The Psychology of the Bushiess Man 295 



And vet this illustrative case of business timidity hap- 

 pened to me. Wanting to have a l^rochure printed I warned 

 my usual printer that some reflections in this paper on his 

 great patron might harm him in the patron's eyes. But he as- 

 sured me of his ])usiness independence and his belief in my 

 paper until, on reading it for the first time in proof, he tele- 

 phoned me with much shamefaced hesitation in his voice that 

 he really did not know v/hat he could do about that. Of 

 course I relieved him from its embarrassment ; he melted up 

 the score of pages he had set up, and I took the copy, with the 

 Fame warning, to another printer who had also had business 

 relations with the same patron. Though this second printer 

 was a fraternity brother with the first printer and both were 

 college men, he w^as his business competitor and enemy, and 

 said : "Why, of course, I can't touch this copy, though 1 be- 

 lieve it's all true ; because if that damned C. got wind of it he 

 would use it as a club against me with the N. But I tell you 

 what, you take it down to the little Scandinavian job printer 

 in the basement; he'll print the job in his name, but we'll do 

 all the composition for him, you see?" I saw and did. 



Then the natural childish instinct to deception for its ad- 

 vantage is (strongly cultivated by competition in the business 

 man) up to the point of its being to his disadvantage. While 

 the results in business methods of misrepresentation and adul- 

 teration are bad enough on the whole (although some valuable 

 material progress is made against the conservatism of buyers 

 by the surreptitious introduction of cheaper and harmless sub- 

 stitutes) yet the most pernicious form of business deception is 

 in its tendency to superficiality of workmanship and of living. 

 Just as our ready made clothes, shoes, and building are chiefly 

 gotten up for cheapness and looks rather than for comfort and 

 service, so the tendency of their designers and makers is to- 

 wards inflating the appearance of their persons and business. 

 Aided by his strong optimism and discounting of the future, 

 by which he is always living on credit, this veneering of sur- 

 faces leads the business man to all the extravagant forms of 

 living which make up the "grand game of bluff." 



The show must be kept up at any cost. His "credit," that 

 chaste maiden for whose honor he is so punctiliously chival- 

 rous, must be guarded from every breath of suspicion. Each 

 business man lives in the sight of his fellows and not for him- 



