The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1923-07-07
BUSINESS AND SERVICE

among those SentcntiOuS truths
| iaat express both the wisdom and
| the experience Of humanity through
the age. SO long as men have ex-
changed products by barter and
sale there has been business. 81
long as there has been business
there has le2n profit. So long as
here mas been business there HIS
been service. For business is es-
scntillly service. 4 public service,
ana he who contributes to the sat
isilctiOn of the needs and legit-
mate des res Of mankind is to the
extent of his contribute n a pub
ii" benefactDr He may have no
ether thought than profit, he may
bc utterly unconscious that ne is
doing anything benevolent, but
none the less if he makes or ex-
changes a product that fills pub
lie need or worthy desire he l.;
rendering a public service.
Profit is the essential impetus
to business service. Obviously
there would be no business, and
ness if there were no profit. For
it Is the needs or desires of the
individual that impel him to con-
tribute to the wants or wishes OF
HE public in order to provide for
his own requirements. and it is
only through the profit derived
from his transactions that thi;
provision can be made. There is
inherently nothing morally wrong
in profit. In itself it is the prime
mover OF human activity, as neces-
s"ry t. human progress as bread |
!, to human life. If it were to be
abolished by some universal pro
hibition mank nd would inevitably
perish or revert to primitive saw
aGorv. because the urge to all pro-
duCtinn and distribution would !
cease. 1t is only the abuse of pro-
1T that is reprehensible.
This axiom recognizes the neces-
Sitv of profit in economic human
relations. 1t also expresses the
conscious recognition that in the |
requirement of profit through the
production and sale of commodi-
tics service has been rendered. !
This recognition indicates a very
long step in the ethical evolution |
OF mankind. For with the realiza-
ton of the service involved comes
u e realization of the obligations
that service incurs. The moment
II man begins to understand that
business, whether the business of
= ut nf .nI In N,,fJ.,
ton, is a public service. he begins
10 consider the nature, the extent,
the quality, of that service. and
then at once daWns within him Il
new and higher idea of his per
sonal relation to the public inter
est. He is no longer an individual
wholly absorbed in self, intent up-
On eXacting the largest possible
returns without regard to the feel
ings or rights Of others, but one
who is in sense a public agent,
with responsibilities that COM
mand his thought and attention.
lie begins to realize that if he is
a service it is his duty,
and must be to his advantage, to
make the service the best that he
can give. He realizes also that
the idea of service calls for a lar
ger consideration of the needs and
wants and rights of all those with
whom he deals, and, in as much as
the idea embraces all his opera
tiCns, the needs and rights of his
employees are not to be ignored.
The very conception, and accept
ance of the idea puts him upon a
different plane, gives him a differ
ent viewpoint. not only of himself
but Of his labors.
And through this he discovers, as
the axiom implies, that there are
other profits than dollars and cents.
1t is undeniably true that one pro-
fits most who serves best. He pro-
fits. most in strictly financial
sense. But he adds to that the
larger profits that come from the
mere consciousness of service,
from the increase of satisfaction
with his work, from the increased
esteem and confidence of those
with whom he comes in contact,
and from the broader view of life
ard his relation to life that the
recognition OF service gives to him.
But there is more than this to
The idea. One who realizes that
his business is a public service
gets "a new conception of citizen
ship and of his responsibilities as
citizen. He begins to take a
deeper interest in public questions,
q deeper interest in the enforce
ment OF law and the conduct of
public officers. Himself in the
public service, he cannot be indif-
forent to the general agencies of
public service, nor to the move
ments that promote or imperil that
service. Himself committed to
and efficiency in his own
service for the public he is moved
to concern himself for honesty, ef-
ficiency and progress in all de-
partments of public service that
TALL within the sphere of influence {;
IL citizenship 1t makes him, that
IS to gay, a better citizen, as we'll =,
is better man.
"Sorvice'' is word OF mean
origin, and there is NO better evi.
lence Of the ethical and spiritual
progress of mankind than the de-
velOpment of this word out of the
mire of slavery to the point where
Il expresses the highest ideal of
humanity in every avenue OF life.
" here it has become the corner
slone of the temple of Christian
Louis Globe Dem
)rrat.
First Bounty
John Flanagan, living north of
Bismarck. got the first bounty for