The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-03-27

I.
$40 week? IL seems TO me that vo,,
need trustworthy person for that
service. and trustworthy person
should command more money"
"oh, we don't take any account n,
honesty. There are insurance com.
panies who attend to that"
"And IL appropriate the funds I col.
lect?"
'"rhey will secure Your arrest and
put you In jail"
Carleton looked at the man in as.
constituent.
do you think. Mr.. Gregory. that To
deny a man your confidence is con.
ducive TO honestly"
ITO speak frankly. do not"
Then why do you refuse to trust
me?"
Because IL is the system under
which all men work. We cannot do
business under different conditions
from other concerns"
May j consider your offer over
night"
"Yes. IL you like" with some sur.
prise
Carleton had been born OF Christian
parents, who had taught him TO be
scrupulous In the matter OF 'mine and
thine" never to tell lie and TO con-
slider himself required to deal honor.
ably by all men. This offer of a posi
ton with an insurance policy on his
honor was bitter pill for him to
swallow, but he must make a living,
and the next morning he went to Mr..
Gregory and told him that he was
ready to go TO work.
Very well; go upstairs and have
your photograph taken"
Photograph! What's that for?"
"a custom of these times. All our
employees are photographed If they
run away with our funds and we have
a likeness their capture is easier"
'Do you mean. Mr. Gregory. that you
keep a rogues' gallery of your clerks?"
mot at all. We keep the gallery.
and it is for the individual to make a
rogue of himself"
Carleton stood looking at the gentle
man with eyes wide open. Finally he
said:
81 was brought up by a father and n
mother who would have considered it
dangerous to me not to give me their
implicit confidence. You are treating
your fellow men as they dared not
treat me. and by doing so if you are
not encouraging dishonesty you are
surely paving the way for it, IL / &C.
ceded TO your terms l should consider
that so far as you are concerned had
n right TO beat you IL 1 could This
would be the first step to my own deg
radiation. The next would be to beat
the rest of the world IL could do so
without risk TO myself. / am much
obliged for your offer. but cannot ac-
Cept It, ! was born at a time when all
Ihen were trusted till they proved un-
worthy. l came 10 my youth at a time
when my countrymen were acting upon
Tie highest principle OF honor i'm Civ
Ing their lives for their fellow men.
Suppose that vast army who died on
the battlefield and I'm the hospital
should rise from their graves and con-
front you. Would they not shudder at
the standard of honor which has re-
placed the one under which they gave
up their llves?''
Mr. Gregory listened to these words.
spoken by one who had really but just
renewed his existence from that period
when the youth OF the country had
lived under higher standard Of honor.
a standard of truest manhood, and
when he had finished said:
"The years. the centuries. are rolling
on. The standard OF one age Is not the
standard of another. But while we
must preserve our individual honor we
must submit to that which exists about
us.
"You have passed with but single
step over forty years. You find that
the system, or. rather, the lack OF sys-
tenn, of that time has been replaced by
another The youth of 81 would
have scorned TO accept a position
wherein provisions were taken to avoid
loss by their dishonesty and to facii-
tate their capture IL they betrayed n
trust. We have not now the youth OF
81. We have the youth OF the TWEEN
tieth century Nevertheless they are
the same beings, and the latter may
their self respect as we'll as
the former, for after all. II is in the
man and not the system"
Doubtless you are right. Mr. Greg
,ry." after some thought. but TO
transplant the youth of 81 into 1901
g failure. You might as well try
70 grow oranges in the northern states.
thank you for the position offered
me, but shall decline it. not that |
would demean myself by accepting II.
or you have shown me that after all
t is the man rather than the system.
but that ] cannot bear transplanting
from the soil of CT 10 that OF 1901"
That night Carleton slept on
bench In park. or. rather. he lay
wake. thinking OF those who had been
lighting with him in the hornets nest
IF Shiloh. Who OF the company had
allen? Who had lived and grown to
I'D age with the unexpired portion of
he century? Doubtless those who
we're now alone had ceased 10 be
'art OF the systems in vogue during
A.