should regard the
common good, and act with a view to the common good. If all were to do
so, you can easily see that we should have Heaven upon earth, from
whence, alas! it has been almost entirely banished. Our various
employments are means whereby we can serve others--our own good being
a natural consequence. If the merchant sent out his ships to distant
parts to obtain the useful commodities of other countries, in order to
benefit his fellow citizens, do you not see that he would be far
happier when his ships came in laden with rich produce, than if he had
sought only gain for himself? And do you not also see that he would
obtain for himself equal, if not greater advantages. If the builder
had in view the comfort and convenience of his neighbors while
erecting a house, instead of regarding only the money he was to
receive for his work, he would not only perform that work more
faithfully, and add to the common stock of happiness, but would lay up
for himself a source of perennial satisfaction. He would not, after
receiving the reward of his labor in a just return of this world's
goods, lose all interest in the result of that labor; but would,
instead, have a feeling of deep interior pleasure whenever he looked
at a human habitation erected by his hands, arising from a
consciousness that his skill had enabled him to add to the common
good. The tillers of the soil, the manufacturers of its products into
useful articles, the artisans of every class, the literary and
professional man, all would, if moved by a regard for the welfare of
the whole social body, not only act more efficiently in their
callings, but would derive therefrom a delight now unimagined except
by a very few. Believing thus, I could not be so blind as not to see
that the only right course for me to pursue was to destroy a worthless
and injurious commodity, rather than sell it at any price to one who
would, for gain, either himself defraud his neighbor, or aid another
in doing it. The article was not only useless, it was worse than
useless. How, then, could I, with a clear conscience sell it? No--no,
my friend. I am not afraid of poverty; I am not afraid of any worldly
ill--but I am afraid of doing wrong to my neighbors; or of putting it
in the power of any one else to do wrong. As I have said before, if
every man were to look to the good of the whole, instead of turning
all his thoughts in upon himself, his own interests would be better
served and he wo