Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/398

386 Competitive commercial life is not a flowery bed of ease, but a battle field where the "struggle for existence" is defining the industrially "fittest to survive."

In this country the great prizes are not found in Congress, in literature, in law, in medicine, but in industry. The successful man is praised and honored for his success. The social reward of business prosperity, in power praise and luxury, are so great as to entice men of the highest intellectual faculties. Men of splendid abilities find in the career of a manufacturer or merchant an opportunity for the most intense energy. The very perils of the situation have a fascination for adventurous and inventive spirits. In this fierce though voiceless contest a peculiar type of manhood is developed, characterized by vitality, energy, concentration, skill in combining numerous forces for an end, and great foresight into the consequences of social events. If the character is further analyzed we discover, along with some apparent heedlessness of pain and many compromises with conscience, an integrity about contracts which makes it possible to build the business of the world on credit. Those who live in retirement and simplicity are apt to find the swift, brusque, imperious and impatient manners of the successful man somewhat severe and offensively dictatorial. But the ceremonial tediousness of the parlor would be out of place in the office of one who must think rapidly enough to keep thousands of telegraph operators, stenographers, clerks and other employes in occupation. Dainty speech and elaborate politeness under the conditions of life in a great commercial house would have all the effects of crime.

By extending this study of the psychical processes of typical business men we might be enabled to regard some social phenomena in a new and stronger light. Great business men, like some distinguished generals, let their deeds speak for them. They say, with some touch of contemptuous sarcasm and cynicism, they can hire talkers and buy books. So that to interpret their inner life we must seize the rare occasions when they venture upon speech. As the number of college men among