Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1906-04-17

the form either of punishment of the
unoffending or of giving immunity,
and even strength, to offenders. The
effort to make financial or political !
profit out of the destruction of char
acter can only result in public calami- |
ty. Gross and reckless assaults on |
character, whether on the stump or
ate morbid and vicious public senti- |
ment, and at the same time act as |
profound deterrent to able men Of
normal sensitiveness and tend to pre-
vent them from entering the public
service at any price. AS an instance
in point, l may mention that one seri-
Gus difficulty encountered in getting
the right type of men to dig the Pan
ANA canal is the certainty that they
will be exposed both without, and,
am sorry to say, sometimes within,
congress, to utterly reckless assaults
on their character and capacity.
Asks Sane Fight.
cat the risk of repetition let me say
again that my plea is, not for i'm
munity to but for the most unsparing
exposure of the politician who betrays
his trust, of the big business men who
makes or spends his fortune in ille-
gitimate or corrupt ways. There
should be resolute effort to hunt
every such man of the position he has
disgraced. Expose the crime, and
hunt down the criminal; but remem-
Der that even in the case of crime, If
| 1t is attacked in sensational, iurid
and untruthful fashion. the attack
may do more damage to the public
mind than the crime itself 1t is be-
cause l feel that there should be no
rest in the needless war against the
forces of evil that l ask that the war
be conducted with sanity as we'll as
with resolution. The men with the
undertakes are often indispensable
to the well-being of society; but only
if they know when to stop raking the
muck, and to look upward to the ce-
lestfal crown above them, to the crown
of worthy endeavor. There are beauti-
full things above and round about
them; and if they gradually grow to
feel that the whole world is nothing
but muck, their power of usefulness
is gone"
Warning to Wealth.
In closing he uttered a note OF warn
ing to the rich man as follows: "The
men of wealth who to-day are trying
to prevent the regulation and con-
troll Of their business in the interest
OF the public and by the proper gov
eminent authorities will not succeed,
in my judgment, in checking the prog
ress of the movement. But il they
did succeed they would find that
they had sown the wind and would
surely reap the whirlwind, for they
weaia ultimately provoke the violent
excuses wh,ca accompany reform
coming by convu1sasH instead of by
steady and natural growth.
"QG the other hand, the wild preach
efs Of nnssst and discomfort, the wild
ag1tatofs against The entire existing
order. the men who aet cEeSkedly,
whether because of sinister design OF
from mere puzzie-headedness, the
men who preach destruction without
proposing any substitute for what
! they intend to destroy, or who pro-
pese a substitute which would be far
worse tap the existing eyils-all
these men are tue most dangerous OPP
ponents of real reform. # they get
their way they will lead the people
into a deeper pit than any into which
they could fall under the present sys--
TEN. II they fail to get their way
they will still do incalouiable harm
by provoking the kind of reaction,
which in Its revolt against the sense
less evil of their teaching would en-
throne more securely than ever the
very eytls which their misguided fol-
lowers believe they are attacking.
Sympathy F. Needed.
More important than anght else is
the development Of the broadest sym
patty of man for man. The welfare
of the wage-workeY, the welfare OF the
tiller of the soil, upon these depend
! tne Nslfare of the entire country;
their good ~ act to be sought in pull
ing down others; but tAe1g good must
os The prime object Of ill Off states,
n apship. Materially we must strive
to secure p broader economic opportu-
nifty for al men, 50 that each shall
have better chance TO klow the stuff
of which he is made. Spiritually ana
ethically we must strive to bring
5aihnout clean living and right thinking
We .app4Sciate that the things of the
body are imp rsy asI1FHt; but we appre-
ciate ALSO that the things # the soul
are immsasurabbly more important
The foundation stone of national life
is, and ever must be, the high i4di-I
| vidual character Of the average citi.