The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-07-12

SO high aud his form Of graft is 60
lnsidlous that it's existence ofttimes
is not suspected until the explosion
resulting from his grating has iujur-
eo the community and made the man
and his practices notorious; but too
late.
| Inc director Of corporation who
directs the affairs of company from
the viewpoint of his own pocket rath-
ef taan from the standpoint Of the
stockholders' interest, slthough he
may not be indicted by grand jury,
Is none the less @ social highway
man.
The officer of company who is in
diVldually or as member of firm
tne seller, and in his representative
capacity acts for his company, the
buyer, may be guilty Of legal as we'll
as moral crime.
And this crime is common. It is
an everyday occurrence. 1t is an
ordinary form of graft.
There is ground for tho assertion
that because the men who do these
things are too high up, because they
have too much money and too much
influence back Of them, their acts are
designated Operations rather than
'orimes;" and as such they are ap-
plauded, not punished.
The dummy director of great COM
pany who dummyizes himself for pay
whether by the year or by the job,
who uses his position to control the
use and disposition Of other peoples
money for personal gain is in no posi-
tion to criticise the clerk who falsi-
ies his accounts, or the employe who
embezzles. Yet we all know Of in
stsnocs where men VINO have stolen
million have sent to Jail employees who
took only hundreds or thousands of
dollars.
Now whose fault is this? 1t is
ours. 1t is the fault of public opin-
ion, and public opinion is our opinion,
yours and mine-yours Of me, mine
OF you, ours Of all the rest. We have
to learn to recognize graft and the
CRATER, however respectable their dis
guise-and to punish them, not alone
by imprisonment and fine, but with
all the might of the terrible scorn of
society. We have to recognize that
the seeds Of socialism, anarchy and
revolution are sown by the man of
our own class and kind who pretends
to be what he is not; they are Guilt
waited by the bank and the insurance
officer, by the man in power in fuan-
cial organizations, in short by any
CRATER who in his dealings with the
public departs openly or secretly from
old.fashioned Ten. Commandment hon
esty.
I say again that the fault is not
with the corporate form, the aggre-
CATION, the association, but with the
individual.
Irepeat that the reformer who only
attacks corporations inveighs against
form rather than substance. he is
missing, perhaps he is avoiding, the
ISSUE,
1t is easier for the preacher to dis
cuss sin in the abstract rather than
from the pulpit to indicate the mem
bers of his, congregation who are sim
ners. So it is easier to condemn
theories, associations, platforms and
organizations rather than point the
finger at the man or men and specify
the wrong. But this is too easy. and
it is too harmless. Our national
evils are personal evils and reform
must begin with educated men and |
women.
We need, we must have character.
Many men of education, of power.
financial and political, seem to de-
velop double.barrelled conscience.
one for business use and another for |
the individual life. This is fraud. |
| say that the man who attempts to |
do business upon one basis Of morals |
and live aslan individual upon another |
basis is . fraud.
The map who would not cheat in |
aS1.50 transaction but would do 80 |
in : si,0o0,O0O deal is living on q
false basis.