The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-10-20
Shift,ns Responsibility

Shiftlns Responsibility
The matter of personal. responsibility
for our acts is a subject that seldom
in erests many of us. How we do So
aise On zs.sues with the idea that what
ever we may do, TIE fssE bility may
be shifted to other shoulders! bs1tsnas
greater error was ever entertained BY
mcn. Ecclesiasticism originally pro-
mulgated this false doctrine. 1t was
thought that the sins of man could be
shifted to the goat to be sacrificed,
and that the splitting of it's blood would
be complete atOnement with God for
the sins Of man. But experience raised
e doubt in the minds Of thinking men
about the truth of the proposition that
smoking flesh could appease the wrath
of God. And SO out of that supersti-
ZION grew another that one complete
sacrifice might be made of an innocent
being, npon whose guiltless shoulders
might be laid the sins of the world.
Vain hope.
So in our day men defe ID actions
they are ashamed Of BY . fatiie att
tempt to shift responsibility. Corpora
tions are organized to shift response
bility from the shoulders Of single
man to that of the corporation, Men
organize a corporation, because as q
member Of such they are not liable in.
law for the debts of the corporation,
and because they as individuals in a
corporation are by law exempt from
many criminal statutes that private
business would make them liable to-.
Men become soldiers. They learn
tie art of numbering their fellow be-
ings in a scientific way. When they
carry out their instructions, and maze
widows and orphans in conflict with
'y,en~with whom they have no quarrel,
they cOfisOfS *ilenselYe s@that they are
not responsible, but Thai nxQEnment
is, forgetful Of the truth expressed Dy
Lowell that
off you take a sword and dror it
And go stick Teller through,
Comment amt to answer for it
God'll send the bill to YOU
Business men will teach their agents
to misrepresent goods and think that
when it comes to the lying. the re-
sponsibility for that lying will rest
upon the head of the agent, and the
agent in the lying and fraud will think
that the responsibility for the act rests
upon the head of the employer.
Inc minister Of the Meek and Lowly
Will preach what he knows is false or
fail to express what he knows is true,
and he thinks that upon him rests not
the responsibility for the deception:
that his flock demands certain things
that he proposes to supply, because his
bread depends upon it. Or he fails to
ascertain the truth regarding super
stition, and he thinks that his failure
to ascertain it's truth is excusable.
Murder is the taking of human life
after deliberation. Almost every state
in the union is guilty, then, of muir
der, because they send men to death
after elaboration. Individual citizens
of the state console themselves that
tney are not guilty of murder, because
the state has committed the crime,
and the state-what is it?
Members of political parties vote
their tickets without questioning either
the merits Of the candidates upon them
or the virtues Of the issues at stake,
and then they console themselves with
TX thought that if they have made a
their leaders are to blame
and not themselves. On the other
hand the leaders console themselves
with the sweet solace that they have