Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-11-17
Talk with Working.Men.


Where in nice balance truth with gold she
weighs. -Ppe
Are my boots finished, sir" said gen
tlemen stepping into the shop where We
were making inquiry preparatory to leav-
ing an order
mo, sir, and am sorry to say it. We
expected them to be finished last evening,
but unforeseen circumstances have pre-
vented"
"Will you be kind enough to explain
the nature of those unforeseen circum-
stances, sir" said the gentleman, in or
der that may be the judge as to whether
your part of the contract has been fulfilled
in its spirit, seeing it has--for the second
time-been broken in its letter"
We'll, the fact, is, that--um-that--"
THAT will do said the gentleman, "and
notwithstanding you may call me particu-
lar, fussy,' unreasonable, and all that
class of names, please allow me a word OF
advice. | am older than you; have been
a mechanic like yourself; have worked
hard and long, have been saving and eco
nomical, and have been moderately success
full. as you well know And sir, let me
say it without purposing ot,ence--in the
presence of this editor, that am fully con-
WINGED that my success in life has been, in
the greatest measures, owing to my keepiag
my cord, at all times, and under all cir
cumstances. Ma word, when once given,
was more sacred To me than my note or
bond. If / promised, either in quality,
amount or time, 1t was kept, unless reason
could be given which would satisfy the
most taiihless that | had exhausted every
known and possible source of supply of
means TO keep 1t.
Twenty four or forty eight hours, arc n
small matter in the delivery of a pair of boots.
may or may not be much inconvcnien-
ced by the violation of your promise, but
it hurts you more than il does me- 1t will
break down your business, sir or ONLY
leave you class of customers who will be
as careless of time in their payments rs you
are in your promises, and bankruptcy lies
at the end Of that road"
IF you had given me your notc--which
is only promise--ior the same time that
you promised to deliver my boots, you
would have paid the note, because pro-
test would have followed non payment,
you would have been reported upon the
street as having failed, become bankrupt,
and legal measures would have been taken
to close up your business. But instead Of
Of money, you promised me a certain
amount of leather upon which labor had
been performed. You pay the money
strictly you violate your contract on the
leather, and have no reasonable excuse for
it, You have failed in vital point In
your character, you have become bankrupt
Of truth.
1T il hard talk, / know but, sir, IL is
4 i. A 81
must be held sacred TO its performance, mt
the time and upon the conditions named,
or all commercial honor has gone. You
smile, sir, at the term commercial honor
as applied to your business. A person IL
engaged in trade, even If he sell only
pint Of peanuts. In that sale all the prin
ciples of honor, truthfulness and honesty
are involved. He can cheat in % pint Of
peanuts as one can in transaction involv-
ing thousands Of dollars. He can sell an
inferior article, calling il good he can
agree to deliver at u certain hour fresh
baked article, and utterly break down in
and the respect Of his custom
ers for his word, by failing to do IL.
=" DO you get my point fully, siry A
man should not trtie with his promise.
His whole character Is involved in his
keeping that one thing above question,
much more above rcproach. Ii, when /
came 10 you, and made this contract for
pair Of boots, TO be delivered night before
last, for given sum, you had carefully
looked over pour ,-s~-i- -.-i s.,,a .... s,..-s
YOU could not deliver them until Saturday
evening Of this week, ! could have made
my arrangements accordingly, and your
honor, reputation and correct method Of
doing business would have impressed
themselves upon me- II, promptly at the
time, you had delivered them, complete
aud satisfactory, ] should have said TO my
self, and TO others when questioned, He
will succeed in life. lie has the right
principles. His word IL sacred To him.
You may trust him fully II you had APP
piled to our bank for discount ] would,
as Director, have voted for 1t and advo
Gated giving you line of accommodations.
But / cannot, now, sir. You are not
on the right road
II do not want the boots, and shall not
take them. If you had leather. unmanu-
featured, on sale, and had bought OF you
one or five thousand dollars worth 10 be
delivered on certain day, and you had
failed To do it, from any cause, the bargain
would have been Off If leather had risen
in price three or five cents per pound, you
would have been liable In damages The
bargain IL off now, for the principle IN not
affected by the amount involved. You can
not have my custom any longer, sir
Good day"
After the gentleman had retired, the
proprietor Of the shop turned To us for
comfort in his dilemma, and proceeded to
express his opinion about 80 particular a
man"
STOP" said we. "We knew . man in
your business, years ago, who slipped into
your habit and into poverty at the same
time. lie might have possessed fortune,
and been man Of influence and rcputs-
ton Greed OF gain and Of business led
him to promise every man who called, that
hs work should be attended 10 at the par.
ticular time he wanted II. OF course he
failed in more than half the cases. He be-
came notorious liar. We cannot soften
tho phrase At all. He told falschoods,
knowing them TO be such, and there il only
one word which applies TO such Q man,
liar. He soon learned to promise NAsn he
would pay his little grocery bills, and lied
about them, and finally, embarrassed by his
small debts, forced TO the bench for
living, run his face wherever he could,
lost all sense of honor, and became utterly
reckless Of what he bought or owed, pro-
yided he could get some stranger TO trust