It is a good commercial and business maxim: “Make one hand wash the
other.”
There are little delicate attentions shown men to induce them to do you
a favor. It is not exactly doing to others as you would have others do
to you, but you do something for a person in the expectation that he
will do something for you. This is the origin of the saying.
Politeness, forbearance and social amenities are the rule in these days,
and it is the best policy to assume that distinction even if you do not
feel that way.
The propensity for making one hand wash the other is more apparent in
commercial and trade transactions than in any other. It is in these
occupations that the eye beholds dollars or doughnuts at the end of a
string, and a gentle pulling in the way of attention and brotherly
reciprocation will bring the dollars or doughnuts within reach.
Bears and dogs growl and get nasty whenever they feel like it regardless
of consequences, for they live in the present entirely and nothing is of
any importance to them on the morrow. They do not even know enough to
lay in a supply of provisions for a rainy day. A squirrel will do that,
but squirrels are not quarrelsome, they are friendly and gentle, they
make one paw wash the other. Watch one of them grab for a nut, get it,
and beg prettily for another.
We must provide for a rainy day, and if we are in business we must have
friends and customers to fall back upon for shelter. Waiting until the
rain sets in and then beginning, fails—it is then too late, at least for
that day, but by beginning you will perhaps be ready for the next rainy
day.