The herald., 1895-04-05
HE SHOULD BE CONVICTED
ON FRANCISCO GALA

The history of this. country will never
be complete if it omlts an account of G.
p. Huntington S operations and an anal
ysis of his influence on the business and
morals of the people. Whatever might be
said in his defense must be in a compar-
son of his acts with those of worse men.
If it be said that, unlike Jay Gould, he
never wrecked railroad but on the con-
owned, that will merely be saying that
his method OF accumulating wealth was
different from Gould's.
The methods by which Mr.. Huntington
has accumulated his wealth are notorious,
and need not be recounted here. The
various effects of the plans which he has
followed in That pursuit are more or less
clearly understood, but the theme is never
dull. The most unfortunate circumstance
attending them-one which schemers of
his shrewdness may always rely upon to
aid them-is that a desperate people,
more eager to seize upon any means for
relief than able to appreciate its value,
fall an easy prey to their enemy masquer-
aiding as their friend, to charlatans who
seek the power to eXtort money, to honest
cranks and incompetents whose friend
ship is more hurtful than their enmity,
and to other similar forces which para
lyze all efforts for relief, bring discreuit
upon the cause of the wronged and
strengthen the enemy's power. Hunting
tons would be impossible il the people
were wiser. 1t is not their moral sense
that is at fault.
The future historian will not be able to
rind that Mr.. Huntingtons ignoring of
the ethical relation between transporta-
tion companies and the people can be ex-
planned on the ground that he was ignor-
ant of it's existence. To do that would be
to- charge him with lack of understand
ing, and most likely he would rather be
called a rogue than fool. That he
knows OF the existence OF this relation is
proved by his deliberate operation to per-
vert and degrade it. We're he not aware
that men are honest, he ,uld not try to
corrupt them. If he were ignorant of the
fact that laws intended to force him into
honest ways were an expression of a sem
timent of right.doing on the part of their
makers, he would not resort to bribery to
nullify them. If he did not expect the
making of laws to check his business i'm
morality he would not set about to elect
law makers on whom he could depend
both to defeat laws which the honesty of
the community prompts and enac others
which are repugnant to the popular sense
of right.
To assert chat in the handling of his
business ITSELF without reference to these
phases of the ethical relation he is ignor-
ant OF the moral relations which exist
between the server and the served, be-
tween the merchant and his customer,
between duty and opportunity, between
power and the manner of its exercise.
would be to charge him with ignorance
of one of the fundamental principles
upon which his success is founded. If
there is one thing in the history of his
conduct about which there is no intelli
gent doubt it is that the material pros
Al, la l,N l.
never had the smallest atom of intrinsic
weight with him. If he concludes that
by charging the people of Fresno exorbi-
tan5 rates on their products he can make
more money and secure it more quickly
than by securing trade, and thus making
the people more prosperous and con-
tented, he would never hesitate q mo
ment to adopt the former course. 1t is
no concern of his that the prosperity of
those whom he serves would enable them
to have more comfort. increased facilities
for moral and intellectual development,
and larger opportunities for expanding
into that higher and stronger form of
and citizenship which makes
people wise and their government firm.
Mr.. Huntingdon policy has never con.
anything ulterior, anything
that might even remotely tend to better
the condition of mankind. Whatever in
cidental benefit humanity may have re-
ceived from his operations, the fact of its
existence has no interest for him, and it
has been offset a thousand fold by his
deliberate acts to degrade. Concurrently
with the absence of any intention to do
good have been his deliberate acts of
wrong doing, III evading the laws, in
his taxes. and in every other
way. If he has been faithful
in the performane OF his written con-
tracts, that was the policy of shrewd
huo;poec man The CHINESE ara Dota6
for that. In writing of the manner in
which Mr.. Huntington has fulfilled his
moral obligations the future historian
must pause in wonder and dsmay So
far as the public is concerned Mr.. Hunt
ington may well have taken the motto
After me the deluge."
1t is not only because he has failed in
the duty of trying to do good, but further,
because he has always and deliberately
his vast opportunities and power
to do harm. that he is hated. For this
he will have unique place in American
The time now is almost past for
hoping that retribution will overtake him
in this life. He is an old man, and his
physical energies are close upon annihi.
laiton. 1t would be a weak soul that
would care to see him punished in a
spirit of vengeance. Whatever profit such
would bring would have an
exemplary value. While every man is en-
titled to the full possession and enjoyment
of his own, the written law and the
moral sense which abides in men prohibit
such a use of his own aewill work har M
to others. The harm Mr.. Huntington
has worked can never be measured.
The smallest part of it is his mean ty-
rannies and Unsuitable greed practiced in
the ordinary course of his business. I'M
measurably greater is the moral injury
which he has done. Into what intricate |
and deyiOus waVs if has wandered. what |
measure may be found by which to as
,arta iia itS cYtent and farcn W u at hl.ar,asr