xSSi.1 
Sham Employers. 
469 
IV. SHAM EMPLOYERS. 
By J. Hepburn Davidson. 
“ A goodly apple rotten at the heart ; 
O ! what a goodly outside falsehood hath !” 
Merchant of Venice. 
ANY employers are misjudged ; many wronged by 
the vituperative tongue of their employes , and often 
condemned by the too open ear of the outside 
world ; hut there is still a heavy percentage of employers 
in general who richly deserve censure, and amongst those 
who do so no one is more prominent than our every-day 
business companion, the Sham Employer. Let us watch 
some luminary of the commercial world in his office. The 
bland courtesy which he displays to outsiders is exchanged 
for grim sternness. He tyrannises over his clerks, and 
especially bullies the one who receives the lowest pay. This 
unfortunate being, often subject — in accordance to agree- 
ment — to dismissal at a moment’s notice “ for gross mis- 
behaviour,” must beware even of a sorrowful look, which 
his lordship, the “ Sham,” might construe as a frown of 
disrespect. With managers or especial assistants, who have 
often a superior knowledge of the business, and by whose 
well-worked brains he earns his wealth (though he has not 
the grace to own it), the “ Sham ” plays a different game. 
He entices or forces some subordinate to play the spy upon 
their doings and sayings, in the hope of discovering some 
error, oversight, or transgression : for, strange to say, some 
employers do not like a servant against whom no charge can 
be brought. 
Many employers are spoilt by lending a too credulous ear 
to the false tales of inferior servants, thereby losing the ser- 
vices of one who thoroughly knows his duty. A case hap- 
pened in Scotland which is worthy of notice : — A certain 
gentleman advertised for a chemist and manager able to 
ereCt plant, &c., which was duly replied to by a friend. He 
entered upon his duties, and had erected nearly three-fourths 
of his plant, manufacturing at the same time with the first 
portion of the structure a sufficient quantity of goods to 
cover expenses. Suddenly an aspeCt of dissatisfaction came 
over his employer, and at the same time he noticed in his 
foreman an equivalent rise of confidence amounting to im- 
pertinence. This foreman was engaged not that he knew 
