Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/339

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OCCUPATIONAL TYPES 321

sympathetic hearers. And how can the modern preacher claim to represent his Master, if that class turns from him in the conviction that he is blind to the inequitable conditions which are breeding spiritual disaster, or is afraid to speak out when he sees them?

III. THE BUSINESS TYPE

For the purpose of this discussion, business may be de fined as the direction of industry in the production and distribution of material goods. The business man may be simply a capitalist, an investor, who stands at some distance from the actual conduct of the industry; or he may be re lated to it both as investor and director; or he may be the manager of a corporate industry; or he may be manager of a subordinate department of such an industry; or he may be conducting a small business in which he is the sole, or chief investor, and of which he is the executive head. If in any shape or form he has the direction of industry, he may be classed as a " business man."

But here a distinction must be noted which we shall have to bear in mind throughout the discussion. The manage ment or direction of business corporations is to be broadly differentiated from the conduct of an individual business. The partnership is an intermediate or transitional form. The more deeply one meditates upon it, the more clearly will he perceive the far-reaching significance of this distinc tion. It is not so apparent nor so significant when the cor poration is a small one, though the distinction is real even then; but when the corporation becomes very large it is obvious and impressive. In corporations the relations in volved become extensive and decidedly more impersonal. In an individual business the relations between the business man and his employees and customers are definitely personal. To be sure, as the individual business becomes large and complex the relations involved lose much of their personal character ; but at the same time the business tends to assume the corporate form, and especially to use corporate methods.

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