CodalSearch this book — or all of Codal…⌘K
nydus/The Theory of Business EnterprisePublic
Page 66 of 422
Table of Contents

IftlHMlI I BUSINESS ENTERPRISE

conaiderable difficulty. The tenacity of a view once accepted in this way is evidenced, for instance, by the endleM number and variety of testimonials to the merits of welladvertised but notoriously worthless household remedies and the like. So acute an observer as Hr. Sombart is still able to hold the Opinion that " auf Schvdndel Ist dauemd nocb nie ein Unternehmen begrlindet worden" { ffnpWaf r«mii«, vol. If. p. 378). Mr. Sombart baa not made acquaintance with the adventures of Elijah the Restorer, nor is he conversant with American patent-medicine enterprise. With Mr. Sombart's view may be contrasted that of Mr. L. P. Ward, an observer of equally large outlook and acumen : — "The law of mind as It operates in society as an aid to competjI lion and In the interest of the individual is CMentlallj immoral. It ' rests primarily on the principle of deception. It is an extension to other human beings of the method applied to the animal world by , which the latter was subjected to man. This method waa that of the ambusb and the snare. Iu ruling principle was cunning. Its object deceive, circumvent, ensnare, and capture. Low animal cunning was succeeded by more refined kinds of cunning. The mora Important of these go by the names of business shrewdness, strategy,

BUSINESS ENTERPRISE 57

convictions is indicated by such statements aa that the proprietors of a certain well-known household remedy, reputed among medical authorities to be of entirely dubious value, have for a series of years found their profits in spending several million dollars annually in advertisements. This case is by no means unique.

It has been said,' no doubt in good faith and certainly with some reason, that advertising as currently carried on gives the body of consumers

66