellow drove up to the house in a fancy automobile, came in and asked\nfor this manufacturer's only daughter in order to take her to a party. I\ndidn't like the looks of the fellow very well. After they had gone out,\nI said to the father:\n\n\"Who is that chap?\"\n\nThe father replied: \"I don't know; some friend of Mary's.\"\n\nThe father had every one of his cows blue-printed, but he didn't know\nthe name of the man who came to get his daughter and who didn't deliver\nher until two o'clock the next morning! That man was neglecting the\nhuman soul, both in his factory and in his home.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI repeat that we have gone crazy over structures above ground. We are\nabsolutely forgetting the greatest of our resources,--the great\nspiritual resource, upon which everything depends. How shall we develop\nthese resources?\n\nCertainly we are not developing this great spiritual resource in the\npublic schools. The educational system was originally founded by the\nChurch to train the children in the fundamentals of righteousness.\nGradually, but constantly, we have drifted away from this goal and\nto-day the purpose for which our schools were started has been almost\nentirely lost. In some states it is now a criminal offence for a school\nsuperintendent to ask a prospective school teacher what she believes or\nwhether she has any religion whatever! Under these conditions, is it\nsurprising that the spiritual resources of our children are lying\ndormant?\n\nMuch of the prosperity of this nation is due to the family prayers which\nwere once daily held in the homes of our fathers. To a very large extent\nthis custom has gone by. Whatever the arguments pro and con may be, the\nfact nevertheless remains that such family prayers nurtured and\ndeveloped these spiritual resources to which the prosperity of the\nnation is due. The custom of family prayers should be revived along with\nmany other good New England customs which some modern radicals may\nridicule, but to which they owe all that they possess.\n\nThe masses to-day are getting their real education from the daily\nnewspapers. Many of these newspapers have much good material, but the\ngreat effort of the daily press is not to make _producers_, but rather\nto make _consumers_. The policy of the daily press is not to get people\nto serve, but rather to get them to buy. Not only is the larger portion\nof the newspapers given up to advertising, but most of this advertising\nis of non-essentials, if not of luxuries. With this advertising\nconstantly before the people of the country, it is but natural that the\nmaterial things should seem of greatest importance. To remedy this\nsituation is a great problem to-day facing the Christian business men of\nthis country. What shall we do about it?\n\nThe first step is to give more thought and attention to people, and to\nestablish more points of contact. Let us do humanly, individually, man\nto man, what we are trying to do in a great big way. Another method to\ndevelop this human resource is to give people responsibility. Moreover,\nwe must do so if the nation is to be truly prosperous.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nBOOST THE OTHER FELLOW\n\n    Just as our property is safe only as the other fellow's\n    property is safe, just as our daughter is safe only as the\n    other fellow's daughter is safe, so it also is true that\n    in order to develop the human soul in other men, we have\n    to give those men something.\n\n\nMy little girl has a black cat; about once in four months this cat has\nkittens. Opposite our place is a man who has an Airedale dog. When that\ndog comes across the street and that cat has no kittens, the cat\nimmediately \"beats it\" as fast as she can, with the dog after her. But\nwhen that dog comes across the street and that cat has the\nresponsibility of some kittens, she immediately turns on the dog and the\n_dog_ \"beats it\" with the cat after him. It is the same dog, the same\ncat, and the same backyard; but in one instance the cat has no\nresponsibilities and in the other case she has. Responsibilities develop\nfaith, vision, courage, initiative, and other things that make the world\ngo round.\n\nJust as our property is safe, only as the other fellow's property is\nsafe; just as our daughter is safe, only as the other fellow's daughter\nis safe; so is it also true that, in order to develop the human soul in\nother men, we have to give those men something. We must give them a\nchance. We must give them opportunity. We must give them a boost. All of\nus are simply storage batteries. We get out of life what we put into\nlife. We care for others, not in accordance with what they do for us,\nbut rather in accordance with what we have done for them.\n\nI am quite often asked about investments. Well, there are times, about\nonce in three or four years--during panics, when every one is scared to\ndeath--that I invest in stocks. There are other times when I advise the\npurchase of bonds. The fact is, however, that I have not made my money\ninvesting either in stocks or bonds. What money I have made has come\nfrom investing in boys and girls, young men and young women.\n\nThere is a common belief current to-day that only people with experience\nare worth while. But I say: Quit looking for the experienced salesmen\nand trying to make a man out of him; get a _man_, and then make a\nsalesman of him. I have a young man in my business who was delivering\ntrunks for an express company twelve years ago. To-day he is my sales\nmanager and has built our gross from $100,000 to $1,000,000. One of my\nbest experts, a man who is sought for by the leading Chambers of\nCommerce all over the land, was a carpenter on my garage nine years ago.\nAnother one of my experts, a man the demand for whose services I cannot\nsupply, never acquired recognition until he was over forty-five years of\nage. I found him keeping hens at Wellesley Farms! A young lady in my\noffice to whom I pay $200 a week and who is worth, to me, $1,000 a week,\nI picked up at $4 a week twelve years ago.\n\nSuch cases exist everywhere. You men yourselves know them. You look over\nyour own organizations. Who are the men who are really doing things? Are\nthey the men you acquired ready-made from other concerns? No! They are\nthe men that have been taken up and developed. These are the men that\nhave made money for you and have created the business enterprise of\nwhich you are the head. Yet when we have reached a point of prestige,\nand have a big business, we are tempted to say: \"I haven't time to\ndevelop any more people, I have got to get them already made.\" This is a\nbig mistake.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI beg my readers--those who have them--to get your foremen together. Say\nto the partners or the officials of your concern: \"Haven't we given too\nmuch thought to developing the structure? Aren't we piling too many\nstories one upon another with too little thought to the foundation?\"\nThen go out and look over your plant and select a few people in each\ndepartment to whom you will give a real opportunity. Start in to develop\nthem and thereby strengthen the foundation of the business and the\nprosperity of the nation.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nWHAT TRULY COUNTS\n\n    The greatest resources in the world to-day are human\n    resources, not resources of iron, copper and lumber. The\n    great need of the hour is to strengthen this human\n    foundation and you business men are the one group that can\n    do it.\n\n\nWhen it comes to the sale of goods, the same principle applies. Eighty\nper cent. of our sales organizations are devoted to selling to ten per\ncent. of the population. We have forgotten to consider whether or not\ngoods are needed. We only consider whether or not they are being bought.\nWe are forgetting to establish new markets, but rather are scrambling\nover the markets already secured. Tremendous opportunities exist in\ndeveloping new industries, in creating new communities, in relocating\nthe center of production from one community to another community to\nmatch up with the center of consumption.\n\nWe have forgotten the latent power in the human soul, in the individual,\nin the community, in the different parts of the country. We have\nforgotten those human possibilities upon which all prosperity ultimately\ndepends. I cannot perhaps emphasize this any more than by saying that\nthe foundation of progress is spiritual, not material.\n\nThe greatest resources of the world to-day are human resources,--not\nresources of iron, copper and lumber. The great need of the hour is to\nstrengthen this human foundation and revive in men a desire to produce\nand a joy in service. Business men are the one group that can do it.\nThey understand the emotions, understand the importance of the\nintangible things. They understand how to awaken in people new motives.\nSo my appeal is not to wait too long to revive man and awaken the soul\nwhich is slumbering to-day.\n\nThe nation is only a mass of individuals. The true prosperity of a\ncountry depends upon the same qualities as the true prosperity of its\npeople. As religion is necessary for the man, it is also necessary for\nthe nation. As the soul of man needs to be developed, so also does the\nsoul of the nation.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet me tell one more personal incident. Not long ago I was at my\nWashington office spending the week. While there a little Western Union\nmessenger girl came in to apply for a position. It was in the\nafternoon--about half-past five. I was struck with the intelligence of\nthe girl's face and asked her two or three questions. She was tired. I\nasked her to sit down. I was astonished to hear her story.\n\nShe had been born and brought up in the mountains of West\nVirginia,--many miles from civilization. Her father and mother died when\nshe was four years old. She had been living with an old grandfather and\nbrother. When I began to talk with her I found her to have a most\nremarkable acquaintance with Emerson, with Thoreau, with Bernard Shaw\nand with the old Eastern writers.\n\nI said to her: \"How is it that you are delivering telegrams in a khaki\nsuit and a soldier cap?\"\n\nShe replied: \"Because I could get nothing else to do. I lived down there\nin the mountains just as long as I could. I had to get to the city where\nI could express myself and develop my finer qualities. When I got to\nWashington there was nothing that I could do. They asked me if I could\ntypewrite, but I had never seen a typewriter. Finally, after walking the\nstreets for a while, I got a job as a Western Union messenger.\"\n\nI wrote Mrs. Babson and made arrangements to have the girl come to\nWellesley and work for a few months with the Babson Organization. I saw\nin her certain qualities which, if developed, should make her very\nuseful to someone somewhere. She came to Wellesley. About a month after\nher arrival I was obliged to leave on a two months' trip and Mrs. Babson\ninvited her up to dine the night before I left. I told her that I was\ngoing to speak while away on \"America's Undeveloped Resources.\" After\ndinner she went to my desk and took her pen and scribbled these lines\nand said:\n\n\"Perhaps during your talk on America's Greatest Undeveloped Resources\nyou will give those men a message from a Western Union girl.\" These are\nthe lines she wrote. They are by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.\n\n  I gave a beggar from my little store of wealth some gold;\n  He spent the shining ore, and came again and yet again,\n  Still cold and hungry, as before.\n  I gave a thought--and through that thought of mine,\n  He found himself, the man supreme, divine,\n  Fed, clothed and crowned with blessing manifold;\n  And now he begs no more.\n\nThe mind of man is a wonderful thing, but unless the soul of man is\nawakened he must lack faith, power, originality, ambition,--those vital\nelements which make a man a real producer. I do not say that you can\nawaken this force in every soul. If you are an employer, perhaps only a\nfew of all your employees can be made to understand. But this much is\ncertain,--in every man or woman in whom you can loose the power of this\ninvisible something, you will mobilize a force, not only for his or her\ngood, but for the good and perhaps the very salvation of your own\nbusiness.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nWHAT FIGURES SHOW\n\n    Panics are caused by spiritual causes rather than\n    financial. Prosperity is the result of righteousness\n    rather than of material things.\n\n\nThe large black areas on the adjoining chart are formed by combining and\nplotting current figures on New Building, Crops, Clearings, Immigration,\nTotal Foreign Trade, Money, Failures, Commodity Prices, Railroad\nEarnings, Stock Prices and Politics in order to give a composite view of\nbusiness in the United States. (When Interstate Commerce reports of\nearnings of all United States railroads became available, January, 1909,\nthis record was substituted in place of the earnings of ten\nrepresentative roads which had been used previous to that time. Revised\nscales for monetary figures were also introduced, in August, 1912.)\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe line X-Y represents the country's net gain or growth. Based on the\neconomic theory that \"action and reaction are equal when the two factors\nof time and intensity are multiplied to form an area,\" the sums of the\nareas above and below said line X-Y must, over sufficiently long periods\nof time, be equal, provided enough subjects are included, properly\nweighed and combined. An area of prosperity is always followed by an\narea of depression; an area of depression in turn is always followed by\nan area of prosperity. The areas, however, need not have the same\nshapes.\n\nIt will be seen that each area is divided into halves by a narrow white\nline. This is to emphasize the fact that the first halves of areas below\nthe X-Y line are really reactions from the extravagance, inefficiency\nand corruption which existed during the latter half of the preceding\n\"prosperity\" area. Contrariwise, the first halves of areas above the X-Y\nline are really reactions from the economy, industry and righteousness\ndeveloped during the hard times just preceding. The high points of the\nstock market have come in the early part of the prosperity areas and the\nlow points have come about the beginning of the depression areas. In\n1914 the war held down prices of all securities. The highest prices of\nbonds have usually come about the end of the depression areas and high\nmoney rates, and lowest bond prices at about the end of the prosperity\nareas.\n\nBut what causes these fluctuations in business and prices? Statistics\nshow that panics are caused by spiritual causes, rather than financial,\nand that prosperity is the result of righteousness rather than of\nmaterial things. Hence, the importance to industry and commerce of the\nforces already mentioned. These spiritual forces are the true\nfundamentals of prosperity. This in turn leads us to consider from where\nthey come and upon what we are to depend for their further development.\nThe following pages will give the answer.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhat are the sources of these fundamentals of prosperity? Where do we\nget this faith, integrity, industry, cooeperation and interest in the\nsoul of man upon which civilization is based?\n\nAs already explained, we do not get it from the raw materials. We have\nalways had the raw materials. We do not get it from education. From a\nstatistical point of view Germany is the best educated country in the\nworld. It has the least illiteracy. It has the largest percentage of\nscientific culture. No, these three fundamentals do not come from\neducation. They do not come from the inheritance of property. I\nmentioned in the preceding pages the investigation we made of leading\ncaptains of industry in America, the men who head the various greatest\nindustries in this country. Out of this group of men, only ten per cent.\ninherited their business, while only fifteen per cent. received special\neducation. This shows that the source of these qualities is from\nsomething more than wealth or education.\n\nWe are striving and even slaving to lay up property for our children,\nwhen statistics clearly show that the more we lay up for them the worse\noff they are going to be. If statistics demonstrate any one thing, they\ndemonstrate that the less money we leave our children the better off\nthey will be; not only spiritually and physically, but also financially.\nWhen it comes to the question of education, we work and economize to\ngive our children an education and to send our children to college. Yet\nstatistics show that only a small percentage of these leading business\nmen are college graduates.\n\nThe success of individuals, the success of communities, the success of\nnations, depends on these fundamentals,--integrity, faith, industry,\nbrotherly kindness and an interest in the soul of man. To what do we owe\nthese great fundamental qualities? _Statistics show clearly that we owe\nthem to religion._ Yes, and to the old-fashioned religion of our\nforefathers. Moreover, I say this not as a churchman. I would give the\nsame message if I were speaking to a group of bankers or a group of\nengineers. I was first brought into the Church through the Christian\nEndeavour Society, but I was really converted to the Bible teachings\nthrough a study of statistics.\n\nTo religion we owe our civilization and to the Church we owe our\nreligion. All there is in the world to-day that is worth while comes\nfrom men filled with, and from groups actuated by, these fundamentals of\nintegrity, faith, industry, brotherly love and those other factors which\ncome only through God. The Church to-day deserves the credit for keeping\nthese factors before the world. Hence, it is evident that the people of\nAmerica have not the bankers to thank for their security and prosperity,\nbut rather the preachers and the churches. To these men we are obligated\nfor our growth and development.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nWHERE THE CHURCH FALLS DOWN\n\n    Become saturated with Christ's principles, be clean and\n    upright, cooeperate with one another, have faith, serve,\n    trust the Almighty for the results, and you will never\n    have to worry about property. \"If you will do these\n    things, all of the others will be given to you.\"\n\n\nThere are two groups of people who criticize the Church. First, there\nare those who claim great love for their fellow-men, but do not go to\nchurch because it is allied with the property interests of the\ncommunity. I believe that to be the fundamental reason why the wage\nworkers, labour leaders, socialists and radicals are not interested in\nthe Church. They believe that the Church is too closely allied with\nproperty. I have been severely criticized myself for presenting the\nChurch as a defender of property and as a means of making your home,\nyour business and your securities safer. Such critics are perfectly\nconscientious and the Church suffers much because those people, in their\nlove for humanity, are antagonistic to the Church.\n\nThe second group are those defenders of property who look upon the\nChurch as impractical; who consider the Golden Rule as something all\nright for the minister to talk about on Sundays, but something useless\nto try to follow during the week. Those men criticize the Church for\npreaching love, for talking the Sermon on the Mount, and for being what\nthey say is \"impractical.\" So the Church suffers to-day by having both\nof these groups stand off alone. Neither of them is interested in the\nChurch, the most important organization in America. It is the Church\nwhich has created America, which has developed our schools, which has\ncreated our homes, which has built our cities, which has developed our\nindustries, which has made our hospitals, charities, and which has done\neverything that is worth while in America.\n\nYet to-day, the Church is the most discarded industry of all, because it\nhas not the cooeperation of either of the above groups,--the radical\ngroup which claims to be interested only in humanity and not in\nproperty, and the propertied group which frankly says that it is\nprimarily interested in property and not humanity. It seems that we\nshould stop side-stepping this question. Instead we should face it\nsquarely and answer both of these criticisms. My answer is as follows:\n\nJesus was not interested in property, _per se_. There is no question but\nthat Jesus had no interest in property. These things which look so\nimportant to us,--houses, roads, taxation, buildings, fields, crops,\nforeign trade, ships,--it is very evident were insignificant to Jesus.\nWhen any of Jesus' disciples came to Him to settle some property\nquestion, He pushed them aside and said He was too busy to consider it.\nI am sure that if Jesus were here to-day, He would tell us all that we\nare idiots for striving so to accumulate things--building ourselves\nbigger houses, getting bigger bank accounts and more automobiles. Hence,\nwhen the socialist or the radical or the labour leader complains to me,\nI frankly admit this fact. Without doubt the Church should emphasize\nthat property _of itself_ is of no value, and the only things worth\nwhile in life are happiness and the health and the freedom which come\nfrom living an upright, simple life.\n\nOn the other hand, and this point I wish to emphasize just as strongly,\nJesus took the position throughout His teachings, that if His disciples\nwould simply get saturated with His fundamentals, if they would be clean\nand upright, if they would cooeperate with one another, if they would\nhave faith to serve and trust the Almighty for the results, they would\nnever have to worry about property. Property would take care of itself.\nJesus emphasized, first, that they should not think of property; but He\nalways closed His discourses by some such statement as this: \"If you\nwill do these things, all of the others will be given to you.\"\n\nIt is absolutely impossible for any individual to develop the above\nfundamentals of prosperity,--faith, integrity, industry and brotherly\nkindness--without being successful. I care not whether he is a doctor,\nteacher, banker, lawyer, business man or manufacturer. That same thing\nis true of groups and of nations. It is fundamental law, \"Whatsoever a\nman soweth that shall he also reap.\" Those who serve will be served;\nthose who knock will be knocked; those who boost will be boosted. We are\npaid in the coin that we give. We are forgiven as we forgive. If we are\nfriendly, we will make friends.\n\nStatistics show that the Church is the greatest factor in the worldly\nsuccess of men, groups and nations. Some readers may have seen a book\nwritten by Professor Carver of Harvard entitled, \"The Religion Worth\nHaving.\" In that book the author discusses the various denominations of\nChristianity. Then he says most conclusively that the religion worth\nhaving, the religion that will survive, is the religion which produces\nthe most. Yet this production will not come by seeking production _per\nse_, but rather by the development of these fundamental characteristics\nwhich have been described.\n\nTry as you will you cannot separate the factor of religion from economic\ndevelopment. In the work conducted by my Organization at Wellesley Hills\nwe study the trend of religious interest as closely as we do the\ncondition of the banks or the supply of and demand for commodities.\nStatistics of church membership form one of the best barometers of\nbusiness conditions. We have these figures charted back for the past\nfifty years. Whenever this line of religious interest turns downward and\nreaches a low level, history shows that it is time to prepare for a\nreaction and depression in business conditions. Every great panic we\nhave ever had has been foreshadowed by a general decline in observance\nof religious principles. On the other hand, when the line of religious\ninterest begins to climb and the nation turns again to the simple mode\nof living laid by in the Bible, then it is time to make ready for a\nperiod of business prosperity.\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nTHE FUTURE CHURCH\n\n    The time is coming when the Church will awake to its great\n    opportunities. The greatest industry in America but the\n    most backward and inefficiently operated, is still in the\n    stage-coach class.\n\n\nOf course the Church is very far from developed. The Church is in the\nsame position to-day as were the water-powers fifty years ago. The\nChurch has great resources; but these resources are sadly undeveloped.\nFrom an efficiency point of view, from an organization point of view,\nfrom a production point of view, the Church to-day is in the stage-coach\nclass. It holds within itself the keys of prosperity. It holds within\nitself the salvation and solution of our industrial, commercial and\ninternational problems. Yet it is working, or at least the Protestant\nbranch is open, only three or four hours a week. The Church has the\ngreatest opportunity to-day of any industry. It is the least developed\nindustry, the most inefficiently operated, and the most backward in its\nmethods.\n\nLet us shut our eyes and look ahead at what it will be twenty-five years\nfrom now. Let us imagine five churches within a radius of five miles.\nAll of them now operating independently. Each one open only a few hours\na week. Twenty-five years from now these five churches will be linked up\ntogether under a general manager who will not be a parson, but who will\nbe a business man.\n\nTo-day the preacher of our churches is a combination of preacher,\nbusiness manager, and salesman. He is the service department, the\nfinance department and everything but the janitor. The Church is being\noperated to-day as a college would be operated with one professor, who\nwould be president, treasurer, general manager, and everything else. The\nChurch is being operated to-day as a factory with simply a production\nman and no one to tend the finances or the sales. Manufacturers reading\nthis book know how long a factory could be run with only a\nsuperintendent and no one to sell or finance the proposition.\n\nTwenty-five years from to-day, instead of the pastor being at the head\nof the church and a few good people doing voluntary work, there will be\nfour or five churches of the same denomination united under one general\nmanager. I do not mean by this that four of them will be closed. They\nwill all be open much more than they are now; but they will all be under\none general manager and will be taking orders from that general manager.\nTwenty-five years from to-day the churches will be self-supporting. The\ndays of begging will be over. Religion has been cheapened by singing\nabout \"salvation's free for you and me.\" When we have our legal\ndifficulties, we go to a lawyer and pay him; when we have a pain we go\nto a doctor and pay him; if we want our children taught we pay the\nprice; but if we want our children instructed in the fundamentals of\nprosperity upon which their future depends, we send them to a Sunday\nSchool for a half-hour a week with the possibility of having them taught\nby a silly girl who doesn't know her work. In any event the parent\nseldom takes the trouble to ascertain the quality of the teaching.\n\nThe time is coming when the Church will awake to its great principles\nand opportunities. The greatest industry in America is still the most\nbackward and most inefficiently operated. When these four or five\nchurches are combined, the preacher will not have to spend half the week\nin preparing a different sermon every Sunday. He will have two weeks or\na month to prepare that sermon. He will have time and have the \"pep\" and\nenergy to deliver it to you so you won't go to sleep while sitting in\nthe pews. The audience will then hear the same preacher only once each\nmonth, and the preacher will then have more than one congregation to\nappeal to.\n\nThe same man is not going to be expected to preach on Love, Hate, the\nLeague of Nations, How to Settle Labour Disputes and the Health of the\nCommunity and every other subject. All of these men will preach the\nsalvation of Jesus, but each one will specialize in one particular phase\nof the Christian life, such as Faith, Integrity, Industry, Cooeperation.\nThen we will take more stock in our preachers because they won't pretend\nto know every subject. Then the preacher will not be of lesser\nintelligence than the average audience.\n\nFifty years ago the ablest men in every community were the preachers,\nthe doctors, and the lawyers. They were the only college graduates of\nthe town and were looked up to. To-day, while we pay our salesmanagers\nfrom $15,000 to $20,000 a year, and lawyers and doctors large fees, we\npay our preachers only miserable salaries. It's a damnable disgrace to\nall of us. I often think that if Jesus were to come back to us, that He\nwould take for His text that thought from the Sermon on the Mount, \"If\nyou have aught against your neighbour, before you enter into your\nworship go and square up.\" I think that when He came in to speak to us\non Sunday morning, He would say:\n\n\"Gentlemen, I suggest that before we have this service, we raise funds\nto pay the preacher a decent salary.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJust before I went to Brazil I was the guest of the President of the\nArgentine Republic. After lunching one day we sat in his sun parlour\nlooking out over the river. He was very thoughtful. He said, \"Mr.\nBabson, I have been wondering why it is that South America with all its\ngreat natural advantages is so far behind North America notwithstanding\nthat South America was settled before North America.\" Then he went on to\ntell how the forests of South America had two hundred and eighty-six\ntrees that can be found in no book of botany. He told me about many\nranches that had thousands of acres under alfalfa in one block. He\nmentioned the mines of iron, coal, copper, silver, gold; all those great\nrivers and water-powers which rival Niagara. \"Why is it, with all these\nnatural resources, South America is so far behind North America?\" he\nasked. Well, those of you who have been there know the reason. But,\nbeing a guest, I said:\n\n\"Mr. President, what do you think is the reason?\"\n\nHe replied: \"I have come to this conclusion. South America was settled\nby the Spanish who came to South America in search of _gold_, but North\nAmerica was settled by the Pilgrim Fathers who went there in search of\n_God_.\"\n\nFriends, let us as American citizens never kick down the ladder by which\nwe climbed up. Let us never forget the foundation upon which all\npermanent prosperity is based.\n\n\n\n\n_Printed in the United States of America_","title":"Fundamentals of Prosperity: What They Are and Whence They Come","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":11063}