Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-10-01

will do everything | can do to help
business conditions, except anything
that is wrong. And it would be not
merely wrong but infamous to fail to
do all that can be done to secure the
punishment of those wrongdoers whose
deeds are peculiarly reprehenSible be
cause they are not committed under
the stress of want Whenever SER
iouS effort is made to cut out what is
evil in our political life, whether the
against the gross and sordid forms OF
evil in some municipality, or whether
it takes the shape of trying to secure
the honest enforcement of the law as
against very powerful and wealthy peo-
ple. there are sure to be certain indi-
viduals who demand that the move
ment stop because it may hurt busi.
ness.
business Must Sacrifice.
"In each case the answer must be
that we earnestly hope and believe
that there will be no permanent dam
age to business from the movement
but that if righteousness conflicts with
the fancied needs of business, then the
latter must go to the wall. We can
not afford to substitute any other test
for that of guilt or innocence, of
wrongdoing or weldoins, in judging
any man. If a man does well, If he
acts honestly, he has nothing to fear
I ;c let r1t
as in me lies the corrupt politician,
great or small, the private citizen who
transgresses the laW-be he rich or
poor-shall be brought before the i'm
partial Justice of court. Perhaps !
am most anxious to get at the poll
tician who is corrupt, because he be-
trays a great trust; but assuredly !
shall not spare his brother corruption
/ list who shows himself a swindler In
business life; and, according to our
power. crimes of fraud and cunning
shall be prosecuted as relentlessly as
crimes Of brutality and physical vio-
| lence.
I'VE need good laws and we need
above all things the hearty aid of good
citizens in supporting and enforcing
| the laws. Nevertheless, men and woIG
en- of this great state, men and women
of the middle west, never forget tnat
law and the administration of law, i'm
portant though they are, must always
occupy a wholly secondary place Is
compared with the character of the
average citizen himself. On this trip
| shall speak to audiences in each OF
which there will be many men who
fought in the civil war. You who wore
the blue and your brothers of the
South who wore the gray know that III
war no general no matter how good
| no organization no matter how perfect,
can avail if the average man in the
ranks has not got the fighting edge.
Need Fighting Edge i'm Soldier.
1--WE need the organization, the prep
aration: we need the good general
but we need most the fighting edge IT
the individual soldier. So it is in pri
vate life. We live in a rough, work
aday world. and We are yet long
vav from the millennium. We can not
as a nation and we can not as lndivid
uals afford to cultivate only the gent
ler. softer qualities. There must be
gentleness and tenderness-the strong
est men are gentle and tender-bu
there must also be courage ant
strength. | have a hearty sympathy
with those who believe in doing al
that can be done for peace; but have
lno sympathy at all with those who be
lieve that in the world as it now is We
can afford to see the average Ameri
can citizen lose the qualities that il
their sum make up a good fighting
man.
you men must be workers wh'
work with all your heart and strengt
and mind at your several tasks in life
and you must also be able to fight Il
need. You women have even highe
and more difficult duties; for | homo
no man, not even the soldier VIII
, fights for righteousness, quite as nue.
as l honor the good woma9 who doe
her full duty as wife and mother. Blu
if she shirks her duty as wife an
& Continued on Page Four.)