Sarah shook her head. “We all have to gamble now. Since the Ring of Fire, everything we do, every decision we make is a gamble. Maybe they always were and we just didn’t notice it before. But we don’t have to gamble dumb. Risking it all on one turn of pitch and toss may be very manly. But it’s not real smart. We women,” she continued with a haughty look at the boys, “say things like ‘never put all your eggs in one basket.’ The sewing machine company is one basket. It’s a good one, I think, but it’s only one. The warehouse is another. You’ve already put some of your dolls in Higgins Sewing Machine Co. Now it’s time to put some in Higgins Warehousing Co.”
Sarah gave Delia an almost pleading look. “But Mrs. Higgins, please keep some for you. Besides,” she continued in a much more practical tone, “the way things worked out, it will be very hard for us to go bankrupt. If we had gotten the loan, then defaulted, the bank could have taken everything we had, but since we didn’t get the loan, the sewing machine parts, the production machines we have so far, and one down-time made sewing machine are ours. We have no outstanding debt. Well, except for the money we owe Mr. Marcantonio for the last production machine. We have a plan for that though, and for some other stuff that has come up.
“We think we should turn the company into a corporation. If we convert to a public corporation, with say two hundred thousand shares, we’d take a hundred thousand of them to represent present ownership, and then gradually sell off some of the other hundred thousand as needed. Even at just a dollar or two a share, we should raise enough to handle any problems that come up. Also, I am pretty sure Mr. Marcantonio will be happy to take payment in shares for the last production machine he made.
“Every new part and every new production machine is that much more value the company itself has. So we can use the work we have already done, and the equipment we already have, to get more financing through a corporate loan secured with stock or the sale of stock. We’re in a much better position to do that now than we were when we started. Now we can show people working machines, and an inventory of parts.”
“What about the possibility of losing control?” Delia wanted to know.
“We’ve talked about that,” said David. “Early on, the thought of losing control really bothered us. We figured that if we showed it to an adult, they would pat us on the head and then ignore us. Or treat it like it wasn’t real. Like it was a school project or something. Part of it was, we weren’t really sure that it was anything more than a pipe dream. We were afraid that even if it could work, we couldn’t get anyone to believe that it would work.”
“But you believed in us,” said Brent, “and now it’s not a pipe dream.”
Sarah chimed in. “Between your shares, Johan’s, and ours, we would have seventy-seven thousand shares. Even if everyone else that owns a part of the company now voted for the takeover, which they won’t, they would still need to buy fifty-four thousand shares. That is a lot of money, and if they spend that much, they will still be leaving us”—Sarah waved to indicate that us include Delia—”and Johan thirty eight point five percent of the net profit on the business, while they would be doing all the work.”
“But if eventually someone is willing to put up that much money to take control,” said Trent, “Let them have it. With our shares, we’ll be able to raise the money to start another company making something else.”
What Trent didn’t say, but everyone understood, was that, having started one successful company, the kids would be listened to when and if they decided they wanted to start another.
“Besides there are people that want to buy stock,” said David. “Suppliers from the towns around Grantville and kids at school.”
October 14, 1631: Badenburg