Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1907-09-01
Population of Los Angeles soo.ool
THE GLASS VERDICT.

y OOhl round Louis GldSS, vice
n president of the Pacific States
Ia Telephone company, sguilty of
bribing former Supervisor Thomas F..
Lonergan of San Francisco, and SEN
tence win be passed on him on Wednes-
day next, necessarily consigning him
to felon's cell in the penitentiary at
Folsom or San Quentin.
At first the public feeling, human
and kind, will pity this man for the
awful fate that has befallen him, and
such a feeling does credit to those who
know it; but second thought will place
the convicted man in his true light
that of an enemy to all the people;
careless alike of the rights of the in
dividual or the general public. and
pursuing course which, If permitted,
would rivet the bonds OF monopoly on
every home using telephone on the
Pacific coast. For this reason the man
is not to be pitied, and his guilt may
not be condoned for any social cause
whatever. He had wealth and used 1t
to debauch meaner men, who sold their
honor with as little conjunction of
conscience as he yielded his in the
buying. Nowhere in all the legal,
moral or civic ramifcations of the case
does there appear a point of vantage
on which to hang a tenable excuse for
his insufferable crime, meaner than
that Of the highwayman, because lack
ing the physical courage of the latter.
Deliberately he schemed and planned
the downfall of others and himself fell
in the end.
This conviction makes good material
for Sunday thoughts. What influence
wrought such shame for Louis Glass?
He was raised well, as that phrase is
understood, and had friends, money and
power. He has home and family and
all things to make life pleasant and
to incite good man to noble purposes.
What caused him to fall? The great
American curse of greed! Greed for
more money and more power. Greed
that would sacrifice his fellow or friend
to win it's aim. Greed, cold and heart
less as the law that now enmeshes
him. Greed that blinded his better
nature and made the false vision of
money to hide all the real riches of
life; that shut out the possible shame
and humiliation of his loved ones, to
hold the glitter of gold to his eyes.
Greed that swamped all of true man.
hood he had acquired in a lifetime
in its terrible hold on his soul. Other
mems rights or necessities were Moth
ing to him; he must have all or none,
and all he was and hoped to be were
thrown in the scale of criminal chance,
and he lostl
The cause of his downfall is cpl
demic in American business life every
where. All that is lacking to multiply
his case by ten thousand is oppor-
tunity. Scores of men will read of his
disgrace today and, forgetting him,
thank their stars they were not caught
in their equally criminal acts. They
have pursued the same course Glass
pursued, but have yet to be indicted
and tried. Their time may come sooner
than they expect. Reform that means
reform is abroad in the land, and an
accounting will be called for wherever
the curse of greed his led the offender
to rob the people under any guise, and
the conviction of Glass is the tocsin
of warning to them all.
Louis Glass in the penitentiary, law
fully sentenced thereto for the crime
of bribery, will be more powerful to
propagate healthy and moral conditions
in the business and financial worlds
than could ten thousand books or SER
mons, though their authors were Pauls
or Shakespeares.
This conviction is a decided triumph
for Messrs. Heney and Langdon and
others who have aided in bringing
boodlers and bribers to justice: it is Il
victory for law and order. One gooc
effect of the verdict will be to show
to the world now watching California
that there is honesty of purpose il
the graft prosecutions and that those
who await trial. though they may wiz
delay through legal technicalities. will
ultimately be pressed to trial and show
their innocence or follow Glass foot
steps.
CONGRATULATIONS dIe uue TO MI
Heney. He should feel so encouraged
by this conviction that he will keel
steadily on higher up. If the furthe
developments shall show Patrick Cal
houn guilty and conviction secures
these two trials will have done NOR
TO clear the moral atmosphere at Sal
Francisco than any legal action we
taken.
The statement is pertinent here tina
If the people of San Francisco city an
county had had the recall provision il
their charter this and scores of lik
cases could not have matured, for thei
first groupings would warrant instan
recall. and thus kill the wrong at 1t
inception