The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-06-21
THE PART OF WISDOM.
Be Fair and Square in Passing Judg-
ment Upon Men and Measures.

ment Upon Men and Measures.
Discriminate" is long word, but
it is a good word to use jHst now.
1t means to distinguish accurately, to
separate from another by marking
differences. There is a lack of dis
elimination in much of the criticism
of today On the one side, we see a
lot of critics attacking institutions,
corporations, governments, men, in
discriminatory, heaping abuse noun
tain high. On the other hand, we see
lot of critics defending these insti-
tutions, corporations, governments,
men, with equal lack of discrimina-
ton. One the one side, everything is
wrong. On the other, everything is
right. There is no light or shade, no
separating of one thing from an
other in order to mark differences.
This is a dangerous criticism. 1t
is, all things considered the most
deplorable development of our time.
We can stand tainted meat, but not
tainted criticism "If poise and mas
terry were ever encumbent upon
trained men, this is the appointed
hour" said Dr. Cadman to the gradu-
ating class of Columbia university.
Such criticism as has been described
/ is destructive of poise and mastery.
1t unsettles our conceptions of truth
1t makes true reform and progress
more difficult.
The corporation and the financier
are the chief victims of this indis-
criminate criticism. We should en-
deavor to protect them, both from the
criticism that condemns them as all
wrong, and from the criticism that
lauds them as all right, both from
Hearst and Chancellor Day.
The corporation is one of the most
benehcient tools of commerce. Let
us not permit it to become our eco
nomic despot, nor should we permit
| 1t to be destroyed by demagogues.
Corporations are right, and should be
defended, but corporations wrong
should be exposed and punished FL
nanciers are the great captains of our
day. Have we forgotten the time,
only few years ago, when we cheer
ed and praised them for leading the
country out of the depths of panic
and starvation into the heights of
prosperity and plenty? Captains of
industry, however, who violate law
are anarchists in high places. 1t is
necessary to deal with their violations
|of law sternly. But this should not
lead us into denunciation of all lead
ership as dishonest and dangerous,
and of all wealth as evil and corrupt.
Let us discriminate little Stand
ard, Oil secret rates and methods of
suppressing competition are bad, but
Standard Oil organization and Stand
ard Oil methods of widening the for
eign markets are admirable in the
extreme. Tainted meat is horrible, it
| is murder but all packers are not
bad, nor all packing and canning es-
Establishments unclean. There are Ger
tain features even about the beef
| trust that are commendable and make
for the advancement of American
business. Pennsylvania railroad gait
| is odious, but the Pennsylvania rail-
road as great business organization
| is on the whole something to be
proud of. Expose the graft; preserve
the organization. Observation-Disclosures
of the insurance companies was faith
lessness to trust funds, but let us
remember that insurance itself is
benehc 'ent, and that nothing has
shaken the solvency of the compan-
les. Railroad determinations make
for special privilege and monopoly,
but do not forget what this country
owes to railroad enterprise.
The criticism that magnifes evil in
discriminatory and with sensation is
destructive, and shakes public conf
dence, but not more SO than the criti-
cism like that of Chancellor Day,
who can find no good in anything
but the corporations, who defends
even Standard Oil. and the beef trust
in their wrong doing, and denounces
those who are trying to protect vest
ed interests against the assaults of
socialism by reforming what is evil
| in these vested interests. Indis-
eliminate abuse and indiscriminate
eulogy alike play into the hands of
the enemies of the existing social or
der-Wall Street Journal