The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-03
EQUITABLE CLOUD
 HAS SILVER LINING
AN UPRIGHT AND CAPABLE ADM1N-
 ISTnATION NOW CERTAIN.

| "
 AN UPRIGHT AND CAPABLE ADMIN- ITERATION NOW CERTAIN Petty Grafting st an End-Paui Mor- ton AlrsaAy Showing Ca Square Deal" nuIes-Aim of Ryan
 fs to Cenfsund Critics.
 Walter Wellman's New York letter to Chicago Record Herald In my judement tho policy holders of the Equitable, may now expect an non est and capable administration of the I affairs of that great society. It Is my belief. based on careful inquiry. that the men who are now in control or the | concern mean to do what Is right: They intend to clean out the dead wood | and dry rot. stop the leaks and the pet | ty grafting. and put the business Of | the society on sound basis. I am | satisfied they are going to make sim l cere effort to do this. not simply be- l cause they say they are Git would be easy to say it). but for the far better ! do 50. I would rather trust their sell hshness than their altruism.
 I There are only two ways in which | these men can make a good thing" out of their management of Equitable. I OHo lo Dy WIcCkIn8 the SOCiSty anu making grab at the surplus which belongs to tho policy holders, but which they might gain possession Of | through some crook or lapse of the l law. The other is to put the society | on it's feet, enable 1t to regain It's pros- | perity. and themselves profit in pres | tige and purse in the general good. It | is the latter course which Ryan and Morton and their associates seem to be | determined upon. If they were to at- | tempt the former they might succeed in wresking ths society. in driving it I into bankruptcy, in dividing up the l surplus among themselves as stock But in wrecking the society and gob- bling the accommodation they would wreck themselves. Their careers would l be at an end. They might keep out of l the penitentiary. but they could not | escape public obliquy. Tho moral tone l tions is lamentably low. But it Is not | so low that crime like this could be perpetuated and the perpetrators go unwhipped.
 Until some evidence to the contrary | appears the public should stand ready | to believe that the new men behind the | Equitable are honest men, trying to do | their best. This being so, they are en- | titled to fair treatment. It Is time to | stop throwing stones at them. As long | as they try to do what is right their l hands should be upheld.
 Leaving MT. Ryan out of considera- tion for the moment, there is Paul l Morton. He is the chairman of the Board of Directors. He is the active manager of the concern. Men who | have known Mir. Morton for years. as have known him. have confidence In | him. He Is an honest man. His ideals may not be of the finest. He wastes i fAxx de t,, xytr Is intensely practical. He is an excel- lent type of the successful men of af fairs of this day-men who are faith full to their trusts In the larger sense, who know how to do business" who make success their god, and who would 1 neither steal nor permit stealing on the 1 one side nor fail to accommodate them- | selves to the exigencies of the road.
 such as scrambling over rough spots or
 turning sharp corners, as they go along. In other words, men who prate little
 of morality, yet are not immoral; men
 who will play the game sharply against | other players, but who will not rob
 their stockholders or their policy-hoId
 CTS; men who will evade or even vio-
 late laws if necessary. but who will not
 steal from widows, from orphans, nor
 from their depositors.
 T have no other purpose here than
 to give the policy holders of the Equit-
 able the square deal" said MT. Nor
 ton to me, when I chatted with him of
 his plans. T am here to make a record
 for myself. and I am going to make
 it If 1t Is within my power" he added.
 T am no mans man. I am not owned
 by anyone else I am going to man.
 age the affairs of this society with d
 free hand as long as I stay here. When
 cannot do that shall get out. I re-
 alize my responsibility, and shall strive
 with all my might to meet 1t fairly.
 No man has asked me to do a wrong
 thing: no man has even hinted that I
 might be called upon to do wrong
 thing. and no man could make such q
 request or offer such hint to me tho
 second time"
 Probably Mir. Morton did not inten1 l should repeat his remarks. He was
 simply opening up his heart-he was
 not posing before the public. But l
 do him a kindness. think, when re-
 peat what he said without his leave
 There is nothing like frankness and
 clear understanding in these matters.
 and while Mir. Morton cannot deliber-
 etely go before the public telling how
 good he Is going to try to be and mak-
 ing promises as to his future perform
 ance, may properly assume the re-
 sponsibility of letting the earnestness
 of the man shine out little. uncon-
 sciously on his part. It may do good
 in this crisis when he needs help, when
 he needs popular confidence. when he
 needs the support of the press and the
 leaders and shapers of public opinion
 in the big work that lies to his hand.
 Mir. Morton spoke to me at some
 length of his plans and of the man
 her in which he came to take the
 chairmanship of the Board. He said
 1t was remarkable fact that he
 had actually been decided on for chair
 man before it was known that Mir Ky
 an had bought a control of the stock
 The first suggestion that Mir. Morton
 should be elected chairman was made
 by David M. Moffat of Denver who had
 known Mir Morton for many years. MT
 Moffat was a director of the Equitable
 The suggestion was well received. and
 there was a tacit agreement that If MT
 Morton would accept he should be
 elected to the chairmanship.
 Mir. Moffat spoke to Morton about it
 and Morton replied that he was under
 contract with Mir. Ryan, and he did
 not know whether Mir. Ryan would re
 lease him: If Ryan were willing and
 the directors cared to name him, he
 would take the place. At that time
 neither MT. Morton nor MT. Mofrat
 knew that MT Ryan had bought con
 trol of the stock. In point of fact he