Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-06

7 the final analysis, beauty is the greatest
objective of the world. But cannot
teach spiritual truths effectively to starv
ing people. One great way to make more
beauty in this world is to make the obtaining
of living--the obtaining of the necessary food,
clothing and shelter, and the necessary mini
mum OF luxuries-so mechanical and SO little
time consuming that we all shall have time
for avocations, have time to work for and
search for better things to search for beauty.
This can be accomplished by saving of waste,
by more economic justice. by invention and
better organization of production and .dstribu-
ton, by better training of workers and leaders.
. l believe that the modern business system,
despised and derided by innumerable reforners,
will be both the inspiration and the instrument
Of, the social progress of the future. Such
statement cannot go far without encountering
vigorous dispute The air is filled with voices
asserting that the modern business system
. stands square!y across the path that leads to
a decent social order. On every hand there
are men who contend that assure social
progress only by destroying the business sys-
tenn and reorganizing our life upon q communis
tic or near-communistic basis And multiplied
thousands OF men and women who are far from
being Communists indict the modern business
system as the tyrant rather than the tool of
. mankind.
Under No Delusion.
Now, under no delusion about the
Despite the fact that science is daily making
life more livable and interesting, daily devisng
ways and means for shifting burdens from the
backs of men to the backs of machines, daily
widening the range of mems interests by rapid
transportation and communication, and broad
ening the scope of existence generally, the
time Of the majority. of mankind Is still occu-
pied almost entirely in the business of provid
ing food, clothing and shelter, with little time
or training for lifting life to higher, level
n *
indefensible, II 1t is to be accepted as the In
evitable result Of the business system. A sys-
tenn that does this cannot escape indictment
and assault. For the average man will not
long be content to exhaust himself in the task
of merely providing food, clothing and shelter
for himself. his wife and his children, with viz
tually no energy left for other things
1 know all this. And yet / am convinced
that the social progress of the future will be
achieved not by the destruction of the business
system, but by Its further and finer develop
nlent. The modern business system Is at pres. :
ent more or less awless. but the pressure OF
necessity during the next 10 or 20 years will
enforce its reform Unless wholly misinter-
pref the signs of the time. we in the
morning hours of a period in which business
in order to survive and succeed will be
compelled to adopt the sort of policies that will
give us an increasingly better social order
During the next 10 or 20 years we shall come
to see from practical experience that there is
nothing necessarily contradictory between sue
cessful business and social progress Success
in both will demand the same principles and
the same practices. Commercial success and
social welfare, in the days ahead, will stem
from the same root
World Has Changed.
The average man and the average student
of social conditions too. often start with the
premise that business by its very nature is