116 The Siock Market Crash—And After
sell his various plants to independent producers and
make them compete with each other. Despite the
fact that this organization has made Ford one of
the richest men in the world, the public appreciates
the fact that he has given them a cheap car. The
economies he and other captains of large industry
have achieved are so surprisingly great that probably
nothing can now stem the rising tide of mass
production.
The big examples of mass production today, as
instanced by Henry Ford, General Motors, Westinghouse
 and General Electric, the great railway systems,
 the big banks and so on, have reduced costs to
the consumer by reducing costs in general. Of course,
their aim has been to increase their own profits; but
this has usually been accomplished not by raising
prices to the consumer but by reducing costs and generally
 even by reducing prices in order to command
broader markets.
To go back to the régime of small fixed charges
and large unit costs would be detrimental to the consumer
 interests of the nation. It would mean wasteful
 production. It would result in-the instabilities
of cutthroat competition. The railroads found out
long ago, as Hadley expressed it, that “sometimes it
pays to run at a loss.” A bankrupt railroad may
change hands, but it cannot go out of business. It
goes into the hands of a receiver, but it still runs;
for to stop running would not stop the interest on
the bonds representing the sunk capital. Today the
enormous sums that are put into mass production