The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1895-02-23
Public Opinion,
BY PROF. JOHN BAsCOM, Ii. D.
1Iiams College. NilIiamStOwn Mas

Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.
When moral obligations fail us; when
civil law is no longer an adequate pro
lection; when the social sentiments that
usually restrain men WELD TO Felf-inter-
est, We ar. wont to appeal to public
opinion, and call ont, if possible, that
open, universal censure which Is not
easily borne even by the worst Of men.
1t is important that this, orr latest rem
ovating power, should not be allowed
to slumber in a real emergency, and
should, when awakened, be directed to
Instant an complete redress The
great danger which attends on the sud
den exposure Of the corruption which
has grown up under Tammany politics
il that orr Indignation will pass by, and
leave the cause, which mas wrought the
mischief, sill at work Public opinion
Is sleepy z ant, often refuses to arouse
himself when the need is urged, and
easily drops back into rest before the
evil il corrected.
This fact is brought plainly to mind
b. the fresh and extended exposure,
by Mr.. II. d. Lloyd, Of the methods by
which the Standard Oil Company has
become the greatest monopoly of our
time, or perhaps Of any time. Public
attention has been directed so often
and in such helpless way to this most
We are in danger, in sheer WEAKNESS, Of
passing lightly by new and more com
plete presentation Of the case. Moraii-
ty. civil law and more honorable deal
ing between man and man, having each
IN succession been overcome and cast
aside. there IS no spirit lett in US for the
last struggle for righteou- ness.
The volume wealth against Com
monwealth," published by Harper
Bros, ought to be an era Of resistance
to the many and utterly interruptions
form Of monopoly which have gained
a footing With us in the last twenty-five
years. The most conspicuous one
among them is the Standard Oil Com
pamy. The volume is drawn chiefly
from public reports. Whatever second
airy errors NAV b. present in it. it leavs
very little doubt that if the entire rec
ord Of the company, in the manifold
form it has assumed and secret WAYS il
has chosen, We're laid open, it would
show as little regard for the rights Of
men and the welfare Of society as any
commercial concern the world has ever
seen
We need, however, 90 no farther
than one fact which has now been be-
fore the public for long time: that
enormous wealth has !een secured as
the result Of secret and discriminating
contracts with railroads. Accept this
one undeniabie statements; remember
that these contracts. one and all. are
condemned by common laws; that stat
ute law has been struggling in vain for
q considerable period to prevent them;
that they and the methods affiliated
with them have occasioned a wrongful
redistribution of wealth; that they have
brought loss to the community at large.
and disaster to many households; that
they have filled the minds Of men with
the rage Of undresscd wrong: that they
have helped to carry the contagiou of
INSCRIPTIONS methods into all forms OF
business; that they have gone far to
abolish the conditions of good will and
geueral prosperity which have belonged
10 US as people; that they have dis
credited free institutions as issuing in
conditions parculiarly unjust; that they
have batiied and perverted law in
most shameful way; that they have
done much to make nugatory the equal
lty Of rights between citizens and citi-
znns; that they set at defiance all moral
obllgatlona-and We have such burden
q pubic wrong laid at the door of the
Standard oil Company as is without
parallel, unless it be in the history of
those other trusts which are following
diligently in lis footsteps
The president Of such company has
no right to endow uuiversitv.. to put a
rift on the altar Of patriotism. What
says our Lord2 'lfthou bring thy cift
t. tire altar, and there rcmem-
herest that thy brother hath auyht
against thee, leave there thy gift before
the alt'r, and % thy way; first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then
come and offer thy gift"
This mrn has sown the land with Of
fences from boundary to boundary.
There i not a LABOR riot which does not
justify itsel. 70 Itself by tins unc ERECTED