The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1906-03-15
is A LAsoReR WORTHY OF HIS HIRE.

N. O. Nelson, of 81. Louis, has striking article on
Business, Pure and Tainted" IN dN~ March Inde,
pendent in which he takes the general view that
laws al fault, rather than individuals. In the
same issue is a comment Mr.. Nelson's article by
Thomas F. Ryan, which is defense of high salaried
officials Mr. Nelson says, among other things:
"If It be true that in the of independent
operations, the million making plans OF Rockefeller
and Carnegie and Armour are in ,sprnnon use IS far
possible and less notorious only because the
writer's ana investigators have selected the most
spcuous personalities then will be disposed
to look for constitutional rather than penal remedies
when we remember that pooling and joint agree
ments have gone in spite of the interstate com
merce laws that senate convictions did not stop
with the Credit Mobiler exposures that freeing the
serfs in Russia and the negro in America did not
suit in equal opportunity for life liberty and happi
ness: that the homestead law did not maintain homes
for the peopIe-this and much more like It should
convince that the weakness is in the system that
the system educates us So that buiness is
to study sources more than symptoms.
Can man in a life time do work that is worth
million or hundred Thousand dollars If any ser
vices worth such sums it would be those of
Plato and Shakespeare. George Washington. Lincoln
and Darwin. But every one Of those would have
been dlsgraced had he charged such price or fixed
on 100000 year,
The exposures are fresh In mind or the Doodlers
in St Louis snd Philadelphia of the meat packers and
OF the insurance Officers and directors. and Wall
street hnanclers. Were these like ordinary crimes.
the occasional lapses of individuals they have little
or no weight But the remarkable thing is that
wherever the probe happens be inserted the same
condition is found. Everywhere In every case, every
railroad every packer every valuable franchise ey-
cry life insurance company, every tax return that
has been investigated has been found lawlessy per
iured. brazeny rotten when judged by either legal
OF moral standard"
Mr. Ryan. avoiding the main issue raised, says
there a. two points to be considered in Mr.. Nelson S
article.
The first is that II the element OF making distinc-
ton above his felows-that is smbton-rwere elimi-
mated from the nature OF man. most men would be
deprived OF their motive for doing great things. Al
ter they have acquired competency It is for dstinc
ton that most strive, instead Of money.
THE other point is that fortunes which some times
look excessive may be the result OF rendering great
services to the community. II a by intense men
tai application or natural aptitude introduce
economies into railroad management, he is owrthy OF
! a large salary. The salary would not in any case
absorb the entire saving made to the stockholders Of
the rairoad and to the public by the reforms intro
duced In some cases the claim Of the inventor is
compensated by the royalties paid under the patent
law but there are many services rendered in the mat
ter Of organization which not patentable but af
ford as striking benefits as patents"