Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-08-29

70 convict him of any one criminal act.
mere is unfortunately certain number Of
our Fellow countrymen who seem to accept
the view that unless a man can be proved
guilty of some particular crime he shall be
counted a good citizen, no matter how in
famous the life he has led no matter how
pernicious his doctrines or his practices.
This is the view announced from time to
time with clamorouS insistence, now by
group of predatory capitalists, now by
group of sinister anarchistic leaders and
agitators, whenever a special champion of
either class, no matter how evil his general
life, Is acquitted Of some one specific crime.
In "UndesirabIe Citizen" Glass.
Such a view is wicked, whether applied
to capitalist or labor leader, to rich man
or poor man; and all that l have said
to desirable and undesirable citizens re-
mains true. But we have to take this feel
ing into account when we are deba ting
whether 1t is possible to get a conviction
in a criminal proceeding against some rich
trust magnate, many Of whose actions are
severely to be condemned from the moral
and social standpoint, but no one of whose
actions seems clearly to establish such
technical guilt as will insure a conviction.
As a matter of expedency, in enforcing
the law against a great corporation, we have
continually to weigh the arguments pro and
con as to whether prosecution can success
fully be entered into, and as to whether we
can be successful in a criminal action
against the chief individuals in the corpora
ton, and If not whether can at least
be successful against the corporation it
self. Any effective action the part
OF the government is always objected to, as
a matter of course, by the wrongdoers, by
the benefciaries of the wrongdoers, and by
their champions and often one of the most
effective ways of attacking the action of
the government is by Directing to prac
teal action upon the ground that it does not
go far enough. One of the favorite devices
OF those who are really striving to prevent
the enforcement of these laws is to clamor
n hot oropn+
be undertaken because it will be certain to
fail if tried. An instance of this is the
demand often made for criminal prosecutions
where such prosecutions would be certain to
fail. We have found by actual experience
| that a jury which will gladly punish cor
poraton by fine for instance will acquit
the individual members of that corporation
if we proceed against them criminally be
cause of those very things which the
poration which they direct and control has
done.
Cites Licorice Trust Case.
''In a recent case against the lcorice
trust we indicted and tried the two cor
porations and their respective presidents
The contracts and other transactions es-
tablishing the guilt of the corporations
We're made through. and so far as they
were in writing were signed by, the two
| presidents Yet the jury convicted the two
corporations and acquitted the two men.
| Both verdicts could not possibly have been
| correct, but apparently the average jury
man wishes to see trusts broken UP. and
| is quite ready to fine the corporation itself
| but is very reluctant to find the facts
| proven beyond a reasonable doubt when
| it comes to sending to Jail a reputable men,
| Der of the business community for doing
what the business community has unhappily
| grown to recognize well-nigh normal in
! business. Moreover. under the necessary
| technicalities of criminal proceedings. often
| the only man who can be reached criminally
| will be some subordinate who is not the real
| guilty party at all.
| Many men of large wealth have been
| guilty of conduct which from the moral
| standpoint is criminal and their misdeeds
| are to a peculiar degree reprehensible, be-
| cause those committing them have no ex-
| cuse of want, of poverty. of weakness and
| ignorance to offer as partial atonement.'
Speaking of legislation favorable to the
| wage-earner. the President Endorsed the law
| limiting the number of hours that railway
| employees should work. He also spoke favor
| ably of the employers liability law, but said
| ultimately a more far-reaching and thor
! oughgoing law must be passed.
| 1T is monstrous" the President said.
that a man or woman who is crippled in
| an industry, even as result of taking
! what are the necessary risks of the occupa-
! ton. should be required to bear the whole
| burden of the loss. That burden should he
| distributed. and not placed solely upon the
| weakest Individual. the one least able to
/ carry it. BY making the employer liable
| the loss will ultimately be distributed
| among ali the DeueuCIdFleS OF the UuSlueSS.
The President said he favored the ma
! tional governments work in increasing the
| peoples health. He especially was pleased
| with the war being waged against tuber-
| culoSs.
| OF Socialism he said in part: Certain
| Socialistic leaders propose to redistribute
| the worlds goods by refusing to thrift and
energy and industry their proper superior
| ity over folly and idlenesS and suIlen envy.
| Such legislation would in the words of the
| president of Columbia University, wreck
the worlds efficiency for the purpose OF re
| distributing the wirld'S discomfort -
The first part of the Presidents speech
| was devoted to a remarkably eloquent eulo-
| gy of the character of the Pilgrim fathers
| Men" he said. must be judged with
| reference to the age in which they dwell
| and the work they have to do. The Purf-
| tan'S task was 10 conquer continent: not
| merely TO overrun it, but TO settle it. to till
| it. to build upon it a high industrial and
| social life. and while engaged in the rough
work of tanning the shaggy wilderness at
that very time also to lay deep sthe i'm
! movable foundations of our whole American
system of civil. political and religious lib
! erty achieved through the orderly process of
| law This W. the work allotted - ai7n 20
/ do this is IT, work he did. and Only q mas
ter spirit am. = men could have done <.
For Inheritance Tax.
The Presi ut touched here on the in
/ heritance Ia, saying
Where til. 3ower Of the law can be wise
/ l. used TO rent or TO minimize the ac-
QUESTION or asiaess employment of such
wealth and make it pay by income O. IN
, herifa1ee ia, rs proper share OF the burden
Of EcveCnmt ! would Invoke that power
without q l. .nent's hesita tion.