Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1883-02-01

Honest production and the honest
gains of wealth that is employed in
the service of society arc the bulwarks
of civilization. But we do say that
examples of private greed are sapping
tho sources of public honor; examples
of gigantic and countenanced robbery
are undermining the foundations Of
public morality and corruptlng the
national character.
Our Legislators have failed to see, or
for private and corrupt reasons, have
winkcd at the fact, that the laws which
were made to fit old-fashioucd ideas of
honor and morality, instead protect
ing the public, are the strength and
the protection Of dishonest men. The
old code of commercial honor is lost
sight of in the complex transactions
Of stock .jobbers, who remain out of
sight while their work is being done
by cousccnceless factors; by lawyers
skilled in discovering loop.holes in the
and in juggling with the law by lob.
bics with money at the doors of legis.
latures by paper shares and paper
promises to pay by cipher messages
and spies, and by abusing the facilities
of stock exchanges.
It is well that our legislators are
making at least the show of inquiring
into the methods by which the public
is robbed in the interest OF stockhol
dcrs, and they, in turn, are robbed by
corporate managers; by which whole
sale robbery is cloakcd with legal forms
Of consolidation" reorganization"
"rcccivcrships,' and "wartcrcd stock;
by which men may safely conspirc to
pervcrt the natural course Of produc.
ton and trade, and rob the public by
the artitice of "corncr,'; by which a
man IS allowed TO control rival or
double systems of railways, and with
impunity array one against the other,
as suits his varying purpose, thereby
despoiling the public with the ease of
a gambler playing with marked cards.
What have the people to say about
these practices? They do not appear,
rs yet, to have anything to say. The
robbcr princes are held in high esteem
They 90 about the colleges, some Of
them, and Doctor, Of Law aud Doc
tor Of Divinity grovcl at their feet
if any Mordccai has refused 10 bow
down before them, his name has not
been reported. Men whose riches
have been increased by sp1iliug their
are held up ~ shining cx-
amplcs for the imitation of our youth.
So long as teachers of morality silent,
ly inlorse such iniquities it j. not to be
expected that the people will cry out
against them. But the day is sure to
come when plain men will clearly see
that no one man can get with clean
hands, in an ordinary lifetime, a hun
drcd million doIIars that such an
enormous pile, so suddenly collected,
must be loot, not profit. That will ho
q day Of reconjng, indeed, for the rob.
bers and for the judges and the lcgi.-
lators and the public teachers who
have been their accomPlice-.
Mean time these facts areto b" kept
in mind,-that We have among MS a
class of men who, in their raFacitv,
are bent on curichiug themselves by
forcibly scizjug the property Of their
and that they have learned
how TO use for this purpose the organ
lied force Of the State. Some means
must be found ofputing a stop tothem.
Unless this be done speedily, the re-
spcct for law on which social order
rests will not survivc.-From "7oyios
cf the Time, in he February Century,