The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-05


take gift.-Deuteronomy 1918.
Inasmuch as it is reported that the
railroads are still sending out passes
to those public officials who want
them and to their kind of politicians,
perhaps this would be a good time to
recall what the Good Book says
about public officials accepting rail-
road passes.
Perhaps you did not know that the
Good Book mentions railroad passes.
Wen, 1t does.
The first anti-pass law was enacted
by God Almighty himself and was duly
published in Chapter 16, Section 10,
Second Book of the Law as given
through Moses, commonly known as
Deuteronomy. The section reads as
follows:
Thou shalt not wrest judgment;
thou shalt not respect persons, neither
take gift: for a gift doth blind the
eyes of the wise. and pervert the
words of the righteous"
This is directed to public officials
not only to judges on the bench, but
to legislators. executive officers, and
all those who are influential in affairs
of government This might include
The preceding verse says: Judges
and officers shalt thou make thee in
thy gates,' and then follows the in
structions to these officers, among
which instructions is this prohibition:
Thou shalt not take a gift: for a gift
doth blind the eyes of the wise, and
pervert the words of the righteous
Does not that mean that public Of
fcials and those who have to do with
government affairs shall not accept
railroad passes, among other gifts?
OF course a pass is always a court
esq., but it is also a gift.
The majority of legislators would
scorn to take a bride, and many rail-
road officials would consider 1t the
grossest insult it they were asked to
offer a bride to an official. Public Of
fcers who are thoroughly honest and
conscientious have accepted these
"courtesies'' from railroad companies,
believing that such an action carried
with it no obligations on their part.
Yet no man who is worthy of the
name would accept such a gift, or
Courtesy without feeling some
measure of gratitude to the giver.
Good men may give and accept passes
without being venal or corrupt in the
ordinary acceptance of those terms,
but the passes are bound to have their
effect.
The anti-pass law quoted from the
Good Book is not meant for bad men
1t pre-supposes that
the public officials to whom it is d.
rected will be men of intelligence and
integrity. For a gift" it says, doth
blind the eyes of the wise, and per-
vert the words of the righteous The
pass is bound to have some influence
even on the good man who hates brib-
cry and venality. 1t is human nature
to favor those who favor you.
There are those who, in an agitation
like the present one, accept passes
and then, to prove their integrity, set
out to show that it has no influence
over their actions. There is danger
that such persons will go to the ex-
treme OF being unjust to the railroads, |
just to prove to Themselves well as
to others-that the pass does not in
fluence them.
But if public officers refuse the |
passes and pay their own fare, they re- |
tain their own seIf-respect. their sense |
Of independence, and they can be just |
to themselves, to the railroads. and to |
their constituents, without putting |
forth an extra effort