The record-union., 1897-01-10

OF the day are carried on upon faith in
personal integrity, and the binding OBJ
legation of honor, as well as upon tangi-
Bile security.
Recently, at the meeting of the Amer
ican Economical Association at Balti-
more, ex-Secretary Fairchild had occa-
sion to express himself upon this sub
Ject as applied to the inventor. He gave
it as the result of his experience and
observation as a man and as an official
that the inventor has to rely upon the
honor and depend upon the honesty of
the officers of corporations. 1t was
added that very rarely indeed are in
ventors deceived in this reliance.
The New York Mail and Express"
remarling upon this statement, we'll
says:
The inventor, protected in the first
instance by the patent laws against the
theft of his invention, in the final re-
ceipt of his fair share of profit, must
depend upon the uprightness and hon-
esty of capitalists who will not juggle
their contracts or violate their agree
ments.
In the same way all business rela-
tions, however guarded by law, how
ever protected by statutes, must rely
for their ultimate value upon personal
uprightnesss and honesty. Without
confidence in those qualities, no enter
prise could flourish, no business could
be successfully prosecuted. These vir-
fnpS find their in the DpCalOgu6,
and form the sturdy basis of all trade
and industry. When they are clouded
by distrust or dimrned by suspicion,
the wheels of commerce are clogged.
This trust being essential, it is placed
and is rarely misplaced. The business
heart of the nation is, then, ON the
whole honest and upright. In dealings
between business men honor is less tar
nished than it was in the days when
knights were belted and physical fear
ruled Among our literary men honor Is
of high standard, and it has found ex-
preston in laws they have promoted
for protection of the products of brain.
Among our professional men it may be
said that the code of honor is we'll
maintained and enforced without the
aid Of law. In industrial ranks trades
unions and industrial associations have
gradually been improving the stand
ards, so that it is fair to say that the
Industrial people of the land are as
honest as any other class and need not |
blush to be compared with their own in |
any time past
What we have accomplished in the |
matter of enfranchising our people and |
isi bettering the ballot system alone are |
sufficient to prove that such results do |
not spring from dishonest purpose or |
that which Is capable of conceiving |
such purpose. Where, then, is the |
ground ON which to stand and assert |
that we are dishonest nation? Where
in has the nation as a political body |
cheated willfully and corruptly? 1t Is |
very true that We have as a nation per-
petrated wrongs, cruelties and injus-
tice by neglect and slow movement to
justice. But these have not been In |
the true sense dishonest acts. Some po
ltical methods do proceed upon ignoble |
levels, but there is consciousness of the |
fact Defalcation of public funds has |
steadily decreased in the Federal Gov |
ernment, and punishment is now in |
ficted for official malfeasance where |
formerly it went unpunished. The Gov
ernment has been harsh and unjust in |
i Tt 1,aa, al
in it's treatment of the Indian tribes. |
1t has failed to pay where debt was |
due when it had full ability, and has
permitted honest petitioners for relief |
gray and go to the grave neglected. |
But this is not dishonesty, but were re-
suits of neglect and culpable procrasu-
nation.
The woman who delivered herself SO
confidently of the expression that we
are dishonest nation spoke from ig-
norance and slapped truth in the face.
For it would have been impossible for
a dishonest nation to have done for
woman what this has done for the sex
The status of woman in America is in
itself a complete refutation of this
Uomans charge; for it will not be de-
MED that nowhere else has woman been
SO lifted up as In this land, and no
where has so much been done for her
as in and by the nation one of her sex
denounces as dishonest, amidst the
plaudits of auditors quite as thought
less as she was rash
No, ours is not a dishonest nation.
This is not a dishonest generation. On
the contrary, it has good reason
to claim that it has made advances
along all lines of moral improvement,
business integrity and national better
ment 1t has broadened human rights,
lifted up the fallen and freed the en-
slaved; upheld the arms of the courts,
provided against new crimes as they
sanitary lines; greatly moved forward
in preventive medicine, in public relief
and private charity; immensely added
to momentum in all educational activ-
tiles. introduced reforms In hundreds
of directions where needed and accom-
plished in charitable and humane work
more than was achieved in five hun
dred years preceding our national birth.
Such works do not proceed out of a dis
honest nation.
Under the fear that pending tariff
revision there will be rushed into the