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

marizing, not setting out any new
ideas
Business operates all the time
political parties function at high eff
cheney only part of the time--cam-
paign time particularly
Business deals with the concrete
things that affect intimately and con
tinuously the daily lives of all of us;
politics deals too much in airy alb
stractions that may be good enough to
campaign with, but are inadequate TO
live by.
Business leadership Is determined in
most instances by the careful process
of selection: political leadership is
chosen by the none-tOo effective
method Of election.
Business determines the careers of
most Of us; politics determines chiefly
the careers of officeholders. ra
But the one thing that makes bust
ness predominantly the instrument
for social progress---if we only use it
wisely--is the fact that business men
control the progress of this country.
They control the progress of the
country not because they are either
geniuses or pirates, or because they
have Joined in any dark plot to cap
ture and loot the common people.
They are neither more grasping non
more philosophical than other men:
They control the progress of the
country simply because this is an in
dustrial Nation. and their hands hap
pen to be on the levers of power.
Touch Our Lives.
Whether they are laundering or
brilliant. whether they are aotuated
by sinister motives or by social vision,
they still control the processes of
production, distribution and consanp'
ton. And these$three processes t6uch
our lives at More points ef1d oftener
than all the. torchliSht ~t43cass<ons,
congressional debates and reform
movements that have takeff place
since the frst politician mounted the
stump and the first .reformer'- ehal.
lenged the status quo.@a What business
men think and do about production,
distribution and transcription Is, there's
fore, the most. Important single factor
to. be considered in any study=ot the
possible arrest. or advancement OF
social progress. IT Is not so much
the attitude 9sof business men toward
public questions" as it is their at
titude toward business questions
that counts In the history of social
advance. -.
E Whatever .mey be the point of view
that Will dominate the business men
of the next 10 or 20 years, the~fact
remains that the sort of place Ameri-
ca is going to. be. to live. In with be
determined more in Pittsburgh and
Fall River mills, New York banks,
Broekton and st. Louis shoe factories,
Arizona mines and the other business
and Industrial centers than in Wash
ington and. our State capitals.
Whether the business man NisualizeS
his job as a challenge to economic
craftsmanship or as a mere, buceaneer-
ing adventure, the fact remains that
the key to social progress lies in his
hands.
The business system then. is an
ideal instrument for the achievement
Of sound social progress, and it is
gratifying too see that modern con-
ditions viii more and more tend to
make it impossible, for the business
man to succeed In any large way eX-
c-at as he uses this instrument wisely,
-sseE II i'm a way that serves the in
tetests of society as well as the i'm
tsrests of his stockholders.
The successful businesses of the
future will be the businesses that i'm,
prove the processes and reduce the
costs of production. rid distributions of
its present indefensible waste, bring
the price of the necessities of life
lower and lower, shorten the hours of
labor and enlarge the margin of
leisure, eliminate periodic depressions
and recurrent unemployment, limit
the area of the industrial battlefield
and enlarge the floor space of the
council chamber, create better and bet
ter working conditions. pay higher
real wages and increase the comfort
and prosperity of both their employees
and their customers
2 These are the things that the facts
prove will be not. optional but obliga-
tory upon the 5 business man who
wants to succeed in big way during
the next 10 or 20 years. And these
are the things that. will give us de-
cent social Progress.
Ambition to Succeed.
4 1t is customary for social critics to
bewail the fact that american civili
zatlon is predominantly a business
civilization. ] hope to live to see the
day when that regret will be changed
TO pride, a change that waits ONLY
upon business sense, business vision
ana business craftsmanship And the
ainnltlont 10 succeed will join the.
harsh schooling of the bankruptcy
court in making thisSsort of business
administration more and more com
mon. The social progress of the /fu.
ture lies not in the destruction of the
modern business system. but in it's
further and finer development.
I While | am not churchgoer. and
whlle see the waylout for social
progress through finer development
OF Inc modern business system-a
system essentially based on increa sing
production, that is, on "Fordizine" the
necessities of life and greatly cheap
enlng their distribution realize that