The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-01-01
AN ERA OF LYING
MIR. Van vorhis Deprecates the Prevalence
OF False Swearing and Misleading
Statistics

ready eighty per cent of the wealth OF
this country is held by less than one
third of one per cent of its populations;
that is, that about 250,000 people out
of 76,000,000 hold eighty per cent OF
the wealth With the immortal Lin
coin, from the very depth of my heart
| must say, Before God, | fear more
for my country now than when in the
midst of the war"
When these corporations were cre-
ated, 1t was hardly expected that they
would so soon claim to be the masters
of the power that created them; but
today the nation Is struggling with
them for the control Of it's it's own affairs.
| know there are those who, in one
way and another, are interested in
small way in the results of such
schemes, who are ready, when atten-
tion is called to this awful conditions
to scoff at it and pretend to believe
that all such informations are but
morbid suspicious" Of "disordered
mind Ii am subject to such criti-
cism, then the same disease has at
tackled members Of the United States
supreme court On May IL, 1899, Mr.
Justice Brown Of that court in an adj
dress on Chief Justice Marshall be-
fore the Richmond bar association
said.
There are disturbing elements in
our present social system which are
calculated to excite the apprehension
of patriotic men. !. The ghost OF
monopoly has risen from its grave and
stalks abroad, defiant of the law, in
the shape of combinations and trusts
The necessities of life are gradually
being absorbed by them, and the time
is not far distant when everything we
eat, drink and wear may have to bo
purchased through the agency OF
single corporation controlling the
product When this is accomplished
the freedom OF the individual Is at an
end Already combinations have de-
stroyed individual enterprise in the
most important branches of trade, and
the small producer has already gone
to the wall believe voice the al
most universal sentiment of the coun-
try in saying that there is no preju
dice against proper nor against
wealth honestly acquired. The whole
theory of our civilization is built up
on the sanctity Of private property and
the natural rights of man, by superior
ability, industry and skill to rise
above his fellows. If, ny combina-
ton with other great operators, he Is
able to monopolize the products Of the
whole country in particular article,
he becomes a national menace"
And yet we go on creating such COM
binations. We turn over to them not
only our own franchises, but the mo1-
ey in our treasury, and that without
interest. By law we put them In q
situation where they are able no. only
| TO do what Justice Brown says they
have done and will do, but great deal
more than that. Not only do they
shut the door to individual enterprise
and crush the individual producer, bu:
throw obstacles in the way Of public
information and education. They Gre
ate conditions and necessities before
which honesty of purpose and truth
fuiness of utterance go down.
At the last aiiaaa! meeting Of the
New York bar association, President
Whitaker delivered an address on
the prevalence of perjuries in the
courts. He said:
Men standing high in community
apparently think nothing of swearing
falsely to pleadings in order to delay
or to defeat Justice"
He was of the opinion that the crime
was increasing, and the association
seems to have agreed with him. The
editor of Law Notes, in commenting
on this address, very sensibly re-
marks
"The magnitude of the stakes in
volved in many modern law suits puts
the rectitude of men to tests hitherto
unknown. Ii perjuries are more NUM-
erous, SO are the objects to be gained
by perjury more alluring. Likewise,
If defaulters multiply. SO do funds ex-
posed to defalcations swell to for-
tunes beyond the dreams of avarice.
Ii there is more corruption among