Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-04-14

bpiAAbl Anu tue Judgment VIII come anu
they will stand aghast before it, and ali the
business iniquities of a lifetime will gather
around them, saying, DO you remember
thisg" and, "Do you remember thatr And
clerks that they compelled to dishonesty, and
runners and draymen and bookkeepers who
saw behind the scenes, will bear testimony to
their nefarious deeds, and some virtuous soul
that once stood aghast at the splendor and
power Of these business men will say, "Alasl
this is all that is left of that great firm that
occupied a block with their merchandise and
overshadowed the city with their influence,
and made Righteousness and truth and purity
fall under the CALLING fire of avarice and
crime"
w nile we admire and approve of all acute
ness and tact in the sale Of goods, we must
condemn any process by WHICH fabric or
product is represented as possessing a value
which it really does not have. Nothing but
sheer falsehood can represent as perfection
boots that rip, silks that speedily lose their
uster, calicoes that Immediately wash out,
stoves that crack under the first hot fire,
books inalfIiciently bound, carpets that UNI
ravel, old furniture rejuvenated with putty
and glue and sold as having been recently
manufactured, gold watches made out of
BRASS barrels Of fruit the biggest apples on
the top, wine adnlterated with strychnire,
hosiery poorly woven, cloths of domestic
manufacture shining with foreign labels, inn
ported goods represented as rare and hard to
get, because foreign exchange is so high,
rolled out ON the counter with matches dis
play. Imported, indeed but from the fac
tory in the next street. A pattern already
questionable and unstable palmed off as a
new print upon some country merchant who
has come to town to make his first purchase
Of dry goods and going home with large
stock OF goods warranted to keep.
Again, business men are often tempted to
make the habits and customs of other traders
their law Of rectitude. There are commercial
usages which willnot stand the test of the
last day, Yet men in business are apt to do
as their neighbors do. If the majority of the
traders in any locality are lax in principle,
the commercial code in that community will
be spurious and dishonest. 1t is hard thing
to stand close by the law of right when your
next door neighbor by his looseness of dealing
is enabled to sell goods at q cheaper rate and
decoy your customers OF course you who
promptly meet all your business engagements
paying when you promise to pay, will find it
hard to compete with that merchant who is
hopelessly in debt to the importer for the
goods purchased, and to the landlord whose
store he occupies, aud to the clerks who serve
him.
There are a hundred practices prevalent in
the world of traffic which ought never to be-
come the rule for honest men. Their wrong
does not make your right. Sin never be-
comes virtue by being multiplied and adj
mitted at brokers' board, OF merchants ex-
change Because others smugglea few things
in passenger trunks, because others take usury
when men are in tight places, because others
deal i'll fancy Stocks because Others palm off
worthless Endorsements, because others do
nothing but blow bubbles, do not, therefore,
be overcome of temptation. Hollow preten-
sion and fictitious credit and commercial
gambling may awhile prosper, but the day of
cometh, and in addition to the
horror and condemnation of outraged COM
the curse of God will come blow
after blow. Gods will forever and forever
is the only standard of right and wrong, and
not commercial ethics.
Young business man, avoid the first bust
ness dishonor, and you will avoid all the rest.
The captain of a vessel was walking near the
mouth of a river when the tide was low, and
there was a long, stout anchor chain, into one
Of the great links of which his foot slipped,
and it began to swell and he could not with
draw it. The tide began to rise The chain
could not be loosened nor filed off in time,
and n surgeon was called to amputate the
limb, but before the work could be done the
tide rolled over the victim and his life was
gone.
And |. have to tell you, young man, that
just one wrong into which you slip may be
link of a long chain of circumstances from
which you cannot be extricated by any in
genuity Of your own or any help from others,
and the tides will roll over you as they have
over many. When Pompey, the warrior,
wanted to Ike possession of a city, and they
would not open the gates, he persuaded them
" admit sick soldier. But the sick soldier
after n while got well and strong. and he
threw open the gates and let the devastat-
ing army come in One wrong admitted
into the soul may gain in strength until,
after awhile, it filings open all the avenues of
the immoral nature, and the surrender is
complete
Again, business men are sometimes tempted
to throw off personal responsibility upon the
moueyed institution to which they belong
Directors in banks and railroad and insurance
sometimes shirll personal respon-
sbility underneath the action of the corpora
ton. And how often, when some banking
house orfnancial institution explodes through
fraud, res hectable men in the board of direc
tors say; "Why, | thought all was going on
in an honest way, and am utterly con
founded with this misdemeanorm The banks,
and the fire and life and marine insurance
and the railroad companies, will
not stand up for Judgment in the last day,
but those who in them acted righteously will
receive, each for himself, reward, and
those who acted the part of neglect or trick
cry will each for himself, receive con-
demnation.
Unlawful dividends are not clean before
God because there are those associated with
you who grab just as big pile as you do. lie
who CountenanceS the dishonesty of the firm,
or of the corporation, or of the association,
takes upon himself all of the moral liabilities
If the financial institution steals, he steals. II
they 80 into wild specuations, he himself is a
gambler, If they needessly emharrass a cred
itor, he himself is guilty of cruelty. If they
swindle the uninitiated, he himself is a de-
faulter. No financial institution ever had q
money vault strong enough, or credit stanch
enough, or dividends large enough, or policy
acute enough TO hide the Individual sin of its
The old adage, that corporations
have no souls, is misleading. Every corpora
ton has as many souls as it has members.
Again, many business men have been tempt
ed to postpone their enjoyments and duties to
a future season of entire leisure. What a
sedative the Christian religion would be to all
our business men IT, instead OF pOstpontng
its uses to old age or death, they would take
it into the store or factory OF worldly engage
ments now. It is folly to go amid the uncer-
taintes of business life with no God TO help.
A merchant I'M New England village was