The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-07-21
pRgrENpEp no oPeRArr


Orau 1ioskins the "paraiyzed" youth
Of Fort Worth, Texas. had been award.
ed $4,000 True, the Hoskins verdict
was afterward revoked because an at
torney came forward and testified that.
long before his accident, the boy and
his mother had come TO him and asked
what chance there would be for good
damages if an accident like the one
that afterward occurred should take
place and because when a doctor who
bed previously believed "A Hoskins pre-.
tended to operate upon his brain. the
boy. who had seemed blind, deaf and
altogether inert. sprang from the op.
Grating table ard confessed.
There was the case of the chicago
woman who claimed to be tha sister OF
prominent lawyer whose partner ts
an ex-cabinet minister She was suing
the street car company for many thou
sands Of dollars with a good chance os
recovering. There was the case of the
man who stood on the platform of an
NJ, X & T. train at Hillsboro, Texas,
and saw another man crushed beneath
the wheels. He was suing the railroad
company for $4,000 because Of the
horror and mental anguish" he was
subjected to. There was the Chicago
woman of shady reputation, who had
injured her thumb on a street car, who
had 'blackmailed more than one promi-
i,nent man. and whose father was serv-
ing a life sentence for numbering her
mother She was suing for big sum.
II All Comes Back to the People.
No such things were in the air.
Egged on by political and sociological
issues, the public in general and the
Chicago public in particular had come
to regard batting the corporations as
a purely defensive public measure, in
which at least there was no sin. True.
the city itself is a corporation from
which every citizen draws large divi.
dends in free police protection, in free
sewage removal, in free schooling, and
If you bait It you simply rob il of just
so much of its capacity for giving you
what belongs to you.
True. the street railway company Is
corporation which gives you more fer
your nickel than you could buy for
dollar in cab service, the railroad com.
many moro for "a 4olfo,. tb,,, -. -
buy for ten In stage coach service. and
II you bait them you reduce by so much
their capacity for contributing to your
comfort Tor as a prominent railroad
official pointed out. every excessive OF
unjust judgment that a railroad is call
ed upon to pay increases its operating
expenses just thai much, and 20 that
extent prevents a reduction, either
voluntary or enforOSd. of the rates of
fare and freight; so that in the end the
general public. or those who use the
railroads, pay or contribute toward the
payment OF such Judgments.
The corporation is, in effect, the ap.
plication OF the republican form of gov.
ernment 10 private business. Your
petty business man is an absolute mon
arch, and may chop on the heads Of his
employees without let or hindrance. He
may do 80 as much as il pleasSs his
personal whim. But how long would
presidential policy Of this arbitrary
nature be tolerated by that leavening
body, the board of directors. which
corresponds TO the congress Of the Uni
ted States II governmental paternai,
ism were to be substituted for corpor.
ate control OF railroads. would the cor
poration baiters cease their EFFORTS?
The substitution OF municipal for
private control Of the street railways
of Chicago win shortly furnish an
answer 10 this interesting question:
The Profession Of Getting Hurt" in
the July Pearsoa's.