212 THE MODEL STOCK PLAN
they sometimes miss the point. But the application has now
gone so far and is so successful that competition may be
counted on to do the rest.
At present this business is largely done during summer
vacations. When eventually the hotel companies and steam-
ship companies realize the possibilities that will come from
a really complete application of the Model Stock Plan, they
will not only make the summer months fully productive
but will also make travel come in very large volume in other
months.
It nets down to a situation that can best be illustrated by
supposing that a Ford or Chevrolet automobile could be
produced in the factories for $200, but that the cost of dis-
tributing it were another $800. Mass production of the
present Ford or Chevrolet would be impossible at a retail
price of $1,000, no matter how efficient the factories might be,
The customer, of course, is not concerned with whether the
cost is accumulated in the factory or in distribution. He
rightly looks at what he has to pay. If he cannot or will
not pay $1,000 for an automobile, the sale is lost.
In selling European trips to the masses of American popula-
tion, knowing the total price of the trip would help travelers to
determine whether or not they can afford it. When the
steamship lines recognize more definitely that people want
to know how much money it will cost them not only for the
voyage but also for all the expenses on land—hotels, rail-
roads, and the rest—the companies will include every expense
in personally conducted tours for a fixed, all-inclusive price.
When people then realize that they can have a European
trip about as cheap as one at home, travel will be tremen-
dously stimulated at third-class and cabin-ship price levels,
and the steamship lines’ profits will be increased to a still
greater degree.
A possible off-hand objection to encouraging European
travel on a mass-production scale is that it might be better
policy to induce our citizens to see America first. The
answer is that people who have been to Europe will be better
customers for travel in the United States, because they will
