The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-24
Tuesday, December 24, 1907.
HUMAN LIMITATIONS.
springtield Republican

Hand through a dispatch to the
 w York Evening Post that financial ondon as whole is beginning to be- ieve that the real moral of the crisis las been lost on America and it an- lcipates resumption of triumphant control of your enterprises by rlanip- ulative cliques' The panic has shown, however. that there is a limit to the powers of said cliques. They lost their grip on the situation just two months ago, and may not recover it as readily as some people appear to suppose
 This is an interesting and suggestive scontribuuon to the literature of the Nrtsts. It is not at all strange that Lon- Jon, which has upon more than one Occasion questioned the conduct of Y American industrial leaders and pre- dicted disaster as a consequence of certain practices, should now question our realization and appreciation of the Dacauses which led up to the trouble
 Nh confidence here impaired it is not
 IAnge that confidence there in our
 "a rock integrity reveals similar impairment. On the contrary 1t would be remarkable if we should so soon realize and appreciate the inevitable consequences of indpstrial folly. It would be still more remarkable, how ever. if 1t should be contended that this is characteristic of the American w people rather than characteristic of < the human family everywhere, Swim ming as we were upon the high seas of abundant prosperity with not a black cloud in sight we as a people behaved as people usually behave un- der like circumstances; as the people of England have behaved time and time asa1ai when business was excel- bent and money cheap It is the old y story of the Irishnlan who was pa tiently carrying bricks in his bod to \, the second story of the rapidly grow ing building. His job was secure and the wages satisfactory When half way up the ladder a companion from be- low called out that his lottery invest ment had turned out badly. ''Niver mind, me lad Aisy come, aisy go." Even though financial London has all ready concluded that the lesson of the past few months is lost upon us and that we will soon return to the same old stew. it will ultimately be written in history that the ills of temperament from which we suffer are the ills to which the entire human family is heir including financial London.
 Taking financial London more seri- ously than we have above, closer study and observation of our conduct to-day as it is revealed in business undertak- ings and in corridors of government, would convince 1t that while we may not have become immune against the temptations which heset the follower of the gospel "aisy come, aisy go" we are arranging our behavior to fit tht chilly blasts of economic resistance. We know and confess to a. tolerance with wrongdoing that is characteristi, I.- of the American people, whether it k GliaFacteristic of any other people O not. The great majority of the people never had anything to do with the evil doing, though easy money in the form of wages did tempt many of. them t, live more extravagantly than the. should have done 'FManipulativ cliques" did land office business, nc mistake, but we question very muci whether they would repeat their ex perience should the opportunity pre- sent itself They appear at present tt be a bit skeptical about practices which when washed out leave behind such disastrous wake. They will nev CT probably lose their love for tht almighty dollar and for the fun of ac' cumulating it, but it is entirely within the limits of a fat probability tha they will prefer a style of play wficl costs less when the age of reason ant reaction sets in. If we may expect thi sort of intelligent conduct from tht manipulative cliques we may also ex pect from the public growing indis position to ignorantly finance their en terprises. Should the law, for exam pie, permit the department of justic, to get at the shining official instead O the shining corporation, which i among the things inevitable, the man ipulative clique will, we may be sure live up to the new understanding o the limits of the safety zone Gu great captains of industry may not b plaster saints or the real thing in tn saint line, but they are not fools. Hay ing counted the cost of one eytende, experiment they will begin to map ou ,a fresh and more endurabIe line o &onduct
 Still another force is already at worl to safeguard the public against lik