The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-04-30

1
the top. wine adulterated with strychnine.
| hosiery poorly woven, cloths OF domestic
manufacture shining with foreign labels, I'M
ported goods represented as rare and hard to
get, because foreign exchange Is so high,
rolled out on the counter with rnatchless dis
play. Imported, indeed! but from the fac
tory in the next street. A. pattern already
questionable and unstable palmed OF 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 trad
ers their law OF rectitude. There are COM
mercal usages which will net stand the test
of the last day. Yet men in business are apt
to do as their neghbors do. If the majority
of the traders in any locality are lax in prin-
ciple, the commercial code in that commu-
nifty will be spurious and dishonest. It's
hard thing 70 stand close by the law OF right
when your next door neighbor by his loose
ness Of dealing is enabled to sell goods at q
cheaper rate and decoy your customers. Ot
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
i to the landlord whose store he occupies, and
to the clerks who serve him.
There are 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-
,omes virtue by being multiplied and admit
ted at brokers board or merchants e3-
/ change. Because others smuggle few
things in passenger trunks, because others
Jake usury when men are in tight places, be-
cause others deal in fancy stocks, because
others palm OF worthless Endorsements, be-
,auss others do nothing but blow bubbles.
DO not therefore, be overcome OF temptation;
Hollow pretension and fictitious credit and
commercial gambling may awhile prosper,
but the dav Of reckoning cometh, and In ad-
ltion to the horror and condemnation Of
outraged communities the curse OF God will
come, blow after blow. Gods will forever
ind forever is the only standard OF right and
wrong, and not commercial ethics.
Young business man, avoid the first buSl-
less dishonor, aud you will avoid all the rest.
The Captain of q vessel was walking near tns
mouth of river when the tide was low, and
here was long, stout anchor chain, INTO one
If the great links Of which his foot sllppsi
and it began to swell and he could not with
lraw it. The tide began to rise. The chain
could not be loosened nor filed OH IN time,
md a 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
lust one wrong into which you slip may be a
ink of long chain of circumstances from
which YOU cannot be extricated by any IN
zenuity of your own or any help from others,
and the tides will roll over you as they nave
over many When Pompey, the warrior,
wanted 10 take possession of city and they
would not open the gates, he persuaded them
to admit sick soldier. But the sick soldier
after a while got we'll and strong, and he
threw open che 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
mon the moneyed institution to which they
belong. Directors in banks and railroad and
insurance companies sometimes shirk per-
sonal responsibility underneath the action OF
the corporation. And how often, when some
banking house or financial institution ex-
plodes through fraud, respectable men IN the
board of directors say: "Why, thought all
was going on in an honest way, and | am ut
terly confouudei with this nisdemsano:"
The banks and the fire. and life and marine
insurance companies. and the railroad COM
paaies, will not stand up for Judgment In the
last day, but those who in them acted right
eously will receive. each for himself, re-
ward, and those who acted the part OF ne
ylect or trickery will, each for himself, re-
ceive condemnation.
Unlawful dividends are not clean before
God because there are those associated with
you who graz just as big pile as you do
He who countenauces the dishonesty OF the
firm, or of the corporation, or o. the assocla
tion, takes upon himself all Of the moral
liabilities. II the financial institution steals,
he steals. If they go into wild speculations,
he himself is gambler. If they needlessly
embarrass creditor, he himself is guilty OF
cruelty. II they swiudle the uninitiated, he
himself is a defaulter. No financial institu.
ton ever had money vault strong enough, or
credit stanch enough, or dividends large
enough, Or policy acute enough to hide the
Individual sin Of its members. The old
adage that corporations have no souls, ls
misleading. Every corporation has as many
souls as it has members.
Again, many business men have been
tempted to postpone their enjoyments and
duties to future season Of entire leisure.
What sedative the Christian religion would
be to all our business men if, instead of post
poning its uses to old age or death, they
would take it into the store or factory or
worldly engagements now! 1t is folly to 60
amid the uncertainties Of business life with
no God to help.
A merchant in New England village was
standing by horse and the horse lifted his
foot to stamp it in pool o. water; and the
merchant, to escape the splash, stepped into
| the door of an insurance agent, and the agent
said II suppose you have come to renew
your fire insurance" "Oh," said tho ner-
chant, 'sIhad forgotten that" The insur
ance was renewed. and the next day the
house that had been insured was burned.
Was it all accidental that the merchant, to
escape splash from horse's foot, stepped
into the insurance office? No. it was provi-
Dental. And what mighty solace for a busl.
ness man to feel that things are providentlal!
What peace and equilibrium in such con-
sideratton. and what grand thing if all busi-
ness men could realize it!
Many, although now comparatively strait
ened in worldly circumstances, nave goodly
establishment in the future planned OUT
They have in imagination built about twenty
wears ahead house in the country not dltfi-
cult of access from the great town, for they
will often have business, or old accounts to
settle. and investments to look after. The
house is large enough to accommodate all
their friends. The halls are wide, and hung
with pictures of hunting scenes and branch
I Oh anGlerS, anu are COulloi Iooio "tet, oAA
that can be rolled out on the veranda when
the weather is inviting, or set out under
some of the oaks that stand sentinel about
the house, and rustling in the cool breeze,
and songful with the robins.
There is just land enough to keep them in
terested. and its crops of almost fabulous
richness springing up under application OF
the best theories to be found in the agrlcuiI-
tural journals. The farm is we'll stocked with
cattle and horses, and sheep that know the
voice and have kindly bleat when one goes