New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-24
MORALS AND CORPORATIONS

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The deeper sense of moral resnonsibIi+r
which has recently been aroused in the com
munity should by no means he confined IN
the directors and officers of the Western Union
Telegraph Company Whatever NAV have baen
said OF their blindness or even OF their CON
sclous readiness TO serve lawbreakers until
they were brought to see in new light the
nature OF their work, they certainly were not
sinners above all men that dweIt in Jeruso
lem. There is. we fear reason TO believe that
the worthy gentlemen who We're SURPRISED the
other day to find themselves pictured before the
public as beneficiaries Of crime were no more
inclined than most of their fellow citizens TO
enjoy the fruit OF their investments without
inquirlng too closely into all the details of the
business by which dividends are made. and
that moreover. they were more PROMPT 10 cor
rect their mistakes and clear themselves from
evil than many of their fellow citizens would
be who are quick enough TO denounce the shame
OF sending racing news TO pOoroOms
We do not mean in the least 10 minimize the
seriousness of the evil revealed concerning the
poolroom service or the righteousness of the
demand for cutting il off We merely mean to
suggest that there are others" community
bent upon forbiddinG respectable members of
society 10 give aid and comfort to lawbreaking
should not be content with any such narrow
10 the pooroom evils alone the purveyors of
news by telegraph and telephone have been by
lie means the only highly respectable persons
whom the criminals have used in their bust
ness. The raids of Friday revealed the ex-
lstence Of racing news exchanges in build
ings whose owners would doubtless be deep
ly grieved If told that they were abettors OF
crime. Yet it is impossible TO believe that some
persons of authority and reputation not
perfectly conyersant with the character of the
business going Oh i'm the buildings which they
owned or managed Property owners do not
erect structures on the roofs of their buildings.
carefully concealed from outside knowledge, or
equip rooms with special facilities for the Sc
cret transaction of business incident TO pool
rooms, without knowing what they are doing 1T
for. IL any OF them, like the telegraph direc-
tors. have hitherto been ignorant of the exact
nature OF the exchanges which they harbored,
they know what they are now. They now I'M
derstand that these syndcates and bureaus
and what not engaged in the distribution of
racing news are merely links in the great Grim
NAL poolroom system and they will be prompt
ed by their selfrespect, or, If not, by the de-
mands of public opinion. to see that their prop
erty is not hereafter rented directly or indi-
rectly for illegal purposes
Some cynical persons sheer Mt this popular
feeling which has manifested itself against the
indirect abettors of lawbreaking. 1t is. how
ever, healthy sentiment. One of the evils of
modern business life, with its corporate activi-
| Ties. is the weakening of the sense of respon-
1 sibility in men for the moral influence OF their
property and their acts. Business is too much
dehumanized. Men who would not dream of
renting their own buildings for liquor selling
do not think of their share in the same opera
ton when II is done through company. Men
/ who would pot bribe legislator 10 accomplish