Modern Production

Modern mass-production methods lower the cost of making goods, and thus give us better values. At the same time, American ingenuity and science are constantly at work improving the quality of products. In this way, better quality products at good values are continually being brought to the people of all income groups.

As an example of how this works, when facial tissues were first put on the market in 1924, they were made in limited quantities and sold at 65 cents per box of 200. People liked these facial tissues immediately and began asking for them when they went into different stores. Because there was such a demand for the product, manufacturers began making tissues in larger and larger quantities. Because the manufacturers were making tissues in greater quantities, their production costs were lowered, so that the cost of tissues went down. In the meanwhile, the quality of facial tissues was constantly improving, because more manufacturers went into the business of making tissues, and each manufacturer strove to make his product better than his competitors'. Today, instead of costing 65 cents, a box of 200 tissues costs around one-third of that price, and they are both softer and stronger.

When people are free to compete—when they are free to make more things and make them better—everyone benefits.