Barbara Weinstock
Lectures on The Morals of Trade
HIGHER EDUCATION AND BUSINESS STANDARDS.
ByWillard Eugene Hotchkiss.
CREATING CAPITAL: MONEY-MAKING AS AN AIM IN BUSINESS.
ByFrederick L. Lipman.
IS CIVILIZATION A DISEASE?
ByStanton Coit.
SOCIAL JUSTICE WITHOUT SOCIALISM.
ByJohn Bates Clark.
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN PRIVATE MONOPOLY AND GOOD CITIZENSHIP.
ByJohn Graham Brooks.
COMMERCIALISM AND JOURNALISM.
ByHamilton Holt.
THE BUSINESS CAREER IN ITS PUBLIC RELATIONS.
ByAlbert Shaw.
CREATING CAPITAL
MONEY-MAKING AS AN AIM IN BUSINESS
By
FREDERICK L. LIPMAN
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1918
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE REGENTS OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published March 1918
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS
U · S · A
BARBARA WEINSTOCK
LECTURES ON THE MORALS OF TRADE
This series will contain essays by representative scholars and men of affairs dealing with the various phases of the moral law in its bearing on business life under the new economic order, first delivered at the University of California on the Weinstock foundation.
CREATING CAPITAL
MONEY-MAKING AS AN AIM IN BUSINESS
Theobject of this paper is to discuss money-making; to examine its prevalence as an aim among people generally and the moral standards which obtain among those who consciously seek to make money.
The desire to make money is common to most men. Stronger or weaker, in some degree it is present in the mind of nearly every one. Now, how far does this desire grow to be an aim or object in our lives, and to what extent is such an aim a worthy one?
The typical money-maker as commonly pictured in our imagination is a narrow, grasping, selfish individual who has chosen to follow lower rather than higher ideals and who often is tempted, and always may be tempted, to employ illegitimate means for the attainment of his ends. The aims he has adopted are made to stand in opposition to the practice of certain virtues. Thus we contrast profits and patriotism; enriching one's self and philanthropy; getting all the law allows and justice; taking advantage of the other fellow and honesty; becoming engrossed in acquisition and love of family. Now, such contrasts obviously prove nothing more than that money-making is and would be a vicious aim if pursued regardless of these virtues, and it could well be replied that consideration of patriotism, philanthropy, love of family, etc., must in themselves impel one to earn and to save. "The love of money is the root of all evil" implies an exclusive devotion to acquisition that may well be criticized. But asid