Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-04-15
ON WEBSTER'S BOON
Candidacy for United States Senate and
Corporations Rights.
PLAIN-sPoKEN WORDS ON THE SUBJECT
Duty of Lawyer to His
client and Privilege of
Citizen 10 Aspire to
once.

Charles J. Greene expresses himself out
spokenly relative to the Launching Of the
John l. Webster senatorial boom, and par
ticularly its effect on his own announced
candidacy for the United States senate.
Mr. Greene says:
Il do not want to disparage Mr. Web
ster's eminent qualifications, but the report
Of the proceedings relates to my own can
didacy for the senatorship which stated
that the temper of the people was defined
by the speakers as poisonously hostile to
sending bankers to the senate, one orator
drawing a diagram Of Charles j. Greene
handling the railway end Of the railway
tax cases with an equation to the effect
that the people had seen Mr. Greene too
often as a corporation lawyer to notice him
in any other light.
THE mere fact that a lawyer has as
client a railroad or any other corporation
should hardly disqualify him from seeking
so exalted an Office as that of United States
senator. This is an age of corporations.
Every business concern of any significance
Is a corporation. Nearly every successful
business enterprise of Omaha is an incor-
porated body. They could not we'll do bust
ness otherwise than as a corporation. In
surance companies are corporations, and in
fact every great enterprise must of neces-
sity become a corporate body to do bust
ness In this age.
1T does not follow that a corporation is
an Ubiquitous concern from the fact Of its
incorporation. The evil lies not in the cor
poration, but in the over-capitalization of
great monopolies and trusts and the concen-
! tration OF enormous capital in the hands of
a few individuals through this system of
Ubiquitous over-capitallzation am as Bit
/
ital as any one.
People Partly to Blame.
1.-THE fault also lies very largely with our
selves in not enacting laws governing cor
porations and thus providing against incor-
porations swallowing up other corporations
creating dangerous monopolies and ami
hilating competition. We are just now en-
| joying an epoch OF hysteria and anathema
against great transportation, mercantile
| and other commercial and manufacturing
| organizations as result of the disintegra-
! ton OF the ant-monopoly populist, free
! silver and like political parties, the menu
beers Of whom have drifted back into their
! old pa'ty affilia 1 NJ. and being unable to
| accomplish anything in the new organiza-
lions are exploiting their hysterical the
cries within the parties with which they
| have again become affiliated. The conse-
auence Is a hysterical dissatisfaction, dis
sent and turmoil and noisy denunciation OF
the existing order of things in which they
! had mart. but which became realities In
| spite pr their rantings.
Take the railroads as an instance. They
are today as much under the absolute con-
| troll of the government as II they were
owned by the government. They are at
the mercy OF state railroad commissions
II. 10
several states who can direct and compel
them to build depots, reduce rates. provide
safety appliances regulate the speed of
trains and everything in fact except the
employment of the working forces on the
railroads The Interstate Commerce COM
mission has autocratic power to adjust
rates, prevent rebates and punish any vio-
lations Of the national laws. All that Is
required is to enforce existing laws, which
arc drastic enough to leave railroad COM
pletely in the hands Of the people.
Position of the Lawyer.
Because a lawyer happens TO have a
corporation for client II need not follow
that he is the creature of the corporation,
nor is he owned or controlled by it any
more than he is by any other of his clients
We have among our clients here other cor
poratio than a railroad. The first duty
Of a lawyer is to his client, be II corpor-
alton or private citizen do not wish 10
pose as defender of corporate influence
or Of railroad interference In political
matters. II is manifestly and undualifedly
wrong that they should do so, and as a
matter Of fact they really do less Of it than
they get credit for.
"The statement that there seemed to he
a perfect understanding between the pro-
iectors of the Webster movement and Mr.
Wattles struck me as rather peculiar from
the fact that the Webster movement pro-
fessed to be in the interest of the anti-cor-
poration sentiment. Mr.. Wattles' anti-cor-
poration tendencies are so well known
especially when taking into consideration
his success in consolidating the street rail-
way corporations Of the city into one con-
Germ. that they put him somewhat in the
position Of the Pierpont Morgan OF
Omaha"