Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1851-02-06

| e"' U P"N"y' lhoiS dIe cIOuHl uhiIHcI"uS
bu who would not rather dir by the stroke of a
nons paw and be eaten in reasonable hastt,
han to die by velmin?
Now, lions there are in commerce. and bars
full enough, but it is its shocking faculty at
breeding pe,min, that makes one shrink from
tn" thought of giving his son to commerce
Let the facts be considered:
In the preparing for markets. home and for
eigu, whole sale and retail, what a list of imp0-
sltl0nS, adnlterat0ns, AMI fran Is, under every
letter Ofthe al phabet, might be made ont. There
lie is incafnated--there one fraudulent idea Is
converted into substance. We that onsume
are daily IN the consumption-we drink lying
cuffee. we eat lying food, We patch lying cloth
with cheating lhr ad, we perfume ourselves
with lying essence, we web our fee ia lying
boots. catch cold, however. truly enough--are
tormented with aduterated drugs. sometimes
from ignorant preScrlbers, who lie in pretending
to kn' what they are prescribing tor 1t is
the very business Of one part of commerce, to
deal IN appearances and not in realities, and the
mind is tainted to ~ ceptin.
But the traffic in such wares, and in all sound
and genuine things opens sphere to moral man
anywhere else.
For the trafiicer deals in thousand differ
ent things, and each separate thing has its own
separate temptation. Aud he deals in each thing
a hundred times day. and with hundreds Of dit
fereni di,posItions. And if dealer sell fraud
ulent tea, knowing it to be So to different per.
sons, it is not one single act. but fifty different
frauds. If he sell to fifty different merchants
fifty baes of goods. knowing them t" be cheat
ing there are as many separate frauds as there
were bargains, and as there we're spt cial items
in each bar gain.
Tins the lies Of commerce are, each one, fine
and ilmy as spiders thread, but spun together
so as to be like SPIDERS webs. But this indirec-
tiOn, this falsehood by the most indirect way, is
worse than bold and outright falsehood be-
cause 1t is usually cowardly, hp. ocrltical, and
more frequent
Tie dishonesty is under the form of fra nkness,
or it ncstIes under an air Of sancty or it is 10
wal; or bland and siinulutng; it is a wink, or a
word, nr nod Of the head, or significant
smile. 1t IS SAID that every man has prce.-
Most men have. Some men have NOT. But
there are thousands of men who sell lh ,nlseves
they barter their conscience over any bargan
their honor goes down with every kick of the
scales, If they were black, and put up for sale
at the capital, upon fair day, in prosperous
times, they might bring $1,000 or $1,000. But
they sell themselves much more reasonably, in-
asmuch as they have the privilege of repeating
the sale SO often.
If one adul,eraIes and sells for real, then the
profit per pound, of the deception OH fair ar,i-
Gle, is the price ot his cInscipnce. Some men
will sell their conscience for FIVE cents pound
III butter, for ten cents IN provisions for TWEEN
ty per cent. in drugs; for hundred per cent in
jewelry.
Ifa co n nnnty he filed with trades, and, i
there is prevalent petty code Of di>hnnrstes
and trades ofevery deg,ee become Injured 10 it
i no Ona can fail to see, that mrniineSs simplicity
large mindednpss trusttUorhiness, will disappear
and men become hollow, or vulgar! To sucI
extent has this taken place, thtt DR.. Cha mer
expressed his belief that cO,nnefce, in Its lowe
torn, was Incompatible with manness and hon
or!
, 81. Growing out of this, we shall find i
commerce n cert,n scLfshness, the substitute
of success for cOuscle lence.
, Commerce is q constant race, constant struE
\ gle, m unendDg cattle. The prize Of weall
8 quite blinds men but s attractions are hard
n greater than are the ambitions, and jeaIouses
: rival contestants.
o The wrestling OF men with each other. Il
l. trippngs and shavlngs tn covert dexterlt
or open dishonesties are sufficiently reprehe
n sible. But it is The how it comes to prevail til
II intDrest is sovereign, that WI must deprecate.
t, There are big and honorable men in commere
n But the realm of commerce allows success to
'. the touchstone, and interest, the judge and q
: bitter Of affairs.
Wherever dazzling show Oh gain opens thit
a er rush the commercial rout like herd Of HI
faIoes and he who stands to turn them bat
II, because The eLd is wrong or the reasons wrot
fares as he would tha, should attempt 10 he
re these droves on the prairie.
u They would rush HIM down, gore him. ira
d. pp him, and thunder past in cloud of dust
1873 The laws Of God and the laws Of human pr
,t- perily are fortunately colncident. In the ma
e. therefore. the sefshness of commerce condu'
to the prevalence Of general good, But, VT
lie, some apparent good, or some good for plIt
Ia the expense of the whole, demands the vlolat
tly Of moral law, nothing will lransgress "
more im,I Ilacable purpose than the spirit OF cC
ate merce.
ri Commerce first brought slavery into our
ole public. English commerce denied the pelni
But of the early colonies. Alter the RevoIutlo
cal was dying out; aud all our compromises "
es- based upon The expectation Of the speedy
self tinction of slavery. But new staples came
slave labor became profitable; Emancipa
lie; wss no longer ihought Of.
NIL 1t is said by men, in and out Of slave Sta
pri- by men in religious and irreligious paI ers,
nan agitation at the North has put far off the da
der emancipation,
the Thu guise cannot conceal the truth c
Sow merce made slnvery profitable, and profit Gle
mt, ed it and, as long as great gaus are to
nee made, so long will slavery fortIfy itself with
arms of commerce. whole people are
.ral, held IN doubt by the jugges Of commerce.
ate The questions nov agtating the public
lies, would sink IN moment, if left to the Vi bin
Of humanity of the peonle. Their difficulties
not intrinsic They are artificial and CON