The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-05-11
THE REIGN OF FRAUD, CRIME
AND LAWlESSNESS.


strong, guarantee to every man pos
session of his property and the exer-
else of all rights which do not tres
pass upon others mems rights. The
Americans who hold phenomenal and
stupendous wealth owe the security
of their riches to the existence of this
system, which is also the protector
aud defender of the life and property
of the humbest member of the COM
munity. Any movement away from
perfect obedience of this sense means
the complete disruption of the bond
that holds men together, so that every
mans hand is against every other
man.
The distinctiyely criminal class has
always been anarchical, for if all men
were like the criminals, the social or
| ganizatiOn would be completely dis
rupted. There has been and always
must be warfare on the part of society
against the law-breakers who do not
feign responsibility or obedience, but
sometimes it comes to pass that men
who have criminal propensities are
ingenious enough to devise means of
violating the social obligation-means
so safe and so subtle as to enable
them to maintain an appearance ofre-
spectability. None the less, however,
they are anarchists. If every body
should try to do that which law
breakers succeed in doing, the reign
of law would come to an end.
\ thief is a man who. takes the
! property of another man without
compensation. When he picks a
pocket or robs bank, nobody has
any doubt of the character of the per-
Torrance, and the law collars him
and locks him up. But to take
mans property from him by help of
q secret railroad freight rate, or by
fraudulently underselling him until
he is bankrupted, is to accomplish
the pickpocket's purpose by another
method. In both cases the thief gets
the goods and the sufferer gets moth
ing.
Americans of our time haye not
only observed the more dexterous
thieyery many times, but they have
seen the offender try to put & religi-
Gus halo about the operations by Civ
ing part of the plumber to the church.
That giyer was type who, one morn
ing, called down the cellar-way to his
boy, Have you sanded the sugar."
Eyes. sir" Have you watered the
milk?'' Yes, sir" Then come up
to prayers There is no religion
which permits man to steal his way
into heaven. 1t is indeed more bless
ed to give than to receive, but when
a man has stolen a million of dollars
he cannot buy a blessing by giving
one hundred thousand dollars to a
church.
a part of orr social compact if that
the majority shall rule. 1t is the
only possible alternative to despotism
or anarchy. When, then, certain
persons with perfect impunitY stuff
ballot boxes, or when officers of the
Legislature fraudulently mark the
roll calls, lawlessness has triumphed
over law, and the very foundations of
the system which shelters US are UNI
dermined. The public authorities do
orator who breaches anarchy on the
street corner, but a clerk at the Capt.
| toll who falsifies the vote, and the
Speaker who connives at it, are anar-
chsts of a much more dangerous
kind than the vociferous demagogue.
AT the very source of law they treat
law with defiance and contempt.
The employment of the money ac,
cumulated by life insurance com
pany, not for the advantage of the in
sured, but for the enrichment of the
directors, is a movement toward an
archy. Even more obvious is it that
the use for the protection of vice of
| DOllCc lOlCt, WLICI w dc CIGdutu SOI6lN
that it should make war on vice and
crime, is anarchistic. The vicious are
enemies of society. When the police
become the friends of the vicious. the
director OF the police puts himself up
on the level of the lowest criminal
To protect an outlaw is to be an out
law.
Probably there is no peril in this
country that the social organization
which is affected by such evils as
these will really go to pieces. Sooner
or later the mere instinct of self pres
ervation will impel the majority to
resume control by one method or an
other, and to permit the recuperative
force which exists in society to assert
itself. The longer the delay in the
procession of reformation, the more
difficult the task must be. The infiu-
ence of the successful preparation of
crime by Standard Oil magnates, rail-
road presidents, life insurance direc-
| l..