Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1863-06-11
Gbe ynteuigenter.
BE PUNCTUAL.
ny TIMOTHY TITcoMB.

To me, one of the most admirable
things in the world is business pune
tillio. l think it 10 rare to find very
bad men among thorough business
men. l do not mean to say that
good business man is necessarily re-
ligious, or even necessarily without
vices. l mean, simply, that it is diff.
cult to be strictly honest in business,
and. sensitive in all matters pertaining
to business engagements, and thor
oughly punctual in the ful6llment of
all business obligations, and at the
same time, to be loose in morals and
dissipatcd in personal habits. l have
great respect for those rigid laws of
the counting room which regulate the
dealings between man and man, and
which make the counting-room as ex-
act in all matters Of time and exchange
as q banking house, which ignore
friendship. affection, and all personl
considerations which place
neighbors and brothers on the same
platform with enemies and aliens, and
which make an autocrat of an accoun-
tant, who il, at the same time, strictly
an obedient subject of his own laws.
say it is hard for man to enter as
q perfectly harmonious element into
this grand system of business, and
submit himself to it's rigid rules, and
maintain his position in it with perfect
integrity, and, at the same time, be q
very bad man. To q certain extent,
he bows to, and obeys, high STAN
dard of life. He msy not always rec
ognize fully the moral element which
it embodies. He may take a selfish
view Of the whole matter, but he can
not be entirely insensible to the prin-
ciplc of personal honor which it in
wolves, or fail to be influenced by the
personal habits which it eDforces.
Some of the best business men have
ever known have been the most charit-
able men l have ever known. Men
who have acquired wealth by rigid ad-
hercnce to business integrity, and who
have sometimes been deemed harsh
and hard by those with whom they
have had business relations, have
shown liberality and generosity
toward objects Of charity which have
placed them among the worlds bene-
factors Men who have exacted the
last fraction of q cent with one hand,
in the way of business, have disbursed
thousands of dollars with the other, in
the way of charity.
On another side Of the subject It may
be stated, that it is not possible for
man to be careless in business affairs,
or unmindful of his business obliga.
tions, without being weak or rotten in
his personal character. Show me a
man who never pays his notes when
they are due, and who shuns the pay
ments of his bills when it is possible,
and does both these things as a habit,
and shall see q man whose moral
character is, beyond all question, bad.
We have had illustrious examples of
this lack of business exactness. We
have had great men who were in the
habit Of borrowing money without re-
paying it. There are great men whose
business habits are simply scanda-
lous who never paid a bill unless
urged and worried, and who expended
for their personal qualification, with
out their business obligations, every
cent of money they could lay their
hands upon. These delinquencies
have been apologized for as eccentric.
tiles of genius, or as that unmindful.
ness of small affairs which naturally
attends all greatness Of intellect and
intellectual effort +; but the world has
been too easy with them, altogether.
] could name great men-and the
names Of some Of them arise before
the readers of this letter--who were
atrocionsly dishonest. do not care
how great these men were. do not
care how many amiable and admira-
BILE traits they possessed. They were
dishonest and untrustworthy men in
their business relations, and that sim
pie fact condemns them. ! am ready
to believe anything bad Of man who
habitually neglects to fulfill his BUSH
ness obligations. Such man is GER
tainly rotten at heart. He ia not to
be trusted with q public responsibility,
no matter how great he may be, or q
rum bottle, or with woman.