IN attempting to rate the influence of executives on production we must recognize the fact that under our present methods executives as a rule seem to favor that system of production which to the greatest possible extent relieves them of responsibility. Throughout our whole system of production there is a tendency to blame the man lower down, rather than the man higher up, with the result that the man in the shop may be reprimanded, or even discharged, for an error in judgment which caused the loss of a few dollars, while the man at the top, making a similar error in judgment costing thousands of dollars, too frequently gets by without anybody's knowing that the loss was due to his failure. The existence of such a condition is not only detrimental to the business system as a whole, but produces great hardships upon the workmen as individuals. It is not claimed that executives in general desire to shirk their responsibility and place the blame on others, but our business methods are still dominated by the spirit of the past, which was, "the king can do no wrong," that is to say, if a man has the power to do a thing, it is right for him to do it, or, as he would put it, "he has a right to do it." The flaw in this reasoning is in the meaning of the word right. All will agree that no man has a right to do wrong; but we must understand more clearly what we mean by right and wrong. A bridge is right when it will carry the load for which it was designed, wrong when it will not. In an economic or a moral sense an action is right when it will advance the cause of humanity, and wrong when it will not; hence, it is stretching the meaning of the word to apply it to a question of fashions. The Germans thought that which they expected would advance their cause was right, no matter what effect it had on other peoples. We fought to resist the application of this idea, and may always expect conflict when an attempt is made to assert a "right" to the detriment of others. It is not hinted that the business man intentionally does wrong by making a decision that will in 18 257