Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1899-08-11
Tie Weekly Weekly Independent.
AUGUST Il. 1880
COMMERCIAL DISHONESTY.

..... 40 #.HfH
Moralists who have studied the
paths chosen by national decline have
Of late years called attention 20 the
disturbed sense OF values that poll.
tics and enterprise have created. We
are so in the habit Of nssociating o
al delinquency III the community
with violence end passion, and rest
ing in the convicnon that the police
court will hold il in check that we
have overlooked tie subtle dcmoral.
izatioD OF the public in legislation
and trade. Dishonesty is no longer
u Captain Kidd, aud we il it were it
would not be half rs dangerous as u
Talleyrand. 1t both redecms and
DISCUSSES itself with smartness. 1t
cannot take your individual spoons
without running the risk OF q police
mar, but it car take your communal
rights and get a diploma for doing 1t.
1t no longer sells you wooden nut.
megs, bu, it puts plated spoons in
your package OF coffee and achieves
the brilliant c C Of making you
drink chicory III hopes of Il prize.
The astounding fact has come TO
light that a man who acts conscien.
tiously and almost piously with re-
gard to his neighbor will net like
a thief with regard to his party and
not know it. He would rather dicthan
roll the widow or the orphan directly
bnt he will NOW do@n whole ranks OF
them legislatively and not rufIle u
feather OF his conscience. Not long
ago the London chamber OF com
merce in a sudden ethical mood open
ed an inquiry into the payment q;
secret commissions for corrupt pur-
poses in the course OF trade. The re-
suit OF the investigation rather as
founded the committee OF old gentle
men who conducted it. They were
amazed at the moral code THAI gov
erned to a great extent the cOmpet-
tive commercial men. Entcrprising
bribery turned up in all directions
wearing a SNUG and innocent face.
II was found that druggists paid se-
cret commissions TO physicians ON
their prescriptions, amounting in
some cases from - to 30 per cent OF
the price paid b.. the 1t
was found that architects engineers,
contractors and bosses expected and
generally got n fee from the builders
and investors and workers in addi-
ton to their professional fees. Ii was
found that in the one ca5t OF !ubri.
eating oils used on the railroads the
trainmen were bribcd to declare that
n kind OF oil was full OF grit and
worthless. 1t was found that the
bishop who represented morality III
IN institutional way, winked at dis
honesty in d commercial way by let.
ting his butler receive all kinds OF
considerations from tradesmcn whose
goods he admitted into the bishop's
palace. With this astounding view
before the eye one secs that there is
only N way out OF the mess, and it
Is not n new way but a very old way
and consists OF nothing more than a
re-establishment of the ancient sense
OF rcctitude and fair dealing in every
pursuit OF life and which insists that
a man shall be just rs honorable in
the market place az in the family
circle. After all, Emerson put his
finger on the remedy when he said in
effect: -Every man takes rare that
his brother does not rob him. But
there comes II time when he takes
care that he does not rob his brother.
Then all goes well. lie has turned
his apple cart into a chariot of the
SUNK.