Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-02-07

tack being made openly against us loi
enforcing the law, and sometimes with
certain cunning for not trying to en-
force 1t in some other way than that
which experience shows to be practical.
One of the favorite methods Of the lat
ter class of assailant Is to attack the
administration for not procuring the
Imprisonment instead Of the fine OF or
tenders under these antitrust laws.
The man making this assault is usually
either q prominent lawyer or an editor
who takes his policy from the finan-
ciers and his arguments from their at
tOrneys. If the former, he has defend
ed and advised many wealthy malefac-
tors, and he knows we'll that, thanks to
the advice of lawyers like himself,
certain kind of modern corporation has
been turned into an admirable instru-
ment by which to render it wellnigh
impossible to get at the head OF the
corporation, at the man who is really
most guilty. When we are able to put
the real wrongdoer in prison, this Is
what we strive to do this is what we
have actually done with some very
wealthy criminals, who, moreover, rep
resented that most baneful Of all alli-
ances, the alliance between the corrup-
ton of organized politics and the cor
ruption Of high finance. This is what
we have done in the Gaynor and Greene
case, in the case of the misapplication
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 availed to save the Offend
ers from prison. The Federal govern
ment does scourge sin: II does bid sin
ners fear; for it has put behind the
bars with impartial severity the power
full 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
can not protect them. But it often
happens that the effort to imprison a
given defendant is certain to be futile,
while it is possible to find 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 1 refer and their employers are
the men mainly responsible for this
state of things, and their responsibility
pose the passing of just and effective
laws or who fail to execute them when
they have been put on the statue
books.
Much is said, in these attacks upon
the policy of the present adnlinistra-
ton, about the rights Of innocent
stockholders" That stockholder Is not
innocent who voluntarily purchases
stock in q corporation whose methods
and management he knows to be cor
rupt, and stockholders are bound to
try to secure honest management, or
else are estopped from complaining
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 in
nocent stockholders by overcapitaliza-
tion, stock watering, stock jobbings
stock manipulation. This we have
sought to prevent, first, by exposing
the thing done and Furnishing the Of
fender when any existing law had been;
violated; second, by recommending the
passage of laws which would make un-
lawful similar practices for the future.
who loudly proclaim their sympathy
for the innocent stockholders when a
great law-defying corporation is pun
ished, are the first to protest with fran
tic 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 success
full dishonesty always declaim against
any effort to punish or prevent it, on
the ground that any such effort will
"unsettle business" 1t Is they who by
their acts have unsettled business and
the very men raising this cry spend
hundreds of thousands Of dollars In Sc
curing, by speech, editorial, book or
pamphlet the defense by misstatements
of what they have done; and yet when
public servants correct their misstate-
ments by telling the truth they de-
claim against them for breaking silence,
lest values be deprecated" They have
hurt honest business men, honest work.
ingmen, honest farmers, and now they
clamor against the truth being told.
The keynote Of all these attacks upon
the effort to secure honesty in business
and in politics Is well expressed in
braZen protests against any effort for
the moral regeneration Of the business
world, on the ground that it is unnat-
ural, unwarranted and injurious and
that business panic Is the necessary
penalty for such effort to secure busi-
ness honesty The morality of such
plea is precisely as great as if made
in behalf of the men caught in a
gambling establishment when that
gambling establishment is raided by 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
business which will prevent a repeti-
tion of the insurance, banking and
street railroad scandals in New York;
a repetition of the Chicago & Alton
deal a repetition of the combination
between certain professional politicians,
certain professional labor leaders and
certain big fnanciers from the disgrace
Of which San Francisco has just been
rescued; a repetition of the successful
effort by the Standard Oil people to
crush out every competitor, to overawe
the common carriers, and to establish
a monopoly which treats the public