Testimonies on Fair Dealing and Book Royalties

Business Integrity

From a letter addressed “To the Men Who Occupy Responsible Positions in the Work,” written from Cooranbong, July 1, 1898. PH102 29.1

The president of the conference should learn whether the business transactions are carried on with the strictest integrity; he should know whether they are presided over by men who have pure, clean hands. His indignation should be aroused against the slightest approach of a mean, selfish action. Let one wrong deed be practised and approved, and the second and third will follow in the same line of fraudulent deception. PH102 29.2

“Hear ye now what the Lord saith; arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.” “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give may first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.” PH102 29.3

This scripture (Micah 6:6-12) is applicable to those who, unwilling that any besides themselves shall have a chance, have been devising and planning to make merchandise of their fellow-men. PH102 30.1

I have been shown that some men worked with Elder Smith in an underhanded manner, in order to lead him to place the lowest possible royalties on his book. Elder Smith was deceived in the object of these men; he thought that they were really trying to advance the cause of God; and they obtained their desire. Then they came to me and to others, telling us that Brother Smith only received so much for his books, and urging that the canvassers would rather handle books that would sell rapidly. PH102 30.2

But the night after this plea was made, the matter was opened before me. I saw that they had visited Brother Smith, and obtained his consent to a low royalty, in order that they might present this as that which I and others should do. This was obtaining terms of royalty by fraud. I was shown the spirit that prompted these men to action. PH102 31.1