The following article appeared first in the Rayon Yarns, but this version appeared in the company's publication, "Better Living" - July-August 1949
HENRY BECOMES A CAPITALIST
Rayon Operator Shows How He and Millions of Other Get to Be the Owners of Industry

Rayon worker Henry Bagsby shows his wife certificate for the stock which he owns in DuPont Company
The capitalist is frequently portrayed as a man of ample girth, wearing a top hat and frock coat, with bills of large denominations spilling out of his pockets.

Actually, a capitalist is anyone who owns a share of the tools of production.  Today that embraces millions of Americans from all walks of life who have invested their savings in the securities of U.S. Industries.

Some become capitalists directly, by buying their stock of concern.  A much larger number become capitalists indirectly, through savings accounts, insurance policies and memberships in numerous organizations which own industrial stocks.

Strange as it seems, the purchase of a share of stock to become a capitalist is a mystery to many.  The language and workings of the stock market seem complex and forbidding.  The fact is that a share of stock can be bought as simply as a washing machine.

To show how a purchase is made, Better Living asked Henry Bagsby, an operator at Old Hickory and a Du Pont stockholder, to retrace the steps through which he purchased his stock.  Those steps and the things which result from acquiring stock are shown on the following pages.

Bagsby, the father of six, has owned stock in the Du Pont Company since 1939. 

Henry W. Bagsby, 49, is a solution operator at the Old Hickory, Tenn., rayon plant.  He has been with Du Pont for 24 years.  He owns his own home.

1. Henry Bagsby, shown at his job helping to manufacture rayon yarn, has been a thrifty man, and has tried to save regularly a part of his wages
2. Henry owns life insurance policies.  Here he discusses his savings program, including his retirement plans, with Frank H. Phinizy, Travelers man
3. With life insurance policies to protect his family, and a savings account for a "rainy day," Henry wonders how he should invest the rest of his savings.

4. He seeks counsel from Andrew C. Dorris, an Old Hickory Banker.  Dorris advises him to purchase an industrial stock, suggests he sees a broker.
5. In the board room of J.C. Bradford & Co., Nashville broker, Henry requests, "Customer's Man" M.M. Barnes to buy few shares of "Du Pont Preferred."
6. Broker calls or telegraphs order to floor of New York Stock Exchange, where his representative buys the stock for Henry from another broker.

"THE BASIS OF PROGRESS THRIFT"

"Since 1924," said Du Pont President Crawford H. Greenewalt in a recent speech, "each year has seen us become more dependent upon the new tools of production than the last.  We have made progress only because we have been willing, individually and collectively, to invest more and more money in providing these tools of production.  Since 1924 the investment in American industry has been nearly doubled.

"So we see that the basis of our progress is thrift.  It is the willingness of our citizens to deny themselves in order to save, to employ those savings in adding to our stockpile of productive tools, and through that investment in the country's enterprises to provide a source of income for the the future security of the entire nation.

"But back of that willingness to save, to invest, to risk those savings in industiral ventures is the hope of a profit.  Remove that profit motive and we destroy all hope and future prosperity.  No one would buy a savings bond or mortgage that paid no interest.  No one would accept the much greater risk of investment in industry without expectation of profit.

"It is the enlightened self-interest of millions of thrifty people that has made this country grow, plus the freedom we have as individuals to reap and to retain the fruits of our industry and our savings." 

These pages show Henry Bagsby practicing thrift to become an American capitalist.

7. Meanwhile, a broker in another city has been told by one of his customers to sell his Du Pont investment.  That is the stock which Henry will buy.
8. Henry must pay his broker for the stock within three days, and he picks it up later.  The money goes to man who sold his part in Du Pont.
9. Du Pont is notified of sale.  Margaret Banks, in Wilmington, adds record of Henry's holdings to those of company's more than 97,000 stockholders.

10. Henry receives a dividend each quarter, paid by company to its owners for the use of their money.  This is the return on Henry's investment.
11. As one of the owners of the company, Henry holds capital stock which shows on balance sheet in Du Pont's Annual Report.  He is a capitalist.
12. Henry uses dividend to buy shoes for 15-year-old son, Dewey, at B.F. Myers & Son in Goodlettsville, Henry's hometown near Old Hickory. 
13. Through his purchase of another person's shares of stock, Henry comes to own a portion of the Du Pont Company's vast research and production facilities.  Pointing to expensive equipment in viscose ripening room at Old Hickory, Henry explains role of a stockholder to Operator Paul Barry, a 20-year man.