The Cairo bulletin., 1905-06-29

men VINO uNedh the law bg commit
ting crimes of mob violence, and those
who evade the law, or who actually
break i. but so cunningly that they
can not be discovered, the crimes
they commit being not those of ply
steal outrage. but those of greed and
craft on the largest scale. Tae very
rich man who conducts his bus ness as
if he believed that he were law unto
himself, thereby immensely increases
the difficulty of the task of upholdng |
order when the disorder is menace
10 men of property. for If the commu-
nifty feels that rich men disregard the
law where it affects themselves, then |
the community is apt to assume the |
dangerous and unwhoiesome attitude |
of condoning crimes of violence COM |
mitted against the interests which in |
| the popular mind these rich men rep |
resent This last attitude is wholly !
evil; but so is the attitude which pro-
duces it, We have a right 10 appeal
to the alumni of Harvard, and to the
alumni of every institution of learning
in this land to do their part in Gre
ating public sentiment which shalhI
demand of ah men of means. and es-
pecially Of the men of vast fortune
thar chey set an example to their less
fortunate brethren. by paying scrupu
lous heed not only to The letter but to
the spirit of the laws. and by acknowl-
edging i'm the heartest fashion the
moral obligations which can not be
expressed in law, but whicA stand
back of and above all laws 1t Is far
more important that they should con
duct their business affairs dscently
than that they should spend the sur
plus of their fortunes in philanthropy
Much has been given 20 these men and
we have a + ght TO demand much of
them in return.
Menace to a Community.
Every man of great wealth who
runs his business with cynical con-
,, tempt for those prohibitions Of the law
: which by hired cunning he can escape
or evade, is a menace to our commu-
nity and the community is not to be
|
which acticely frowns on and discoun.
: tenances him The great profession Of
the law should be that whose members
ought to take the lead in the creation
Of just such a spirit. We all know
! that, as things actually are, many oi
I remunerated members, Of the bar IL
: Ievery center of wealth make 1t the
special task 10 work out bold and inge
:, nious schemes by which their yer,
wealthy clients, individual or corpor
- ate, can evade the laws which arr
:, public the use of great wealth. Now
! the great lawyer who employs his tai
Z ent and his learning in the highl,
!, remunerative task of enabling yer,
: wealthy client to override or circum
j vent the law is doing all that in hin
n lies to encourage the growth in thi
: country of q spirit Of dumb ange
l' against all laws and of d 'sbelief i
:, their efficacy. Such a spirit ma
! breed the demand that laws shall b
I made even more drastic against th
!. - rich, CT else 1t may manifest itsel
:, in hostility to all laws. Surely Ha'
~ ward has the right to expect from he
! : sons high standard of applied mo
= ality whether Their paths lead thel
= into public life. into business, or int
- the great profession of the law, who's
=. members are so potent in shaping th
- growth of the national soul
Must BE Practical to Succeed.
But in addition to having hig
~ ideals ii can not too often be said to
!, body such as is gathered here toda
80 that together with devotion to what
J.. right must go practical efficiency
= striving for what is right. This is
- rough ,workaday, practical world, ar
- If IN it we are to do the work be
!, worth doing, we must approach TIL
~ work In a spirit remote from that
the mere visionary, and above all r
j.. mote from that Of the visionary who
II, aspirations after good find expressiC
" only in the shape Of scolding and col
planning. II shall mot help us If Y
- avoid tle Scylla Of baseness of mot Y
~. only TO be wrecked on the Charybd
- of wrongheadedness, Of feebleness al
!, ineficiency There can be nothil
~ worse for the community than to ha
j, rhe men who profess lofty ideals she
~, themselves so foolish, SO narrow,
s'. impracticable, as to cut themselves
II. from communion with the men W
~. are actually able to do the work
III governing. the work of business, {
work of the professions. 1t is a S
II and evil thing II the men with mo
II sense group themselves as imprat
cal zealots, while the men of acti
gradually grow to discard and lau
at all moral sense as an evidence
I.er impractical weakness
W. AS MacauIey Saw II.
ney "Macauey, whose eminently So
70 and wholesome spirit revolted not o
ese at weakness, but at the censorit
'en' folly which masquerades as Writ
ucn describes the condition of Scotland
Wy the end of the seventeenth cent
'ns' n passage which every sincere
VIZ former should keep constantly bef
nan him.
the nIt i, "A remarkable rtrpungta