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Show Howe About: Honesty A Firm Foundation Soldiers of Fortune . Bell Syndicate. WNU Service. Ey ED HOWE J T HAVE never occupied official po- ! sition of any kind; I have al-; ways been an humble follower, forgotten for-gotten except when leaders are , considering an additional tax ! schedule, a new drive, or other foray. I'.ut If appointed chief of police I should have fewer street parades. I seldom go downtown without find- i ing a street roped off for another parade, and thus suffer annoyance and delay.' The president of a big New York bonding company writes me: "The following is a quotation i from your last Issue: '1 do not be- j lieve the people can be cured of their natural dishonesty, but still have hope they can be taught lion- esty is the best policy, If we teach it as industriously as we have long been teaching some of our untrue doctrines.' . . . The experience of this company In paying dishonesty losses forty years convinces me that what is needed in this world is the teaching of honesty rather than preaching of it. Our preaching preach-ing has resulted In honesty being regarded as a 'goody-goody' doctrine, doc-trine, to be eulogized by Sunday school teachers and the public schools up to the fourth reader. No real effort is made to Impress young people with the practical benefit to be derived from honesty as an asset. Anyone can ncqulre it, and it will prove an inexhaustible inexhausti-ble resource throughout life. Dishonesty Dis-honesty starts when the individual determines upon a course he knows Is wrong; but the Impression is not deep enough to hold him he has not been sufficiently taught. If children were sufficiently taught honesty from the beginning, and continuously, It would not be so easy for men and women to depart from honest ways, and get Into the trouble dishonesty always brings. I hope you will elaborate on this theme In subsequent Issues." I am regarded as a tiresome scold by a good many because I have already al-ready elaborated on the theme in many previous Issues. I believe we should teach honesty is the best policy as persistently and continuously continu-ously as we teach the Christian religion. re-ligion. Honesty Is not a "goody-goody" or Sunday school doctrine; it Is the soundest article In the philosophy of experience. Good conduct is the surest and safest method of Insuring Insur-ing success and comfort In life. Good conduct pays ; and It is easier In the long run than bad conduct. I have taught this all my life, and shall teach It hereafter. A country or a man may progrejs too rapidly. It was overprogress that caused Ivar Kreuger, head of the Swedish match trust, to commit com-mit suicide, and leave behind the record of a scoundrel. It was overprogress on the part of the United States that brought us to the present- great difficulties. Progress Is one of the best principles, princi-ples, but the details must be attended at-tended to with the old details of caution and common sense. If the foundation Is not built on solid rock, there will be a toppling. Somewhere In the hymn book or Bible there Is a line about the sure foundation. One must have It In everything, If he hopes to get along as comfortably and safely as Is possible. The stories of Soldiers of Fortune, For-tune, as they appear In the newspapers newspa-pers and magazines exaggerated by other soldiers of fortune, make good reading; in my vagrant hours I sometimes read them myself. A notable Soldier of Fortune has Just died, missing the average goal of three score and ten by thirty years. He was In college when the war broke out, and made high grades In the football squad. Also, he sang In the glee club, and played In the band, but his grades In legitimate legit-imate studies were low. Of course, he promptly enlisted, and I marvel that a man wounded so frequently and seriously, was able, after the armistice, to perform such feats of exploration ns he displayed dis-played In climbing mountains, following fol-lowing rare Fpeclmc-ns of animals In Tibet and Africa, and engaging In revolutions in South America. He hoped to fly across the Atlantic and thus appear In the movies, but at thirly-eiglit lie was found d'.-ad; whether by his own hand, or (it the hand of one of his fellow adventurers, adven-turers, Is not known. Still, I prefer the story of Thomas Thom-as A. Edison, and humbler men, who have striven In the more use. fill, if less exciting, fields of endeavor. en-deavor. I do not love life as ardently ns some say they do, but possibly few j have become more accustomed to It than I am at seventy-nine. . . . I The tilings I Khali dislike to give i up are becoming fewer every year; i still, I buppose I thrill finally hate I to go. I I I never say I have studied life; only that I have lived It. I do not ! study anything, I experience It, us one of my natural ncces-it'os. |