Evening star., 1901-11-25
FASHIONABLE BILkS.
A Review of Small DishOnesties Prac-
ticed by Some Persons.

From the Brooklyn Eagle
Without a doubt the small dishonesties
of life cause more losses than the big
thefts. They are practiced by people who
would Scorn to do an aVoWedly dishonest
thing and whose opinion of burglars pick
pockets and shoplifters is expressed in
terms of adherence. The small dishonesties
of those who are one or two cents short
in change and who never pay the shortage.
because it is not worth while, who bring
goods through the custom house without
declaration because the government won't
miss the money which Congress has or
dered it's officers to collect, who walk about
a grocery sampling things until the sam
pies amount to half as much as the even
tual purchase, who tire tradesmen into
knocking off legitimate profits, who black
mail them into contributing to church fairs
or giving charity to paupers and tramps
under threat Of Withholding custom who
compel WaSherwOmen and laborerS to
trudge weariIy to them second time for
money due and that could well have been
paid in the first place, but for the SUPPOSE
ton that the time Of these people is of no
consequence.
And 1t must be confessed that in these
matters women are oftener the offenders
than men. They have a keener sense of
thrift, they do not always reason out care
fully the results of the privations they i'm
more than among the opposite sex, so that
1t is occasionally thought necessary to sac
rifice other and more important matters to
dress. A not uncommon instance of this
tendency occurred in Manhattan a few days
ago, when a woman submitted to being
chased from one hotel to another and from
one fiat to another paying more, no doubt,
for moving than the amount of the bill, in
order to avoid service of papers requiring
her to appear in a suit brought by her
dressmaker. Her defense was that she
was poor and could not pay. Her husband
left her but s., 900 or 5000 when he died
and this did not suffice for her needs. But
this fact did not deter her from ordering
several hundred dollars worth of clothing
with snowy lace and trimmings, and then
lodging payment
No doubt she intended, or at least hoped
in scme way, some time. to pay Men usual
ly think of such matters. however, before
they give an order. If one tries to secure
goods for which he knows that he will be
unable to give equivalent he is guilty
Of attempted robbery. 1t is hard for a
woman who has been rich to come down
at once to poor ways of living, and the
woman in this case had a vague cOnceit
that she owed something in the way of
appearance to the circle of society in which
she had moved. But she can never owe so
much to that circle as she owes to the poor
dreSSnaker whom she has biiked, and so
long as she is poor she can never regain
quite the place in her circle that she once
filled. Certainly, if 1t is self-respecting
circle it cannot be expected to admit one
to its sessions who make practice of blk
ing. These happenings would be fewer if
they were more commonly stigmatized by
their true name of theft. The man who de-
clares bankruptcy, and who. after he be-
comes prosperous again. negiects to pay
every dollar of his indebted edness, is legally
protected. but the higher moral law still
declares him a debtor. Pay what you owe,
Is good rule, and II one becomes poor
there is no law to prevent the sufferer from
going to work.