The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1899-12-06

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"Listen to this. Mary" he said after
. moment. while his voice trembled:
This morning Alexander Powers,
superintendent Of the l.. and T. r. r.
shops in this city. handed his resigna-
ton to the road and gave rs the reason
tho fact that certain proof had fallen
into his hands Of the violation of the
interstate commerce law. and also Of
the state law. which has recently been
framed To prevent and punish railroad
pooling for the benefit of certain "a
vored shippers Mr.. Powers states in
his resignation that he can no longer
consistently withhold the information
he possesses against the road. He has
placed his evidence against the COM
pany IN the hands of the commission.
and it Ia now for them to take action
upon it
,"The News wishes to express itself
on this action Of Mr.. Powers In the
frst place. he has nothing to gain by
Il He has loet valuable place volun-
tarily when by keeping silent he might
have retained IL. In the second place,
We believe his action ought to receive
tho approval Of all thoughtful. honest
citisens who believe in seeing law
obeyed and lawbreakers brought to JUS
tica In case like this, where evidence
against q railroad company Is generally
UNDER sood to be almost impossible to
obtain. it Is the general belief that the
officers c. the road are often in posses
sion Of eliminating facts. but do not
consider 1t to be any Of their business
70 inform the authorities that the law
10 being defied
The entire result of this evasion Of
respousibility on the part of those who
are responsible Is demoralixing to every
young man connected with the road
The editor Of The News recalls tho
statement made by q prominent rail-
road Official In this city q little while
ESQ that nearly every clerk in certain
department Of the road who understood
bow large sums Of money were made by
shrowd violations Of the interstate Iym-
merce law was ready to admire the
shrewdness with which IL was done and
declared that they would al do the
same thing II they were high enough in
raikoad circles to attempt It This was
actually said In one Of the general of.
Aces OF great western railroad. to the
authors knowledgeo
"it 10 not necessay y to say that such
. condition Of busihees IL destructive
TO all the nobler and higher standards
q conduct. and no young man can live
In such an atmosphere of UNPUBLISHED
dishonesty and lawlessness without
wrecking his character.
in our judgment. Mr.. Powers did
the only thing that a Christian man
can do. He has rendered brave and USE
ful service 70 the state and the general
public. lt Is not always an easy matter
to determine the relations that exist be.
tween the individual citizen and his
hxed duty to the pub';c. In this case
there In no doubt in our mind that the
step which Mr.. Powers has taken com.
mends itself to every man who believes
IN law and its enforcement. There are
times when the individual must act for
the people in ways that will mean sac
mice and loss To him OF the gravest
character Mr.. Powers will be misun.
derstood and misrepresented. but there
Is no question that his course will be
approved by every citizen who wishes
TO see the greatest corporations as well
ss the weakest individual subject to the
came law Mr.. Powers has done all that
. loyal. patriotic citizen could do. II
now remains for the commission to act
upon his evidence. which. we under
stand. Is overwhelming proof of the
lawlessness OF the L. and T. Let the
law be enforced. no matter who the
persons may be who have been guilty"
Henry Maxwell finished reading and
dropped the paper
81 must go and sec Powers. This is
the result Of his promise.
He rose, and as ho was going out his
wife said
"Do you think. Henry. that Jesus
would have done that %
Henry Maxwell paused moment
Then he answered slowly:
Yes; / think he would. At any rate,
Powers has decided So and each one of
rs who made the promise understands
that he is not deciding Jesus conduct
for any one else, only for himself. -
''How about his family9 How will
Mrs Powers and Celia be likely to take
nr'
Very hard. / have no doubt. That
will be Powers cross in this matter.
They will not understand his motive. :"
Henry Maxwell went out and walked
over TO the next block. where the su-
perintendent lived To his relief. Pow
crs himself came TO the door.
The two men shook hands silently.
They instantly understood each other
without words. There had never been
such n bond Of union between the min.
lister and his parishioner
What are you coing to dof" Henry
Maxwell asked t-.or they had talked
over the facts in the case and considered
fhor,, xyo1