trait of the great business men who with force and insight swing the fortunes of civilized mankind. And due qualification is accordingly to be entered in the broad statement made above. The captain's strategy is commonly directed to gaining control of some large portion of the industrial system. When such control has been achieved, it may be to his interest to make and maintain business conditions which shall facilitate the smooth and efficient working of what has come under his control, in case he continues to hold a large interest in it as an investor ; for, other things equal, the gains from what has come under his hands permanently in the way of industrial plant are greater the higher and more uninterrupted its industrial efficiency.
An appreciable portion of the larger transactions in railway and " industrial " properties, e.g., are carried out with a view to the permanent ownership of the properties by the business men into I whose hands they pass. But also in a large pro-
BUSINESS ENTERPRISE 31
portion of these transactions the busineaa men's ■ endeavors are directed to a temporary control of ! the properties in order to close out at an advance j or to gain some indirect advantage ; that is to say, | the transactions have a strategic purpose. The business man aims to gain control of a given block of industrial equipment — as, e.g., given railway lines or iron mills that are strategically important — as a basis for further transactions out of which gain is expected. In such a case his efforts are directed, not to maintaining the permanent efficiency of the industrial equipment, but to influencing the tone of the market for the time being, the apprehensions of other large operators, or the transient faith of investors.' His interest in the particular block of industrial equipment is, then, altogether transient, and while it lasts it is of a factitious character.
The exigencies of this business of interstitial disturbance decide that in the common nm of cases the proximate aim of the business man is to