334 GRAND STRATEGY OF EVOLUTION 



which man was invading guided by his first visions of 

 evolution, his age-old standards of ethics and morality 

 were rapidly destroyed. The more remote sources of 

 creative power were forgotten, or concealed in the ruins 

 of his anthropmorphic religions, or overgrown with 

 the poisonous thickets of his new doctrine of selfish- 

 ness. His belief in the supremacy of force, and the 

 necessity for complete freedom of action, grew apace; 

 his sense of obligation and restraint, his recognition 

 that it was necessary for others to have the same free- 

 dom of action, and that he was under obligations to 

 insure it to them through his own services, slowly 

 atrophied. 



III. Business Philosophy 



It was this one-sided, or half-witted philosophy of 

 egoism, fortunately now in disrepute since its patho- 

 logical nature has been so clearly recognized, which 

 characterized the business ethics and morality of the 

 past generation, or more. "Business was business," 

 for no other than purely selfish ends, and any ways or 

 means within, or beyond, the written law was justi- 

 fied so long as it brought immediate returns that could 

 be measured in money and social power. That busi- 

 ness is also an altruistic, public service, and commerce, 

 a system of cooperative social conveyance, was but 

 dimly recognized, if at all. 



But this philosophy was not more characteristic of 

 Americans than of other peoples, many critics to the 

 contrary notwithstanding. At any rate, if the accusa- 

 tion is justified, the lavish gifts of American business 

 men to education, to medicine, and to other social in- 

 stitutions, has amply demonstrated that their business 



