Do You Take Any Real Money Out of Your Business ?
By Herbert L. Baker

A MAN'S paramnount duty is to himself and his
A family.
Woirk is not the endt and aimto of existence.
It is tlie means of Ian end. Busy-ness is no virtue in
itself. It is onily a necessity to secure certain desir-
able results.
To work lmany houirs per day is Inot in itself any
credit to a man.
Man was lnot mtade for work. Work lwas made
for mant in order tliat lie miay secure certaiin desir-
able atndl necessary retlirns.
A imt u Who works l?r'riecelit;a riolyi o long td ard
to) seclie tlie retiurns lie desires, tliereby Irob?s lit?stelf
ald 1is fa"mily.
Wre heatr mu11icli of a ctan's erimes a,gainst Ilis
fellows. The'lii ost commiiionbo ('rilne is a imin's crirote
tagainst himsetf--aindi therefore against tliose vwho
depi)endi upoI him.
It is not true tllat it is tnobody',ts business if a
ml a s t crific i ts his owI timet, lrain, etierg it
healtl-h. lie has tllaken rlipn binseIf social arlnd fail-
ily oblligations wh-liclh mak-e it bis dutyit to speIid
hii?mself iii sitch a way t ls to get tili tbet i etlrns.
If le have spci?l, skill sp(ci-ial trainin?g, sple(il
capiacity (or splecil qipleln t' tlhese t should est)eei-
ally adtlnltage hillmself antd bis famtiilv.
It woulld be a crimel to, se th ell ti l cat the price of
mediocrity.
of bulsiless, exepl)t prilntinlg.
It is tile orilv busiIIess 1 knliow of wlielte I)ra(ti-
ca;ll tile oly- tolnr)cetition i?s comil)etition in price.
Iveryvbody tallks qualitv, but hustles for melns
to redue t lie te price.
It is the o n1ly Ilsitiess knlox of wiere ?t is a
attier o f cireit tlit a Iredlctio ii in coest is fotllowel
cet ocl ye hV a rediic: tion i selligl pr dtice.
T'r:e fgooi ( l :ti viw tl t glt l? e twe trade in
a coutitryv prilt shllOl:) rel)lt(ced bis ha(ld lrless witlh a
cylidtl>(cr press itd a111 etigite tio riit. it. Ilt im iedi-
ately reduced bis tprice oin 100) aulctioin bills fromii
;$5.00 to $3.00, becaulse (he explainled) it was niot
"f?lir" to cliarg e t1'e saLm prkice when l-i e cotilil ptro-
duce cheaper, ntl li he liade sirmtilar reducttletions oiI
evervthin. ,
Nuot "fair?" Wliv, Ite got all there ilwas to print
in thle towin anyhow, and Iae so lit tle moneiic tlat
his chii'dren h oad to wear tlie east-off elothes of rela-
tives in tlie cobbler and b lacksmith trades.
One hears that samle curious idea of "fairness"
everywhere in talking with printers.
It is worse than curiotis, it is suicidal.
It is not fairness, it is tihe qutintessence of ill that
is unfair-unfair to tlie priiter, to his creditors, to
his ftamily, to his workm?en lald to all who depend
upon his success in business.
I have often wondered w here that idea originated
and wihy it is found onily ir tiie printing business.
tAn address delivered before the Philadelphlia branch of the
United Typothetae of America.

It is leslponsible for miany of the business fa?ilres
i prititiiig.
It is mlainly responsible fori the hand-to-lnouttht
existience tll;t imani;t emplloyiltg pIririters lead, even
wllell thei manttiage ntot to fail.
- htave no fatilt to fir(d with acttual fairness be-
tween mnan and nlani. All permanent business Ilust
toe cotliel(tedt on failrness as a btsis.
Illt tli kind of "fairness" which leads a printer
to sacrifice his ovnl iiiterests, to shiutt his eves to actlllL
kntowledge of lis costs, to redctle Iis plrilce twvo dol-
lars liwhentever bie saves fifty cents in cost of produlc-
tion--tllt is thti fals fairnless tlat is sulicidal.
That sort of fairness robs oneself, one's fainily.
oiet' cleditors: owears otlt orie's itind, bodly atid
(stato oithout atdetlluate ret.urn,l. ind letaves orily a
tiile of junk for tlie loved oines in the end.
AVwa-y with suthl fantastic, foolish, false notions
of ''falillless !"
Nobody tliat the pirinter ib:ys fro-n does business
ois (it t bisis.
Fiv- tlie ignorant, dlespised foreiginer selliing
fruit on t tlie stree tknows better!
Di)d vot ev ror conside r vor alue to vourself and
voiir fttit:Jlilv as a maictine?
rWhIv not figture overliead charges, depreciation,
etc.. oit volurself and seet how vto0 comie out?
Coulrlting frtont tie tiille wletin a itin,r beeolltes
soirinething mo?re than self-sistaiiining, he has an
avetraoe of 20) velrs of protluitivei ss.
Depreeiattion oui maclineryiTe i figured so asi to
replace it when worn out, or superseded by iimore
toderrn aind econo?ieical tools.
TTe inrist reckori in this depreeiatioi oin hlimself,
just as he figures in tlie depreciation onr his iinelhan-
ical plant.
Ancd he miist get his profit on top of all depreci-
ation, both hluran and mcchaniceal.
I hear mern speak of what tliev "i'-ade" last vear,
blit owhait I want to know is, hiow ml?ch cash did lie
aictiallv take olut of the business and permanetently
invlest to replace his own depreciation?
HIis living or that of his family does not couint
in this coimputation, since that iteml is in the nature
of repairs and mainteniance of the human inachine.
Witholut this "living" lie could not go on twecntv
years or any lentgth of time, but would have to quit
tie printing business for something else.
Money ptit batk into tlie blisiness cainnot be con-
sileredt as replaecing tlie deprc'iation of thie lihuman
ilachine, becaulse tie business is developing so rapid-
ly that a plant that is a fine one this vear ima be a
hopelessly backi-numiber pile of profitless jiunk next
year.
A man may fool himself as to the actual vallue of
his plant while he is alive.
Buit his widow and children face the hard, pitl-
less facts wvhen he is dead-no one fools them by
p]urchasinl the plant at imore than a trifling per-
centage of what lie ealled it worth.
With his spirit, his personality and his presence,
tlie goiig business may be worth all he thinks it is-
u lit lie himself is the "machine" that makes all thie
rest of the plant valuable. This is why I say that a

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