losophers and philanthropists who wrestled with
the problem, Robert Owen seems to have stood alone in the belief that
success lay in going on, and not in turning back. He set himself to
making the new condition tolerable and prophesied a day when out of the
smoke and din of strife would emerge a condition that would make for
health, happiness and prosperity such as this tired old world never has
seen. Robert Owen was England's first Socialist.

Very naturally he was called a dreamer. Some called him an infidel and
the enemy of society.

Very many now call him a seer and a prophet.

* * * * *

In Robert Owen's day cotton yarn was packaged and sold in five-pound
bundles. These packages were made up in hanks of a given number of
yards. One hundred twenty counts to a package was fixed upon as "par,"
or "standard count." If the thread was very fine, of course more hanks
were required to make up the five pounds. The price ranged up or down,
below or above the one-hundred-twenty mark. That is, if a package
contained two hundred forty hanks, its value was just double what it
would have been if merely standard.

Robert Owen knew fabrics before he began to spin.

First, he was a salesman. Second, he made the things he could sell.

The one supremely difficult thing in business is salesmanship. Goods can
be manufactured on formula, but it takes a man to sell. He who can sell
is a success--others may be.

The only men who succeed in dictating the policy of the house are those
in the Sales Department--that is, those who are on the side of income,
not of expense.

The man with a "secret process" of manufacture always imparts his
secret, sooner or later; but the salesman does not impart his secret,
because he can't. It is not transferable. It is a matter of personality.
Not only does the salesman have to know his goods, but he must know the
buyer--he must know humanity.

And humanity was the raw stock in which Robert Owen dealt. Robert Owen
never tried to increase his sales by decreasing his price. His product
was always higher than standard. "Anybody can cut prices," he said, "but
it takes brains to make a better article." He focused on fineness.

And soon buyers were coming to him. A finer article meant a finer trade.
And now, on each package of yarn that Owen sent out, he placed a label
that read thus, "This package was made under the supervision of Robert
Owen." Thus his name gradually be