Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-09
F ACT AND GOSSIP
IN MONEY MARTS
United States Suffering From
Dearth of Fifty Thousand
a-Year Men.
BY 3. c. FORBES.

! d deaTth of $4,000 year men.
The statement was made to me some
time ago by financier who was looking
! for the right man to take charge of a
very powerful trust company This fnan
cier has made not less than million dol
lars annually for the last dozen years and
! probably twice that amount. He was be-
wailing the scarcity of really big brainy
| men available for hire. THE man who
can earn a salary Of $4,000 $4,000 or
| 100000 for some one else" he explained.
rs almost certain to enter business upon
| his own account. If he is conspicuously
| brilliant he does not care to spend his
! life in the service of others who reap the
reward of his skill and industry, That
| is the principal reason $4,000 and $780,
900 men are difficult to engage"
! In this instance the vacant post was
one of honor and influence.
Corporations that may want $50, 900 men
| to be responsible for questionable prac-
| tees will have a much harder task to Sc
| cure them in future than they have had
| in the past Financial and business i'm
morality and iIlegaIity have gone up in
price.
| An employer wanted to engage an APP
! plicant for a position. The youth looked
likely. His replies to questions concerning
himself and his experience were satisfac-
tory
You will, of course, do what you are
told?" he was asked.
certainly" he replied
81 will have to depend upon you a good
deal. For example, if I'm busy and do
not want to be disturbed you will tell
callers that I'm out?"
The youth seemed surprised and disap-
pointed.
| If" continued the employer. lit is
necessary. in the course of business, to
present things in a certain light you will
do it?"
You mean will l tell lies for you?'
'Wen if you put it that way, yes"
IAN right, I'll lie for YOU said the
| young man decisively.
Good. Now, how much salary do you
| WANT"
Ten thousand dollars a day"
Ten thousand dollars a day--are you
mad?" exclaimed the employer.
'No, but l would be if l accepted your
proposal When l say ten thousand dol
| lars a day | mean that you could not pay
me enough money to become a liar. If
you want me 10 do honest work I'll be
! glad to start at dollar a day"
Ands the story goes--he was en-
gagged.
happen to know of a case in real life
/ very different from the incident just re-
lated. The father Of young family was
| thrown out Of employment. He had been
imprudent to the extent that, although
/ earning between $40 and $50 weekly he
! had made no systematic attempt to save
anything. Starvation stared him and his
family at close range. He could not af-
ford to pick and choose as to what he
would turn his hand TO. In desperation
he accepted a S15-a-week job. Very
quickly he learned that it was part of his
duty 20 cook accounts in order to de-
fraud certain parties. He succumbed-
| teu,DorariIv. as he told his conscience.
The cheating called for subtle skill, as
one blunder might easily have landed
more than one person in Jail Time passed
and still he remained at his post. The
dishonesty CALLED him-but there was a
wife and children to feed, clothe and shell
ter His whole life became poisoned.
Yet when last | heard, he was stll wal
lowing along in misery, worse off than
slave.
How many unfortunates are occupying
similar hell?
dispatch from Washington says the
government has decided to abandon the
criminal prosecution of individuals re-
sponsible for the actions of Illegal trusts.
1t is a thousand pities that such defeat
is or has to be admitted. If the present
Sherman law is defective in this particu-
lar. then let It he repealed. a corpora
| ton is merely an aggregation of individ-
uals, Some one must order the perpetra-
ton Of each act. The one who Instigates
acts adjudged illegal is palpably a law
breaker. That is the party to punish, not
the corporation. \ corporation can not
! be thrown into prison, but individuals
can. Fines simply fall upon stockholders
in no way guilty Of wro.ngdoing.
No honest man could object to a law
providing for the imprisonment of trust
managers or directors found guilty of
gross turpitude.
The price Of financial and business i'm
morality, as | have already said has
gone up. Laws can not instil honesty into
mems souls, but they can instl fear into
their hearts by opening prison doors.
Much has already been accomplished to-
ward the restitution of business ethics,
and more will be achieved by-and-by The
country is learning that pef can be
amassed at too ruinous price Even
this sorry spectacle Of graft and worse in
the New York police force will do some
good is other directions.
Honesty is, In the end, the most profit
able policy.