The Newtown bee., 1896-10-16

such institutions as say tngs banks, whose busi, es, is mostly done for the good of man, prlvate owners by managing board, because the law recognizes the need of limiting investments to certain classes in order that other peoples goods and property shall not be jeopardized.
 Consistent with these legal require ments would be the truism that in the management of the affairs of the whole people there must be not smaller pro- portion of honesty, but even the strictest regard for that which is truly right.
 We must be recalled to the principle tbat might is not right; that the ability to do thing does not necessarily insure integrity in doing it. That power is not honor.
 But then men of our day in every re- lation of life must maintain the deter imitation to do right in the display of their might; to show integrity in the exercise of ability; to cling to bonor in the use of that power which they possess.
 ". It clearly appears to be a fact that there is much unrest among the people of this land, industrially, socially and politically.
 Thoughtful observers have been ap- pretending for years the possibility of some great social upheaval near the close of the nineteenth century.
 In the prayer set forth by the bishop there are these petitions: Save us from lawlessness, dishonesty and vio- Ience; from discord and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way,''
 This language may be taken as the fair enumeration of the leading dangers, of whose existence evidence has ap- peared in the thought and life of our day.
 Wisely are we, Gods people, bidden to pray specially to Him at this time that He may grant us the spirit of obcdi- ence to His commandments; that we may love liberty and preserve our unity; that we in the affairs of daily life and ia the relations of public duty may be found arrayed against all the dangers which are threatening.
 UNDOCBTELY THERE Is MUCH UNREST among us in these ways. But in the midst of a social or industrial unrest let us see to it that there be no element of unrest in regard to those moral principles and that virtuous conduct-in word, that righteousness which exalteth na- tion."
 In such conditions there need be, there must be no accusation of those who pro- pose remedy which differs from our own; there must be broad toleration of opinion as to the wisdom of proposed methods to be adopted. Against such opinions, honestly held, would not say single word.
 v. In our own private dealings there is the temptation to attain some selfish end through some forbidden means. The same danger is abroad in more public af- fairs, only then the temptation is more subtle. The people generally are not the leading actors in the drama. We must beware of being deceived or allur- ed by promises of benefits to be gained through cIeans which are dishonest and plainly uurighteous. "The end does not justify the means" in the affairs of state any more than in the matters which con- cerns only the individual.
 Whatever may be said of one standard or of two standards of currency value it is certain that there can be but one stan. dard of morality, one standard of hon. esty, one standard of truth, both in pub lie and private transactions.
 Honesty iu boards of trustees, in cor porations, in great business houses, in legislatures, is of no different standard and of no less urgency than among indi- viduaIs. The six men in board of management do not each have only one sixth of the moral responsibility that one manager would have. But every one of the six men has mans moral re- sponsibility.
 In the Legislature of state or in the Congress of the nation, 8 question of right and truth can not be so lightly re- garded that single member can divide his responsibility by the number of members in the body to which he be- longs, but he has there, as in private life, the responsi- bility of one moral being.
 Association in management does not divide moral accountability. Individual men of moral nature make up the units among the whole number. And the word, individual, means one which is not cap. f able of division, and that im- |