This detailed recital of the necessary qualifications of good
fisherman-ship serves most importantly as the prelude of an invitation
for skeptics to observe the complete identity of these qualifications
with the factors necessary to good citizenship, and from thence to
concede a more ready recognition of the honorable place which should be
awarded to the fraternity among the agencies of our country's good.
In conclusion, and to the end that there should be no appearance of
timidity or lack of frankness, something should be said explanatory of
the degree and kind of truthfulness which an honorable standing in the
fishing fraternity exacts. Of course, the notion must not be for a
moment tolerated that deliberate, downright lying as to an essential
matter is permissible. It must be confessed, however, that unescapable
traditions and certain inexorable conditions of our brotherhood tend to
a modification of the standards of truthfulness which have been set up
in other quarters. Beyond doubt, our members should be as reliable in
statement as our traditions and full enjoyment of fraternity membership
will permit.
An attempt has been made to remedy the indefiniteness of this
requirement by insisting that no statement should be regarded as
sufficiently truthful for the fisherman's code that had not for
its foundation at least a belief of its correctness on the part
of the member making it. This was regarded as too much elasticity
in the quality of the belief required. The matter seems to have
been finally adjusted in a manner expressed in the motto: "In
essentials--truthfulness; in non-essentials--reciprocal latitude." If
it is objected that there may be great difficulty and perplexity in
determining what are essentials and what non-essentials under this rule,
it should be remembered that no human arrangements, especially those
involving morals and ethics, can be made to fit all emergencies.
In any event, great comfort is to be found in the absolute certainty
that the law of truthfulness will be so administered by the brotherhood
that no one will ever be permitted to suffer in mind, body or estate by
reason of fishermen's tales.