The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1908-02-06


est political position nor the possession
of great wealth has availed to save the
offenders from prison. 4"
......................
{: The federal government does
scourge sin; 1T does bid sinners
fear; for it has put behind the
{: bars with impartial severity, the
powerful financier, the powerful
: politician, the rich land thief, the
!: rich contractor-all, no matter
{: how high their station, against
whom criminal misdeeds can be
proved All their wealth and
power cannot protect them. "a
But 1t often happens that the effort to
imprison given defendant is certain to
be futile, while it is possible to fine him
or to fine the corporation of which he is
head; so that in other words, the only
way Of Furnishing the wrong is by fining
the corporation unless we are content to
proceed personally against the minor
agents. The corporation lawyers to whom
/ refer and their employers are the men
mainly responsible for this state Of things,
and their responsibility Is shared with all
and effective laws, or who fail to execute
them when they have been put on the
statute books.
"lnnocent Stockholders" sa
Much is said, in these attacks upon the
policy of the present administration, about
That stockhoder is rct innocent who
voluntarily purchases stock in a corpora
ton whose methods and management he
knows to be corrupt: and stockholders are
bound to try to secure honest manage
ment, or else are estopped from complaint
ing about the proceedings the government
finds necessary In order to compel the
| corporation to obey the law. There has
been in the past grave wrong done inno-
cent stockholders by overcapitalization.
stock-watering,p stock-jobbing. stock-ma-
nlDulaT1On. & This have SQMQhf to
vent, first by exposing the thing done and
furnishing the offender when any existing
law had been violated; second, by recom-
mendlng the passage of laws which would
make unlawful similar practices for the
future. The public men, lawyers, and
editors w1o loudly proclaim their SYM
when great law-defying corpor alton is
punished, are the first to protest with
frantic vehemence against all efforts by
law to put a stop to the practices which
are the real and ultimate sources of the
damage alike to the stockholders and the
public. The apologists of successful dis
fort to punish or, prevent it, on the
ground that any such effort will "unsettle
business. It is they who by their acts
nave unsettled business and the very
men raising this cry spend hundreds of
thousands Of dollars in securing by
speech, editorial, book, -. pamphlet. the
! have done; and yet when public servants
correct their mis-statements by telling
the truth they declaim against them for
breaking silence, lest values be depreci-
ated." They have hurt honest business
men, honest workingmen, honest farm
ers: and now they clamor against the
The keynote Of all these attacks upon
the effort to secure honesty In business
and In politics Is well expressed in brazen
regeneration of the business world. on
the ground that 1t is unna tural unwar-
ranted, and Injurious, and that business
panic is the necessary penalty for such
effort to secure business honesty. The
| morality of such plea Is precisely as
great as IL made on behalf Of the men
caught in a gambling establishment when
the police. If such words mean anything
they mean that those whose sentiments
they represent stand against the effort to
bring about a moral regeneration of bust
ness which will prevent a repetition of
the insurance. banking, and Street rail-
faf of fbs rbieago IN and | Alton doa repe
| tition of the combination between certain
| professinal politicians, certain profess
ciers, from the disgrace Of which San
Francisco has just been rescued; a repe-
tition. of the successful effort by the
o 70 peSPe 20 S crush out every
| rters, and to establish monopoly which
| treats the public with contempt which the
public deserves so long as Ii permits men
| of such principles and such sentiments 10
avcw and act on them with impunity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
!: The outcry against stopping dis
: honest practices among wrongdoers
who happen to be wealthy Is precise
| ly similar to the outcry raised
: against every effort fer cleanliness
/: and decency in city government be-
cause. forsooth, 1t will "hurt busi-
/: ness.
The same, outcry is made against, the
depar tinent Of justice for prosecuting the
heads of cnfossal corporations that has
| been made against the men who In San
| Francisco have prosecuted with impartial
severity the wrongdoers among business
| men. public officials, and labor leaders
alike. The principle Is the same In the
| two cases. Just as the blackmailer and
| bribe giver stand on the same evil emf
| nence Of infamy. so the man who makes
an enormous fortune by corrupting. leg
| islatures and municipalities and feecing
| his stockholders and the public, stands on
| the same moral level with the creature
who, fattens or the blood money OF the
! gamblh = iiouse and the saloon. More
| over In the last analysis. both kinds of
| corruption ace far more Intimately con-
| nected than would at first sight appear:
the wrongdoing is at bottom the same
| Corrupt business and corrupt politics act
| and react with ever increasing debase-