, 1908-01-31

by telling the truth they declaim
against them for breaking silence, lest
values be deprecated" They have
hurt honest business men, honest
workingmen, honest farmers; and now
they clamor against the truth being
told.
Not Honest Business.
The business" which is hurt by the
movement for honesty is the kind Of
business which, in the long run, it pays
the country to have hurt. 1t is the
kind of business which has tended to
make the very name high finance" a
term of scandal to which all honest
American men of business should join
in putting an end. The special plead.
ers for business dishonesty, in de-
nouncing the present administration
for enforcing the law against the huge
and corrupt corporations which have
detieG the law, also denounce it for en-.
~deavoring to secure sadly needed labor
Legislation, such as a f~ar-reaching law
making employers liable for injuries
to their employees.
Distributing the Burden.
1t Is meet and fit that the ~apologists
for corrupt wealth should oppose every
effort to relieve weak and helpless peo-
pie IRON crushing misfortune brought
upon them by injury in the business
from which they gain a bare livelihood.
The burden should be distributed. It
is hypocritical baseness to speak of q
girl who works in a factory where the
dangerous machinery is unprotected az
having the right freely to contract
to expose herself to dangers to life
and limb. She has no alternative but
to suffer INT or else to expose her
self to such dangers, and when she
loses a hand or is otherwise manned
or d%isfigured for life, it is a moral
wrong that the whole burden of the
risk necessarily incidental TO the bust
ness should be placed with crushing
weight upon her weak shoulders, AMI
all who profit by her work escape scot,
free. This is what opponents of a just
employers liability law advocate; ana
it is consistent that they should usual.
iy also advocate Immunity for those
most dangerous members of the crimi,
nal class-the criminals of great
wealth.
No Swerving from Line.
The laws must in the future be ad-
ministered as they are now being ad.
ministered, So that the department of
justice may continue 60 be, what it
now is, in very fact the department of
justice, where so Tar as our ability per
mits justice is meted out with an ev.
en- hand to great and small, rich and
poor, weak and strong. Moreover,
there should be no delay in supple,
menting the laws now on the statute
books by the enactment of further leg
islation as outlined in the message
sent to the congress on its assembling.
Great Accomplishment.
Under the existing laws much, very
much, has been actually accomplished
during the past six years, and it has
been shown by actual experience that
they can be enforced against the veal
thiest corporation and the richest and
most powerful manager or manipulation
Of that corporation, as vigorously and
fe-rlessly as against the humblest Of
fender. Above all, they have been en-
forced against the very wrongdoers
and agents of wrongdoers who have
for so many years gone scot-free and
flouted the laws with impunity, against
great law-defying corporations of i'm
mense wealth, which, until within the
last half dozen years, have treated
themselves and have expected others
to treat them as being beyond and
above all possible check from law.
More Power Needed.
1t is especially necessary to secure
to the representatives of the national
government full power to deal with the
great corporations engaged in inter
state commerce, and above all, with
the great interstate common carriers.
Our people should clearly recognize
thtt while there are difficulties in any
course of conduct to be followed in
dealing with these great corporations,
these difficulties must be faced, and
one of three courses followed.
Tendency to Feel Gloomy.
We have just passed through two
months of acute financial stress. At
any such time it is a sad fact that en-
tirely innocent people suffer from no
fault of their own; and everyone must
feel the keenest sympathy for the
large body of honest business men, of
honest investors, of honest ~wagework-