Business axioms simple to understand
Business is far more than business as it is commonly understood. It is a science, and it is the eager, practical minds of business men that we shall endeavor to convince first of that fact, and our reasons for addressing those principally concerned are especially good. Why? I have found that in writing about business whenever I was able to make the principles so plain that business men understood them, everybody else did, so it is to be expected that if business axioms can be made simple enough for business men to understand them, everyone will apprehend them. Everybody. And it is everybody that we are attempting to reach.
Knowledge is power
For nearly thirty centuries men have recognized the concrete wisdom of Solomon’s proverb: “A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth in strength.” Yet we have been slow in making its application universal to the race. But we are beginning to understand that the power inherent in knowledge applies as well to commercial and industrial as to scholastic, political and social life, as well to the counting room as to the pulpit, as well to the shop as to the university, as well to the farm as to the bar. Knowledge is power and is the only source of real intellectual sovereignty that the Creator has ever entrusted to men.
In conclusion, I would say that these words are addressed to the business men of America, and this designation includes the banker and his clerks, the farmer and his sons, the lawyer and the law student, the financier and the man who sells bonds and stocks, the merchant and his clerk, the accountant and the bookkeeper, the manager and his assistants—the ambitious young men of the Twentieth Century type, contemplating the pursuit of any business, trade or occupation.
CONTENTS
| BUSINESS ECONOMICS. | ||
| Practical Economics. | ||
| By Ernest Ludlow Bogart | [1] | |
| I. | The Modern Industrial System— | [1] |
| The English Manor—Institution of Private Property—CompetitionDefined—Development of Industrial Liberty—Domestic System of Industry—FactorySystem of Industry—The State as a Regulator ofIndustrial Undertakings. | ||
| II. | The Agricultural Resources of the United States— | [9] |
| The Land Policy of the United States—Irrigation—Dry-Farming—FarmOwnership—Decline of the Agricultural Population—Characterof Agriculture in the United States—Forest Resources—Fisheries. | ||
| III. | The Mineral Resources of the United States— | [19] |
| The Problem Connected with our Mineral Resources—Steps Taken toRemedy the Evil—Coal—Petroleum—Iron—Precious Metals—Copper—WaterPower and Its Use. | ||
| IV. | Capitalistic Production— | [29] |
| The Rapid Industrial Development and Its Causes—Factory Defined—Divisionof Labor—Use of Labor-Saving Machinery—Specializationand Localization of Industry—Large-Scale Production—System ofStandardization. | ||
| V. | Trusts and Monopolies— | [39] |
| Phases of Combination for Fixing Prices—Classes of Industrial Establishments—TheTrust Movement—Causes and Effects of IndustrialCombinations—Evils of Combination—Legislative Regulation. | ||
| VI. | Speculation and Crises— | [51] |
| Risks of Modern Business—Function of the Speculator—Legitimateand Illegitimate Speculation—The Occasion of a Crisis—“HardTimes”—Theories as to the Causes of Crises. | ||
| VII. | The Modern Wage System— | [60] |
| Beneficial Results of the Factory System—Abuses of the Factory System—TheExistence of a Wage-Earning Class—The Wage System—HistoricalSystems of Labor—Modifications of Individualism—TheBargain Between the Employer and the Laborer—Necessity of ProtectiveLegislation. | ||
| VIII. | Labor Organizations and Collective Bargaining— | [68] |
| Growth of Labor Organizations in the United States—Knights ofLabor—American Federation of Labor—Objects and Methods of LaborOrganizations—Restrictions Limiting the Output of Labor—CollectiveBargaining—Boards of Conciliation and Arbitration. | ||
| IX. | Women and Children at Work— | [80] |
| Evils of Early Factory System—Expansion of Woman Labor—WhyWomen are Paid Lower Wages than Men—Desirability of Employmentof Women—Child Labor—Labor Legislation. | ||
| X. | Unemployment and Insurance— | [90] |
| Number of Unemployed in Modern Industry—Classification of theUnemployed—Causes of Unemployment—Insurance against Accident,Sickness and Old Age in the United States; in Germany. | ||
| XI. | Machinery and Industrial Efficiency— | [101] |
| Evils of Machinery—Labor’s Complaint against Machinery—IndustrialEducation in Germany; in England; in the United States—Aids to IndustrialDevelopment in the United States. | ||
| XII. | Profit-Sharing and Co-Operation— | [110] |
| Methods of Profit-Sharing—Economic Theory of Profit-Sharing—Objectionsagainst Profit-Sharing—Experiments in Profit-Sharing—Co-Operation—TheRochdale Society—Producers’ Co-Operation—Advantagesand Defects of Co-Operation. | ||
| XIII. | Problems of Distribution— | [119] |
| Functional Distribution—Personal Distribution—Forms of DistributionProposed—Questions Connected with Functional Distribution; withPersonal Distribution. | ||
| XIV. | Saving and Spending— | [127] |
| Expenditures for Different Purposes—Relation Between Saving andSpending—Desirability of Work for its Own Sake—Problem of Luxury—Economyin Consumption—Economic Evils of Intemperance. | ||
| XV. | Money and Banking— | [137] |
| What Determines the Value of Money—Bimetallism—Monometallism—GovernmentPaper Money—Kinds of Money in the United States—Problemsof the Banking System of the United States. | ||
| XVI. | Transportation and Communication— | [145] |
| Consolidation in the Railroad World—Question of Railroad Rates—ThePublic Nature of Railroads—Ownership of Railroads—ElectricInterurban Railways—Express Companies—The Telephone—The Telegraph—Inlandand Ocean Water Transportation—Our Canal System—OurMerchant Marine. | ||
| XVII. | Taxation and Tariff— | [154] |
| Consequences of Taxation—Adam Smith’s Rules of Taxation—Problemsof Taxation—Sources of Revenue in the United States—TheGeneral Property Tax—Inheritance Taxes—The Question of theTariff. | ||
| XVIII. | The Functions of Government— | [163] |
| Functions of a Modern State—Anarchism—Individualism—ModifiedIndividualism—Culture State Theory—State Socialism—Socialism—Municipalizationof Local Public Utilities. | ||
| XIX. | Economic Progress— | [172] |
| Improvement in Rate of Wages and Hours or Labor—Advances inthe Field of Production—Reasons Why Labor has not Profited Moreby the Great Increase in Wealth—Reduction in the Cost of Semi-Luxuries—LinesAlong Which Reform is Needed. | ||
| Manufacturing. | ||
| By O. P. Austin | [179] | |
| Introduction— | [179] | |
| The Hand Method of Manufacturing—The Factory Method—ChiefProducers by each Method—Exchanges of the World—Relation ofDevelopment of Manufactures to Commerce. | ||
| I. | Modern Manufacturing Systems of the World— | [185] |
| Their Development During the Last Two Centuries—The Waterfallas a Source of Power—Development of Steam Power—Enlargementof the Use of Machinery Following the Application of Power—TheFactory Town—Results of the Application of Steam Power to Transportation—Electricityas an Aid in Manufacturing. | ||
| II. | The Use of Machinery in Manufacturing— | [193] |
| The Spinning Wheel—The Loom—Kay’s Flying Shuttle—Hargreave’sSpinning Jenny—Arkwright’s Water Frame—Crompton’s SpinningMule—Machinery in the Iron and Steel Industry—Growth in ManufacturingFollowing the Application of Machinery to the Leading Industries—Effectof Machinery upon the Employment of Men—Effect uponEmployment of Capital—Effect upon Prices of Labor, of Raw Materials,of Finished Products—Effect upon Commerce—Effect upon theQuality of Manufactures Produced. | ||
| III. | Development of the Factory System— | [203] |
| Growth of the Factory System in England—Causes of the RecentGrowth of the Manufacturing Industries in the United States—Estimatesof the Value of Manufactures in the Principal Countries of theWorld—Net and Gross Valuations of Manufactures in the UnitedStates. | ||
| IV. | Capital in Manufacturing— | [214] |
| Capital a Growing Factor in Manufacturing Industries—Manufacturingin Great Establishments and under Expert Management a FavoriteInvestment for Capital—Effect of Increase in Gold Production—Investmentsof Capital and Use of Machinery Increase more Rapidlythan Employment of Labor—United States Statistics of Investmentand Production Superior to those of Other Countries. | ||
| V. | Trusts and Combinations— | [222] |
| Reasons for Co-Operation—The Pooling System—The Company—TheCorporation—Trusts and Other Combinations—Causes of theTransformation from the Company and the Corporation to the Trust—Effectof Trusts upon Production, Prices, Wages and Employment. | ||
| VI. | The Iron and Steel Industry— | [230] |
| Pig Iron the Basis of all Iron and Steel Manufacturing—Pig IronProduction of the World in 1800 Compared with 1907—Fall in Pricesof Iron and Steel a Result of the Application of Modern Methods ofManufacture—History of Iron Manufacture; Development in Englandand Germany—History of Iron-Making in the United States—Transformationfrom the Charcoal Method to that of Coal and Coke—TheEarlier Methods of Manufacturing Steel Contrasted with those ofToday—Rival Claims of the English and the American Inventors,Bessemer and Kelly, to the Modern System of Steel Manufacturing—Descriptionof the Process of Manufacturing Steel under AmericanMethods—The Use of Powerful Machinery and Lessening Proportionof Work Performed by Man Power—The Railway and Steamship inRelation to the Steel Industry—Great Combinations of Iron and SteelManufacturers—Description of the Process of Transforming Ironinto Steel by the Bessemer Process. | ||
| VII. | The Textile Industry— | [247] |
| Growth of the Textile Industry from the Hand Industries to Use ofMachinery and the Factory System—Great Britain, the Greatest CottonManufacturing Country of the World in Proportion to Population—TheUnited States the World’s Greatest Producer of Raw Cotton—Contrastof Manufacturing Methods in the United States and Europe—GreatBritain the World’s Principal Cotton Manufacturer for Exportation—TheUnited States a Large Manufacturer but Chiefly forher Own People—Light Grades of Cotton Manufactured in Europe—Historyof the Textile Industry—Description of the Manufacture ofTextiles—Cotton Manufacturing has Outgrown that of Other Textiles—Historyof its Manufacture in India, in Asia Minor, in America, and,in Recent Years, in Japan—Other Oriental Countries Manufacture bythe Hand Processes—Growth of the Use of Machinery in Cotton Manufacturing,from the Spinning Wheel and Spinning Jenny to ModernMachine Methods—The Textile Industry of the United States. | ||
| VIII. | The Manufacturing Industries of the United States— | [263] |
| The United States the World’s Greatest Manufacturer—Its SystemDeveloped More Recently than that of Europe—Has Utilized ModernMethods in Combination with Large Sums of Capital—The UnitedStates the Only Nation Taking a Census of Manufactures—The Grossand Net Value of Manufactures as Reported by the Census—Relationof the Gross and Net Figures to Those of Other Countries—Acceptanceof the Lowest Estimate of Manufactures in the UnitedStates Places her Products Far in Excess of Those of any Other Nation—Growthof Manufacturing has Outgrown Consuming Power ofthe People and Resulted in Rapid Growth in Exportation—ManufacturesForm a Growing Share of Exports—Principal ManufacturedArticles Exported and Principal Countries to which Sent. | ||
| IX. | Statistics of Manufacturing— | [289] |
| Production of Manufacturers’ Materials—Development of TransportationFacilities—Distribution of Manufactures—World’s Production ofGold, 1492 to 1908—Enlargement of Capital Invested in Manufacturing—TheVarious Classes of Manufactures Produced in the UnitedStates—The Value of Each Group at Recurring Censuses from 1880to 1905—Distribution of the Manufacturing Industries in the VariousSections of the United States—Share which Manufactures Form inthe Imports and Exports of the United States—Share which ManufacturesForm in the Imports and Exports of the Principal Countriesof Europe—Estimated Value of Manufactures Produced in the PrincipalCountries of the World, 1780 to 1905—Commerce of the World,1780 to 1905—Number of Persons Engaged in the Principal ManufacturingIndustries of the United States—Cotton Spindles of the World—CottonProduction of the World—Growth of Population, Commerce,Transportation Facilities, and in Production of Certain Articles Requiredin Manufacturing, 1800 to 1908. | ||
| Concrete and Steel. | ||
| By J. F. Springer | [322] | |
| Chemistry and the Industries. | ||
| By Benjamin Ball Freud | [341] | |
| The Close Relation of the Producer-Gas Power Plant to the Conservationof our Fuel Resources. | ||
| By Robert Heywood Fernald | [352] | |
| Efficiency in Shop Operations. | ||
| By H. F. Stimpson | [370] | |
| The Bridge Between Labor and Capital. | ||
| By John Mitchell | [380] | |
| The Unemployed. | ||
| By John Bascom | [384] | |
| Quiz Questions | [403] | |
PRACTICAL ECONOMICS.
BY ERNEST LUDLOW BOGART, Ph. D.
[Born Yonkers, N. Y., 1870; A. B., A. M., Princeton University, 1890, 1896; Ph. D., University of Halle, 1897; Graduate Student, University of Halle, 1894, 1896-7, University of Berlin, 1894-5, Princeton University (Fellow), 1895-6, Columbia University, 1897-8. Assistant Professor Economics and Social Science, Indiana University, 1898-1900; Professor Economics and Sociology, Oberlin College, 1900-1905; Assistant Professor Economics, History and Politics, Princeton University, 1905-9; Associate Professor Economics, University of Illinois, 1909. Author of Economic History of the United States (Longmans Green & Co., 3rd edition, 1909), and several monographs and periodical articles.]