The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-08-25
BE CAREFUL OF YOUR VICTIM
FYOU WANT TO GET BY THE LAW

Emmett Massey, colored, expostmaster at Proctor, Ark,
sound in his logic, but disaster overlook him because he erred
I'm the choice of occupation that appeared to afford the best
outlet for his genius. During the period of his enforced restraint
behind the prison bars of the county bastile, called by some the
bail, not unlike that suffered by Peter Paul and John, and even
some of the later apostles, who were prosecuted for righteous
hess sake, perhaps he will mediate upon the circumstances that
provoked or led up to the evil day of his apprehension.
With less forbearance than Job he may curse the day he
WAS born; the man who invented the one-donar bill; the evil
genius that possessed him with the gift of deceiving the eye
OF his fellow man with the pen, even as it is given to other men
TO deceive the mind Of their fellow man with the pen; or per
haps he will be so ~un-JobHke and 50 un-Republican as to rue the
day that his party came into the a~scendancy and rewarded him
with the job Of postmaster, a position notorious for the lncuica-
tion of the love of ease and idleness.
If Emmett were a consistent reader Of the papers-and what
postmaster in a small town does not read them, all of them, as
well as postcards2-he must feel, even under the burden Of his
FALLEN prestige, that he is not a worse offender than other men,
hut that his victim is more relentless than the victims Of other
defenders. His fatal step was in shining against Uncle Sam
INSTEAD of, as other men, more familiar with the law and lack
sf law, against Uncle Sans ~nephews and nieces,
Far be it from us to cast an unworthy aspersion upon the
proud name of Massey, whose single blast upon his horn we're
worth a thousand votes, by suggesting, even remotely, that the
one-donar bills which he so deity raised to tens came into his
possession except as a reward for honest toll, or in a fair
exchange of goods and chattels, or that they were gained other
than by the sweat of his face.
Thus we find him with one dollar of the currency of the
realm to begin with. The labor OF raising it to a ten consumed
five hours, The standard pay of a journeyman counterfeiter
we are informed, is one dollar an hour according to the fixed
scale Then there is overhead-rent, equipment, insurance, law,
yers' fees, travelling expenses and excess profits taxes-and
countless %incidentals, including a spoiled bill now and then.
We confidently believe that a price fixing committee
ludiciousy selected from representative counterfeters, with the
view to protecting the public from proftcers, would hold that
on account of the war and the prevailing scarcity and high price
OF material, ten dollars is not an exorbitant or unreasonable
charge.
The ottense, therefore. is not that the price is too high or
out OF proportion to other prices. but that Emmett made the
fatal blunder OF tampering with bills in direct conflict with laws
providing adequate penalty, both as to fine and imprisonment, for
their infraction, Packers, wholesalers and cold storage opera
tives, with their facilities for suppressing the sale Of, boarding or
oornering the necessities OF life, make a sorrowful and pathetic
figure of Emmett. who, by comparison, was satisfied to deal
fairly and generously with an overburdened public in the DISPOSE
ton OF his wares. 1t is too late to lament Emmett's fate, Tor
"The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on: nor all your piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it."
Unless Emmett is as dGt in welding saws as he is in WELD
ing the pen; unless the prison bars yield as readily in response to
his magic touch as did the ones he raised to almost undistin-
guishable tens" his fate is certain. He has passed beyond the
realm of hope for human aid into the jurisdiction and tender
mercies of Judge Mccall, and, according to the testimony of
the king OF EN- ALL what the Judge will do to him will be
a-plenty. ..
Therefore We are concerned, not with Emmett. whose fate IS
sealed, but with those who are yet to come upon the stage of
commercial enterprise, Let them take heed lest they fall. Let
them learn a lesson from Emmetts unhappy fate, II they must
proftteer let them take their good dollar and buy a dollars worth
OF meat, butter or eggs, and sell it for ten. The law says cur
rency must sell for its value, but it doesn't say that about any.
thing else.
Let him that is without sin first cast a cold storage ego
at Emmett Massey, sc