But it is easy for the character to run to the other extreme. There is a
well-known type of Jewish business man who never succeeds because he is
always too ready to compromise before the goal of a transaction has been
attained. To such a mind the certainty of half a loaf is always better
than the probability of a whole one. One merely mentions the type to
accentuate the paradox. Great affairs above all things require for their
successful conduct that class of mind which is eminently sensitive to
the drift of events, to the characters or changing views of friends and
opponents, to a careful avoidance of that rigidity of standpoint which
stamps the doctrinaire or the mule. The mind of success must be
receptive and plastic. It must know by the receptivity of its capacities
whether it is paddling against the tide or with it.

But it is perfectly clear that this quality in the man of affairs, which
is akin to the artistic temperament, may very easily degenerate into
mere pliability. Never fight, always negotiate for a remnant of the
profits, becomes the rule of life. At each stage in the career the
primroses will beckon more attractively towards the bonfire, and the
uphill path of contest look more stony and unattractive. In this process
the intellect may remain unimpaired, but the moral fibre degenerates.

I once had to make a choice of this nature in the days of my youth when
I was forming the Canada Cement Company. One of the concerns offered
for sale to the combine was valued at far too high a price. In fact, it
was obvious that only by selling it at this over-valuation could its
debts be paid. The president of this overvalued concern was connected
with the most powerful group of financiers that Canada has ever seen.
Their smile would mean fortune to a young man, and their frown ruin to
men of lesser position. The loss of including an unproductive concern at