Arizona republican., 1908-02-01
THE SPECIAL MESSAGE !, A VlTRIOLlC DOCUMENT
lcontinued from page .

Continued from page 7)
 rate law 10 the pure food law, every
 measure for honesty in business that
 has been passed during the last six
 years has been opposed by these men
 on it's passage on its en-
 forcement by this administration
 with every resource that bitter and un-
 scrupulous craft could suggest and at
 command of . most unlimited money
 secure But for the last year the at
 tack has been made with most bitter
 ness upon the actual administration ot
 the law especially through the depart
 ment of justice. but also through the
 interstate commerce commission and the bureau of corporations. The eX- . traordinary violence of the assaults
 upon our policy contained in these
 speeches. editorials. articles, advertise
 ments and pamphlets. and the enor- nous sums of money spent in these various ways. give a fairly accurate measure of the anger and terror which our public actions have caused the cor rupt men of vast wealth to feel in the very marrow of their being. The at tack is sometimes made openly against us for enforcing the law, and some times wi8h a certain cunning, for not trying to force it in some other way than that in which experience shows it to be practicable. One of the favor able methods of the latter class of as sailants is to attack the administration for not procuring the Imprisonment instead of the fine of offenders under
 the antitrust laws. The man making this assault is usually either a prom inent lawyer or an editor who takes his policy from the financiers and his arguments from the attorneys If the former. he has defended and advised many wealthy malefactors. and he knows well that, thanks to the advice of lawyers like himself. a certain kind of modern corporation has been turned into an admirable instrument b. which | to render it well nigh impossible to get
 at the head of the corporation, at the man who is really most guilty.
 Much is said. in these attacks upon the present administration, about the rights of innocent stockholders. The stockholders are not innocent Who
 voluntarily purchase stock in corpo- ration whose methods and manage ment they know to be corrupt; and stockholders are bound to try to se- cure honest management. or else are stopped from complaining about the proceedings the government finds nee essarv in order to compel the corpora ton to obey the law. There has been in the past grave wrong done innocent stockholders bV over capitalization, stock watering. stock iobbing, stock manipulation. This we have sought to prevent, first, by exposing the thing and punishing the offender when any existing law has been violated, second, by recommending the passage of laws which would make unlawful similar practices for the future.
 The public men. lawyers and editors. who loudly proclaim their sympathy for the innocent stockholders. when some great law-defying corporation is punished. are the first to protest with frantic vehemence. against all efforts by law to put a stop to the practices which are dhe real and ultimate sources Of damage alike to the stock holders and the public. The apOlogists I of successful dishonesty always pro- claim against any effort to furnish or prevent it on the ground that any such effort will ''unsettle business" It is
 they. who by their acts have unset tied business and the very men rais- | ing this cry spend hundreds of thou sands of dollars in securing. by speech. editorial or pamphlet, the defense by misstatements of that they have done; and yet when public servants, correct i their misstatements by telling the truth. they declaim against them for breaking silence. lest values be de- preciated. They have hurt the hon.
 est business men. honest working men.
 honest farmers. and now they clamor against the truth being told.
 The key note of all these attacks