The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-01-03

CHICAGO, Jan, t.-flf Glowing is' an.
Abstract q tho sddTeHs Is President
5adleg Of Yale, deliSered before the
Unworthy convoCatioM in this city. Hlo
aaid In part;
fundamentally we'll Uniformed torelgn
critic, M. Mulrhsad, h b recently pub.
iisBed the opinion that the. standard Of
personal morality in America is de-
ctdediy higher than Ia England. that
q commercial morality probably q 1T.
4is lower, and that Of political moral
ia quite diatinctiy iowen There Is
rsa son 70 think thht in this view he
repre- MS tie cuneengus Of opinion Of
IiiInt6 glied observers on both sides
q The Atlantic. The causes for this
condition Of things demand serious ate
tentlon. A faiiute to carry into poii-
tics the same ldndsof ethical standard
Witch Is appiledii in matters OF personal
ni6f8lS implies, ass rtae, that there Is
sIonethinS IA Z peoples political ccndi-
tI6n to Whose understanding II has
ri t6iIy srtNnupi such q failure im-
pies defect in public Judgment, rath-
81 tiisn In ihdiVidual character. II In
dIcate stlatt do not know what vir-
tues must be exercised for the mainte-
nance Of organised society, as wen as
We. know what virtues are necessary 70
tie harmonious living Of individuals
among netShbcs
sorganization IN business. In local
politics and in national politics has
brought with It an inequality Of Oppor-
tIiiity ana an tnfairness Of conditions
Il Which the game OF life Is played,
Competitive business Is giving place
10 trusts The town meeting has been
sdpplanted by the organized municipal
Ia. me old federation Of states with
sttoaS traditions Of home rule, has be-
come 4 centfalIIed nation, reaching out
bsgtnd is Ola borders to rule over
other countries less civilized than IT.
1eik
.Under eclFcumsta Il becomes
impossible Tor the community 70 rest
cSmpiac5ntly in that esotistiG morality
which seemed su6teient for che needs
81 4 generation earlier. We can no
longer rely upon competition to pro-
tect the consumers against abuse when
industry has become 30 highly organtz-
Cd that al production is centralized in
the control Of a single body. Il is no
lonear true, IN the sense that It was
nifty years ago. that each man may be
left free to manage his own business,
and tliat the community viii find It's
work BEST done a. consequence Of
such freedom. Commerce and industry
are no longer 10 be regarded as games
where we have nothing to do but to
applaud the most slilful player when
he wins. and rest in the assurance that
his triumph Is IN line with the best In
teFests Of the community as whole.
what once was regarded as a game has
now become a trust, not merely in the
superficial and accidental sense in
which the name trust Is now applied
to all large combinations Of capital,
but in profOunder sense-as trust
exercised on behalf Of the public, which
It Is in the power Of those who control
this capital to use wen or III at their
pleasure, without adequate restraint
from any quarter. Where competition
& thus become q remote contingency,
ana where law is almost necessarily in
adequate unless 1t be made 80 strict as
To forbid the good no less than the evil
"a private business enterprise, new
system 81 ethics Is n matter Of vital
necessity for the American people-a
8 system which shall treat the director
no longer as an individual pursuing prL-
Vate business Of his own and with the
Fight to resent the suggestion that he
should conduct Il unselGshly but as
having moral responsibilities to his
stockholders, TO his workingtnen, and
to tie consumerb that purchase his
goods or his services In the absence
81 ouch IN ethical advance, no political
81 fegGf toiutioa Of the so-called trust
problem 10 likely to be effective.
Until there Is fundamental reform
n the code OF political ethics which the
community imposes upon It's members,
public trusts viii be no more adequate
- controlled than private ones Nay.
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