"But I don't understand precisely yet what the first principle of business
is," returned my guest.

"Ah, that raises another interesting question," said the lawyer. "Of
course, every business man solves the problem practically according to his
temperament and education, and I suppose that on first thoughts every
business man would answer you accordingly. But perhaps the personal
equation is something you wish to eliminate from the definition."

"Yes, of course."

"Still, I would rather not venture upon it first," said the lawyer.
"Professor, what should you say was the first principle of business?"

"Buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest," the professor
promptly answered.

"We will pass the parson and the doctor and the novelist as witnesses of
no value. They can't possibly have any cognizance of the first principle
of business; their affair is to look after the souls and bodies and
fancies of other people. But what should you say it was?" he asked the
banker.

"I should say it was an enlightened conception of one's own interests."

"And you?"

The manufacturer had no hesitation in answering: "The good of Number One,
first, last, and all the time. There may be a difference of opinion about