Article January 6, 1912 Issue

Neither custom, nor policy, nor expediency can make...

Dallas (Tex.) News

Neither custom, nor policy, nor expediency can make wrong right. There never was a time, there can never be a time, when a lie can be justified, for it can never be anything but a lie. Theft is simply a lie in action. He who would lie would bribe and steal, for when by cunning or flattery he causes another to believe that which is untrue, he is displacing the true with the false—stealing a place for error in the mind of another that the truth should be occupying.

It is most extraordinary that the law of cause and effect is not generally recognized as being equally applicable to spiritual and moral affairs as it is to material things. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." It is found in the law of principle—of right and its reward, of wrong and retribution. The violation of a physical law brings its inevitable hurtful consequences, and the violation of a spiritual or moral law is just as inexorable in its finality. "Be sure your sin will find you out." It is a trite saying that "murder will out," and it is just as true that lying will out, and that theft will out, and that any other crime or sin will out—no matter by whom committed nor for what purpose. No good cause can be subserved by evil deeds. No righteous cause can be achieved through iniquity nor sustained by dishonor. He who is party to wrong-doing in the attainment of any end, whether social, moral, or political, is an offender whose culpability is in proportion to his evil deeds.

It is strange that men have thought it not wicked to use wrongful means, for instance in a political contest, in order to carry their point, when in every-day life—in business and social affairs—they would disdain the suggestion of even questionable methods. They seek to excuse themselves by saying that in politics, like love and war, everything is fair. But everything is not fair, even in love and war. Many men who would not think of bribing a susceptible juryman, or of lying to an ignorant one, and who would scorn to steal an article of value, seem to look upon the securing of votes by questionable or dishonest methods as being entirely justifiable. Justification for political misdeeds cannot be found in the assertion that those on "the other side" are stultifying themselves by indulging in such methods. Lying, bribery, and corruption are just as repugnant to truth and principle in politics as in anything else, and an election secured by the utilization of dishonorable practices is an election secured by theft. It is a matter for congratulation that the public conscience is becoming more and more awakened to the prevalence of theft in politics, and is emphasizing the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," as evidenced by numerous recent investigations.

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