The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-11-03

tense and the affair hasa engaged the
Courts and,.the attention Of public
for days. The public is astounded
over the fact that so many prominent
and heretofore honored men are con-
nected with it. Iuhave read OF few
things inSthe history of my State that
have surprised. me more. The affair
has put me to thinking. Almost every
week l am shocked by the announce
ment through the press that some
prominent man has defaulted, or IN
plain English, stolen out a store or
bank or someubusiness, and in many
of the so-ealied assignment cases it is
simply respectable steatout.
Mr.. WehsterHsays "stealing is the
act Of taking. the property of a person
without his knowledge OF consent. J"
With this, definition | can run hun
dreds Of business firms and thousands
of men into the chaingang. The
honor of.iours. business men. has been
dropping for years-gambling and
stealing are becomiDg'more and more
respectable methods of competition,
tricks of'trade.C Shams, adulterations
and tshoddies,have multiplied in the
business world every year. Futures,
bucketshops, corners and monopolies
are nothing more than gambling and
stealing institutions. The business
firms have tricked and slammed till
they have taught their clerks, and
every store'has TO-. have two or three
ways of checking up each transaction
tnprerent the clerks from stealing, so
that every honest young man is made
to feel like q thief as scon,as he enters
business.
!. The truth is theabusiness meth
DDS ef the times are destroying
truth. and honesty. and rendering
stealing ,mofeurespectable every day.
Honestyis the opposite Of stealing.
Honesty rests On truth and grows out
of truth. An absolutely truthful man
does not make thief, and it is hard
to make an honest manaout of liar.
When truth is disturbed the whole
structure ofscharactert tumbles. Our
business world starts at the manufac-
tory, and how often,does our manufac-
tured articles starttout bearing lie
on their faces, Some Of the finest in
yentions Of the age have been machin-
cry and professions for working in
shoddies and adulterations. The
leather factorypmakes solid stock out
Of poplar, ndwoolen'mills make jeans
out Of cotton, and worn:out clothing.
The tobacco factories can almost cover
the devil himself with a good wrap
per-" The shoe factory makes "hand-
made" shoes ON machine. The bug
gy and carriagefactories use putty and
paint as charity and cover multitude
Of sins. The'ipatent medicine facto-
ries simply sell lies bottled or pow
dered, as required. The lie runs
through all lines of manufactured
goods. Then this lie must be carried
ont by merchant and clerk, SO we be-
come nation of'business liars.
Then society takes up the Ii by
trying to palm off on the public shod-
dies for genuine. The women wear
lies in the hats, and dresses and jew
elry, have lies on their tables. in the
shoddy silver andIchina and cut glass,
have lies on their floors in shoddy car
pets, on their windows in shoddy lace,
in their furniture in stained poplar for
walnut, etc. The little children are
dressed in lies-their. clothing is made
to represent something that it IS not.
The men as well as the women carry
out the lie in their shoes and hats,
jewelry and cravats. saw man the
other day that carried lie in his grip
and in every article of clothing, in
cluding his jewelry and walking cane,
everything representing something
that it was not. This method of COM
mon lying is destroying honesty. We
lift our hat to the fellow who manu-
features or wears counterfeit clothing,
bat we Jail the fellow who makes and
passes counterfeit money.
1t is a. crime to sell lead dollar for
"a silver dollar, but it is all right to
sell brass button for gold button.
It is crime to sell counterfeit
greenback dollar, but it is all right to
sell counterfeit green silk dress for
genuine green silk. Oleomargarine
was sold for nice yellow butter till the
dairy men kicked, then the govern
ment enacted law that every pound
not made of milk should be marked
and sold for what it really was Those