The news & observer., 1905-08-06
MGR. GIBBONS ON CORRUPTION.
American Cardinal Says that Publicity
Given to Crooked Business Meth
DDS is Encouraging Sign
Dangers of Divorce.

Cardinal Gibbons. the head of the
Roman Catholic Church in America,
who is spending the summer at South
ampton, l.. l., gave an interview last
week, in the course of which he is
reported to have spoken as follows
concerning corruption in business
and the dangers of divorce: ,t
Corporation corruption is a fixed
evil that we must reckon with just
as long as the present condition OF
society. exists in this country When
ever there is an amalgamation of great
capital. or a. large collection of men
Interested in one money making con-
Germ there is sure to be corruption.
1t is not a new story. 1t is a story
as, old las the worlds, history. The
only reason that it comes SO much to
the fore at present is that the meth
DDS of its detection are daily growing
stronger ...;.- .i.. s.. .s,.
Corruption has always existed.
Corruption, I am much afraid, will
always exist as long as human nature
yields to the attributes that lead to
Temptation. ...-:.s.,.
The bright spot in the whole
swamp of present moral degradation
| is the fact that the degradation is
made known. Corruption cannot eX-
ist nowadays without being discover
ed after a while. The greater the evil
the greater the possibility of remedy.
And that possibility of remedy has
now become such an assured fact that
| it counterbalances, almost, the eVll
which the present condition of money
madness creates. .s t..'
THE fear, the dread of exposure,
is the counterbalancing element, and
that fear, that dread, that horror of
having name once respected dragged
down is due to the efforts of the
metropolitan press.
1T may not be good theology, it
may not be good ethics, but it is GER
tainly very good common sense, and
a very good moral element, that the
fear, the dread of exposure in the
public press keeps many man stick
ing close to the path of rectitude who
otherwise would stray off into the
byways of personal graft.
"Now in this insurance scandal and
the various other unfortunate business
wrongs that have been exposed lately,
| it is very much to be doubted If any
one particular man would do of his
own accord what he did as a director
or a stockholder. A great many very
honorable and reputable gentlemen are
more or less implicated in these scan
dalS. When the scandals are brought
to light and exposed, these honorable
men justify themselves by saying that
they only had a very small part in it.
Their excuse is that perhaps they
owned one share in a thousand, and
that while the directorate of the thou
sand shares committed financial
crime, their one little interest was
so small that it did not count.
Does that excuse them?'
why, certainly not. They quite
likely erred through ignorance rather
than intention, but wrong is wrong
no matter how it is done"
"You think the evil of divorce, then,
| is a greater evil than the evil of cor
porate corruption ?"
II do, because corporate corruption,
as l have already explained, rights it.
| selF hy its own wrong"
"Would a uniform divorce law
throughout the country help mat
ters?"
"Unquestionably. South Dakota, in
| it's divorce laws, is now blot upon the
Union. If all the States could have
stringent divorce laws, undoubtedly
the evil would be minimiZed. OF course
do not believe in divorce at all, and
| I do net believe in divorce laws. But
believe in anything that will lessen
a great evil. The church sanctions
separdtion from bed and board, pu1
Tit does not sanction divorce as 1t is
| 90 llxy known -