Show the Pre prospector op clor and his burro by will C higgins you want to know said the prospector to his burro if there are any degree or limits to a persons honesty and integrity and if a man can do any wrong if he lives strictly within the law for according to your way of thinking there is a moral obligation that should always be considered that is in no ways connected with the law and which should have some influence with ones dealings with his lowman fellowman fel and with his burro too for with the latter the law permits of ownership but puts no prohibition upon abuse while justice and right would prevent the lawful infliction of injury the moral equation being as high in its ideals if not higher than the law there thera fore a man can be honest within the civil law and at the same time a precious rascal if the dictates of this great moral law are not strictly followed dousay Yo you say that you felt pretty clear as to the matter before I 1 began answering your questions but that you are somewhat muddled muddied now that I 1 have interjected into my talk such statements as prohibition of abuse and lawful infliction of injury which are strange words not included in your vocabulary and so in simple terms I 1 will try to give you an illustration ot what I 1 mean so that you may ultimately answer your own question as to what the term honesty really means A few years ago continued the pros a certain western man incorporated a mining company to operate a group of claims in one of the leading mining camps of the west this camp had its big mines and its regular dividend payers but the property of the alarco mining company for so the new association was called was virgin territory and practically undeveloped this western man of whom we speak whom we will call jones for convenience sake was quite successful in his efforts to raise money for mine development for ills his friends were numerous and lie he also had achieved quite an enviable reputation for honesty and financial ability two characteristics which go well together providing the latter qualification is not too strongly developed or overlaps the other As a matter of fact enthusiasm ran high among the stockholders of the company for work was progressing smoothly and it was believed by almost everyone that a great body of high grade ore would ultimately be found in the alarco for the location of the ground was excellent and expert examination led to the belief that the master ledge of the district passed through some portion of the ground however nothing was found save occasional stringers as the yea years rs went by and the tunnel had attained a length of several thousand feet and as assessment succeeded assessment ses shareholders began to weary and be began an dropping out one by one to make matters worse the panic of 1907 threw a scare into mining affairs so that it was almost impossible to raise funds for future operation the result being that the work of development was discontinued with the exception of that required by law and jones i although still manager and normally lion honest est for he had done the best lie he could took up another line of business until an improvement in mining affairs again became evident A year or two after a mining man from the camp in question informed jones that lie he had heard that a cave had occurred oc burred in the alarco tunnel and that it should be caught up before other and further damage accrued so one sunday morning jones took a run out to the alarco and found to his great joy and surprise that the caving of the tunnel had uncovered a splendid body of shipping ore it so happened that jones was the only man to visit the tunnel after the cave in and consequently the only one aware of the existence in alarco company ground of a body of payable ore now I 1 know you are wondering what jones did and herein was the real test of blown in the bottle honesty the new find properly developed ve loped would have made the company stockholders a big bunch of money but there was no civil law that would oblige jones to make public the fact that in the caved tunnel there was the wealth of a Vilder bant although he had a battle royal with his conscience that was almost equal in fury and intensity to that which has been raging for so long a time in and around verdun and great was the slaughter of high ideals and high principles for financial ability won out over moral attribute and jones acting within the requirements of the law began buying in the stock of his fellow shareholders at a cent or so a share when if the real facts and conditions had been known by these very shareholders the stock was really worth dollars a share but the stockholders were ignorant and jones with his conscience well subdued and trained to stand without hitching reasoned within himself that what they know hurt them which is a villainous lie if there ever was one and as hypocritical as it is vicious in due time jones had full control of the mine and then and not until then did lie he begin any work towards developing the new ore body and it was not more than a week before lie he had cleaned away the debris and disclosed a six foot shoot of clean shipping ore with such a showing lie he had no difficulty in selling the property to an ail eastern syndicate for over half a million and today lie he is looked upon as being a rich because of the man grown suddenly wealthy association of a little money with an abundance of good judgment but there are certain of the old shareholders of the alarco who feel that they have been jobbed bobbed and outraged but who are as helpless as a tenderfoot who has been abandoned in the bottom of a hundred foot for there was no doubt but that ahat jones had acted within his rights within the law and adherence to the law necessarily implies honesty 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector 1 I know the soundness of your heart but regret your feeble intellect which can hardly grasp the difference between the honesty of the law and the honesty of the heart the difference exists however and believe me the man who combines the two in perfect unity is the one against whom there is never any reason to complain and there you are and then some |