Extolling Ethics in Business

A June 22 Sunday News article entitled "Recognized for doing the right thing" identified the Horst Group as the 2008 recipient of the "Ethics in Business Award" for a business and J. Gary Langmuir as the individual winner.

It is probably no coincidence that both the Horst firm and Langmuir, Owner and CEO of Wohlsen Construction Company, are rooted in the construction industry and represent "old time" Lancaster business practices.

When our president built a Lancaster apartment complex 40 years ago, Herr Landscaping did not hand in an invoice for two years and until all 276 units were completed. Then one day Charlie Herr walked in and delivered a detailed invoice and sat down in a chair. Our president didn't understand why Herr was waiting and explained to him that the invoice would be reviewed over the next few days and a check mailed off.

It was only later that he learned from others that Herr had followed a local tradition whereby contractors did not bill until the end of the job to show their financial strength and confidence. In turn, builders were supposed to review the bill on the spot and write a check for payment in full to show their financial strength and confidence!

That was Old Lancaster, the Lancaster from which earlier generations of the Horst Group and Langmuir had evolved. It was the Lancaster before local giants, run by bureaucrats, subordinated integrity to making millions at the public's expense.

The Horst Group is correctly praised for paying what was owed in taxes rather than what was mistakenly billed. That would not have been unusual in Old Lancaster, and fortunately it still remains the same for many firms today.

Honoring the Horst Group and Langmuir serves as a reminder that small town integrity is not to be subordinated to corporate sharp practices. Unfortunately, the latter has been all too prevalent in recent years.