Bisbee daily review., 1905-07-09
soolETY A slo MAsauERADE.


 The following letter. recently re csivee at this office, is well worthy of the space that is here given to it;
 Editor Los Angeles Examiner
 Would you kindly publish your opinion Of the following ethical ques- tin;
 -My brother and myself are hay ing an argument on the justification iof falsshoods and pretense.
 He contends that present social conditions are such that if one is not rich and educated the only way is to try to create the impression that one is wealthier and wiser than he really is
 He also contends that these false hoods are right, since they have a ten deney 10 place one higher up on ,ne social ladder.
 -I hold that such things are wrong. and that the life based upon them is no better than moral blindness.
 q have met so many young men from whom I have heard the following expression: If I only had a fraction of the money and social standing peO- pie think ! have!'
 You can awaken a good many fool ish people. and by so doing you will deserve honest praise
 Respectfully yours.
 IN. L."
 It may as well be said, On the start that IN L.'s" letter goes to the very heart Of the greatest vice Of the so- called civilized" world of today.
 Not only in this country, but in every other land within the pale of Christendom. the men and women who should be striving after truth and honesty are living the lives of dissenl- blers and hypocrites.
 Life is getting 10 be a great big masquerade in which each one is try ing his or her best to deceive the others Honesty, fTanbness. sincerity. the opea-eyed Truth which looks at you without blinking. are becoming rarer than flve-ieaved. and the recognized order of the day is to lie and decelv~ as persistently and as successfully as ypu can, Paint. pretense. bluff. bluster-in | D word. lying and hypocrisy-haye ! iriven the old-fashioned Truth ano i Square Dealing to the woods, and In stead of the face to face and heart to 1 heart way Of living that once prevail l a. we have the great game of Peek i ,-boo, in which no one knows whose l -olce he is listening to. or whose eyes i h n the dough faces. Of course. it is all wrong, radically. | wrong.
 The Qniy right thing to do is Co be ! lonest. sincere. true. To depart from i his grand oil rule is to depart from that seif-respeet which is a mans or . wOman's nobiest and most pleasur- l ible possession l. IS no disgrace to be poor; II IS ao disgrace to be denied access to he social wniri; but it is a disgrace ! b be Q hypocrite and liar, to he 10 be what you are not
 Instead of catering to the mIsera- lle materiahsm of the age. we should strive against it with ali the strength 1 f our souls
 N. L." is right, and ! glory in the tand he has taken He is not will ng 10 be an ape. He will be content vith being nothing less than Man. And what is a Man? He is not the .oat that he wears, he is not the 'ank account that he may happen to rave, he is not the rung in the social adder" that he may chance to stand in-he is hinlsell-the truth, the man hood, the worth Of brain and heart hal he may happen to stand for
 And shan a man be foolish enough i Q turn liar and hypocrite just for the .ase Of being admitted to the society d other liars aad hypocrites2 l. Dissembis long enough, and adroit r y enough. and you may at last sue .eed in becoming q footIieker to the .ich and the fashionable-bu don't -oa see that YOU will still be a foot icAer-a nlenial of the menials-the i, most degraded of the degraded2
 How much better # is 10 be a Man \ -honest. high-minded. independent, l7iding your head ID with the proud st of thsns and scorning. for any |; consideration, to be other than you rel
 Society Ie dashed, The best .cciety for any one is the society or Is own honest thought. the empany f his own rcck-ribbed self respect. rate sp.rited9 Well, I could not tes- ify from experience. I have kissed
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