The Project Gutenberg eBook, Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 11 (of 14) pot

In Germany, the land of philosophy, whenthe savants sail into a sea of doubt, someone sets up the cry, "Back to Kant!"In America, when professed democracygrows ambitious and evolves a lu

The Project

Gutenberg eBook, Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 11 (of 14), by Elbert

Hubbard

This eBook is for the use of anyone

anywhere at no cost and with

almost no restrictions whatsoever You may copy it, give it away or

re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

with this eBook or online at

Author: Elbert Hubbard

Release Date: November 22, 2007[eBook #23595]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECTGUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLEJOURNEYS TO THE HOMES OF THE

GREAT, VOLUME 11 (OF 14)***

E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Annie McGuire, and the Project Gutenberg

Online Distributed

Proofreading Team

(http://www.pgdp.net)

Little Journeys To the Homes

of the Great, Volume 11

Little Journeys to

the Homes

of Great Businessmen

by

Elbert Hubbard

Memorial Edition

New York

1916.

ROBERT OWEN

I have always expended to the lastshilling my surplus wealth inpromoting this great and good cause

of industrial betterment The reverend prelate is greatly deceivedwhen he says that I have squandered

right-my wealth in profligacy and luxury

I have never expended a pound ineither; all my habits are habits oftemperance in all things, and Ichallenge the right-reverend prelateand all his abettors to prove thecontrary, and I will give him andthem the means of following methrough every stage and month of my

—Robert

Owen, in Speech before the House of Lords

ROBERT OWEN

In Germany, the land of philosophy, whenthe savants sail into a sea of doubt, someone sets up the cry, "Back to Kant!"

In America, when professed democracygrows ambitious and evolves a lust forpower, men say, "Back to Jefferson!"

In business, when employer forgetsemployee and both forget their bettermanhood, we say, "Back to RobertOwen!"

We will not go back to Robert Owen: wewill go on to Robert Owen, for hisphilosophy is still in the vanguard

Robert Owen was a businessman His firstintent was to attain a practical success Heproduced the article, and sold it at a

In this operation of taking raw materialand manufacturing it into forms of use andbeauty—from the time the seed wasplanted in the ground on up to theconsumer who purchased the finishedfabric and wove it—Owen believed thatall should profit—all should be madehappier by every transaction

That is to say, Robert Owen believed that

a business transaction where both sides donot make money is immoral

There is a legal maxim still cited in thecourts—"Caveat emptor"—let the buyerbeware

For this maxim Robert Owen had no

respect He scorned the thought of selling

a man something the man did not want, or

of selling an article for anything exceptexactly what it was, or of exacting a pricefor it, by hook or crook, beyond its value.Robert Owen believed in himself, and inhis product, and he believed in the people

He was a democratic optimist He hadfaith in the demos; and the reason was thathis estimate of the people was formed byseeing into his own heart He realized that

he was a part of the people, and he knewthat he wanted nothing for himself whichthe world could not have on the sameterms He looked into the calm depths ofhis own heart and saw that he hatedtyranny, pretense, vice, hypocrisy,extravagance and untruth He knew in the

silence of his own soul that he lovedharmony, health, industry, reciprocity,truth and helpfulness His desire was tobenefit mankind, and to help himself byhelping others.

Therefore he concluded that, the source ofall life being the same, he was but asample of the average man, and all menwould, if not intimidated and repressed,desire what he desired

When physically depressed, through lack

of diversified exercise, bad air or wrongconditions, he realized that his mind wasapt to be at war, not only with its best self,but with any person who chanced to benear From this he argued that alldepartures in society were occasioned bywrong physical conditions, and in order to

get a full and free expression of the DivineMind, of which we are all reflectors ormediums, our bodies must have a rightenvironment.

To get this right environment became thechief business and study of his life

To think that a man who always considers

"the other fellow" should be a greatsuccess in a business way is to us more orless of a paradox "Keep your eye onNumber One," we advise the youth intent

on success "Take care of yourself," saythe bucolic Solons when we start on alittle journey And "Self-preservation isthe first law of life," voice the wise ones.And yet we know that the man who thinksonly of himself acquires the distrust of the

whole community He sets in motionforces that work against him, and hasthereby created a handicap that blocks him

at every step

Robert Owen was one of those quiet, wisemen who win the confidence of men, andthereby siphon to themselves all goodthings That the psychology of successshould have been known to this man inSeventeen Hundred Ninety, we might callmiraculous, were it not for the fact that themiraculous is always the natural

Those were troublous times when RobertOwen entered trade The FrenchRevolution was on, and its fires lit up theintellectual sky of the whole world TheColonies had been lost to England; it was

a time of tumult in Threadneedle Street;

the armies of the world were lying ontheir arms awaiting orders And out of thisgreat unrest emerged Robert Owen,handsome, intelligent, honest, filled with aholy zeal to help himself by helpinghumanity.

Robert Owen was born in the village ofNewtown, Wales, in Seventeen HundredSeventy-one After being away from hisnative village for many years, he returned,

as did Shakespeare and as have so manysuccessful men, and again made the place

of his boyhood the home of his old age.Owen died in the house in which he wasborn His body was buried in the samegrave where sleeps the dust of his fatherand his mother During the eighty-sevenyears of his life he accomplished many

things and taught the world lessons which

it has not yet memorized

In point of time, Robert Owen seems tohave been the world's first Businessman.Private business was to him a public trust

He was a creator, a builder, an economist,

an educator, a humanitarian He got hiseducation from his work, at his work, andstrove throughout his long life to make itpossible for others to do the same

He believed in the Divinity of Business

He anticipated Emerson by saying,

"Commerce consists in making things forpeople who need them, and carrying themfrom where they are plentiful to wherethey are wanted."

Every economist should be a

humanitarian; and every humanitarianshould be an economist Charles Dickens,writing in Eighteen Hundred Sixty, putsforth Scrooge, Carker and Bumball aseconomists When Dickens wanted topicture ideal businessmen, he gave us theCheeryble brothers—men with soft hearts,giving pennies to all beggars, shillings topoor widows, and coal and loaves ofbread to families living in ricketytenements The Dickens idea of bettermentwas the priestly plan of dole Dickens didnot know that indiscriminate almsgivingpauperizes humanity, and never did hesupply the world a glimpse of a man likeRobert Owen, whose charity wassomething more than palliation.

Robert Owen was born in decent poverty,

of parents who knew the simple, beautifuland necessary virtues of industry, sobrietyand economy Where this son got hishunger for books and his restless desirefor achievement we do not know He was

a business genius, and from genius of anykind no hovel is immune

He was sent to London at the age of ten, tolearn the saddler's trade; at twelve hegraduated from making wax-ends,blacking leather and greasing harness andtook a position as salesman in the samebusiness

From this he was induced to become asalesman for a haberdasher He had charm

of manner—fluidity, sympathy and health

At seventeen he asked to be paid acommission on sales instead of a salary,

and on this basis he saved a hundredpounds in a year.

At eighteen a customer told him of awonderful invention—a machine that wasrun by steam—for spinning cotton intoyarn Robert was familiar with the oldprocess of making woolen yarn on aspinning-wheel by hand—his mother did itand had taught him and his brothers andsisters how

Cotton was just coming in, since the close

of "George Washington's Rebellion." Watthad watched his mother's teakettle to agood purpose Here were two big thingsdestined to revolutionize trade: the use ofcotton in place of flax or wool, and steam-power instead of human muscle RobertOwen resigned his clerkship and invested

all of his earnings in three mule machines Then he bought cotton on credit.

spinning-He learned the business, and the first yearmade three hundred pounds

Seeing an advertisement in the paper for

an experienced superintendent of a cottonmill, he followed his intuitions, hunted outthe advertiser, a Mr Drinkwater, andasked for the place

Mr Drinkwater looked at the beardlessstripling, smiled and explained that hewanted a man, not a boy—a man whocould take charge of a mill at Manchester,employing five hundred hands

Robert Owen stood his ground

What would he work for?

Three hundred pounds a year.

Bosh! Boys of nineteen could be had forfifty pounds a year

"But not boys like me," said Robert Owen,earnestly Then he explained to Mr.Drinkwater his position—that he had alittle mill of his own and had made threehundred pounds the first year But hewanted to get into a larger field with men

of capital

Mr Drinkwater was interested Looking

up the facts he found them to be exactly asstated He hired the youth at his own priceand also bought all of young Mr Owen'smachinery and stock, raw and made up.Robert Owen, aged nineteen, went at once

to Manchester and took charge of the mill.His business was to buy and install newmachinery, hire all help, fix wages, buythe raw material, and manufacture and sellthe product.

For six weeks he did not give a singleorder, hire a new man, nor discharge anold one He silently studied the situation

He worked with the men—made friendswith them, and recorded memoranda of hisideas He was the first one at the factory

in the morning—the last to leave it atnight

After six weeks he began to act

The first year's profit was twenty per cent

on the investment, against five for the yearbefore

Drinkwater paid him four hundred poundsinstead of three, and proposed it should befive hundred for the next year A contractwas drawn up, running for five years,giving Owen a salary, and also apercentage after sales mounted above acertain sum.

Robert Owen was now twenty years ofage He was sole superintendent of themill The owner lived at London and hadbeen up just once—this after Owen hadbeen in his new position for three months.Drinkwater saw various improvementsmade in the plant—the place was orderly,tidy, cleanly, and the workers were notcomplaining, although Owen wascrowding out the work

Owen was on friendly terms with his

people, visiting them in their homes Hehad organized a day-school for the smallerchildren and a night-school for the olderones who worked in the mills Hisfriendliness, good-cheer and enthusiasmwere contagious The place wasprosperous.

Just here let us make a digression andinspect the peculiar conditions of the time

It was a period of transition—the old wasdying, the new was being born Bothexperiences were painful

There was a rapid displacement of handlabor One machine did the work of ten or

more persons What were these peoplewho were thrown out, to do? Adjustthemselves to the new conditions, you say.True, but many could not They starved,grew sick, ate their hearts out in uselesscomplaining.

Only a few years before, and the spinning

of flax and wool was exclusively a homeindustry Every cottage had its spinning-wheel and loom There was a garden, acow, a pig, poultry and fruits and flowers.The whole household worked, and thewheel and loom were never idle while itwas light The family worked in relays

It was a very happy and prosperous time.Life was simple and natural There wasconstant labor, but it was diversified Thelarge flocks of sheep, raised chiefly for

wool, made mutton cheap Everything washome-made People made things forthemselves, and if they acquired asuperior skill they supplied theirneighbors, or exchanged products withthem As the manufacturing was done inthe homes, there was no crowding ofpopulation The factory boarding-houseand the tenement were yet to come.

This was the condition up to SeventeenHundred Seventy From then untilSeventeen Hundred Ninety was the time oftransition By Seventeen Hundred Ninety,mills were erected wherever there waswater-power, and the village artisanswere moving to the towns to work in themills

For the young men and women it was an

alluring life The old way gave them notime to themselves—there was the cow tomilk, the pigs and poultry to care for, orthe garden making insistent demands Nowthey worked at certain hours for certainwages, and rested Tenements took theplace of cottages, and the "public," withits smiling barkeep, was always right atthe corner.

Hargreaves, Arkwright, Watt and EliWhitney had worked a revolution morefar-reaching than did Mirabeau, Danton,Robespierre and Marat

Here creeps in an item interesting to ourfriends who revel in syntax and prosody.Any machine or apparatus for lifting hasbeen called a "jack" since the days ofShakespeare The jack was the bearer of

bundles, a lifter, a puller, a worker Anycoarse bit of mechanism was called ajack, and is yet In most factories there aretesting-jacks, gearing-jacks, lifting-jacks.Falstaff tells of a jack-of-all-trades Thejack was anything strong, patient andserviceable.

When Hargreaves, the Lancashirecarpenter, invented his spinning-machine,

a village wit called it a "jenny." Themachine was fine, delicate, subtle, and asspinning was a woman's business anyway,the new machine was parsed in thefeminine gender

Soon the new invention took on a heavierand stronger form, and its persistencysuggested to some other merry bucolic anew variation and it was called a "mule."

The word stuck, and the mule-spinner iswith us wherever cotton is spun.

The discovery that coal was valuable forfuel followed the invention of the steam-engine

When things are needed we dig down andfind them, or reach up and secure them.You could not run a steamship, exceptalong a river with well-wooded banks,any more than you could run anautomobile with coal

The dealing in coal, or "coals" as ourEnglish cousins still use the word, began

in Eighteen Hundred Nineteen That wasthe year the first steamship, the

"Savannah," crossed the ocean She ranfrom Savannah to London Her time was

twenty-five days She burned four hundredfifty tons of coal, or about two-thirds ofher entire carrying capacity Robert Fultonhad been running his steamer "Clermont"

on the Hudson in Eighteen Hundred Seven,but there were wooding-stations everytwenty miles

It was argued in the House of Commonsthat no steamship could ever cross theAtlantic with steam, alone, as a propellingpower And even as it was beingmathematically proved, the whistle of the

"Savannah" drowned the voice of theorator

But the "Savannah" also carried sail, and

so the doubters still held the floor An ironboat with no sails that could cross theAtlantic in five days was a miracle that no

optimist had foreseen—much less, daredprophesy.

The new conditions almost threatened todepopulate the rural districts Farmersforsook the soil The uncertainty of a cropwas replaced with the certainty of a givenwage Children could tend the spinning-jennies as well as men There was ademand for child labor Any poor manwith a big family counted himself rich.Many a man who could not find a job at aman's wage quit work and was supported

by his wife and children To rear a familybecame a paying enterprise

Various mill-owners adopted children ortook them under the apprentice system,agreeing to teach them the trade Girls andboys from orphan asylums and

workhouses were secured and held aspractical slaves They were herded insheep-sheds, where they slept on strawand were fed in troughs They wereworked in two shifts, night and day, so thestraw was never really cold They workedtwelve hours, slept eight, and one hourwas allowed for meals Their clothingwas not removed except on Saturday Anyalteration in the business life of a people

is fraught with great danger

Recklessness, greed and brutality at such atime are rife

Almost all workingmen of forty or overwere out of work Naturally, employershired only the young, the active, theathletic These made more money thanthey were used to making, so they spent it

lavishly and foolishly It was a prosperoustime, yet, strangely enough, prosperitybrought starvation to thousands Familylife in many instances was destroyed, andthus were built those long rows of houses,all alike, with no mark of individuality—

no yard, no flowers, no gardens—that still

in places mar the landscape in factorytowns

Pretty girls went to the towns to work inthe mills, and thus lost home ties Laterthey drifted to London Drunkennessincreased

In Seventeen Hundred Ninety-six, therewas formed the Manchester Board ofHealth Its intent was to guard the interests

of factory-workers Its desire was toinsure light, ventilation and sanitary

conveniences for the workers Beyond this

it did not seek to go

The mill superintendents lifted a howl.They talked about interference, anddepriving the poor people of the right tolabor They declared it was all a privatematter between themselves and theworkers—a matter of contract

Robert Owen, it seems, was the firstfactory superintendent to invite inspection

of his plant He worked with the Board ofHealth, not against it He refused toemploy children under ten years of age,and although there was a tax on windows,

he supplied plenty of light and also freshair So great was the ignorance of theworkers that they regarded the FactoryLaws as an infringement on their rights

The greed and foolish fears of the owners prompted them to put out the goodold argument that a man's children werehis own, and that for the State to dictate tohim where they should work, when andhow, was a species of tyranny Work wasgood for children! Let them run thestreets? Never!

mill-It is a curious thing to note that whenSenator Albert J Beveridge endeavored

to have a Federal Bill passed atWashington, in Nineteen Hundred Seven,the arguments he had to meet and answerwere those which Robert Owen and SirRobert Peel were obliged to answer inSeventeen Hundred Ninety-five

When a man who worked a hundredorphans fourteen hours a day, boys and

girls of from six to twelve, was accused

of cruelty, he defended himself by saying,

"If I doesn't work 'em all the time 'ceptwhen they sleep and eat, they will learn toplay, and then never work." This argumentwas repeated by many fond parents asconclusive

The stress of the times—having manymachines in one building, all run by onemotor power, the necessity of buying rawmaterial in quantities, the expense offinding a market—all these combined toforce the invention of a very curiouseconomic expediency It was called aJoint Stock Company From a man and hiswife and his children making things athome, we get two or three men going intopartnership and hiring a few of their

neighbors at day wages.

Then we get the system of "shareholding,"with hundreds or thousands of people aspartners in a manufacturing enterprisewhich they never visit

The people who owned the shares werethe ones who owned the tools Verynaturally, they wanted and expecteddividends for the use of the tools Thatwas all they wanted—dividends Themanager of the mill held his position onlythrough his ability to make the venturebring returns The people who owned theshares or the tools, never saw the peoplewho used the tools A great gulf laybetween them For the wrongs andinjustices visited upon the workers no oneperson was to blame The fault was

shifted Everybody justified himself Andthen came the saying, "Corporations have

no souls."

Robert Owen was manager of a mill, yet

he saw the misery, the ignorance and themental indifference that resulted from thefactory system He, too, must producedividends, but the desire of his heart wasalso to mitigate the lot of the workers.Books were written by good men picturingthe evils of the factory system.Comparisons were made between the oldand the new, in which the hideousness ofthe new was etched in biting phrase Sometried to turn the dial backward and revivethe cottage industries, as did Ruskin alittle later "A Dream of John Ball" wasanticipated, and many sighed for "the good