Visitors to the Goodyear 
factories are always 
impressed with a framed 
sign which confronts 
them at every turn. 
In every room in every 
Goodyear building, they 
encounter the same 
message: Protect our 
good name. 
It hangs on the walls of all 
the Goodyear branches 
throughout the country, 
and is being adopted by 
tire dealers everywhere 
as an expression of the 
spirit in which their 
business is conducted. 
We believe that the public 
will be interested in the 
analysis of this simple 
but striking sentiment 
which is published here¬ 
with. 
The Goodyear Tire 
& Rubber Co. 
Akron, Ohio 
President 
Protect 
attic 
rVTRIPPED to the 
waist, his huge torso 
i ^streaming with 
sweat, a workman 
swings the heavy iron core 
to an iron table, and 
wrenches off a tire which 
has just come steaming 
from the heater. 
His eye falls on the legend 
over his head, and he 
smiles. 
Our good name is also his 
good name. 
The two are intertwined. 
He will protect the one, 
while he subserves the 
other. 
His thoughts are—as they 
should be—chiefly of him¬ 
self, of his little home, and 
of his family. 
Their good name, his good 
name, our good name—his 
good work will stand 
guard over them all. 
* * * 
Two thousand miles away 
—in Seattle, we will say— 
the same thought, in the 
same simple words. 
An irritating moment has 
arrived—the temptation to 
speak sharply to a cus¬ 
tomer, to fling a slur at 
unworthy competition. 
The salesman, or the man¬ 
ager, or whosoever it may 
be, looks up, and the quiet 
admonition meets his eye. 
Protect our good name . 
In a twinkling it smooths 
the wrinkles out of his 
point of view. 
He is himself again—a 
man with a responsibility 
which he could not escape 
if he would; and would 
not, if he could. 
* * 
Back two thousand miles 
again to the factories— 
this time to the experi¬ 
mental room. 
An alluring chance to save 
—to make more profit by 
skimping, by substitution. 
No one will ever know. 
But—the silent monitor 
repeats its impressive ad¬ 
monition: 
Protect our good name. 
What chance to compro¬ 
mise with conscience in 
the presence of that vigi¬ 
lant guardian? 
* * * 
Thousands of men striving 
to keep a name clean. 
And keeping their own 
names clean in the process. 
* * * 
We Americans, it is said, 
make a god out of busi¬ 
ness. 
Let the slur stand. 
Whether it be true or not 
—it is true that business is 
our very life. 
Shall it be a reproach to 
us that we try to make 
business as good as busi¬ 
ness can be made?- 
❖ 
* * 
Think of this business, 
please, in the light of its 
great animating thought: 
‘Protect our good name.” 
We are thinking of you, 
always, when we say it— 
you American millions, 
and you other millions in 
the old world. 
We think of you judging 
us, judging us—by what 
we are, by what we do, by 
what we make. 
We think of tens of thou¬ 
sands of homes in which 
our name can be made to 
stand for that which is 
worthy and worth while. 
We must not lose your 
good will —we must not 
tarnish our good name. 
❖ # % 
You can call that anything 
you like. 
You can call it business, or 
sentiment, or idealism, or 
nonsense. 
It may be all of these. 
It may even be that which 
our national critics call 
making a god of business. 
But at least it gives to us a 
motive that is bigger and 
broader and deeper than 
money. 
It makes thousands of men 
happier in their work and 
more faithful to it. 
It has made of this busi¬ 
ness a democracy of united 
thought—a democracy of 
common endeavor—a de¬ 
mocracy of purpose and 
principle. 
* * * 
And here is the oddest 
thing of all:— 
The more we live up to 
this “impractical” ideal, 
the greater the business 
grows. 
The more we labor for 
the future, the more we 
profit in the present. 
The more we strive for 
character, the greater the 
reward in money. 
The more we put into 
our product, the more we 
take out in sales. 
Perhaps, after all, there is 
more than one sense in 
which it is good to make 
a god out of business. 
We think so. 
And we think you think so. 
President 
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. 
