present industrial régime. The progress of avowed Socialism and
the more rapid progress of particular socialistic ideas indicate
quite clearly that we Americans are alive to the unequal social
conditions which now exist and are anxious to find a remedy. But
whatever may be the utopian dreams of the reformers, all immediate
progress must be made in the industrial world as we find it to-day;
the industrial state of the Socialist is too remote in time,—our task
is with social conditions as they now exist. The splendid machinery
of production created during the last century must not be destroyed,
but utilized for the benefit of mankind. The question which we have
now to ask ourselves is this: What is the ultimate purpose for which
the business of the world is conducted, what the real purpose
of all this planting and reaping, this mining and manufacturing,
this exchanging of commodities? Is it not, primarily, to furnish
each human creature with food, shelter, and clothing,—the means of
supporting life? Men require something more than the mere means of
subsistence; but before the individual can cultivate his mind and
soul his body must be made comfortable, and this, after all, is the
whole end of our complex commercial régime. The test of right and
wrong conduct in business refers to this fundamental purpose,—that
conduct only is praiseworthy which advances the time when every man
capable of industry shall be rewarded for his labor, not only with a
loaf of bread, but with hours of fruitful leisure.
Captains of Industry! that was a noble title Carlyle gave to the
prosaic business man, when gazing beyond the squalid turmoil of
his day with its dominant industrialism, triumphant mercantilism,
doctrines of _laissez-faire_, overproduction, surplus population,
he with clear vision foresaw the future freedom of the masses won
through their own strength and the ability of their leaders. Until
Richard Arkwright was born, the leaders of men in their progress
towards human freedom had been soldiers; henceforward they were to
be men of affairs. Great soldiers won their victory by the loyalty
they inspired in their followers; no adventurer seeking personal
glory ever won a lasting victory, but only those heroes, forgetful
of themselves who consecrated their service to the cause of freedom.
In such wise must Captains of Industry win their victories; the
adventurer can but for a time prevail; fame is secure only to those
leaders who see in wealth accumulated a treasure held in trust from
which they are to feed and clothe the armies that they lead to
peaceful conquests. Social reformers of sentimental temper have
deemed the comparison between the modern employer of labor and the
feudal lord as ill-chosen, but history seems to justify it. Yet we
have, indeed, gone far since the Middle Ages. When the feudal lord
demanded loyalty from his retainers the demand was alone sufficient,
but the Captain of Industry, in order to obtain the loyalty of the
toilers, must not only demand but deserve it; he too must be loyal to
the great cause he serves—the eternal cause of human freedom.
THE END
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS
U · S · A
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 54 Added period after: three hundred years before, not soldiers,
but serfs
pg 72 Changed who paid their rent either in kind or in agicrultural
to: agricultural
Many hyphenated and non-hyphenated word combinations left as written.