The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-21

as 10 SGIIOuSINs ana III some respects vitalIy, to hamper and retard the de- velopment of the islands. There is nothing that the islands need more than to have their great natural re- sources developed, and these resources can be developed only by the abundant use of capital, which, of course, will not be put into them unless on terms sufficiently advantageous to offer pros pects of good remuneration. We have made the terms not merely hard, but often prohibitory, with the result that American capital goes into foreign countries, like Mexico, and is there used with immense advantage to the country In it's development, while it can not go into our own possessions or be used to develop the lands under our own flag. The chief sufferers by this state of things are the people of the islands themselves. It is impossible too strongly to insist upon what ought to be the patent fact that it is not only in the interest of the people of wealth themselves, but in our interest, in the interest of the public as a whole, that they should be treated fairly and just ly; that if they show exceptional busi- ness ability they should be given eX- ceptional reward for that ability. The tissues of our industrial fabric are in terwoven in such complex fashion that what strengthens or weakens part also strengthens or weakens the whole. If we penalize industry we will ourselves in the end have to pay a considerable part of the penalty. If we make con- ditions such that the men of excep- tional ability are able to secure marked benefits by the exercise of that ability, then we shall ourselves benefit somewhat. It is our interest no less than our duty to treat them fairly.
 On the other hand, it is no less their interest to treat us fairly-by ''us" l mean the great body of the people, the men of moderate or small fortunes, the farmers, the wage workers, the smaller business men and professional men. The man of great means who achieves fortune by crooked methods does wrong to the whole body polite. But he not merely does wrong to, he be- comes a source of imminent danger to other men of great means; for his ill- won success tends to arouse a feeling of resentment, which if it becomes in- famed fails to differentiate between the men of wealth who have done de- gently and the men of wealth who have not done decently.
 The conscience of our people has kSI,n yol NzYt 1a made of recent years as to the way in
 which some of the great fortunes have been obtained and used, and there is. l think, in the minds of the people at large a strong feeling that a serious effort must be made to put a stop to the cynical dishonesty and contempt for right which have thus been re- vealed. I believe that something, and I hope that a good deal, can be done by law to remedy the state of things complained of. But when all that can be, has thus been done, there will yet remain much which the law can not touch and which must be reached by the force of public opinion. There are men who do not divide actions merely into those that are honest and those that are not, but create a third sub division-that of law honesty; of that kindof honesty which consists in keep ing clear of the penitentiary. It is hard to reach astute men of this type save by making them feel the weight of an honest public indignation. But this indignation, if it is to be effective, must be intelligent. It is, of course, to the great advantage of dishonest men of wealth if they are denounced, not for being dishonest, but for being wealthy, and if they are denounced In terms so over-strained and hysterical as to invite a reaction in their favor. We can not afford in this cuontry to draw the distinction. as between rich man and poor man. The distinction upon which we must insist is the vital, deep-lying, unchangeable distinction between the honest man and the dis honest man, between the man who acts decently and fairly by his neigh bor and with a quick sense of his ooll- gations, and the man who acknowl- edges no internal law save that of his own will and appetite. Above all we should treat with a peculiarly con- temptuous adherence the man who in @ spirit of sheer cynicism debauches either our business life or our political life. There are men who use the phrase practical politics" as merely a euphemism for dirty politics, and it is such men who have brought the word ''politician'' into discredit. There are other men who use the noxious phrase "business is business as an excuse and justification for every kind of mean and crooked work; and these men make honest Americans hang their heads because of some of the things they do. It is the duty of every honest patriot to rebuke in emphatic fashion alike the politician who does not understand that the only kind of practical politics" which nation can with safety tolerate is that kind which we know as clean politics, and that we are as severe in our condemnation of the business trickery which suc- ceeds as of the business trickery which fails. The scoundrel who fails can never by any possibility be as dangerous to the community as the scoundrel who succeeds; and of all the men in the country, the worst citizens, those who should excite in our minds the most contemptuous abhorrence, are the men who have achieved great wealth, or any other form of success,