There are manifold ways of gratifying all these instincts. The desire
for property calls simply for getting it and keeping it. It does not
involve the method to be used. The way is determined by other faculties,
by education, by opportunities, by the strength and weakness of
inhibitions. It does not follow that all legal ways are morally right
and all illegal ones morally wrong. Society in its development has
established certain ways in which it may be done. These ways are easy
for some, they are hard for others, and for many quite impossible.

Still the instinct for getting is always present, leading and urging to
acquire and to keep. Endless are the ways that men have contrived to
gratify this instinct. If, perchance, a law stands in the way, means are
always sought to get around the law. Every desire is always seeking its
own gratification or satisfaction. This means life. Most men believe
that the way they adopt for getting money or gratifying other instincts
is really no worse than some other person's way. The man who uses the
confidence game contends with great assurance that his methods are like
other business methods; that all men are using every means to get the
largest return for the least effort, and one way is no better than
another. A considerable portion of society has always supported him in
these ideas. The law is full of shadowy lines which divide legal
acquisition from the illegal, some of which are so fine that no one can
see more than a technical difference. For instance, under an indictment
for obtaining money by false pretenses, one may make all sorts of
statements as to the quality, value, style and desirability of the
article sold, if he does not make a specific statement of a fact
regarding the material contained in them or the amount, number, quality
or the like. He may lie, but to be safe he must know the kind of lie the
law permits. Many lies pass as "puffing goods" and are within the pale.