The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-02-04
MESSAGE FROM
PRESIDENT

Pkf9IUENI
CONTINUED from Sixth Page.)
the law and sometimes by criticism
Tor not trying to enforce It IN some
other way than that which experience
shows to be practical. One of the ia
vortte methods Of the latter class Of
assaults is to attack the administers
uon for not procuring the imprison-
ment instead Of the fine Of offenders
under these antitrust Laws. The mar
making this assault Is usually either
a lawyer or an editor. who takes his
policy from the %financiers and his ar
guments from their attorneys. II the
former, he has advised many wealthy
m%alefactors and he knows well that,
thanks to the advice OF lawyers like
himself. a certain kind Of corporation
has been turned into an admirable in
strument by which to render It impos-
sible to get at the head of the copora-
ton, the la who Is really most
guilty
Prison Sentences for Wrongdoers.
When we are able to put the real
wrong-doer In prison, this Is what we
striveSto do; this Is what we have act
ually do6e with some very wealthy
criminals, who, moreover, repre-
sent the most baneful Of all alliances,
the alliance between the corporation
of organized wealth and corrupt high
finance. This Is what we have done
In the Gaynor and Greene case; in the
q Of the missapplication Of funds
In connection with certain great banks
in Chicago; in the land fraud cases,
where, as in other cases, likewise,
neither the highest political position
nor the possession Of great wealth has
avadled to save the Offenders from
prosecution.
Federal Government Accomplishing
Much.
The federal government does
scourge sin; It does bid sinners fear;
Tor IT. has put behind the bars with
impartial severity, the powerful finan-
cier, the powerful politician, the rich
land thief, the rich contractor ali,
no matter how high their standing,
against whom criminal misdeeds can
be proved. All Of their wealth or
power cannot protect them.
It often happens that the effort to
imprison a given defendant is certain
to be futile, while It is possible to nne
him or to fine the corporation Of
which he is the head: 50 that, In
other words, the only way of punish
ing the wrong is by fining the corpora
ton. until we are content to proceed
personally against the minor agents.
The corporation lawyers to whom l
refer and their employers are the men
mainly responsible for this state OF
things. and their responsibility Is
shared with all, who ingenuously OPP
pose the passage OF just and effective
laws, or who fail to execute them
when they have been put on the sta
tute books.
Wrongs on innocent Stockholders.
Much is said in these attacks upon
the policy Of the present admin1stra-
ton about the rights Of innocent
stockholders" That stakeholder 10
not innocent, who purchases stock in
q corporation whose methods and
management he knows to be corrupt;
and stock holders are bound to try to
secure honest management or else
stop complaining about the acts the
government fnds necessary In order
to compel the corporation to obey the
law.
There has been In the past grave
wrong doing to innocent stockholders
BY overcapdtalisation, stock watering,
stock 5obbing and stock manipulation.
This We have sought to prevent,
FIRST. by exposing the thing done and
furnishing the offender when any ex-
listing Raw has been violated; second,
by the passage OF laws which would
make unlawful similar practices in
the future. The public men, lawyers
and editors. who loudly proclaim their
sympathy for the innocent stock-hold-
ers" when q great law destroying cor
p6ration is punished, are the first to
protest with frantic vehemence
against all effort by law to put a stop
to the practices, which are the real
and ultimate sources Of damage alike
to the stockholders and public.
Those Who "Unsettie Business"
The apologists OF successful dishon-
esty always declaim against any effort
to punish OF preventsit on the ground
that any such step will "unsettle bust
ness" It is, they, who by their acts
have unsettled business, and the very
men raising this cry spend hundreds
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