DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42346#0055
GROWTH OF CO-OPERATION
43
perfection—it is “More, more, more—Oh God, give us
more!”
With an indifference to the morrow that is criminal the
earth is mined and denuded; future generations are being
robbed of their patrimony; minerals, coal, iron, wood, are
being rapidly exhausted.
It is true human ingenuity has met every emergency in
the past and will probably suffice in the future; new forces,
new resources will be discovered, but the surest relief from
the present wasteful extensive competition which demands
quantity is the return to intense competition which is con-
tent with far less but demands greater perfection.
Again, extense competition means combination on a
large scale; intense is the opportunity of the individual. 1
The effort to produce quantity leads inevitably to the
organization of industry, to the factory system, the large
corporation, the trust—a break-neck pace in which to halt is
to fall.
The effort to produce quality means a reversal of these
steps, the disintegration of the factors of wholesale and
indiscriminate production until the individual is permitted
to emerge and impress his personality upon his work.
The change is bound to come, and signs are not wanting
that this country is getting tired of the mere production of
wealth in gross. It is demanding better things. It is de-
manding more sightly things in even the most matter-of-
fact industries and enterprises. Take railroading, for in-
stance ; the depots and bridges that satisfied everyone a gen-
eration ago would not be tolerated in a country town to-
day. There is an immense amount of thought and labor
given to the more artistic designing of all kinds of machin-
ery. There is a growing appreciation of the efforts made
by owners of factories to cultivate their grounds and build
their buildings so they will please rather than offend the
eye.
43
perfection—it is “More, more, more—Oh God, give us
more!”
With an indifference to the morrow that is criminal the
earth is mined and denuded; future generations are being
robbed of their patrimony; minerals, coal, iron, wood, are
being rapidly exhausted.
It is true human ingenuity has met every emergency in
the past and will probably suffice in the future; new forces,
new resources will be discovered, but the surest relief from
the present wasteful extensive competition which demands
quantity is the return to intense competition which is con-
tent with far less but demands greater perfection.
Again, extense competition means combination on a
large scale; intense is the opportunity of the individual. 1
The effort to produce quantity leads inevitably to the
organization of industry, to the factory system, the large
corporation, the trust—a break-neck pace in which to halt is
to fall.
The effort to produce quality means a reversal of these
steps, the disintegration of the factors of wholesale and
indiscriminate production until the individual is permitted
to emerge and impress his personality upon his work.
The change is bound to come, and signs are not wanting
that this country is getting tired of the mere production of
wealth in gross. It is demanding better things. It is de-
manding more sightly things in even the most matter-of-
fact industries and enterprises. Take railroading, for in-
stance ; the depots and bridges that satisfied everyone a gen-
eration ago would not be tolerated in a country town to-
day. There is an immense amount of thought and labor
given to the more artistic designing of all kinds of machin-
ery. There is a growing appreciation of the efforts made
by owners of factories to cultivate their grounds and build
their buildings so they will please rather than offend the
eye.