The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1893-01-14
At the Bar Of Public Opinion.

The crimes Of men to whom pub
lie trusts have been committed have
been of startling frequency in these
last years. But following close
upon this corruption comes the
public judgment. stern and unfor-
giving. II has no words of extern
uation, no mitigating plea for any
man who has been unfaithful to a
public trust. Judges may fail to
convict. But for all that these
criminals are convicted by q big erI
court.
When the Panama bribery and
corruption was laid open many Were
disposed to inquire, What is to be-
come OF modern society when such
disclosures are possible?" Either
it is to be swept by great revolu-
ton, or it is to be purged by the
public judgment and the swift ap
plication Of penalties. The Pana-
ma corruptionists will disappear.
Some may serve terms in prison.
But whether there or elsewhere,
they can have no honorable future.
It will be enough to ruin the career
of any public man, whether IN
France or in the United States, to
find that he has been privy to
scheme of public robbery. Justice
will be swift, even if he never an
swers to an indictment in court
of record. There is no indictment
SO terrible as that which an out
ragged public can frame against the
individual who has abused public
trust. 1t is never dismissed. 1t
hangs over the dishonest public
servant and all who have been privy
to malfeasance in Office.
There is the rift in the cloud
where the light comes in. Crimes
against the public, especially by
men in Office, appear to increase.
But never before was there such
power enlisted to bring malefactors
to the bar of public opinion and to
brand them for all time, as now.
Nor are the very agents employed to
! voice public opinion exempt from
this searching judgment. Let it be
once known that a public journal
has betrayed the public for gain,
and while it may survive, it is al
ways regarded with suspicion by
the better part of the community.
| The influence which is most to be
coveted, the power to influence pub
lie opinion on questions of vital
Importance, is gone. The journal
no longer speaks with the authori-
ty of an honest organ. That is the
penalty that it is compelled to su(-
fer. 1t can play with great ques-
tons and assume at times to be in
earnest, but the public never loses
the suspicion that it will some day
betray their interests. Either it will
dip into the public treasury cor
ruptly, or it will assist friends to
commit the crime and share in the
! public plumber.
Now, while every such instance
ought to be followed by criminal
indictment, and the punishment for
a felony dealt out, in a majority Of
instances no such results follow.
Either the case never gets into
court, or, getting there, justice is
defeated.
| Has there been a more striking
example Of late in the failure Of
Justice than that in which mem.
Der of the last Legislature was tried
twice, and twice went out of court
without so much as verdict? Yet
does an unfaithful public servant
escape the penalty because he has
no. been convicted in a court o.
record? There is the disability, thu
loss of public confidence, that shad
ows him and haunts him ever after
ward. He cannot challenge thu
public judgment as thereafter {
man fit to hold any public trust
The public has put brand on him
Soap and water will never etface it
In that higher court the indictmen
is always pending. There is n,
statute of limitations to operate il
favor of a man who has been cor
rupt in public Office. The commu
: nifty judges him without mercy 70
! its own protection. For either so
ciety must be utterly ruined by tn
compromising of crime and the fol
giveness of unfaithful public sci
: wants, or they must be dealt Wit
! as the greatness of the crime an
the public interest demand.
The man who has corruptly &C
! ministered a public Office, or wh
has procured another to commi
{ malfeasance by bribery or Other
y wise, has committed one Of tn
:, greatest crimes against the commit
Y nifty. The common thief and tn
: murderer have not wronged societ
as much as the criminal who zoe
out from a court of justice witho,
the brand of a felon, or who hi
q never been brought into legal jeol
n ardy because that form Of justit
l. is not swift and sure enough
II overtake him. Thieves and mu
J. derers are tracked from city to Gil
Y ond from state IN afata Rnf IN