Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-08-31

great capitalist as WIFI the numOle
trader seated behind the counter of the |
little country store. We have all felt |
upon our hot cheeks the baleful touch |
of their infectious breath. They ride |
down with us when we go shopping In |
the morning. They come home with |
us when we turn our backs upon the |
Ass offices at night.
Falsehoods in the business world! |
They figure not only In the transac-
tons of buyers and sellers, but in the
declarations of the taxpayer. Here
comes the county assessor. How much
is your property worth? "Oh," you
answer, IL a farmer, mot much. /
hardly made living off the place last
year. My crops barely met expenses.
The house is simply a white elephant
on my hands. l would get rid of It If l
could. Put it down, say, for $1,000
The assessor departs. About six months
later a railroad corporation wishes to
have the right of way through your
property. The representative of that
road comes to you. How much IS
your property WORTH oh" you an
swer, II do not want to sell under any
conditions. This is the finest farm
land in all this region. Besides. the
place has for me sentimental as well
as an intrinsic value. My father was
born here. My children were born
here. Well. If l must, l must. That
farm and that old homestead are worth
at least $4,000. They are cheap at
that" There are your two answers.
Why the discrepancies? Why did you
make one statement to the assessor
and another to the railroad corpora
ton? Did you lie first? Did you lie
last? Did you lie both times?
God Abhors Lying.
Fire insurance adjusters meet with
the same kind of lying. The man who
has solemnly declared to the county
commissioners that his personal hold
ings are Of little value discovers after
they have been burned that they were
worth a fortune and demands that the
fire insurance company compensate
him on that basis. False estimates and
| fraudulent Misrepresentation, whether
made In the assessors Office or to fire
insurance adjuster or by the merchant
| to the customer or the customer to the
merchant, all belong to the same cate
CORY. They are lies. They are the ut
terances Of false tongues, and God
has recorded his adherence and his
condemnation of all intentional verbal
Misrepresentation. Whether behind
store counter or over church pulpit let
your answers be yea, yea, and nay,
nay" A lie is just as black and fatal
tossed as shuttlecock between the
two battledoors of buyer and seller as
though it were the deathknell Of an
Ananias and a Sapphira falling at the
feet of an apostolic denunciator.
Falsehoods in the political world:
Oh, how many! Like the seventeen
year locusts. they never entirely depart
from region. They, however, swarm
most at certain seasons of the year
They are especially numerous and
virulent at a municipal or state or
presidential election. The ballot box
is their footstool A national conven-
ton to nominate a president is their
glorification. Political falsehood will
take the record Of the purest and best
public man that ever lived and abso-
lutely bedaub 1t over with scandals
and false accusations. They lied about
Washington and Jefferson and John
Quincy Adams and Lincoln and Hayes
and Garfield and Mckinley. But,
though the concocters and utterers of
political falsehoods may never tire Of
Safeguarding and misrepresenting our
h. 4,
only reached when, without just cause,
they drag into the political mire the
wives and the children of the men
whom they would indirectly attack. In
this generation the family of any pub
lie man is never able, like Cesar
wife. to live above suspicion. All, then
l wonder not that some of our public
men become bitter and lose their faith
in mankind. l wonder not that many
a public man is tempted to carry his
political hatreds down to the grave
When Andrew Jackson was a very ole
man he wished to join the church and
be baptized at her affairs. When he ap
peared before the church officers the
minister asked him this question. Gen
eral, before you come into our fellow
ship will you forgive all your politica
enemies as you would have Christ for
give your" Yes" answered Jackson
What! Alp The old expression
thought a moment. Then the aged
conqueror who once defended New Or
leans raised his head. and. with fash
ing eye and scornful lip. replied, Eyes
all except the merciless scoundrels wh'
have lied about my dead wife" Coz
. pity the honest man who in public lif
is having his heart gashed open by tn
, attacks made upon the characters o
his loved ones. Truly, then. as at tn
cross, an ungrateful people are offering
him a crown of thorns instead of
crown of treasured gold
q Untruth Is CowardIy.
o A lie is a lie, against whomsoeve
n told A lie is especially coWardIy whe