William Sturgis, Merchant and Investor

Extract

It is a curious fact that many American business men of the past are known more for their charities or philanthropies or for their cultural or political interests and activities than for the very significant work they may have done in business. The biographers of business men, with the exception of those who have deliberately set out to berate the man about whom they were writing, have generally had very little to say about their subject's business. It is as if business were something not worthy of record. It is well to remember that business is important not only because it makes profits for the individual or builds fortunes; it also has a wide social importance. As we have lately experienced, an active, successful business system very likely means greater social well-being; and a depressed business, widespread misery. In so far as the business man is responsible for one or the other, the responsibility should be recognized in studies of his life. Thus through the experience of others would be widened immeasurably our knowledge of how business functions.