The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1899-1900, 1899-07-26

anu eyes DlOOuSHOb Lie Oulcr Bhbcb VI
hell open to let in the victims. The
wings of lost souls fit among the lights.
and the steps of the carousers sound
with the rumbing thunders of the lost.
Farewell to all the sanctities of home!
Could mother, sister, father, slumber-
ing in the inland home, In some vision
of that night catch glimpse of the
ruin wrought Ihey woull rend ont their
hair by the roots and bite the tongue
till the blood spurted, shrieking out:
God save him!"
What, suppose you, will come upon
such business establishments? and
there are hundreds of them in the
cities. They may boast of fabulous
sales, and they may have an unprece-
dented run Of buyers, and the name of
a house may be terror to all rivals, and
from this thrifty root there may spring
up branch houses in other cities, and
all the partners of the firm may move
into their mansions and drive their full
blooded span, and the families may
sweep the street with the most elegant
apparel that human heart ever wove
or earthly magnifcence ever achieved.
But curse is gathering surely for
those men, and if it does not seize hold
of the pillars and in one wild ruin bring
down the temple of commercial glory it
will break up their peace, and they will
tremble with sickness and bloat with
dissipations, and, pushed to the preci-
pice of this life, they will try to hold
back and cry for help, but no help will
come, and they will clutch their gold
to take it along with them, but it will
be snatched from their grasp and
voice will sound through their soul:
"Not farthing, thou beggarded spir-
it," And the judgment will come, and
they will stand aghast before it, and all
the business iniguities of lifetime will
gather around them, saying: "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 virtuous 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 mer-
chandise and overshadowed the city
with their influence and made right
eousness and truth and purity fall un-
der the CALLING fire of avarice and
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
possessing value which it really does
not have. Nothing but sheer falsehood
can represent as perfection boots that
rip, silks that speedily lose their luster,
calicoes that Immediately wash out,
stoves that crack under the first hot
fire, books insecurely bound, carpets
that unrayel, old furniture reiuyenated
with putty and glue and sold as having
been recently manufactured, gold
watches made of brass, barrels of fruit,
the biggest apples on top, wine adul-
terated with strychnine, hosiery poorly
woven, cloths of domestic manufacture
shining with foreign labels, imported
goods represented as 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 questionable and
unstable palmed off as n 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 tempt
ed to make the habits and 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 business are apt to do as
their neighbors do. If the majority of
the traders in any locality are lax in
principle, the commercial code of that
community will be spurious and dis
honest. 1t is hard thing to stand close
by the law of right when your next door
neighbor, by his looseness # dealing, is
enabled to sell goods at cheaper rate
and decoy your customers. OF course
you who promptly meet all your bust
ness engagements, paying when you
promise to pay, will find it hard to COM
pete with that merchant who is hope
lessly in debt to the importer for the
goods and 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 become the rule for hon
est men. Their wrong does not make
your right. Sin never becomes virtue
by being multiplied and admitted at
brokers' board or merchants exchange.
Because Others smuggle few things
in passenger trunks, because others
take usury when men are in tight
places, because others deal in fancy
stocks, because others palm off worth
less Endorsements, because others do
nothing but blow bubbles, do not, there
fore, be overcome of temptation. Hol-
low pretentions and fictitious credit
and commercial gambling may awhile
prosper, but the day of reckoning
cometh, and in addition to the horror
and condemnation of outraged com
munities the curse of God win come,
blow after blow. Gods law forever and
forever is the only standard Of right
and wrong and not commercial ethics.
Young business man, avoid the first
business dishonor, and you will avoid
all the rest. The captain of vessel
was walking near the mouth of river
when the tide was low, and there was a
long, stout anchor chain, into one of
the great links of which his foot
slipped, and it began to swell, and he
could not withdraw it. The tide began
to rise. The chain could not be loos-
ened nor filed off in time, and a surgeon
wns called TO amputate the limb, but