Martinsburg statesman. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1869-1906, 1906-09-07
= ms Folk on Graft.

WtlCOIIc uOIit TIC ulsllug uiohOu hh'NA
lean in whose honor we gather, but ia
voice the love and faith of millions III
the great leader who has again set foot
upon his native land-millions who
love him because his hands are clean,
his heart isIpure and his soul has not
been touched nor tainted with the scars
of unearned:gold. Nor in him alone
do we place our trust, ner IN aught
that is human, but rather in those
eternal truths whichlhe has loved and
served SO well.
ave are ,on the Threshold of the
greatest political awakening this ma
1ion has ever known. 1t marks the
beginning of a new age. The next
few years.will be distinguished as the
time in which industrial problems are
solved, the reign of the special privil-
eyes brought to an end and the doc
thine of equal rights fixed in national
policies and in the conscience Of man.
kind. Things are not tolerated for a
momentlnow that not long ago were
submitted to in silence. Only few
years past bribery was considered mere
ly conventional Then a dormant pub
lie con science was aroused to the ne
cessity of stamping out the offense that
strikes at the heart of free government.
and of making the Government repre-
sentative in fact as well as in name.
''The energies of this public con-
science have been extended from the
domain of the public wrongdoer, and
probing into the workings of rascals of
every kind. The insurance investiga-
lions have sent forth their messages,
the rebate revelations have been seen
and heard and innumerable grand
jaries have held up graft and fraud to
The public view. The curtains have
been drawn. aside, and revealed to the
startled;gaze of the people and corrup-
tion and Ipreed in their bacchanal of
avarice.
"Thls awakening that has resulted
from the revelations of wrongs is the
g. irit of true patriotism. This word
h as almost ceased to have meaning,
and was. often used as synonymous
with war. We are now learning that
there may be as much patriotism in
giving ones time to the betterment of
civic conditions and in getting good
men into office, as in barring ones
breast to the.bullets of public enemy
in time of war. The highest potriotism
is the patriotism of service. The people
are commencing to appreciate the fact
that the government of city, state and
nation belongs to them, and that they
can take the government into their own
hands W henever they wish. No gov
eminent was ever better than the PEG
pie made it or worse thanthey suffered
L. TO become. The public life of a ma
lion is but a reflection of its private
life This government is no better than
any other, except as the virtue and
patriotism of the people make it so.
"This movement against wrongs is
not a crusade against wealth. Wealth
i'll itself is blessing; the abuse of
wealth is curse. Wealth gained by
honest industry is cemmendable; the
poverty of Incidence is contemplate.
This Government does not rest upon
the idle rich nor the idle poor, but up
on the industry and patriotism of the
middle classes. There is no disposi-
ton to injure corporations that obey
the law, but demand is that corpo.a
tons, even the greatest, obey the law
just like any one else. The need is not
SO much for new laws as to enforce
tn lse laws we have.
"The regenerated conscience of the
people has been assailing these abuses
one by one and has now commenced
to attack the deeper evil of privilege.
Graft cannot be fully done away with
until special privileges are exterminet-
ed and the doctrine of equal rights be-
comes the standard ror governmental
action. 1t matters not whether this
! rlvilege be in the form of tariff so
arranged as to foster monopoly or a
trust to control the price of necessities
of life, or rebates to favored shippers.
No protection for monopoly is the
battle cry of the new born patriotism.
The light is breaking and good men
and true will say, Let there be light
and yet more light, that we may es-
cape the snares set for our feet, and
walk in safety along the highway of a
larger freedom to a more equalized ma
tlonal existence and higher life
Let US, in this crisis, be neither rae
ical nor conservative. Rather let US
he conservative in charging wrong
doing, lest injustice be caused in @harg-
ing where it does not exist; but once
sure of the evil let us be radical il its
determination. Let us have neither
The conservation of stagnation nor the
lAdicalism of inc Scriminate deStruc-