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Show I "Pop's .-ill ripht," said the Smart Cashier to the new clerk who was just learning the ropes, "only. Jio takes life too seriously. 15 Ho was talking abput the Old Bookkeeper, Book-keeper, who, because of his long connection connec-tion with the business and his evident high standing with his employers was IQH something of a privileged character in Hfl the office. flflH "It's this way about tho old man," Ry went on the cashiir, who will never win H anything more than a leather ' medal HfjD for his own modesty, "he's one of the Hjjfl best old boys in tho world an' he HH knows his business. He had money, too, one time, an' lost it because he thought, other pcoplp were as honest as ho was. Never made any difference with the old man, though never made hi in sour nn' peevish, like it would some. He's raised n family, built, him a homo an' paid his debts, nn' all on a salary, when he night to have been a member of the firm, onlj- he hasn't the front to get what's comin' to him. An' he's V jst, too not law honest, .but 1 mean really honest." At this point tho Old Bookkeepci in olX, 0f the falling snow, followed fol-lowed by. tho Pretty Stenographer, and ns they were putting away their wraps the bookkeeper began talking, as usual, just as if the conversation had been going go-ing on for half an hour or so. "It's a wonder to mo, " ho said, ho lie warmed his lingors hofore the gas log, "that, working boys over manage to keep out of state prison, .much less grow up honest men." "Sonic kid must a' Aim mod 'im when ho got his shine," remarked the Fool Office Boy aloud to himself, as happened frequently. "Coming in on the car this morning," morn-ing," the Old Bookkeeper continued, ignoring tlio interruption, "a hid of a neighbor of mine was telling me of a fellow workman who yesterday found an envelope containing about $;"50 in bills. There was a paper in tho envelope with the nnmo and address written on it, presumably the name of the owner. Tho boy seemed to be much impressed with the luck of the finder." "Did he find the owner?" I asked. "Nope, didn't look." ""Why," 1 said, "i thought there was an address in the envelope." "Oh, ho tore that up an' threw it nwav, the hoy said, and he socnied to think it was a shrewd and proper thing to do." "Fierce!" remnrked tho Pretty Stenographer, Sten-ographer, sympathetically, using her favorite adjective, as sho patted her pompadour carefully. "No, only misguided," tho Old Bookkeeper Book-keeper haul. "It had not occurred to that bo3' that the finder of that money was practically a thief, and he could hardly be brought to sec that he was under any moral obligation to "find the owner and restore the property. Tt was also evident from his talk that he held the same view as a majority of his fellow fel-low workmen. Tt sta "d me thinking. When the cashier or some other trusted employee of a big business house goes wrong' nnd makes nwav with a large sum of money wo hear no end of it. In the newspapers and from tho pulpit the unfortunate man is made tho subject; sub-ject; of .blackening comment. IIo is lmld up as a warning, and his employers are cominonded for the promptness with which they track him dov 1 and tlio severity se-verity with which they punish him if he is caught. But how about the business busi-ness methods of that linn or corporation which employed hint? Were they such as would tend to make him an honest man. or was he taught to bo a thief by his employers?" "Oh, well," said the cashier, with the air of superiority which hu sometimes some-times affected. "E suppose you can't look for n high sense of honor among that, class of people." "Meaning those who work with their hands, T presume," said the bookkeeper, "and there again you're wrong. In my experience, thero is a vorj' high sonso of honor prevalent in this verv laboring class, especially those American born, but how. long will there be with tho examples constantly being set before them bv the men who. from their social and financial standing, should be moral leaders in the community? "There is a certain commodity sold in nearly every grocery store which is put up for tlio trade in this city. Boys and girls are employed to pack this commodity com-modity in pasteboard boxes supposed to hold quarter and hr.lf pounds. Kvorj' one or thoso children knows that the firm is cheating the custoi: by inserting in-serting in each box from an ounce and a half to two ounces of paper, the advertisement ad-vertisement of the firm's products. It is a small matter, but in the aggregate it amounts to hundreds of dollars every week, and it -is all stolen just tho same, and the high standing of t lie members of the firm in church and sorict3' only makes-tlio lesson taught those children the more dangerous to the community. "You hire a painter to do a job for vou and put it in your contract that turpentine shall bo used as a 'drier.' lie uses benzine, a much cheaper article, and the paint begins to crack and chip off before it has been on six months.. It should have lasted three years at least. Tho painter has merelj- stolen a few dollars from you by the substitution, substitu-tion, that is all. and his apprentices are taught to look upon it as a smart trick. I know of a case where a neighbor of mine, a careful man, went to tho longth of buying the turpentine himself for use in .painting two or three larec wooden buildings. " 'That's too good an article to waste on these old cribs.' tho contractor said to his-young helpers, and they drow off tho turpentiuc and substituted the cheaper dryer at night. Yot that painter would complain long and loud if one of his employees should purloin half a dollars; dol-lars; worth of material from him. He is a man of considerable standing in tho community, yet, he is teaching' every boy and young man in his employ to bo a tlucf. Of course there are painters who are honest, but this is a trick of tho trado and known to ovcrv man of th'o calling." Here the Fool Office Boy broke in with, "Mo little brudder an' two udder hoye, older an' him, stole dc lead pipe out of an empty house an' sold it to a plumber an' do plumber said it was all right when dey told 'im where doy got it, an' when dey got pinched dev told do .iudgo 'bout it, an' he said if ho' had dat plumber 'ford him he'd giv0 him 'bout four years, an' mo faddor had to pay $5 to keep mo little brudder from bcin' sent up." "Every one knows the elasticity of the plumbers' conscience," tho Old Bookkeeper continued, smiling at this burst .of youthful confidence. "It is a standing joke in the newspapers, yet sometimes it is no joke. Tlio "pipes in my bathroom wcro frozen some time ago and the water stopped. 'My wife sent around to the nearest plumber, and lie came at 11 o'clock Saturday morning, morn-ing, accompanied by an apprentice. Tli03 spent five or ten minutes booking tho job over and then went awa3, saying say-ing that they had to go back to the shop for their tools. Neither the plumber nor any of his assistants ever camo near the house again. On Monday a man who does odd jobs about the neighborhood, though not a plumber, camo in and remedied the difficulty in about ten minutes. Three or four weeks later I. received a bill from the plumbor charging mo" $1.25 for material and S3.G5, timo for himself and ono assistant. as-sistant. What better is that than pocket picking7" "Did you pay that plumbing bill, pop?" asked tho Smart Cashier mis-chiovousl mis-chiovousl "When 3'ou are called on to audit mv personal accounts you'll find oat.' lnughcd the old man, as he continued-"These continued-"These arc isolated instances, but it extends ex-tends all through trade, and I'm sorry to say is prevalent in mnnufao.tunng and commercial as well ns other walks of life. How are you going to muko an honest man out of a boy who helps to make or sell 6hoes with eounterfpit leather made of pasteboard in tho soles or the boy employed in a grocery who sees the proprietor givo short weight or soli decayed articles? I knew a bov employed in a largo establishment selling sell-ing earthonwaro and glassware. He had been instructed wmia filling large orders of high-grade goods to put in a few pieces of a poorer grade. Tho chances were that if it was discovered nothing would be said about it, as tho matter was too small lo notice. If it was noticed, whv it was simply some J one's blunder. It is theso smugly re- i spectablo business men who teach their boys to lie and cheat who arc doing do-ing more to corrupt thoso bo3-s growing up in their employ than all tho yellow journals and nowspapir reporls of crimo cvor print od. The grocor who puts sand in his sugar probnbly never existed outside out-side the imagination of some f 1111113' writer in tho newspapers, but the butcher who weighs his hand in with 3'our order of meat is no fiction. Tt is a trick done every da3. "Not a few of our great financiers and captains of industry, who have been so successful in the organization of trusts and tho merging of big busi-nes.s busi-nes.s enterprises, so as to capitalize 40 por cent of real property with GO per cont of wator nnd unload the whole on tho public at par, go.t their first lessons les-sons in business shrewdness just as theso b03-s have." "Well pop, you ccrtainlj- aim at shipping marks when .you go out for horrible examples," was tho laughing comment of the Junior Partner, who had overheard the conclusion of the Old Bookkeeper's remarks. ' ' Oh, T don :t know. Tho Lawgiver said: 'Thou shalt not steal.' Such gradations as petit and grand larceny, pirac3' and high financiering were evolved 1)3' man ages later." "Then 3011 must think tho future looks dark for honest men?" "No," replied tho Old Bookkeeper, always an optimist, "tho pendulum i's beginning to swing back. Tho conscience con-science of tho peoplo is being awakened. awak-ened. TI103' are coming to realizo the dangerous proximit3' of 'business ' Shrewdness' and downright dishonesty They aro coming to see that a thief is a thiof, whether he robs a man 1)3' stealth at night or tho public b3' legal technicalities by dn3 They aro coming to sco that a man is a thief just as surely if he sells fifteen ounces of sugar for a pound as tho man who cheats tho government out of half a million dollars by shortwoighting his customs. They are even coming lo sec that thero is nothing really humorous about tho graft of tho politician only plain stealing, and 'thiof doesn't sound anywhere nearly ns funny to tho politician as 'grafter' did. Wo have come to the point where wo aro lie-ginning lie-ginning to see how honostly or otherwise other-wise our neighbor makes 'his money, and to call it by its right name, whether he be bankor or butcher, lawmaker law-maker or horse leech. Next wo will begin Questioning tho coin in our own pockets, and honesty, or the reputation of it, will then be as much sought after as wealth or a reputation for 'business shrewdness' is todnv, for 'thief is an ugly word." "Don't you think I'm honest, pop?" asked tho Smart Cashier, who evident- 13' felt that he had been unnoticed for some time "I might if you would make good a Then business procccdcJjn.n'Jit |