{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_29641/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_29641","id":"gutenberg_29641","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29641","summary":null,"tags":["Business ethics","Category: Business/Management","Category: Philosophy & Ethics"],"text":"Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images\ngenerously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian\nLibraries)\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BUSINESS CAREER\n\nBarbara Weinstock\nLectures on the Morals\nof Trade.\n\nThis series will contain essays by\nrepresentative scholars and men of\naffairs dealing with the various phases\nof the moral law in its bearing on\nbusiness life under the new economic\norder, first delivered at the University\nof California on the Weinstock foundation.\nThe first volume to appear in\nthis series is:\n\nTHE BUSINESS CAREER. By\nAlbert Shaw, Ph.D.\n\nPaul Elder and Company\nSan Francisco\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE\nBUSINESS CAREER\nIN ITS PUBLIC RELATIONS\n\n\n\nBY\n\nALBERT SHAW, PH.D.\n\nEDITOR OF THE\nAMERICAN REVIEW OF REVIEWS\n\n\nIt is the positive and aggressive\nattitude toward life, the ethics of\naction, rather than the ethics of\nnegation, that must control the\nmodern business world, and that\nmay make our modern business\nman the most potent factor for good\nin this, his own, industrial period.\n\n\n\nPAUL ELDER AND COMPANY\nPUBLISHERS, SAN FRANCISCO\n\nCopyright, 1904\nby PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY\nSan Francisco\n\nThe Tomoye Press\n\n\n\n\nThe cultivation of public spirit, in the broad sense, and the\ndetermination to be an all-round good and efficient citizen and member\nof the community, will often help a man amazingly to discern the\nopportunities for usefulness that lie in the direct line of his\nbusiness life.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FOUNDER'S PREFACE\n\n\nDespite all that can still be said against trade practices, against the\nbusiness lies that are told, the false weights and measures that are\nused, the trade frauds to which the public is subjected, we are nearer\na high commercial standard than ever before in the world's history.\n\nMan's confidence in man is greater than ever before, the commercial\nloss through fraud and dishonesty is constantly diminishing and\nstandards are slowly but surely moving upward. The honest man's chances\nfor success in business are better than ever before, and the dishonest\nman's chances for lasting commercial success are less than ever before.\nTo grow rich by failing in business is no longer regarded as an act of\ncleverness. The professional bankrupt finds it more and more difficult\nto get credit. He soon discovers that even his cash will not win for\nhim the attention that his poorer neighbor commands simply by his\ncharacter.\n\nEducation has done splendid service in raising commercial standards. As\na rule, the high-toned business man is enlightened, and, as a rule, the\ndishonest, unscrupulous man in business is ignorant. Great aid in the\ndirection of raising commercial standards may be rendered by the\nfurther spreading of knowledge and enlightenment. There are still many\nmisguided men in business who imagine that there can be no success\nwithout false weights and measures, without lies and deceit. It is the\nduty of every man in business, who loves the work in which he is\nengaged, to do whatever he can to correct this mistaken notion, and to\narouse the same sense of honor in the circles of commerce that, as a\nrule, is found in professional life.\n\nIn the decades to come men will take as much pride in being engaged in\ntrade as men always have taken in being members of a liberal\nprofession.\n\nIt seemed to me that a step toward hastening such a day might be taken\nby inviting the best thoughts of some of the country's best minds on\nthe subject of \"The Morals of Trade.\"\n\nWhat better platform for the expression of such ideas than that\nfurnished by the College of Commerce of the University of California?\nWhat better way to spread such thoughts than by means of their\ndistribution in printed form? What better way to train to higher\ncommercial standards the minds, not only of the youths who are seeking\na university education and who have in view a business career, but also\nof the many already engaged in business who have not had the benefit of\na college training?\n\nIt seemed to me that such a step might set in motion a commercially\neducational force which would prove far-reaching in its influence and\nmost helpful in raising business character.\n\nThoughts such as these prompted the recent establishing of the\nlectureship on \"The Morals of Trade\" in connection with the College of\nCommerce of the University of California.\n\nLet the hope be expressed that this is but the beginning of a movement\nwhich may be taken up by abler and wealthier men in business and\nbroadened in many ways. A growing literature on \"The Morals of Trade,\"\nrepresenting the best thoughts of our best minds, is likely to live and\nto do splendid service in elevating commerce and in raising its\nstandards.\n\nH. WEINSTOCK.\n\n\n\n\nThe purpose of this discourse is to set forth some of the social and\npublic aspects of trade and commerce in our modern life. We have heard\nmuch in these recent times concerning the State in its relation to\ntrade, industry, and the economic concerns of individuals and groups.\nRapidly changing conditions, however, make it fitting that more should\nbe said from the opposite standpoint;--that is to say, regarding the\nresponsibilities of the business community as such toward the State in\nparticular and toward the whole social organism in general.\n\nSome of the thoughts to which I should like to give expression might\nperhaps too readily fall into abstract or philosophical terms. They\nmight, on the other hand, only too readily clothe themselves in cant\nphrases and assume the hortatory tone. I shall try to avoid dialectic\nor theory on the one hand, and preaching on the other. I take it that\nwhat I am to say is addressed chiefly to young men, and that it ought\nto serve a practical object.\n\nIn the universities the spirit of idealism dominates. The academic\npoint of view is not merely an intellectual one, but it is also ethical\nand altruistic. In the business world, on the other hand, we are told\nthat no success is possible except that which is based upon the motive\nof money-getting by any means, however ruthless. We are told that the\nstandards of business life are in conflict irreconcilable with true\nidealistic aims. It is this situation that I wish to analyze and\ndiscuss; for it concerns the student in a very direct way.\n\nOur moralists point out the dangerous prevalence of those low standards\nof personal life and conduct summed up in the term \"commercialism.\" We\nare warned by some of our foremost teachers and ethical leaders against\ncommercialism in politics and commercialism in society. So bitterly\nreprobated indeed is the influence of commercialism that it might be\ninferred that commerce itself is at best a necessary evil and a thing\nto be apologized for. But if we are to accept this point of view\nwithout careful discrimination, we may well be alarmed; for we live in\na world given over as never before to the whirl of industry and the\nrush and excitement of the market-place.\n\nThis, of all ages, is the age of the business man. The heroic times\nwhen warfare was the chief concern of nations, have long since passed\nby. So too the ages of faith,--when theology was the mainspring of\naction, when whole peoples went on long crusades, and when building\ncathedrals and burning heretics were typical of men's efforts and\nconvictions--have fallen far into the historic background. Further, we\nwould seem in the main to have left behind us that period of which the\nFrench Revolution is the most conspicuous landmark, when the gaining of\npolitical liberty for the individual seemed the one supreme good, and\nthe object for which nations and communities were ready to sacrifice\nall else.\n\nThrough these and other periods characterized by their own especial\naims and ideals, we have come to an age when commercialism is the\nall-absorbing thing; and we are told by pessimists that these dominant\nconditions are hopelessly incompatible with academic idealism or with\nthe maintenance of high ethical standards, whether for the guidance of\nthe individual himself or for the acceptance and control of the\ncommunity. It is precisely this state of affairs, then, that I desire\nbriefly to consider. And I shall keep in mind those bearings of it that\nmight seem to have some relation to the views and aims of students who\nare soon to go out from the sheltered life of the university,--under\nthe necessity, whether they shrink from it or not, of becoming part and\nparcel of this organism of business and trade that has invaded almost\nevery sphere of modern activity.\n\nI have only recently heard a great and eloquent teacher of morals,\nhimself an exponent of the highest and finest culture to which we have\nattained, speak in terms of the utmost doubt and anxiety regarding the\ndrift of the times. To his mind, the evils and dangers accompanying the\nstupendous developments of our day are such as to set what he called\ncommercialism in direct antagonism to all that in his mind represented\nthe higher good, which he termed idealism. The impression that he left\nupon his audience was that the forces of our present-day business life\nare inherently opposed to the achievement of the best results in\nstatecraft and in the general life of the community. He could propose\nno remedy for the evils he deplored except education, and the saving of\nthe old ideals through the remnant of the faithful who had not bowed\nthe knee in the temple of Mammon. But he pointed out no way by which to\nprotect the tender blossoms of academic idealism, when they meet their\ninevitable exposure in due time to the blighting and withering blasts\nof the commercialism that to him seemed so little reconcilable with the\ngood, the true, and the beautiful.\n\nTo all this the practical man can only reply, that if, indeed,\ncommercialism itself cannot be made to furnish a soil and an atmosphere\nin which idealism can grow, bud, blossom, and bear glorious\nfruit,--then idealism is hopelessly a lost cause. If it be not possible\nto promote things ideally good through these very forces of commercial\nand industrial life, then the outlook is a gloomy one for the social\nmoralist and the political purist.\n\nIt is not a defensive position that I propose to take. I should not\nthink it needful at this time even so much as briefly to reflect any of\nthose timorous and painful arguments _pro_ and _con_ that one finds at\ntimes running through the columns of the press, particularly of the\nreligious weeklies, on such a question as, for example, whether\nnowadays a man can at the same time be a true Christian and a\nsuccessful business man; or whether the observance of the principles of\ncommon honesty is at all compatible with a winning effort to make a\ndecent living.\n\nI am well aware that the thoughtful and intellectual founder of this\nlectureship, under which I have been invited to speak, takes no such\nnarrow view either of morality on the one hand or of the function of\nbusiness life on the other. His definition of morality in business\nwould demand something very different from the mere avoidance of\ncertain obvious transgressions of the accepted rules of conduct,\nparticularly of that commandment which says: \"Thou shalt not steal.\"\nNor, on the other hand, would his definition of the functions of\nbusiness life be in any manner bounded by the notion that business is a\npursuit having for its sole object the getting of the largest possible\namount of money.\n\nThose people who are content to apply negative moral standards to the\ncarrying on of business life remind one of the little boy's familiar\ndefinition of salt: \"Salt,\" said he, \"is what makes potatoes taste bad\nwhen you don't put any on.\" According to that sort of definition,\nmorality in business would be defined as that quality which makes the\ngrocer good and respectable when he resists temptation and does not put\nsand in the sugar. The smug maxim that honesty is the best policy,\nwhile doubtless true enough as a verdict of human experience under\nnormal conditions, is not fitted to arouse much enthusiasm as a\nstatement of ultimate ethical aims and ideals.\n\nIf it were admitted that the sole or guiding motive in a business\ncareer must needs be the accumulation of money, I should certainly not\nthink it worth while, in the name of trade morals, to urge young men\nwho are to enter business life that they play the game according to\nsafe and well-recognized rules. I would not take the trouble to advise\nthem to study the penal code and to familiarize themselves with the\nlegal definitions of grand and petit larceny, of embezzlement, or\nfraud, or arson, in order that they might escape certain hazards that\nbeset a too narrow kind of devotion to business success. It is true,\ndoubtless, that a business career affords peculiar opportunities, and\nis therefore subject to its own characteristic temptations, as respects\nthe purely private and personal standards of conduct.\n\nThe magnitude of our economic movement, the very splendor of the\nopportunities that the swift development of a vast young country like\nours affords, must inevitably in some cases upset at once the sober\nbusiness judgment of men, and in some cases the standard of personal\nhonor and good faith, in the temptation to get rich quickly; so that\nwrong is done thereby to a man's associates or to those whose interests\nare in his hands, while still greater wrong is done to his own\ncharacter.\n\nBut, even against this dangerous greed for wealth and the\nunscrupulousness and ruthlessness which it engenders, it is no part of\nmy present object to warn any young man. I take it that the negative\nstandards of private conduct are usually not much affected by a man's\nchoice of a pursuit in life. If any man's honor could be filched from\nhim by a merely pecuniary reward, whether greater or less, I should not\nthink it likely that he would be much safer in the long run if he chose\nthe clerical profession, for example, than if he went into business.\n\nSooner or later his character would disclose itself. It is not, then,\nof the private and negative standards of conduct that I wish to\nspeak,--except by way of such allusions as these. And even these\nallusions are only for the sake of making more distinct the positive\nand active phases of business ethics that I should like to present in\nsuch a way as to fasten them upon the attention.\n\nMany young men, to whom these views are addressed, will doubtless\nchoose, or have already chosen, what is commonly known as a\nprofessional career. The ministry, law, and medicine are the oldest and\nbest recognized of the so-called liberal or learned professions. Now\nwhat are the distinctive marks of professional life? Are the men who\npractice these professions not also business men? And if so, how are\nthey different from those business men who are considered laymen, or\nnon-professional? Obviously the distinctions that are to be drawn, if\nany, are in the nature of marked tendencies. We shall not expect to\nfind any hard and fast lines. Many lawyers, some doctors, and a few\nclergymen are clearly enough business men, in the sense that they\nattach more importance to the economic bearings of the part they play\nin the social organism than to the higher ethical or intellectual\naspects of their work.\n\nI have read and heard many definitions of what really constitutes a\nprofessional man. Whatever else, however, may characterize the nature\nof his calling, it seems to me plain that no man can be thought a true\nor worthy member of a profession who does not admit, both in theory and\nin the rules and practices of his life, that he has a public function\nto serve, and that he must frequently be at some discomfort or\ndisadvantage because of the calls of professional duty. The laborer is\nworthy of his hire; and the professional man is entitled to obtain, if\nhe can, a competence for himself and his family from the useful and\nproductive service he is rendering to his fellow men. He may even,\nthrough genius or through the great confidence his character and skill\ninspire, gain considerable wealth in the practice of his profession.\nBut if he is a true professional man he does not derive his incentive\nto effort solely or chiefly from the pecuniary gains that his\nprofession brings him. Nor is the amount of his income regarded among\nthe fellow members of his profession as the true test or measure of his\nsuccess.\n\nThus the lawyer, in the theory of his profession, bears an important\npublic relation to the dispensing of justice and to the protection of\nthe innocent and the feeble. He is not a private person, but a part of\nthe system for supporting the reign of law and of right in the\ncommunity. Historically, in this country, the lawyer has also borne a\ngreat part in the making and administering of our institutions of\ngovernment. If, as some of us think, the ethical code of that\nprofession needs to be somewhat revised in view of present-day\nconditions, and needs also to be more sternly applied to some of the\nmembers of the profession, it is true, none the less, that there\nclearly belongs to this great calling a series of duties of a public\nnature, some of them imposed by the laws of the land, and others\ninherent in the very nature of the occupation itself.\n\nIt is true in an even more marked and undeniable fashion that the\nprofession of medicine, by virtue of its public and social aspects, is\ndistinguished in a marked way from a calling in life in which a man\nmight feel that what he did was strictly his own business, subject to\nnobody's scrutiny, or inquiry, or interference. The physician's public\nobligation is in part prescribed by the laws of the State which\nregulate medical practice, and in very large part by the professional\ncodes which have been evolved by the profession itself for its own\nguidance. It is not the amount of his fee that the overworked doctor is\nthinking about when he risks his own health in response to night calls,\nor when he devotes himself to some especially painful or difficult\ncase. Nor is it a mere consideration of his possible earnings that\nwould deter him from seeking comfort and safety by taking his family to\nEurope at a time when an epidemic had broken out in his own\nneighborhood.\n\nI need not allude to the unselfish devotion to the good of the\ncommunity that in so high a degree marks the lives of most of the\nmembers of the clerical profession, for this is evident to all\nobservant persons.\n\nOn the other hand, it cannot be too clearly perceived that there is\nnothing in the disinterestedness, and in the obligation to render\npublic service characterizing professional life that amounts to\nunnatural self-denial or painful renunciation,--unless in some extreme\nand individual cases. On the contrary, professional life at its best\noffers a great advantage in so far as it permits a man to think first\nof the work he is doing and the social service he is rendering, rather\nthan of pecuniary reward. I have myself on more than one occasion\npointed out to young men the greater prospect for happiness in life\nthat comes with the choice of a calling in which the work itself\nprimarily focuses the attention, and in which the pecuniary reward\ncomes as an incident rather than as the conscious and direct result of\na given effort.\n\nThe greatest pleasure in work is that which comes from the trained and\nregulated exercise of the faculty of imagination. In the conduct of\nevery law case this faculty has abundant opportunity, as it also has in\nthe efforts of the physician to aid nature in the restoration of health\nand vigor in the individual, or in the sanitary protection of the\ncommunity. I hope I have made clear this point: that pecuniary success,\neven in large measure, in the work of a professional man, may be\nentirely compatible with disinterested devotion to a kind of work that\nmakes for the public weal, while it is also worthy of pursuit for its\nown sake, and brings content and even happiness in the doing. And it is\nclear enough, in the case of a professional man, that he is false to\nhis profession and to his plain obligations if he shows himself to be\nruled by the anti-social spirit; that is to say, if he considers\nhimself absolved from any duties towards the community about him;\nthinks that the practice of his profession is a private affair for his\nown profit and advantage, and holds that he has done his whole duty\nwhen he has escaped liability for malpractice or disbarment.\n\nBut the three oldest and best recognized professions no longer stand\nalone, in the estimation of our higher educational authorities and of\nthe intelligent public. In a democracy like ours, with a constantly\nadvancing conception of what is involved in education for citizenship\nand for participation in every individual function of the social and\neconomic life, the work of the teacher comes to be recognized as\nprofessional in the highest sense. Teaching, indeed, seems destined in\nthe near future to become the very foremost of all the professions.\nThis recognition will come when the idea takes full possession of the\npublic mind that the chief task of each generation is to train the next\none, and to transmit such stores of knowledge and useful experience as\nit has received from its predecessors or has evolved for itself.\n\nIt is obvious enough that the work of the teacher gives room for the\nplay of the loftiest ideals, and that its functions are essentially\npublic and disinterested. But there are other callings, such as those\nof the architect and engineer, which have also come to be spoken of as\nprofessional in their nature. Their kinship to the older professions\nhas been more readily recognized by the men of conservative university\ntraditions, because much of the preparation for these callings can\nadvantageously be of an academic sort. Architecture in its historical\naspects is closely associated with the study of classical periods;\nwhile the profession of the engineer relates itself to the immemorial\nuniversity devotion to mathematics. And in like manner the man who for\npractical purposes becomes a chemist or an electrician would be easily\nadmitted by President Eliot, for example, to the favored fellowship of\nthe professional classes for the reason, first, of the disciplinary and\nliberalizing nature of the studies that underlie his calling, and, in\nthe second place, of the public and social aspects of the functions he\nfulfils in the pursuit of his vocation.\n\nThe architect, the civil or mechanical or electrical engineer, and the\nchemist, as well as the professional teacher, the trained librarian, or\nthe journalist who carries on his work with due sense of its almost\nunequaled public duties and responsibilities,--all these are now\nadmitted by dicta of our foremost authorities to a place equal with the\nlaw, medicine, and the ministry in the list of the professions; that is\nto say, in the group of callings which, under my definition, are\ndistinguished especially by their public character. And in this group,\nof course, should be included politicians, legislators, and public\nadministrators in so far as they serve the public interests reputably\nand in a professional spirit. Nor should we forget such special classes\nof public servants as the officers of the army and navy; while nobody\nwill deny public character and professional rank to men of letters,\nartists, musicians and actors.\n\nIn all these callings it is demanded not merely that men shall be\nsubject to the private rules of conduct,--that they must not cheat, or\nlie, or steal, or bear false witness, or be bad neighbors or\nundesirable citizens,--but in addition and in the most important sense\nthat they shall be subject to positive ethical standards that relate to\nthe welfare of the whole community, and that require of them the\nexercise of a true public spirit.\n\nThe man of public spirit is he who is able at a given moment, under\ncertain conditions, to set the public welfare before his own.\nFurthermore, he is a man who is trained and habituated to that point of\nview, so that he is not aware of any pangs of martyrdom or even of any\nexercise of self-denial when he is concerning himself about the public\ngood even to his own momentary inconvenience or disadvantage. Public\nspirit is that state or habit of mind which leads a man to care greatly\nfor the general welfare. It is this ethical quality that to my mind\nshould be the great aim and object of training.\n\nOn its best side, what we term the professional spirit is, then, very\nclosely related to this commendable quality in men of a right\nintellectual and moral development that we call public spirit. The\nchief difference lies in this: that whereas all professional men may be\npublic-spirited in a general sense, each professional man should, in\naddition, manifest a special and technical sort of public spirit that\npertains to the nature of his calling. The lawyer should have a\nparticularly keen regard for the equitable administration of justice.\nThe doctor should truly care for the physical wholesomeness and\nwell-being of the community. The clergyman should be alive to those\nthings that concern the rectitude and purity of life. The journalist\nshould be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the enlightenment\nof public opinion; and so on. Without either the general or the\ntechnical manifestations of public spirit, in short, the so-called\nprofessional man is a reproach to his guild and a failure in his\nneighborhood.\n\nNow, what has all this to do with the moral standards that belong to\nthe business career as distinguished from the professional life? My\nanswer must be very clear and very direct if I am to justify so long an\nanalysis of the ethical characteristics of the professions themselves.\nI have merely used the time-honored method of trying to lead you by way\nof familiar, admitted points of view to certain points of view that, if\nnot wholly new, are at least less familiar and less widely recognized.\nThe whole thesis that I wish to develop is simply this: that however it\nmay have been in business life in times past and gone, there has been\nsuch a tremendous change in the organization and methods of the\nbusiness world and also in the relative importance of the functions of\nthe business man in the community, that the distinctions which have\nhitherto set apart the professional classes have become obsolete for\nall practical purposes in many branches and departments of the business\nworld.\n\nAt least, the work of the responsible leaders is no longer to be\nregarded as essentially a thing of private concern and free from public\nresponsibility. If the business world is not characterized, first, by\npublic spirit and a sense of public duty in general, and, second, by\nthe special and technical sense of public obligation that pertains to\nparticular kinds or departments of business activity, then it is\nfalling short of its best opportunities and evading its providential\ntasks. It is for the modern business world to recognize the conditions\nthat have in the fulness of time given it so great a power and so\ndominant a position; and it must not shirk the responsibilities that\nbelong to it as fully and truly as they belong to any of the\nprofessions.\n\nI hold, then, that the young man of education and opportunity who\nproposes to go into a business career enters it not merely with a low\nand unworthy standard if his sole motive and object be to acquire\nwealth, but he also enters it in disregard of the ideas that fill the\nminds of the best modern business leaders. He shows a pitiable lack of\nappreciation of the elements that are to constitute real business\nsuccess in the period within which his own career must fall.\n\nLet us consider, briefly, the evolution of our present-day economic or\nbusiness life, and then take note of the necessary place that\nparticular classes of business men must hold in the structure of our\nsociety. I, for my part, look upon this last century of economic\nprogress,--under the sway of what is often called \"capitalism\" as a\nterm of reproach,--as an immeasurable boon to mankind. It began with\nthe practical utilization of several great inventions, notably that of\nsteam power, which broke up the old household and village industries,\ngave us the modern factory system, and along with the development of\nrailroads gave us the modern industrial city. This new and\nrevolutionizing system of industry and business forced its way into a\nworld of poverty, of disease, of depraved public life, of low morals in\nthe main pervading the community,--a world for the most part of class\ndistinctions in which the lot even of the privileged few was not a very\nnoble or enviable one, while the state of the vast majority was little\nbetter than that of serfs.\n\nMany writers have sought to throw a charm and a glamour over that old\ncondition of economic life and society that followed the break-up of\nfeudalism and that preceded the creation of our new political and\nindustrial institutions. But with some mitigations it was for most\npeople a period, as I have said, of squalor, disease, and degradation.\nThe fundamental trouble could be summed up in the one word, _poverty_.\nThe mission of the new industrial system, for the most part unconscious\nand unrecognized, was to transform the world by abolishing the reign of\npoverty. Doubtless it would be desirable if the improvement of\nconditions, material and spiritual, could make progress with exactly\neven pace on some perfectly symmetrical plan. But history shows us that\nthe forward social movement has proceeded first in one aspect, then in\nanother, on lines so tangential, often so zigzag, that it is difficult\nuntil one gets distance enough for perspective, to see that any true\nprogress has been made at all.\n\nThus, the modern industrial system, which found the conditions of\npoverty, disease, and hardship prevalent, seemed for quite a long time,\nin its rude breaking up of old relations and its ruthless adherence to\ncertain newly proclaimed principles, to have brought matters from bad\nto worse. The squalor and poverty of the village of hand-loom weavers\nseemed only intensified in the new industrial towns to which the\nweavers flocked from their deserted hamlets. Manufacturers were doing\nbusiness under the fiercest and most unregulated competition.\nEconomists were demonstrating their \"law of supply and demand\" and\ntheir \"iron law of wages\" as capable in themselves of regulating all\nthe conditions and relations of business life. Epidemics raged and\ndepravity prevailed in the new factory centers.\n\nBut things were not, in reality, going from bad to worse. The\nbeginnings of a better order had to be based upon two things: first and\nforemost, the sheer creation of capital; second, the discipline and\ntraining of workers. In the first phases, the new modern business\nperiod had to be a period of production. There had got to be developed\nthe instrumentalities for the creation of wealth. Until the industrial\nsystem had raised up its class of efficient workers and had created its\ngreat mass of capital for productive purposes, there could be no supply\nof cheap goods; and without an abundant and cheap output there could be\nno possible diffusion of economic benefits; in other words, no marked\namelioration of the prevailing poverty.\n\nIt required some development of wealth to lift our modern peoples out\nof a poverty too grinding and too debasing for intellectual or moral\nprogress. It is true that the factory towns, created as they have all\nbeen by modern industrial conditions during the past century, brought\ntheir distinctive evils. There was overcrowding in ill-built tenement\nhouses; and long hours for women and children in the factories. Yet\nwith these and many other disadvantages, the new industrial system made\nfor discipline and for intelligence, and above all for a new kind of\nsolidarity and for a sense of brotherhood among workers.\n\nIn due time the worst evils began to be mitigated, largely through the\napplication of those very methods of organization which had\ncharacterized the new kind of industry itself. Thus for men who had\napplied steam power to manufacturing and had begun to build railroads,\nit was soon perceived to be a matter not only of sanitary and social\nservice, but of pecuniary profit, to provide water supplies, public\nillumination, and other conveniences to the crowded city dwellers.\nMoreover, with the progress of industry and the development of\nrailroads and steam navigation, production and trade took on an\never-increasing volume.\n\nThen the world began to be less poor. There had been no rich men in the\nmodern sense, and of course no such thing as capitalized corporations\nfor production. The richest man in the United States at the time of his\ndeath, a little more than a hundred years ago, was George Washington,\nwith his land and his slaves; and so in England and France there were\nno rich men in the modern sense--that is to say, no men who controlled\ngreat masses of productive capital. The men of wealth were those who\nheld landed estates. The chief business of all countries was\nagriculture. The capitalistic system in industry and trade existed in\nits rudiments and in limited measure; but all its great achievements\nwere yet to be wrought.\n\nAll modern business life, then, is the result of this growth of\nproductive capital, and its application and constant reapplication to\nthe production of wealth. It made its way by virtue of an intense\nindividual initiative and a fierce competitive struggle. But unlovely\nas were these things, many of their phases were necessary at a certain\nstage. It was this fierce competition that compelled capital to pay the\nlowest possible wages in order to market cheap goods. But the same\nsituation stimulated the use, one after another, of new labor-saving\ninventions in order to increase the per capita productivity. This\nprocess was attended by the higher efficiency of the worker and an\nincrease in his earning capacity. As his position began to improve, the\nworker gained some hope and cheer; and he and his fellows began to\norganize, with the result that both wages and conditions of labor were\nsteadily improved, and the workman began to attain approximately his\nshare of benefits.\n\nAll this is a familiar story, although the depth of its significance is\nbeyond the compass of any living human intelligence. It is easy to say\nin a glib sentence that the amount of wealth produced every few years\nnowadays is equal to all the accumulated wealth of all the centuries\ndown to the early part of the nineteenth; but the social meaning of so\ngreat a change baffles all attempt at full comprehension.\n\nThe competitive system, which had been essential to the launching of\nthis modern period of production, and which had given to it so much of\nits irresistible momentum, at length brought the economic organization\nto a point of development where, in some fields of production, it was\nno longer a benefit. The accumulation of capital had become so\nlarge,--and with new inventions the possible output had become so\nabundant, that it was well nigh impossible to trust to the blind\nworking of demand and supply to regulate things in a beneficial way. It\nbegan to dawn on men's minds that a successful period of competitive\neconomic life might lead to a period largely dominated by\nnon-competitive and cooperative principles.\n\nThe superior possibilities of this newest regime, along with its many\ndifficulties and perplexities, began to captivate the minds, not merely\nof theoretical students and onlookers, but, even more, of great masters\nof industry and productive capital. It began to be seen that in place\nof blind and fierce competition as a regulator of prices and as an\nequalizer of supply and demand, there might come to be gradually\nsubstituted some more consciously scientific methods of business\nadministration and of the adjustment of production to the needs of the\nmarket.\n\nFurthermore, with the development of business on the great scale,\ncapital had become relatively abundant and cheap, while, on the other\nhand, labor was becoming relatively expensive and exacting. It was\nevident that the modern system of industry had passed through its\nearlier period to one of comparative maturity; and that the problem of\nwealth production was no longer so exclusively the pressing one, but\nthat the problems of distribution were demanding more attention.\n\nHow to organize business life on a basis at once stable and efficient;\nhow to see that capital was assured of a normal even though a declining\npercentage of dividends; while labor should be rewarded according to\nits capacity and desert,--were problems which took on public rather\nthan private aspects. And when the business world began to face these\nproblems with the consciousness that they were to be met, it had\nvirtually passed over from the lower plane of moral and social\nresponsibility to the higher plane where what the directing minds do or\ndecide is not measured solely by immediate results in money-getting,\nbut also by the test of larger social and public utilities.\n\nAlthough these conditions are not novel ones, and are therefore not\ndifficult to grasp even when stated in general terms, it is still true\nthat the concrete often helps to make the point appear more pertinent.\nTake then the railroad business as it is now shaping itself, in\ncomparison with its conditions and methods twenty or thirty years ago.\nThe railroads have always existed by virtue of charters which gave them\na quasi-public character, and have always been theoretically subject to\ncertain old principles of English common law under which the public or\ncommon carrier, like the innkeeper, performs a function not wholly\nprivate in its nature. Nevertheless, in its earlier stages the railroad\nsystem of this country was in large part constructed and operated by\nits projectors with no sense whatever of responsibility for their\nperformance of public functions, but with the idea that they were\ncarrying on their own private business in which interference on the\npart of the public was to be avoided and resented. They fought the\nrailroad codes of State legislatures in the federal courts; they made\noppressive rates to give value to new issues of watered stock; they\ndiscriminated in favor of one city and against another; by a system of\nsecret rebates they made different terms with every shipper, thus\nenabling one merchant or manufacturer to destroy his competitor; and\nthey pursued in general a career at least anti-social in its spirit and\nfalse and short-sighted in its principles.\n\nA profound change--would that it were already complete!--is coming\nabout in this great field of transportation business. It is perceived\nthat many of the evils to which I have alluded were incident to the\nspeculative periods of construction and development in a new country.\nThe better leaders in the business of railway administration now see\nclearly that it is the duty of the railroads to work with and for the\npublic and not against it. The railroads are gradually passing out of\nthe hands of the stockjobbers and speculators, into the control of\ntrained administrators. It is to be remembered that in a country like\nours, the largest single branch of organized administration is that of\nthe railroads. We have reached a point where their relations to all the\nelaborate interests of the community are such that their public\ncharacter becomes more and more pronounced and evident. It was only the\nother day that a brilliant railway administrator, Mr. Charles S.\nMellen, recently president of the Northern Pacific, and now president\nof the New York, New Haven & Hartford system, made some statements in\nan address to the business men of Hartford at a Board of Trade meeting.\nWith much else of the same import, he made the following significant\nremarks:\n\n\"If corporations are to continue to do their work as they are best\nfitted to, those qualities in their representatives that have resulted\nin the present prejudice against them must be relegated to the\nbackground.\n\n\"They must come out into the open and see and be seen. They must take\nthe public into their confidence and ask for what they want and no\nmore, and then be prepared to explain satisfactorily what advantage\nwill accrue to the public if they are given their desires, for they are\npermitted to exist not that they may make money solely, but that they\nmay effectively serve those from whom they derive their power.\nPublicity should rule now. Publicity, and not secrecy, will win\nhereafter, and laws will be construed by their intent and not killed by\ntheir letter; otherwise public utilities will be owned and operated by\nthe public which created them, even though the service be less\nefficient and the result less satisfactory from a financial\nstandpoint.\"\n\nMr. Mellen's state of mind is that which ought to prevail among all the\nmanagers of corporations which enjoy public franchises and perform\nfunctions fundamental to the welfare of the community. There will at\ntimes be prejudice and passion on the part of the public, and unfair\ndemands will be made. We shall not see the attainment of ideal\nconditions in the management or the public relations of any great\nbusiness corporations in our day. But the time has come when any\nintelligent and capable young man who chooses to enter the service of a\nrailroad or of some other great corporation may rightly feel that he\nbecomes part of a system whose operation is vital to the public\nwelfare. He may further feel that there is room in such a calling for\nall his intelligence and for the exercise and growth of all the best\nsentiments of his moral nature.\n\nIn the vast mechanism of modern business the constructive imagination\nmay find its full play; and the desire to be of service to one's fellow\nmen in a spirit reasonably disinterested may find opportunity to\nsatisfy itself every day. Under these circumstances there is no reason\nwhy railway administration should not take on the same ethical\nstandards as belong rightly to governmental administration, to\neducational administration, or to the best professional life.\n\nThe same thing is clearly true when one considers nowadays the delicate\nand important functions of the world of banking and finance. The\nold-fashioned money-changer and the usurer of earlier periods were\nregarded as the very antithesis of men engaged in honorable mercantile\nlife, and especially of those who possess a social spirit and the\ndesire to be useful members of the community. But in these days the\nbanks are not merely private money-making institutions, but have public\nfunctions that admittedly affect the whole social organism, from the\ngovernment itself down to the humblest laborer. They must concern\nthemselves about the soundness and the sufficiency of the monetary\ncirculation; they must protect the credit and foster the welfare of\nhonest merchants and manufacturers; they must cooperate in critical\ntimes to help one another, and thus to sustain the public and private\ncredit and avert commercial disaster; they must at all hazards protect\nthe savings of the poor. Thus the banks, like the railroads and many\nother corporate enterprises, are quasi-public affairs, in the conduct\nof which the public obligation grows ever clearer and stronger.\n\nWe are not at heart--in this splendid country of ours--engaged in a mad\nstruggle and race for wealth. We are engaged rather in the greatest\neffort ever made in the world for the upbuilding of a higher\ncivilization. To avow that this civilization must rest upon a physical\nand material basis,--that is to say, upon a high development of our\nproductive capacity and upon a constant improvement in our processes of\ndistribution and exchange,--is not, on the other hand, to confess that\nour civilization is materialistic in its nature or in its aims. I was\nvery glad, the other day, to read the wholesome and understanding words\nof a distinguished Boston clergyman who is just now coming to New York\nto take charge of an important parish. He declared that this nation was\nfounded on an ideal, and that the most powerful influences in its life\ntoday are working toward noble ideals. The moral and spiritual tone of\nthe country, he asserted, is higher than ever, in spite of the\naccidents of wealth and poverty. He declared that the great host of men\nand women who cherish our ideals will continue to stamp idealism upon\nthe minds and hearts of our youth, and that they in turn \"will convert\nwealth to the service of ideals.\"\n\nSuch views are not merely the expressions of a comfortable optimist.\nThey are true to the facts of our current progress. There are vast\nportions of this country today in which the enterprising business man\nwho can succeed in selling to the farmers an honest and effective\ncommercial fertilizer is the best possible missionary of idealism,--is,\nin fact, a veritable angel for the spread of sweetness and light. There\nare regions where the capitalist or the company that will build a\ncotton mill or some other kind of factory is rescuing whole communities\nfrom degradation. It is poverty that has kept the South so backward,\nand it is poverty alone that explains the illiteracy and the\nlawlessness not merely of the Kentucky mountains, but of great areas in\nother States as well. Good schools cannot be supported in regions like\nthose, for the palpable reason that the taxable wealth of an entire\nschool district cannot yield enough to pay the salary of a teacher. But\nwhen modern business invades those uplands, utilizes the water-power\nnow wasted, opens the mines, builds cotton factories or foundries, the\nsituation changes almost as if by magic.\n\nThere will, indeed, ensue a brief period of disturbance due to changed\nsocial conditions,--to women and children in factories, and other\nthings of incidental or serious disadvantage. But, as against a\nsurvival of the sort of life that was widely prevalent a century or two\nago, all the phenomena of our modern industrial life make their\nappearance, in full development. The one-room cabin gives place to the\nlittle house of several rooms. There is rapid diffusion of those minor\ncomforts and agencies which make for self-respect and personal and\nfamily advancement. The advent of capital, that is to say, of taxable\nproperty, is speedily followed by the good schoolhouse and the good\nteacher.\n\nIt is instructive to note the transformation that is thus taking place\nin one county after another of the Carolinas, or Georgia, or others of\nthe Southern States, because the conditions make it possible to witness\nwithin a single decade the triumph of those business forces which,\nwhile they have even more truly and completely transformed the\nprosperous parts of America and Europe, have operated more gradually\nthrough longer periods, and therefore in a less easily perceived and\ndramatic fashion.\n\nOur modern ideals have required, not the refinement and the culture of\nthe select few, but the uplifting and progress of the multitude. This\ncould only be possible through a general development of wealth, so vast\nin comparison with what had previously existed as to constitute the\nmost highly revolutionary fact in the history of human civilization and\nprogress. The man, therefore, who has a clear perception of those laws\nof mind and of society under which modern economic forces have been set\nat work, cannot for a moment think that the end and outcome of this\nmodern business system is a new kind of human bondage, \"the rich\ngrowing richer and the poor growing poorer\"; or that it can mean any\nsuch thing as the elevation of property at the expense of manhood.\n\nEven if it were a part of my subject to discuss the growth of vast\nindividual fortunes as an incident of this modern development of\nwealth, which it is not, there would be no time for more than a passing\nallusion. And in making such an allusion, I might be content to call\nattention to my earlier dictum, that progress is not upon direct lines,\nbut tangential or zigzag. When the factory appears on the Piedmont\nslopes of the Appalachian country, it may indeed make a fortune for the\nmissionary of civilization who planted it there. But meanwhile it has\ngiven the whole neighborhood its first chance to relate itself to the\ncivilized world. I am content for the present to leave that\nneighborhood in possession of its opportunities, serenely confident\nthat it will in due time work out its own completer destiny.\n\nWhen the capitalist has retired from the scene of his exploitation,\nwill the day arrive when the regenerated neighborhood will own that\nfactory, and others, too, for itself? Very likely. In any case, the\nneighborhood has been emancipated from its worst disadvantages.\n\nIn short, I have little doubt but that the further progress of our\ncivilization will give effect to certain economic laws and tendencies,\nand to certain social rules and principles, that will make for a higher\nmeasure of equality in the distribution of realized wealth. Meanwhile\nwherever a practical step can be taken to remedy an evil, let us do\nwhat we can to promote that step. Let us recognize the already great\npossibilities for useful participation in the social and public life\nthat belong to an honorable business career.\n\nFrom the standpoint of the intellectual interest of the young man going\ninto business, let it be borne in mind that there are scientific\nprinciples underlying every branch of trade or commerce or industry,\nand that there is almost, if not quite, as much room for the delightful\nplay of the faculty of imagination in the successful conduct of a soap\nbusiness as in writing poetry or in making statuary groups for world's\nfairs. The cultivation of public spirit in the broad sense, and the\ndetermination to be an all-round good and efficient citizen and member\nof the community, will often help a man amazingly to discern the\nopportunities for usefulness that lie in the direct line of his\nbusiness work. The more thoroughly he studies underlying\nprinciples--whether of a technical sort as related to his own trade, or\nof a general sort having to do with the organization and general\nmethods of commerce--the less likely he will be to take narrow and\nanti-social views of business life. The high development of his\nintelligence in relation to his own work will show him the value in his\nbusiness--as in all else in life--of the standard thing, the genuine\nthing, the thing that will bear the test as contrasted with the shoddy,\nor the inferior, or the spurious.\n\nOur technological schools, our colleges of mechanic arts, our\ninstitutes of agriculture and their related experiment stations,--these\nare all teaching us many valuable object-lessons regarding the way in\nwhich the wealth of the individual and that of the community can both,\nat the same time, be advanced by scientific methods. Thus it is coming\nabout that business life is ever more ready to welcome the most highly\ntrained kinds of intelligence, inasmuch as it is perceived that\nspecialized knowledge is henceforth to be the most valuable commodity\nthat a man can possess.\n\nI have already said that the delicate problems of distribution must be\nfaced ever more frankly and liberally by the modern business world.\nThus, those who control capital, or administer capitalized enterprises,\ncannot afford any longer to be without a knowledge of the history and\nsignificance of the labor movement. We should not have had the\ndesperate struggle between anthracite coal corporations and the miners\nin Pennsylvania, a year or so ago, if there had been a full\nunderstanding on the part of the capitalists of the honorable and\nvaluable nature of trade agreements, and particularly of the history of\nthe relations of capital and labor in the bituminous coal districts of\nthe United States. I am speaking now from the standpoint of the\nbusiness man. There is much to be said, doubtless, in respect to the\nshortcomings and the sometimes fatuous and even suicidal methods of the\nlabor organizations. But for the modern business man who cares to take\nhis place influentially in commerce, in social life, and as a man among\nmen in his city or his commonwealth, it is no longer justifiable to be\nunfamiliar with the labor question in its economics and its history.\n\nHerein lies one great service that the university can perform (and our\nbest colleges and universities are today performing it with marked\nintelligence and ability), the service, namely, of providing very\nliberal courses for young men who expect to go into business, in the\ngeneral science of economics, in the history of modern economic\nprogress, in the development of the wage system, in the history and\nmethods of organized labor, and in very much else that helps to place\nthe life of a practical man of business affairs upon a broad and\nliberal basis. In the early days of our history it was the especial\nfunction of the college to train young men for the ministry. In a\nsomewhat later period it was notably true of institutions like Yale and\nPrinceton that their training seemed to fit many men for the law and\nfor statecraft. We had, you see, passed from that theocratic phase of\ncolonial New England life to the political constructive period of our\nyoung republic.\n\nBut we have been passing on until we have emerged in a great and\ntranscendent period of commercial expansion and scientific discovery\nand application. It is a hopeful sign, therefore, that our universities\nare finding out and admitting the demand that present-day conditions\nimpose, and are training many men in the pursuit of modern science,\nwhile they are training many others in the understanding of the\napplication of social and economic principles to modern life. All this\nthey are doing and can well do without ignoring the value of the older\nforms of scholarship and culture.\n\nBut I have a few remarks to make also upon the ethical relations of the\nbusiness world of today toward the political world; that is to say,\ntoward organized government, whether in its sovereign or in its\nsubordinate forms. We cannot take too high a ground in proclaiming the\nvalue, for the present, at least, of the political organization of\nsociety. I should like to dwell upon this point, but I must merely\nstate it. If the State: _i.e._, the political form of social\norganization, is valuable,--it stands to reason that it must be\nrespected and maintained at its best. It is also obvious that it will\nhave a higher or a lower character and efficiency, according to the\nattitude toward it taken by one or another of the dominant factors that\nmake up the complex body politic.\n\nThus, for example, it is the feeling of men in control of the political\norganization in France today that the Church, as a great factor in the\nsocial structure of the nation, is essentially hostile to the spirit\nand purposes of a liberal republic. Hence a great disturbance of\nvarious relationships. I do not cite that instance to express even the\nshade of an opinion. My point is that if the political organization of\nsociety is desirable and to be maintained, it is a fortunate thing when\none finds the dominant forces of society rendering loyal and faithful\nsupport to the laws and institutions of government and recognizing\nwithout reserve the sovereignty of the State. Yet in our own country\nthere is a widespread feeling that many of the most potent forces and\nagencies in our business life are not wholly patriotic, in that they\nare not willing in practice to recognize the necessity of the\ndomination of government and of law. I do not believe that this is\npermanently and generally true. It would constitute a great danger if\nit were a fixed or a growing tendency.\n\nAs matters stand, however, every one must admit that there is an\nelement of danger that lies in the very fact that as a nation we are in\na condition of peace, content, and prosperity, and do not find our\npolitical institutions irksome. The danger consists in this: that under\nsuch circumstances the rewards of business and professional life are\nfor the most part so much more certain and satisfactory than those\nwhich come from the precarious pursuit of politics, that public\ninterests have a tendency to suffer from being in weak hands, while\nprivate interests have a tendency to assert themselves unduly, from\nbeing in the hands of men of superior force. Thus it happens that it is\noften difficult for the State to maintain that dignity, that mastery,\nthat high position, as the impartial arbiter and dispenser of justice,\nwhich it is now even more necessary than ever that it should maintain,\nin order that the whole social organization should keep a true harmony\nand a safe balance.\n\nAt present, the State is largely concerned with the maintenance of\nconditions under which the economic and business life may operate\nequally and prosperously. The State in one sense is the master of the\npeople. In another sense it is merely their creature and their agent\nfor such purposes as they choose to assign it. Is the State, then, to\nabsorb the industrial functions, and are we to develop into a\nsocialistic commonwealth? Or, shall the political democracy and the\ncooperative organization of business life go on side by side, related\nat many points but in the main distinct from each other? Whatever the\nrelation of the State to industry may be destined to become in the\ndistant future, we may be sure that there will be no rash upheavals, no\nharmful socialistic experiments, if the potent business world clearly\nsees how necessary to its own salvation it is that the State shall be\nmaintained upon a high plane of dignity and honor, and that the\nofficial dispensation of justice, as well as the official\nadministration of the laws, shall be prompt, just and impartial.\n\nThere is no higher duty, therefore, incumbent upon the business man of\ntoday than to bear his part in promoting and maintaining the purity of\npolitical life. The modern business man should regard good government\nas one of the vital conditions of the best economic progress. Yet\nscores of instances are at hand that show to what a painful extent\ncertain business interests again and again, for purposes of immediate\nadvantage,--to secure a franchise, to escape a tax, or to procure some\nimproper favor or advantage at the hands of those in political\nauthority,--have employed corrupt methods and thus stained the fair\nescutcheon of American business honor, while breaking down the one most\nindispensable condition of general business progress,--namely, honest\nand efficient free government.\n\nI will not dwell upon these things. It is enough to say that they are\nthings the modern business man must have upon his conscience. For, if\nsuch offenses come by way of the business world, their remedies must\nalso come, and indeed can only come, by that same path. In our\nmunicipal life, for example, it is the aroused interest and zeal of the\nbest business community for better government and better conditions\nthat can alone produce important results. Happily, all over the country\nwe find chambers of commerce, boards of trade, merchants' associations,\nand other bodies of men of practical business affairs, taking their\nstand for the transaction of public business upon high standards of\ncharacter and efficiency. I have no doubt or fears as to what the\nresult will be. All of our large cities are themselves purely the\ncreations of modern industrial, commercial, and transportation\nconditions. And I hold that these very forces of industrial and\ncommercial life that have created the problems by bringing together\ngreat masses of people in crowded communities, must and can in turn\nsolve the problems by the application to municipal government of the\nscientific and intelligent principles which belong to the best phases\nof business life.\n\nAll of this relates to my subject; but I must pass it by with a mere\nstatement or two. It belongs to the developed constructive imagination\nand to the trained ethical sense of the modern business man to perfect\nthe transit systems, to improve the housing conditions, to assure cheap\nsanitary water supplies, cheap illumination, and, above all, due\nprovision for universal education, parks, museums, and opportunities\nfor recreation,--in short, all possible improvements of environment\nthat can make life in our cities not merely endurable but beneficial\nfor the people. Here, then, is furnished a great field for the definite\nand conscious aspirations of the successful man of business. Here lies\na great many-sided work for social and moral as well as physical and\nmaterial progress which the business man, in the quality of good\ncitizen and man of public spirit, is fitted better than any one else to\naccomplish.\n\nThe intelligent young man who holds before himself ideals of usefulness\nthat extend to such projects as these, may be sure that the modern\nconditions of life will bring him great opportunities, and he may feel\nthat he is thus lifting his business career up to the plane of idealism\nthat has, in the past, been reserved for a few exclusive professions.\nPartly through his own endeavors,--largely through association in\ncommercial or other organizations with his neighbors,--he may help to\naccomplish for the benefit of all his fellow men of a great community\none step after another in the direction of public works that will meet\nthe needs of a high civilization.\n\nSome of the most useful men, as well as the most unselfish and devoted,\nwith whom I come in contact are successful business men of large\naffairs. They are modest and unassuming; simple and direct in their\nmethods; wide as the world in their sympathies; lofty as the stars in\ntheir aspirations for human progress; sagacious beyond other classes of\nmen, and respected to the point of veneration by those who know them\nwell, because they are men of deeds rather than of words, who make good\ntheir professions from day to day. Business has not so narrowed them,\nnor has devotion to philanthropic ends or public reforms so distorted\ntheir mental visions, that they are not able to enjoy what is good in\nlife, whether books, music, pictures, the companionship of friends, or\nthe restful contact with nature in field or forest.\n\nThe lives of such men are dominated by certain fixed ethical standards.\nGiven such moral landmarks, the remarkable conditions and unequaled\nopportunities of modern business life will promote the frequent\ndevelopment of men of this kind, with their breadth of view and\nstrength of mind and character. It is the positive and aggressive\nattitude toward life, the ethics of action, rather than the ethics of\nnegation, that must control the modern business world, and that may\nmake our modern business man the most potent factor for good in this,\nhis own, industrial period.","title":"The business career in its public relations","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":10609}