Many of the brightest kept their books in such a way that they did not actually know when they were making money on a certain operation and when they were losing.

This unintelligent competition was a hard matter to contend with.

Good old-fashioned common sense has always been a mighty rare commodity.

When a man's affairs are not going well, he hates to study the books and face the truth.

From the first, the men who managed the Standard Oil Company kept their books intelligently as well as correctly.