The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1903-02-14
A Compromise
With Conscience
Orfginal.1

est OumDer AlNeI years VI stooy VI
the principles of political economy and
OF the workings Of trusts and trades
unions he came to the conclusion that
the foundation Of all good rested with
the individual.
About this time he inherited a great
business. An uncle who had been o
dry goods merchant all his life had died
suddenly without arranging his affairs
and as Cecil was next Of kin and there
were no other heirs he stepped into his
uncle's counting room, hung up his hat
and proceeded to manage the business.
After spending some days in familiar
fzing himself with the details he called
the head Of the undergarment depart.
ment to him and said:
'T see that we are advertising Ger.
tain goods as all wool which we are
selling at less than the cost of mate
rial. How is this? Are they all woolT'
mo, sir. They are part cotton"
"Cease to advertise or to sell them az
all wool hereafter"
But our competitors"-
"Our competitors consciences are not
our consciences. We are only response
Bile for ourselves"
Sylvester turned his revolving chair
to his desk, and the head Of the under.
clothing department retired with the
word Fool" inaudibly uttered.
The next head summoned was the
of the shirt department
arr -~4fz- ~ ~cfI GrlroCfor tfhQf We
are paying a poor sewing girl so low q
price for making a shirt that she can
not possibly gain a living at such work.
You will raise the amount paid 80 per
cent"
"And go out of the shirt business?
Certainly, sir, IL necessary. l do not
propose to force young girls into SIM"
The head Of the shirt department col
| ored and retired In confusion.
Thus did Sylvester proceed to reform
his uncle's business, and at the end OF
the first day he went home feeling b
happiness of one who has righted a
number of wrongs. He was engaged
to an excellent young woman, Miss
Ethel Griggs, who loved him for his no
l Die luCdS, Dul VIZ was Va q I'LL
practical mind herself. He told her
what he had done, and. though she
knew nothing of business, something
whispered to her that it was not likely
that her beloved could step in and re-
form the business of a hard headed old
| man like John Sylvester. She there
| fore cautioned him not to go too fast
-.%t h;c rof0ryn hononQa in S0mp "a SOS
| they might tend to curtail the business
At the same time she admitted that the
reforms were Just and proper. From
talking about the business they entered
upon the matter of how they would
live after marriage and the preparation
for their wedding, which was set for an
early date. They had agreed on a house
the cost of which was $4,000. They
would employ seven servants. besides
the coachman, and had figured upon
spending out of the profits of the bust
ness $4,000 a year. AS this would
leave between $4,000 and $4,000 in
come untouched. their expenditures
would be very moderate. Still, Cecil
felt that he should spend no more be-
cause he had determined to run his
business not only honestly, but without
grinding his employees, and he expect
ed that this would at first curtail the
profits.
Six months passed, during which Ce-
ell Sylvester, successor to John Syives-
ter, continued to raise wages and sell
only goods that were as represented.
His marriage had been deferred till he
could strike a balance at the end OF the
fiscal year and see where he stood. His
store was as full Of buyers as ever, and
the sales were visibly increasing. He
therefore looked forward to the fiscal
statement with great hopefulness that
his reforms had not proved unproita-
BILE. When 1t came in, 1t showed thar
there was a deficit of about $1,000. Syl-
yester noted this and set his teeth.
That evening when he informed his
sweetheart as to the result OF his re-
form she turned a trife pale. He at
tempted to reassure her by saying that
honesty was the best policy and that
the store had now got a start on the
reform principle that would surely tell
for the next year. He tried to explain
to her how he proposed to establish a
very large trade by dealing honestly.
on which the margin, though a very
small percentage, would be very large
in amount. Ethel was not convinced
or well satisfied with the prospect, es-
| pecially as Cecil proposed that, as their
mode Of living was to be based on the
profits of his business, they should de-
fer the wedding for a year.
The year rolled round. during which
the house of Sylvester continued to
pay fair prices for goods and fair
wages to employees. especially the
saleswomen and cashgirls, In he anne
Iteration of whose condition the pro-
prietor was much interested.
At the end of the second fiscal year.
when the head accountant presented
the statement to the proprietor. Syl-
vester turned pale. His capital was
sunk, and for months he had realized
that his business had greatly fallen OH.