Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1920-04-02
MORAL EVIL AS A RESULT OF THE
HIGH COST OF LIVING

service the lack of a sense of re-
in the matter of dealing
and the failure to measure up to obi
cation in any tranaction. If one is
disposed to make protest he is told
to be glad he is living and. has pre-
sented to him the wider facts of high
cost of living, which in no way pal
liates the specific complaint. There
is seant reliance any longer to be
placed in anything that any one says
in business dealings and in trade re-
lations or in service capacities. Half
truths at best are past off for
whole truths and those who offer
them do so with apparent lack Of ap-
probation of the fact that their ac-
tons contribute to the general condi
ton that makes UP the unsettlement
of the public mind and creates fruit
full soil for radical tenets. The golden
rule, as has been said before in these
columns and very much NOR point
eddy is dead letter, and no one
thinks about his heighbor, but only
| for homself. that is, except in the
matter of showing benevolence.
The general condition is reflected
in the lowered standards of taste of
the people, Who cares any longer t.
read worthwhile literature, and who
but fool would labor to produce
such. Who cares any longer for art
except in terms of the groteque that
disclose a perverted or degenerate
standard of taste. Who cares for
ethical or philosophical literature lee
lures and reflections. Anything that
rises above the plain of ouiga board
OF tilted table is too heavy a tax
upon the intelligence Of those who
are otherwise Indifferent to the
things that may lie behind the daily
matter of gettin and gouging and
spending and complaining. Honesty
lies at the base of social security.
Dishonesty in bushes, dishonesty in
labor relations, dishonesty in the
amount and quality of labor per-
formed for a stipulated price, dis
honesty in the kind of ware sold or
the claims made in behalf of them
all this saps the very vitality out of
society and vitiates the ethical stan
dards of the people.
1t has come to pass that if one en-
ters a protest against the price OF
anything that figures less than fifty
or sixty dollars he is looked upon as
piker. If any one complains or APP
pears astonished over the charges for
services or the amount of unused time
that is added to the bill rendered
he is told to be glad that he can get
anything done at any price. Spending
money like drunken sailor is the
way a business man recently summed
up the prodigality and extravaganza
and waste of the times. This is true
Of national, civic and personal expen
ditures.
All who deplore the fact that III -ne
general condition there has passed
out of the use of grace of moderation
satisfaction with modest profits and
modest expectations are looked upon
as little better than imbecile. The
essential dishonesty of the times is
shown most glaringly in the, fact that
everyone passes on his own misde-
in his own behalf, his contribution to
the general pillaging that is going on.
The condition is worldwide, but the
present abandonment to practices. of
base dishonesty that is found in the
United States outruns anything seen
elsewhere-at least where there is or
+derly government. Materials are
poorer in quality and higher in cost
waste is deliberately practiced- to
keep up prices; shoddy is sold for
quality, not only for the sake of the
profiteering prices but to keep the
people buying; contracts are made to
be broken in letter or violated out of
all conscience in fact; fake concerns
flourish On all sides and the country
reeks with fraudulent investment and
promoting enterprises.
##### #*#*#
The country is infinitely worse off
than England in the matter of high
cost of. living, because England has
been doing something and America
has been doing nothing. Every man
for himself and the devil take the
hindmost is the only practical prin-
ciple that appears to be generally
honored. This is condition both vic
eous and dangerous. Fortunately, the
demand for moral correction of the
times is rapidly rising-American
The Thr:ce-a-Week Edition of
The New York World