Show Shades o of Statecraft I I By Bv BARTON HOWELL VELL of many of the present I FT IV political barrages is a a. stinging attack on business These attacks are basically wrong Tong because they are based on the legend that tha t business men are selfish This myth is one of the most prominent of the many factors that cloud clear thinking on economic questions today First of all the politician forgets his i own case when he looks down upon the i business executive as guided purely by profit motives is not vote vote seeking just as materialistic a motive as profit seeking S SECOND the politicians discredit cism cism from business quarters with the excuse that it is leased It is no more biased than any other criticism because business as a human institution is a mir for the good and bad traits of human human hu hu- man nall nature just the same saIne as politics the professions and and the universities Take for instance the opposition Oil on the part of business men toward the latest tax measure passed by congress It is not right ight io to assume that they oppose it mere- mere Jy r bc because ause their tax bill rises They have definite economic reasons for believing that the undivided profit tax is basically in the long run Consider the 1 words of Merle erle Thorpe of The N Nations Nation's aU on s 's Business on this fact act When Mien business opposes taxes it is in in reality speaking for forthe forthe the laborer and the consumer In a larger sense it is speaking for the social and national welfare elfare The less taken for politics politics politics poli poli- tics the more for purchasing the conveniences e- e of life which after all are the stuff out of which standards of living are made The stability of the nations nation's credit determines nes the stab stability of each individual individuals individual's ual's ual ual's 8 well veIl If business as a tax collector collector collector col col- lector stilled its voice and thus entered nto collusion with rith the tax tai spender then the familiar charge of social non-social selfishness selfishness selfish selfish- selfish selfish-I ness might hold Until then why not C call it busi business ess statesmanship I ARE ABE scientific because they are T TIlEY JL based on the technique of fact finding I Accountancy l is the chief managerial tool lof of the business executive It is the opinion opinion opinion ion of nInny many that public office holders i should should adopt a method of improved national bookkeeping so that they might Compare with rith the standards of efficiency and effectiveness set 1 up p by Y private managers True rlue economic progress is retarded and sometimes halted by the racketeering and other shortcomings of business men but Business itself is the socially useful I process by which upwards of gainfully employed ed persons persons- interchange I II I the Lie products o of their years year's a. a labor I |