The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-06-06


ment OF transportation facilities, II then
becomes out Of the question to secure the
to bring about an improved servica
Against High Rates.
Rates should not be unduly high; there
should be a thorough safeguarding against
accidents; there should be no improper
sinking OF taxes; the shippers OF the
cars and all other equipments necessary
to properly care for our commerce, and
all this means that the national govern
ment must be given full and effective pow
er. of supervision and control.
We can not get an improved service un-
less the cafriers OF the country can sell
th their securities; zee and therefore nothing nothing
their credit nor to decrease the valuo OF
their outstanding obligations.
For several months some, IL not all, OF
treme congestion. Doubtless this Is main
ly due to the fact that the country has
outgrown Its railroads, that our prosperity
sanguine and optimistic railroads haye
been unable to keep pace with Its growth.
But IT Is also true that ordinary methods
of operation, which hold good In a placid
should at time Of crisis yield to the inn
perative necessities of public need.
Up to tho Railroads.
The most effective way to lessen de-
mands for unreasonable legislation Is for
the railroads acting individually and col.
lect!Vely to remedy as many as possible OF
the abuses and shortcomings for which
there really are remedies, and for which
remedial laws are demanded by the ship
ping public.
Finally, friends let us never forget that
this Is not merely a matter OF business
but also a matter of morals. The success
of our whole system of government de-
pends upon our discriminating between
men, not with reference to whether they
are rich or poor, whether they follow one
occupation or another but with reference
solely to whether they act as honest and
upright citizens should act. Let the local
attorneys for the big roads keep out or
politics; and when they have to appear be-
fore the national or any state legislature
let their names be put on a special regis
ter, and let their business be above-board
and OPEN
There are blackmailers In public life, and
the citizen who Is honest will war against
the man who tries to blackmail a railroad
or q big corporation with the same stern
determination to punish him as against
the man who corruptly favors such cor
poration. But let the railroad man remem-
Der that to purchase immunity in wrong
doing or to defeat blackmail by bribery is
the worst and most short-sighted of poll
cies. Let the plain people insist on the one
hand on governing themselves and on the
other hand on doing exact justice to the
railways. Let the big railroad man
scrupulously refrhin from any effort to in
fucnce politics or government save as 1t
is the duty OF every good citizen in legiti-
mate ways to try to influence politics and
their turn, remember that It Is their duty
to discriminate in the sharpest way be-
tween the railway man who does we'll and
the railway man who does III and, above
al harm done to the body polite by cor
ruption is just as great, whether the cor
ruption takes the form of blackmailing
big corporation or of corruptly doing Its
bidding What we have to demand In
ourselves and in our public servants Is
honesty-honesty to all men: and II we
exercised in the interests of the people,
we may rest assured that the man thus
showing It lacks only the opportunity to
exercise it against the interests OF the peo-
pie. The man who on occasion will cor
ruptly do what Is wrong in the interests of
a big corporation Is the very man eager to
blackmail that corporation as the oppor-
tunity arises.
Moral Weatherooeks.
The man who Is on occasion a ccrrup-
ZIONIST, is apt when the gust Of popular
feeling blows hard against the corpora
tions ne has corruptly served, to be the
among those who denounce them. Hunt
such a man out Of public life. Hunt him
out as remorselessly IL he is blackmail-
er as II he stands corruptly for special
fiinching honesty-together with courage
and common sense, in public servant and
in business man alike. Make It evident
that you will not tolerate In public life
man who discriminates for or against any
other save as justice and reason de-
mand 1t; and that in your attitude toward
business men, toward the men who are
dealing with the great financial interests
of the country, while you intend to secure
a sharp reckoning for the wrongdoers,
you also intend heartily to favor the men
who in Legitimate ways are doing good
work in the busienss communicable rail-
way president, the traffic manager, or
other official, high or low, who is doing
ali in his power to handle his share in a
vast and complicated business to the
profit alike of the stockholder and the
general public.
Let the man Of great wealth remember
that, while using and enjoying 1t, he must
nevertheless feel that he Is in a sense a
trustee and that consistent misuse, wheth-
Ell in acquiring or spending his wealth,
Is ominous OF evil to himself, to others
who have wealth, and to the nation as a
whole. AS for the rest Of us, let us guard
ourselves against envy as we ask that
others guard themselves against arrog-
ance and remember Lincolns words Of
kindly wisdom: Let not him who is
houseless pull down the house Of another,
but let him work diligently and build
one for himself, thus by example assur-
ing that his own shall be safe from vio-
Ienca when built.