Taylor had had enough of business. But at least he had shown that his idea of scientific management could work. He went back to his house in the country and wrote pieces for magazines and newspapers that explained his ideas. He travelled round the country and gave talks to groups of businessmen and engineers.

Slowly, more and more people became interested in the idea of scientific management. Then, in 1910, Taylor suddenly became famous. The US government was having a meeting about the different costs of train and sea travel.

The railway companies said they needed more money from taxes. The shipowners said that they didn't. To support their argument, the shipowners explained that the railway companies wouldn't need the money if they improved their management.

To explain their point they asked some managers to talk about a man called Frederick Taylor and a new idea called scientific management. 'If the railways introduce this idea,' one manager told the US government, 'they will save a million dollars a day.' Another manager said that scientific management could cut costs and increase workers' pay by 100 per cent.

The next day, Taylor's name and a description of his ideas were in all the newspapers. Everybody in the US business world was talking about scientific management. In fact, the time was just right for Taylor's ideas.

In the early 1900s in Detroit, another engineer, called Henry Ford, had started a new business that made cars. At that time, cars were very expensive and were only owned by the richest people in the world.