Perhaps no other moral quality affects so profoundly the stability of social institutions as that of truthfulness, including under that term both accuracy of statement and fidelity in carrying out agreements. Among business men on the stock exchange and boards of trade, transactions involving hundreds of thousands of dollars are frequently closed by merely a sign or a nod or a word, and the broker making the contract would never think of violating it or of pretending to misunderstand. The interests of business compel absolute fidelity to the agreement.
And yet people are often found ready to advocate trickery and inaccuracy in statements. Until late years it was popularly supposed that a good part of the business of a diplomat was to deceive the ruler of the state where he was resident; and at the present time in polite society we hear many exaggerated statements on minor matters, made for the sake of increasing the pleasantness of social intercourse, that are lightly excused as “society lies,” “white lies,” etc.. It is desirable that every person define clearly to himself just what he understands by telling the truth or telling a lie, and that he follow unswervingly the principle which he adopts.
- Is a general justified in deceiving the enemy?
- Is one of the great evils of war the encouragement of deceit?
- Is an exaggerated statement of a society lady as to her pleasure in seeing a guest, which deceives no one, a lie?
- Ought a ball player to let the umpire make a mistake in his favor?
- Is it wrong for a catcher to draw the ball so as to deceive the umpire as to whether it crossed the plate? Why?
Probably no reputation contributes more to the success of a merchant or of a business man of any kind that that of never misrepresenting his goods and never failing to keep his agreements. Probably no reputation contributes more to the success of a lawyer along many lines of practice than that of absolute trustworthiness, and yet many lawyers seek to acquire the reputation of winning cases even by means of trickery and deceit.
- Do we fully trust any person whom we have every caught deceiving us?
- Do such methods pay?
- Are such methods right, looked at from the point of view of the good of society?
- Is there any greater blemish on the reputation of Napoleon than that of being a habitual liar?
- Can the political boss afford to deceive?
- What is the loss and gain to the pupil in presenting to the teacher a forged excuse for absence?
From Life Questions of High School Boys, by Jeremiah Whipple Jenks, published by the New York Young Men’s Christian Association, 1908. Available on the Internet Archive (Link).