The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-07-02
An Era Of Fraud.

So much is said in the press and
elsewhere, in these days, about the
general tendency toward traudu-
lent production, adulteration, etc,
that the casual reader and observer
is apt to think the business charac-
ter of mankind is constantly deteri-
Grating. This is certainly Inferen
tial, though it is really doubtful
whether men are more prone to ras-
cality now. than they were in former
generations. The developments of
science, and the wonderful results
and reach of experiment in forming
combinations among the elements
have furnished the people of to-day
with an ability in the practice of
rascality which was utterly una
vailable a century ago. We opiue
that the adulteration Of sugar and
butter and the manipulation of all
kinds of raw texture materials into
WOolen goods, are matters Of COM
paratively recent general introduc-
Jion simply because old time scoun-
drels did not understand the how
of their production-not because
they did not have the inclination
to produce them. The grain and
provision gambler is a modern in
stitution only because the tele-
graph, rapid transportation and the
manifold facilities for concentrating
and controlling products, are mod
ern facts. Surrounded by every
facility for deceiving the public,
the modern producer and business
man is subject to an amount of
temptation to rascality which
would most seriously have tried the
man of the generations to which
people are nova a-days pointed for
moral patterns.
But without discussing the moral
side of the subject, it must be ad-
mitted that modern markets are
now crowded with an unprecedented
amount of imitation products
that modern business is character
lied by an unprecedented amount
of crOokedness-that the consumer
Of adulterable merchandise and the
party to many species of trade
must be constantly on the alert to
avoid being swindled. These are
matters of which every intelligent
man Is cognizant.
This being true, what does self
interest require of the producer?
Is there-can there be-any ques-
ton of what, from purely selfish
motives alone, he should do? We
claim that, barring all moral con-
siderations, that producer Is follow
ing a suicidal course who intention
ally sells short measure and light
Weight-who attempts to sell ran
cid butter and stale eggs for first
class articles-whO makes or sells
vile compounds for food purposes
who sell diseased meat for sound
and whole hesh-who creates false
pedigrees for the stock for which
he seeks a market-who knowing
ly, for pecuniary or other consider
ations, devotes the columns of his
newspaper to advertising frauds and
swindles-or who does anything
else in a business which he knows
will not bear public scrutiny. 1t is
an unalterable law of business that
the scoundrel-be he merchant,
farmer, breeder, publisher, or what
not-=sows the wind only to reap
the whIrlwind. The honest pro-
ducer or operator is, in the end,
and permanently, the successful
one.
We are aware that this is holding
forth the lowest motives for square
dealing. Perhaps the most spa
cious of all moral aphOrisms is the
one universally held up aa an in
centiVe to business rectitude-
Honesty is the best policy" We
may or may not be pardoned for
denouncing this old saw as a moral
snare--yet we believe it to be just
this and nothing more. The man
who is theoretically honest because
it is policy to be so has within him
all the elements OF rascality, and
if guided by no higher principle
than this is at heart scOundrel.
There is only one way to be hon
est and that is from principle. This
is abstrectly prOfitable-but when
the active principle degenerates in
to making profit the end, bona tide
honesty is eliminated entirely.
This disconnecte homily may be
in some degree irrelevant just here
but it is written and must go be-
fore the reader for what it may be
worth.-National Stockman.