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It isn’t what you leave your children but how you leave them. The value of our good is not measured by what it costs, but by the amount of good it does to the one concerned. [Regarding a Derry Township boy who was near death, I told Dr. Hostetter:] You save that boy. I don’t care what it costs. [But,] I don’t want anyone to know what I did [to save this boy]. Any time a tramp comes to the door hungry, I want you to feed him. There is not a person alive who should not plant a tree, not for the shade that you’ll enjoy, but for those who are coming after.
[I believe that hard luck and misfortune are good for people.] Therefore, you should take your problem as you asked for it, nay pray for it. Difficulties show men what they are. We should deal with one another not as classes but as persons, as brothers. The more closely we work together, the more effectively can we contribute to the better health of all mankind; this should be our common objective and its achievement would make the world a happier place in which to live.
In this […] civilization, with its economic setup, relatively few men can afford tailor-made suits or shoes built according to their own lasts. But, there is not a man who can’t tailor the garments of his own soul; to get an excellent fit in principles; wearing his philosophy in comfort and pride.
God speaks through men to speak the truth, our hands to do His work here below, voices and clean hands to make liberty and love prevail over injustice and hate. Without faith in our work and in ourselves we cannot succeed in a long measure in life’s undertaking. Without faith we cannot know our God and Creator.
I was thoroughly drilled in its teachings by mother, who never let a Sunday go by without reading some portion of the Bible and in her humble way explaining it to me. I have always been thankful that I had a mother who revered the Bible. It was her daily food, and she stored her memory with many of its best passages. You know […] as I look at it, the Mennonites and the other plain sects, are nearer to true religion than the other denominations. The older I become, the more I believe in [the Mennonites’] tenets. They have no dogma or creed to act as stumbling blocks, and they care little for intricate discussions of philosophy but take the life of Jesus and His teachings as their only rule of conduct. They believe in the simpler things. You won’t find a Mennonite running around with a gun on his shoulder ready to shoot you if you don’t believe the same thing that he does.
My father was a freethinker, my mother was a Mennonite, and my wife was a Catholic. I have a notion to build a large interdenominational church. It is far better to have one strong church in a town than a half dozen tiny ones, all struggling to keep their heads out of the water. Besides, one good preacher is worth more to a community than a half dozen poor ones.
I am a Christian in the only sense that Christ wished anyone to be, sincerely attached to his doctrine in preference to all others. I became a Mennonite when I went to church with my mother, and I am still a Mennonite.
As I look at it, there is good in all religions. It is how you apply their teachings that tells the story. [W]e must not neglect the moral and religious training of the boys, either. [Thus, Paragraph 18 of my Deed of Trust provides that] [t]he School shall be non-sectarian, but the moral and religious training of the scholars shall be properly looked after and cared for by the Managers [and] [n]o favoritism shall be shown by the Managers to any particular sect or creed. [Moreover, Paragraph 12 of my Deed of Trust provides that] no person shall be employed who shall not be of tried skill in his or her proper department, and of established moral character. I have always been thankful that I had a mother who revered the Bible. It was her daily food, and she never let a Sunday go by without reading some portion of it, and in her humble way explained it to me. What she instilled in me as a boy helped me to keep my feet on the ground when the going was tough. If only people would live by the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments, we would have no war.
[One day I stopped by the Hershey Press and said the following to Joseph Snavely.] Here’s a booklet that I want you to print in the Press [--] The Book That Has Helped Most in Business. It tells about the greatest book that was ever written, the Bible.
[Speaking of business, I had a few unsuccessful business ventures from which I learned a great deal. Following these hard lessons,] I went back to Lancaster and started over again. This was in 1886. At that time caramels were my specialty. When I came back to Lancaster I had about made up my mind I would never be rich. But my experience had done me good.[29] The Lancaster business went well from the very start, and it wasn’t long before I was selling caramels faster than I could make them. [When I sold my caramel business, t]hat was the best deal I ever made, because most of my former competitors became my customers.
When a man gets very rich he either gets very selfish, or his money worries him. He has usually been so busy getting it that he hasn’t had time to figure what he should do with it. It’s a strange thing – but I got rich very soon after I had given up the idea of getting a lot of money! When I was young I was very ambitious and anxious to get money, and I failed, repeatedly. When I settled down to really make a good job of caramel making, I began to make money.
When I left home as a boy to tackle the job of making a living, my mother gave me some good advice. She said: ‘Milton, you are now going out into the world to make a man out of yourself. My best advice to you is – when you tackle a job stick to it until you have won the battle.’ I have never forgotten these words; and, when I think about my business and the way it has grown, I think that this same good advice spurred me on in the past and enabled me to win in spite of obstacles.
When I sold out the caramel business Mrs. Hershey and I thought it might be a good idea for me to retire from active business enterprise. I was not interested in accumulating any more money, and so we decided to take a trip around the world. Traveling in those days wasn’t like it is at the present time, and when we got as far as Mexico Mrs. Hershey said to me, ‘If you call this having a good time, it is more than I do, and I would welcome going back home.’ As these were exactly my sentiments, we cancelled the round-the-world trip and returned to Lancaster.
[C]aramels are a fad but chocolate is permanent. I am going to make chocolate. The best advertising is the right kind of goods. People learn about them and buy all that you can make. I had always had an idea that people wanted more chocolate in various ways, and so I made the decision to go into business again – not for money, but for the satisfaction of doing something interesting. These valleys of eastern Pennsylvania have been splendid dairy regions for centuries, and it seemed to me it was a good idea to bring the milk chocolate factory right into the milk producing country. [Regarding the question of how I am going to make money out of such a large chocolate factory built in the country,] I’m not trying to make more money. What I want to do is to find a practical use for what I have and put it to work in a way that will benefit others.
[Although, t]here has never been any effort to get our employees to live here [in Hershey], originally it was my thought that if we built an ideal community all our people would want to live here [in Hershey].[43] Well, my wife and I decided that we ought to do this. She has gone on; did not live to see the plan completed. It was hers and mine.
[Regarding why I gave the business to our boys instead of our employees,] I am not certain how the business would have been run. It is one thing to have a fine organization under responsible heads and another to let the organization function by itself. I do not know how such an experiment would turn out. It is too big a one for me to undertake. […] Most of our employees are grown up and well started in life. I know they are well off, have all they will require. But […]orphan boys […] have nothing, […] not even a fair chance for health and schooling. So I think the profits from the business will have larger benefits than if I had given it outright to my employees. If the wrong people or organization get control, they can spend or give away more money in a short time than I have made in my life, to build monuments unto themselves, for their own financial gains, ego and recognition – whose heads would swell and hearts would shrink, who would give to those who had plenty and take away from those who had little or none. If the men carrying on would lose interest, these things would become dead wood and the town of Hershey could become a ghost town.
[What if I had two or three sons?] I think that I would have given them what they needed and turned the rest over to the boys. Too much money is an evil influence for a boy. I am certain I would have felt that way about my own. Money spoils more men than it makes. […] Yes, I think if I had had those sons you mention I still would have wanted the poor boys to get the business, or most of it. Because they are our boys, you know, after all, whether we happen to be their dads or not.”
It is amazing how millions accumulate. It is the first million that is hardest to get. My business has been far more successful than I ever expected it to be. If I should drop out of the picture, what would become of the business, the capital, and the earnings? As matters have been arranged, the business will go right on, a considerable part of the profit to be used for the Hershey Industrial School. The capital, of course, remains intact.
I didn’t like to go to school. [However, when I was a boy I said:] If I ever become rich, I am going to use my money to build schools to give every boy and girl an opportunity to get an education. Take a man of fair intelligence, give him a fair chance, and he soon can learn to do anything that another man of fair intelligence is doing. The trouble with this world is the lack of opportunity. If we could find a means of leveling heads in the matter of opportunity, we need not worry about leveling them in the area of accomplishment. It is the place where a man starts more than where he ends that counts.
When I was eighteen, I left the farm here [in Hershey] and went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I returned to Lancaster in 1886. [It was then, my 1886 return to Lancaster, that I began thinking about the School.][55]
I have wanted to do something for orphans for many years. Other rich men wait until they die and then tell others to do what they want done. I preferred to execute my will while I was still alive. I had no children. If I had, I would not leave them all I have. A man ought to work for what he gets. I was successful in business because I had opportunities. When the opportunities came, I took them. I want to make these boys who started poor have opportunities too.[56]
I always had the idea of having a farm for boys in the old homestead. I was born in a farmhouse, a mile across country, and […] I have thought of filling it up with orphan boys. I didn’t know then how much the business was going to expand. I thought of having perhaps 100 boys, and giving them a chance. But the business grew faster than I thought. I began to make money just when I thought of having perhaps 100 boys; when everything was going so well I thought I had better start the orphan school.[57]
Well, I have no heirs – that is, no children. So I decided to make the orphan boys of the United States my heirs. Our boys are our finest possession. With them must rest the realization of all those high hopes held by this generation. They are the future itself, growing up before our eyes. And we do not give them the kind of care they should have. Often we hear it said that ‘children are not what they used to be.’ Well, I have an idea the children are just about what they always have been. Sometimes I wonder if the parents are not different. The biggest influence in a boy’s life is what his dad does. […] Every boy, good or bad, high or low, feels that his dad is the model of life he should follow. I wish every dad could get that idea into his mind and see what it would do for him. And when a boy doesn’t happen to have any sort of dad he is a special mark for destiny. I am afraid that most of our orphan boys have a bad time of it and that many never get the right start. They tell me that youngsters who go to prison never had a chance. Well, I am going to give some of them a chance, in my way. I would give everything I possess to be able to call one of these boys my own.
The orphan boys [have] a harder time than anybody else, you know. There are always relatives or outsiders to take an orphan girl. Girls are useful in the home and people are glad to get them. But boys are likely to be looked upon as a nuisance. The more spirit they have the bigger the nuisance, from that standpoint. So I want to help those boys. We must start with them when they are young. Our school at present take[s] boys of four or five. We tried the older ones, but their characters were formed and some of them badly formed. There was nothing we could do. As the twig is bent so the tree inclines. We will limit our attention to the little fellows, at least for some time to come, and try to give them the best start possible.
[On the] fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Nine […] with the purpose of founding and endowing in perpetuity an institution to be known as ‘The Hershey Industrial School,’ [I and Kitty, my wife, entered into an] Indenture[, which today is commonly refered to as the deed of trust]. [All of the assets of the Trust are held] in trust for a permanent institution for the residence and accommodation of poor white male orphans, and the requisite teachers and other persons necessary in and about such an institution, and the maintenance, support, and education […] of such orphans. Pursuant to the provisions of [my] deed of trust, The Hershey Industrial School was established on or about the third day of September, 1910; and was conducted and managed by said Managers […] as an unincorporated school for the purposes and subject to the conditions in the deed of trust set forth, until the thirtieth day of December, 1919. On the thirtieth day of December 1919, [the] Court entered a decree incorporating the Managers and their successors as a corporation. Upon its incorporation, [the incorporated Managers] took over the control and management of the [unincorporated] school and has since and is now conducting the same as contemplated by […] the deed of trust. The purposes [of the incorporated Managers] […] are […] [t]o establish and provide a permanent, non-sectarian institution for the residence, physical and moral welfare, maintenance, support and education of poor, healthy, white, male orphans (an orphan being a child whose father or mother is deceased) between the ages of four and eighteen years, for their instruction in useful trades and occupations, and to make provision for their further education, before or after their arrival at the age of eighteen years, at some other school, college, or university, all of which […] shall be done according to the provisions of [my] Deed of Trust. By the terms of [my] deed of trust, the use of the income is restricted to the operation of the school, and to lodge, feed, clothe, educate and instruct in trades, poor, healthy, white, male orphans.[68]
Before I founded the school I visited a number of orphan institutions so that I might learn things at first hand. What impressed me most about these schools was the lack of home atmosphere. I wanted to get away from the idea of institutions and charity and compulsion, and to give as many boys as possible real homes, real comforts, education, and training, so they would be useful and happy citizens. [In fact I told my cousin Joseph Snavely,] I don’t want you to make a hullabaloo about the school in your paper.
I believe it is a great mistake to put a uniform on a boy and make him feel that he is an outcast. Boys like to dress after their own fashion – it makes them feel like other boys. Moreover, it helps to take away that charitable and institutional atmosphere so prevalent in orphan schools. [Consequently, a]ll orphans admitted to the School shall be fed with plain, wholesome food; plainly, neatly and comfortably clothed, without distinctive dress, and fitly lodged.
The Managers of The Hershey Industrial School are […] to receive and admit to the school as many poor, healthy, white, male orphans, whose father or mother is deceased, of such ages between four and fourteen years […] as […] the extent, capacity and income of the school will provide for, and shall be adequate to maintain, and from time to time as there may be vacancies, or increased ability from income may warrant, to admit others; and thereafter, out of the income of the trust funds, to lodge, feed, clothe, educate and instruct in trades all such orphans admitted to the school.[75] No orphans shall be admitted until the surviving parent, guardian, or other competent authority shall have given by indenture, release, relinquishment, or other lawful acquittance, for such period as the Managers may determine, adequate power to the Managers, or others by them appointed, to enforce, in relation to each orphan, every proper restraint, and to prevent relatives, friends, or others from interfering with, or withdrawing such orphans from the institution.
[Each] Guardian, Mother or next friend of [each of our boys] […] does release and relinquish to the Managers […] the custody and control of [each of our boys], [each] to dwell with and serve the […] Managers and to be under their exclusive custody and control […] until [he] arrives at the age of eighteen years, […] unless the period of [his] release is earlier terminated or further extended […]; during which time [he] shall faithfully, honestly, and obediently serve the […] Managers and conform to all their rules and regulations with reference to residence, studies, work and duty, and all other rules and regulations established by the Managers […]; the intent of [his] release being to enable the Managers to enforce in relation to [each of our boys] every proper restraint, and to prevent relatives, friends, or others from interfering with or withdrawing [any of our boys] from the school.
The Managers […] undertake that they will teach and instruct, or cause to be taught or instructed, [each of our boys] as set forth in the deed founding and endowing the school, and will keep and maintain [him] […]. [T]he Managers may in their discretion, before or after the arrival of [each of our boys] at the age of eighteen years, provide for his further education at some other school, college or university […]. [W]e expect to develop a plan under which boys of special promise in the academic branches may be sent to college. [However, n]o education […] is complete or indeed sufficient which does not inspire the student with a sense of responsibility; so to live that he shall, by act or by word, install or enforce in the hearts, the minds, the souls, the conscience of man, those eternal varieties of human life without which civilization would perish – to worship one common God, to maintain civic and personal morality, to love our neighbor as ourselves and to govern our conduct accordingly. [Each of our boys promises:] I will pledge myself to honor, to uphold, and to do all I can for the good of my school[, and that he] shall faithfully, honestly, and obediently serve the […] Managers and conform to all their rules and regulations with reference to residence, studies, work and duty, and all other rules and regulations established by the Managers […].
The home provided for [each of our boys] by the Managers is situated at Hershey, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and that will be his residence […]. Take a look at the place [Hershey, Pennsylvania], it looks like a real home town, doesn’t it? I wanted to get away from the idea of institutions and charity and compulsion, and to give as many boys as possible real homes, real comforts, education, and training, so they would be useful and happy citizens. After all, these orphans are our boys, whether we happen to be their parents or not, and who knows, some day one of them may be at the head of the chocolate business.[87] I fill up and can’t talk when I think of those broken homes [from which our boys come.] These boys must grow up with a feeling that they have a real home. Cities never seemed natural to me, and I have never learned to like them […]. It is easier to get back to first principles in the country. I want these boys to grow up on a farm just as […] I did. This will give them home-life in wholesome surroundings, keep them close to nature, and teach them to do productive chores.
The only unusual thing about this school is the fact that I am carrying out the terms of my will while I am still alive. If I passed away tomorrow, everything would go right ahead, and there would be no one to step in and upset things. Everything would go on as though I were here.
The school won’t be worth much unless love is thrown in, and the same thing can be said about the boy’s own home or any other home, for that matter […].[94] We must have house-fathers and house-mothers who understand children, and who love them. Much of the credit for the success of the lives of the students of the school was due and is due to the splendid work of Mr. and Mrs. Copenhaver. They have been real parents to all the boys who have come under their loving and thoughtful care. Mr. Copenhaver did a fine work in all the years he devoted to these young men, and his influence for good will continue in the many years ahead of the students whose lives he touched.
[Our boys] shall be instructed in the several branches of a sound education […] , and such other learning […] as the tastes, capacities, and adaptability of the several scholars may merit or warrant, to fit themselves for the trades they are to learn, and a useful occupation in life. […] [Each of our boys] shall at such time or times as may be required, do such work upon the farms as may suit his capacity and ability. […] Each scholar shall be taught to speak the truth at all times and each and every scholar shall be thoroughly trained to habits of economy and industry. Due regard shall be paid to their health; their physical training shall be attended to, and they shall have suitable and proper exercise and recreation. We must have house-fathers and house-mothers who understand children, and who love them. Otherwise the school won’t be worth very much. And we must not neglect the moral and religious training of the boys, either. I have always been thankful that I had a mother who revered the Bible. It was her daily food, and she never let a Sunday go by without reading some portion of it, and in her humble way explained it to me. What she instilled in me as a boy helped me to keep my feet on the ground when the going was tough. The School shall be non-sectarian, but the moral and religious training of the scholars shall be properly looked after and cared for by the Managers. No favoritism shall be shown by the Managers to any particular sect or creed. Each scholar shall be taught to speak the truth at all times, and each and every scholar shall be thoroughly trained to habits of economy and industry. [N]o person shall be employed who shall not be of tried skill in his or her proper department, and of established moral character.
All [of our boys] shall be […] plainly, neatly, and comfortably clothed, without distinctive dress […]. They shall be instructed in the several branches of a sound education, agriculture, horticulture, gardening, such mechanical trades and handicrafts as the Managers may determine, and such natural and physical sciences and practical mathematics as in the opinion of the Managers it may be important for them to acquire, and such other learning and science as the tastes, capacities, and adaptability of the several scholars may merit or warrant, to fit themselves for the trades they are to learn, and a useful occupation in life. No one fixed or established course shall be taken by all scholars, […] bearing in mind that the main object in view is to train young men to useful trades and occupations, so that they can earn their own livelihood. Each and every scholar shall be required to learn, and be thoroughly instructed in some occupation or mechanical trade, so that when he leaves the School […], he may be able to support himself.
The most important thing is to find what each boy likes, and what he is best fitted for.”[104] Every boy should work for himself. Strike out and try to do something. Don’t wait for anybody else to do it; go do it yourself. The Manager shall determine the several kinds of mechanical trades to be taught, and the determination of the particular one that shall be taught to and acquired by each scholar, – the taste, capacity, intelligence, and adaptability of each scholar being ascertained and considered before assigning him to any particular trade; one of the objects of the School being to teach and instruct in agriculture, horticulture, and gardening, each [of our boys] shall at such time or times as may be required, do such work upon the farms as may suit his capacity and ability.
And when they leave us at 18 we will give them $100 each to begin life. That is more than I had. But we expect to develop a plan under which boys of special promise in the academic branches may be sent to college. The Managers shall at all times keep full and accurate statements, in books to be provided by them for the purpose, of all [our boys] entering, remaining in, and leaving the School, showing their several names, parentage, birthplaces, ages, admission, and departure, and designation of trade learned; and so far as any information upon the subject can readily and without unnecessary expense be obtained, the Managers shall cause a record to be kept and preserved of the residence [(their home being] situated at Hershey, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania [pursuant to their respective Indenture)], occupation, condition, and success in life of all scholars who have fully completed their term, for a period of ten years after their departure from the School.[108] [Milton Hershey’s Alumni Association] is organized for the purpose of looking after the general welfare of those who were formerly students at the Hershey Industrial School and left there with a good record. The membership shall consist of those who were formerly students at The Hershey Industrial School, left there with a commendable record and have been elected to membership by a majority of the members present at any meeting. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep a list of the membership, to correspond with former students of the School, to endeavor to keep a close relationship between the Association and these former students, and to encourage members of the Association to assist each other in every reasonable means. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to collect all […] moneys that may come to the Association, to deposit these accounts under the name of the Association in The Hershey National Bank. The following shall constitute Standing Committees of [Milton Hershey’s Alumni] Association […] Welfare Committee. It shall be the duty of the Welfare Committee to assist the Secretary in looking after the general welfare of the members of the Association. Each member is permitted to bring his friends or relatives to any of the meetings […]. The Annual Meeting will be held on the day of graduation from High School. [I]t is the purpose of [Milton Hershey’s Alumni] Association to keep in touch with former students, to assist in procuring employment for such students, and to provide such other assistance as may from time to time be necessary.
The home provided for [each of our boys] by the Managers is situated at Hershey, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and that will be his residence […]. Take a look at the place [Hershey, Pennsylvania], it looks like a real home town, doesn’t it? [T]he Hershey Chocolate Company has acquired and is taking over by conveyance from M.S. Hershey certain lands, being the town of Hershey, Pa., and certain dairies, farms, and the equipment […] , with the income thereof from January 1, 1918, […] and also certain personal property consisting of shares of stock, […] of the several companies and businesses […], which have been and are being operated in connection with the Hershey Chocolate Company. [Certain land and businesses had] for some years past belonged to the Hershey Industrial School, and has been operated, managed, and controlled solely by it, the legal title to the real estate being held by me in trust.[113] For value received I hereby sell, assign and transfer unto Hershey Trust Company, Trustee, in trust, for Hershey Industrial School, four thousand nine hundred and fifty eight shares of the Common Capital Stock [of the Hershey Chocolate Company] represented by the within Certificate[, then worth $60,000,000] […]. All of the capital stock in the Hershey companies has been made over to this fund, so that the business will continue indefinitely for the benefit of the boys.
The Trustee shall pay […] the net income from the premises hereby conveyed, and of any future gifts, bequests, and devises, […] for the purpose of erecting on the premises above mentioned, buildings and improvements for the farms and School, and procuring furniture, stock, materials, machinery, tools, implements, plant, and equipment for the same, for the expenses, support, maintenance, management, renewals, and repairs of the farms and School, its furniture, plant, and equipment, or for the purpose at any time of enlarging, extending or adding to either or all of said buildings, furniture, plant, and equipment […]. The Trustee may […] sell and convey in fee simple any part or portion of the lands […], which in the judgment of the Managers is not necessary to be kept for the purposes of the School, or which it may be advisable and advantageous to sell […] the purchase money of land so sold shall be held by the Trustee, and invested as herein provided for, and the income there from applied to the maintenance of the School. No part of the proceeds of the sale of any land, or of the principal of the trust as it now is, or additions thereto, by gift or otherwise, shall ever be expended for any purpose whatever, except for the purchase of additional land for the purposes of the School. The Trustee may […] purchase any additional land adjoining the School property, or conveniently near to it, […] and hold the same under and subject to the trusts herein set forth, if they consider such land necessary or convenient for the purposes of the School.
Well, my wife and I decided that we ought to do this. She has gone on; did not live to see the plan completed. It was hers and mine. Yes, I think if I had had [my own biological] sons […] I still would have wanted the poor boys to get the business, or most of it. Because they are our boys, you know, after all, whether we happen to be their dads or not.[119]
[We run the store.] I don’t want […] to make money. I don’t want […] to lose too much, either. But I want […] to run the store as a convenience to the people of Hershey. [In Hershey,] [w]e haven’t any town government. The Hershey Estates manages the town, takes care of the streets, supplies the water and gas--and that’s all there is to it. I am going to build a new high school that will be adequate for many, many years to come. In twenty or twenty-five years the demand for trained mechanics and technicians will be so great that the schools will not be able to supply the demand. So, I am going to build a Technical-Vocational School which will surpass any other institution of its kind in the world. In twenty or twenty-five years the colleges and universities will not be able to accommodate all the boys and girls who want to go to college. I am going to build a new Junior College and when the time comes, we will change the Junior College into a four year college and there should be plenty of money here to do it. I will take the ground between Cocoa Avenue, Governor Road and Homestead Road and make a nice campus for these schools. The Technical-Vocational School will be for the boys in the Milton Hershey School, the children in the Derry Township School and the children of my employees. [Some have asked that I build a Medical Center in Hershey.] This I would never do because it is not a place for a Medical Center, and I want all of my money for the benefit of my employees and the people of Hershey, for the education of the children in Derry Township and the children of my employees – all my money.
[As Hershey now constitutes part of the Trust, upon my death I gifted certain property] to Hershey Trust Company, of Hershey, Pennsylvania, in trust, […] to pay the income thereof in semi-annual installments to the School District of Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, for the use of said School District, particularly for the purpose of assisting such Township to relieve the tax burden for the upkeep and maintenance of the public school in said District. [On December 5, 1935, I created] The M.S. Hershey Foundation [and funded it with] five thousand (5000) shares of the common stock of the Hershey Chocolate Corporation, in trust for the several uses, intents and purposes […] that is to say: (a) For the establishment and maintenance in whole or in part of one or more educational institutions in Derry Township, Pennsylvania; and/or (b) The support of the public schools of Derry Township, Pennsylvania, and the improvement and elevation of the standard of education therein; and/or (c) The vocational, cultural or professional education of any resident of Derry Township, Pennsylvania.
We haven’t any politics and our employees don’t have to live here [in Hershey] if they don’t want to. A lot of them don’t. We have a trolley line that takes them to nearby towns for just a nickel. Originally it was my thought that if we built an ideal community all our people would want to live here. We soon found that some of them preferred to live in the surrounding towns, either because they already owned homes there, or for other reasons. So we built a trolley line to accommodate them. There has never been any effort to get our employees to live here. [However, note that] no person shall be employed who shall not be of tried skill in his or her proper department, and of established moral character.
When a street is to be paved or something is required to be done in the town, somebody always notices the need before it becomes imperative. If he happens to be passing our offices he walks in and tells us, or else he passes the word along through a third party. I am informed if I am in town, and we go ahead with the work. If I am not here we go ahead anyhow. I want to get people and picnics here.
Business Is a Matter of Human Service. We have greatly needed a better understanding of the worker. I tried to build here a place where people could be happy and contented while they work, and live in pleasant surroundings. You might liken this business to that of a vast farm – and when I speak of the business I include the community. Any plan for the welfare of employees which fails to consider the women and children as parts of the family is likely to stir up discord at home. If it does that it defeats its own purpose. The recognition of the family as the social unit runs through the whole business, as well as through the community work done by the Hershey Estates. Therefore, we try to keep the whole community in mind in what we do, whether all of its members are employed by us or not. [Regarding the merger we proposed in 1929,] the profits from the consolidation would [have been] used in a general expansion of the Industrial School, with the addition of new buildings, new equipment and new homes for orphaned children. [Looking back, t]he failure of the merger was the best thing that ever happened to the town of Hershey.
There has never been any effort to get our employees to live here. We have built many dwellings which are rented at prices sufficient to pay the carrying charges. We do not attempt to make a profit out of the operation. Anyone, employee or otherwise, may buy his home on convenient terms, but there is no sales effort whatsoever in that direction.
Gentlemen, we are told we are having a depression in this country and unemployment. I have brought about six hundred workmen to this town, engaged in building operation. If I don’t provide work for them, I’ll have to feed them. Therefore I have made up my mind that, since building materials are now at the lowest cost level, I am going to build a community building, a hotel, a school, and so take care of my people. [Regarding the steam shovels that do the work of forty men,] [t]ake them off [this job.] Hire forty men. As far as I know, no man was dropped by reason of the Depression, and no salaries were cut.
I am going to build a new high school that will be adequate for many, many years to come. In twenty or twenty-five years the demand for trained mechanics and technicians will be so great that the schools will not be able to supply the demand. So, I am going to build a Technical-Vocational School which will surpass any other institution of its kind in the world. In twenty or twenty-five years the colleges and universities will not be able to accommodate all the boys and girls who want to go to college. I am going to build a new Junior College and when the time comes, we will change the Junior College into a four year college and there should be plenty of money here to do it.
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