St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-26
ADVICE TO YOUNG men.
Honesty and Dishonesty in Eaking a
Living.
WHY SOME MEN ARE RICH.
Temptations in Business Life and the
Aids That Come to Financial
Honesty.

ItoV. ClIdllcS Il. 1HWlIlS, Vi PLYMOUTH
church, is preaching an interesting and
instructive series of sermons to young
men. Yesterday ON the text, "ThOu
shalt not steal" he said:
The temptations to commercial dis
honesty are mighty. Several years ago
the Congregational Club of New York
debated the question, "Can business,be
conducted successfully on strict Chris
/ tian principles?" When such debate
by such an ASSOCIATION is had, we may be
sure the motives to conduct business ON
other than strict Christian principles
are of tremendous strength. Sharp
dealing is common. Charles Dickens
thought it one of the worst vices of
American life. Sharp dealing is said to
be more common here than with any
other civilized people. We allow, says
Joseph Cook, an amount OF sharp deal
ings in little things that would disgrace
man in many circles abroad. Many
are the schemes which can not be termed
dishonest, yet which lie in that murky
mist which divides the clear light Of
honesty from the darkness of absolute
chicanery. They are schemes from
which fine sense of Christian honor
cities such schemes are more frequent
than in the older towns. L would in
the very beginning lift up my voice,
like that of John the Baptist, proclaim
ing that all such sharp practices should
have the axe laid at the roots.
shall first speak of the temptations
to commercial trickery and dishonesty.
shall secondly speak of the aids to
financial honesty and honor. The chief
motive tempting every young man
to dishonesty is extravaganza. EXtrav-
agance is simply expanding more than
ones income: 1t is living in a way bet
ter than one can afford. The man una
bic to meet this extra draft from regular
earnings in reguler ways supplements
his income by moneys received in irreg-
ular ways. The relation between cause
and effect is evident. May L, therefore,
may be allowed to give advice upon so
personal and peculiar a matter, l should
say, always adopt such style OF living
as you can easily afford. All the
difference, not simply between poverty
and wealth, but also between peace and
worry, between happiness and misery,
between goodness and wickedneSS, lies
in the difference dividing income from
expenditure. l often think of
the remark of David Copper
field, who said that income eco 6s., and
expense EGO, is happiness, and that in
come EGO, and expense EGO 6S., is mis-
cry. 1t was only sixpence, but it was
the dividing line between on the one
side absolute penury and misery,a on
the other side final competency and hap
piness. 1 know that most of us are
young men; / know that many of us
foy lar n hJt
every man, no matter how small his
wages, should in his health save at
least a part of his wages. A friend
asks me, as read this sermon over to
him, what l would do in case
a man did not earn enough to pay for
his bread and butter. replied at once,
then | would eat the bread without the
butter. Furthermore, make it your aim
to live in that simplicity that you will
not be obliged to devote your best
energy to reducing expenses to the size
of your income. You may be poorer on
a salary of $4,000 than on salary of
$500. For in the former case you adopt
a style of living commensurate with a
salary of $4,000; in the second case you
adopt a style of living fitted to the
standard of $500. Many man is less
pressed for money to meetOrdlnary bills,
who has salary of $1,000 than one who
has salary of fiVe-fold or ten-fOld this
sum.
A second cause of dishonesty lies in
the sense of apparent obligation to sue
coed in business. I'VE have to do it,"
says the manufacturer, and so adulter-
ateS lard. I'VE have to do it," says the
clerk; "the merchant told us to say that
this is genuine lace, and | know that it
is genuine imitation: but / should be
discharged if disobeyed." I'VE have
to do it," says the milkman as he pours
his quart Of water into his four quarts
of milk; ''every one does it,"
eve have to do it," says the butcher,
as he presses his hand down heavy on
the roast that still lies OF the scales,
competition is so sharp" Why have?
Why must? The reason is simply that
one feels he must succeed; one must
live. But ask why must you succeed,
or why must you live? The world can
get along without either your success or
your life. Better fail, than buy success
of trickery; better die with honor, than
live with dishonor. There was time
when, if Christians could not live as
Christians, they could die as martyrs.
Has the time come when, if men cannot
succeed in righteousness,t they are willing
to succeed in unrighteOuSneSS. Let us
be willing to sink with the flag of our
loyalty to principle nailed to the mast
of manhood, than sail on with the black
flag of dishonesty and shame flying. TO
third cause of dishonesty l briefly
allude. 1t is desire to make a living
by ones wits. The desire is union of
laziness and smartneSs. Too INDECENT
to do genuine work, too bright to sink to
the brute'S level, one hopes by some
bonru oh moo nv talipO ADVANTAGE of
peculiar opportunities to get on in the
world. do not say that such man is
necessarily dishonest; but do say that
one who has such an ambition usually
becomes dishonest. also say that such
a man is always first cousin to dishonest
men. Be willing to get living by your
work, and let your wits help you in your
work. But | now turn to more agree
able side of our prsblem. 1t is the aids
that we have to honesty. l say, there
fore,
First-A strong theory of the nature
of honesty. Men differ as to the honest
or dishonest character of certain bust
ness transactions. know gentleman
who is at the head of great firm of note
brokers. We will call them A, B., c. &
Co. A.. B., G.. q Co. handles millions of
commercial paper each year. Less than
a decade ago the largest leather tanning
house in the country was about to fail.
The fact OF the coming suspension was
previously known in the trade, al
though no suspicion of the failure had
gone abroad. A, B, e & Co. held some
$4,000 of the paper of this firm. A
customer of A, B, G & Co. desired to
buy this paper. The customer had no
knowledge that the great firm of
Shaw Brothers was about to suspend,
that you should not have that paper;
it is not what it appears to be-" The
next morning the journals were full of
the intelligence of the suspension. The
firm has since paid, l believe, less than
per cent of its face indebted
ness. You say that my friend Mr. A., of
the firm, would have done right in selling