The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1885-10-22
HONESTY AND POLICY.

sight OF by rogues, Is yet liable to be
misconstrued by those who accept it
as motive for action. 1t is not
strange that those who value person
al and immediate success above all
else should sometimes doubt the truth
of the assertion. A man, for exam
pie, desires most of all things to gain
money it matters not for the purpose
whether it is to spend or to amass.
lie sees an opportunity to acquire a
considerable sum, at the expense of
strict fidelity to trust, and is about
to embrace it when the thought oc-
ours to him that perhaps after all
honesty is the best policy. ''If this
be true" he reflects, 81 shall only
lnJure my own prospects by the ques-
tionable act, and therefore he re-
trains. Presently he sees some one
else commit similar piece of injus-
tice, escape detection, and triumph
antly gain the money which he had
resigned. after all" he reasons,
''here at least honesty has not been
the best policy" and his faith in the
adage is shaken. Authorizations in
food and fabrics, short measures and
light weights, oppression of the weak,
servility to the strong, meanness and
injustice Of every kind, from the bare
faced theft to the shrewdest and most
subtle legal bubble, are often follow
ed by gain and advantage of various
kinds in their direct results, and those
who have avoided doing such things,
merely from the hope that their poll
cy lay in the opposite direction, look
on with enyious and regretful eyes.
The fact is that the familiar proverb
is true in no such narrow way. Only
by taking a broad view of life as a
whole, with its happiness and pros
perity, can we realize how honesty is
really the best policy A boy may
deceive his teachers in school and his
companions in play, and appear to
succeed again and again, but gradu-
ally he is forming a reputation, and
whatever small advantages he may
have gained, he will in time lose the
friendship and esteem of all honora-
Bile people. A young man may com
NIT long series of petty thefts unde-
tected, and looker-on seeing how
gaily his life goes on and how much
money he has to spend, may point to
him as proof that honesty is not al
ways the best policy; but let him
watch that young mans career tor a
few years, and he Will find him sink
ing gradually into dishonor, disgrace
and ruin. On the other hand, hon
esty often brings suffering in its train !;
the truth may cost many a pang to
utter, strict integrity may have to
give up many coveted gain, the
courage Of principle may forfeit the
good will so highly priced or the po-
sition so eminently desirable; but up
on the scale of years they will lead
their adherents to a condition of hon
or and happiness, compared with
which all that had been sacrificed
seems too trivial to claim a passing
thought.
The greatest mistake of all, how
ever, is the suppOsition that real hon
esty can ever be followed and main
tanned from motives of policy. Al
though the proverb, in its broad and
deep sense, is the very truth, those
who take it as their motive to an
honest lite will miss both its truth
and its gladness, because they have
mistaken the meaning of honesty it.
self. They think of it only as a series
of actions, whereas it is in truth a
spirit that reigns supreme in the
heart and shapes the life. He who
is not imbued with this spirit, who
covets the gains OF dishonesty, and
only resigns them in the hope that
honesty may confer a greater gain,
has yet to learn the meaning of hon
esty. However successfully he may
have assumed its garb, he is ignorant
of it's evidence. Rev. Lyman Abbott,
writing on the conditions OF success,
says: wisdom has riches in her
right hand and honor and long life
in her left, but she must be wooed
and won for her own sake, not for
her dowry. She will not accept the
fortune hunter. If man cares more
for honesty than for policy, he will
find honesty the best policy; but the
honesty which is merely policy is no
honesty at all. The preacher who is
brave that he may succeed is not
brave, and will not succeed. The
merchant who is honest that he may
make money, is not honest, and may
fail. The lawyer who puts on integ-
rity to get clients, has no integrity
and may get no clients"
lie who is truly, deeply, essentially
honest, loves honesty so much better
than any possible reward that he
chooses it every time apart from any
consideration of its results, and Meth
er hope nor fear, neither bride nor