, 1877-09-09
DISHONESTY AS 4 CRIME,

|
mented on the official Generalization which
attended and followed the financial rcvolu
ton pertaining to the War, and which In.
extended to MI branches of business and al
| private employments. Que of the: calaml
ties Of all wars, and especially Of our last
wnr, WINS the disturbance created in tie so.
cial life Of the people. The rapidity will
which large fortunes vera made in tho early
| years of the War, and the habits of lavish
expenditure made by those who had SO sud.
denly acquired wealth, had most pernicous
effect upon society. They begat in all the
walks Of society Q) contempt for labor
and for the slow accumulation of wealth By
the boarding of savings; (o) frantic effort
to become rich without labor, aud in short
time; (5) desire to become rich in order to
indulge in extravngant expenditures for dis
plny. Hence wild spirit of speculation ;
hence the countless schemes to acquire
money without labor; hence the gradual
but rapid lowering of morality in the adop-
ton Of questionable enterprises; and hence
the desperate purpose to get rich without
any reference whatever as to the integrity Of
! the means.
The corrupting influence of the e1trava-
ganca in sociul life was soon marked by dis
honesty in official ife,-men using public
money to sustain en- expenditure which their
lawful income did not warrant. This official
dishonesty, which WAS conspicuous in the
national service, soon extended to the munic-
ipal and other local service, and in due time
10 the service Of banks, railroad and other
corporations, aud eventually to private en-
l,loy,ncnt. Labor had become detestable ::
honesty WIS too slow; wealth a1ono was
fashionable aud respected md men and
women Of all ages and occupations applied
themselves to secure money by. wlatever
means might be available for that purpose
We need not refer to the daily rccitals Of de-
falcations mud other robberics by public Off
GERS, by the employees OF corporations. md
the confidential and trusted clerks and casb.
iers Of private establishments. Honesty had
been ecl1psed by wealth. Riches were award
cd precedence of integrity, and that man was
regarded as fool aud a dullard who was
content to labor for slow living, aud would
not grasp at any opportunity that offered to
get money.
We do not question tue integrity of those
who resort TO the bankrupt courts for the
settlement Of their indebtedness; but there
is general impression that the law and the
courts nre frequently employed rs a cover to
frauds and dishonesty Of tile grossest charac-
ter, showing how largely the once priced
commercial honor has weakened under the
general decentralization. It is the same
story,-a disgust for labor, impotence un-
der the slow progress Of honesty, IN infat1la-
ton for disp1ay and fast living. and sacri-
ice of principle and truth in the effort to
get money.
The peculiarity Of this hunt for money is
not, as heretofore, to hoard it, to invest it in
productive property or employment. The ab-
sorbing idea from the boy Of IL years old, of
the marriedand the unmarried woman, to the
man already aged, is to get money to have
money to sl'e1'd;; to have money to crafty
every want; to expend it in ostentatious
display of dress aud household luxury;
to be able to have better clothes, better
carriages and horses, and more of them,
than their neighbors; to be able to spend
money faster, and more Of it, than their DC
qua;ntances; to have money to make |
shine, and s'to take the SHINE out" of the
people on the other side of the street; to |
purchase every form Of dissipation; to figure
conspicuonsly in church benefactions; and |
generally to spend lirea rapidly, rockleszty, |