Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-10-19
ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE
DECIDES PREvAR,cArioN 70
NOT LAW VIOLATION.
MEN CAN LIE. WITH IMMUNITY
IN BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS
Cedar Rapids Merchant Sought to Have
Revoked Licenses Of optemstrists
Who Purchased Goods and Then
Forgot Promises to Pay-NovsI opin-
ion BY Assistant Attorney General.

4
law. according to an opinion that has
just been issued from the office of the
attorney general, by Nels ]. Lee, spe-
cial counsel.
While 1t is not the policy OF the law
and the courts to give legal sanction
! to lying in the affairs of business, it
is not every untruth which can afford
the basis of legal right or legal rem
edy.
"The Psalmist said in his haste. ="
reads the opinion, that all men are Ii
ars, which is respectable evidence Of
the fact that lying was recognized
evil in that remote time and not one OF
modern origin. The evil has tiourished
in every age and every cline and from
the beginning has challenged the at
tention Of philosopher, altruist and
priest. 1t seems to be an Unborn weak
ness or frailty of the flesh and can be
accounted for by some only by an ac-
ceptance of the doctrine of the total
depravity of the human race and that
society's full and Anal emancipation
from this and other recognized wrongs
will not be complete until the bene
ficient scheme which is the complement
Of the doctrine Of total depravity has
been worked out and the Kingdom of
God firmly established in the hearts
Of all men,
Cedar Rapids Man Complained.
The opinion has just been received
in the office Of the state board of
health in response to an inquiry made
by j. c. McMasters. of Cedar Rapids.
a manufacturer of supplies for opti-
clans. The state law relative to those
who shall be permitted to practice
optosnetry says license may be re-
voked for violation Of the law, in
competency, immortality or inebriety."
This Cedar Rapids manufacturer con-
seived the rather commercial idea that
a man who doesn't pay his supply
bills" Is immoral and asked the state
department of health to lay down the
rule that unless optometrists paid him
their bills their licenses might be re-
voked~ on the ground of immortality.
The question was passed on to the at
torney general for an opinion and that
office has promptly ruled that in this
connection lying Ia not immoral. Con-
tinuing Mr.. Lee says:
Il do not intend in this opinion UNI
necessarily to sermonize or moralize
but have merely endeavored by what
has been said to indicate the imprac-
ticability Of the law taking cognizance
Of every act which is a departure from
the highest standard of ethics in bus
mess and social life. AS I have point
ed out I do not think it was the in
tention Of the law makers in enacting
the statute in question to make the
non-payment Of debts or the telling Of
an untruth by one granted a certificate
under the provisions Of the act, the
ground for the revoca ton Of such GER
tifcate. Eminent law writer's say that
10 immoral which Is hostile to the well
fare Of the general public: or is any
act which oontravenes the divine COM
nands or the social duties. It could
not be justly said that the failure to
pay for goods when promised is an act
which is Of itself hostile to the welfare
Of the general public in the sense of the
law. II goods were sold to an optomet-
rist on such Misrepresentation Of facts
as would constitute a false pretense it
would be a crime under the statute and
such certificate would be revocable be-
cause violation of the law is made a
ground for revocation. In business mat
ters people usually deal with each
other at arms length and every state
ment that 10 made by the tradesmen
to induce the purchase OF his wares or
by the customer as to when he will pay
therefor is not always accepted at par.
The seller is not obliged to extend
credit and ii he does SO it Is upon his
own judgment and at his own risk and
il he err in hts Judgment or the conf
dence reposed be misplaced it is not
a hard rule which requires him to bear
the consequences.
while it Is not the policy Of the law
and the courts to give legal sanction to
lying in the affairs of business, yet in
the eyes of the law the uttering of an
,untruth in and of itself is not inn
moral"