Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-06-29
Manufacturing.

| w HEN a 1IdIl ullClS I1llIS6l1 clllN dllc-
ing in the world, and getting a little
toward the front, he begins to discover
that his name is in request for the pur-
pose OF sanctiOning a great variety of
objects with which he has no proper
concern, or at all events cares little
about. He is asked to allow his name
to be put into lists of committees,
managers, or patrons of schemes,
good, bad and Indifferent; some of
them specially philanthropic, others as
specially commercial and advantageous.
To render requests of this kind agreea-
BILE, an assurance is perhaps given in a
polite and considerable way that no per-
sonal trouble will be involved, no re-
sponsibility incurred. All that is want
ed is loan of your name. 1t would
be great favor if you would permit it
to be used along with the names of a
great many other persons of high sta
ton who have obligingly consented to
let their names be employed on the oc-
casion.
There can be no doubt that in innu-
merable instances no injury whatever
is sustained from the lending of names.
while, on the contrary, much good may
be effected. The practice, however, of
giving yotr name to projects of which
you know but little, and over which
you exercise no sort of supervision,
appears to us to be Objectionable in
principle. AS is seen by almost daily
experience, it is fraught with dangers
absolutely appalling. BY indiscreetly
allowing names to be employed in
schemes Of a visionary, or it may be
fraudulent, nature not only fortunes
but regulations are sacrificed beyond
recall. Cases of this nature are be-
coming so common as to invite con-
slderation of the whole system of name
borrowing and lending. Public morals
as well as private sUfferings are con-
splcuously concerned in the question.
There can, we think, be but one
proper rule Of action. That is, on no
account to give your name to any pro-
ject whatsoever unless well assured of
its integrity, and unless you are able
to exercise some control over the pro-
ceedings. Merely to give your name,
and take no part in the way things ,are
conducted, is to run unnecessary risks;
for you cannot tell how things may be
miSmanaged, and how your reputation
may be less or more compromised; you,
in fact, leave matters to chance. At
the best you allow yourself to be put
forward as a lure-a bait to catch some
paltry patronage for a thing which
ought i'll justice to stand on its own
merits. Such seems to us to be the
true view of the matter; names to be
given only to what is Ostensibly credit
able, and to what the owners of the
names give also fair share of person.
al attention. Of course the refusal of
your name must, in a variety of cases,
be Far from agreeable. You can clear
ly see that you will be set down as a
savage, or least a very eccentric per-
sonage, who does not readily fall in
with the fashions that prevail in soci-
ETY.. Very hard, truly, to feel that you
are warning against the edicts which
prescriptively hold rule in Vanity
Fair! Yet right is right, all usages
Notwithstanding. And is it not better
to suffer a little present inconvenience
than the future twinges of conscience,
or loss Of self-respect? Out of false
shame to do what you know to be
wrong is to act under the most pitiful
of all motives.
Properly considered, ones name is to
be deemed more precious than his
money. He who steals our purse, as
Shakespeare observes with proverbial
wisdom, steals trash, but he who filches
from us our good name, makes us poor,
indeed. Yet persons are often not
only regardless of the appropriation of
their name, but voluntarily contribute
TO the depreciation of what they should
hold in SO much esteem. 1t cannot es-
cape notice that a name which is lent
on all occasions ceases to be thought
much of. Seen times without number
III connection with a multiplicity of
affairs, the public come to treat it with
rldlcule and Indifference. 1t is
name-perhaps a good name-weakly
thrown away. The truth of this may
be pressed on the notice Of kind-hearted
people who are apt to come frequently
before the public with complaints as to
something which needs to be re-
dressed. Their name gets so hack
neyed that when they have to remon-
strate on matters of serious concern,
nobody minds what they say. They
have damaged good cause by habitual
ndiscretion. A wise man nurses his
name, and employs it, or allows it to be
employed, only with the strictest re-
gard to propriety. By disregard on
this point, man is apt to become
known only as a rash enthusiast, buff