Article March 3, 1923 Issue

Truthfulness—Its Intrinsic Value

CASSIUS M. LOOMIS

In this day of unparalleled human activity, should there not be sounded a note of warning regarding the necessity of an undeviating code of honesty and truth-telling among men? The masses, no doubt, have had heroic sermons preached to them upon this subject; but must we not, each of us, search more earnestly, until we realize the intrinsic value of truthfulness in all its bearings? The business world, moving forward under high pressure, needs the leaven of square dealing now more than ever. Seeking ways and means to go farther and risk more seems to be the tendency of the hour, in a manner as if any end would justify the means. Can this always go on? Must there not be a limit to such onrush of competitive striving? Suppose we look beneath the surface of this seeming Babel of cross purposes and see, if we can, What the Science of being has to offer. For must not the ultimate solution of a problem such as this be a Christianly metaphysical one?

Let us consider, first, the everyday, commonplace tradesman who has occasion to print his business announcements in his home paper. He may not be aware of the fact that what he tells the public advances his interests only in the exact ratio of the truth his statements contain. Doubtless there are traffickers in merchandise in every community who would be tempted to smile at this, to them, seemingly unprovable assertion. But is it not logically true? Let us look at the subject carefully. Ours is an age of enlightenment; and the Science of being divulges many even more startling secrets than this. Every thought or motive, however small, does its work for better or worse in the scale of human endeavor. When a sense of sterling integrity impels the merchant to print the exact truth about his wares, he attracts patronage in ways he knows not of. Why? Because God's invincible laws of right recognize and transmit only the real or truthful part. The negative or untruthful part has no existence in fact; hence it has no real power to influence. Like every other fixed law of the metaphysical realm, this of truth-telling is most exacting,—reason enough, we should say, why the patrons of the honorable merchant unconsciously imbibe what is true in his fair and temperate statements. If we reflect a moment, do we not find it true that we are all gradually led into the habit of depending upon that true publicity which is borne out by actual fact?

Jurists, lawyers, detectives, and others with keen mental discernment, as well as men and women endowed with a fine intuitive sense, can tell almost to a certainty whether or not one is telling the truth. Does this seem incredible? It is the case, however, that there steals over one a half-hearted distrust or disapproval when one listens to an exaggerated or untruthful statement. It has not the ring of the true metal. Jesus, it will be remembered, discerned the dissenting thoughts of those about him. Our entire gospels teem with warnings bearing upon a needed purity of thought and speech. Even good manners demand it; for as civilization advances the more responsive becomes the social and moral contact of communities. Then are we not equally responsible, one to another?

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