Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-03-03
NEW CODES OF MORALS.


A celebrated English writor once
said that England swept the hori-
zon with her spy-glass to find out
objects Of charity, but when she
looked at her own defects and blem
ishes, she turned the glass around
and looked through the other end,
thus removing and diminishing
them in the same proportion as she
brought near and magnified those
of other nations, This is true, not
only Of her, but Of all Countries
"Ephraim' can see "the gray hairs"
on other heads, but not on his own.
When changes come gradually and
steadily, we somehow or other be-
come adjusted to them, both in
wardly and outwardly. Hence, the
only way to arrive at anything
like an accurate judgment respect
ing the end or the result Of any
evil course that is persisted in, is
to take certain interval of the
past as q scale for the future. On
this principal, it becomes quesr
ton of vital importance - what
twenty years hence, will be tho
moral standard of the business men
Of this country?
Some might think it equally i'm
portant to ask what will be its
criminal record? But foreign i'm
migration has for the last few years
done so much to swell the statis-
tics of crime, that a change for the
better in this respect may be hoped
for in the future. But no such ex-
ternal cause has been at work de-
moralizing thepublic mind respect
ing the mode Of acquiring money.
The gold conspiracy and the re-
cent examination Of those engaged
in it, before a Committee of Con
gressmen, has brought to light the
principle on which some Of our
largest capitalists act First, to
create q pressure in the market,
without regard to the amount Of
suffering it may occasion, in order
to increase ones own fortune
This is laid down as a rule well un-
derstood and approved. Second,
knowing that you are dealing with
unscrupulous men, you are perfect
ly justified in being unscrupulous
too. While cheating outsiders,
cheat those in the same conspiracy
with you, if by it you can make
money. There used to be a prov
erb, " There is honor among
thieyes," but that is eXploded-the
advancing age has got beyond it.
But the worst Of it is, that those
whose actions are governed by such
principles, are not criminals in the
eyes of the public--they are only
sharp enterprising busiHess men,
whose success excltes the ambition
of others to emulate their example.
1t is easy to see that such code
of morals adopted by leading bu
siness men, saps the very founda-
ton ofcommercial honesty--sweeps
away every check on the desire of
accumulation. and makes suEcess
the alpha'and' omega of life. Its
pernicious workings are seen not
only in the reckless, heartless, cru
Ell manner in which large capital
lists use their ns,--to-day dis
turbing the markets and blocking
trade tomorrow perverting legis-
lation and corrupting the peoples
representatives, but also in break
ing down the moral restraints which |
once held others in check, but who,
by adopting their principles with
out their means, make shipwrecks
of themselves. The man who at
tempts to acquire fortune by |
cheating the revenue or by using
the funds of the bank in which he
is EN- loyed to speculate with, sees
no difference in the moral charac-
ter of his conduct and theirs. If
they succeed, they stand on the
same plane Of society. When sue
cess is the only test Of character,
why should not men run terrible
risks-into which honesty or dis
honesty, right or wrong, have no
place F.? But this is not all-this
unscrupulous manner of acquiring
wealth, beginning at the top,sweeps
down in its influence through every
level of society, till honesty threat
ems to become the exception and
dishonesty the rule A character
for uprightness, tested by unbound
ed confidence for years, has ceased
to be a guarantee for the future -
Burglar-proor safes are no longer
q protection, and scarcely day
passes that the public feeling is not
shocked by some new defaloation
or successful swindle, To-day n
clerk disappears with
his employers funds; to o-morrow
deficits are discovered, 1
caused by the appropriation of
to gamble with in the stock
or gold market, Large invoices of
goods are obtained by men who
falsely represent extensive business
firms; fraudulent sales are made,
and every form of deception prac.
ticed to get hold of money, The
poison has penetrated even into re-
lgious societies and churches
funds are misappropriated or made
way with by men of hitherto unex
ceptionable character, till one does
not know whom to trust, Isolated
cases of misplaced confidence or
OF trust are always occur
ring and always will occur, so long |
as man Is fallen, selfish being, and |
the "loye of money is the root
of all eyil:' but there is q limit be |