Norwich bulletin., 1919-07-18

thy of imitation in lesser commercial
 ceilters. Its money-kings are aureoled 1 and 11a1oed, in many circles. as shing- ing examples of what business can Eproduce. 45i Fsss-ssst-
 And yet. if I. in my little trucking
 business. should only twice be guilty of the same treatment of my custom | CTS which my neighbor and II have re- ceived from New York city. 'big bus l ineSs, so many times, should be | ostracized and avoided and sent into bankruptcy. Why is it that my poison
 should be their meat? Why should they fatten on methods which would
 land me in the poof-house?
 l give it up. | In the meantime. and while the i question of profit and loss is bewild- 1 eringIy. complicated in my attempts at reflection, there is one anchor left 1 for the farmers soul sure and stead i fast
 I always used, even as a school boy, | to shy little at the iteration of that old saying, Honesty is the best pol l icy.' As years have passed and. T hope, wisdom increases, this fn- stinctive opposition has strengthened. | have reached that point, at last, where I completely ignore the ques- tion of profit and loss in connection with fair dealing. I don't care wheth- CT sharp practice is more profita ble whether cheating pays dividends or not I don't care whether lying
 brings bigger bank account than truth-telling. t-s --efs In other words, don't care a straw whether honesty is the best policy or not. --v,''
 Policy" is a mere matter of tac-' tics; of defneanor: of guise and dis
 guise. It is a thing for diplomatists and. politicians and other unfortunates whose trade is dissimulation to cloak themselves with. It has little to do with the foundations of life or with the framework of living. Those found- atfons must be laid on something more solid and that framework built of something more trustworthy.
 Is the meat more than the life? Is the raiment more than the body? What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul doing it? <
 Honesty which is followed solely in the hope that it will pay dividends is not honesty at all. Honesty which is commended because it may be good policy is not honesty at all.
 Honest men are honest. whether or no. The honest man doesn't keep his word because keeping it means money if he doesn't. he has got to live all his days and sleep all his nights with a liar. And he doesn't like that com panionship. He is honest, whether it helps or hurts his own interests, be- cause anything less is degroda ton of his. own ma mood and a stench in his own nostrils.
 Now we farmers have just as strong temptations 'to dishonesty as any metropolitan cbafferers And we have just as good opportunities to honesty as any man who ever swore to his own hurt and changed not. The i one primary question for each one of us to settle with himself is .wheti1- l CT he prefers profft to integrity; mon ! ey to manhood. 1
 It is not a compliment to say that i we are ''as good other men, For | that means that we are. also. as bad l as other men. Anyway, other men . men live in their own boots and 1 breeches-not in ours.
 Did that glib-tongued sliyster sell ! you some oil stock or some mining | Did he get your i money from you by lies? Such things have happened.
 But. are they any reasons why you should sell barn-sweeoings for hay? Or water for milk? Or incubator re- ! jects for fresh eggs? Or put .cull po- tatoes in the middle of the bag? |
 Do you know that shyster who bam- boozled you was a rascal. When you | initiate him you know. just as well. that you are a rascal yourself. You have but to measure your contempt l. for him to learn the length and Fl breadth and dept of the contempt you II owe yourself, if you copy his rascali- Il
 Sometimes a dinner of herbs is sweeter feast than a stalled OK bar becued. It largely depends on how you came by the provender. We farmers live so generally by and with ourselves that we ought to appreciate. even better than others, how much more important is honestly won, than pop liar adulation obtained by pretense.
 Similarly, we ought to appreciate even more than others how much 1obler is honesty for honesty's own sake, than veneer of imitation hon. asty, stuck on in the hope of profit. Fl
 THE FARMER.