The Washington herald., 1918-03-22
Does Selfishness
Pay?
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By DOROTHY DIX
The Worlds Highest Paid
Woman Writer.

AS~1o@--~~
apart from any ethical considerations.
honesty is the best policy. The mer-
chants whose goods always came up
TO specifications have made fortunes
while those who gave short weight
and measure have gone bankrupt
There was never q burglar who
couldn't have made ten times as much
money had he spent the same skin. IN
telligence and energy In follwing any
legitimate occupation that he did In
Nporch climbing. or jimmying his way
fnto bank safes.
- II Il q pity that selfish people can
not be made to realize that, Just a.
honesty Is the best policy, 80 Il un-
selnshness the greatest gain and that
greed and lack Of consideration for
others defeat their own ends. They
are invariably boomerangs that ny
back and destroy the hand that huri-
ed them.
In reality, there are no people 20
short sighted as the selfish They
never look farther than their poses.
They never see that in grabbing the
thing that Is Immediately before them.
they miss something far finer and bet
ter, q little farther away. Still less
do they perceive that they are the
everlasting chump who perpetuaIly
sells his birthright for q mess Of
pottage.
OF course, for q time, the selfish
seem to prosper like the green bay
tree and it appears to those Of US who
look on that the way to have things
In Just to take them by hook or crook,
without regard to the feelings or
rights Of your fellow creatures. but
this Is only a superficial view Of the
subject. Sooner or later selfishness II
its own undoiig and the greedy find
out that the fruit they have snatched
away from others turns into dead sea
apples in their grasping hands
A very wise old banker once told me
that there was no one else in the
world so simple, credulous and easily
hoodwinked as the selfish, and that
the greedy were the foreordained prey
7 Of confidence men.
Nearly all OF the money that is lost
In Investments" he said. "is lost by
the overly selfish. the people who are
not willing to take a fair and just in
terest on their money. It Is the grasp
ing and the greedy who are never
satisfied, who want more, and more,
and more, who buy goldbricks and
wildcat mining stocks
"And it's the selfish, grinding sm-
ployers who are determined to get
81 EI,,4- u.
who have employees who work with
one eye on the clock and do Just as lit
tie as they can do to hold down their
Jobs. It's the man who exacts the
last penny in every trade who always
gets the hot end of a trade II anybody
can hand II to him. Selfishness doesn't
pay even In business"
II selishness doesn't pay in busi-
ness, still less does II pay in the more
intimate relationships OF life.
J In nearly every family there Is one
supremely selfish individual. one who
runs roughshod over all the balance
h Of the household. One who pre-
empts the best seat by the fire, the
tidbit at the table, who gets the best
clothes, the trips and who refuses to
bear any Of the family burdens.
The one who thus grabs the best Of
everything for his, or her, own behoof
and benefit does 1t by sheer force Of
selfishness. At the time It seems a
triumphant thing to do, for the decent
members Of the family submit rather
than fight with the greedy like dogs
snarling over a bone, but what the
selfish do not take into account Is
that the others keep a little account
with them in their hearts, and against
y every selfish act set down a little
II - bafrad
And this Is not what the selfish
want. It is the essence Of greed that
It desires to eat its cake and have II.
too. It wants to sacrifice everybody
and everything to its own pleasure
and profit, and still have their adora-
| ton and admiration. 1t wants to be
loved and cherished without ever hav-
/ ing made a single sacrifice to bind
another's heart to It
And life makes no such unequal bar
gains as that. Especially Cupid
doesn't Love and selfishness are the
| two most antagonistic forces on earth,
and when they come in conflict they
hight things out to a finish. One or
Ehe other must succumb. They cannot
xist together.
But they are fools and dreamers who
think that the selfish can keep love
alive. Selfishness has slain love a
million times where It has been killed
once by infidelity, drink. bad house
keeping, age, or any OF the causes to
(which we generally attribute the death
Of love.
We can forgive q big sin that may
have its inspiration in some primal I'M
pulse of nature; We can shut our eyes
to little blemishes, but We are filled
Evith disgust at a soul so mean, petty
and ignoble that It never rises above
its own material desires and we turn
away in loathing from a heart that Is
incapable Of love for anything but
itself.
Time and again I have seen this
ktraEedy happen: A woman married a
fne, splendid man who literally
vorshipped her. But the woman was
SO selfish that she thought only OF
therself. She wanted the things that
money bought and whether they could
AFFORD them or not she got them and
her husband had to make the money
Ito nav for them She wanted pleasure
and she dragged her husband with her
might after night to places Of amuse-
1nent.
II was nothing to her that she made
him turn his Pegasus into a
Iaray horse. II was nothing to
her II she worked him to death.
he never noticed when he grew
red, white and worn. She whip
bed him on to further effort with
p lash Of her greed.
And I have seen such a mans love
dying by inches. have seen every
&fresh proof Of the wife's sslfishness
zive It a blow from which 1t never re-
lowered and / have wondered II such
n woman thought that the price she
- Ha .,