THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 



there is no question of rivalry or competition in the 

 proper sense of the words, but only of friendly emulation. 

 The proficiency of our friends, however great, will take 

 no money from our pocket; will in nowise influence 

 the character of our own work, except as it stimulates us 

 to more zealous effort. 



Then, just as the stern pursuit of money tends to bring 

 out the worse side of a man's nature, so the pursuit of a 

 pleasant ideal tends to bring out the better side. The 

 sordid maxim, "every man has his price," whatever 

 its force in the business world, has no application here, 

 for all the premiums are, beyond question, awarded to 

 honest effort. 



We may indeed believe as unquestionably a large 

 number of men of affairs do believe that honesty is 

 the best policy, even as a pure business investment ; but 

 we cannot be blind to the fact that dishonest business 

 methods do sometimes lead to fortunes. Moreover, 

 honesty is a word susceptible of some flexibility of 

 interpretation, as applied to practical affairs; and it 

 sometimes happens that methods of business come to be 

 pretty generally accepted as legitimate which will not 

 stand too close scrutiny from the standpoint of abstract 

 morality. There are those critics who would contend 

 that nearly all the great fortunes of to-day have been 

 accumulated through the practise of methods open to 

 such adverse judgment. Not infrequently you may 

 see the knowing ones shrug their shoulders, and hear 

 them remark cynically that " nothing succeeds like suc- 

 cess," when one of these fortunes is in question. 



But there can be no such imputation against the 



