ii2 Eighth and Ninth Commandments 



mendacity is not in the least one of morals or ethics. 

 It is simply one of legal forms. 



The same man may break both commandments, 

 or one group of men may be tempted to break one 

 and another group of men the other. In our civic 

 life the worst offenders against the law of hon 

 esty owe no small part of their immunity to those 

 who sin against the law by bearing false witness 

 against their honest neighbors. The sin is, of 

 course, peculiarly revolting when coupled with 

 hypocrisy, when it is committed in the name of 

 morality. Few politicians do as much harm as the 

 newspaper editor, the clergyman, or the lay re 

 former who, day in and day out, by virulent and 

 untruthful invective aimed at the upholders of hon 

 esty, weakens them for the benefit of the frankly 

 vicious. We need fearless criticism of dishonest 

 men, and of honest men on any point where they go 

 wrong; but even more do we need criticism which 

 shall be truthful both in what it says and in what 

 it leaves unsaid truthful in words and truthful in 

 the impression it designs to leave upon the readers' 

 or hearers' minds. 



We need absolute honesty in public life; and we 

 shall not get it until we remember that truth-telling 

 must go hand in hand with it, and that it is quite as 

 important not to tell an untruth about a decent man 

 as it is to tell the truth about one who is not decent. 



