_Caveat emptor_--let the buyer beware--expresses
an extreme development of this, and in its common signification, that
each side is to be permitted and expected to take any advantage of the
other side that it may be able to secure, it describes a state of
warfare rather than of business. In buying and selling, in aiming to
obtain the most favorable terms for each line of his activity, in
meeting conditions of competition, in all these relations, the business
man is endeavoring to better himself and may doubtless be tempted here
and there to forget the interests of the other party to the
transaction. But to yield to such temptation would merely be to abuse a
principle which on the whole is sanctioned by the requirements of
economic efficiency. This principle is that the nearest approximation
to effective justice in business transactions is reached when on each
side the parties devote themselves to their respective interests and
points of view. If _A_ has a house for sale and _B_ is a prospective
buyer, the essence of the possible transaction between the two is that
_A_'s idea of the value of the property is different from _B_'s idea of
that value; or at any rate that _A_ sees less value in it to him than
does _B_ to _B_. This is of course typical of all business
transactions--the seller desires the money above the commodity, the
buyer prefers the commodity to the money. The seller and the buyer each
dwells naturally upon his own idea of value. This is altogether
desirable, not to say indispensable, and is characteristic of every
relation of business, wherever two men buy and sell, employ one
another, or have other dealings together. The situation is somewhat the
same as in a law suit where the duty of the attorney for the plaintiff
is to make every point that fairly can be made for the plaintiff, while
the attorney on the other side must correspondingly make every point
that can properly be made for the defendant. Each side is supposed to
look after the interest of that side. Similarly, in a business
organization, say a railroad, when some new project is under
consideration it will be submitted to the engineer, to the chemist, to
the attorney, to the practical transportation man, and in each of these
departments it is expected that the wisdom born of experience in the
particular function will be brought to bear. The engineer speaks with
authority on engineering questions, the lawyer on legal questions, the
transportation