Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-05-23

for the attributes OF fair dealing, ex-
act Justice, and genuine altruism Inc
command Thou shalt not steal,' with
Its variations, does not contain all
OF the negative law and gospel apple
able to modern business. In business
dealings. Thou shalt not attempt to
deceive is the eleventh commandment,
and its place Is up towards the head
OF the original decalog. The old
adage, Having bought the devil. the
devil 4 must SELL Is certainly one not
at present contained in the business
code Of morals A merchant, for ex-
ample, can no more consistently dis
pose OF worthless goods under the
brand of representation of first quality
than he can pass counterfeit for gem
uine money. Either transaction would
be an offense against his fellow men.
1.-The farmer must market his small
potatoes, but they should not all be at
the bottom OF the bin. The fruit raiser
| must sell his inferior peaches, but they
are not to be entirely hidden from
the purchasers sight by the luscious
specimens at the top OF the basket.
The manufacturer must dispose OF his
culls. but they are to bear the dis
tinctive mark Of their grade. The mer-
chant must sell second and third quail
tiles of goods to meet the requirements
Of his customers and the competition
OF other dealers, but those goods are
to be sold upon their merits. 49,
A Few Kinds Of Stealing.
Ethics as applied to business Is, at
once, more comprehensive and moro
definite than that quality which the
general public adopts for every day
use. In business, corporation organ
lied under the laws Of the state has
the same property rights that are &C
corded to individual ownership; and
those rights are to be as fully recog-
nized and respected In the case OF a
corporation as in that of the individ-
ual-wherein business rules Outlines
differ from the rules in practice by the
general public. A business man. as
such. would no sooner cheat or de-
fraud q railroad company than he
would q college professor. A citizen.
as such. who Is model of upright
ness, has been known to ride down
town on q street car, and. II over
looked by the conductor, tail. without
apparent compunction OF conscience to
cancel his Indebtedness for services
rendered by the company; and vet.
wil1ully neglecting to pay street car
fare Is as much sin against good
morals as to steal a nickel from q
blind beggar, but Is not so repulsive.
"A merchant who would knowingly
| undervalue his importations Of mer-
chandise, and thereby defraud the
government Of portion of its reve-
nue., should and would justly be con-
sidered a cheat and criminal; while
occasionally, at least. an individual
who would be shocked were his integ-
rity called in question, will, upon re-
turning from abroad, declare that he
has not exceeded the 500 limit of
purchases, fixed by the government as
free Of duty, while his trunks contain
new articles which he would not be
willing to sell for many times that
sum. The traveller quiets his COM
science with the thought that the law
was not made to cover cases like his
own; that Uncle Sam had no inten-
| ton of depriving him Of the privilege
Of making his personal attire lit
| tie smarter at the low prices pre-
vailing in London; or Of bringing pres
ents from Paris to the members of his
| immediate family and a few friends
without paying tribute to an immoder-
ately rich government. The travel
er's diagnosis Of the case, so far as
| his dear Uncle Sam Is concerned, may
be quite correct, but he has evidently
overlooked his signed declaration
made before landing from the ship
and the further consideration that he
is breaking the law Of the land. l am
not attempting to belittle or excuse
these so-called minor offenses, but to
| emphasize the correctness OF my
statement regarding the comprehen-
siveness of business rules Of ethics.
"Under these rules. accepting a
| trust conferred by others for the pro-
lection Of their interests and using
that trust for the personal gain Of the
trustee, is not only reprehensible. but
dishonest. For example, were the
stockholders of railway corporation
| to elect me one of it's directors, and
were so elected, to permit the knowl-
edge gained thru such dictatorship to
! influence me In increasing my hold
ings Of that company's stock, even
thru purchases in the open market,
would be guilty Of a betrayal OF my
trust. In other words, should I use q
knowledge Of conditions acquired
while acting as trustee Cby virtue OF
my election to the board of directors)
in purchasing your stock below the
price at which you would have sold
1T had you possessed the information
I gained thru acting as your repre-
sentative, I would be guilty of wrong
doing-of dishonesty-even tho the
Identity of the buyer or seller was
never disclosed.
II repeat, in effect, that when man
has accepted a dictatorship in cor
porati On, he cannot justify any per-
sonal transactions in the stock Of that
corporation which are prompted by
official information which has not
been communicated to all the stock
holders. His acceptance Of the office
constitutes an obligation-an implied