The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-05-08
{ RascalS.

1t was bright writer who said that
when piracy was suppressed by the law of
nations the pirate did not go hang himself,
but simply hired a.lawyer and went into
business. For it is fact that there is cur
rent too generally in the business world a
theory and standard of conduct which,
while they do not subject man to the pen
altieS OF the law. are not one whit less rep
rehensible morally than those progressed by
the crews that sailed under the Jolly
Roger" The men who fashion their con.
duct by this rule are the men who accept
the law as the ultimate criterion of right
and wrong; and who are quite satisfied to
hold up their heads as high as their fellows
while they can succeed in keeping clear of
the penitentiary or police court. They are
the men who are known as SMART" and
who while they would not deliberately
break into house to steal. would not have
the slightest cOmpunctiOn about taking. on
legal technicality, property to which they
had no shadow of title. These are the birds
of prey of whom society cannot get rid; and
who give it more trouble in reality than the
criminal classes, because they can carry on
their operations without fear of the police,
and because the unsuspecting has no warn
ing to be on its guard against them.
Pretty nearly everybody has run up
against one of these fellows in some transac-
ton or other. There is the man who repu-
dates debt when he is sure that no writ
ten evidence of it remains. although the
verbal obligation was explicit. There is the
man who secures quit claim deed to prop
erty in which he never had any interest eX-
cept the petty fee paid for signing such
paper, and then proceeds to eXtOrt money
from the real owner under threat of legal
proceedings and cloud on the title. There
is the man who. having obtained lien on
a valuable piece of property. takes remorse-
lessy the pound of flesh stipulated in the
bond, while modern procedure discovers no
righteous judge to snare him in the net he
laid for others. There is the man who, in
all business relations, is slippery and tricky,
trading on his word as part of his capital.
and making his fortune out of the conf
dences of the unsuspecting. We know of
no more despcable or dangerous character
than this. wherever he be found or what
ever be his professions. The world of bus
mess and all our social relations must of
necessity rest mainly upon reliance in per-
SOnal integrity. The law is useful only to
prevent or punish the operations of the pro-
nOunced criminal. 1t cannot protect against
the sharper who knows enough to use it with
out defyng it. and who finds in the conf
dence between man and man his living cap
ital. This is the sort of man to be not only
distrusted, but despised wherever he may
be found. If the thief and murderer repre-
sent war on social organization. he repre-
sents the pestIlence that would destroy it
secretly and fOully. 1t is right to deal with
him merclessly. Society and business and
politics have too long tolerated the offender,
because he managed to throw about his cor
ruptiOn and defOrmty the ragged remnants
of a reputation Ostensibly respectable. Our
public life will own no higher standard I'M
til our private life drums out of it the
sharper who makes the law his tool. Ostra-
cism for the man who deals dishonOrably
with his fellows ought to be as quick and
final as for the woman who fOrgets the law
of virtue.-St. Paul Pioneer Press.