Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-08-24

grasp, and a voice will sound through their
soul, "Not farthing, thou peggared
spiritl"
And the Judgment will come, and they
business iniquities of lifetime will gather
around them, saying, "Do you remember
this?" and "Do you remember that?" And
clerks that they compelled to dishonesty
and runners and draymen and bookkeepers
who saw behind the scenes will bear testi-
mony to their nefarious deeds, and some
vlrtuouS soul that once stood aghast at the
splendor and power Of these business men
will say, "Alas, this is all that is left OF
that great firm that occupied block with
their merchandise and overshadowed the
city with their influence and made right
the CALLING fire Of avarice apd crime.''
While we admire and approve Of all
acuteness and tact in the sale of goods we
must condemn any process by which
fabric or product is represented as pos
ssessing a Value which it really, does not
have. Nothing but sheer falsehood can
represent as perfection boots that rip,
silks that speedily lose their luster, cali
Goes that Immediately wash out, stoves
that crack under the first hot fire, books
insecurely bound, carpets that unravel,
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 top, wine adulterated with strychnine,
hosiery poorly woven, cloths of domestic
manufacture shining with foreign labels,
imported goods represented rs rare and
hard to get because foreign exchange
Is SO high rolled out on the counter with
matchless display. Imported, indeed! but
from the factory in the next street. A
pattern already unfashionable and un-
salable 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 ard customs of other
traders their law OF rectitude There are
commercial usages which will not stand
the test OF the last day. Yet men in busi-
ness are apt to do as their neighbors do.
II the majority of the traders in any local
ity are lax in principal, the commercial
code in that community will be spurious
and dishonest. 1t is a 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 cheaper rate
and decoy your customers. OF course, you
who promptly meet all your business en-
gagements, 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 and to the landlord
whose store he occupies and to the clerks
WHO StENS uln. 1ueIt uIc IL uuEuISl
practices prevalent in the world
of traffic which ought never to
become the rule for honest men. Their
wrong does not make your right Sin
never becomes virtue by being multiplied
and admitted at brokers' board or mer-
chants exchange. Because Others smuggle
a few things in passenger trunks, because
Others take usury when men are in tight
places, 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 reckoning cometh, and in addition 10
the horror and condemnation of outraged
communities the curse Of God will come
blow for blow. Gods law forever and for
ever is the only standard OF right and
wrong and not commercial ethics.
Young business man, avoid the first busi-
ness dishonor, and you will avoid all the
rest. The captain of vessel was walking
near the mouth of a river when the tide
was low, and there was long stout anchor
chain, into one OF the great links OF which
his foot slipped and it began to swell, and
hecould not withdraw it. The tide began
to rise. The chain could not be loosened
nor filed off in time, and 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. / have to
tell you, young man, that just one wrong
into which you may slip may be link OF
long chain OF circumstances from which
you cannot be extrlcated by any ingenuity
of your own or any help from Others, and the
tides will roll over you as they have over
many.
Again, business men are sometimes
tempted to throw off personal responsi-
biity, shifting it to the institution to
which they belong. Directors in banks
and railroad and insurance companies
sometimes shirk personal responsibility
underneath the action of the corporation.
And how often, when some banking house
or financial institution explodes through
fraud respectable men in the boari of
directors say, why, I thought all was
going on in an honest way, aud l am ut
terly confounded with this demeanor!'
The banks and the fire and life and
marine insurance companies and the rail-
road companies will not stand up for Judg-
ment in the last day, but those who in
them acted righteously will receive, each
for himself, a reward, and those who acted
the part of neglect or trickery Will, each
for himself, receive condemnation.
Unlawful dividends are not clean before
God, because there are those associated
with you who grab just as big pile as you
do. He who countenances the dishonesty
of the firm or of the corporation or asso-
citation takes upon himself all the moral
liabilities. Ii the Hnanclal INSTITUTIONS
steal, he steals. If they go into wild specu-
lations, he himself is a gambler. If they
needlessly embarrass a creditor, he himself
is guilty of cruelty. II they swindle the
uninitiated he himself is a defrauder. No
financial institution ever had a money vault
strong enough, or credit staunch enough,
or dividends large enough, or policy acute
enough to hide the individual sins Of its
members. The old adage that corporations
have no souls is misleading. Every cor
poration has as many souls US it has men,
bers.
Again many business men have been
tempted to postpone their enjoyments and
duties to q future season of entire leisure.
What a sedative the Christian religion
would be to all our business men if, in
stead of postponing its uses to old age or
deeth, they would take it into the store or
factory or worldly engagement nowl 1t is
folly to go amid the uncertainties OF busi-
ness life with no God to help. mer-
Chant in a New England village was
standing by horse, and the horse
lifted his foot to stamp it In pool
of water, and the merchant, to escape
the splash, stepped into the door OF an
insurance agent, and the agent said, II
suppose you la come to renew your fire
nsnrance?" "Oh," said the mere hant, 81
had forgotten that,o The insurance was