The Penn's Grove record., 1899-07-28
FENNS GROVE, N. j., FRIDAY, JULY %. 1899.

a%cuteness and tact in the sale of goods We
must condemn any process by which II
fabric or product is represented as pos
sesslng 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
inseeurely bound, carpets that %unrayel.
old furniture rejuyenated 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 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 un-
salable palmed off as q new print upon
some country merchant who has come to
town to make his first purchase OF dry
goods and going home with a large stock
OF goods warranted to keep.
Again, business men are often tempted
to make the habits and customs of other
traders their law Of reetitude. There are
commercial usages which will not stand
the test of the last day. Yet men in bust
ness are apt to do as their neighhors 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 n hard thing to stand
close by the law Of right when your nex
door ~neishbor by his looseness OF dealing
Is enabled to sell goods at a 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 1t hard to compete with that
,an1aJnN ~ ruln 10 EAnn1puel.r t., InHt - tha
importer for the goods and to the landlord
whose store he occupies and to tho clerks
who serve him. There are II hundred
practices prevalent in the world
Of traffic which ought never to
become the rule for honest mon. Their
wrong does not make you 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 to
the horror and condemnation of outraged
communities the curse OF God will come
blow for blow. Gods law forever and for
even is the only standard of right and
wrong and not commercial ethics.
Young business man, avoid the first BUSH
ness dishonor, and you will avoid all the
rest. The captain OF n vessel was walking
near the mouth OF a river when the tide
was low, and there wGsa 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 loosened
- III ~ L. As.aG --1 s-ne
called to amputate the limb, but before the
work could be lone the tide rolled over The
victim, and his life was gone. l have to
tell you, young man, that just one wrJng
into which you may slip may be a link of a
long cham of circumstances from which
you cannot be extricated by my ingenuity
of your own or any help from others, and the
tides will roll over you as they have over
many.
Again, business men sometimes
tempted to throw off peri ial RESPONSE
bllity, shifting it to tho lstitution to
which they belong. Dir ors in banks
and railroad and insuri @ companies
sometimes shirk persona. responsibility
underneath the action OF the corporation.
And how often, when some banking house
or financial institution Lc1plodas through
fraud respectable men III the board OF
directors say, "Why, l thought all was
going on in an honest way, and | am ut
terly COMPOUNDED with this demeanorl'
Tho banks and the tire and life and
marine insurance companies and the rail-
road companies will not stand up for iudg-
ment in the last day, but those who In
them acted righteously will receive, each
for himself, n reward, and those who acted
the part OF neglect or triekery will, each
for himself, receive a condemnation.
Unlawful dividends are not clean before
God, because there are those associated
with you who grab just as big n 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 financial institutions
steal, he steals. If they 80 into wild specu-
~latIons, he himself Is a gambler. IL 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 AGATE
enough to hide the individual sins of its
members. The old adage that corporations
have no souls is mislea ling. Every cor
poration has rs many souls as it has men,
bers.
Again many business men have been
tempted to postpone their enjoyments
duties to n future season Of entire leisure.
What q sedative the Christian religion
would be to all our business men IL, In
stead OF %postponing its uses to old age or
death, they would take 1t into the store or
factory or worldly engagement howl! 1t Is
folly to go amid the uncertainties OF BUSH
ness life with no God to help. A mer-
chant II a New England village was
standing by u horse, and The horse
lifted Lis foot to stamp 1t in q 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 have come to renew your Are
nsnraace?" ooh" said the mere hant, 81
had forgotten that" The insurance was
renewed, and the neXt day the house that
had been Insured was burned. Was it NIL
accidental that the merchant, to escape q
splash from u horses foot, stepped into the
insurance office? No; 1t was provldential.
Aud what a mighty solace for a business
man to feel that things are providentinll
What peace and equilibrium In such n con.
slderation, and what a grand thing II all
business men could realize i'll
Many, although now comparatively
straitened In worldly circumstances. have
q goodly establishment in the future
planned out. Their best treasures in
heaven, they will go up and take possess
sion of them. The tolls Of business life.
which racked their brains and rasped
their nerves for so many years, Will nave
forever ceased. "There the wicked cease
from troubling, and the weary are at rest"
uN