The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., June 01, 1926, Page 6, Image 6

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Page Six
THE UNITED AMERICAN
pardoned when he feels that it casts a reflection on
much of our present day integrity:
Here’s to the good old days, when
a friend could trust a friend.”
When the pioneers ruled this land, men entrusted
each other with all their earthly possessions, even
their lives. Confidence bloomed as a flower of un­
sullied friendship, and men were willing to protect
a friend at any cost. The obligations assumed in
citizenship were regarded in the same light. Only
the craven failed, and men turned their backs upon
those who broke their pledges and violated an oath,
and decent, self-respecting people banished them from
their midst and denied them fellowship and patronage.
Deception, lying and cheating received short shrift
in those days. Men were honest, faithful and true;
first because of their sense of principle, second be­
cause life became so lonesome and unbearable for
those who failed that death was preferable.
Make a promise and break it and you have lied.
Take an oath and violate it and you are a perjurer in
the sight of God and honest men, and your word of
honor is nothing more than a mockery. The only
reason men of that type get along today is because
there is such an aggregation of them that they can do
business with one another and get along without the
patronage and association of honest, faithful and
trustworthy men.
What finer record can be furnished by a genera­
tion than the one handed down to us by those Ameri­
cans who have gone before us a pace or two ? What an
appeal it contains. How proud we really are of our
kinship to those honest promise-keeping folk who did
not talk .so much about the Golden Rule, as folks do
now, but nevertheless put it to far better use-
Sensing the trend of the times, a student philoso­
pher sums up his misgivings with these poetical
lamentations:
Have we become so engrossed in the struggle for gold,
That the love for our friends should now turn cold?
Too busy to pause and aid a friend in need,
Too inconsiderate and selfish to render a noble deed.
Must our honor now on our pleasure wait?
No! Let us awake, ere it is too late.
'I!
The author who thus mourns the noticeable depre­
ciation of the rare virtue of human integrity strikes a
keynote for its return. He visualizes the cause as a
slumber from which he bids us awake to throw off
“ere it is too late” the shackles of selfishness, de­
ception and dishonor.
Yet, after all, the world seems to be weary of this
sort of thing for it is indeed very common to hear men
rated by those who know them best, in language
such as this: “I wouldn’t believe that fellow under
oath,” “He is the biggest liar I ever knew,” “He
is as crooked as a ram’s horn,” “I wouldn’t trust
that fellow out of sight,” “He is the worst dead-beat
I ever ran across,” “That fellow is so unprincipled
that he would steal a dime from his dead grand­
mother’s eyelid,” “He is such a slicker that he
would skin you even if you were watching him,” etc-
How does that compare with a reputation sum­
med up in the following language: “His word is as
good as his note,” “If he told you he would do it, you
June 1926
can depend on it,” “You can trust him with every
dollar you’ve got,” “He’ll never deceive you, if it
costs him everything he has,” “You don’t need his
note, his word is equally good,” etc., etc. .
On these two tables of personal reputation is
written the reputation we bear ourselves.
Which is it?
A man may through deception and sharp practices
amass wealth, but the means and methods he adopted
to obtain it robbed him of that joy which only he can
have who gains his affluence by honest business
methods. Wealth is a valuable requisite if acquired
through honest application. Wealth obtained by sacri­
ficing honor, and integrity cannot buy one ounce of
genuine reputation.
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul?
The essence of life and living may be summed up
briefly in one or both of these sentences: “Man can
give no higher pledge than his word of honor,” and
“When man surrenders his honor he surrenders all.”
In the chase for- gold, men have forgotten that
honor is the only stock in trade that never can go
below par. Man may go below par, but honor remains
at its own level.
In the language of G. A. West, a writer on frater­
nal subjects: “Man brings nothing into this world
and he can take nothing with him. When summoned
to take the last journey I shall ask for no greater
privilege than to take along as escorts my two boon
companions in life — my Honor and my Self-respect.”
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