INTRODUCTORY
Thb material framework of modem civilization is the industrial system, and the directing force which animates this framework is business entei> prise. To a greater extent than any other known phaee of culture, modem Chriatendom takes its complexion from ita economic organization. This modem economic organization is the " Capitalistic System " or "Modern Industrial System," so called. Its characteristic features, and at the same time the forces by virtue of which it dominates modem cultm-e, are the machine process and investment for a profit.
The scope and method of modem industry are given by the machine. This may not seem to hold tme for all industries, perhaps not for the greater part of industry as rated by the bulk of the output or by the aggregate volume of labor expended. But it holds tme to such an extent and in such a pervasive manner that a modem industrial community cannot go on except by the help of the accepted mechanical appliances
r2 THE THEORY OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISE I
and processes. The machine iDdustries — those H portions of the industrial system in which the fl machine process is paramount — are in a dominant H position ; they set the pace for the rest of the 1 industrial system. In this sense the present is the age of the niaehine process. This dominance of the machine process in industry marks off the present industrial situation from all else of its kind. ] In a like sense the present is the age of business 1 enterprise. Not that all industrial activity is carried on by the rule of investment for profits, but an effective majority of the industrial forces are organized on that basis. There are many items of great volume and consequence that do not fall within the immediate